Manually Adding AI - Vehicle Initialization Failure

[garydpoole 183]

Hello All

I've recently moved over to P3D V4 from FSX SE and have just manually copied across all of my existing FSX SE AI into a newly created \AIAircraft folder within the \SimObjects folder of P3d V4.

After some research, I discovered that I no longer add the above folder to the main cfg file, but rather, append a new entry into the simobjects.cfg file as per:

[Entry.10]
Path=SimObjects\AIAircraft
Required=True
Active=True

However, when I then run P3D, I get the "Vehicle initialization has failed for f22" startup message. If I then delete simobjects.cfg and let P3D create a new one, the message disappears and P3D loads normally.

This then begs the question, just how can I make P3D aware of my AI folder, since if I attempt to tell it via simobjects.cfg, I get the above error message ?

Am I seriously missing something here ?

Any help much appreciated !

Gary

 

[mazelda 124]

Do you have ai flightplans for your ai aircraft ?

Although not all the ai models are v4 ready  i am currently getting my ai airline a/c running in fsx, p3dv3 and p3dv4

These are all located in one place and linked to the various sims through  the simobjects folders found in the prog data folder in the case of p3d .And then making an entry in the scenery library for the flightplans

All seems to work fine,for me at least the only thing that does'nt work at the moment are models that i have that are not v4 ready but they still work fine in v3

[garydpoole 183]

10 minutes ago, mazelda said:

Do you have ai flightplans for your ai aircraft ?

Hi

Are you referring to the .txt files or the .bgl files? The .txt files are located outside of P3D, the .bgls are in the \Scenery\world\scenery folder.

13 minutes ago, mazelda said:

These are all located in one place and linked to the various sims through  the simobjects folders found in the prog data folder in the case of p3d .And then making an entry in the scenery library for the flightplans

Please could you explain what you mean by the above ? Are you saying that there has to be a scenery library entry created that references the location of flightplans.txt files located outside of P3D ?

Many thanks !

Gary

[mazelda 124]

  I'm talking about .bgl files  I don't use txt files I have all my .bgl flightplans outside the sim and are referenced by an entry in the scenery library for the 3 sims I use them on.

All my ai models are also located outside the sim and referenced by the simobjects.cfg in the program data folder for each sim I use

does that help,if not pm  me and I'll give you a how to that i made up

rgds 

[Lorby_SI 2,036]

 

1 hour ago, garydpoole said:

This then begs the question, just how can I make P3D aware of my AI folder,

For example like this:

You don't copy anything into the simulator folder. No aircraft and no flightplan BGLs. You don't alter any cfg files.

Instead you do this:

Create a folder somewhere on your computer. For the sake of the example let us assume it is on D:

D:\MyAiTraffic\FlightPlans\Scenery\ <- the flightplan BGL files go here
D:\MyAiTraffic\SimObjects\AIAircraft\ <- your aircraft go here, just like they would in the internal SimObjects folder

Now you create the following file:

C:\Users\<you>\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons\MyAiTraffic\add-on.xml

Then edit the file and make it look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
  <AddOn.Name>MyAiTraffic</AddOn.Name>
  <AddOn.Description>My own Traffic</AddOn.Description>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>SimObjects</Category>
    <Path>D:\MyAiTraffic\SimObjects\AiAircraft</Path>    
  </AddOn.Component>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>Scenery</Category>
    <Path>D:\MyAiTraffic\Flightplans</Path>
    <Name>MyFlightplans</Name>
    <Layer>114</Layer>
  </AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

That's it.

For more information check out the sticky thread on top of this forum
or
the Prepar3D Learning Center -> SDK -> Add-ons -> Add-on Packages

Best regards

[garydpoole 183]

Many thanks for your helpful replies !

2 hours ago, mazelda said:

All my ai models are also located outside the sim and referenced by the simobjects.cfg in the program data folder for each sim I use

However, I'm slightly confused as the above would suggest editing simobjects.cfg - which I'm currently attempting to do, but which is causing the original problem...

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

You don't copy anything into the simulator folder. No aircraft and no flightplan BGLs. You don't alter any cfg files.

But the above suggests that no editing of cfg is required ?

Is this a case of 'more than one way to skin a cat', or am I misunderstanding something ?

Btw, adding an AI folder seems to have suddenly become very complicated ;-)

Regards

Gary

[Lorby_SI 2,036]

No editing of config files is required, not any more. But the old ways still work, which makes it confusing. Think of it that way: if you don't put your stuff into the main sim folder and don't manually alter crucial config files in hidden folders, then nothing bad can happen. The recommended (by LM) method with the XML file will even survive a full uninstall and reinstall of the sim.

All those performance and stutter problems are caused by content added to the sim. Where would you rather have that - right at the simulators throat or at a comfortable distance?

Try the XML, you won't regret it. In the aforementioned sticky thread you will find a tool that I made to make this easier - but it is not that hard to do manually either.

Best regards

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

Honestly, I don't want to know all the details of scenery.cfg nor xml files.  I just want some tool that brings it all together, helps me to maintain the list, perhaps arrange it in a way that makes sense, lets me enable and disable regions of sceneries (why load Europe when I'm flying in the US and vice-versa) and whatever makes sense.  If it uses XML then that's great.  If it helps troubleshoot problems then that's greater.  If it finds and helps get rid of duplicates that's a plus too.  If it helps move sceneries to a new disk it's a double plus.  Finally, if it helps install legacy scenery it's a slam dunk.

[garydpoole 183]

15 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

No editing of config files is required, not any more. But the old ways still work, which makes it confusing. Think of it that way: if you don't put your stuff into the main sim folder and don't manually alter crucial config files in hidden folders, then nothing bad can happen. The recommended (by LM) method with the XML file will even survive a full uninstall and reinstall of the sim.

All those performance and stutter problems are caused by content added to the sim. Where would you rather have that - right at the simulators throat or at a comfortable distance?

Try the XML, you won't regret it. In the aforementioned sticky thread you will find a tool that I made to make this easier - but it is not that hard to do manually either.

Best regards

A quick update to say that the above instructions were followed and so far, all AI tested looks good - many thanks for your kind assistance !

Just a quick question, a lot of the FSX AI these days requires some generic textures to be placed in the flightsim \Texture folder. Could the above method be expanded to place these outside of the flightsim ?

Regards

Gary

 

[Lorby_SI 2,036]

9 minutes ago, garydpoole said:

Just a quick question, a lot of the FSX AI these days requires some generic textures to be placed in the flightsim \Texture folder. Could the above method be expanded to place these outside of the flightsim ?

Yes. You can link a texture folder directly by adding a component of the category "Texture" and providing the path. A texture component can have a type attribute (see learning center), in your case it could be either WORLD or GLOBAL (I think).

To make this easier, take a look at my free P3D V4 Addon Organizer app (check the sticky on top of this forum, or the Lorby-SI support forum further down for details and links.)

Best regards