FS9 AI traffic tool suggestion needed

[Pilot_76 12]

Hi there,

I am looking for an AI traffic manager which has these features (for FS2004):

-Back up your AI traffic (whole library)
-Customize your AI aircraft. 

This is a fully customizable tool. I wonder if there is a software either freeware or payware that can control each AI traffic. Something like the runway type it operates, the runway length, civilian or military airports only, countries that it is allowed, IFR or VFR only etc. Of course respecting realism. I do not want an American Airlines B777 taking off from North Korea or a Piper J-3 Cub landing in the arctic at a military airfield. One thing that I would like to have the freedom is to include vintage aircraft such as the B-29, B-17 and retro airliners like TWA and Pan Am in the circuit. WWI and WWII fighter/transport aircraft plus Cold War Era Bombers (US and USSR) well you get the picture of my intentions towards AI traffic in FS9. The most exciting thing about this is that my PC IS capable of running FS9 with 60+ fps and 500 aircraft as AI traffic. 

-Easy installation and quick AI aircraft setup.

There are many tools out there so if anyone can point me in the right direction I really appreciate it. Tks.

 

[Dave Morgan 68]

I can address a couple of your questions, though my answers won't necessarily be to your taste...

AI in FS9 is not random. It's defined quite rigidly by a bgl traffic file so if you have the wrong planes in the wrong places, modifying the bgl is the way to go. I don't think there is a one-stop soultion for FS9's diverse traffic files similar to AIG's one-click installer. On the other hand, installing third party traffic is probably best: Flight1 or a similar developer for a single global package. I installed their Ultimate Traffic years ago. I'm not sure it's still available: you could try Ebay but don't confuse it with UT2 for FSX.

Their core flightplan file is still the core of my traffic but I've replaced most of the aircraft (2002 vintage models and textures... no thanks) with my preferred planes, mostly Fruit Stand and AI Aardvark, boosted with masses of downloads from Avsim's library and the other place. It's given me some wonderfully eclectic sights at some airports. TFS is defunct, AIA still exists but most of their models & repaints are in the library here anyway.

Backing up your AI traffic is a simple matter to do manually. You need to make a backup copy of your ../FS2004/Aircraft/ folder. That takes care of the models and the repaints. If you have a well organised installation, all your traffic bgls will be in a single dedicated folder/scenery layer. If you don't, they are probably mostly in the ../fs2004/Scenery/World/Scenery/ folder, and if the creator had any wisdom they're likely all to have the word 'traffic' in their names. Back them up too.

By customize, I suppose you mean both setting departures and destinations, and installing new liveries. The former are defined by the traffic bgl that uses that AI plane so you shouldn't see problems like AAL B777s in N Korea. My preference when altering POD and POA for AI flights is (again) to do it manually. You can decompile traffic bgls with TTools from the library: https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004ai&DLID=34731 and modify the resulting source files before recompiling. It comes with a comprehensive manual and explanation of the traffic bgls' & sources' structure.

You might also have a look at AI Aircraft Analyzer here: http://aifs2.pvdveen.net/?p=117 I have a copy but I rarely used it and it's now gathering dust. The version I have was rather unfinished but it was useful for identifying all my dispersed traffic bgls.

Adding new liveries is also best done manually. Download from the library here and follow the installation instructions.

D

(that's a lot of words just to say, 'Probably not'...)

[Pilot_76 12]

thanks dave, 

Working with traffic AI and bgls etc is a lot of hard work and to manage all that I do remember that a single error would disrupt the whole process hence my concern on backups. I'll try the ones you've mentioned. I am doing this because I've been out of the flight sim picture for a long time. Just got mad at the ridiculous amount of horsepower it needed today just to run FSX just like FS9. So I chose to go back to high fps and a satisfactory experience.

[Dave Morgan 68]

If you haven't already found it, you could have a look at this too. I've made some use of it for P3d but was unaware that it works also for FS9 traffic. It's initially a little complex but I grew accustomed to it quite rapidly.

http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp

The first sentence of the introduction says, "AI Flight Planner is a fully-integrated, TTools format-compatible AI flight planning tool for Microsoft Flight Simulator, both FS9 and FSX versions and Prepar3D." and there's a link to the user guide on the left of the screen. Don't be put off by the size of the manual -- you only need to dip into the relevant chapter.

D

 

[trioer 10]

3 hours ago, Dave Morgan said:

If you haven't already found it, you could have a look at this too. I've made some use of it for P3d but was unaware that it works also for FS9 traffic. It's initially a little complex but I grew accustomed to it quite rapidly.

http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp

The first sentence of the introduction says, "AI Flight Planner is a fully-integrated, TTools format-compatible AI flight planning tool for Microsoft Flight Simulator, both FS9 and FSX versions and Prepar3D." and there's a link to the user guide on the left of the screen. Don't be put off by the size of the manual -- you only need to dip into the relevant chapter.

D

 

This was the tool I was talking about in another of the posts. Absolutely love this tool, especially how you can see if you have enough parking at each airport, including parking types (gates/cargo/ga etc.) depending on your Afcad/Ade file and can update each accordingly until you have enough. It's a must have tool. Easily the most used program by myself and probably many others.

[Pilot_76 12]

Nice I'll have a look. tk you all..

[Dave Morgan 68]

22 hours ago, trioer said:

especially how you can see if you have enough parking at each airport, including parking types (gates/cargo/ga etc.) depending on your Afcad/Ade file

Drifting slightly from topic -- forgive me -- but that's exactly what I used it for in P3d. I'd started with JustFlight's Traffic Global but found it was not compiling traffic unless there was a parking spot for each aircraft in the airport's weekly schedule. That meant I needed several hundred parking spots at busy airports.

24 spots required for compiling 24 weekly movements while there might only be 4 visitors in one day (and only ever one a/c actually at the airport) was an enormous disincentive to continue with it. I left it for AIG and their One Click Installer, and made all the necessary modifications using AIFP.

It is an absolutely brilliant tool.

I see my original link doesn't go anywhere. Try this:

http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?Folder=AIFP