Using FS9 traffic bgls in FSX

[bobbyjack 61]

Lately there have been a lot of new people (welcome) asking great questions about AI traffic, and I have sensed some misinformation on this topic. I thought it might help if I started a thread where people could post questions and obervations on AI. I am no expert. I need to learn just like everyone else. I'll start by posting a few of my observations1. An FS9 traffic bgl. trumps the default FSX traffic bgl. As soon as you add an FS9 bgl ( such as WOAI), default traffic will not show. No need to rename anything. If all you want to do is get rid of default airlines, you can do that by replacing the default textures2. I have heard that using an FS9 traffic bgl will affect boat, car, and airport vehicle traffic. I have not been able to verify this at all. Except for a few AI planes and my own airports, my sim is stock. No addons. Not long ago I made a flight plan in FS9 format, and put it into FSX. As expected, default traffic was gone, but boat and car traffic was still there. I have to conclude that missing boat and car traffic is due to some other addon.Any way, there is my start. Please chime in.Bob

[fbass 1]

I think your first statement regarding the default FSX AI traffic bgl and FS9 bgl files is true but with one caveat. If you try to use the default FSX traffic file with any FS9 traffic file you won't get any AI traffic - FSX or FS9. I believe the two categories of traffic files are incompatible. If you're going to use FS9 traffic files just delete the default FSX traffic file. If you want to make a flight plan for default FSX aircraft then use an FS9-style FP.Now, there are two issues you have to address with FS9 AI traffic files - days-of-the-week and airports. You can fix these two problems using Peter van der Veer's AIFPC program (avail on many FS sites). This program is very easy to use. What the software does is fix the days-of-the-week problem (FSX days are shifted one day over FS9 days (Mon, Tues, etc). The other problem is that many airports in FS9 have been changed in FSX (ICAO codes).What you do is produce your FP. Include the three text files (aircraft, airports, flightplans). Use Traffic Tools to compile the FP. Then, use Peter's program to change the days-of-the-week and the airport. Put the FP in the FSX\scenery\world\scenery folder and go.I have more than 7,000 FS9 AI texture sets and more than 300 aircraft types in use in my FSX setup. I have not found any display or flight plan issues with my AI environment. One thing IMHO that you need to avoid - using FSX default aircraft for AI. Just as in FS9, FSX default aircraft have very large graphic footprints. You will have the very same problem as using say a POSKY aircraft in FS9 for AI. These large default aircraft will drag your system's performance to the ground.A couple of more things. Like most people I want to make sure that I don't use any more disk space than is absolutely necessary. So, I remove all "standard" bgl files from my texture folders. These files consist of light files, props, windows, and other standard files. In this fashion, the texture folder has only one "t" file and no other. You will need to insert into the texture folder a texture.cfg file. This file provides a pointer to these standard files stored in the FSX\texture folder. The format I use is:(fltsim)fallback.1=c:\fsx\textureNOTE: I do not use the standard fallback statement - I use a direct pointer to my texture folder.The other thing is AI sound. In my system I use the standard soundai folder to point to custom sounds for most of my AI aircraft types - most because there are not sound files for every aircraft type. The pointer statement is:(FLTSIM)alias=..AI Sounds Pack\SimObjects\Misc\Traffic_Sounds\Jets\B727 RD\soundaiThe config file title in the soundai folder must be titled soundai.cfg. The sound folder whereever you store your custom sound files must also be titled soundai. In addition, the sound configuration file within your sound folder must be titled "soundai.cfg."As you can see above, I store my custom sound folders in a folder within the Simobjects\Misc directory in a folder titled Traffic_Sounds. Within this folder I have subfolders with titles such as Jets, Military, Props, etc. I like to keep the sound folders in separate directories by aircraft types.That's all I can think of regarding AI aircraft in FSX. I'm sure there are other issues but my old brain can't reach out to touch them. :-)fb

[bobbyjack 61]

fbThanks.Interestingly, I have not seen an FS9 bgl. cancel all AI. In my simple example above, the Fs9 traffic showed up.Bob