Airport Master Early Access Public v. 0.3.1a RELEASED!
Game workflow
- Added new Aircraft Atlas definitions for each aircraft in game: minimum landing distance, minimum tkof distance, minimum airport upgrade tier at which aircraft in question may appear in game world - as a preparation to actually enabling Players to upgrade Airport tiers and to keep sane with shortened takeoffs and mid-runway vacating for new runway 16-34; added
- Added 20 new taxi routes around Apron 2; added
- Added definitions for Cargo parking stands (S1 thru S3), new Passenger Terminal 2 Apron East parking stands\gates (V1 thru V8, W1 thru W6 and T1 thru T3), service hangars H4 and H5; added
- Changed how aircraft on Missed Approach measure minimal distance before first turn as per published IFR go-around procedure, from now pilots actually use distance to APT VOR\DME; changed
- Changed how Lights Controller module processes rules for day\night\dusk\dawn and LVP-induced lighting procedures sets of rules: from now on airport lighting schemes are not hard-coded but rather are a dictionary of rule-sets that can be used by ATC (and in future versions freely edited by Player, with regard to realistic lighting requirements, of course) to implement custom light-schemes: e.g. while taxiway centerline green LED-lamps are mandatory if installed during LVP, Player may elect to disable them at dusk and dawn hours, but keep them lit at night (reducing power costs), basically this new implementation gives freedom of airport lighting schemes configuration; changed
- Changed how ATC selects Runway In Use - since both new and old runways are facing common prevailing winds in Appleton Airport area and taking into account that we really want Open Alpha Players to test Runway 16-34 operations extensively, temporarily ATC will prefer runway 16 over runway 17 and runway 34 over runway 35 regardless of aircraft type and length of taxi route, later on, when both runways ops are well-tested, Player will have the choice to keep both runways active (higher energy bill, faster taxi times for Business and G\A aircraft) or use only Runway 16-34 (lower energy bill, longer taxi for Business and G\A aircraft); please keep in mind that since there's no required separation of 2000m between runways centerlines (as per ICAO regulations), no parallel runway operations will ever be possible, however in 2-active-runways scheme it will be possible to issue say a 'lineup runway 17 and wait' clearance right after another aircraft touches down on runway 16 and so on; changed
- Changed how ground movement segments are handled - a new robust algorithm replaced the old one where segments were initialized on game start (and also any savegame reload, exit to main menu and re-enter game world etc.) and then specifically checked against saved data, from now on ATC preserves its continuous ground segment map which only syncs with savegame data if a disambiguation is encountered, also no pre-initialization is required - this will save loading time and is a step to error-free ground segments management, which is crucial as Player's airport grows larger; changed
- Added radar display de-clutter controls to Radar Display Unit in Control Tower: an additional panel with clickable led-illuminated mode change buttons was added to SkyView Radar Unit enabling Player to switch on or off the following markings: VORs, NDBs, Extended Runway Centerlines, Visual Ref Points, Mandatory Reporting Points, Rotating Beam and toggle between full (TWR-style) and brief (APP\CTR-style) target identification labels; added
- Fixed smaller G\A aircraft that do not require post-flight services incorrectly reporting there are still passengers, baggage and waste onboard after going to idle mode and until new company loadsheet is received; fixed
- Changed monitor sizes in Control Tower (Apron 1) to larger size, also increased resolution on all ATC monitors; changed
- Added heliport apron F camera on lighting pole near heliport; the display of this camera becomes available at workplace of heliport controller in Control Tower once the corresponding Airport Upgrade Tier is unlocked (beforehand, said monitor is turned off); added
- Increased interval of time between helicopter engines startup/shutdown/control hover operations for smoother and more realistic behavior; tweaked
- Fixed bug with Flight School airplanes may not go to proper shutdown sequence due to the fact that their flight number has already changed in Flight Schedule and they were making invalid data requests using non-valid flight number; fixed
Aircraft
- Added new aircraft - Andronov AN25 (real-world prototype: Antonov An-26-100B) - initially developed as a military transport, recon, radio-relay and supplementary bomber, this aircraft took part in the majority of armed conflicts of second half of XX century and after retiring from military service it's second life as an utility cargo aircraft started, many Cargo operators around the World strived to acquire one as its ramp allows for quick loading\unloading of various cargo units (both pallets and ULD containers); Aircraft in the following liveries were added: VP-POB, VP-PWH (operator: CargoLet); added
Vehicles
