WOAI Has Stopped Working! I Suspect Alien Fairies have Stolen the Planes!

I have installed every U.S. Airline in WOAI, plus several major Europeans like Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, etc. I also ran the FS9-Fixer to convert non-FSX WOAI files. It all worked very well until recently- I'm not even sure exactly when it failed, but it's within the past 2-3 weeks or so.

 

Over the past 2 days, I made a flight from KSEA to KSFO, then another from KSFO to KLAX. Throughout both flights, the only ATC chatter I heard was about GA aircraft such as Lears, Barons, King Airs, Mooneys and Cessnas, plus the fictitious FSX airlines World Airways, Orbit and Pacific-something. Not only was there no WOAI airline traffic in the air, but all 3 of the above major international airline-hub airports were completely devoid of parked, taxiing and/or taking off/landing WOAI airplanes. The only addon airport I have among those 3 is a Los Angeles demo package, but that supposedly just covers Catalina Island, not KLAX itself.

 

Something has suppressed my WOAI :mad:. I checked my traffic slider and it is set to medium high and has been for a long time, so it's not that. The only "global" changes I have made lately are updating GEX and UTX(US), but it seems unlikely to me that updating those would suppress WOAI, especially since I already had UTX+GEX, just older versions- and WOAI was fine with them.

 

Can anyone suggest anything that would spontaneously disable a previously-working WOAI installation?

I suggest a 20 lb. sledge hammer.;) That's my favorite tweaking tool. Check your FSX/Scenery/World Scenery folder and make sure the trafficAircraft.bgl is still there in good shape, not renamed or any other tomfoolery. Never hurts to make sure all of the WOAI traffic files still exist there also.

I suggest a 20 lb. sledge hammer.;) That's my favorite tweaking tool.

Well now that you've alerted me to them, I prefer to bash it with a 3-ounce hot pink Merkin... :p

 

Check your FSX/Scenery/World Scenery folder and make sure the trafficAircraft.bgl is still there in good shape, not renamed or any other tomfoolery. Never hurts to make sure all of the WOAI traffic files still exist there also.

Here's what all that looks like at the moment.

 

I'm a little concerned about the older date of trafficAircraft.bgl- all the WOAI airline files are dated in March, when I first installed WOAI, but trafficAircraft.bgl is dated in January, when I reinstalled FSX after the crash... is trafficAircraft.bgl a WOAI file or a vanilla FSX file?

is trafficAircraft.bgl a WOAI file or a vanilla FSX file?

 

That is an FSX File. Mine is dated from 2006 since I use WOAI straight out of the can, no changing to FSX format.

IMO only thing left to check is if the WoAI aircraft are still there.

 

Check yr Simobjects\Airplanes folder...

OR if you moved them to a separate folder, check if the corresponding entry in FSX.CFG still exists.

 

Wim

The user has a FSX9 traffic file installed. Re-convert all traffic files to FSX10 format and all will work again.

WOAI uses FS9 AI flightplans. If FSX finds a FSX version flightplan it doesn't load the FS9 flightplans anymore. Strange but true.

I guess you installed some scenery with built in AI and a FSX flightplan.

There's a great program called AIFP. You can convert all your flightplans to version FSX.

It's searches all FS9 versions for you.

Or find the FSX versions and delete them.

The user has a FSX9 traffic file installed.

 

I have my doubts about that.

From OP :

...the only ATC chatter I heard was about GA aircraft such as Lears, Barons, King Airs, Mooneys and Cessnas, plus the fictitious FSX airlines World Airways, Orbit and Pacific-something

An FS9 bgl would block those as well.

 

Wim

"Alien fairies"

 

Hate those guys, prancing around, cross-dressing, all that. If they want to do that sort of thing, they should do it on their own planet and leave ours alone! I don't care about their orientation, but don't try to force it on our WOAI!

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Pat☺

Sorry Haggydog, I couldn't help but laugh at the title post. Maybe it's the illuminati since they have gone public this past month finally.

 

Hope you get it working though, I know how much things like that can hinder enjoyable flying.

The user has a FSX9 traffic file installed. Re-convert all traffic files to FSX10 format and all will work again.

 

Nope. From my OP: "I also ran the FS9-Fixer to convert non-FSX WOAI files." I just couldn't remember the name AIFP so I called it "the FS9-Fixer." There are no FS9 flight plans.

 

"Alien fairies"

Hate those guys, prancing around, cross-dressing, all that. If they want to do that sort of thing, they should do it on their own planet and leave ours alone! I don't care about their orientation, but don't try to force it on our WOAI!

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Pat☺

No, no, no apology! I love it! As a diehard Monty Python fan, I frequently engage in the sublimely absurd! Thanks for joining in! Now, BRING ME A SHRUBBERY!

 

Sorry Haggydog, I couldn't help but laugh at the title post. Maybe it's the illuminati since they have gone public this past month finally.

