An AI Question for someone who knows

[Guest BobL]

Hi All and Happy New Year:I changed the folder and aircraft naming syntax of my FS2002 installation to something that helps me better ID the aircraft based on model, flyability in my installation, FDE and a serial ID. I use the registry number as controlling. Thus, for example one of my default baron repaints that I want to be AI only becomes "Beechcraft58Baron_AI_Microsoft_Small_N660T". This is the folder name as well as the aircraft ID in the "title" line of the aircraft.cfg. The aircraft will load into FS2002 perfectly.I repeat this for each of my aircraft installs including the MS default aircraftUnderstandably, I lost all my AI when I did this. So, I used the Traffic Tools utility, extracted the aircraft listing, changed the naming syntax to match the new title lines, and re-compiled the traffic.bgl.Checking the flightplan.txt file, I then dropped into an airport where my new Baron should originate two minutes before the extracted departure time to check AI functioning. I slewed my aircraft away from the GA parking to make sure my position didn't interfere with the AI. I hung around until five minutes past the origination time. AI never generated. Not just the Baron I'm testing but none of the AI was restored. Things I've already checked:1) AI turned on.2) AI Slider moved full scale right (maximum)3) Default.dp file present in FS2002Aircraft folder4) Candidate models/AIR files/aircraft.cfg loads properly. For example, for my test aircraft, I can fly N660T fine. It (nor any of the other models and types) generate as AI.So, could one of you AI experts tell me what I missed? BTW, in case it matters....the times I referenced to were based on flight sim time not my system time. I.E. I found from the flightplan.txt file that my Baron should originate at Redbird (KRBD) at 11:48. I dropped into Redbird at 11:46 specifying the time in the FS Date/Time Window. My system time was 0220.Thank YouBobL

[N562Z 4]

Hi BoB:Hmm. The only thing I can think of, based on my experience with disappearing AI aircraft, is to make sure that somehow the "sim=" line in the the aircraft.cfg file has not been changed to reflect a mismatch from the airfile title. They should be the same, as you know. In the example below, the airfile title is a320200, just like it appears on the third text line of the aircraft.cfg.[fltsim.0]title=Airbus A320-200sim=a320200model=panel=sound=texture=I noticed that AI auto-installers sometimes replaced or changed this entry to reflect the airfile included in the download and auto installation, and only when I replaced those airfiles with ones I knew to be working in FS 2K2 did the AI planes finally apppear, right where they were expected to be. Hope this helps, keep me posted.Alex ChristoffN562ZMinneapolis, MNThermobulb@aol.com

[Guest eko]

I wrote up these tips for the BFU forum a while ago, but I think they are relevatn now as well. :-)-----It is perfectly OK to rename the folder for the any aircraft. What you CAN NOT do, is give them a new name in the aircraft.cfg file (The title line). This WILL mess up your AI Traffic (unless you decompile Traffic.bgl and change the names in the aircraft.txt file there as well to match.)So, as long as all you did was rename the default folders, your AI traffic will be OK. If you have anything aliased to those default planes (panel, sounds) then your aliases will not work anymore. You will have to go to the alias file and change the name in there to the new folder name.Also, here is a tip for not seeing aircraft you don't want in the in game aircraft list. You will need AirEd to modify the AIR file. After opening the AIR file with AirEd, find record number 105. (Aircraft Type). Change that number to "2". This will designate it as AI/Non-Flyable and it will not show up in your aircraft list anymore. All of it's sounds, panels, etc. can still be aliased though, which is the nice thing.My personal setup is like this:All my default planes which I do not fly (737, 777, 747, md_80, etc.), I have renamed the folder like this: AI_b737_400, AI_b747_400, etc.I then went ahead and made sure my aliases to these sounds (mostly the 737) were updated as well.I then went ahead and changed record 105 in the AIR file in these planes I don't use to type 2.I now have all my AI aircraft sorted neatly in my FS2002/Aircraft folder, and I don't see them in the aircraft selection list in the sim, but I can still alias things to them if I wish. It is, IMHO, a relatively simple and elegant solution.PSYou CAN NOT store AI planes in subfolders off of your main FS2002/Aircraft folder and have them work. They have to be inside the FS2002/Aircraft folder proper. This is why I renamed my folder so that they all sort to the top and stay together. You can, of course, rename them Z_AI_* to have them sort to the bottom of the list. Makes no difference as long as you fix the aliases which call files in these folders.

[Guest BobL]

Alex:Actually, all of my Sim lines have been changed. In the course of revising my syntax, I changed the names of the airfiles to reflect the relevant author. For my example aircraft, the default Beechcraft Baron airfile became MS_beech_baron_58.air. (To distinguish it from the Small_Beech_Baron_58.air which is installed on all of the Baron variants that I intend to fly myself). This is what is contained on the sim line in the airfile. And as I said, if I want to fly the aircraft myself, it loads perfectly.I noticed that in the sample you provided, the title and sim lines aren't identical. How much variation between the two is permitted? I'll try changing the sim line in the file and let you know.ThxBobL

[Guest BobL]

Hi Eko >It is perfectly OK to rename the folder for the any aircraft. What you CAN NOT do, is give them a new name in the aircraft.cfg file (The title line). This WILL mess up your AI Traffic (unless you decompile Traffic.bgl and change the names in the aircraft.txt file there as well to match.)Also, here is a tip for not seeing aircraft you don't want in the in game aircraft list. You will need AirEd to modify the AIR file. After opening the AIR file with AirEd, find record number 105. (Aircraft Type). Change that number to "2". This will designate it as AI/Non-Flyable and it will not show up in your aircraft list anymore. All of it's sounds, panels, etc. can still be aliased though, which is the nice thing.

[Guest BobL]

I tried changing out the Sim Line to something that looks like the Title line but that didn't work either. Still no AI.Any other ideas?BobL

[Misha_K 0]

BobL,The issue is not to ge the sim= and title= lines to be similar, the vital thing is to make sure that whatever comes after the = in title= is absolutely identical (every space and underscore and everything) to what appears in " " in the entry for the relevant aircraft in the aircraft.txt that you used to compile your traffic.bgl. If that is correct then the aircraft should load as AI if it also loads from the menu. The AI doesn't care about how you name your folders and airfiles. This all assumes, however, that you have installed flightplans that actually work. Some third party flightplans will not display because of bad flight sequencing.Misha

[Guest BobL]

Hi MishaAfter I did the re-naming exercise, I used Copy/Paste to get the title= variable exactly reproduced in the aircraft.txt. I just checked again and they are identical.And, I don't have any third party flight plans....at least not yet. Except for the file naming and the add-on re-paints, it's an out-of-the-box installation.BobL

[Guest BobL]

I figured it out...Actually, I stumbled on to it doing something else. After you re-compile the traffic.bgl you have to close and then re-boot FS. I thought you could just force it to re-load AI (like changing the time or location) but you have to get it to re-build the scenery indices which only occurs when FS re-boots.BobL