Greetings, 

 

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, but giving it a whirl.

 

I am a GA flyer only, and one of the cool add-ons available for GA airports is the Orbx AI Traffic freeware product. It puts static and active GA aircraft in select Orbx regions (AU, PNW, PFJ, hopefully more as time goes on) to make things more "alive". For example, while I am at Ramp Parking 6 at Portland-Troutdale I can have a Learjet pass behind me while I am going through start-up  procedures. Other airports will have a host of GA aircraft on the apron, ranging from tail-dragging Cubs to Piaggio P-180 and helicopters, mostly static, but some are animated with Object Flow mobility. Very cool. 

 

Is there such a tool, freeware or payware, that will populate larger airports with static airliners? I have been on a tour of the European capital cities, and places like Schiphol and Tempelhof are truly spooky when they are completely devoid of aircraft. I get a kind of post-apocalyptic vibe because they are so empty. Sure, the little maintenance trucks and luggage haulers are moving around, but no aircraft - maybe they are zombies looking for fresh brains!  

 

I would love to get something as nice as the Orbx product, again freeware or payware, just to populate the large international airports. They don't have to move (although the challenge of avoiding getting my Duke stepped on by a 747 would be welcome), but anything to help with the ghost-town would be great.

 

Thanks!

I second that question.  I have always thought it would be great to have larger airports populated with static aircraft instead of AI to save on the performance hit created by cranking up the AI settings.

Perhaps a great idea for an addon for someone with the right set of skills.

All I know is, if you want to invest some more/not got sceneries, the UK has got some great airports by UK2000, in which you can control how much static aircraft are there. I'm not 100% sure they're the detail ORBX model them, you'll have to check that yourself.....

There is a free program called SAMM which I think is available at AVSIM. It converts aircraft from your installed flyable aircraft to static aircraft which can be placed via other scenery programs.

 

Not all aircraft are convertible but most are.

 

Shez

Hi Shez, 

 

Interesting concept. However, I have removed all tube-liners from my hanger and put them in the moth-ball fleet at Tucson, AZ. And I am already having a devil of a time with sound packs without the added burden of scenery designs!  

 

One of the fun aspects of the Orbx add-on is the "surprise factor" - when I land at a new airport (general aviation, of course), I check out the the AI aircraft the add-on added. If you are a GA flyer, I highly recommend the Orbx GA AI add-on - and it's free!

Using Static Aircraft Maker (SAAM) could be a solution, but it would be a phenomenal amount of work: create dozens and dozens of statics and insert them all at the right places. Also be aware that you won't gain any frame rates, as texture sizes of modified aircraft remain exactly the same. In order to keep static your actual AI aircraft, you could delete the apron paths to parkings in the Afcad files. Instead of taxiing out, the AI will disappear.

 

Bernard