No WOAI Traffic Landing!

[fxsttcb]

I know that on the ground I have seen AI disappear after a set time, they would likely disappear on landings as they are entering an "area trigger" which if overloaded will cause them to disappear as a result, AI Smooth makes AI clutter less and helps stop this. FSX can only render so much at once due to engine limitations.

"area trigger"? Unfamiliar with that...
It's been my experience that a lack of parking spaces upon landing is what makes AI disappear. AI on a crowded taxiway that haven't moved for a loooooong period of time, will time-out and disappear also. That is generally the fault of the scenery's taxiway layout and/or ATC trying to put two planes thru the same intersection. Sometimes they both get "Hold Shorts" and evrything comes to a standstill.
I don't have a super computer or any exotic assistant apps. Right now I'm at my customized KMEM with 86 AI aircraft parked, and 89 planes airborne. I regularly fly this same flight and rarely if ever see an AI time-out.

OK, to the problem at hand.

About duplicate files, when I converted my WOAI files to FSX, it made a duplicate file in the same folder (scenery/world/scenery) with the suffix "FSX" added to each traffic file. Do you think that could be it? I don't think so because the problem was there before I did this.

Having the duplicate traffic files should not give the result you are seeing, but, even one in the original FS9 format will disable all FSX format traffic.
Other scenery files for add-ons sometimes include traffic files. Do a windows search for those, and verify they are in the correct format.

I have every WOAI, MAIW, a bunch of old PAI and AIG traffic.
I very carefully installed all of them, converted, and tested, one at a time.
It took weeks, but I now have 26.6GB in AI Aircraft and 682 ***traffic_FSX.bgls, so, the amount of traffic installed should not be an issue.

Your "top down" screenshots look like you only have a single, very small area, enabled in the library, or most of your scenery has been corrupted. What does it look like when you slew to an area that is desert like?
If your scenery is a mess, your AI probably may not decipher their flightplan locations correctly.

If you don't have the recommended back up of your FSX, a repair(disk 1) or reinstall will probably be the only way.

The biggie with a Repair is any default file, including those default aircraft.cfgs with added liveries, that have been modified, tweaked, or otherwise changed, will be returned to default status.
You can make a copy of your existing FSX folder before the repair and paste those individual files back in afterwards.

Other locations for FSX files you may want to back-up first:
fsx.cfg and GrantedRewards.BIN, {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX}
Your control settings = Standard.xml {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls}
Logbook.BIN and flight plan files {C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files}
scenery.cfg {C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX} IF it is, even possibly, corrupt don't use it! Start fresh.

If you have SP1, SP2, or Acceleration installed, they will have to be uninstalled(properly, via the Control Panel) before a repair attempt, and reinstalled, after the repair, or it won't work.

Once you have your FSX up and running properly again, back it up, all of it. Keep a Virgin and Recent(1/month) copy.
You will need it again and it's a whole lot easier than a Repair or Re-Install.

Sorry so windy...Don

[spartan0536]

the reference to "area trigger" is one used commonly in developing games for example ArmA II, its where certain actions or contexts are activated when certain conditions are met within an area, this is also followed by an object causing the trigger to activate. I am not familiar with the design of FSX or FS2004 I just know that lots of developing studios use area triggers to cue certain contextual actions. Ai Smooth also helps prevent overcrowding by acting as its own ATC and spacing out the AI, its works well for me, you can also keep track of what the AI is doing with the program. Best thing to do right now is set the sliders back for AI and see if it fixes your problem. Also if you do not have Pete Dowsen's FSUPIC 4+ installed, download it for free (free version), if you like it buy it, either way lots of programs use FSUPIC and it does help certain programs run better and some will not work without it installed PERIOD.

[dude555]

"area trigger"? Unfamiliar with that...
It's been my experience that a lack of parking spaces upon landing is what makes AI disappear. AI on a crowded taxiway that haven't moved for a loooooong period of time, will time-out and disappear also. That is generally the fault of the scenery's taxiway layout and/or ATC trying to put two planes thru the same intersection. Sometimes they both get "Hold Shorts" and evrything comes to a standstill.
I don't have a super computer or any exotic assistant apps. Right now I'm at my customized KMEM with 86 AI aircraft parked, and 89 planes airborne. I regularly fly this same flight and rarely if ever see an AI time-out.

OK, to the problem at hand.
Having the duplicate traffic files should not give the result you are seeing, but, even one in the original FS9 format will disable all FSX format traffic.
Other scenery files for add-ons sometimes include traffic files. Do a windows search for those, and verify they are in the correct format.

I have every WOAI, MAIW, a bunch of old PAI and AIG traffic.
I very carefully installed all of them, converted, and tested, one at a time.
It took weeks, but I now have 26.6GB in AI Aircraft and 682 ***traffic_FSX.bgls, so, the amount of traffic installed should not be an issue.

Your "top down" screenshots look like you only have a single, very small area, enabled in the library, or most of your scenery has been corrupted. What does it look like when you slew to an area that is desert like?
If your scenery is a mess, your AI probably may not decipher their flightplan locations correctly.

If you don't have the recommended back up of your FSX, a repair(disk 1) or reinstall will probably be the only way.

The biggie with a Repair is any default file, including those default aircraft.cfgs with added liveries, that have been modified, tweaked, or otherwise changed, will be returned to default status.
You can make a copy of your existing FSX folder before the repair and paste those individual files back in afterwards.

Other locations for FSX files you may want to back-up first:
fsx.cfg and GrantedRewards.BIN, {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX}
Your control settings = Standard.xml {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls}
Logbook.BIN and flight plan files {C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files}
scenery.cfg {C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX} IF it is, even possibly, corrupt don't use it! Start fresh.

If you have SP1, SP2, or Acceleration installed, they will have to be uninstalled(properly, via the Control Panel) before a repair attempt, and reinstalled, after the repair, or it won't work.

Once you have your FSX up and running properly again, back it up, all of it. Keep a Virgin and Recent(1/month) copy.
You will need it again and it's a whole lot easier than a Repair or Re-Install.

Sorry so windy...Don

Thanks so much for your long reply .

Firstly, how would I find these other traffic files that might be there? I know they are not in the "SCENERY/WORLD/SCENERY" folder, so how would I search for them?

Secondly, I don't think my scenery is corrupted - but how would I know and why would it have gotten corrupted?

A repair sounds like it may potentially fix the problem, and backing up my files and saving them shouldn't be an issue. So I may have to do that, although I don't particularly want to do it....

How would I know if my scenery.cfg file is corrupt? Would this be related to my WOAI landing issue?

I have both SP1 and SP2, I believe. So if I do a repair I will make sure to uninstall those first.

Thanks for your help!

[dude555]

***EXCITING NEWS!***

I think I may have fixed the problem . I found some files in a folder located in my documents, and the name of the folder was basically "backup-world/sceneryfiles". Apparently, I had (for some reason) deleted some important files from my Scenery/World/Scenery folder, but I had saved them in my documents. Well, when I found them I copied them back in and loaded up my FSX. The WOAI appears to be working fine now, and my "top-down" view problem looks like it's fixed too . I guess the solution was more simple than I thought....
(Here I am at Amsterdam, notice no box around the location I was at.)

[fxsttcb]

Glad to see you got it sorted! Thanks for posting the solution. It may help someone in the future...Don