Author Topic: The Dispatcher's Office  (Read 544175 times)

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
The Dispatcher's Office
« on: July 28, 2011, 03:39:15 PM »
Something new we are "playing" with.  Sticking with our theme of focusing on "from here to there", Klaus gave me an idea with one of his little movies. Klaus as a way of not paying attention to "routes" and just flying from location to location without starting at or ending at an airport.  I started doing this (not with a heli!!!) and found it to be a lot of fun...and often, there is no "safe" way to do this. It is "as real as it gets" for bush flying.

Go to Misty's Place on our website and look at the Dispatcher's Office. Click on the Dispatch 001.  It's "no big deal" ... and was not too difficult to create. However, flying it on a bad weather day, is a bit white knuckle! The key here is that if the weather is good, it's a piece of cake ... but if it is "typical Misty" weather ... then it get's interesting because it is not safe to go up into the clouds (where do you come down?). So on limited weather days, you'll have to figure out how to get from one place to the other knowing only the general direction and miles ... picking you way through gorges and fjords to find the next drop off location can get very interesting and staying beneath the cloud ceiling.

This is not a "final" format ... just something I'm playing with. This one is fairly lengthy with short flights.  These could be 2-3 stop flights.  If you have any suggestions, let me know.  Also if you have a route you think folks would enjoy, send it to me.  NOTE: You DO NOT need to start at an airport. we have ALL of the mooring points for ALL of the locations (USFS Cabins included) on the Map Room.  So you could start at a cabin, and go from there without going near an airport on your route.  So you only need to send me the "names" and "order" of the waypoints ... I'll do the rest.

Let's play around with this ... would love your comments and ideas.  We got so many sceneries that most of us don't even use ... always looking for the "new" one.  This will get us back into the beautiful places in a way very similar to the way the "real" guys up there have to do it.

D

Update: Just run this dispatcher's route ... geez, low clouds, rain, you name it!  Got there safely.  Dodging mountains and weather makes it a lot of fun.

I'm going to change the "colors" of the dispatch memo ... need something that prints better in black and white so folks don't use up the color ink.  I'll work on the colors to make them more printer-friendly.

[attachment deleted by admin (old)]
« Last Edit: July 28, 2011, 05:26:47 PM by Doug »

corbu1

  • RTMM Team Test Pilot
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2,107
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2011, 08:46:20 AM »
Great Idea, Doug ! I Like it very much!

I always found it intersesting flying like this. You will never take the same route and direction to your destination even when you are visiting them for several times. So you get the chance seeing some nice places you wouldn`t see flying fixed routes.

I often see my Flights also as some kind of missions. In this case I see your idea of Dispatched Flights, too. Not complex FSX-Missions, but means I always have a certain goal for doing the Flight in mind. No complex things just ideas like flying some hikers to cabin a, b and c or flying in some supplies to certain cabins or just imaging flying with friends to a cabin, spending some time there, including some funflights and exploring the nearby areas of these cabins, and returning to your starting point. I think everybody has his own ideas and inspirations in mind when flying. So I believe the number of ideas for doing the Flights are endless.....that`s exactly what the Dispatcher`s Office now offers. It`s some kind of beiing a freelancer pilot! Cool!!!! 8)

I will fly Dispatch 001 this weekend!!...Some hikers hired my littlebird to be flown to their cabins in the misty`s area for enjoying the wildernes...then will spend the night at wilsonriver lodge and pick up some other hikers for a funflight and bring them on the top of one of the mountains in the nearby area...on sunday I will bring the hikers I´ve flown the day before to the cabins back to Misty`s Place....Oops, supplies needed at New Eddystone Rock... will pick them up at Hering Bay,too....Littlebird is to small, It´s a job for the 412... 8)
« Last Edit: July 29, 2011, 09:32:16 AM by corbu1 »


P3Dv5.2HF1,ASP3D,MV WR,FirefighterX,OVRtoolkit,FreeAirMap;RXP GTN, VRK
i9 10900K;32GB3600RAM;Strix3090;SSD 970EvoPlus500GB Win10;SSD 970EvoPlus2TB P3D;SSD 970EvoPlus2TB XPlane;SSD 860Evo1TB DCS;HDD 4TB;VivePro;HOTASWarthog;Komodo Pedals

