Documentation

Overview

The two main parts to Flight Code-X is the Studio the main interface to Create Scenarios, and the other is the runtime the plugin for X-Plane to load and run scenarios

runtime location Resources>plugins>FlightCodex>64 lin.xpl or win.xpl
studio location Resources>plugins>FlightCodex>studio FlightCodex-studio or FlightCodex-studio.exe
scenarios should be save and loaded from Resources>plugins>FlightCodex>scenarios
- scenarios folder contains an assets folder for aircraft objects and sounds to be used with multiple scenario
- each scenario folder contains an assets folder for aircraft objects and sounds to be used with individual scenario
- each project is saved as a .simp with the same name as the folder containing
- after generation .simc and .sims files are created this is for the runtime ( if you want to share a scenario the .simp file is not needed for the runtime) assets will need to be shared as well
- more info in the Folder Structure section

Studio Interface: Main elements

Node canvas - create Nodes and links
Scenario data - all pre-definitions needed for scenario to run
Properties - settings of nodes, objects, sounds and data references
Mini map - full node graph overview click in mini map to navigate
Main menu - systems settings tools and file operations

Main Menu

File
- New - create new scenario Ctrl + 'n'
- Open - open scenario Ctrl + 'o'
- Save - saves scenario Ctrl + 's'
- Save as - save scenario first time or as a copy Ctrl + Shift + 's'
- Generate - will generate the scenario's .simc and .sims files Ctrl + 'g'
- import
  - Flight plan - makes a series of target nodes based on the way points from X-Plane FMS files from departure to arrival
Edit
- undo - work in progress
- redo - work in progress
- copy - Ctrl + 'c'
- past - Ctrl + 'v'
- cut - Ctrl + 'x'
- settings - change the display units for world distance, speed, target size, altitude and speed. does not affect base data ref and will not convert when using data refs in set data, watch or conditional

Arrange
- align
  - horizontal Alt +'h'
  - vertical Alt +'v'
- distribute
  - horizontal Alt +'d'
  - vertical Alt + Shift + 'd'
Manage
- refs
  - data - scan and load data refs to the scenario from X-Plane defaults, favorites or saved custom. persistent over all runs of the studio
  - command - scan and load commands to the scenario from X-Plane defaults, favorites or saved custom. persistent over all runs of the studio

View
- Zoom
  - in - zoom in one step Ctrl + '='
  - out - zoom out one step Ctrl + '-'
  - reset - zoom out one step Ctrl + '0' (zero key)
- Mini-map - location in the canvas
- Style - light or dark theme
- GUI scale - set the whole interface scale
- Tool tip - check box to enable tool tips
- Snap to grid - check box to enable node to grid snap
Help
- Licence Manager - update key to unlock from demo or de-register machine to move to different computer
- Visit - go to flightcodex.com
- About window

Node Canvas

Navigation

Hold middle mouse to scroll the canvas
left click to select node - displays selected node's setting in properties
left click and drag on canvas to box select multiple nodes
left click on pin and drag to create link
left click hold on node to move node or multiple selected
backspace or delete to remove selected node/nodes or links
right click or press shift + 'a' key to add a generic node to canvas - change node type in Properties
scroll mouse wheel to scroll canvas up or down
shift + mouse wheel to pan the canvas left and right
ctrl + mouse wheel to zoom in or out

Action Nodes

One time Actions when triggered

generic
- Place holder node
start
- sets a start point for the scenario
- all nodes connected to start nodes will execute on scenario run
- if no start nodes all nodes with out an input connection will execute
sound
- Plays a wave file set by the path from the flight lab directory
- waits till sound is done before executing the next node.
pause
- Pause or unpause the sim
- does not pause the scenario
command
- Trigger selected commands form command list
- multiple commands can be added to this node
edit objects
- Sets new location for objects
- multiple objects can be added to this node
delay
- add a delay before executing the next node
set data
- Sets new value to data refs
- multiple data refs can be added each with there own value
set position
- will set the users aircraft to a new position in the world with out causing a reload
- set lat, lon alt - will keep the same orientation of the flight same heading, pitch roll and speed
- set orientation check box - if active heading, pitch roll and speed can now be set
condition
- branches the path based on conditions when checking data refs
- if all conditions are successful will continue down true path else will continue down false path
calc
- will set the selected data references to the result of two operands
- many data refs can be added
- operations are in order from top down
- add '+' , subtract '-', multipy'*' and devide '/'
stopwatch
- controls the stopwatch functionality
  - start - starts and displays the stopwatch
  - stop - stops the running of the stopwatch
  - close - stops and turns off stopwatch
  - reset - sets time to zero, clears laps and penalties
  - lap - shows the time elapsed from for a lap
  - penalty - add time to penalty accumulator
time control
- controls the selected timer trigger node
  - pause - pauses the running of the timer
  - resume - continue running the timer
  - stop - closes and stops the timer will not execute any other nodes attached to timer trigger
monitor control
- turns on or off a monitor node
stop
- ends and cleans up scenario
  - removes objects, closes timers, data refs, commands and sounds.

