Scarcity of AI Aircraft

Can anyone have a guess as to why I have so few AI aircraft at airports?

 

I have approx 200 WOA packages installed and my traffic slider is at 100% but I have very few aircraft at airports that I would expect to be very busy.

 

For example, I have the Iberia and Iberia Express packages installed but I have only 2 Iberia aircraft at Malaga, 1 at Menorca and none at Ibiza. By the same token I have Ryanair, Monarch, Easyjet, Jet2, BA, Germanwings, Condor, KLM, etc, packages installed but at the same airports I just have the odd Monarch aircraft. In fact, at Malaga I only have 4 aircraft showing. I've tried it with the default scenery and the Malaga addon scenery, and there's no difference.

 

I've checked Madrid, Iberia's hub, but only have 3 Iberia aircraft there, too.

 

I can't understand it. Any suggestions would help.

 

Allan

Lack of parking spots would be my guess. If they're stock airports, then they are short on parking.

Most of the WOAI packages are in FS2004 format and the flight plans need to be converted to FSX format. That is why you see very few planes.

I'm wondering if you have a mix of FS2004 and FSX flight plans? If so, only FS2004 flight plans will render your AI and not the FSX flight plans.

 

If you do in fact have a mix of both flight plan schemes, you'll want to use AIFP and convert all FS2004 flight plans to FSX format.

Lack of parking spots would be my guess. If they're stock airports, then they are short on parking.

 

 

I thought that, but he mentions this:

 

In fact, at Malaga I only have 4 aircraft showing. I've tried it with the default scenery and the Malaga addon scenery, and there's no difference.

 

An add-on airport would give more parking. So we see here both the default and add-on airport is an issue.

What the OP needs to do is to get the most recent version of AIFP here:

 

http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?Folder=AIFP

 

Then, when installed, in AIFP go under "Bulk Traffic" and hit "Recompile traffic files". This will ensure that:

 

1. All flight plans are in FSX format, and

 

2. All FS9-named airports in the plans are exchanged for FSX-named airports.

 

After that, take a look at the airports and see if more airplanes are visible.

 

Jorgen

Thanks for the replies.

 

But, at least 2 of the airports are addons and I've used AIFP2 and located all the FS9 flight plans. I've converted all my fp's to FSX and deleted all the FS9's. Made absolutely no difference at all.

 

But top make dounbly sure I'll download AIFP3 and try what is suggested.

 

Thank you.

 

Allan

Nope. That's not the problem.

 

Just for the record, I've removed the default B747, B737 and A321. I've removed the Traffic bgl file.

 

Just checked Heathrow. I have a sprinkling of aircraft. But the odd thing is, a couple of weeks ago, when I was checking out some airports I had an awful lot more at Heathrow, so much that I had to queue to takeoff.

 

I also checked Singapore. I have:

 

1 Tiger

1 Air Hong Kong

1 UPS

2 Valueair

1 Garuda,

 

And get this: about 30 plus Singapore Airlines.

 

Something wierd going on, here.

 

Allan

Have you checked you havent got another traffic.bgl file somewhere? Run a search of FSX

Yes, checked that now and found I did, in fact, have a backed up copy. Deleted it but still problems.

 

However, I think I might have stumbled upon the problem. I used aifp2 to check the traffic(airline).bgl files. I've only tried 2 so far, Iberia and BA, both being problems in my sim. Both are showing that a lot of aircraft are not available. Now, these are both WOA packages, downloaded from the World of AI site and both installed using their installer. So how can that be?

 

Allan

Hi Allan,

 

Where have you installed the AI simobjects? - Did you use a default simobject folder (such as Airplanes) or in a user specified folder.

 

First, check that all of the AI aircraft models are installed and second, if a user specific folder was used, check that there are correct paths stipulated for their location in the FSX,cfg file - the entry(s) can be found under the [MAIN] section within the .cfg file and will look similar to this example from MY .cfg - the items in BOLD are default entries and the others are user specific entries...

 

[Main]

User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter

SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes

SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft

SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles

SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats

SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals

SimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\Misc

SimObjectPaths.6=C:\Users\Brian\Documents\TrafficGlobal\TrafficGlobalFleet

SimObjectPaths.7=D:\AISimObjects\AIFastJets

SimObjectPaths.8=D:\AISimObjects\AIHeavies

SimObjectPaths.9=D:\AISimObjects\AIHelicopters

SimObjectPaths.10=D:\AISimObjects\AITrainers

SimObjectPaths.11=SimObjects\HJGCombined

 

As you can see from this example I have opted to install AI related simbobjects outside of FSX. Also note from this example that entries relating to locations located within the FSX main folder do not need to have a full path disclosed but those relating to a location outside of the FSX main folder must be given in full.

Hi Brian.

 

Short answer to 2 questions:

 

The "missing" aircraft are installed

 

Yes, I've installed the AI aircraft in the default simobjects\airplanes folder.

 

As for the rest of your post I'm just going to eat. I shall mull over what you've written over a cup of tea. lol.

 

Thanks you.

 

Allan

Brian, I see what you're doing with the AI Aircraft folder, but how does this work with World of AI aircraft, which are embedded in the bgl files?

 

Allan

For example, I have the Iberia and Iberia Express packages installed but I have only 2 Iberia aircraft at Malaga, 1 at Menorca and none at Ibiza.

Before calling the cavalry, did you check if there should be more aircraft at the specific airport at the time you were viewing?

I mean according to the AI flightplan, not according to your intuition...

 

AIFP has a function to display what aircraft can be expected at a given airport.

Flight Plans -> Timetable.

 

 

The above example (latest AIG schedule) shows only one Iberia Express aircraft a day at Menorca as well.

