AI Basics

[bobvan]

This is a very encouraging post. Thank you for it. What you describe is exactly what I would like to do. One of my home bases in flight simulation is a very good Southeastern US scenery package including my home town airfield of Key Field, Meridian, Mississippi, KMEI. I worked there in the military for nine years. Long years before that, two Key Brothers, Al and Fred Key, stayed aloft in the Curtiss Robin "Ole Miss" for the entire month of June, 1935, setting a world endurance record that stood for a generation. I have a really fine FS 2004 Curtiss Robin. It would be a lot cooler having my Robin shooting landings at Key Field than Cessna 208 amphibian.

[ColR1948]

Hi Bob, With reference to the air files, you will find as a rule most aircraft made for ai the air file will be ok, sometimes on a rare occasion it is not but as I say most cases it is.

 

If you get the the stage of using a flyable type for ai then again sometimes the air file supplied with it will work ok, if that aircraft does not fly right then you will need to change/edit the air file.

I have on many occasion used a flyable type for ai and instead of editing the air file I swapped it for another one, sometimes from an similar ai type of aircraft.

A good air file to use which works well with lots of aircraft is the default Boeing 737-400, it will work on many prop types as well, just bear it in mind for if and when you get to that stage.

 

Col.

[bobvan]

Hi Bob,

 

First observation here is to NEVER post your personal email in a post. Sadly, however good the website security is, it can't stop what are called Bots from scanning the site for such details. A better option would be to invite members to use the sites' Personal Message (PM) function to contact you and you can then provide your email address that way. BTW, if you are not aware of the PM function it accessed by clicking on a posters name and selecting the PM option.

 

Onto your Q........

 

WRT to WOAI and instructions - Unfortunately, that is often the case regarding instructions, be it from a well established provider like WOAI or someone sharing a basic plan that they have made for themselves. That said, on most occasions the installer provided by WOAI should place the files in the correct location - however, you don't have to let the installer place files where it wants. You can point the installer to a temp location and do a manual install.

 

Basically, AI objects (Aircraft, Boats, Vehicles etc) are objects that populate the sky, seas, roads that you see in the sim and they can be moving or static. They are controlled by the AI engine using traffic files.

 

An AI package will either be a full package (that contains the AI models and flightplans), as model package (that will only contain a model for which you will need to source a suitable flightplan for - there are loads of plans available) or it may only contain repaint textures for a specific model - some of these may include a flight plan for the airline represented in the repaint. In some rare cases, the package may also include other folders/files (such as effects or sounds). There may even be a readme file that provides install instructions and/or details of the airports/flight schedule etc)

 

For most freeware that don't have installers it is best to unpack the files into a temp location so that you can see what is included - I have set a permanent folder on the drive called Unpacked AI Models for this purpose. Note, that on unpacking, what folder structure you will see will depend on how the author bundled the package. Some will have the bundle starting point set at Aircraft so that when it is unpacked you will see something like Aircraft\ModelName, whilst others will have the model folder name as starting point. As you will see below it is important that you learn to recognise this.

 

An AI model will contain the same type of folders you find for a flyable model. Traffic files are distinguishable by their file extension type and can be provided in one of two formats, the most common being a .bgl file - this is the format that the sim recognises. The other format is in the form of 3 .txt files (usually named as Airports_.txt, Aircraft_.txt and Flightplan_.txt) - this format is not recognised by the sim but if no .bgl file is included you can use any of these .txt files to create one using a AI tool such as TTools or AIFP.

 

Adding them to the sim is relatively easy once you know the basics........

 

These actions are carried out without the sim running.

 

The AI model - the AI model folder must be placed in the appropriate folder within the main default SimObjects folder. To keep it simply for you I suggest you put them in the Aircraft sub-folder. Look at your current Simobjects folder to get an idea of what entries are there and how it should look. As indicated above, the package unpacks to a Aircraft\ModelName folder, it is only the model folder that need to be placed in the Aircraft folder. If you place the whole lot in (so that it reads Aircraft\Aircraft\ModelName) it will not display.

 

Traffic Files - The basic rule regarding traffic files is that they must be placed in an active scenery folder. The standard location often quoted by most authors is the Scenery\World\Scenery folder, as this the folder where the default sim AI traffic file (which uses the default sim airplanes and other objects to provide the basic AI traffic that you see in the sim before adding any others) is located, but you could, if you wish place them in the default Addon Scenery\Scenery folder.

 

Effect and Sounds - if these are included then place them as follow

 

Effect files - note that there are two types of effect files - the effect file itself (which has a .fx file extension) and the texture file (which has a .bmp extension) The .fx files go into the sim's default Effects folder and the .bmp files go into the sub-folder named Texture that is located within the Effects folder.

