FSX-SE AI Flight Plans: "Suspending" a Specific Aircraft

[honanhal 1,420]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping one of the AI experts (I'm looking at you, Bjoern!) can help me with this one. I'm still using FSX-SE but looking to move to P3D v4 in the very near future. I'm trying to P3D-proof my current custom AI, and while I've been able to update/replace a lot of the AI models so they'll be compatible with the new sim, there are some that there's just no way around. To take one key example: British Airways, for which I can make everything compatible with the exception of the B767-300 -- there's a conversion of that AIA FS9 aircraft to FSX/P3D standards, but only the GE model, not the RR one that BA uses.

Now, I could temporarily disable my BA traffic file altogether until I find some way around this, but there has to be a better way to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What I really want to do is "comment out" that particular model so that it will be ignored in the traffic file, but everything else will work as normal. What's the best way to do this? Is there a way in AIFP to do something like that? I.e. is there a way to simply leave that 767 aircraft unassigned to a model that won't cause crashes or other problems in the sim? Apologies, but I've read through the AIFP documentation and can't see anything along these lines.

I guess I could simply delete that aircraft from the BA FP entirely, but I'd prefer to leave it there in expectation of the day when there's a P3D-compatible model I can assign to it -- if there's a way to do that.

Appreciate anyone's insight or help!

James

[Dave_YVR 968]

Simply leave out the currently not V4 ready models. You don't need to do anything else. The rest of your BA traffic will be unaffected.

[honanhal 1,420]

So to be clear, Dave, how do I "remove" a model from a flight plan in AIFP?

1 hour ago, Dave_YVR said:

Simply leave out the currently not V4 ready models. You don't need to do anything else. The rest of your BA traffic will be unaffected.

 

[Bjoern 1,153]

1) Use AI Flight Planner (stuff4fs.com), find the aircraft in question in the BA flight plans and either substitute a different one or delete this aircraft's flight plan altogether, then recompile the traffic file.

2) Try to rename the texture file used by the RR model to one usable by the GE model, then edit the [fltsim.x] entry to point the model= line to the GE model. In the best case, you'll have a model with minor visual glitches on the engine, in the worst case, the textures will be all over the place.

3) Register at the Alpha India forums and

a) convert the models yourself with ModelConverterX. There's a guide here: http://www.alpha-india.net/forums/index.php?topic=25691.0

b) watch the subforum dealing with AI model conversions. Providing they obtain permission from the original devs, FSX native model conversions will eventually pop up there.

[honanhal 1,420]

Thanks, Bjoern! Option 1) was basically what I was thinking, but wanted to make sure there wasn't a way that didn't involve deleting the aircraft altogether before recompiling. Well, this is fine.

And yes, I've been all over the Alpha India forums and following the conversion efforts. I haven't jumped into converting models myself yet (haven't had time!) but I probably will eventually for those models with original devs who have disappeared.

Thanks again!

James

[Dave_YVR 968]

 You don't have to touch AIFP or recompile the plans at all.

 The B767-300 RR model is not V4 compliant, so just don't include it in the folder where you store your AI aircraft. Same goes with the FMAI 146/Avro RJ's and so on. When and if they are converted you can just add them back into the active AI aircraft folder.

[honanhal 1,420]

6 hours ago, Dave_YVR said:

 You don't have to touch AIFP or recompile the plans at all.

 The B767-300 RR model is not V4 compliant, so just don't include it in the folder where you store your AI aircraft. Same goes with the FMAI 146/Avro RJ's and so on. When and if they are converted you can just add them back into the active AI aircraft folder.

And that won't cause any problems (CTDs or stutters) if the traffic BGL is calling a model that the sim can't find? If not, perfect -- that's just the kind of solution I was looking for.

James

[Dave_YVR 968]

No issues at all. I split my AI aircraft into groups that I enable or disable in the simobjects.cfg to reduce load times and also increase performance. Military and Military Transports outside of NA for example, depending on where I am flying to.

It's never caused any problems.

[honanhal 1,420]

Thanks, Dave!

[Bjoern 1,153]

4 hours ago, honanhal said:

And that won't cause any problems (CTDs or stutters) if the traffic BGL is calling a model that the sim can't find? If not, perfect -- that's just the kind of solution I was looking for.

No, it won't.