FLAi2UTL - Anyone?

[edpatino 1,960]

2 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

 Well just look at the list and try to think of what traffic you have or need that use those aircraft. It's mostly the fairly obscure and military models. Remove those ones that aren't p3d v4 ready and you lose I'd guess less than 1% of your traffic.

Yes, you're right, probably except for the Embraer's 140-145, the DC-10-10/30 and L-1011 (not really used very much these days), and some GA (Cessnas 510-550, Phenom E50P, PA31 and some few others).

Just now, mwilk said:

Dave, is it just as easy as deleting those folders of those aircraft in the FLAi directory?

Not being myself really an AI traffic expert, I'm not sure if deleting them would be Ok without deleting their schedules as well, to avoid P3D crashes.

Cheers, Ed

 

 

[duckbilled 310]

15 minutes ago, mwilk said:

Dave, is it just as easy as deleting those folders of those aircraft in the FLAi directory?

I just moved them out of the P3d directory (saved them just in case).

Now, I could be wrong about my list, so the folks at FLAI should have a more accurate picture.

I do agree this is a big time saver. Back before I had kids, I was able to get UT2 down to a really small repaint list (was using some stuff as old as PAI for obscure airlines). Now, with the need for FSX compatible models, I just don't have the time to piece together all of the updated models and textures. 

This gives me a good start. Also, I see no reason why we can't manually add new textures to the FLAI folders. Still, i'm not sure how the auto updated will react if there are unofficial textures in their folders.

 

[ScottB2 6]

3 hours ago, duckbilled said:

This sounds really interesting. A couple questions:

If I have already modified assigned aircraft, will it ignore my new assignments? In other words, is it just searching for default textures in the assignments and re assigning them with FLAI paints when the paint matches the assignment? If so, will it include FLAI paints were no default paint is currently assigned?

While it only works with FLAI aircraft, what if I install a new texture within the FLAI folders? Will it pick those up or ignore them?

 

No issues for me  so far using the "only add missing" option.  I tried to duplicate Mike's issue at EDDM and did not have any errors/crashes.  I still see more Daedelus repaints than I thought I would.  That being said, I only recently downloaded the FLAi models and have not dug into the folders to see what is included. 

This brings me back to duckbilled's question; will FLAi2UTL use non FLAi models if one places them into the FLAi folder?

Time to explore! 

[Egbert Drenth 250]

3 hours ago, ScottB2 said:

This brings me back to duckbilled's question; will FLAi2UTL use non FLAi models if one places them into the FLAi folder?

Yes it should, provided:

1. You let the folder name be: FLAi_???? 
   (Hence the "folderPrefix": "FLAi_" setting in the settings file)
2. The code ???? in foldername should also be defined in the dhq.flai2utl.codes.json file
3. The aircraft.cfg contains an atc_parking_codes=??? entry for each aircraft

Egbert

[Egbert Drenth 250]

6 hours ago, duckbilled said:

Also, I see no reason why we can't manually add new textures to the FLAI folders. Still, i'm not sure how the auto updated will react if there are unofficial textures in their folders.

See my response above

[Egbert Drenth 250]

8 hours ago, duckbilled said:

1. If I have already modified assigned aircraft, will it ignore my new assignments? 

2. If so, will it include FLAI paints were no default paint is currently assigned?

3. While it only works with FLAI aircraft, what if I install a new texture within the FLAI folders? Will it pick those up or ignore them?

 

1. It will overwrite those since I/FLAi2UTL can't recognize if it is an original UTL or other repaint.
Nevertheless you can disable translation/match (a setting ) for the model code. 
But if a model is disabled, this will apply for other likewise repaints as well
(If for example you have disabled the B738, all B738 repaints will be skipped)

2. In UTL there are missing repaint entries, if a match is made, they will be added to UTL. 

3. See above post
 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Egbert Drenth

[Egbert Drenth 250]

Question to AI specialists:

There are several AI packages available (FLAi, WOAI, AIFP, etc, etc)
Are those repaints individually recognizable?

For example: FLAi uses 'FLAi' in their folder structure and in the aircraft Title.
Does the same apply to other packages?

