Connect - list of recently used callsings is missing

[Ulrich Karp]

Hi,

I am using latest version. On connect suddenly the list of my recently used callsigns/type codes is missing. I can't remember having changed something except updating following update notice. The list has always been convenient.

Cheers

Ulrich

[Trevor Hannant]

Was removed in the latest update as apparently it was confusing some people...  🤷‍♂️

[Ulrich Karp]

Thanks Trevor!

How could such a list be confusing? Instead it is very convenient when you use different a/c and are member of different VAs. Why not leave it as an "option" to the user? Such a feature should not be a big deal, I figure.

[Steven Jarman]

I agree with you Ulrich. There was nothing confusing about that feature. If someone is confused by such a thing, it amazes me how they manage do any of the other much more complex tasks relating to operating even a make-believe aeroplane. 

[Ross Carlson]

28 minutes ago, Steven Jarman said:

There was nothing confusing about that feature.

That's what I would have thought, as well. What I found, though, is that new users (those for which the recent aircraft list is empty) thought that something was wrong and they couldn't connect because the list was empty and they couldn't make a selection. I heard from several people that interpreted the situation that way. I hate to think of how many people didn't take the time to post in the forums or send me a private message, and just didn't bother to continue.

I decided to remove it since most people either fly with the same callsign and a/c type every time, or they fly with different values each time, and the recent aircraft list is useless for these people, because the text boxes for callsign and a/c type save your last-used entries anyway. Those of you that switch among a few aircraft, like if you fly for several VAs, are just going to have to type a few characters instead of selecting from the list.

At some point in the future, I want to add better support for people that fly for a regional airline where their callsign is for the regional, but their livery is for the major airline, such as Republic flying for United. The callsign is RPA, but the model matching should be based on UAL. I was planning to hold off until VATSIM had an official model set with official livery codes, so that I could also support specific livery model matching for airlines like JetBlue or Frontier that have a number of distinctive liveries. However, with the demise of FLAi, it looks like that may be a long ways off. So I might introduce something where the user can enter their callsign and then separately enter the airline code that they're flying for, and that will be used by other pilots for model matching. At that point, having a way to add aircraft to your "fleet" or "hangar" might be appropriate. So it won't be like the old recent aircraft list, but it will deliver the same functionality in a more intuitive manner.

[Ulrich Karp]

Hi Ross,

I can see now there was a good reason for removing the list. It shouldn't be there by default then.

But in my case I use a couple of callsigns (VA and more) and fly couple of different a/c, though. The one or the other plane not very often so it takes some time to find the right ICAO code - slightly more than just inserting some characters. That is why the list has always been very helpful and why I am very dissappointed to see it is gone.

Wouldn't it be possible to add the feature as an option (as opt-in) let's say in Settings -> Miscellanious?

[Andreas Fuchs]

1 hour ago, Ross Carlson said:

At some point in the future, I want to add better support for people that fly for a regional airline where their callsign is for the regional, but their livery is for the major airline, such as Republic flying for United. The callsign is RPA, but the model matching should be based on UAL. I was planning to hold off until VATSIM had an official model set with official livery codes, so that I could also support specific livery model matching for airlines like JetBlue or Frontier that have a number of distinctive liveries. However, with the demise of FLAi, it looks like that may be a long ways off. So I might introduce something where the user can enter their callsign and then separately enter the airline code that they're flying for, and that will be used by other pilots for model matching. At that point, having a way to add aircraft to your "fleet" or "hangar" might be appropriate. So it won't be like the old recent aircraft list, but it will deliver the same functionality in a more intuitive manner.

Maybe you could do this in conjunction with the dev team of swift. We already have a huge database with many liveries and sub-liveries that all have a unique identifier. For the time being, only swift-to-swift users can take advantage of those unique identifiers, because they cannot be passed on to other clients, since there is no protocol. Maybe we can do something about it?

[Ross Carlson]

1 hour ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

Maybe you could do this in conjunction with the dev team of swift. We already have a huge database with many liveries and sub-liveries that all have a unique identifier. For the time being, only swift-to-swift users can take advantage of those unique identifiers, because they cannot be passed on to other clients, since there is no protocol. Maybe we can do something about it?

I've had several conversations with the swift devs about this over the years. The real issue is that there is no standard model set.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Yes, maybe, but there are unique ID numbers for all those models, liveries etc.. That would be the common data that needed to be exchanged between pilot clients. At the moment we are only sharing callsign and aircraft type, but from swift to swift we share all the fine details to get some real good model matching with special liveries.

[Ross Carlson]

27 minutes ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

there are unique ID numbers for all those models, liveries etc

What models, liveries, etc. are you referring to here?

[Andreas Fuchs]

13 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

What models, liveries, etc. are you referring to here?

The ones that have been registered in our database.

 

Aircraft types

Here I filtered for "B738":

The standard B737-800's ID number is 1787 and that's what gets exchanged between swift clients. Since other clients do not handle these IDs, they can only see "B738" and have to make their own guess whether it's a regular B737-800 or a B737-800 BBJ2. It becomes more relevant if you look at types like "B77L" that could be more than just 2 subtypes.

 

Airline liveries

I filtered for "DLH" Lufthansa.

As you can see we got a standard DLH-livery with ID number 1928, but when a user registers a new CSL or AI aircraft that actually wears the "Star Alliance" special livery, this livery should be selected, ID 7097. This ID will then be exchanged between swift clients, other clients will only see "DLH" without any possibility to make a difference between sub-liveries.

 

Models database

And here's a screenshot of out swift database. All aircraft that users have registered are stored here, they have their own unique ID as well (first column).

[Ulrich Karp]

Why does it feel my thread has been hijacked? 😄

Please forgive me if I put my last question again:

"Wouldn't it be possible to add the feature as an option (as opt-in) let's say in Settings -> Miscellanious?"

Cheers
Ulrich

[Ross Carlson]

8 hours ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

The ones that have been registered in our database.

Thanks Andreas. I have had several conversations with the swift dev team over the years, and I do hope to have a unified database that all clients can use, rather than it just being proprietary. They have been open to this whenever I have discussed it, but so far I've been told that the database isn't really complete enough yet. That was a while ago, though. Maybe it's more complete now.

The issue of the lack of a standard model set is still the main problem, as far as I see it.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Hi Ross,

the database is quite complete now. We have users of most FS platforms (FS9, FSX, P3D, MSFS, X-Plane, Flightgear) who have donated their time and created model mappings, both flyable aircraft (in some SIMs they cannot be used to display traffic) and all those CSL/AI models. We can take this to private chat or Discord, I can show you around swift's database. Maybe VATSIM wants to make use of it.

[Ross Carlson]

Sounds good. Yesterday I sent Klaus a DM on discord to resume the conversations we've had in the past.

[Andreas Fuchs]

4 minutes ago, Ross Carlson said:

Sounds good. Yesterday I sent Klaus a DM on discord to resume the conversations we've had in the past.

Better contact Mat and Roland, Klaus has retired from development last year.

[Ulrich Karp]

Uh, I am being ignored, no one likes me .... 😭🙃

[Nestor Perez]

Welcome to my life lol

[Ulrich Karp]

Hm, v. 2.8.1 is out now - apparently no change ... 🤨