Questions on AI traffic (kinda long)

[dolph98 24]

Hi y'all,This hobby is getting to me now. I want to fly military aircraft across the country and land at every military base in the U.S. But they are mostly empty and it's boring that way.So, I am on a mission to add AI traffic to all (or at least most) military bases in CONUS. I am downloading AFCADs if they are available and if not, making my own. I have about 50 bases so far. I have about 30 military planes that have been modified to be light on size and they work pretty well. I have already added 510 flightplans in the CA area and I have seen no impact on framerate, which is locked to 25fps. I know how to add AI the long way but I think somebody out there has done this a lot and I hope to glean some tricks from them. I have most of the traffic files downloaded and have used some to add B-52, A-10, etc. traffic but I want to go all the way now. I am researching what aircraft are on what bases to make it as real as I can get it. There are some great websites that have most info but I have to dig (or fake) some of the locations. I'm using the following links for the most part to get what I need:http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/index.html for the acft infohttp://www.airnav.com/airports/ for airport info Any more site suggestions would be welcome.I do have a couple of questions right off the bat:1. Is there a way to make helicopters AI or should I just ignore those bases that have helicopters only? I think I can make them takeoff like planes but that's not acceptable. My V-22 AI acft for instance take off VSTOL which was a surprise to me once I placed a few. I thought it would take off like a regular plane, but apparently the aircraft.cfg is used by ttools and I am pretty impressed. Does anyone know if this works for helicopters?2. With respect to #1 above, if it's not possible, how do I add a few stationary choppers? I have AFCAD but I don't think it places planes. If I'm wrong please correct me and/or point me to a freeware tool that will do it easily. 3. Is there a cool tool that makes what I'm doing easy? I prefer freeware but I would be willing to spend a little if it's worth it.Thanks in advance for any help. I will keep building my database in the meantime.dolph

[lliaudais 2]

Not too long, DolpUS military info at http://www.globalsecurity.org/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Unit...Air_Force_basesLots of info about bases, and base histories. Also note that many bases do have their own web sites and are easily located with a Google search.The easiest way to add static traffic is with a flightplan that has the aircraft "takeoff" at 1AM local, fly circuits and "land" at 2AM. The rest of the time, they just sit there waiting... if you don't go nearby at that time, the sim will never "fly" them. HOWEVER, using large-textured AC designed for user flying will definitely put a fps hit on you. I typically make a AI-version copy and strip out the panel section and custom sounds. I believe David Marshall made a tutorial on this - or similar hints might be found in some of his 'Tips and Tricks' offerings. There may also be additional info at the sites that specialize in AI for FS.LoydI added a few visiting AC to the airshow at KNUQ by the "static AI" method.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/162447.jpg

[dolph98 24]

Thanks for Global Security. Man, that site is neat and scary. The info there is a treasure trove for those who want info on our military. I saw this site some years ago and they used to give the GPS coordinates. They took those off it seems.On the large-textured planes - yes I learned that already. I shave my planes with GA-Traffic and select the 1MB option. The only bird I can't shave is the F-14 Tomcat. Does anyone know of an AI F-14 freeware?dolph

[irocx 292]

Hi Dolph, if you're not already aware, World of AI has some military packages that are easy to implement, but you'll need their installer. Here are the packages (scroll down for the military) http://www.world-of-ai.com/packages.htmlRegards, KendallDell 8400 3.2 GHZ H.T.800 FSB/2MB L22 GB 533 DDR2X800XT 256MB/Catalyst driver - 6.9's6x Adaptive AA/16x HQ A/FIntegrated SoundDual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905CH Yoke/Pedals

[dolph98 24]

Thanks Kendall. Yes, I have looked at them. Nice but not what I want. Of course, I want to customize and get flights where I go. I think seeing C-17s flying across from HI to CA on radar would be cool but that isn't what I want right now. My project is coming along. It took me all day yesterday, but I have researched and build a spreadsheet that has about 80 bases with aircraft types. I couldn't find some information so I faked a few things like putting F-18s and A-6s at the Marine and Navy bases that I was unsure of just so something is there. I used downloaded .bgls where possible and edited others. Some of the bases have been closed and I crossed them off my list so I don't land in any ghost towns.Today I will start the hard part, that is guessing that ZULU to normal time conversion for my flightplan.txt file. I hate that. A tip for any newbies trying this: I have 32 custom mil planes. I numbered them AC#1 to AC#32. I have been learning how to do this from others and noticed that hundreds of lines in the aircraft.txt file, each calling out a different plane, is not necessary. 32 lines will work for 10000 flights, the difference is in the call sign, not in the AC#. That's done in the flightplan.txt file. Making a huge aircraft.txt file is just a lot of unnecessary work. And this way adding another plane and a few more flights here and there is a breeze.I still need to figure out the thing about helicopters. And I think I am going to have to trim down the default traffic file to only include the US air traffic and not the whole globe. Does anyone know if every flight is flying when FS9 is run or only the ones in range of your aircraft is spawned? I suspect they all are in memory.dolph

[tgibson 11]

Hi,Only flights within 108 NM of your plane are spawned. The rest are not loaded.I use AI Traffic Mover 2 to generate flights. Do a search for the web page.But an easy way is to copy and paste flights you already have, and then change the planes, times and airports. AITM makes the editing part pretty easy (I use Wordpad for the copy and paste).Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

[dolph98 24]

Thanks for that info, 108nm, got it. That tidbit is what I was looking for so I don't have to really worry about how many flights I make.I use Excel to edit then save as a text. Then I open it in Textpad and replace every 'tab' with a ',' which works very well. I can go back and forth between .xls and .txt quite easily. Excel handles the sorting chores. I use Beyond Compare to see diffs between files. I think I'm set. I looked at the AITM page. Confusing, don't know what I need and I don't know what it will do beyond what I'm already doing, but I downloaded it all. Will try it.dolph