Bitspring Fountain Graphic Bitspring Name Graphic

Contents

Home
Products
     Consulting
     LWAssistant
       HOWTO
       Docs
       FAQ
       Status
       Download
       Speech
     D. Chamber
     Renamer
     Flambé
     PARtriculation
     Decho
     ReinDir
     HashMaker
     SFVWatcher
     TruCounter
     Oventimer
     AVStats
     BackMod
     mySnortW…
     0BFileMaker
     Other
     Archives
     Docs
     Download
Mobile Products
Articles
Greg's Site
About...
Forum
Sitemap

Made in the U.S.A. Graphic

Google Site Search


Entries in orange leave the contents driven area of the site. Press your browser's back button to return.
This site contains no ActiveX, Java, JavaScript, Flash or Frames for your comfort.

Livewire Assistant

Product Synopsis
Planned Features
Speech Features
Screenshot (v0.1.320.0)
Product Documentation (HOWTO)
Product Documentation (Primer)
FAQ (Unavailable)
Status
Download

Progess Report:

Date of Progress Evaluation

Feb 04 '05

Progress (based on planned)

~20%
Hours Spent
~1120
Characters of Code Completed
2,076,672+
 

Product Synopsis:

Livewire Assistant (LWA) is a tool for MS Flight Simulator 2004 (FS2004). While it is primarily being developed as an advanced interface for Livewire Virtual Airline pilots, much of its current functionality is useful for all FS2004 pilots who use pre-configured flights.

Features: [Features in red are designed for any planned flights and not specifically Livewire flights]

Phase I - Local Flight & Aircraft Customization (see Status for complete revision history):

  • Advanced Display of Local Flights and Aircraft with Filtering and Sorting
  • Automatic tweaking of flight plans:
    • Customizable Cold Cockpit Statup
    • Pre-Selection of Weather Settings
    • Update Flight Date to Current Date (Time of original flight maintained)
    • Start Paused
    • Start in Slew (for damaged flights)
    • Pre-Selection of View Settings (e.g. Zoom values, Gradual Transition, et al.)
    • Forced Parking Brake set/unset
    • Configuration File Selection applies the selected FS9.CFG each time LWA launched MSFS
  • Automatic tweaking of aircraft:
    • Selection of Alternate Aircraft
    • Adjust Flight Number
    • Force Airline Name
    • Force Aircraft ID
    • Fix Yaw Damper Switch
  • Automatic tweaking of panels:
    • Force GPS500 on aircraft missing it or featuring the default gauge
    • Pre-set adjustment of position and size of GPS500 gauge
    • Pre-set adjustment of position and size of ATC, Message and Tip windows
    • Custom Panel Windows, allowing easy and non-destructive addition of any customized panel window (e.g. GPS) to any/all aircraft
    • Panel Attachments, setting a specific panel to be used on all aircraft meeting certain criteria
    • Application of any panel to any other aircraft, with the panel only needing to be installed once
    • Mini-Panel Generation creates a button-bar for displaying/hiding panel windows
  • Non-Destructive (modifications are only made to copies of flights, aircraft and panels)
  • FSUIPC-related features:
    • Sim Run-up, speeding up the process of "smoothing out" AI airport traffic
    • Time synchonization fix (can be disabled if other time sync software is used)
    • Text-to-Voice Audio Checklist
  • Features for Aircraft Model Authors, FDE Authors and Repainters:
    • Modifications can be made to models and repaints, and be quickly and completely loaded in MSFS without restarting MSFS.

Phase II - Livewire Features: (Under Development)

  • Advanced interface displaying available Livewire flights with sorting and filtering
  • Advanced interface displaying available Livewire aircraft with sorting and filtering
  • Automatic downloading and installation of flights and aircraft not available locally or that have been updated

Phase III - Livewire+FSUIPC Features: (Planned)

  • Flight logging
  • Aircraft failures and fatigue
  • Flight critiquing with custom requirements per aircraft type
  • Automatic submission of PIREPs with additional possibilities for management:
    • Fuel Use/Efficiency
    • PAX/Cargo Carried
    • Aircraft Fatigue
    • Passenger and FAA Satisfaction

Status (including private betas):

STATUS:

