Henrik Nielsen's Global AI Ship Traffic for MSFS

[sauviat 137]

@kt069 Um! I use MSFSAddon Linker and by keeping the manifest.json the same, it shows up as the original title. This is not good, because the addon linker author is about to use an update facility, and this will not be able to identify an update when it comes.

Martin

 

[kt069 569]

10 minutes ago, sauviat said:

@kt069 Um! I use MSFSAddon Linker and by keeping the manifest.json the same, it shows up as the original title. This is not good, because the addon linker author is about to use an update facility, and this will not be able to identify an update when it comes.

Martin

 

I see. My first intention was to make this addon work. If you say so; you can edit manifest.json with notepad++ , according to your needs.. But I do not know, what to change in it.

Edit: I also use AddonsLinker and mine is showing it normally as "Global Ship Traffic..."

Edited November 23, 2020 by kt069

[sauviat 137]

OK, I'll ask the Addons Linker author what should, if anything, change.

Martin

 

[kt069 569]

2 minutes ago, sauviat said:

OK, I'll ask the Addons Linker author what should, if anything, change.

Martin

 

I also use AddonsLinker and mine is showing it normally as "Global Ship Traffic..."

 

[CJ1045 469]

19 minutes ago, kt069 said:

I also use AddonsLinker and mine is showing it normally as "Global Ship Traffic..."

 

Me too. Suspect Martin has made a mistake somewhere.

CJ

[kt069 569]

19 minutes ago, CJ1045 said:

Me too. Suspect Martin has made a mistake somewhere.

CJ

@sauviat

The manifest.json that I have taken was from a freeware addon which was not very detailed and was for a generic use. I think Martin's may be from a detailed payware addon? I checked mine and it contains very few and not specific info.

Edited November 23, 2020 by kt069

[sauviat 137]

Name is showing as the Global ai ship traffic as the name, but the title is that of the other mod, which incidentally is the USS Constitution (freeware) which can be sailed, which I used.

Martin

 

[dobee51 348]

5 hours ago, sauviat said:

@dobee51 or anyone that understands py. I have V2 from my FSX, so placed that in the Community folder. I have py 3.8, but never used it - when I launch it, is is a CMD!

How do I generate a json file with the folders I have for global ai ship traffic? I see that the folder requires both a layout and manifest json!

Thanks

Martin

It's pretty easy and you will find yourself doing it a lot, so save these files. Copy the following text between the lines and paste it into a notepad TXT file and rename the file BUILD.PY in small letters.

Don't copy the dotted lines though.

You run the build file by opening file manager and copying  build.py and manifest.json to that module's root directory. In that directory you should now have these two files, and also effects, scenery, simobjects and sound subdirectories. Now type "CMD" in the directory address field and hit return and a dos console will open. At the dos prompt, type "python build.py" and the layout.json will be built. 

----------------------------------------------------- build.py ----------------------------------------

import os
import json
import sys

def check_prerequisites():
    if sys.version_info[0] < 3 or sys.version_info[1] < 6:
        raise Exception("Must be using Python 3.6 or later")

def build_layout(project_dir):
    layout_entries = []
    for root, _, files in os.walk(project_dir):
        for filename in files:
            filepath = os.path.join(root, filename)

            if not filepath.endswith(".json") and not filepath.endswith(".py"):
                rel_dir = os.path.relpath(root)
                rel_file = str(os.path.join(rel_dir, filename))
                if rel_file[0] == '.':
                    rel_file = rel_file[2:]

                print(" -- Processing " + rel_file)
                entry = {}
                entry["path"] = rel_file.replace('\\', '/')
                entry["size"] = os.path.getsize(filepath)
                entry["date"] = "132402817714110148"
                layout_entries.append(entry)

    layout_entries.sort(key=lambda e: e["path"])

    return layout_entries

if __name__ == "__main__":
    check_prerequisites()

    cwd = os.getcwd()

    layout_content = build_layout(cwd)

    layout_json = {
        "content": layout_content
    }

    with open("layout.json", "w") as outfile:
        json.dump(layout_json, outfile, indent=4)
------------------------------------------------- End of build.py ----------------------------------------------

 

You will also need a dummy manifest.json file. You can use one from your Community directory, or cut and paste this into a txt file and name it manifest.json. Make sure you get all 6 braces because they are pairs.

