User Created Custom Missions

Hi,

I am currently checking out Missionsgerät for a school project (I run a flight simulation workshop in our local school).

When generating a flight plan with Little Navmap, the mission pointers (those green arrows) stay on the ground in AFS4. I compared the code with the built in missions and can't find any difference.

Here is one checkpoint from a built in mission (which shows the arrows with the correct slope and altitude):

<[tmmission_checkpoint][element][2]
<[string8u][type][waypoint]>
<[string8u][name][BOBJA]>
<[vector2_float64][lon_lat][-122.096500 38.031600]>
<[float64][altitude][620.7343241365016]>
//<[float64][speed][122]>
<[float64][direction][322.59448797259176]>
<[float64][slope][0.09613162893717445]> // 5.5 deg
<[float64][length][0]>
<[float64][frequency][0]>
<[bool][fly_over][false]>

And this is one from my flightplan (which doesn't):

<[tmmission_checkpoint][element][2]
<[string8u][type][waypoint]>
<[string8u][name][WP1]>
<[vector2_float64][lon_lat][-1.527894 52.314250]>
<[float64][altitude][457.1999853696005]>
//<[float64][speed][180]>
<[float64][direction][178.75984852818988]>
<[float64][slope][0.11805550731320379]> // 6.7 deg
<[float64][length][0]>
<[float64][frequency][0]>
<[bool][fly_over][false]>

What am I missing?

Boris

I have a similar problem with creating missions to training takeoffs and landings on an aircraft carrier:
- I set individual altitude and slope for any waypoint, but the green arrows are always at the fixed height of 11,000 ft.

If I connect the starting point with an airfield in the FS 4 database, then I get more suitable heights, but that has still not been fully developed for me.

That's why I posted the code blocks - I can't see any difference. In Missionsgeät, both missions look the same, every waypoint has an altitude. Still, for the mission extracted from the custom missions the pointers follow the vertical path, for my own mission they don't

But thanks for answering in this ancient thread

Intersting discussion, I hope the developers can give us a hand with this.

I'm at a loss Altitude parameters in the flightplan or the mission definition seem to be totally irrelevant. I deleted all of them with no visible effect.

Found some sort of a workaround, though. Here's what happens:

• Create PLN in Little Navmap
• Import into Missionsgerät
• Create custom_mission_user file
• Start AFS4
• Go to challenges, select custom mission, start flight

Mission pointers are flat on the ground. ApfelFlieger : Might be the same as 11000ft - the current altitude of the aircraft (?)

Now the workaround:

• Go back
• Go to navigation (which now shows your plan)
• Adjust runway / start location (LNM plan puts you in the middle of the runway, nose pointing towards destination)
• Go back
• Press start

Ta-da: Mission pointers show the flight path depending on the cruise altitude entered in navigation

Sometimes, the mission pointer type changes from the double arrow line to the green frames, but that's neglectable.

It might have to do with the main.mcf file - it updates when switching from challenges back to navigation. However, when I copied the navigation block from one main.mcf to a new one and started AFS4 with that, it showed DEP/DEST, but had no route in between.

Can you make anything of it?

Thanks borisvp for the reference to the main.mcf.

There I can already position the green frames in the height of the waypoints in the line "<[vector2_float64][Altitude][150 160]>". The CruiseAltitude in the line "<[float64][CruiseAltitude][155]" was not taken over.

Unfortunately, the position information is not in "lonlat", so I can't create it quickly via a text editor.

I did some more try&error and finally succeeded in creating a mission from LNM with working pointers without the workaround.

The mission must have a runway between the departure and the first waypoint. Without this, the pointers are flat. With a runway, the pointers work as they should. I missed that before when creating LNM flightplans. Since LNM treats a runway as a procedure, it's not imported into Missionsgerät and I must convert it to a waypoint prior to exporting the plan. Then it becomes a waypoint with the runway designator..

The LNM plan always starts at the ARP, not at the departure runway. A useful feature would be to write the runway lon_lat and runway heading to the origin_lon_lat and origin_dir.

Then the aircraft is set to the runway departure point, facing down the runway

Neither the altitude nor the slope parameter have any effect on on the mission pointers. The vertical flight path is being calculated within AFS4 from the cruise altitude.