 

Sound - Where the sounds are placed will depend on how the author has set them to work. All sound files have a .wav extension and will either go into the sim's default Sound folder or, if the author has placed then in a specifically named folder (i.e Sound\Airplane ZZZ) then the whole Airplane ZZZ folder goes into the Sound folder.

 

Once you have placed the files in their respective locations start the sim. The first thing you should notice is that you should get a message that the sim is rebuilding the scenery library - this is because is has found the new .bgl traffic file and is referencing it into the scenery.cfg file. Once the sim is running the only way to really verify if the package is working is to go to one of the airports visited by the package

 

This is a very basic overview of how AI works and adding AI can be as easy or hard as you want to make it. Once you have an understanding of the basics of what goes where it will become a breeze to add more stuff. If you want any additional info post back into this thread or PM me

 

Additional question:

I opened up the GA Traffic program which is a beautiful program. I did the first steps of making a couple

of AI aircraft. When I clicked on flight plans, the program crashed without explanation. (not that unusual).

Still, it had made a couple of AI airplanes for me.

 

I opened up TTools to substitute my preferred airplanes in the compiled aircraft listing.

 

Question: (one of those things you do not have ESP enough to know.) What title do you use in the

aircraft listing to be decompiled back into the system, the aircraft folder title, or some title from the

aircraft.cfg file in the AI airplane (these titles are not the same)?

 

Thanks for any help with this point.

Dummy oldster.

 

PS. Did my system crash when I asked GA-Traffic to go to flight plans, before letting the program list up

my AIRCRAFT folder before proceeding with the new listing?

[longbreak754]

..........I don't know what a cached link is. Is that the same

thing as a bookmark?..........

 

Hi Bob,

 

In answer to your Q - yes and no as there are slight differences.

 

A bookmark is basically a place holder for a link to a website and it will normally take you to the page that was being displayed when you created the bookmark - normally the homepage of a website - this s stored as what I refer to as a 'hard' reference.

 

However, when you visit other pages within that website or make a search for something using a search engine a 'soft' or 'volitile' reference is 'cached' or made in a temp location. This 'cache' is used to speed up your viewing when you switch between pages by, for example, using the back button to revisit a previously viewed page.

 

Over time, the cache builds up and can consume a large amount of disk space and both old bookmarks and temp cache links can cause issues like you are experiencing.

 

Two links for you to look at regarding clearing cache:

 

HERE and HERE

 

There are also tools available (both freeware and payware) that you can use to not only clean internet cache but also other types of temp files that get left behind following app installs/updates/uninstalls and they will make the job easier for you - I suggest the freeware version of a tool called CCleaner will suffice your needs - just download and install it, doi a run of it and then run it once a month or more frequently if you wish.

 

WRT to your Q at post #28 regarding the name - the aircraft name is from an entry in the aircraft.cfg file. Each aircraft colour scheme has to specific entries that distinguishes it from the others and that is the Title= entry and the Texture= entry. It is the Title= entry that is used as a ref on the flight plan.

[bobvan]

I wish to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged me into learning AI airplanes and their operation. I have just put in the hardest day at a computer since the first time I spent a weekend installing Windows 95. I fought my way through all the tutorials, GA-Trafic program made modifying simulator airplanes a snap, then I lost most of a day thrashing around in that gigantic traffic file, mostly getting confused. I finally backed it up, and deleted it and made a set of flight plans for the personal AI airplanes I made. I have really cool set. One of the first ones I caught in the traffic pattern, I watched it land, a beautiful North American T-GG. I was following him to the ramp, and could not believe he turned left away from the GA ramp at Key Field, KMEI, Meridian, Mississippi. I followed him about two miles to the north end of the field, where it was a total nostalgia kick. It was the same Air National Guard ramp at Key Field, where I worked on airplanes for 9 years from 1953-62, He parked the T-6 right on the same ramp where i parked them myself as an airman basic recruit, in 1953. We had a training flight of T-6G's to support our squadron at that time of P-51 Mustangs which the USAF had been calling F-51D's since 1947. I made a beautiful AI example of my USAF C-47A, exactly like the one I worked on for years. I made an Aeronca Champion, a Staggarwing Beechcraft, a Curtiss Goshawk and a really cool Curtiss Robin, in memory of the Key Brothers, who flew one for more than 600 hours in 1935 from this very field, to set the world endurance record. I even have a spittin example of my own Cessna 150G I once owned, N3949J, which Mr. Narscisco made me a texture from my photograph of my plane. I even duplicated the T-6G and made a total of six of them, all of which I had in the air at one time this afternoon, like the old Air Guard drill days on a Saturday night. I did not see a lot of purpose in letting all those airplanes fly off into space somewhere, so I programmed them all to spend an hour, separated except for the T-6's which I had one minute separation on them like they were taking off on a mission somewhere. I just parked my Cessna 150 beside runway 19 at Key Field and watched them all trying to shoot touch and goes. I don't think I ever saw one actually land, the tower kept giving them a go around every time they came in. I have been there, done that. I wish we had screen shots in this chat. It was a really interesting day. but a hard one on an old man. I started the flight plan files too early and they are off and gone at dawn, like a bunch of military guys on field training. I want to see the whole crowd of them parked on the ramp. Now I have got to make the entire P-51D squadron like we had way back then. I cannot believe I can relive a certain scene in simulation that I remember from real life. If anyone ever was a crew chief getting a squadron of P-51 Mustangs off for night flying in the dark, they never forgot it. The Packard Merlin engines, coughed fire from the stacks when they started and you had to squirt them with a fire bottle. Then the engines fired up and you were trying to work getting the guy off on the flight on a ramp full of spinning 12-foot Hamilton Standard props, twinkling n the dark, ready to behead you with one wrong step, and when they all taxi out it is something beautiful. We had radium dial gauges in the panel in those days, and you could see a green glow reflected in the pilots' face The airplane had taxi lights and landing lights, and all those navigation lights flashing everywhere is a dramatic scene if you could just keep from getting chewed up or run over. I can't imagine seeint that same scene in a simulator. I can't believe I can make a P-51 squadron with a 65 dollar computer game. Thanks again to everyone. I learn very slowly, but I do learn.