(TODO)	Option to load flight in Clear Weather
(TODO)	Option to load flight with flight's default .wx file
(TODO)	Aircraft Painter Mode [Need to get details]
(TODO)	Optional auto-slew and spot view during run-up [Worthwhile?]
(TODO)	Indicate aliased panels
(TODO)	Copy only necessary texture/panel directories [Currently impractical]
(TODO)	Force ATC Window open/closed [Currently unable]
(TODO)	Add abort button for long operations
(TODO)	Improved UI sounds/User-selectable UI sounds
(TODO)	Add buttons and context menus
(TODO)	All long-term goals

(FIX)	Column widths are saved incorrectly if aircraft list is in panel view when LWA is exited.
(FIX)	Find out why FS9 cannot load a plan sometimes (Unable to reproduce, need details)
(FIX)	Aircraft or panel list can occasionally show one item as selected while LWA internally considers something 
	else selected
(FIX)	Aircraft->Auto-Select Flight Default Aircraft is ignored if the flight default aircraft is not in the current
	set of aircraft listed according to the aircraft filters
(FIX)	LWA customized flights and aircraft should not be cached as they are temporary.

VERSION HISTORY:

0.2.644.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(MOD)	Rolled beta expiration date forward to 9/20/2008.  (Universal)

0.2.641.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Options View->Zoom (Universal, Sets the starting zoom levels for the Cockpit and Virtual Cockpit views)
(ADDED)	Columns in all views will have their size and order saved on exit and retrieved on startup.  (Universal: 
	[Global])
(ADDED)	Options->Reset Column Layouts (Universal, returns all columns in all views to their default position and size)
(MOD)	Selecting the Local Flights root item in the Flights Tree View will display all Local Flights in the Flight 
	View (Universal)
(MOD)	When new flights are added via "Download and Install .zip Package" or "Install Local .zip Package", 
	they are automatically added to the Flight List without requiring a File->Refresh Local Flight Cache (Livewire)
(MOD)	When new aircraft are added via "Download and Install .zip Package" or "Install Local .zip Package", 
	they are automatically added to the Aircraft List without requiring a File->Refresh Local Aircraft Cache (Livewire)
(FIXED)	Aircraft or panel list can occasionally show one item as selected while LWA internally considers something 
	else selected (Fix needs testing)

0.2.622.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor)

(ADDED)	Right-click on flight, aircraft and panel selection lists bring up popup menus (Universal: Popup menu 
	functions described separately)
(ADDED)	(Flight List Popup)->Select Flight Default Aircraft (Universal: Selects the flight's default aircraft
	in the aircraft list; Also available via (Flight List Popup)->(Double-click))
(ADDED)	(Flight List Popup)->Edit Original .FLT (Universal: Opens selected flight's .FLT file in notepad)
(ADDED)	(Flight List Popup)->Edit Original .PLN (Universal: Opens selected flight's .PLN file in notepad)
(ADDED)	(Flight List Popup)->Open Containing Flight Folder in Explorer (Universal: Opens the folder that
	contains the selected flight in Windows Explorer)
(ADDED)	(Aircraft List Popup)->Edit Original aircraft.cfg (Universal: Opens selected aircraft's aircraft.cfg in 
	notepad)
(ADDED)	(Aircraft List Popup)->Open Aircraft Folder in Explorer (Universal: Opens the aircraft's folder in Windows 
	Explorer)
(ADDED)	(Panel List Popup)->Edit Original panel.cfg (Universal: Opens selected panel's panel.cfg in notepad)
(ADDED)	(Panel List Popup)->Open Panel Folder in Explorer (Universal: Opens the panel's folder in Windows Explorer)
(ADDED)	(Panel List Popup)->(Right-click) Go to aliased panel (Universal: Double-right-clicking on a panel that
	aliases another panel will change the list selected to the panel that it aliases)
(ADDED)	Options View->Advanced->Replace Configuration File on Launch (Universal: Whenever a flight is launched,
	the MSFS configuration file (fs9.cfg) is overwritten with the selected file.  If MSFS is already running, it
	will need to be shutdown manually for any changed settings in the configuration file to take effect)
(ADDED)	Options View->Advanced->Always Increment Custom Aircraft Number (Universal: This should only be enabled
	by those, usually aircraft painters, experiencing the bug caused by MSFS where it loads an older version of 
	an aircraft periodically after repeated custom launches)

0.2.612.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor)

