AutoGate jetway and docking guidance system kit for X-Plane^®

Overview

This kit allows X-Plane scenery designers to add animated jetway and docking guidance systems (DGS) to scenery packages. Two types of jetway and four types of DGS are included.

The jetway animates to “dock” with the plane's main door when the pilot engages the parking brake and shuts down the plane's engines with the plane within ½m of the correct stopping position. The DGS guides the pilot to the correct stopping position.

An example scenery package built using this kit is available. Please see the notes below if you're upgrading from an earlier of this kit.

How it works

The jetways and DGSs are standard X-Plane scenery objects that you place in your scenery package using OverlayEditor (version 2.48 or later recommended) or WED (version 1.1r1 or later recommended). They are animated by X-Plane custom datarefs which are supplied by a plugin.

The plugin needs to know the type of aircraft that the user is piloting and the location of its main boarding door. The plugin reads this information from the “ICAO code” and “boarding door location” values in the ACF file of the aircraft that the user is piloting. These values can be edited on the Standard → Viewpoint screen in Plane-Maker. If the ACF file does not have this information correctly recorded then the DGS will display “ID FAIL” and the jetway will remain in the retracted position.

The system is designed so that it imposes no more load on X-Plane than normal “static” scenery objects unless the user's viewpoint is within 1000m of a jetway or 500m of a DGS, in which case the load remains very modest. If the plugin is not installed then the DGS and jetway objects will behave as if they were normal “static” scenery objects.

Usage

Download and install the AutoGate plugin. Installation instructions are in the file ReadMe.txt included.

Please do not re-distribute the plugin with your scenery package; ask your users to download it from http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/AutoGate.zip instead. This ensures that they have the latest version. (Future versions of the plugin may support more jetways and/or DGSs, but will remain backwards-compatible).

Stand-alone Docking Guidance Systems

Four types of DGS are supplied for use without an accompanying animated jetway, e.g. for use at apron parking stands:

	Safegate® inductive-loop DGS	Safedock®2S advanced DGS	Safedock®T2 advanced DGS	Human marshaller

Various versions of these stand-alone DGS objects are supplied in this kit's Standalone-Safegate, Standalone-Safedock2S, Standalone-SafedockT2 and Standalone-Marshaller folders, named SA-dm-Safegate-hm.obj, SA-dm-Safedock2S-hm.obj, SA-dm-SafedockT2-hm.obj and SA-dm-Marshaller.obj. These objects differ in the distance d between the stopping point and the DGS, and in the height h of the DGS above the ground. Parking stands intended for heavies will need the further and taller DGSs. You don't need to distribute all of these objects with your scenery package - only the ones that you use.

To place a stand-alone DGS into your scenery package:

• First, copy one or more of the DGS objects from the Standalone-Safegate, Standalone-Safedock2S, Standalone-SafedockT2 and/or Standalone-Marhsaller folders into your scenery package:
  • OverlayEditor: Drag the object(s) from the Standalone-Safegate, Standalone-Safedock2S, Standalone-SafedockT2 or Standalone-Marshaller folder and drop onto OverlayEditor's list of objects.
  • WED: Use Finder or Explorer to copy the DGS object(s) plus the associated textures (Safegate.dds + Safegate_LIT.dds, Safedock2S.dds + Safedock2S_LIT.dds, SafedockT2.dds + SafedockT2_LIT.dds or Marshaller.dds + Marshaller_LIT.dds) from the Standalone-Safegate, Standalone-Safedock2S, Standalone-SafedockT2 or Standalone-Marshaller folder into your scenery package folder.
  Alternatively, just copy the entire Standalone-Safegate, Standalone-Safedock2S, Standalone-SafedockT2 and/or Standalone-Marshaller folder(s) into your scenery package (but don't forget to strip out unused objects before distributing, e.g. using the X-Publish tool).
• Place the DGS objects in your scenery package just like any other 3D object. For correct operation the DGSs must be placed with the same heading that the aircraft will have when it is stopped at the stand; position a static aircraft at the stand for reference and note its heading in the status bar (OverlayEditor) or attributes pane (WED) — the DGS must be placed with exactly this same heading.
• An aircraft will be at the stopping position when the boarding door is level with the DGS object's “origin” (so if your scenery includes static jetways, place the DGS so that the origin is roughly level with the jetway door). To visualise the DGS object's origin:

  OverlayEditor: Select the DGS object and press C. The red cursor jumps to the DGS object's origin:	WED: Select the DGS object using the Vertex tool. The yellow cursor shows the DGS object's origin:

• The pilot will find it difficult to line-up at the stand without a lead-in apron line so you may wish to add one and connect it to the taxi network. The lead-in line should pass through the DGS object's origin. (According to ICAO Annex 14 stand lead-in lines should, like taxi lines, be solid yellow).
• If you want to designate this stand as an X-Plane “Ramp Start” then place the Ramp Start well back from the stopping position / DGS origin and set its type to “Misc”; X-Plane places aircraft with their center of gravity at a miscellaneous Ramp Start location.
• Place the DGS objects with their origins more than 20m away from any other stand-alone DGSs and from any AutoGate animated jetways.

Animated Jetways

Two types of animated jetway are supplied:

	Glass jetway	Steel jetway

Various versions of these jetway objects are supplied in this kit's Jetways-Glass and Jetways-Steel folders, named AutoGate-lm-glass.obj, AutoGate-perpendicular-lm-glass.obj, AutoGate-straight-lm-glass.obj, AutoGate-lm-steel.obj, AutoGate-perpendicular-lm-steel.obj and AutoGate-straight-lm-steel.obj. These differ whether the jetway is angled, perpendicular or straight relative to the aircraft, and in the (approximate) length l of the jetway in its retracted position. You don't need to distribute all of these objects with your scenery package - only the ones that you use.

To place an animated jetway into your scenery package:

• First, copy one or more of the AutoGate-*.obj jetway objects from the Jetways-Glass and/or Jetways-Steel folders into your scenery package:
  • OverlayEditor: Drag the jetway object(s) from the Jetways-Glass or Jetways-Steel folder and drop onto OverlayEditor's list of objects.
  • WED: Use Finder or Explorer to copy the jetway object(s) plus the associated textures AutoGate2.dds + AutoGate2_LIT.dds from the Jetways-Glass or Jetways-Steel folder into your scenery package folder.
  Alternatively, just copy the entire Jetways-Glass and/or Jetways-Steel folder(s) into your scenery package (but don't forget to strip out unused objects before distributing, e.g. using the X-Publish tool).
• Place the jetway objects in your scenery package just like any other 3D object. For correct operation the jetways must be placed with the same heading that the aircraft will have when it is stopped at the stand; position a static aircraft at the stand for reference and note its heading in the status bar (OverlayEditor) or attributes pane (WED) — the jetway must be placed with exactly this same heading.
• An aircraft will be at the stopping position when the boarding door is level with the jetway object's “origin”. To visualise the jetway object's origin:

  OverlayEditor: Select the jetway object and press C. The red cursor jumps to the jetway object's origin:	WED: Select the jetway object using the Vertex tool. The yellow cursor shows the jetway object's origin:

• The pilot will find it difficult to line-up at the gate without a lead-in apron line so you may wish to add one and connect it to the taxi network. The lead-in line should pass through the jetway object's origin. (According to ICAO Annex 14 gate lead-in lines should, like taxi lines, be solid yellow).
• Place only one animated jetway at each gate. If you are modelling a complicated gate with multiple jetways the additional jetways must be static; use the StaticGate-*.obj jetway objects described below. (This limitation exists in part because the X-Plane ACF file only specifies one boarding door location). The example scenery package contains a gate of this configuration.
• If you want to designate this gate as a “Ramp Start” then place the Ramp Start at the stopping position / jetway object origin and change its type to “Gate”.
  Note: X-Plane v9 doesn't support Ramp Start types, and places aircraft with their center of gravity at the Ramp Start location; so if designing for v9 place the Ramp Start well back from the stopping position / jetway object origin.
• Place the animated jetway objects with their origins more than 20m away from any other AutoGate animated jetways and from any stand-alone DGSs.

