hi everyone, i have just recently purchased fs2004, my last sim being '98 :), and i am wondering what project ai is all about. i get the gist but not the details; do you have to switch off the AI traffic whilst using it? how many airlines should i install and does it become more crowded the more you install? or is it handled another way? also i have heard of the AFCAD files, now as there are 24000 odd airports, is it essential to have just certain ones? it seems rather daunting and i was not sure whether the AFCAD files are essential with PAI or not. right next question :) bear with me! the smaller airfields, does the pai air traffic go to them? i realise that the average 747 pilot isnt going to land on a random grass strip but is there any activity in the smaller fields? any other info regarding your experiences with project ai and general ai traffic would be greatly appreciated. im not to keen on flying alonside the dodgy generic carriers! thanks for taking the time! James

Hey James, welcome to the world of AI! LOL this is how it works, by default you have a small amount of AI, both commercial and GA, you also have a large number of airports that have a few parking spaces at them, some more than others, but not even close to all gates. You also have default flightplans for thos default AI so they show up at the airports. PAI will install most all the commercial and smaller carriers, but no GA and they also install a bunch of flightplans along with all the different aircraft, but it is up to you to install the AFCAD files to add the extra gates so that the new, extra AI will show up (you will only see as much AI as you have gates and flightplans for) and yes, the more you install, the more you see, provided you have the gates for them to be there.As far as the smaller fields, you can use a traffic editor such as AITM to assign different aircraft to the GA flightplans if you don't like the default.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

Thanks Michael! that's really helpful, i'll get downloading straight away! thanks again for your help, James

Howdy,Well, I'm kinda confused re: PAI. I'm wanting to install some NZ aircraft in order to simulate traffic at NZCH. Normally, I would simply download a low polygon aircraft in ANZ livery and make the appropiate entries in the traffic.bgl via TTools. The flightplan(s) I've downloaded however call for PAI repaints. Okay, I can find the repaints (here at AvSim, FlightSim.com, and at the PAI site) ... but I've searched high and low on the PAI site (and elsewhere) to find the models to apply the repaint textures to. Am I missing something here?TIA.

Hey Capt, yeah, they really need to rename the paintkits to aircraft with blank textures! LOL Go to the certified resources, then paintkits and those are the actual aircraft with blank textures, hope that helps.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

hi again, ok so i have come up with another question! i am starting with a clean install of fs2004. i would like the 'real world' carriers, mostly around the uk (natually!) and america. what would you reccomend that i download? also do the AI light aircraft get affected by the PAI files? cheers again! James

I think you will find that the projectAI effort is aimed at scheduled airlines. Personally, I am not a fan of auto-installers so I don't use the "official" PAI files. For some reason you can't get the model files without d/ling the full paint kit.For my part, I like to download the "most real AI" schedules, or other schedules from AVSIM, then select my own aircraft models and repaints from PAI, AI Aardvark, and FS Painter. I also build my own or download others AFCADs to fix up the airport parking (and in some cases taxiways too).scott s..

Howdy,Thanks, Michael.

cheers scott, the reason that i ditched fs98 was the lack of other aircraft, so im looking forward to mixing it up in 2004! i will have to look for the downloadable schedules as they sound like just the ticket, maybe later i will set my own, thanks again! James

James, like Scott, I am not fond of autoinstallers, but PAIs work great, no need to worry on that. They will save you a ton of time and frustration. They do not effect the GA flights and don't even affect the commercial, unless you want them to. In Fs2002 I went the hand installed route to learn and added a million "real world" flights and aircraft, looked great, but soon realized, that it was unflyable, because more AI means more polys to render and thus less performance. I also found the the added, real world flightplans I had d/l from various sites and installed, while adding a ton of AI, really bogged the ATC down, to the point that it was a joke, they just couldn't handle it. I have a new rig I put together for FS9 and the first thing I did was install the PAI file to remove the default commercial traffic (follow the readme, very important) and then install ALL the PAI files in it, then I added all the official PAI AFCADS (don't trust the ones here on the site, especially with the new feature to alter the scenery) and now I have a bunch of traffic and it is still very flyable, while I will add a few more GA and some others, I am fairly happy with the results, and it didn't take very long at all.Hope that helps.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

it does indeed! i will set it up and post my results, fingers crossed! Cheers, James