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2011, 09:58:36 AM »
This was the kind of response I was hoping for ... I think people "use" RTMM in many different ways. With very little "restrictions" on what we do with the dispatcher's office, people can share "their way" of flying RTMM with others.  Interesting, I ran into the same "mental restriction" on passengers with the Beaver ... it's a 4 seater, so dropping of passengers gets a little crowded ... but then you can pick some up too. But that crossed my mind as I was putting this one together.  But also being able to start (using lat/lon moorings) anywhere can put us in an area that might be too long to fly to.  The Fleet Parts Dock is a LONG way from anything, but there are several things to see in that direction. So it would be easy to start from the Parts Dock and fly around that area.  As to passengers, or why we are doing the flight, maybe a storyline is not necessary?  Or we could put it in a description, but not in the "ribbon".

I'm not sure I like the 'format' yet. The pdf works, but it seems cumbersome. Basically folks would download the pdf and print it (black & white). Seems like a lot of work for 20 "heading and distance" comments.  I'm thinking of using the Trip Tic format so a person can bring it up and put it on the side of the screen, ... maybe more narrow to make it more like a ribbon. I wish I could get the Plan-G map to come up in its own little window ... watching the terrain gives you a clue as to how to navigate.  Again, anyone with ideas in this area, let me know.  I'm considering this a beta, just something to tweak and make better.  Here's how I visualize the "Dispatch Ribbon". It would be in "html" so you'd bring it up like a web page by clicking on the dispatch number ... when it came up, you put it into a little narrow window beside your flight sim window ...

Dispatch #001

Misty's Place
Lat/Lon
Heading 054
Distance 3.6

Herring Bay
Heading 026
Distance 4.1

That's all the "width" we would need if we kept it simple. That would take up almost no room in its own window beside the flight sim window ... yet be right there for viewing.  Of course, that is with no "map", which I'm thinking is "key" to this kind of flying.

I'm hoping folks will send me difficult little routes, and I'll put them "up" as we play with the format, etc. Again, all I need is the name of the location and the order in which they are flown.  I'm hoping people don't just pick them at random, but actually pick them so we will see the "rest of the scenery" like you are commenting upon.  Seeing what people are doing that they enjoy may give us clues to how to put this together better.

And, by the way, if someone wants to send in a route, just post it here under the dispatcher's office thread or you can drop me an email at doug@jdlinn.com.  Remember, with this idea, we do not have to start at an airport, you can start at any RTMM location in the Map Room ... all of them are there.

The part of the puzzle I'm working on now is the "narrowness" ... sounds easy, but what do we do about the map, which I think is key ... the "width" of the ribbon would have to be the width of the map. Unless we got the map to the kneeboard.  So I'm looking into using the kneeboard ... no how to make that "easy?"    Also maybe even a "new view" top down window would do the trick?

I see plenty of folks "looking" at our threads ... many of them don't post. I'm hoping that one or two of them might have some ideas and jump in here and help us "make" something.

D
« Last Edit: July 29, 2011, 10:14:28 AM by Doug »

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2011, 12:51:08 PM »
OK, got the "map" figured out and how to add it easily.  Look at the pics below.  You can try this by going to Misty's Place, Dispatcher's Office ... go to the Dispatch #001 and click on "web".  When the window comes up, Size it the width of the ribbon to the right of your screen, put the FSX window to the left "beside" it.  Once positioned, you can drag on the left border of the Dispatcher's Ribbon and pull out the map and briefing information. When done, drag it back to its little side area.  Map and Briefing disappear and you still have your coordinates ready if you need them. Still "beta" and WIP (Work in Progress) ... but the key word is PROGRESS! :-)

D

PS ... don't forget you can click on the images below to enlarge them.

[attachment deleted by admin (size over 300k)]

[attachment deleted by admin (old)]
« Last Edit: July 29, 2011, 04:32:48 PM by Doug »

foggy-bottom

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 61
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2011, 04:16:45 PM »
Doug,  nice idea.  I put something like this together for a long defunct "VA" based at PAKT and using the original sceneries from FS9 MF/MM.  We expanded into the TF area for a short while.

The VA - can't remember the name - was a bit of a dogs breakfast as far as operations and schedules were concerned.  I put together 3 "mail runs" originating from and returning to PAKT - it was our base.