Four types of DGS are supplied for use with in conjunction with an animated jetway - refer to the Stand-alone section for pictures. Use of a DGS is optional - the animated jetways work fine without it - but the pilot will find it difficult to stop the aircraft at the correct position if you don't include a DGS.

Various versions of the DGS objects are supplied in this kit's DGSs-Safegate, DGSs-Safedock2S, DGSs-SafedockT2 and DGSs-Marshaller folders, named Safegate-hm[-pole].obj, Safedock2S-hm[-pole].obj, SafedockT2-hm[-pole].obj and Marshaller.obj. These differ in the height h of the DGS above the ground, and whether the DGS is mounted on a pole. Gates intended for heavies will need the taller DGSs. You don't need to distribute all of these objects with your scenery package - only the ones that you use.

To add a DGS to your gate:

• First, copy one or more of the DGS objects from the DGSs-Safegate, DGSs-Safedock2S, DGSs-SafedockT2 and/or DGSs-Marshaller folder into your scenery package:
  • OverlayEditor: Drag the object(s) from the DGSs-Safegate, DGSs-Safedock2S, DGSs-SafedockT2 or DGSs-Marshaller folder and drop onto OverlayEditor's list of objects.
  • WED: Use Finder or Explorer to copy the DGS object(s) plus the associated textures (Safegate.dds + Safegate_LIT.dds, Safedock2S.dds + Safedock2S_LIT.dds, SafedockT2.dds + SafedockT2_LIT.dds or Marshaller.dds + Marshaller_LIT.dds) from the DGSs-Safegate, DGSs-Safedock2S, DGSs-SafedockT2 or DGSs-Marshaller folder into your scenery package folder.
  Alternatively, just copy the entire DGSs-Safegate, DGSs-Safedock2S, DGSs-SafedockT2 and/or DGSs-Marshaller folder(s) into your scenery package (but don't forget to strip out unused objects before distributing, e.g. using the X-Publish tool).
• Place the DGS objects in your scenery package just like any other 3D object. For correct operation the DGSs must be placed with the same heading as the jetways, which is the same heading that the aircraft will have when it is stopped at the stand.
• The DGS objects must be placed within this zone relative to the jetway object's origin:
• The older Safegate DGS works by parallax and so must be placed directly ahead of the pilot's seat.
• There's a greenzone.obj object in the Helpers folder to help you with DGS positioning - place this object with the same origin and heading as the jetway object.
• Place the DGS objects such that they are not inside the “green zone” of any any other AutoGate animated jetways or within 30m of any stand-alone DGSs.
• The DGS will remain blank or will display incorrect information if it is not placed next to an AutoGate jetway.

Static Objects

Various static objects are supplied in this kit's Jetways-Glass and Jetways-Steel folders:

StaticGate-lm-glass.obj, StaticGate-perpendicular-lm-glass.obj, StaticGate-straight-lm-glass.obj, StaticGate-lm-steel.obj, StaticGate-perpendicular-lm-steel.obj and StaticGate-straight-lm-steel.obj

Static versions of the AutoGate jetways. These can be used when a static aircraft is parked at a gate. These can also be used in conjunction with a single AutoGate animated jetway at a gate which has multiple jetways.

JetwayExt-lm-glass.obj and JetwayExt-lm-steel.obj

Jetway extensions with a supporting pillar at one end.

JetwayCon-lm-glass.obj and JetwayCon-lm-steel.obj

Jetway connectors with no supporting pillar.

You don't need to distribute all of these objects with your scenery package - only the ones that you use.

Customisation

Jetways

The static and animated glass and steel jetway objects share common texture files AutoGate2.dds and AutoGate2_LIT.dds in the Jetways-Glass and Jetways-Steel folders. You can edit or replace these files in your scenery package folder. These files are very modestly sized; consider doubling their size if you want to add more detail. The file PaintKit.png in the Helpers folder describes how the textures in these files map to the jetway objects.

You can edit the object files in a text editor to change the name of the texture files specified in the TEXTURE and TEXTURE_LIT statements, and save the object with a different filename. This allows you to have a mix of differently textured jetways. (Note that the spacing rules described above still apply irrespective of the objects' filenames).

