Changing Country Flags

[Allocator]

OK, here's something for you clever chaps to think about.

I want to display the RAF logo when I pick up a Brit Mil aircraft, however, the RAF.BMP and RFR.BMP logos in the /Data/Logos folder require a callsign that starts with RAF or RFR and in most cases this will not happen.

So, unless I produce a whole bunch of logos for every Mil callsign, this isn't going to work.

However, D008.dat in the /Data directory contains the country Mode S allocations in 24 character Binary format much like the SBS-1 countries.dat file.  The UK entry is:

UK,United Kingdom,010000------------------

So when RB finds a code that starts with 400 (010000 hex plus ----- as wildcards to make up the 24 characters), it displays UK.BMP in the Country Flag column of "My Flights"

I've created an RAF logo called RA.BMP (16 x 11 pixels) and saved this in the /Data/Flags directory and added an extra line to the D008.dat file which is:

RA,RAF,0100001111--------------

Where 0100001111 is all Mode S starting 43C

However, I still get the UK.BMP flag showing when I get a Mil mode C so I'm obviously missing something.  I've sent a similar request to AirNav Support to see if they are prepared to tell me anything, but in the meantime, has anybody got any bright ideas.

If we can get this to work, we can use it in the same way as in BaseStation.

Usual disclaimer - if you start mucking about with RB files, make sure you back up your original files before you trash them trying to get this to work.

[AirNav Support]

Hi Allocator,

This query has been passed to Development who might be able to give you an answer regarding this.

[Allocator]

Thank you Support,

I realise that this might be something that can't be done with a simple "hack" but it would be fun to do if it was possible :-)

[Roadrunner]

Thank you Support,

I realise that this might be something that can't be done with a simple "hack" but it would be fun to do if it was possible :-)

Could you use the data batches from countries.dat file in SBS1 and use them?

[Allocator]

Thank you Support,

I realise that this might be something that can't be done with a simple "hack" but it would be fun to do if it was possible :-)

Could you use the data batches from countries.dat file in SBS1 and use them?

Oh yes!  If I can get it to work at all.

[Allocator]

OK,

I've got this to partially work.  See my first post above.

I've deleted the UK line in D008.dat

UK,United Kingdom,010000------------------

and I've left in my RAF line:

RA,RAF,0100001111--------------

As a result, all Brit Mil aircraft hex code 43C* now show the RAF "Flag" RA.BMP in the My Flights list.

However, as I've deleted the UK entry, I don't get a UK flag for British aircraft any more.  It looks like the UK entry in the D008.dat file is overriding the Mil sub code.  It might be that it's not possible to get down into country sub codes?

I'll play some more and report back :-)

Edit:

RB will only recognise the binary Mode S if it is 24 characters long, with the "wildcards" being represented by the appropriate numbers of "-"

The problem seems to be that RB is only looking for the first "match" then not looking any further, so when it finds:

010000

then it does not look any further so it does not see:

0100001111

The UK binary code is the only code in the list that starts 010000 so I suppose that once this has been found by RB, then it doesn't need to look any further - shame.

I'm still waiting for a response from AirNav Development and hopefully there will either be a way around this, or there will be a fix at a later date.

Although I'm not an expert, the SBS-1 seems to tell itself how many characters to look for in the binary code, and they only use 16 characters with "*" as the wildcard.

e.g.

010000**********,6
0100001111******,8

See the effect in the My Flights below - No UK flag, but the Mil aircraft is showing the RAF logo!  Testing USAF too, see the KC135.

[Allocator]

I guess that nobody else has played with this then?

I've heard nothing from AirNav Development, so maybe this can't be done?

I'll keep my fingers crossed for something along these lines in the RadaBox software update.

[AirNav Support]

Your details where passed on to Development and last speaking to them regarding this issue they were aware of it and had contacted you. Check your spam just incase otherwise they should be aware of it.

[Allocator]

Your details where passed on to Development and last speaking to them regarding this issue they were aware of it and had contacted you. Check your spam just incase otherwise they should be aware of it.

Spam checked, but no message from the Development team.  Andre did ask me a question about this and I replied to him, but I wouldn't expect him to deal with this direct as it is a Development issue.

[AirNav Development]

We are working on this for Patch 1. Actually it's one of the few items remaining on the to-do list (more than 60 implemented now).

[Allocator]

Excellent news.

[Allocator]

This seems to be working now, with Mode S code blocks being successfully captured in the latest Beta version of the RadarBox software.

I can now display both the Union Flag for British civilian aircraft and a Brit Mil flag (RAF roundel) for Mil aircraft.  Testing continues as I now try the same for the US Mil code blocks.  It's not too difficult to alter RB to achieve this, mainly due to all the hard work already done with the SBS-1 on the Kinetic forum.

Instructions will follow shortly :-)

[DaveG]

Great News :)