PAKT TaxiWays

[Doug]

Anybody see this before?  No taxiways at PAKT. Using FTX Central on NA, PFJ installed, Mesh at 5 meters.

Doug

[jeff3163]

Hi Doug,
     I have the Orbx PAKT, but I found this thread which might be of help.  I assume you use ADE, right?  The fix is done with it.

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10073

... and this one explains the process better. 
http://www.avsim.com/topic/483257-no-taxiways-problem/

[Doug]

Thank you.  Never had this problem before ... hmmm.  I'm having troubles with ADE. But which file are they talking about going after to look for the "invisible" taxiways?  If I knew the "file" I could ask for it here (fixed and working) and I bet somebody has it.

Doug

[jeff3163]

There is a flag in the AFCAD files that was null in FSX, but P3D uses it.  The taxiways are set to invisible.  You need to change the flag of each airport to visible.  It is explained in the threads.   

In other words, load the airport's BGL file into ADE, and edit the taxiway properties.

[Doug]

What's interesting, I haven't migrated from FSX or anything, this was a straight P3D 3.1 installation. And these taxiways were there before ... makes no sense to me.

Thank you Jeff.

Doug

===================

Well I'll be damned. They (taxiways) were all flagged "off" or invisible in the bgl (xml?). I use the button to turn them all on and re-compiled ... they taxiways are there now.

My question is, how did they get turned off?  I had a straight P3D V3.1 install, no fsx migration or anything. This looks to me like a P3D problem, how else could they be turned "off?"

(Problem solved, but curious)

Doug

[jeff3163]

Simply put, the simulator IS FSX, ported over and renamed P3D.  The default airports in FSX had the flag set to invisible by default.  (but ignored that line of code.)  Thus, the taxiways showed.  But P3D does not ignore that piece of code, which causes the taxiways to be invisible.  So, now the flags have to be set to visible manually by the end users.   

In my opinion, LM should have changed the code.  Nobody caught the issue though, and now it is showing up, because P3D has the ability to use visible/invisible switch, and does so.  On a side note, as a scenery developer you can create invisible taxiways in P3D now.  That wasn't possible in FSX.  I don't know why you would though.   

I'm not sure why the issue just recently emerged on your machine.  The threads I posted are not new.  They are a year or two old by now.  I haven't noticed the issue on my system yet.  I will be on the lookout for invisible taxiways now though. 

[Doug]

I had flown up from Seattle to PAKT, landed at dusk. So the lighting for the taxiways was there, but no taxiway. But I cannot imagine missing these all this time, I thought something had changed. Good explanation, thank you again. I'll be checking other major airports in our area. Would be nice to have a list of them and a zip of the "fixed" BGLs for them. (Ah, a new quest...thank you LM for screwing up the code!). Once you see it in ADE it makes sense.

Doug

[jeff3163]

Actually LM didn't screw up the code, Microsoft did.  That's who set them to invisible in the first place.  There's no reason for them to be set to invisible, even if the code is inactive.  LM just didn't catch the error.

[Doug]

Well, I've been looking around our area, so far I haven't found another problem airport, just PAKT.  If you have P3D 3.1 and run into one of these problems in our area, let me know. I'll fix it and post the corrected bgl. So far, PAKT is the only problem I've found.  The best time to find the problem is setting the sim to "DUSK", then you'll see blue taxi lights going where there is no taxiway.

Doug

[spud]

Doug,
are you speaking of the ORBX payware PAKT?
 

[Doug]

Nope, just the basic you get with PFJ.  Still looking, I haven't found any others in our area.

[spud]

No help with P3D of course but taxiways are OK in FSX.
 

[jeff3163]

No help with P3D of course but taxiways are OK in FSX.
 

Yes, because FSX doesn't use the invisible taxiways flag.  Only P3D does, and only after 3.1 I think.   

[Doug]

Jeff, have you seen any more of these? PAKT is the only one I've found so far.

D

[jeff3163]

No.  But I haven't been flying much lately.  I have a new VR headset that has my attention.  (HTC Vive).  I flew around PAKT yesterday (not in VR yet though), and everything was beautiful.  But that was the payware version, so no taxiway issues for me.  I will keep an eye out for them though.