VSTARS Request

[Jason Helkenberg 913355]

Had a few things I was hoping you could work on to implement into a later release. I've created a list below. Many of the items requested are real world things we use at DFW and i'm sure other TRACONS on vatsim could benefit from them. Any questions please let me know.

 

1. Yellow Scratchpad Text : This is used to differentiate RNAV vs Conventional departures and arrivals. Someone who is RNAV capable will show normal color scratchpad text. An aircraft who is NON-RNAV such as /A or /U would show yellow scratchpad text.

 

2. VFR Aircraft squawk : An aircraft flying VFR and on a 1200 code would only show the altitude in the FDB. In the current release of vSTARS, the altitude and squawk code appear which is redundant and not nessessary. Would it be possible to delete the 1200 code on a VFR aircraft in the FDB?

 

3. Middle Click to Blue: I have noticed that when tracking somone and a handoff has been taken by another controller, the ability to middle click to blue function requires the controller to have to left click on the tag to turn it green then middle click to turn it blue. Would it be possible to just be able to click once to turn blue?

 

4. ASDEX Scratchpad Entry's: Having the ability for scratchpad entrys for ASDEX once an aircraft files a flight plan would be nice. on the ground at DFW, the ASDEX will display an abbreviated departure name for the departure the aircraft will be flying. This helps identify the route the aircraft is flying and helping establish separation for towers.

 

5. LA/CA Sounds: I've noticed several times where the LA sound will alert on all positions when an aircraft enters an LA. Would it be possible to make this sound only audible to the position tracking the target?

 

6. FDB Bright Settings: FDB under the control of another controller or untracked targets would fall under "other" in the brightness section. Would it be possible to make this change so that a controller can change the brighness of non tracked targets?

 

7. Auto Track: i have talked about this in another forum post but wanted to add it to this list again. having the ability to auto track would be nice for the instance of a split departure scenario. For instance, an aircraft departing Dallas love in a south flow but traveling west would tag under departure west, however now we have no way of identifying who needs to tag the aircraft on departure. Would it be possible to add a function to [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ociate a flight plan to a position? if that position is not online it defaults to a combined position.

 

8. Fusion: Again I have asked about this in a previous post but wanted to add it as well. I know VATSIM only allows for a limited amount of update times. I know it wouldn't be soon and could be a headache to create, but developing a FUSION system for vSTARS would be a major upgrade and a huge improvident to the network adding cool features and functions to the vSTARS platform.

 

Just some ideas from using it on a daily basis in the real world.

 

Jason

[Ross Carlson]

Thanks for the suggestions, Jason. I don't have any plans for any functionality updates for vSTARS at the moment, but I'll certainly keep these in mind if I do in the future.