vPilot v2 - WoA Model Matching

[Markus Schober 1328585]

Ross,

 

first, thanks a lot for developing vPilot and your commitment to resolving issues that sometimes occur.

 

I just upgraded from v1 to v2.0.3. To see how well the new model matching works, I made sure that the installed models appeared in the 'Advanced' section and removed the automatically imported 'Custom Rules' (created by VMR Generator for v1).

 

However, when connecting to the network, some other user's B772 was not recognized. The Aircraft window showed Type Code: B772, Rule Set: N/A, and the default model was loaded.

Then I added the VMR Generator rule sets again, and the model was successfully loaded as WoA_TFS_B777-200LR.

 

I checked the 'Advanced' section again, the entry for this model reads: "WoA_TFS_B777-200LR - 3 models, 3 identified". There are three other B777-200xx packages installed, all of them are fully identified.

[Ross Carlson]

What was the aircraft's callsign?

[Markus Schober 1328585]

MLA1293

and if it helps, this was from when the model was loaded with the VMR Generator rules enabled:

P[Mod - Happy Thoughts]: 3, ACC: Yes.

[Ross Carlson]

Which World of AI model were you hoping to see for this aircraft? I ask because there doesn't appear to be a model in the World of AI model set for "MLA", which seems to belong to "40 mile air" which is a bush plane operation in alaska. Not a lot of triple sevens in that market.

 

VMRGenerator probably just picked some other airline's 777 to show instead. Does that sound right?

[Markus Schober 1328585]

VMRGenerator probably just picked some other airline's 777 to show instead. Does that sound right?

 

Was it really VMRGenerator that did the matching? P[Mod - Happy Thoughts] 3:

 

3. Look for an exact TypeCode match, ignoring any rules that specify a CallsignPrefix or Callsign.

 

I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umed this was still the case for v2, without custom rules loaded. Is it different now?

 

And while not sounding completely right - I don't care too much about an aircrafts livery, but I'd rather like to see a matching model instead of the default plane.

[Ross Carlson]

VMRGenerator will generate rules that specify the aircraft type code, but have no callsign prefix, thus they will match on p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] 3. These rules will contain a list of all models for the given aircraft type. Therefore, if you have no rule for a 777 in MLA colors, then it will end up picking one of your other 777 models at random.

 

vPilot 2.0's automatic rule generation does not have this behavior, because I hate seeing the wrong livery. I do not want to see a Delta paint job on a United aircraft, for example. I'd rather see the default model so that I know that what I'm seeing is not a proper match. I only want to see an airline's livery if the pilot is actually flying for that airline.

 

This all explains why you get different results with and without the VMRGenerator rule set loaded, when you encounter an aircraft for which you do not have a type code AND callsign match.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

VMRGenerator will generate rules that specify the aircraft type code, but have no callsign prefix

Now I see, thanks for pointing this out. I have to admit that I missed this line in the generated rules at first.

 

vPilot 2.0's automatic rule generation does not have this behavior, because I hate seeing the wrong livery.

I understand your point. But if you don't mind, let me explain my point of view, and maybe you have another suggestion for me.

 

Since I tend to fly smaller aircraft, I like to go where more of them operate. However, since the model packs on WoA only contain a small selection of GA aircraft, and due to the huge variety of those planes, the chance is high that they do not match the models I have installed. So I set the default model to the Cessna Skyhawk, because I'd rather like to see that one instead of an Airbus doing VFR patterns at 70 kts. For the large airliners, this did not matter, because in the WoA packs, probably almost all of them are contained in some packet, and the VMR Generator rules did the job. If the livery did not match, no problem for me - better than seeing a bunch of Skyhawks at the gates.

 

With vPilot v2's compatibility to the old rule sets, this setup still works for me. However, there is still the need for VMR Generator as an additional tool, which I thought could be omitted now.

[Ross Carlson]

I think if I were you, I would create a simple rule set that matches all airliners to an all-white aircraft such as the airbus. Then leave your default model set to the C172.

 

That way you get an unpainted airbus for any otherwise unmatched airliner, and you get a Cessna for everything else. To me, this would be preferable to the VMRGenerator method which results in seeing the right aircraft type, but the wrong airline livery.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

I like your idea. Due to the "similar model" logic, there would be no need to add a rule for any sub-type but just one of each airliner's type code, right?

 

By the way, what does it mean when in the Model Matching menu, vPilot shows less models as "identified" than found?

[Ross Carlson]

I like your idea. Due to the "similar model" logic, there would be no need to add a rule for any sub-type but just one of each airliner's type code, right?

