Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - DVA - FSX Multiplayer Sessions..

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations | DVA - FSX Multiplayer Sessions..

DVA6125
Captain, CRJ-200

Joined on July 11 2008

Eastern Canada

24 legs, 29.2 hours

Posted onPost created on July 22 2008 21:52 ET by Adnan Hamsic

Greetings from DVA6125. I'm about to propose an idea dealing with online flight. I was wondering if Delta Virtual Airlines can host sessions on FSX (NOT VATSIM). Some people have slow performance computers, which don't allow them to fly with the many pilots and ATC on Vatsim. Also, the downloading, installing and using the network can be complicating. There is too many add-ons. It would be fair if more events were hosted on FSX Multiplayer (Game Spy) and we can have our own air traffic controllers. My friend Abdullah (DVA6123) feels the same way, and we think many other pilots do. Also, to ensure that only DVA members and/or partner airlines are in the sessions we can have passwords to access the sessions.

What does everybody think about this idea??

Adnan Hamsic (DVA6125)

DVA6123
Captain, CRJ-200

Joined on July 11 2008

Eastern Canada

17 legs, 16.3 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 02:11 ET by Abdullah El Tawil

Yes, instead of ACARS we should have dedicated sessions that are protected by passwords that the instructor gives the pilot in training. I've tried using ACARS but I have Windows Vista and it is not Vista Compatible. So everytime I want to open it up, I need the administrator's password (My big brother). So the idea here is to have these dedicated sessions everytime an instructor is giving a checkride to a pilot for a promotion, the instructor will share the plane and watch the pilot's handing of the plane. ACARS is too complicated and i'm not a big fan of add-ons. I think it is best for everyone. These sessions would eliminate the need for any further downloads which quickly take up space in the hard drive. We think it is the simplest way to do a checkride. No need for ACARS. This will especially help those with either a slow computer, or those that cannot use ACARS, such as me. I really hope you consider this.

Abdullah El Tawil

Captain, CRJ-200

DVA6125
Captain, CRJ-200

Joined on July 11 2008

Eastern Canada

24 legs, 29.2 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 02:15 ET by Adnan Hamsic

ACARS is fine, but VATSIM is probably what some pilots find complicated and can't run it on their machines.

Adnan Hamsic (DVA6125)

DVA6123
Captain, CRJ-200

Joined on July 11 2008

Eastern Canada

17 legs, 16.3 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 02:19 ET by Abdullah El Tawil

No, VATSIM isn't required to move up in the ranks. ACARS is. And that creates an obstacle for some of us. But either way, we should really have an online session or two to help some of us that do not have ACARS or VATSIM. I find it will reduce alot of the hassle.

Abdullah El Tawil

Captain, CRJ-200

DVA3931
Senior Captain, L-1011-100
OLP, COMM

Joined on January 19 2007
50 State Club
Tri-Jet Triumph
Million Mile Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Flying Colonel
Globetrotter
Burbank 500 Club
Eurocap Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary

"De oppresso liber"
Surry, ME

1,882 legs, 3,806.7 hours
478 legs, 767.8 hours online
1,107 legs, 1,674.5 hours ACARS
55 legs, 114.8 hours event
195 legs dispatched, 134.4 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 06:01 ET by Andrew Kaufmann

Abdullah and Adnan...if you are on ACARS, and you see me logged in - and not with a BUSY status, or when I am in as a DISPATCHER and it is not busy, double click my name, and I will gladly help you all out with VATSIM or ACARS or both. Drop me an email and I'll see what I can throw to gether to help you all out.

Andrew Kaufmann (DVA3931)

DVA6096
Captain, EMB-120
OLP

Joined on July 04 2008

""I SMILE CAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA""
Lawton, OK USA

74 legs, 91.0 hours
10 legs, 14.6 hours online
71 legs, 87.3 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 07:36 ET by Brandon Obrien

The orginal question was if DVA could host a multiplayer game on FSX and not in VATSIM. None of these answer are dealing with the root question. Abdullah I have Vista also and I am having no probelms with ACARS, in fact I think it runs great. I have never had any probelms running while running FSX, no crashes or delays in the game. ACARS does not require any additional add-ons. FSX has the only add-on that is needed, already installed with the game. VATSIM looks interesting but I am very hesiate about join VATSIM because of the reviews saying how complicated it is. The FSX Multiplayer funcation will fully support private, password protected, sesssions. The idea would be to have the instructor and student make contact on teamspeak or email and setup a time. Teamspeak is real simple to use, heck instructions are in the Document Library. They both log into the Multiplayer session, via GameSpy, and conduct the training. I use the Multiplayer function nightly and have never had a probelm, somestimes I just can not get anybody into my game (hint, hint). There is room in FSX Multiplayer for everyone to conduct whatever training they wish, from ATC to emergency procedures, it sill support the Mission! I FULLY SUPPORT THE USE OF FSX MULTIPLAYER!! smile

DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP

Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club

"Col. Panic"
Marietta, GA

2,347 legs, 9,466.0 hours
240 legs, 553.9 hours online
2,005 legs, 8,259.1 hours ACARS
75 legs, 196.3 hours event
2,383 legs, 9,600.9 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 07:39 ET by Luke Kolin

Thanks for your suggestions and ideas. There are a number of issues I see what you suggest.

Most importantly, not everyone uses FSX. Based on my statistics, it is used to log less than 25% of all flights at Delta Virtual. FS2004 remains the core flight simulation tool used by our community. Part of my strategic goals for 2008 and 2009 are to expand the scope of our airline to individuals using flight simulators outside the Microsoft family, most prominently X-Plane. Architectural work is currently being done within ACARS to modularize the flight simulation interaction code to make it simulator-agnostic.

Second, our experience has been that shared flights are actually a rather poor way to conduct check rides. We attempted something similar (on VATSIM) several years ago, and the success rate was quite low. We found that most people did not bother to show up for their scheduled check rides (even when they set the date/time) and even with a shared cockpit there are numerous logistical issues with conducting and reviewing check rides. With a shared cockpit, how do you record the data for future review by the pilot or the scorer? All of our check rides are saved within the database so that they can be evaluated at leisure by the scorers, and if need be a second opinion can be sought. This is impossible with a shared cockpit.

Third from an IT perspective FSX Shared Cockpit and GameSpy is a mess. Securing sessions with a password is pretty much impossible since we have almost 2,500 members. Distributing a password out to this many individuals and then changing it each time someone leaves the airline means that the password would change several times every day.

I am puzzled why you find ACARS so difficult to use. It has logged over 120,000 flights making it probably the most successful flight recorder in use within the virtual aviation community, and has been used for thousands of check rides since late 2005. Have you attempted to install ACARS and review the manual? Thousands of pilots have done so, and we have not had any major issues reported. It is certainly (in my opinion) an order of magnitude simpler and more reliable than other tools such as FSACARS that other virtual airlines use. The space issue, I believe, is irrelevant - ACARS takes up less disk space than a single add-on aircraft.

ACARS certainly is Vista compatible, by the way, but has been compiled to require administrator access. I suppose I could build a version that does not, and test it out - but ultimately you need to work with your brother to ensure that you have access to the computer. Is there no way that your user account can be configured to automatically run ACARS with elevated permissions without UAC asking for a password?

Sorry about this, but we do not see any changes away from ACARS by Delta Virtual. If anything, work on ACARS is being done to extend and expand its usage.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

DVA6096
Captain, EMB-120
OLP

Joined on July 04 2008

""I SMILE CAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA""
Lawton, OK USA

74 legs, 91.0 hours
10 legs, 14.6 hours online
71 legs, 87.3 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 09:25 ET by Brandon Obrien

Mr. Kolin, Thanks for the great insight to the usage of FSX and FS2004! I just figured if you loved FS2004 like I did, you would upgrade! I understand where you are coming from in regrads to the whole security of the Multiplayer sessions in FSX. However my intent would be for the sessions to be setup on a "as needed" basis. The passwords would be setup for that session only and then destroyed after the session was over. I know from previous use of other programs that you can build a check function in the passowrd area to determine if that password has been used within the last whatever number of passwords. The root of this discuss is the use of VATSIM, it states in the Pilots Promotiion Manual that in order for you to be promoted to Senior Captian, one of the citeria is Completion of at least one flight leg using rated DVA Aircraft using VATSIM or IVAO. Now if I choose to not install VATSIM, am I in a sense halting my career? confused

DVA4965
Senior Captain, B737-800

Joined on September 07 2007
Online Quintuple Century Club
Million Mile Club
Millennium Club
Everett Millennium Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary

Saratoga Springs, UT USA

1,195 legs, 3,500.8 hours
566 legs, 825.5 hours online
1,174 legs, 3,437.6 hours ACARS
26 legs, 51.6 hours event

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 09:34 ET by Alan Cluff

May I add my take on the resourses it would take to implement a ride along program for check rides? It would be very difficult for staff to fly along on every check ride. Remember, it's only one flight for the pilot but imagine the number of flights the staff would have to participate in for the ride along method to work. I graded 5 check rides the other day. My real world life would not allow me to make 5 flights in one day. Luke is right on with ACARS... it is the best tool out there and the best method to record flights period. Take Andy Kaufmann up on his offer and get some help with ACARS and I think you'll come to agree that it is the tool that makes most sense. Happy landings!