 

Hope you get it working though, I know how much things like that can hinder enjoyable flying.

LOL! I see what you did there- "Fairies" ... "Haggy"dog... nice one, and thanks!

 

As it happens, I did get it working, kinda-sorta... I put my traffic slider all the way to the right, a level of traffic that I'm pretty sure is labeled "Totally-Insane-Super-Mega-Ultra-Intense Frequency Congestion" and I finally got 3 or 4 non-fictious-airline planes to show up on the ground at LAX. However, at that level of traffic, I should have had them stacked 6 deep at every single gate, so something is still amiss. I'm going to uninstall the Los Angeles scenery demo I installed and see if that fixes it, and also check at some other airports. Last time I was at a gate at KATL there was a Delta tube at every single gate plus about 15-20 of them landing, taxiing and taking off- just as in real life at Hartsfield Atlanta. So maybe WOAI just doesn't like Southern California.

The L.A. Scenery wasn't Aerosoft Catalina and L.A. Demo, was it?

The L.A. Scenery wasn't Aerosoft Catalina and L.A. Demo, was it?

 

Why, yes! Yes, it was. Why do you ask, Grasshopper?

Why yes. Yes, it was. Why do you ask, Grasshopper?

 

Ah, Master, I also have this scenery, which I am contemplating my navel, getting ready to uninstall. The airport scenery at Catalina is fair to mediocre and ATC doesn't think the airport exists. There are better renditions of Catalina, freeware at that!

 

I have snatched the pebble from your hand. Does that mean I gotta Vamoose??

 

Ah, Master, I also have this scenery, which I am contemplating my naval

 

Contemplating your NAVAL? You're still holding on to that whole WV/EC-121 debacle, aren't you. Let it go. Breathe in. Breathe out. Now hold that until you turn NAVY Blue.

 

getting ready to uninstall [the Aerosoft Catalina Demo scenery]. The airport scenery at Catalina is fair to mediocre and ATC doesn't think the airport exists. There are better renditions of Catalina, freeware at that!

 

I actually posted a question/comment (OK, some might consider it a rant) about this on the Aerosoft support forum a couple of weeks ago. For some reason, they are ignoring me. :D

 

I have snatched the pebble from your hand. Does that mean I gotta Vamoose??

 

Mooses don't wear Merkins.

Just did a test at KLAX after deleting the Aerosoft Demo. Muchos, muchos AI are back. I don't use KLAX very much but I did notice a general lack of Merkins......uh aircraft at that airport. All good now! Crap, ya go me doin' it now!

Mooses don't wear Merkins.

 

They don't need to. Mooses become Canadian merkins, not wear them! Great for those cold winter nights, too. Nothing like a nice, toasty warm moose-merkin, although very seldom do they come in Hot Pink! Come to think of it, wouldn't hot pink get a little too warm after a very short period of time?? Are they microwave safe (to keep them hot)?

Always more questions. Every answer leads to more and more questions...

where's my medicine, I think it's time for it, again.

Pat☺

Wow is it any wonder that the WOAI planes have gone AWOL with alien fairies and the illuminati running amok, now there's solar flares in the mix as well. If it gets any worse I'm going to have to dust off the ZX81.

Oh god what if they take email down, I haven't posted a letter since the early nineties and not sure how to do it anymore.

HoggyDogs AI could be just the tip of the iceberg.

In another thread, someone mentioned UT2, so naturally, I had to run check that out. I Googled "UT2 review" and among the many pages that I eventually looked at was an "FSX for NOOBs" reference page, which had some interesting information on how FSX handles AI traffic.

 

Bottom line for this particular discussion is this: FSX does NOT instantly spawn AI traffic, on the ground OR in the air, when you first start the sim! Only after about 20 minutes does FSX have all the AI aircraft in your vicinity spawned and doing whatever they should be doing. Apparently, this holds true for default, WOAI and UT2 traffic.

 

What I had been doing was moving the traffic slider, then immediately starting a free flight on the ground at KLAX and later, KATL, to see if AI aircraft were "back," then shutting down the sim and trying something else, then briefly checking another free flight on the ground at whatever airport... never letting the sim just run for 15-20 minutes so that it could get its AI going.... because I didn't know how FSX handled AI traffic.

 

So now, I've uninstalled the sub-mediocre Aerosoft LA/Catalina demo scenery whose only airport isn't treated as an airport at all and is unknown to ATC, and whose very presence in my installation killed all KLAX AI traffic, and whose support team has not bothered to respond to my 2-week-old help request about these problems :mad: , and I'm starting FSX to let the sim simmer :D for a while to see if it can populate my tubular world with, well, more tubes.

 

I'll report later on whether or not uninstalling the buggy scenery demo fixed my AI at KLAX after I've given it time to spool up.

 

 

I'll report later on whether or not uninstalling the buggy scenery demo fixed my AI at KLAX after I've given it time to spool up.