[ColR1948]

Wow! Well done Bob, I know how you feel mate, that is great news, I'm so glad you are on the road now to getting even more ai in the air.

 

Another thing to watch for, this has happened to not just me but many others:

You select an aircraft to use as an ai, you make the flight plan and do all the necessary things and you go in the flight sim and it doesn't show.

First thing to do is go in the aircraft.cfg and make sure everything is spelt right, what I mean is things like this:

 

airfile=C123XX

 

But the air file you have is names c123xx or even something different, so change the name in the cfg to match, this applies to other things too.

Sometimes the aircraft can appear but no texture, again check the spelling, I've done this lots of times and sometimes it can even be a full stop missing.

 

Col.

[longbreak754]

Hi Bob,

 

Glad you have achieved your goal.......have many happy, and sometimes frustrating, hours of creating/tweaking AI..........

[bobvan]

Thanks, Brian.

I am like a blind dog in a meat house, making AI airplanes and sending them places. I have not counted in years, but I imagine my aircraft inventory would run into the high hundreds. I have already made 18 examples of some really cool AI planes. I would not try to smart aleck people, except for the marvelous home airfield I am using for a home base.

 

I am starting them out at dawn and sending them on round trips every ten minutes or so, and my home field of KMEI at Meridian, Mississippi could not be a cooler place for studying and practicing this sort of activity. I worked there in aircraft maintenance for 9 years. It really is a fine sim study place, It has untold parking facilities. I have been stationing airplanes there for two days, non stop, and the field still looks vacant, it has so many ramps. It has a full military section on the north end of the field that is a present military airfield, and an ANG base back to the late 1940's.

 

Anyone wanting to exercise sim airliners would love it because I think the latest runway 1/19 extension was, I believe, 12,000 feet. It is used for all the military ILS practicing, for an NAS air station to the northeast of the field, and also from KJAN, 70 nm to the west in Jackson,

 

All that is not present in the vanilla FS2004. It has been so many years, but I think this fine Key Field display was included in a Southeastern United State scenery package for FS2004. It is also fine for planning and flying not too long flights to KGPT in Gulfport, MS to the south, about 120 nm or so down there, with equal large field facilities down there.

 

I regularly practice flights I actually flew by the water tanks, from KMEI, down to KBPT, the Southeastern Regional airport at Port Arthur, Texas. There is some fine plain old light plane flying in sim, in the actual route I flew in a small plane, right across the dismal swamp southwest of Natchez, HEZ, down to De Quincy, LA, Orange Texas and into Port Arthur.

 

In those years, I did not have an encoding altimeter, and they held me down to 1200 ft altitude coming across the Neches River delta. If my engine had bobbled I would have been swimming in oil refinery effluent in that river. But it really makes a fine little simulator flight in a light plane, just to fly it, from Key Field KMEI, down to KBPT.

 

Programming these AI flight plans is a breeze if you have FS NAV 200 hot in your simulator, for an F9 click to open it. I just click F9, pick out an airfield in reasonable range for a Curtiss Robin, or a De Havilland Heron, or whatever I am sending somewhere, and it does not require any chart work, Just line em up and keep writing.