The static, animated and extension/connector glass jetways are drawn in “layer group” objects+4, objects+3 and objects+2 respectively, so that other scenery objects (which are normally drawn in layer group objects+0) can be viewed through the glass windows. If you have a number of glass objects at a gate you may need to change the ATTR_layer_group objects n statements in some of the object files to change their relative drawing order; i.e. so that objects further from the terminal building are drawn later than objects closer to the terminal building.

Docking Guidance Systems

The supplied DGSs are not designed to be customisable. However the plugin publishes various datarefs that you can use to construct your own DGS. Contact the author if you would like more information.

Upgrading from version 1.2 and earlier of this kit

This kit and the associated AutoGate plugin require X-Plane version 9 or later. If you're designing a scenery package for X-Plane 8 then you should stick with a previous version of this kit and of the AutoGate plugin.

The DGS objects in the DGSs-Safedock2S, DGSs-Safegate, Standalone-Safedock2S and Standalone-Safegate folders are drop-in replacements for older objects of the same name, but use higher quality DDS textures. Use OverlayEditor's Import button, or use Finder or Explorer to replace your existing DGS objects and textures. Delete the old PNG textures Safedock2S.png, Safedock2S_LIT.png, Safegate.png and Safegate_LIT.png from your scenery package folder.

There are no direct replacement for the old AutoGate.obj and AutoGate-angled.obj objects, but:

• Jetways-Steel/AutoGate-straight-20m-steel.obj plus Jetways-Steel/JetwayExt-10m-steel.obj take up roughly the same space as the old AutoGate.obj.
• Jetways-Steel/AutoGate-20m-steel.obj plus Jetways-Steel/JetwayExt-10m-steel.obj take up roughly the same space as the old AutoGate-angled.obj.

You can mix old and new objects in your scenery package. (Note that the spacing rules described above still apply irrespective of whether objects are old or new).

Upgrading from version 1.3 or later of this kit

If you'd like your existing scenery package to take advantage of the latest objects, and you haven't renamed or customised any of the supplied files, then just overwrite any existing files in your scenery package with the latest files from this kit of the same name. You will need to replace the textures as well as the objects. (Note that the different types of DGSs and jetways were split out into different folders in version 1.60 of this kit, so you may have to look in more than one folder to find the replacement files).

If you've renamed and/or customised any of the supplied objects then may want to be more selective in replacing files, and/or re-apply your customisations. This is the list of what has changed and when:

• All of the AutoGate-dm-glass, JetwayCon-dm-glass, JetwayExt-dm-glass and StaticGate-dm-glass objects the Jetways-Glass folder were re-modelled after version 1.3x to add night lighting.
  The re-modelled objects require the updated AutoGate2.dds texture in that folder.
• All of the AutoGate-dm-* and AutoGate-straight-dm-* objects in the Jetways-Glass and Jetways-Steel folders were re-modelled after version 1.4x to add a ground-level beacon.
  (The AutoGate2.dds and AutoGate2_LIT.dds textures in those folders were unchanged).
• Some of the AutoGate-perpendicular-* objects in the Jetways-Glass and Jetways-Steel folders were re-modelled after version 1.5x to correct their animation.
  (The AutoGate2.dds and AutoGate2_LIT.dds textures in those folders were unchanged).
• All of the Safedock2S-* objects in the DGSs-Safedock2S folder, and all of the SA-dm-Safedock2S-* objects in the Standalone-Safedock2S folder were re-modelled after version 1.5x to display arbitrary aircraft ICAO designations.
  The re-modelled objects require the updated Safedock2S.dds and Safedock2S_LIT.dds textures in those folders.

Acknowledgements

“X-Plane” is a registered trademark of Laminar Research.

“Safedock” and “Safegate” are registered trademarks of Safegate Group. Safegate Group is not associated with and does not endorse this scenery kit.

Marshaller figure courtesy of Mr 3D.

License

This kit is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license. In short, you can use any part of this kit (including objects, images and plugins) in commerical scenery packages, but you must give the author credit.

The author would appreciate a courtesy copy of any commercial scenery that you make using this kit, but you are under no obligation.

The associated plugin is licensed under the GNU LGPL v2.1 license.

Version 1.61 © 2006-2014 Jonathan Harris