- Added new service vehicle type - Universal Cargo Loader (model Headman 14, based on real-world Commander 15i). Cargo Loader has bridge and rear platforms (max 7 tons load each) and room for 3 LD3-containers or 3 universal cargo pallets. Cargo Loader is capable of loading\unloading cargo at Cargo terminal from rear, left or right and is compatible with all modern cargo aircraft configurations (ramp, lower deck, full-cargo). As usual, the vehicle features real world performance data as to turn radius, movement speed restriction, platforms lift-motors performance, convey speed etc.; added
ATC
- Added the following SIDs: LINTA 2D, LINTA 4F, MONET 1F, MONET 4S, PAROM 2D, PAROM 1C and STARs: LINTA 7E, LINTA 8A, MONET 7K, MONET 8L, PAROM 4W, PAROM 7B for IFR operations on runways 16 and 34; Added
- Added routing for VFR flights arriving and departing to and from runways 16 and 34 via VFR points: N, NE, E, W and SW; added
- Added ILS for runways 16 (IAT, 109.35 MHz, 163 deg) and 34 (IAP, 111.10 MHz, 343 deg); added
- Added NDBs for runways 16 (AT, 520 kHz and TA, 350 kHz) and 34 (AP, 580 kHz and PA, 305 kHz); added
- Implemented ILS, VOR and Visual approaches to runways 16 and 34; added
- Added go-around (missed approach) routes for runways 16 and 34; added
- Fixed ATC giving altitude clearance for IFR Missed Approach in same manner as for visual go-around; now IFR go-around altitude clearance follows published procedure (e.g. climb 1000 ft on runway heading, u-turn to VOR, climb 2000 ft and re-join localizer); fixed
- Fixed phraseology for IFR Go-Arounds; fixed
- Fixed radar display continued to display STAR name in Clearance Limit section of Radar label instead of 'GO AROUND' even after status changed at ATC; fixed
- Implemented conditional display of ATC radar screen aids and markings in relation to current Airport Upgrade Tier, so Radar screen shall only display helicopter visual points PT-HA and PT-HD when Player had upgraded Airport to include Heliport (Tier 2), only display ILS 16\ILS 34 range lines on screen when Airport is at Upgrade Tier 3 etc.; changed
Sound
- Tweaked (again) engines sounds audibility ranges for all types of aircraft and rotorcraft: smaller piston props range increased; VLJs - range decreased; larger jets and twin-turboprops - range decreased; tweaked
- Added new sounds for AN25 aircraft, recorded on actual AN24-RV (same engines as AN26-100B), RU19 (AN24\26 APU\takeoff boost engine) engine sound synthesized; added
Visual enhancements
- Added new modern-style LED-lights to Apron 2: runway centerline red, runway centerline white, runway borderline white, taxiway borderline blue, taxiway centerline green; those consume 60% less electrical power than old-style lamps and almost never malfunction; added
- Added Appleton Airport logos to some ground support vehicles; added
- Added new models, lighting models, light maps for new type LED runway centerline and border line lights; added
- Added 2 new types of 25-storey buildings to city-side; currently static, in later versions would be used in auto-generated blocks of buildings; added
Cameras
- Fixed incorrect requirements of Airport Upgrade Tier for Overview Camera quick cams; fixed
- Added 2 new Quick Cam locations: Hangars West and Cargo Apron; added
- Changed render resolution on some pre-pass cameras that render transparent details in forward rendering path for better blending of complex semi-transparent materials without the need to use second pass shader; changed
- Tweaked how speed of movement for free-cam type cameras (e.g. Airport Overview, Pax Terminal Inside cam etc.) gets adjusted basing on how long the directional key is pressed: camera movement acceleration is slower in the beginning (for slow and fluid near movement and it gets faster the longer Player holds direction key pressed - for faster far movements); tweaked
User Interface
- Added Financial Graphs to Finance tab in Airport Administration screen; Incomes and Expenses breakup by general type graphs are now available in the left section of the screen for easier analysis of cash flow; currently Incomes are segmented into 5 major types and Expenses are segmented into 7 major types, each represented by its own bar-graph (note: numerical per cent value is omitted on graph when the value is less than 1% of total sum, otherwise it's displayed in clearly readable box above the bar-graph itself); added
- Changed how Financial values Brief Line looks in Finance tab in Airport Administration screen: from now on it's one continuous line with left part being Income values (total, per day, per hour), middle part being Expenses (total, per day, per hour) and right part being current balance; all parts are color-coded per our standard scheme (red - expenses, green - incomes, golden on blue - balance); changed
- Added radar display de-clutter controls to Radar UI Overlay, including capability to switch on or off the following markings: VORs, NDBs, Extended Runway Centerlines, Visual Ref Points, Mandatory Reporting Points, Rotating Beam and toggle between full (TWR-style) and brief (APP\CTR-style) target identification labels; added
- Changed Game Loading Screen: instead of dark background it now features colorful in-game stills, more distinguishable 'game tips' area. In later versions Loading Screen will also display information on current Player achievements; changed
- Added Income Per Hour, Income Per Day, Expense Per Hour and Expense Per Day display in Finances tab; also these values will be used by City Mayor when setting goals for Player; added
- Added new Status Panel icons to display runways 16 and 34 as active runways; added
- Changed LVP\IMC\VMC icons on Status Panel; changed