IMO you're seeing the AI traffic just as it's programmed.

 

Wim

Brian, seems you might be right, there are only a few WOA aircraft at those airports at any one time so it appears I was chasing a problem that wasn't there.

 

It still leaves 2 mysteries, though. First is when I was flying the first time around I had so many aircraft at these airports that I had to play around with gates to fit them all in.

 

And secondly, it doesn't explain why AIFP2 is showing multiple aircraft missing from the bgl files when the aircraft aren't actually missing at all.

 

But thank you for your help, Brian.

 

Allan

Allow me a quote:

 

"World of AI aircraft, which are embedded in the bgl files" - no, there are no aircraft embedded in the .bgl files, no matter which software was used to produce them.

 

The bgl files are flight plans only, containing information about the flight's scheduling, which airports to fly from and to and when, and they call for the associated aircraft to be installed someplace where the sim can see them. This can be in \SimObjects\Airplanes, or somewhere else, as Brian has pointed out above.

 

And again, forget AIFP2 - scrap it and install the most recent version.

 

Jorgen

Oh I forgot to repeat: when you have the new version of AIFP installed, then do recompile the flight plans.

 

If you only convert the plans to the FSX format, they may still have FS9-only airport designators, which may not be the same as FSX airport designators. Recompiling will fix this and therefore remove a potential source of the scarcity you experience. And you will need the most recent version of AIFP for this.

 

Jorgen

Oh! Jorgen, I was under the misunderstanding that W0A "packages" included the aircraft as well. Well, I got that wrong, then, which accounts for the fact that in AIFP2 there are so many aircraft showing as missing.:D

 

Thank you for that heads up. I'll have another look at AIFP3.

 

Thank you all, again, for your help and for clearing up some misunderstandings.

 

Allan

Allan,

 

You may want to follow the guidelines set out by Brian, and install your AI aircraft in their own folder - if you get bitten by the AI bug, then it's so much easier to manage the aircraft that way.

 

And another thing: the AI aircraft that come with the WoAI packages are outdated in many cases. For instance, for the Airbus A318/319/320/321 and Boeing 737/747/767 they use the AIA models, where you actually can get better models (also freeware) from FAIB, here:

 

https://fsxaibureau.com/

 

Repaints for these are available all over, if you need some repaint sites then just yell.

 

Jorgen

Jorgen, yes please. Could do with some sites.

 

 

I've been playing with AIFP3 and having some problems.

 

First is that I'm getting frequent Unhandled Exception errors

 

Second is I'm getting Invalid Control Registration - Main Panel errors.

 

And I can't find any information on either of these

 

 

Also, the Aircraft List Panel, with a small x, is this a list of aircraft used in a bgl file or a list of aircraft missing. It's not made clear.

 

 

I've also got a large number of aircraft in the selected flight plan and I don't know the source in each case.

 

 

And finally, from the Flight Plan list I've selected an aircraft and then selected the Timetable. However, the Timetable doesn't show this particular aircraft at an airport where I've actually seen it parked ???

 

 

Any pointers will be gratefully received.

 

 

Allan

Here are some repaint sites I use a lot, in no particular order:

 

https://unitedtrafficteam.com/

 

https://muenierweb.wordpress.com/

 

https://fsai-repaints.com/

 

https://flyingcarpet75.com/

 

https://aibizjetproject.wordpress.com/

 

https://kyles-ai-works.com/

 

https://atco-repaints.com/

 

https://www.juergenbaumbusch.de/

 

https://jcai.dk/

 

https://militaryaiworks.com/

 

and there are many more out there. Repaints can also be found here on flightsim and on AVSIM.

 

For the errors you get with AIFP:

 

Delete AIFP completely (all versions).

 

Then search for Visual C++ and download and install everything you find, both the x86 and the x64 versions. Do the same for the .NET Framework.

 

When all that is done, run Windows Update, and make sure that in Update/Advanced options, the switch "Receive updates for other Microsoft products" is set to On. Leave this switch on in the future.

 

Then create a folder outside the normal Windows structure, for example C:\AIFP, and unzip the newest AIFP to that folder.

 

To find what aircraft you are missing with AIFP, go to "Bulk Traffic" and select "List Missing Aircraft Used in Traffic Files", then let it run.

 

Jorgen

@ Allan,

 

Jorgen has fully answered your questions for me (thanks Jorgen)...

 

For links to get the Visual C++ and .NET files mentioned see HERE

OK. Carried out all these steps and this is what I now have:

 

 

I still have the "Unhandled Exception" and "Invalid Control Registration - Main Panel" error messages.

 

In AIFP3 non of the BULK functions work. For every function I get "No Traffic Files Found /Selected".

 

And at both Malaga and Alicante airports I have NO aircraft. Previously I was getting a few random aircraft but none, now, except the occasion SINGLE Iberia aircraft.

 

I've checked for FS9 files and converted from FS9 to FSX, just in case, but to no avail.

 

It's driving me to distraction.

 

Allan

Let's try to go back to the basics, and let's find out where things are installed. So:

 

1. Where is FSX installed?

 

2. Your flight plan .bgl files should be under FSX, in Scenery\World\Scenery - are they there?

 

3. Where are your AI aircraft installed?

 

4. What Windows version do you have, and is it fully updated, with the C++ and .NET updates that Brian and I mentioned earlier?

 

5. Where did you install AIFP?

 

Not to worry, if you have the patience we will get it running.

 

Jorgen

 

Edit: Maybe you could also post your FSX.CFG file here.

Hi Jorgen.

 

I have the patience, I hope you do. Thank you if you have.

 

I need to go out right now (Optician's appointment) but will get back to you later with answers to your questions.

 

Thank you, again.

 

Allan