AI Boat Traffic Compiler (AIBTC) is a software to create, edit and compile schedules for ships in Flight Simulator X. It is inspired by the venerable TTools of Lee Swordy to create AI aircrafts schedules. A prior knowledge of aircraft AI traffic is needed to understand this document.
How
boats works in FSX ? (technical)
There are multiple ways to get sea traffic in FSX:
Static boats.
There are some static boats in main seaports around the world. As said,
they are only static, they don't move. Their density depends on the "scenery complexity" ruler. You can
add some static boats using standard scenery tools, like Rwy12 or the
object placement tool included with the mission SDK (only in FSX
deluxe).
LivingWorld boats:
LivingWorld is the name of
the FSX subsystem that deals with vehicles additions, like cars,
airports ground vehicles and some boats. In FSX, it handles only inland
and leisure boats. The boats managed by LivingWorld have no schedules
or known paths. They just moves randomly near coastlines and on lakes.
You can edit the density of LW boats using the "Leisure boats" ruler on the "Traffic" tab, but not manage each
boat separately.
You can also change the models of the boats used by editing the LWcfg.xml
configuration file. Note that you must recompile this file to
SPB format after editing. The concepts used by LivingWorld traffic
generation is very similar to Autogen features, so I advise you to read
autogen and terrain documentations included in the SDK (don't search
documentation about LWcfg.xml it is yet undocumented)
Mission or
SimConnect-managed
boats : these boats are created ang managed by the mission
system or some kind of third-party add-on using simconnect. The
developper must include a list of waypoints for each moving object he
wants to include in the simulator. These boats are thus restricted to
very special situations and not available in a general flying
context.
AI boats: the AI
boats (Artificial Intelligence) are managed by the same AI system that
provides aerial traffic since FS2002. In FSX, it can also handles
boats. The features offfered by AI boats are very powerful : you can
add your own models, define accurate schedules and routes to follow.
The AI Boat Traffic Compiler Tool address only this type of traffic.
Conceptual
differences between boats and aircraft traffic
Globally, all the facts needed to create and understand boat traffic
are the same as for aircrafts. However slight differences should be
noted:
Boats do not travel between two ports, but follow a route
instead. All points on the route must be specified while creating the
traffic. There are no known limitation on the number of points. If you
create a traffic that places two boats on the same route, they will not
collide or sink, but ignore themselves.
When a boat arrive at the last point of a route, it can stay at
this point until the departure of the next order (FERRY type) or can
dispatch on a 300 meters circle around the last point (CARGO type). The
cargo type allows to have than one boat at a terminal port at the same
time. When designing cargo boat routes, it is recommended to place
endpoints at least 300 meters away from land.
Boat plans can have more than two legs in their orders, however
if more than two different routes are used, the traffic may cause FSX
to crash
Schedules can be repeated on a periodic basis specified by the
user. The frequency availables are the same as for aircrafts (1 hour -
1 week) plus 2 weeks, 5 weeks and 8 weeks to allow longer travels
Aircraft-specific features are discarded (IFR/VFR, touch'n'goes,
flight numbers, altitudes)
No custom schedules can be used with the TrafficDatabaseBuilder
tool shipped with Flight Simulator X. That's why AIBTC was developed.