Alan Cluff

Senior Captain, B737-800

DVA6125
Captain, CRJ-200

Joined on July 11 2008

Eastern Canada

24 legs, 29.2 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 14:49 ET by Adnan Hamsic

Wow. Thanks everybody for the insight. Andrew thanks alot for the offer, I will log onto ACARS more now. I don't find it hard to use at all, just VATSIM is the problem. About the passwords for FSX Multiplayer, we can do as Brandon O'Brien suggested. We use the password for one session and then destroy it. We should use it just for events. For example, the "Niagara Falls Fly-In". How often do you see 2500 people join an event? It should be on a first come first serve basis anyway, although I doubt it will always be full.

Thanks.

Adnan Hamsic (DVA6125)

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 19:03 ET by Luke Kolin

Thanks everyone for your feedback and suggestions, and for letting me know about passwords for FSX. I don't believe that gets around some of the logistical issues we have with events and FSX (namely, that not everyone uses it) but it's useful to know going forward.

Brandon, that's an old entry from our Pilot's Manual. I don't believe it's actually being enforced, although I cannot say for sure. It's certainly not something that HR has ever checked for.

Abdullah (and others) I have recompiled ACARS Build 93 with a different application manifest so that it does not require Administrator rights on Vista. If you want, please download it here:

http://www.deltava.org/luke/DVA-ACARS2.exe

and let me know how it goes.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

DVA6123
Captain, CRJ-200

Joined on July 11 2008

Eastern Canada

17 legs, 16.3 hours

Posted onPost created on July 23 2008 20:41 ET by Abdullah El Tawil

Thanks you so much! I am very greatful! I will try it out soon. I hope it works! You deserve the position Vice President! Also thank you Andrew Kaufmann and Alan Cluff for your help!

Abdullah El Tawil

Captain, CRJ-200

Posted onPost created on July 24 2008 15:48 ET by Luke Kolin

Let me know how it goes. It's a straightforward thing to roll into the main code stream - I'd rather it not require Administrator access if possible.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

DVA5493
Captain, B737-800

Joined on December 04 2007

Southeastern United States

12 legs, 15.7 hours

Posted onPost created on July 27 2008 21:49 ET by Joshua Waters

I FULLY SUPPORT the idea of FSX multiplayer for us FSX pilots if they wanted to use it. I don't want to go through the whole VATSIM thing just to do what I can do through the FSX multiplayer, but I'll repeat Brandon's question again am I "halting" my DVA career by not flying on VATSIM? Moving on to the ACARS development. In all honesty I don't use ACARS at all I know it is a great program but I won't work on my computer (Windows Vista) and I even read the manual for it AND I run it on administrator (any help Andy). I don't mind having to manually file Fight Reports on the other hand how will I become an Senior Captain? I can't download the ACARS Build 93 because I'm away from my home computer right now, but that will be the FIRST thing I do when I get back. Back to the FSX multiplayer. I think we SHOULD try Brandon's idea for the passwords and I be happy to be a controller if needed. Just a thought from a humble Baby Boeing Captain. smile

Posted onPost created on July 27 2008 23:19 ET by Luke Kolin

Joshua, as I mentioned earlier the online flight requirement for Senior Captain promotions is not currently enforced to the best of my knowledge. But to be honest, to become a Senior Captain is more of an honorific title than anything else. Apart from the ability to warn a moderator about ACARS dialogue via the client, I can't think of any specific perk to being a Senior Captain.

With regards to ACARS, you *are* halting your DVA career by not using it. If you are having problems with ACARS, please file a help desk issue with as much information as possible, like specific error messages.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

DVA5493
Captain, B737-800

Joined on December 04 2007

Southeastern United States

12 legs, 15.7 hours

Posted onPost created on July 29 2008 20:17 ET by Joshua Waters

Thanks Luke I will

Joshua Waters (DVA5493)

For flight simulation purposes only. Not a commercial website. In no way are we affiliated with Delta Air Lines, its affiliates, or any other airline. All logos, images, and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Delta Virtual Airlines is a non-profit entity engaged in providing an avenue for flight simulation enthusiasts.