 

 

I'll bet you 2 Merkins and a peanut butter sandwich that it's fixed!;)

Speaking of U2. Is there a payware U2? Oops! Hope the NSA doesn't have that (U2) in their catchphrase file!

I'll bet you 2 Merkins and a peanut butter sandwich that it's fixed!;)

 

Well, yes and no. To give FSX plenty of "fair warning" that I was coming to LA, I went to KLAS (McCarran Field) and filed IFR to LA, which was a pretty quick flight of about 40 minutes. At the Vegas airport, I didn't see much activity at all, but based on what I read earlier today about it taking FSX 15-20 minutes to spool up to full AI traffic, I didn't worry too much about it.

 

Enroute to KLAX, I heard maybe 3-4 United, A-Merkin and Delta flights, plus some GA weenies, being worked by ATC. However, with my Traffic slider maxed out, it should have been almost impossible for me to get a word in edgewise on the frequency, and it wasn't.

 

When I got to KLAX, Tower cleared an A-Merkin 738 to cut in front of me on final after clearing me to land when I was about 5 miles out on the ILS :mad:, and then, at about 100 feet, told me to go around because the A-Merkin driver couldn't seem to clear the runway. I acknowledged the instruction and landed anyway. Gkjf ATC.

 

As I taxied to the gate, I saw maybe 2 WOAI airplanes at different gates, plus a couple of FSX Orbits and World Travels and one lonely Air France heavy. When I got parked, I looked at the whole airport in Top-Down view and there were only, maybe, 10 airplanes in the entire place, nobody landing, nobody taking off, and only one plane taxiing- probably the same A-Merkin driver who couldn't find the throttles after obstructing my runway earlier. Bear in mind, this sparsity of traffic was with my traffic slider maxed out.

 

So, while WOAI seems to be "working," it managed to inject only ONE visibly flying airplane into my sim (and onto MY runway!) during peak hours at one of the busiest international airline hubs in the world. KLAX at 5:00 PM was almost a ghost town when it should have had airplanes lined up 5 deep to land on 2 of the 4 runways and 10 deep waiting to depart on the other two, with shiny tubes taxiing every-which-a-way plus very few empty gates.

 

Something is broken and I don't even know where to begin to troubleshoot it.

Bummer! Your peanut butter sandwich is in the mail! I'll dust off the Merkins later. Back to business...Is KLAX the only affected, infected airport? You said Atlanta-Hartsfield was jammed to the rafters, how about New Yawk City, KJFK? KSFO, Sam Clam's Disco?

 

I don't think at the major airports, any Default AI should be showing up. By the by, is your KLAX airport a payware model, default, or maybe a freeware upgrade?

Is KLAX the only affected, infected airport? You said Atlanta-Hartsfield was jammed to the rafters

 

I apologize if I said that. My Hartsfield used to be packed to the rafters, but that's no longer the case- just now, it had 3-4 Deltas, 2 Air Trans and 2 FSX Fictitious. Nobody landing. One Delta MD-80 took off as I taxied around.

 

Same for JFK, Logan, O'Hare, San Fran and Sea-Tac- all have a max of 5 WOAI entries, with almost all gates empty.

 

is your KLAX airport a payware model, default, or maybe a freeware upgrade?

 

Default KLAX. I would love to find a decent fraddon scenery package for KLAX and Catalina now that we both had to Hoover out the Aerosoft demo.

 

My only addon airports now are KATL, KJAX, KNIP, KCRG, KMIA, KPNS, KLAS and the new one at Panama City- KECP I think it is, it doesn't even exist in default FSX.

 

What's weird about this is that WOAI used to pack KATL to the rafters, as you said. Just 3 months ago right after I first installed WOAI, I posted this KATL ramp shot moments after starting the sim, not 15 minutes later.

 

Now, WOAI still works, but barely- it is drastically curtailed, throttled, impaired but still gasping out a few feeble breaths.

In

Bottom line for this particular discussion is this: FSX does NOT instantly spawn AI traffic, on the ground OR in the air, when you first start the sim! Only after about 20 minutes does FSX have all the AI aircraft in your vicinity spawned and doing whatever they should be doing. Apparently, this holds true for default, WOAI and UT2 traffic.

 

Thanks for the info I never realised that.

However it does have me stumped as when I first fire up FSX in free flight mode I do have plenty of AI traffic populating the airport. Granted I fly in New Zealand and even the busiest airport NZAA has no where near the traffic compared to LAX. The only thing that does occur is that WOAI aircraft take a few minutes to sort out the correct altimeter settings from FSrealWXpro.

Have you looked at the gate assignments for KLAX since you added then removed the add-on software, it could be a case of the gate assignments not reverting back to the default so you end up with only a few assigned gates.

My understanding is that the AI aircraft is only spawned if it has a gate assignment prior to it being spawned. That's why you don't get stacking for gates with AI traffic.

Darryl