(ADDED)	Options->Location Overrides dialog allows critical directory paths and URL necessary for LWA function to be 
	set manually.  Dialog is automatically launched on startup when such critical locations cannot be determined 
	automatically. (Universal)
(MOD)	Removed 3rd-party UI Framework.  The only side-effect of this is that LWA will have a standard look without
	the enhanced aesthetics it had with the framework.  This removal may be temporary and is simply to investigate
	whether the framework was causing problems.
(MOD)	Removed the filtering out of ProjectAI aircraft for PAI repainters
(MOD)	Event is created when a customized aircraft is constructed denoting the directory used
(FIXED)	Incorrect display of aircraft model filter on program start
(FIXED)	Panel selection is "forgotten" when aircraft or panel lists are refreshed/reloaded
(FIXED)	Panel view behavior is erratic
(FIXED)	Aircraft or panel list can occasionally show one item as selected while LWA internally considers something 
	else selected (Fix needs testing)

0.2.594.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor)

(ADDED)	Simulator->Time Synchronization (Universal: Maintains the proper passage of time within FS2004 which, by 
	default, is very buggy)
(ADDED)	Simulator->Keyboard Listening (Universal: Required for LWA to receive keyboard input for Audio Checklist 
	when FS2004 is active)
(MOD)	Moved some features to the new "Simulator" menu (Universal)

0.2.593.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Experimental->Audio Checklist sub-menu (Universal: Audio Checklist function)
(FIXED)	Several problems related to the refreshing/reloading/deleting panel and/or aircraft caches
(FIXED)	Mini-panel default position is set properly the first time LWA is run
(FIXED)	Several minor interface tweaks

0.2.586.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Options View->Panel Window Options->Generated Mini-Panel (Universal: Customization settings for mini-panel 
	generation for common recognized panels and all CPWs)
(ADDED)	Simicons package auto-installer (Universal)
(FIXED)	The duplicated .flt files in "\Flight Simulator Files" will now be able to find their associated .pln file
(FIXED)	Flights without plans no longer generate an error in FS9
(FIXED)	Many minor interface tweaks

0.2.574.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Internal capability for LWA to remote control (RC) FS9's user-interface (Universal: This feature
	and the features noted as being based upon it are highly experimental)
(ADDED)	File->[Refresh, Reload, Save, Delete] Local Panel Cache (Universal)
(ADDED)	Flights->Real-Time Weather (Static) has been re-enabled (Universal: Uses new FS9 RC feature)
(ADDED)	Option View->Panel->ATC Window Visible at Start (Universal: Uses new FS9 RC feature)
(ADDED)	User-Interface Enhancements (Universal: May be temporary, feature under evaluation)
(ADDED)	Options->View->Appearance (Universal: Three different UI themes can be selected)
(ADDED)	Aircraft filters saved in profiles (Universal)
(MOD)	Converted panel detection from "on-the-fly" to cached for performance (Universal)
(MOD)	Improved handling of focused aircraft in the UI (Universal)
(FIXED)	Weather themes now work
(FIXED)	Aircraft panel names now remembered in the aircraft list

0.2.544.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Read-only files and connected elements are now properly handled
(ADDED)	Options View->Primary->User Interface->Sounds drop list (Universal: Adjusts the amount of user-interface
	sounds used)
(ADDED)	Panel list includes the "Panel Reservoir" which is located at '\Aircraft\fsfsconv' (Universal)
(ADDED)	Panel list displays available panel window numbers (Universal)
(ADDED)	Options View->Panel Window Options->Custom Panel Windows (Universal: includes adding, deleting, editing
	custom panel windows and setting of a custom panel window as the Primary GPS Unit)
(ADDED)	Panel->Use Panel Attachements (Universal)
(ADDED)	Panel->Panel Attachments->Attach Panel to Aircraft Type
(ADDED)	Panel->Panel Attachments->Attach Panel to Aircraft Model
(ADDED)	Panel->Panel Attachments->Attach Panel to Individual Aircraft
(ADDED)	Panel->Panel Attachments->Detach Panel Attachment
(ADDED)	Panel->Panel Attachments->Detach All Panel Attachments
(ADDED)	Options View->Advanced Options->Process Priority (Universal)
(ADDED)	Options->FSUIPC Feature Toggle (Universal)
(MOD)	Panel->Force GPS500 removed (replaced by Primary GPS Unit feature)
(MOD)	Adjusted "Enable Yaw Damper Switch" so that it only affects aircraft with a Yaw Gain of 0.0
(FIXED)	With .WX pre-defined weather, instead of eliminating the [Weather] section, it sets it to User-Defined
(FIXED)	Pre-defined weather dialog opening with incorrect weather setting
(FIXED)	Context help error on F1 keypress

