is there a way to determine where planes will spawn on an airfield?
 

the title says it all....
on the "hardcoded" airfields there are the airfield points included, which also seem to determine the spawnpoints for planes...
the problem is, that many of them are in hangars, which most of the time causes the ai to kill itself in the attempt to get out of the hangar, or it refuses completely to even start its engines and stays on the ground forever...
this really sucks..as i want to create a online mission for our ACG server, where AI planes should spawn in parking position on airfields, where also players can spawn...the problem now is, that half of my ai kills itself even before take off....

i remember that i once was somehow able, to get "access" to those "hardcoded" spawn/waypoints of airfields...but i did it by accident back then, and i just cannot remember anymore how i achieved this.

i have also seen, that if you create an airfield by yourself, you can add points to it as well, and then indeed the plane will spawn from there,...but somehow im not able to create several independent points, but only a "row", of which only the first seems to work.then the ai planes will spawn in that 1st waypoint, but then instead of taxing to the runway, they will beam themself to takeoff position.

i did try, to place static planes into the hangars, so that no ai or player planes spawn there, but then the problem is again, that the ai planes will spawn somewhere on the edge of the airfield, and when they start their engines, they will magically beam themselfes to the runway for takeoff position....


any help???

About airfields.

(1) Place stationary planes at spawnpints you don't want (like inside the small hangars).
(2) If all spawn points are taken at an airfield, then planes will spawn around the perimiter of the airfield. The perimiter is the airfield circle that appears in the FMB. If they spawn to far from the airfield then reduce the airfield perimiter circle.
(3) Custom airfields - use ctrl-B to create a branch in the taxi-waypoint pathway.

(a) I've advocated that devs recode airfield bases so if you place a custom airfield object over a hard-coded airfield, then all the hard-coded airfield waypoints are deleted. This would allow you to customise the hard-coded base taxiways & spawnpoints. Sadly, the devs aren't listening :(

(b) You can't just add to the hard coded airfield taxiway/spawnpoints either. Placing additional taxiways/spawnpoints at a hard coded base does not work either :(

thx for the answer....
well, if i overlay a cutsom airfield, over the hardcoded one, i can produce one spawnpoint with the path to the runway....but only one path.so if i have a group of 3planes spawning, then 1plane will spawn at my custom spawnpoint,and even follows the path to the runway(ignoring the hardcoded airfield and points), but the other two planes, will spawn at the edge of the airfield(diameter), and once their engines are started, they will beam to the runway....
my problem is only, that i dont know how, or whether its possible, to produce more than one spawnpoint/taxi-path...

if i have the first path selected, and hit paste, then another point will be added to this first path,....so for example its then point3...

if i unselect my first path, and try to paste a second independent path, it will paste a whole new airfield.....

i cant believe that its not possible to produce more than one path....

but as i mentioned in the OP, i remember that once i was somehow able to get access to the hardcoded path points, but i just cannot remember anymore how the heck i have done that...

Played around with custom airfields (again). Here's a sample mission, is this something like what your looking for?

exactly this!
how are you able to make those splits of the path, how are you able to make one arm of the path end, and proceed at another point???

1. Select the path waypoint where you want a branch (split).
2. Position the cursor where you want the first branching waypoint.
3. Press ctrl-B.

:grin::grin::grin::grin:THANK YOU VERY MUCH!:grin::grin::grin:
now after two frustrating days, this keystroke made me happy again!

PS: and even better, just a minute ago, my brand new trackir arrived!

ok, this is working way better than the default spawnpoints.....and the airfield is now more "effective" as well, as they now dont have such a long taxi-way....the only problem now is, that after the planes land again on the runway, they despawn/disappear already on the runway when rolling out.they seem to beam for a split-second somewhere else to then completely disappear....i will now see, if this is true for player planes as well....

ok, now my problem is, that this seems to work perfectly for one airfield, and for the next its not working at all!!!??

did i make a mistake?or why is it not working for the second airfield, while it works perfectly for the first??

I had the same problem, there are some fixes and work arounds like Salmo mentioned but sometimes they work sometimes they dont...

The best method I found and simplist was just block the "bad" spawns with a static aircraft or even a truck or buildings... Things that make the base a little alive. Then just let people spawn on the good ones. And a heads up, there is a massive dip in the field at Coquelles which you can only cover with the largest French hanger. ;)

In my oppinion I would not spend to much time trying to fight the spawns, it will drive you insane and never quite work as intended but its your mission so its up to you.

On another note:

David you know the RAF fields are call RAF Kenley etc, what would the LW fields be called?

If you are planning on having AI in an online mission take off or land at an airfield that could be used by players, you will run into big problems. Actually you could run into big problems without players lol. I tried this well over a year ago. Anything that gets in the way of their path while on the airfield can and will ruin the entire flight. This can happen on take off or landing. The final warping as you call it, is the AI's final resting point.

If something gets in the way of that final point, or even before, you can and most likely will have AI planes that look like that are dancing on the airfield. At this point they can not be destroyed, damaged, or despawned. They will bounce like that until the next mission. It's best to spawn them in the air and destroy them in the air as well.