Trigger Nodes

Action waits till condition are completed to continue to next node

generic
- Place holder node
timer
- starts a count down timer
  - can be set to display the reaming time
  - an arc can be added to the display
- set warning percent - turns timer display from green to yellow
- set caution percent - make the the timer display red
command
- when the command is triggered will execute next node
  - create a command in the command list
watch
- waits for data ref conditions to be met before continuing
target
- wait till near a target either raw Geo location or objects Geo location from list
  - window
    - sets up a window at position that need to be flew through
      - altitude - center point of the window
      - altitude above and below - upper and lower bounds
      - width - how wide is the window
      - heading direction window is facing
  - point
    - sets a point in space
      - altitude - center of point
      - altitude above and below - upper and lower bounds
      - distance to - radius to point to be within to trigger

Monitor Nodes

Nodes that when active continue to monitor condition. can set repeat delay in seconds

generic
- Place holder node

watch
- waits for data ref conditions to be met before triggering next node
- will continue to repeat the condition check till turned off by action control node

Scenario Data

scenario
- name - name that will be displayed in scenario brief
  - (wip) - needs new loader
- description - a short summary of the scenario for the brief
  - (wip) - needs new loader
- location - airport code to load when starting the scenario
  - also used for scenario brief (wip)
aircraft
- aircraft name - name that will be displayed in scenario brief (wip)
- path - path to the aircraft .acf file must be contained within the X-Plane directory
data and logging
- enable FDR
  - enables the recording of FDR files in X-plane format v4
  - records one second intervals
  - default time, lon, lat, alt(feet), heading, pitch and roll
  - other data refs can be added to what is recorded
    - will generate FDR with appropriate data ref deffinitions
    - change the unit to be represeted of added data 1 is no change i.e. X-Plane unit, or to display knots in the fdr use a factor of 1.94384
  - Enable flight log
    - this setting will log node events
    - time stamps will match up to FDR if both are generated at the same time
    - each node can be enabled in the log from the individual node's properties
  - Output is a csv time stamped file with the scenario name in plugins>FlightCodeX>scenario output>{scenario name}> (data for fdr or log for events)>{scenario name}{date}{time}.fdr
start parameters
- starting Geo location latitude, longitude (decimal format)
- starting heading - mag variance compensated
- altitude in meters sea level
- starting speed knots
objects - list of objects for the scenario
- add or remove object from list with buttons
- select object to see properties in properties window
  - object name - name to reference object by in scenario and other nodes
  - path - path to .obj file built for x-plane best if in scenario > assets > objects folder in Flight Code-X plugin folder
  - starting Geo location latitude, longitude (decimal format)
  - starting pitch, roll and heading - mag variance compensated
commands - list of commands for the scenario
- add or remove object from list with buttons
- select object to see properties in properties window
  - command name - name to reference command by in scenario and other nodes
  - description - short description of what the command is for
  - path - command reference path of what X-Plane uses Resources > plugins > Commands.txt or set your own path for custom command
  - Create Command check box - will notify the runtime to create the command needs a Trigger - Command node to be selected
data references -list of data references for the scenario
- add or remove data references from list with buttons
- select data references to see properties in properties window
  - data references name - name to reference data references by in scenario and other nodes
  - path - data references reference path of what X-Plane uses Resources > plugins > DataRefs.txt or set your own path for custom data ref
  - type - what data type is this reference int, float or double referenced in DataRefs.txt or user defined for custom
  - array check box - defines if data ref is an array or not
  - create data ref check box will create a custom data ref for this scenario
sounds - list of sounds for the scenario
- add or remove sounds from list with buttons
- select sound to see properties in properties window
  - sound name - name to reference sound by in scenario and other nodes
  - path - path to sound to be loaded by the run time only plays .wav files
  - caption - a note about the sound
    - (wip) - display text on the screen

Folder Structure

Resources/ (inside of X-Plane install location)
- plugins/ (X-Plane plugin)
  - FlightCodex/
    - 64/
      - lin.xpl (runTime)
      - win.xpl (runTime)
    - Logs/
      - logs for Flight Code-X
    - scenario output/
      - <scenario_name>
        data
        time stamped flight data files in 1 second interval
        log
        time stamped event log files correlated to data zulu time
    - Studio/
      - FlightCodex-studio (Scenario builder and editor - Linux)
      - FlightCodex-studio.exe (Scenario builder and editor - Windows)
    - Scenarios/
      - Assets/ (used across multiple scenarios)
        Sounds/
        Objects/
        Aircraft/
      - Scenario_1/ (Individual scenario)
        Assets/ (used local only to scenario)
        ... (similar structure as Assets under top level Scenarios)
        Scenario_1.conf (generated from studio - Scenario configuration required for plugin)
        Scenario_1.sim (generated from studio - Scenario script required for plugin)
        Scenario_1.spro (studio project file - Scenario project not necessary to run scenario from plugin here for organization )
      - Learning_To_Takeoff/ (group of related scenarios)
        Assets/
        ... (similar structure as Assets under top level Scenarios)
        Scenario_1/
        ... (similar structure as Scenario_1)
        Scenario_2/
        ... (similar structure as Scenario_1)
      - Lesson_grou/ (group of related scenarios)
        Assets/
        ... (similar structure as Assets under top level Scenarios)
        Scenario_1/
        ... (similar structure as Scenario_1)
        Scenario_2/
        ... (similar structure as Scenario_1)
      - Another_Lesson_Group/
        ... (similar structure as Learning_To_Takeoff)