1. went around the lodges, canneries, settlements, etc., to the S and SE, as far as P.Rupert and Stewart.
2. same facilities to the W - Craig, Fleet Bay, Klawock
3. ditto to the N and NE. Wrangell, Pete, etc.

There were also the "Cabin Inspect/Maintenance" trips; similar geographic breakdown as above.

Then there were the Fishing Fleet Support flights direct to the canneries and Fleet Bay.

Also the ad hoc charters to the cabins and other locations/drop offs, very similar to the original demo/training flights featured in FS9 - Alaskan C208 trips.

I am starting a new job on Monday - involves significant travel - so I'm not going to have much time.  However,  I'll see it I can put something along the same lines together next weekend.  It will probably only be a list of "stops" but a starting point, at least.
Regards  /  "Foggy"

If flying was really difficult, only Armourers would be allowed to do it...

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2011, 04:39:12 PM »
Interesting.  With the "briefing area" (under the map ... I can put more of a story line in there ... what to do at that waypoint, etc).  Earlier this morning, all I had was the "ribbon" so I was giving up on story line ... now with the area under the map being usable ... it would work to make the route tell a story.  I modified map in the second picture and numbered the waypoints on the Ribbon.  So I think this thing is about ready for prime time.

All I need is a starting point (just the name will do). And briefly what the trip is about. Then the locations in order of the trip, by name (I'll find them) ... and a little storyline for the briefing area.

I'll then figure it out with Plan-G and make the map, then add the location waypoints and heading/distance (I get that from Plan-G as I'm making the map ... easy to do.  So make it easy on yourself ... I enjoy putting these together.   What we are looking for are ways to get folks back into the areas they've never seen from the "regular" routes. 

I'd be really interested to see what you might come up with ... ideas for the routes you've given are excellent ... never thought of the cabin inspection thing ... perfect.

D

foggy-bottom

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 61
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2011, 05:01:46 AM »
Good Morning Doug,  I'll get something together:  Mail runs first.

I've just had a look at the goggle earth PFJ locations for the cabins - the inspection trips will need to be modified as there are a lot more cabins featured compared to FS9 MM.  The RTMM cabins will also need to be incorporated.

I see most trips starting at Misty's Place, but picking up FR8 or SLF - Self Loading Freight - at PAKT, PAKX or Ketchikan Harbor.  The mail runs should probably go through PAKT/PAKX.  Trips in support of the Fishing Fleets could go through the workshop at Totem Bight Ops.

Another "out'n'back" idea are pollution survey trips.  Easiest of all, probably!  Take a Floatplane low'n'slow for a trip around the islands, up the creeks, wherever....  A variation on that tasking:  go find the container ship, fishing fleets, ferries, etc., and survey them to ensure they're not putting stuff over the side.

If I could use "Plan-G" I would do a lot of this myself, but for some reason it slows my computers to almost a stop!  There seems to be a conflict with some other application - I also use XP Pro because I some of my apps will not run even in the "XP modes" in VISTA/7.  I have to keep on laptop running XP RTM for one application - it doesn't even run under XP SP*, but that's another story...

Do you want the routes posted here, or e-mailed direct?  Could have something by tomorrow evening.
Regards  /  "Foggy"

If flying was really difficult, only Armourers would be allowed to do it...

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2011, 08:19:27 AM »
I've got a second one in the works that will be done today. It is a cabin inspection tour of the cabins north of Yes Bay, thank you for the idea.  Many people have not seen the cabins, I'm sure. Also, Yes Bay Lodge is part of the PFJ scenery. The Cabins are all in PFJ's Service Pack II.  So this trip would be great for a newby ... nothing (except for one cabin on Eagle Lake that is ours) to download for this trip.  I'm actually testing the new template I've made ... and it seems solid, easy to enter the information, etc.

Plan-G is so helpful, it is a shame you can't track down the culprit conflicting program. (How about that FSX utility that shuts down everything except FSX, then turns it all back on when you leave? ... that might help). The cabins are not in our "locations" on Plan-G.  So here's what I did. Started with a fresh Plan-G.  Used the "moorings" from The Cabin's Page (can get there from Misty's Place or the Map Room) ... I then used MAP in FSX and enter the lat/lon, then Plan-G would make "trail" to that next spot when FSX moved the aircraft. At each location I entered a POI (star) on the Plan G Map. When done, I could look at the route and make sure it made sense, then cleaned out Plan G, and took a screen shot of the area with the "POI stars". Then used PhotoShop Elements 9 to draw the route lines and number things.  So Plan-G is a big help.

