Ai Helicopters

[Guest]

Hi everyone, Does anyone know how to get the helicopters to show up as AI? I'm also looking for partial files or any information on how it was accomplished. DavioMills@aol.com

[Guest]

You would be better to ask this in the rotor heads forum, If memory serves me, there was a chap looking into this same problem and had some success but dont qoute me !George

[Guest]

Hi guys...Just out of curiosity, why are there downloads for AI aircraft, etc., for any version of FS?Are they just for show, so that you don't have to look at the same ol' default AI(s); i.e., replacing the FS stock AI... or are they totally different aircraft that are added to all the airports?I notice that some file descriptions indicate that the certain user-modified aircraft can be used as AI. What does that mean, exactly; also, what's the difference between downloading regular flight plans & AI flight plans?Thanks, in advance.:-rotor Stanley

[1mikel151 71]

Stanley, quality designed aircraft are usually harder on the FPS, which is whay they are not a good idea for AI aircraft. The ones you see designated for AI are either made specifically for AI with very little detail to allow for more on the screen while keeping the performance of the sim to a higher level or they are ones that were not designed for AI, but have been tested for AI and work fine while keeping the performance at a higher level. There are many factors that determine if an aircraft is well suited for AI or not, amount of poloygons used, VC or not, etc. Example, if you have 20 PAI 747s on the screen it will be more beneficial to your performance and FPS than having 20 POSKY 747s on the screeen, the POSKY will look better, but they will drag your FPS down, it is up to each person and their PC specs to determine what aircraft they want to use. Hope this helps! I have an Athlon 1.4 with a G$ 4600 and 1 GIG of DDR and at KLAX on a busy day, I can have as many as 120 aircraft on the screen and it takes allot to render this in the sim, couldn't do it with high quality aircraft (can barely do it with PAI, FSP and AAR! LOL)Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpg

[Guest]

Thanks Michael!So... in other words, the AI aircraft just give you more traffic, so that the airports/airspace doesn't look like a "ghost town"?When you install the AI planes, do they go into a special directory... I mean, the FS2002 program "Controls" those AI(s)... not the player... right (?!) :-hmmmI am just totally confused about this AI thing; and what about the AI flight plan add-ons for download... are they just to follow the AI flight paths to see where a FS2002-controlled plane is going to?I have had flight simulators since Flight Simulator II (by SubLogic) for my Commodore 64/Amiga 1200. lol But, I have always never payed attention to default/stock stuff, seeing that I always liked to create things (such as flights / flight plans) on my own. I just do not understand the AI thing at all! ;(8 Anyway, thanks for you help! Additional help -- if you haven't given up on helping a no-knowledge flight simmer -- will be appreciated, too!Happy Flying, all! :)Stanley :-rotor

[Guest]

Exactly! The AI aircraft simply add to the realism in the sim by providing other traffic that you will hear on the radio, see on the ground and see in flight. (Sometimes when there's a lot of traffic at an airport you'll get a lot better view of a plane than you wanted-- maybe they've fixed that in the next version)When you install AI aircraft they go into your aircraft directory, the same as other planes. The difference is that they won't show up in your aircraft selection menu. AI flight plans are the routes that the AI aircraft fly at a specific time. They're all great circle routes; there's no way as of yet to make them fly via airways. When you download AI flight plans you are downloading new city-pairs for your AI aircraft to fly to. My personal recomendation for AI traffic is to go to use Project AI-- the planes are frame rate friendly, and many of their downloads come in an auto-install format that will minimize the likelihood of errors on your part. (I used to download the manual files from various file libraries, but there's just too much manual labor involved...i like instant gratification;) )

[Guest EdrickV]

Unless you try and replace an existing airplane with a new one, new AI airplanes won't do anything just by downloading and installing them. You need to assign flight plans to the new aircraft. For that you will need TTools at least. (Traffic Tools) Do an extended search of the file library putting:ttools*in the filename box. You should get 2 entries, one with "source code" in the title. Unless you're a programmer, ignore it. You want the other one. You will probably want another program that will help create or use flight plans. There are likely a bunch in the file library. (I have yRoute that I got, with some difficulty, from another site. Not sure what the best program for making/using AI flight plans is.)To give you a look at just what a flight plan looks like, here is one from the FlightPlans.txt file that TTools creates:AC#1,N89000,99%,12Hr,IFR,01:53:07,05:35:29,120,F,7158,L15,07:53:23,11:35:45,110,F,7157,MMLMThat bit of text describes a round trip flight for one airplane, and that's why you'll probably want another program to help make/use AI flight plans. They have nothing to do with your own flight plans. And some aircraft that work alright for regular use just don't work right when used as AI. (For example, a space shuttle I experimented with would never lower it's landing gear so on the ground it looked like it was hovering. Don't ask me why, I haven't gotten that far into FS2k2 modding yet.:))"Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

[Guest]

Thanks for the prompt reply, Rob!That surely does answer alot of questions. I was never sure how one could interact with the AI aircraft/flight plans, etc.And also, thank you for your reply, EdrickV. That sounds pretty complicated, dealing with "Tools" and other edit utilities. I am not much into that. Attempted to design a Links 2001 Golf course with built-in course editor... out of my league - lol.Like Rob McCoy, I like the instant gratification of having things at my fingertips, so to speak. Even though I will go to certain lengths to search other web sites for all necessary files (such as special gauges, etc.) in order to fly the user-created/modified aircraft, I don't really care to go through all the trouble for AI stuff; and, besides... I am lazy - lol. When downloading a Links Golf add-on, it's simple: one .zip file contains one .crz file that always goes into the "Courses" folder; no additional files for what type of fairway & rough grass, etc. - lol. Of course, any one .crz file can range from 3.0mb to 75.0mb... and when you have 700 add-ons, that is alot of CDs - lol.Some guys at the MSN Zone ask, "why don't you get the 'Champ Edition' course or 'Expansion pack'. I tell them that hey, why pay M$ for sub-standard courses (certain un-named ones), when stand-alone designers do a much better job -- don't get paid for it -- and they are available for free downloads; the same applies to FS2002, etc. I don't know if you guys design aircraft, but if you do... well you all deserve the HIGHEST praise! You keep things fresh, so that we simmers don't get burnt out on the same ol' aircraft, scenery, etc!M$ does not show enough appreciation to those of you who keep "their" products alive & on the shelves!StanleyP.S. I apologize for the lengthy reply :)