 

Right, for example, you would only need one triple 7. It will use that rule for any variant of the triple 7.

 

By the way, what does it mean when in the Model Matching menu, vPilot shows less models as "identified" than found?

 

"Identified" means vPilot was able to determine, by looking at the aircraft.cfg file, what the aircraft type code and airline code is for that model. Or, the model was found in vPilot's online model database. Only the ones that are identified will ever be used for model matching.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

"Identified" means vPilot was able to determine, by looking at the aircraft.cfg file, what the aircraft type code and airline code is for that model. Or, the model was found in vPilot's online model database.

What are the relevant parameters in the aircraft.cfg file, so I can try help vPilot to identify the missing ones? For instance, I have a Cessna 310 installed, but vPilot shows "2 models, 0 identified".

 

I would guess that at these are the parameters of interest:

[fltsim.0]
title=Cessna 310 Paint1
...

[fltsim.1]
title=Cessna 310 Paint2
...

[General]
atc_model=C310
...

[Ross Carlson]

The fields it is looking for is the atc_model for the aircraft type, and atc_parking_codes for the callsign prefix. Since GA models generally don't have a value set for atc_parking_codes, vPilot 2.0 will not be able to identify them.

 

This leads me to think of an enhancement to vPilot 2.0's automatic rule generation ... I could have a list of aircraft type codes that are considered "GA". For those types, it would not look for a value in the atc_parking_codes field, and match based on aircraft type only, ignoring the callsign.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

I could have a list of aircraft type codes that are considered "GA". For those types, it would not look for a value in the atc_parking_codes field, and match based on aircraft type only, ignoring the callsign.

 

Would be awesome to get them working automatically, without the need for custom rules. By the way, it's not only General Aviation - the F18 that comes with FSX Acceleration is not identified either, probably for the same reason.

[Ross Carlson]

Right, it would be any non-liveried aircraft, GA or military.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

After a second checkride with vPilot v2, model matching did not work as expected for another user's C172.

 

The model matching/advanced menu shows that there are 6 models for type code C172, all 6 identified. However, for that other user's C172, the default model (test wise set to Airbus A321) was loaded.

 

vPilot's "Aircraft" window showed:

Type Code: C172, Model: Airbus A321, Rule Set: N/A, P[Mod - Happy Thoughts]: N/A, ACC: No.

 

Why didn't the automatic rule work here?

 

Two airliners that I also encountered were matched and displayed correctly.

[Ross Carlson]

Can you post the title= line from the aircraft.cfg for those 6 identified C172s?

[Markus Schober 1328585]

sure:

title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP Paint1
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP Paint2
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP Paint3
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP Paint4
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP G1000
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP

[Ross Carlson]

That's the Cessna that comes with FSX, right?

[Markus Schober 1328585]

Right.

[Ross Carlson]

Okay, I'll see if I can reproduce the issue.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

Thank you, Ross. Looking forward to hearing about your findings.

[Ross Carlson]

The issue with the C172 not being used properly should be fixed in 2.0.4, which I just released.

[Markus Schober 1328585]

The issue with the C172 not being used properly should be fixed in 2.0.4, which I just released.

Awesome! I will give it a try ASAP.

 

Edit: Just tested it when I found a C182 nearby. That one was correctly recognized as being similar to C172 and correctly displayed as such.

Thanks for your efforts, Ross!

[Nico Kaan]

Hi Ross,

Thank you for you continuous effort in developing/improving vPilot.

... vPilot 2.0's automatic rule generation does not have this behavior, because I hate seeing the wrong livery. I do not want to see a Delta paint job on a United aircraft, for example. I'd rather see the default model so that I know that what I'm seeing is not a proper match. I only want to see an airline's livery if the pilot is actually flying for that airline...

Is not the default model also "a wrong livery" in this case ?

 

I prefer to see at least the right model. That's why I have build that in VMRGenerator. But no problem, I'll continue to use the VMRGenerator in vPilot v2, it gives me more control over model matching.

 

Cheers,

Nico Kaan

[Ross Carlson]

Is not the default model also "a wrong livery" in this case ?

 

I suppose it depends on what you use for the default model. If you use a default model that has a livery painted on it, then yes. However, by default, vPilot uses a model that has no livery, so it's obvious that it's the default model, and not a flawed match.

 

I prefer to see at least the right model. That's why I have build that in VMRGenerator. But no problem, I'll continue to use the VMRGenerator in vPilot v2, it gives me more control over model matching.

 

What would be really nice is if the popular AI packages included an unpainted version of each model ... then vPilot could choose that model when there is no livery match.