The other helper is FSDiscover! that works very well in a TOP DOWN view on a 50 mile search.  I have ALL of the cabins and 750 other datapoints in there!  I was smart enough to make the cabins a separate database, so I can uncheck (in options) everything else and only the cabins show from top down. That's a great way to plan your route.  So we have a lot of tools already in place that will really help with this. Having the lat/lon on all the Cabins, in this case, really saved time. I wondered why I put all that work into the Map Room ... now I know why!

My 3rd one (next one after this) will be more of the cabins up in that area. Again, I'm thinking of new folks who want to go "play" instead of downloading 100 scenery files. I think it will take 4 cabin inspection routes in all to cover all of them.  But again, a great starter set for newbies. Something else that I think is important for those folks, if we group things carefully, then list at the bottom what sceneries are needed for the route, then they could choose a route and put in that little group of scenery files.  We'll probably be flying "areas" anyway with this concept.  So this would give the new folks a nice way to know what to download for an area. I'll put a "what you will need" section at the bottom of the route so folks will know what they need to have to run the route.

 Also, I'm playing more with a storyline on this second one.  That will make them more fun. On a "pollution" tour you could bring up the kinds of problems folks encounter up there, how the problems are solved, etc.  With a little internet research it might add a little education into the tour.  Same for routes that go over historic areas, etc, easy to add in interesting things (like we do with the trip tics). I could see a river's outfall becoming a waypoint for a pollution inspection ... talk about hard to find!

Fun to work on, that's for sure.

Doug

Fireball

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 111
  • Chris Losh
    • Northern Air Charters
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2011, 11:40:31 AM »
Here is one i did up for a VA. I have the flight plans also if you need them.
Amphibian / Float Plane

This whole tour can be done in a day. or 1/2 day lol

These are all very short hops.

Start out at Murphy's pullout.
8K9 to Z43 (Tamgas Harbor)3 Passengers to Z43 / Pick up Mail packages for next 6 stops
Z43 To HYG (Hydaburg)
HYG to KWF (Waterfall)
KWF to WSB (Steamboat Bay)
WSB to AQC (Klawolk)
AQC to 16K (Port Alice)
16K to KPB (Point Baker) Fly to Wrangle to pick up supplies and mail for next 4 stops
KPB to 68A (Wrangell)
68A to 96Z (North Whale)
96Z to KCC (Coffman Cove)
KCC to 84K (Meyers Chuck)
84K to KTB (Thorne Bay)
KTB to HYL (Hollis) Pick up family of 4 to take back to Tamgas Harbor
HYL to 8K9 (Tamgas Harbor)

Stay below 1500 feet. VFR rules apply


spud

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3,082
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2011, 01:35:56 PM »
I've got a second one in the works that will be done today. It is a cabin inspection tour of the cabins north of Yes Bay, thank you for the idea.  Many people have not seen the cabins, I'm sure. Also, Yes Bay Lodge is part of the PFJ scenery. The Cabins are all in PFJ's Service Pack II...

... and it seems solid, easy to enter the information, etc.

Plan-G.........

Fun to work on, that's for sure.

Doug

OK now I'm confused.  PFJ's Service Pack II????  Never heard of such a beast.  Just checked the ORBX site and the only thing I see there is FTXNAPFJ_Patch001.zip  Is this what you are referring to?
Or, am I missing something important?
 8)

EDIT:

Am I going crazy or what?  With the 001 PDF I downloaded it and have the PDF on my HD but for the life of me I can not figure out how to download either 001 or 002 now.  Pray tell how I can do this???
 ::)
« Last Edit: July 30, 2011, 01:47:05 PM by spud »
Later,

Spud

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2011, 02:24:44 PM »
Spud  it is service pack I ... I fixed it.  Try downloading again, it should work now, let me know if it doesn't.  I've made some graphical changes on it that makes it easier to read.  Are my instructions clear enough to move the window over to the right?  One person told me this was confusing.  Maybe there's a better way to "say" it ... but the pictures there certainly show what needs to be done.

