AFCAD

[Guest]

jerrycwo4I cannt belive that I've been flying with Flight Sims for 4 years and reading this form for at least 2 years, but I have NO idea what AFCAD is or what it does ???? ( I do NOT have any of the new AI programs). Maybe that's the reason? What is AFCAD and what does it do? I guess that I'm pretty happy with my system with out it but I am always trying to improve it. (like I now have 4 differant programs 'pumping' SOUNDs into my Fs2002 at the same time.)Jerry

[Guest]

AFCAD can add more gates to airports, it can change settings so that multiple runways are in use. You can also use it to change the frequencies of ILS's and so on.It's very very useful when you've got a lot of AI aircraft and you want to add more gates to an airport to accomodate them

[Guest jase439]

In addition, gates can be made to be "airline-aware" so that the AI system will direct certain airlines to certain concourses. This is done through a technique you will see referred to as Radius AFCAD or RAFCAD for short.J

[Guest]

jerrycwo4Thanks for the info. I'm thinking about buying, "MyTraffic Editor" from 'SIMMARKET". If I do, would it come with these new,updated AFCAD airports to use the newly increased AI, or would I have to change my default Fs2002 airports/ Thanks jerry

[Guest jase439]

I have heard good things about MyTraffic, however, there are a number of excellent "commercial-grade" freeware tools (like AI Traffic Mover and AFCAD 1.3.1) available as well. You should probably spend some time over at www.projectai.com before you sink money into a 3rd party tool.Basically, custom AI can be broken into 3 essential components:1. AI Flight Plans (Time Tables)2. AI Aircraft (w/ various liveries)3. AI Tracks and Gates (AFCAD/RAFCAD)While you can always add new AI tracks to your FS installation, it doesn't really serve much purpose unless you add some "real life" air traffic to your system to use all your new gates and tracks.AFCAD data is entirely ignorant of the underlying scenery. AFCAD data basically defines a bunch of gates and invisible "highways" along which AI aircraft move around the airport. Using a tool like AFCAD, you can redefine this behavior by importing new tracks. This is most helpful if you're using third party scenery like Wilco's Airport 2000/2002 series or SimFlyer's. Without updated AFCAD tracks, your AI will drive through terminals, grass, pastures, takeoff on roads, etc...Do you have to create an AFCAD file for every airport? Only if one doesn't already exist. Fortunately, there are a hundreds of AFCAD files available on the web for download. Likely your favorite airport has already been done.The addition of AI aircraft and time tables, while not necessary, provide a much more immersive environment. These aircraft fly real routes, at real times (and with the right AFCAD file installed, will taxi to the right gates). This beats Microsoft's willy-nilly Emerald Harbor Air 777 which provides daily non-stop service from Hurricane, Utah to Beijing Int'l at FL 230 :)Below is a picture of the AFCAD utility, and an AFCAD template I am currently working on for Airport 2000's Boston Logan Int'l:Cheers,J

[Guest jase439]

Just an example of what that above AFCAD would do for you w/ a handful of AI traffic to work with:http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboa...eb94c5449d5.jpg

[Guest]

jerrycwo4WOW it really looks good. Thanks jerry