Split Beziers Part 2: The X-Plane 860 Bug

In my previous blog post I defined a split vertex in an airport layout and described how they can be simulated in an apt.dat pile using multiple points.

Now that WED is in public beta and people can easily make split beziers, many have noticed the "split bezier" bug in X-Plane 860:


This is a vertex that is split...on the left you can see what it should look like - on the right you can see what it does look like. There are two problems going on:

1. The taxiway lights have gone crazy at the split vertex. (This is what everyone sees.)
2. The taxiway line is a bit jumbled at the split vertex too.

It should be noted that this bug will can also happen for any vertex (even unsplit) in rare occaisions due to interactions with the mesh. Same symptom, same buggy code, different cause.

The good news is:

• There is a workaround that will make the lights look correct and the lines acceptable in X-Plane 8.60.
• The workaround will be implemented inside WED - no need to change anything.
• When X-Plane is fixed, it will make the lines correct too.

In my next post I'll describe the fix and what the results look like.