JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Suggestions, ideas and general discussion about JoinFS.
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vatsimmer
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JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Hi there,
I was wondering how JoinFS would work with a cross-platform (FSX, P3Dv4/5, MSFS2020 & X-Plane 11) server, and I was wondering how model-matching would work. Can packages like FLAi (http://flai.bvartcc.com/) for FSX and P3D, and Bluebell CSL (https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/f ... -packages/) for X-Plane 11 be used? As far as I'm aware, in X-Plane, you have to define how many people will join the session for the AI aircraft to show - https://prnt.sc/vjgdlj . Is this necessary? Surely a lot of .acf being loaded would not be very frame friendly?

Any help with this would be great, or any other useful information I should be aware of for this

[please note; although my username is 'vatsimmer', I am not affiliated with vatsim, nor am I enquiring on their behalf - this is for a completely separate, unique community]
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Peter
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by Peter »

Hello,

good questions. JoinFS works very well across a mix of platform. The model matching is quite straight forward. You can substitute any model at any time from the Aircraft view.

Currently X-Plane CSL is not supported, however I'm currently overhauling the X-Plane aircraft at the moment, and I agree that using CSL would be a great feature.

Yes, the need to add AI aircraft is a real pain at the moment. I am half way through using the X-Plane instance rendering which would do away with all that and have other benefits as well, such as no stalling every time a new aircraft is injected.

So, basically X-Plane support should be improving soon.

Peter
vatsimmer
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Hi Peter, thanks for the response. So, would people on X-Plane have to know how many people would be joining the 'server' to select the AI aircraft, or would they just have to go to here https://prnt.sc/vjgdlj and add a bunch of AI Aircraft? I'm confused as to how JoinFS manipulates the AI models, and whether I need to manually load models through the JoinFS client or through X-Plane.
Thanks,
Callum.
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Peter
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by Peter »

vatsimmer wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 2:27 pm Hi Peter, thanks for the response. So, would people on X-Plane have to know how many people would be joining the 'server' to select the AI aircraft, or would they just have to go to here https://prnt.sc/vjgdlj and add a bunch of AI Aircraft? I'm confused as to how JoinFS manipulates the AI models, and whether I need to manually load models through the JoinFS client or through X-Plane.
Thanks,
Callum.
Yes, you need to add enough AI aircraft depending on how many join the server. JoinFS basically takes over each AI aircraft and changes the model, so you don't need to worry about the model types that you add as AI aircraft. It's purely the number of AI aircraft that matters. JoinFS will use the AI aircraft for the closest pilots. So if you want to see at least 10 network aircraft, then add 10 AI aircraft. Again, don't worry about the model type, JoinFS will change that depending on your model matching.

Hope that makes sense,
Peter
vatsimmer
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Ah okay. So, could I add, something like 20 AI aircraft, and as long as no more than 20 people joined, I'd be fine? Or would I have to add the exact amount of aircraft for the amount of people connected?
- Callum
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Peter
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by Peter »

vatsimmer wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 5:06 pm Ah okay. So, could I add, something like 20 AI aircraft, and as long as no more than 20 people joined, I'd be fine? Or would I have to add the exact amount of aircraft for the amount of people connected?
- Callum
Well, it's not really a problem if you don't have the exact number of aircraft. If you add 20 AI aircraft and 10 people join, you will see all 10 aircraft. If 30 people join then you will see the closest 20 aircraft. Nothing will break, it's just that the 10 farthest aircraft won't show in the simulator.

Peter
vatsimmer
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Great! I was under the impression that I had to add the exact amount of Ai aircraft according to the number of people in the server.
Thank you for your replies, and if I have any further questions, I'll post them here.

Thanks,
Callum :)
vatsimmer
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Hello again.
I have tried creating a hub and port-forwarding, however, I still see non-JoinFS AI and no JoinFS traffic.
Someone else has connected and taxied around the airport, but I still do not see them. I am confused as to why this does not work.
Both 'Simulator' and 'Network' are green, so I see no reason for this not to work.
Any help would be appreciated.
Callum
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Peter
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by Peter »

Hi Callum,

What is showing in the JoinFS Aircraft view? Is the other aircraft listed? What colour is their entry in the distance column? What does it say in the Monitor view, can you see any errors in there?

Peter
vatsimmer
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Hi there Peter
I did some testing yesterday with some friends, and I could see both of them moving. (On Global, not a Hub)
I had added 8 AI Aircraft, 2 were the two friends connected and the other 6 were flying and taxing, completely unrelated to JoinFS. Is there any way to stop this? Or (until CSL support is added) will I X-Plane users have to deal with other non-JoinFS AI?
Also, is there any way to change your callsign within JoinFS?
Callum
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Peter
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by Peter »

vatsimmer wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 4:56 pm Hi there Peter
I did some testing yesterday with some friends, and I could see both of them moving. (On Global, not a Hub)
I had added 8 AI Aircraft, 2 were the two friends connected and the other 6 were flying and taxing, completely unrelated to JoinFS. Is there any way to stop this? Or (until CSL support is added) will I X-Plane users have to deal with other non-JoinFS AI?
Also, is there any way to change your callsign within JoinFS?
Callum
Yes, if the instance rendering which I'm working on is successful then you won't have the extra AI aircraft getting in the way.

There is a simple fix to your above problem. If you only have two others connected, remove 6 of the AI aircraft. Problem solved. If you have another friend join, add an AI aircraft. That's what I tend to do at the moment.

You'll be able to change your callsign very soon, it will be part of the model masquerading feature coming in the next week or two.

Peter
vatsimmer
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Re: JoinFS with a cross-platform Flight Sim server

Post by vatsimmer »

Ah I see
Great news, I look forward to CSL support!
Callum
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