News

SODE 1.8.0: Overhauled Animation System, Prepar3d v6 Support

There wasn’t a lot of development for the last months and years, the release of MSFS has changed the simming landscape and I didn’t feel motivated enough to put a lot of effort into a freeware tool (that SODE is) to make it available in MSFS with its ever changing SDK. A substantial subset of SODE’s functionality is already provided in the MSFS SDK and one day SODE may be obsolete in terms of offered functionality. The only thing missing currently in MSFS that SODE is able to do, is a jetway system with multiple jetways.

However, there were some internal releases for Prepar3D v5, offering an interface to external SimConnect applications to control the Jetway System system by own triggers. This was asked by home cockpit builders and I gladly added that feature for those people.

One big change is the internal animation system in SODE: It had relied on SODE’s DLL in the past, making the sim itself vulnerable to crashes (CTD). Also, it was quite complicated to communicate/move data between the modules through the SimConnect interface. In V1.8.0, a custom animation engine was integrated in the main executable and it works quite nicely and it is easier to maintain. Jetways serving AI is also supported as it was in the past.

Finally, the new Prepar3D v6 is now also officially supported.

Find the new installer in the Downloads section.

Thank you and best regards.

SODE V1.7.0 is out with overhauled AI jetway engine

Version 1.7.0 contains a lot of internal code changes and bug fixes. The most notable one is surely the completely overhauled AI jetway engine: The detection and jetway assignment got more efficient. The entire communication logic between SODE and its animation module is rewritten and should lead to more stability and has fixed a couple of CTDs related to SimObjectAnimationModule.dll.

Together with this release, the VDGS Pack has been updated to version 1.1, supporting more aircraft types and adding the “old” Honeywell VDGS unit. It is a free update for existing customers. (https://secure.simmarket.com/12bpilot-sode-vdgs-pack-fsx-p3d.phtml)

Also, the SODEPlacer utility has received an update to version 0.6, see here: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/sodeplacer-v0-6.442264/page-2#post-843932

A thank you goes out to all the users who have reported and helped tracking down the bugs and have tested the beta versions.

Full change log can be viewed here: changelog.

SODE V1.6.8 with Prepar3D v5 Support released

UPDATE: V1.6.8 is now the latest version, fixing a last-minute bug concerning jetway display in Prepar3D v5.

While Prepar3D v5 support was already (secretly) included in V1.6.6, I have decided to release a new SODE version also to fix some issues with anti-virus software blocking SODE due to falsely flagging it as malware. A compilation setting within Visual Studio seems to have done the trick.

No big changes have been made feature-wise, except for enhancing the SODE API to allow GSX more options to trigger their own jetways…

SODE V1.6.6 available – Notice to airmen 18FEB20

18FEB20: The AI detection code is working again. Please uninstall SODE V1.6.6 first (through Windows Apps&Features) and then download the new installer from this site and install as per usual.

16FEB20: There is an issue in the AI detection code which renders the AI detection inoperative. Expect a fix coming Tuesday, which will require you to re-download and re-install V1.6.6. I am sorry for the inconvenience.


This SODE release is meant to be a maintenance release only and fixes a couple of smaller bugs but doesn’t add new features.

Thanks to those who have reported the bugs and helped me trace them down.

Change log is updated: changelog.

-Jeffrey

SODE 1.6.5 released

This SODE release incorporates a completely rewritten AI aircraft to jetway interface. In the past, this interface was prone to timing issues between internal parts of SODE; These timing issues could lead to a complete crash of SODE and the simulator (CTD). Now, a time-independent signalling protocol is used which should solve this issue.

Also, a couple of smaller bugs have been fixed as well.

Have a look at the change log if you want more information: changelog.

SODE V1.6.4 is out!

This release irons out a couple of bugs reported by you, the users. As always, thanks for your reports and your patience while I was trying to fix them. Most of them dealt with missing objects and one of the reported bugs resulted in a re-write of the “heart” of SODE, the object injection loop. I think this iteration of this loop is safe for release now and I’m confident that all objects are now loaded correctly.

The jetway control system also got some upgrades based on user feedback: a completely new way of jetway movement when the angle between the jetway and the aircraft fuselage is somewhat “shallow”. In the past, the jetway would “scrape” along the fuselage as it extended the bridge. Now, the jetway will rotate towards the door as the final step. This works for both user and AI aircraft.

To support add-on aircraft with custom variables for the parking brake and/or beacon states (as used for the automatic jetway triggering based on aircraft system states), SODE now has an interface that is able to query those variables from the aircraft. At the moment, the FSLabs A32X is supported that way.

As always, further clean-up/refactoring of the source code was done to make future development easier.

See the change log for more details: changelog.

Season’s greetings!

-Jeffrey

SODE V1.6.3 released!


Important for GSX users: The latest live update of GSX has somewhat broken its support for SODE V1.6.2. You need to install the newly released SODE V1.6.3.


 

This SODE release adds the automatic jetway docking resolving feature.
Using this feature, SODE tries to solve the assignment of single or multiple jetways to the available aircraft doors. There is no need for the user anymore to manually assign each jetway to a door.
If successful, SODE will then trigger the jetways sequentially.
To trigger this automatic docking, there are two ways:

  • Manual: Via the SODE text-menu
  • Automatic: Based on aircraft state variables. For docking the parking brake must be set, all engines off and beacon off. For undocking, only the beacon needs to be turned on.

The automatic mode is intended for SimCockpit builders that don’t want to have to use a text-menu or don’t want to use keyboard strokes.
To enable the automatic docking of jetways based on aircraft state, you have to turn this feature on in the SODEPlatformManager -> Settings. Per default, it is set to off.

The other hugely improved feature is the AI aircraft jetway detection, supporting multiple doors and multiple jetways.

 

Of course, many bugfixes and improvements are also a part of this release. See the change log for more details: changelog.

 

Thank you to all the various beta testers that have found the time to report back issues and supported me in fixing the bugs.

SODE V1.6.3 needs some beta testing…

Hi all,

For SODE V1.6.3, there has been a major overhaul concerning the jetway control handling. All this was needed to enable the automatic docking of jetways to both user and AI aircraft.

Given the large impact if something is not working as intended, I need some brave people to beta test this version before public release. See this post here on fsdeveloper for download links and instructions: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/sode-v1-6-3-open-beta.442541/


Important: This beta version is *NOT* intended for use in products to be released to the public! Please wait for the official V1.6.3 release!


 

Thank you for your help and please report any issues either in the fsdeveloper.com forum thread or here in the SODE support forum.

-Jeffrey