Problem and a question

[Guest retard_retard_retard]

Hi, on the last couple of my flights I've run into the problem of an AI aircraft lining up on the runway and just sitting there forever. Not sure where to start with this problem as I'm using a huge cocktail of add-ons and a massive custom AI database. The first thing that came to mind though is that as i'm using radar contact, that perhaps there is some conflict here between that and the default ATC system. I've made sure there's no double AFCAD's ect. Anybody got any experience with this happening to them and could give me any hints as to what might be wrong?Now to the question....EDIT: scap the question, i've just noticed that the visual flight vfr terrain included the borders and Edinburgh are which is good enough for me!Help/advice appreciated.Thanks

[hjwalter 25]

Take a look at the active afcad file for this airport and check that (all) the hold short (red) points are correctly placed. A missing or misplaced, i.e. too far from the runway, hold short point will cause this problem. Will also cause AIs to pile up on top of each other on the runway.Good luckHans

[Old Bill 0]

Are they waiting for Aircraft in the Pattern to land? If not! What Hans said.Bill

[Guest avrovulcan]

Hi,Have similar problem with Flight 1's Ultimate Traffic, the problem is caused by the way that Flight Simulator controls the AI traffic as it comes into land, and vacating the runway. I think that most of this is due to the AFCAD files that denote the exits from the runways. With Ultimate Traffic, the aircraft generlly land then taxi near to the end of the runway before exiting. this has the effect of forcing other aircraft in the landing pattern to go-around, this will also mean the aircraft lining up for take off will have to wait untill the runway is clear. Not shure what addon AI set you are using but in Ultimate Traffic, once the aircraft in the take-off que have been sitting around for a certian amount of time they completly disappear. (presumably beacaues Ultimate Traffic has determined that they shoud have taken off and removes them.One quick fix you could use (I know its not very relistic) is to accelerate time to 8X, then reset it imediatly to normal. this has the effect of re-setting the AI traffic.I dont think the problem is with the AFCAD files, it's just a bug with the host simulation. In fact the same thing happens with the FSX version of Ultimate Traffic.Hope that his is of some useBest regardsAndy

[ailchim 206]

The points about the general limitations of FS ATC and hold short nodes are valid of course.On Afcads generally, the Afcad program has a Fault Finder under the Tools menu. It's worth running this for any problem airports as it will find mis-placed hold-shorts and other faults like un-connected taxi nodes which may cause traffic to hang up.Going back to general traffic management, as I understand it, as soon as you create a flight, FS dispatches an artificially large bunch of departing aircraft which starts a queue. Shortly after that, you get a whole flock of arrivals, which exacerbates it. So if you leave FS running for 5 or 10 minutes before you start your own departure, the worst of the mess may have cleared.The last thing you want to do whilst still on the stand with several minutes before you start to taxi is to refresh traffic, that just re-starts the whole process, although it will of course clear the traffic in front of you once you are waiting to enter the runway.Lastly, use Ken Salter's FS9 Configurator programme to increase the taxi speeds of AI aircraft - this will help clear the runways & taxiways faster.

[hjwalter 25]

If landed AIs seem to taxi past visible runway exits at (addon) airport(s) then these exits are not covered by AFCAD exits. Check the AFCAD files concerned and add any missing exits exactly on top of the visible ones. Don't forget the red hold short points.At some of my own very busy addon airports I have even added some extra exits so as to get landed AIs off the runway as quick as possible. However, depending on the scenery design these extra AFCAD exits do not always show up and your AIs will seem to exit via the grass. In these cases you may just have to put up with the disappearing AIs in the take-off que or ..... extend the default FS9 time before they disappear by using a special utility for this purpose. This utility can be found here in the AVSIM library.However, disappearing AIs in the take-off que is a normal FS9 AI engine phenomenon and I doubt if this has anything to do with Ultimate Traffic. It probably has something more to do with frame rates because a long(er) visible (and active) AI take-off que, together with the already approaching/going around AIs and their related ATC blah blah, will reduce frame rates substantially and even cause stutters.Re-routing some of your approaching AIs to other airports or better still, deleting their flight plans, should also be considderd.Also, don't forget that when a user flight is opened at any (busy) airport there will always be an initial departing AI surge because of a time window of about 20 minutes (not sure about the exact period though) within which late AIs (with respect to their scheduled departure times) will still begin their departure procedures.A possible further possibility is to open your flight, then change the time of day and re-save your flight. When you then re-open the same flight the AI situation could be totally different.However, the real "cure all" for this whole problem is to reduce the overall AI percentage.Well, "As real as it gets" remains generally true but there are some (minor) issues we all have to put up with though.Hope this partial explanation helps a little.Hans

[Guest avrovulcan]

HiI didn't say re-fresh the Traffic prior to taxi, what i said was if the planes are queing up to take off and you are stuck in the middle of it, you might want to refresh the traffic to get things moving.If you have an addon such as Ultimate Traffic or Traffic 2004 the refresh will place the aircraft in the air and on flight paths.RegardsAndy

[Chuck_B 2]

That's what I do. Whether or not refreshing AI is "realistic" it's seems a lot more realistic than sitting there for hours on end staring at the plane in front of you that hasn't moved since March 2nd. :-)