0.2.521.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Support for multiple profiles (Universal)
(ADDED)	Aircraft->Auto-Select Flight Default Aircraft (Universal)
(ADDED)	Options->Profiles->Lock Profile (Universal: [Global Setting])
(ADDED)	Options->Profiles->Auto-Load Flight/Aircraft Profile (Universal: [Global Setting])
(ADDED)	Options->Profiles->Auto-Select Flight/Aircraft on Profile Load (Universal: [Global Setting])
(ADDED)	Options->Profiles->Auto-Save Current Profile on Exit (Universal: [Global Setting])
(ADDED)	Options->Profiles->Auto-Save Profile on Profile Change (Universal: [Global Setting])
(ADDED)	Flight->Set Flight Profile (Universal)
(ADDED)	Aircraft->Set Aircraft Profile (Universal)
(ADDED)	Options->Event Log->Verbose Mode (Universal: [Global Setting] Adds debugging entries to event log)
(ADDED)	Options->Event Log->Log to File (Universal: [Global Setting] Logs all events to 'EventLog.txt')
(ADDED)	Options->Event Log->Empty Log File (Universal)
(CHANGED)	Re-enabled Flight->Real-World Weather (static) option for testing (Universal)
(CHANGED)	Operating Mode changed to Global Setting
(CHANGED)	Make Assumptions changed to Global Setting
(FIXED)	The last flight in the flight list cannot be launched
(FIXED)	Weather themes not loading

0.2.505.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor Release)

(ADDED)	Option View->Flight Starting Situation->Parking Brake (Universal)
(ADDED)	Option View->Show Background Images (Universal)
(ADDED)	Flight->Sort by Flight Number (Livewire)
(ADDED)	Options->View->Status Bar (Universal)
(ADDED)	[Private Beta Only] Option View->Sim run-up (Universal: See Primer for description)

0.2.501.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(NOTE)	Sim Run-up functionality will be disabled until after FSUIPC v3.12 is released (Universal)
(ADDED)	Documentation in the form of a short, but thorough, Primer (Universal)
(ADDED)	All Help menu entries (Universal)
(ADDED)	Implemented a new user-interface for the selection of Operating Mode (Universal)
(ADDED)	FSUIPC version checking (Universal)

0.2.494.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor Release)

(ADDED)	Command-line parameters '/fs_root_dir=', '/fs_flight_dir=', '/fs_aircraft_dir=', & '/fs_mydocsfsf_dir='
	(Universal: These should not be used unless necessary.  Usage: LWAssistant "/=")
(ADDED)	Save window position on exit (Universal)
(ADDED)	Flight Options->View Axis Indicator, Spot View Gradual Transition, and Spot Transition Type options
	(Universal)
(ADDED)	Primary Options->Archive Downloads (Livewire: When enabled, a copy of downloaded packages is saved to
	the selected directory)
(ADDED)	Initial implementation of the separation of Livewire-specific and Universal modes.  (This will be 
	enhanced with a much better user interface in the future)
(FIXED)	Tweaked the clipboard routines
(FIXED)	Adjusted the one-instance code so that when Windows Explorer is open to a directory named "Livewire 
		Assistant" it doesn't prevent LWA from running.

0.2.484.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor Release)

(ADDED)	Hiding of Flight Directories popup context menu (Universal: Right click on items in the Local Flights tree)
(ADDED)	Options->Show Hidden Flight Numbers (Universal)
(FIXED)	Minor tweaks
		
0.2.480.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Several checks to make sure necesary information and directories are available to the application (Universal)
(ADDED)	Panel->Use Selected Panel (Universal: When engaged, if a panel has been selected, the aircraft will use the
	selected panel instead of the normal panel for that aircraft.
(ADDED)	Options->Show Panel Selection View (Universal: When engaged, the aircraft selection view will be replaced
	by the panel selection view with aircraft types on the left and available panels on the right)
(ADDED)	Scroll to top of Event Log on new event (Universal)
(ADDED)	Aircraft->Improve AFCAD2 Support (Livewire: Adds two fields for proper gate identification for airports
	modified by AFCAD2 to support Livewire gates)
(FIXED)	Duplication of aircraft entries after refresh and much faster aircraft cache refreshes