On the pdf ... there is no longer a pdf.  All there is is html.  So when you download it, you get a full web page. You tweak that window to move it to the right opening up your screen for the Flight sim.  See the pics.

Fireball ... I'll put that dispatch in the hopper ... thank you!!

D
« Last Edit: July 30, 2011, 02:26:19 PM by Doug »

jeff3163

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,103
  • Watercraft-Panels-Paint
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2011, 02:52:13 PM »
Hey Doug,  I flew this "dispatch #001" this morning.  The "webpage on the right border" is a great idea.  It worked like a charm.  I look forward to #002.  I'd thought about conducting mail runs, or supply and cargo runs, but hadn't done anything with the idea.  I'm glad someone is doing it.  Thanks. 

Win10Pro64, MSFS 1.25.9.0, P3Dv4.3.29.25520, AMD Ryzen7 1800X@3.6 GHz , 32Gb RAM, GTX 1080 Ti, 2x42" Vizio Monitors, HTC Vive VR HMD, Saitek Yoke/Pedals/trim wheel, XBox360 Controller, G27 steering wheel w/shifter+pedals. :P

Doug

  • Misty Moorings Site Admin
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4,186
    • Return to Misty Moorings
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2011, 03:11:06 PM »
Jeff ... I tweaked the graphics and story line in 001 this morning ... it works better. Going to work on the map area with "Elements" this afternoon.   002 is "ready" to try.  This new one will be great for someone just getting started with RTMM ... all of the sceneries needed are there except one.  (What is needed) is now on the bottom of the briefing).  We'll get better at these as we go along ... all ideas are welcome.

D

Dragnhorn

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 751
  • "Ahhhhh..the smell of black powder in the morning"
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #13 on: July 30, 2011, 04:23:00 PM »
Doug,
  About to try out Dispatch #1 if I can squeeze it in before my son and his triplet boys arrive from Washington!

Wanted to say I love the idea and especially the way you made the "required items" show the sceneries as links direct to the scenery in question.    Good job, and looking forward to checking on the cabins.    :D
Rob Abernathy
aka Dragnhorn

PC specs: 
Intel Quad Core i7 4790k Devil's Canyon (Haswell), 4.0 GHZ, /Gigabyte 87 UD4H 32 GB mother board, 16 GB DDR3 1866MHZ, Nvidia GTX 760 2 GB x 2 SLI, 2 TB 7200RPM HDD, Cpu Liquid Cooling Unit LVL 4, 750W Thermaltake, Windows 7 64 bit

spud

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3,082
Re: The Dispatcher's Office
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2011, 10:23:32 AM »
Spud  it is service pack I ... I fixed it.  Try downloading again, it should work now, let me know if it doesn't.  I've made some graphical changes on it that makes it easier to read.  Are my instructions clear enough to move the window over to the right?  One person told me this was confusing.  Maybe there's a better way to "say" it ... but the pictures there certainly show what needs to be done.

On the pdf ... there is no longer a pdf.  All there is is html.  So when you download it, you get a full web page. You tweak that window to move it to the right opening up your screen for the Flight sim.  See the pics.

Fireball ... I'll put that dispatch in the hopper ... thank you!!

D

Doug,
still have no clue what or where a "Service Pack I" is obtainable from ORBX or anywhere else.  If it is the Patch 001 then we are on the same page.  IMHO a "Service Pack" and a "Patch" are two distinct and separate entities.
 8)
EDIT:

I guess it is just my dumbass week or something but I still can not figure out how I'm supposed to include the "Dispatch" into my sim.  If I have to have my browser running at the same time just to see the html page then that will mean I'll have to pass because I do not like the slowness of FSX when I run another program along with it.  As I say my system is marginal with the FTX scenery load as it is, that is the reason I do not run Plan G at the same time either.
With a PDF I just load it and can switch back and forth (TAB key) between the sim and the "Dispatch".  What I will do however is get the html and save it as a WORD doc. and view it that way without running the browser in the background.
 8)

EDIT II

OOOOKAY!
Found the fine print at the very bottom of "Dispatch 002" (who goes down that far?? ;D Where the link to the FTX PATCH001 is located so it is the patch we need.  Sorry for the confusion but a spade is not a club in my poker playing!
 ;)
 8)
« Last Edit: July 31, 2011, 11:24:15 AM by spud »
Later,

Spud