The take-off positions and heights work well for me when I design something from an airfield that is "officially" included in the FS 4 database.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me (yet) properly when I choose the starting point freely. I am currently trying to create missions for take-off and landing on an aircraft carrier. To do this, I first repositioned my project from August 2024 to have sufficient airspace:

• https://flight-sim.org/filebase/index.php? entry/1516-us-ca-cvn-70-and-t-ao-188-are-ready-for-aar-and-ras-2025-01-22/

With the text editor I was able to design the airport files of the aircraft carrier in such a way that only take-offs are possible with the catapults and only landings with one position each with the runway. The runways for the catapults are placed on the deck, the runway is placed on the water in extension of the deck, so that in a runway the copilot also lands on the carrier.

So, and now I come to the topic of this thread:

I plan 3 take-off and 3 landing missions each according to the categories CAT I, II and III.

At the moment I am still at the start of the catapult 2 (height of the deck 18.9 m) with the following flight 7 nm at 500 ft height with 300 KIAS.

I'll try a little and then write if and how it works.

Hm. It appears that LNM doesn't export any departure runway at all, regardless of what I enter in the FPL or how I export it.

LNM flightplan:

Export file:

<DepartureID>EGBE</DepartureID>
<DepartureLLA>N52° 22' 32.86",W1° 28' 8.65",+000267.00</DepartureLLA> These are the RWY23 departure point coordinates

<ATCWaypoint id="EGBE">
<ATCWaypointType>Airport</ATCWaypointType>
<WorldPosition>N52° 22' 11.32",W1° 28' 46.83",+000267.00</WorldPosition> These are the ARP coordinates
<ICAO>
<ICAOIdent>EGBE</ICAOIdent>
</ICAO>
</ATCWaypoint>
<ATCWaypoint id="RW233">
<ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
<WorldPosition>N52° 20' 31.55",W1° 31' 43.97",+000808.74</WorldPosition>
<ICAO>
<ICAOIdent>RW233</ICAOIdent>
</ICAO>

The arrival runway, however, is present in the export:

<ATCWaypoint id="RW21">
<ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
<WorldPosition>N52° 4' 44.64",W0° 36' 34.89",+000358.00</WorldPosition>
<ICAO>
<ICAOIdent>RW21</ICAOIdent>
</ICAO>

The complete .pln file is attached as txt.

I looked for this challenge ...

... looked at what is entered in the custom_missions_user.tmc (left of "//") and what is then stored in the main.mcf (right of "//"). Here are 2 excerpts.

Overall, it is not yet quite conclusive for me which elements with which content from the custom_missions_user.tmc are then found in the main.mcf .

(1) Start-Elements:

The element "departure" does not exist in the main.mcf.

(2) Target elements:

This simulator is even stranger than I could imagine and in no way conclusive (or in some way only a long lost programmer knows)

Quote from Armitage

Use "Convert departure to waypoints"

Yep, that's what I do.

I created a custom_missions_user with 3 missions in it. Side note: How does AFS determine the order the missions are shown in the list? Seems totally arbitrary to me...

Two missions worked (in terms of mission pointers), one didn't. The syntax in the missions is (of course) totally identical. I then tried the workaround (go back, go to navigation, check runway and so on).

And then I noticed this: When in "navigation" the departure runway does not match with the one in the mission, the pointers don't work. However that departure runway is determined. I switch the runway in "navigation", and it works.

So it seems to me that AFS reads the mission file, creates some sort of background navigation once I load the mission, picks a random (?) runway, and when the departure runways don't match, pointers won't work. I can't be main.mcf, bcause the new navigation is only being written into main.mcf when I exit the mission.

Boy, we do have problems...

Quote

...

I can't be main.mcf, bcause the new navigation is only being written into main.mcf when I exit the mission.

During my tests I found out that if my mission is in the main.mfc, I can enter the height of the green frames directly in the main.mfc, for example.

Now I have found out how to activate the heights at waypoints:

• If the line marked in blue is inserted into the code of an element, the height is taken over.

This also stores the MAIN.MCF correctly:

I attach the complete mission file with which I tested this (for information: I am currently creating the mission file for take-off and landing on an aircraft carrier).

Info to IPACS:

During my attempts, I noticed that ...

• ... a code entered in the custom_missions_user.tmc "<[bool][fly_over][true]>" ...
  
  
  
• ...is not transferred to the main.mcf "<[bool][FlyOver][false]>".
  
  

And in addition 3 questions to IPACS about the missions:

1. What does the code "<[bool][is_featured][true/false]>"?
2. What does the code "<[bool][is_scheduled][true/false]>"?
3. With which code do I enter the "CruiseAltitude" and the "CruiseSpeed"?