0.2.461.0 - Restricted Public Beta

(ADDED)	Panel modification is now supported for aliased panels (Universal)
(ADDED)	Option to designate a directory into which all installed packages are copied (Livewire)

0.1.455.0 - Private Beta

(NOTE)	Recovered source from data loss, old features need to be retested
(NOTE)	Old .profile files will should be deleted once or an error (and no other negative effects) will occur
(ADDED)	Options->Thin Mode (Universal: Thin mode reduces memory use at the cost of limited functionality)
(ADDED)	Options->Thin Mode on Flight Launch (Universal: Places LWA in Thin Mode when a flight is launched)
(ADDED)	Options->Exit on Flight Launch (Universal: Closes LWA when a flight is launched)
(ADDED)	[Experimental] Install local .zip package (Livewire: Select a flight or aircraft .zip on the local hard drive 
	for automatic installation)
(ADDED)	[Experimental] Download and install .zip package (Livewire: Manually copy flight or aircraft URL to the
	clipboard to have them downloaded and installed automatically)
(ADDED)	[Experimental] Options->Watch Clipboard for Supported URLs (Livewire: If a URL for a file download is copied 
	to the clipboard, Livewire will automatically bring up the Download and Install Dialog Box for that URL)
(ADDED)	Event Log (Universal: The event log shows both queued operations and a historical record of errors, warnings, 
	notes, and other relevant information.
(ADDED)	Progress Bar (Universal: Shows progress and estimated time remaining for download and extraction operations)
(ADDED)	File->Save Settings (Universal: Saves configuration settings manually; Ordinarily they are save on exit)
(ADDED)	Flight->Sort by Aircraft Information (Universal)
(ADDED)	Window Positions from .FLT (Universal: Load window positioning values from .flt files into the Panel Options)
(ADDED)	Paste .FLT Data (Universal: Paste window positioning values copied to clipboard from .FLT files)

0.1.414.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor Release)
(ADDED)	Configuration of Cold Cockpit option (Uncheck=Off | Check=On | Grey=Keep Flight Settings)

0.1.402.0 - Restricted Public Beta
(ADDED)	Options section (Universal)
(ADDED)	Forcing addition of Garmin GPS500 to aircraft (Universal)
(ADDED)	Adjustment of GPS500 position and size (Universal)
(ADDED)	Adjustment of position of ATC, Message and Tips windows (Universal)
(FIXED)	Duplicate entries in aircraft cache

0.1.362.0 - Restricted Public Beta (Minor Release)
(ADDED)	Cosmetically improved Pre-Selected Weather interface dialog (Universal)

0.1.343.0 - Restricted Public Beta
(ADDED)	"One instance" code (Universal: Prevents more than one copy of LWA from running at the same time)
(ADDED)	Flight->Start In Slew Mode (Universal: To allow for successful start of flights starting with the airplane 
	inside an object)
(ADDED)	Aircraft->Force Aircraft ID (Livewire: Assumes the ATC ID from the Defaut Aircraft Name and forces it onto 
	whatever custom aircraft is chosen)
(ADDED)	New weather options including selection of a weather theme or an existing .WX file (Universal)
(FIXED)	Checking and unchecking of settings working inconsistently

0.1.320.0 - First Restricted Public Beta
(ADDED)	Program Icons

0.1.318.0 - Private Beta
(ADDED)	Move lengthy caching operations to a separate thread (to prevent the interface from "freezing")
(ADDED)	Graphics for "Working..." and missing caches

0.1.200.0 - Internal Release
(ADDED)	Original Functionality

Download:

Extract files into any directory and run LWAssistant.exe
Most recent release shown in bold type. 'B' signifies a "beta" version.

Self-Extracting RAR Executable
LWAssistant-v0.2.644.0B.exe

Compressed RAR Archive
LWAssistant-v0.2.644.0B.rar

Compressed ZIP Archive
LWAssistant-v0.2.644.0B.zip

Copyright © 1996-2008 Gregory S. Gursky d/b/a Bitspring. All Rights Reserved.
Livewire Assistant is a trademark of Gregory S. Gursky d/b/a Bitspring.
The License Agreement for all programs downloaded from Bitspring must be read, understood and agreed to before installation or use.
Windows, Windows NT, and Windows XP are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.