If I can recognize them individually, I can change FLAi2UTL, so it is also suitable for other AI packages.

 

[Nemo 1,304]

1 hour ago, Egbert Drenth said:

Question to AI specialists:

There are several AI packages available (FLAi, WOAI, AIFP, etc, etc)
Are those repaints individually recognizable?

For example: FLAi uses 'FLAi' in their folder structure and in the aircraft Title.
Does the same apply to other packages?

 

Unfortunately this is not the case. I modified all my added a/c by changing "ui_manufacturer=..."  into "ui_manufacturer=UTL AI extension". This way I can easily find my added liveries to assign them in UTL.

[simbol 5,774]

Dear All,

Please be aware that any changes you guys do the original FLAI package, folders, textures and changes inside the Aircraft.cfg (parking spaces, manufacturer, etc.) will be overridden back to default every time you run the FLAI Updater.

More over the FLAI Updater perform file checksums, so it will always believe you have pending updates because you have performed changes to the files and these will not match their server file list checksum.

So bear this in mind while you guys are performing these interesting experiments.

All the best,
Simbol

 

[Egbert Drenth 250]

2 minutes ago, simbol said:

Please be aware that any changes you guys do the original FLAI package, folders, textures and changes inside the Aircraft.cfg (parking spaces, manufacturer, etc.) will be overridden back to default every time you run the FLAI Updater.

Thanks for the info. 
Is the checksum also calculated including any additional folder or is it only based on the folders FLAi expects (i.e. folders in the FLAi package)?
 

 

[simbol 5,774]

7 minutes ago, Egbert Drenth said:

Thanks for the info. 
Is the checksum also calculated including any additional folder or is it only based on the folders FLAi expects (i.e. folders in the FLAi package)?
 

 

For what I understand from the developers, it crosscheck everything.

It makes sense, imagine they need to fix some textures, panels, repaints, etc.

Regards 

Simbol 

[mwilk 1,104]

I was able to reproduce the crash at EDDM that I talked about earlier. After I removed the aircraft that Duckbilled listed, the crashes ceased.

[duckbilled 310]

3 hours ago, simbol said:

Dear All,

Please be aware that any changes you guys do the original FLAI package, folders, textures and changes inside the Aircraft.cfg (parking spaces, manufacturer, etc.) will be overridden back to default every time you run the FLAI Updater.

More over the FLAI Updater perform file checksums, so it will always believe you have pending updates because you have performed changes to the files and these will not match their server file list checksum.

So bear this in mind while you guys are performing these interesting experiments.

All the best,
Simbol

 

I suspected this could be an issue, so I approached this as a one-time boost to my assigned repaints. The main thing I really wanted was the FSX native models, so I didn't have to assemble them on my own, so I'll probably continue to use the FLAI folder structure for future paints, but I wont run the updater. I suppose I could also copy the modified ones to a new folder, change the titles and add new textures.

I'm not sure if there are release notes for updates, but if it turns out that I decide to update FLAI, I'll dump the new version in a temp folder.

Also, it is nearly impossible to work with assignments if you don't have UI_Manf organized well. I use FLAI Boeing, FLAI, Airbus... Aside from removing incompatible aircraft, that is the only change I have made so far.

Edited November 5, 2018 by duckbilled

[Egbert Drenth 250]

1 hour ago, mwilk said:

I was able to reproduce the crash at EDDM that I talked about earlier. After I removed the aircraft that Duckbilled listed, the crashes ceased.

In dhq.flai2utl.codes.json you can/should set the  "FlaiCode": for those specific aircraft to ""
The application will ignore them subsequently.

 

[simbol 5,774]

54 minutes ago, duckbilled said:

I suppose I could also copy the modified ones to a new folder, change the titles and add new textures.

Yes, I would advise this.

55 minutes ago, duckbilled said:

I'm not sure if there are release notes for updates, but if it turns out that I decide to update FLAI, I'll dump the new version in a temp folder.

It is all handled by the updater, so you could just run it and check what to dump on the folder used by UTL. However keep in mind that if you changed the gates asignements, parking radious, etc. these will be lost.

I am just giving you guys some heads up to avoid issues.

Regards,
S.