Easiest way to maximize the number of identified models

[Richard Asberg]

I've been using MyTraffic models for quite some time and it has worked really good but in many cases I haven't been that impressed by the quality of these models.

 

For this reason I figured I would give the WoAI models a try since lots of people are using them and I decided to put them first in the list in vPilot to always give WoAI models priority and to have vPilot fall back on MyTraffic models only if a suitable WoAI model can't be found.

 

What I've noticed though is that I have some 1.700 models that couldn't be identified and I was thinking maybe there's an easy method to fix this to make sure I use as many of the models as possible?

 

I've been using VMRGenerator in the past so maybe it's time to refresh my VMRGenerator skills again unless there's a better/smarter way?

 

This is what it currently looks like in vPilot

 

[Ross Carlson]

vPilot scans through all the aircraft.cfg files and looks at the atc_parking_codes and atc_model lines to determine the airline code and aircraft type code that each model represents. If those aren't found, then the model isn't identified. So you'd have to modify those lines in order to get it to automatically recognize the missing models.

 

However, vPilot also makes use of a database of known models. So if the model's "title" line is in that database, then it will be identified even if the atc_parking_codes and/or atc_model line is not found or doesn't contain a value. This model database is downloaded from the vPilot web server.

 

I think the best bet here would be for you to send me your model scan result file. That file contains all the data about the models it found in your sim, even the unidentified ones. I can then manually look at the unidentified ones and determine the airline and aircraft type codes, and add those models to the database, and then they will be identified the next time you run vPilot.

 

The model scan result file will be in your vPilot installation directory, and it will have a name like ModelScanResult-Fsx.xml or ModelScanResult-Prepar3dV3.xml ... could you post that somewhere that I can download it, such as a dropbox account?

[Richard Asberg]

Very kind of you Ross and I would be more than happy to help out with this huge work if you just let me know what I need to do.

 

Here's a link to a zip file containing the file you asked for.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8crerzhk6oikpoo/ModelScanResult-Prepar3dV3.zip?dl=0

[Ross Carlson]

I took a look at the file and it turns out that the vast majority of the unidentified WoAI models are GA types such as Cessna Citations, Lear jets, etc. Many of them aren't recognized because the author used an invalid type code such as "LEAR45" or "GULF4" or "CE550".

 

So I'd say in terms of model matching for airliners and liveries, you're all set.

[Richard Asberg]

Sounds good, thanks Ross!

 

If I wanted to correct these issues what method would you recommend? I realize it would be a lot of work but maybe I could do a bit of it every now and then.

 

Too bad that someone who invests time into building an aircraft model can't invest the extra minutes making sure to use the correct type code.

[Ross Carlson]

You would need to edit the aircraft.cfg file and change the atc_model line to a valid ICAO type code.

 

Or you could just create a custom model matching rules file.

[Richard Asberg]

OK, and I guess I need to look for all Status="Unknown" entries in ModelScanResult-Prepar3dV3.xml to know what models I need to fix?

 

I also downloaded VMRGenerator and found the built-in model matching in vPilot successfully identifies more models compared to VMRGenerator.

 

I thought the model matching in vPilot was based on VMRGenerator why I expected a similar result but I guess the reason is the central file you mentioned earlier that has been edited to identify more models vs the default files for airlines and aircraft that come with VMRGenerator.

 

Very tempting to just run with what I already have using the built-in model matching in vPilot that will already out of the box give a great result in most cases but still it's a nice thought having close to 100% model matching rather than maybe 80-90%.

 

Well, let's see if I end up flying or editing text files...not a hard call if you're going for what is most fun

[Ross Carlson]

OK, and I guess I need to look for all Status="Unknown" entries in ModelScanResult-Prepar3dV3.xml to know what models I need to fix?

 

Yes, you'll find that the vast majority are near the end of the file where all the GA aircraft are found.

 

Note that if you fix the atc_model line in the aircraft.cfg file, that fix will take effect for ALL paints of that model.

 

I also downloaded VMRGenerator and found the built-in model matching in vPilot successfully identifies more models compared to VMRGenerator.

 

I thought the model matching in vPilot was based on VMRGenerator why I expected a similar result but I guess the reason is the central file you mentioned earlier that has been edited to identify more models vs the default files for airlines and aircraft that come with VMRGenerator.

 

VMRGenerator and vPilot use a similar technique for discovering model info by looking at the aircraft.cfg file data, but vPilot also uses a database of known models in order to be able to identify a model even if the type code and airline code cannot be found in the aircraft.cfg file. These are the models that have a status of "known" in your model scan result file. The ones that have a status of "derived" are the ones where the model was not in the database, but vPilot was able to identify it by using the atc_model and atc_parking_codes entries.

 

vPilot also reads your fsx.cfg or simobjects.cfg files to find all the folders where you have models installed, which I don't think VMRGenerator does. (I think it relies on you to add folders to its scan list.) So that might also be why vPilot is finding more models.

 

One thing that VMRGenerator does that vPilot does not is allow you to create rules that will substitute another airline's aircraft if no match can be made for the actual airline. For example, if vPilot is trying to match a model for a BAW B744, but you don't have any matching models, it can instead pick some other airline's B744, so you might see, for example, a Delta B744 instead of a British Air B744. That way the aircraft type is correct, but the livery is not. (I don't provide that option in vPilot since I would find it very confusing to show the wrong airline. I would rather see the default plain white Airbus so that it's obvious that no match was found.) So if you like that feature, that's a good reason to still generate a custom ruleset with VMRGenerator. vPilot will use your custom rules to try to find a match before using its own auto-generated rules.

 

Very tempting to just run with what I already have using the built-in model matching in vPilot that will already out of the box give a great result in most cases but still it's a nice thought having close to 100% model matching rather than maybe 80-90%.

 

Since the vast majority of your unidentified models are all just variants on GA planes, I think you'll find that your real percentage is much closer to 100% than you think. The real metric is how many aircraft you see as the default Airbus when actually flying. In other words, the percentage of identified models is not indicative of the expected percentage of actual matches you'll get when flying online.

[Richard Asberg]

Super thanks Ross for this very thorough and informative answer, very much appreciated!

 

With all this said I'll definitely stay with vPilot's model matching because just like you I find it very confusing to say the least if ATC for instance asks me to keep my eyes open for a KLM where on my side it will be depicted as an Air France.

 

I guess I'll just let it be feeling confident most models will be correctly matched and then maybe if I find the time for it I'll see if I can modify a couple of aircraft.cfg files based on the information in the log file.

[Ross Carlson]

I guess I'll just let it be feeling confident most models will be correctly matched and then maybe if I find the time for it I'll see if I can modify a couple of aircraft.cfg files based on the information in the log file.

 

Sounds good. I would say that you don't need to worry about tweaking your model matching unless you see model matching failures in practice (resulting in your seeing the default aircraft) in situations where you know you have a good model installed.

[Richard Asberg]

Sounds good. I would say that you don't need to worry about tweaking your model matching unless you see model matching failures in practice (resulting in your seeing the default aircraft) in situations where you know you have a good model installed.

 

Yep, I'll keep that in mind.

[Fábio Magnoni 1280967]

How did you setup VPilot to identify your MyTraffic 6 models? I only saw the setup during the first run, it only added my SimObjects on P3D v4 folder.

 

What file do I need to edit?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Richard Asberg]

Simply add an entry for your MT6 models to the Simobjects.cfg file.