 

I really have an awesome inventory of airplanes, and it is interesting just to get them all working ATC, sit my sim plane down by the end of R1 at Key Field and watch them all take off. If anyone wants to share a prospective airplane list, and my set of standalone flight plans from a really fine sim base. I would be glad to share it. It would not mean much without the really fine Southeastern United States scenery package. If I can't share e mail addresses, I would not know how to share it with anyone.

 

PS It did not take me long to figure out to put a // followed by the aircraft type at the end of the flight plan lines ie //Curtiss Robin, etc.

They are all so different in speed, range, flight times, etc, that I was lost before I went back and labeled the AC types.

[longbreak754]

If anyone wants to share a prospective airplane list, and my set of standalone flight plans from a really fine sim base. I would be glad to share it. It would not mean much without the really fine Southeastern United States scenery package. If I can't share e mail addresses, I would not know how to share it with anyone.

 

Hi Bob,

 

You could accomplish this in two ways......

 

Option 1: Upload your flight plans to the file library at this site (and others such as AVSIM if you so wish). Make it clear in the description that it is a traffic file for use with the specific model(s) and airfield(s) concerned. As part of the package include a detailed Readme file that contains the details of the models required, any changes made to the aircraft.cfg file (if required) and any suggested scenery addons. You could also include email contact details in the readme.

 

Option 2: Invite interested people (via this thread) to contact you using the Private Messaging (PM) tool provide as part of your flightsim.com account. To use the PM function you simply click on the username and this brings up a number of options - select the PM option, write the message and submit it. You can use the PM system to either provide the listing, a contact email address or anything else you care to write. When someone PMs you, you will get a notification.

[ColR1948]

Hi Bob, if you want some military in there go to MAIW website, they do lots of ai aircraft packages free to download once you register, a great bunch of lads on there too, always very helpful.

 

http://www.militaryaiworks.com/

[ColR1948]

hi Bob, another thing to watch for if ever you decide to use a flyable for ai.

This sometimes happens, you see it take off and fly straight out, atc tell it to turn but it keeps flying on straight, the answer is to change the air file.

One of the best air files is the default 737, it can be used on lots of aircraft including prop jobs as well.

 

Don't for get to alter the cfg after you do this.

[bobvan]

Thanks for your encouragement. I have learned to use GA Traffic, make AI planes, and make flight plans to operate them. What do I have to do to make a flyable plane work as an AI airplane? World of AI is confusing. I know how to install a plane in my aircraft folder. I know how to revise an aircraft.cfg file. I know how to add or delete a PANEL folder. I know how to delete a SOUND folder. Why do they bury you confusing about WHAT an activity like World of AI is doing and WHY? I do not need to modify many planes, just the Boeing airliners. The fakey types in FS2004 are pathetic. Thanks for a simple 101 on what an AI plane must have. GA Traffic does not explain what he does to the planes. He won't let me convert an airplane over 30,000 pounds. If I could trick the gross weight identity, I could convert all my airliners with GA Traffic.

[bobvan]

I appreciate all the help in phasing in to AI operations. I think I have it pretty well figured out. So far there are no failures of airplanes to appear. Since all this discussion is strictly hypothetical, in a hypothetical case where someone was careful to use an acceptable .air file, as in the above suggestion that the B737 .air file works well. a routine procedure might be to copy an acceptable version of the N737 .air file into the A/C folder. then scrape click the original .air file, just in case something fails, to make a copy of the file in place. Then right click on the original .air file before deleting it. Click "rename" and right click and copy the fill file name of the original .air file (putting the file in the rename loop allows copying the full file name.) Don't right click, but go to the upper left FILE option, highlight the original .air file and delete it. (this does not disturb your clip board contents.) Then highlight the B737 .air file you sitll have sitting there in the folder (that will be the new AI operating .air file) Right click on the B737 .air file, and click RENAME. It will highlight the entire file name. Then click PASTE and and END and ENTER the original .air file name you have been holding in the clipboard now becomes the 737 .air file, renamed with the original .air file name that the aircraft.cfg file will be seeking when it opens up the AI airplane. In certain hypothetical cases (strictly hypothetical) about 30 converted AI airplanes have appeared, taxied, and have flown perfectly. Thanks again to all the assistance to a real dumb head about learning new things.

[tgibson_new]

You don't need to do all this renaming, and it will create confusion later when you don't remember you did that.

 

Just change the sim= line in the plane's aircraft.cfg file to point to the new 737 air file. Do this for every livery entry.

[bbrain]

Brian,

I and many others are into 2D panels and just want to get in the aircraft and go. i hope you might consider continuing your work in 2D for FSX. There is a demand for it.

 

Thanks for your post.

 

Britton