{
  "dependencies": [],
  "content_type": "UNKNOWN",
  "title": "",
  "manufacturer": "",
  "creator": "AI_Ship_Traffic",
  "package_version": "0.1.2",
  "minimum_game_version": "1.9.5",
  "release_notes": {
    "neutral": {
      "LastUpdate": "",
      "OlderHistory": ""
    }
  }
}

 

[sauviat 137]

@dobee51 Thank you for this, I'll look at it in the cold light of day. I had already followed one of the other suggestions, so I now have MSFS populated, to test it out and plenty of action globally!

I take it that it would be possible to convert anything from FSX then?

Martin

[captain420 3,099]

For you guys who are already running the mod. Have the models been updated to MSFS format? And the wakes still need to be fixed? Could someone tell me exactly where and what file I need to download to try this out?

[sauviat 137]

@captain420 The models are OK, but the wake has to be dealt with. I already have it running in FSX, so I have the original files. Read back through this thread, as there are links to what you need. But look for flightsim Norway also.

Martin

 

[dobee51 348]

3 hours ago, sauviat said:

@dobee51 Thank you for this, I'll look at it in the cold light of day. I had already followed one of the other suggestions, so I now have MSFS populated, to test it out and plenty of action globally!

I take it that it would be possible to convert anything from FSX then?

Martin

That's pretty much the conversion process in a nutshell. Aircraft can be assembled from scratch with the SDK or imported from FSX exactly like this. Apparently MSFS recognizes the old file structure. In most cases there is some degree of loss; converted aircraft seem to nearly always have some functionality missing. In a small number of cases though the results are surprisingly good, and the planes only need the flight dynamics tweaked or an animation or texture or two tweaked or removed. It has been my experience that the ones that behave the best seem to be the ones built by developers like A2A and Manfred Jahn. So along comes the Legacy Converter which sifts through all of these conversions and removes or replaces troublesome code. It's pretty amazing actually. I would only add that the B-17 looks stately and beautiful in the skies of the MSFS European theater, 

[Waldo Pepper 1,953]

This is awesome.  Just need to fix the wakes,  they are a bit ugly when close.

[captain420 3,099]

Does anyone know if these ships are placed according to real time maritime data and sail according to their actual routes in the real world? Just like how Asobo is using flightaware to fill the skies and airports with actual real world flights? I'm curious if the ship traffic is done this way or just randomly placed?

Edited November 24, 2020 by captain420

[Waldo Pepper 1,953]

8 minutes ago, captain420 said:

Does anyone know if these ships are placed according to real time maritime data and sail according to their actual routes in the real world? Just like how Asobo is using flightaware to fill the skies and airports with actual real world flights? I'm curious if the ship traffic is done this way or just randomly placed?

Quote

Global AI Ship Traffic V2

This package contains almost 1100 AI ships and AI ship traffic routes for the entire globe for P3D and FSX. It is a stand-alone package comprising all my AI ship packages and fixes released until September 2019 and including an additional 250 new ships. The package includes cruise ships, ferries, container ships, oil tankers, bulk carriers, tall ships, fishing boats, destroyers, frigates, patrol boats, aircraft carriers, icebreakers and more. Many of the ships have helicopter platforms. You can land on all ships with an H painted on decks or hatches or deck. Routes cover all mayor harbor cities including e.g. New York, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taoyuan, Manila, Jakarta, Sydney, Auckland, Ushuaia, Buenos Aires, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Panama, Chennai, Mumbai, Dubai, Cape Town, Lagos, Dakar, Las Palmas, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Gothenburg, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Istanbul, Marseille, Athens, Napoli, Bergen, Oslo, St. Petersburg, and many more. The package contains models, textures, and effects by Henrik Nielsen, Jean-Pierre Fillion, Erwin Welker, Knud Kristoffersen, Milton Shupe, Manfred Siedler, Bernardo Barroso, Paul Donnelly, Finn Kristoffer, Didier Puentes, Andrew Thomsen, Antonio Diaz, Sebastien Viale, Rick Keller, Alberto Garcia, Cxema, Gary Payne, Lazarus Starkweather, Pascal Dumat, Dave Garwood, and Robystar.

Contained within the download is a pdf with images of different continents and their associated shipping lanes. 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Waldo Pepper