Current Flightplans & AI Aircraft

[PebbleBeach 120]

Sorry folks,

But i'm I'm back. Does anyone in the FS9 world still update their AI aircraft and flight plans? Reason I'm asking is apparently I have not. In fact I know I have not since a WOAI package I installed several years ago. At the time, It was extremely accurate. In 2022, I still have Delta operating MD-88's & 90's. No A-350's etc. etc.

Suggestions? Always appreciated. 




PS: KRNO (Reno-Tahoe) Upgrade is coming along fine. Trying to get the night lighting maps correct has been my biggest hurdle. I may release my homemade night maps for the entire "default" landscape. If I do this, keep in mind they will be for fast moving jets which overcome inaccuracies in day to night texturing. More aimed at the correct lighting at night which provide that beutiful sea of lights. 

PS2: I recently heard from Dave Rollins and KABQ FS2004 is not dead. Far from it. Dave mentioned he has been doing "limited" work on the airport. Time permitting. In fact, he's to the point of removing runways that have been real-world removed and abandoned by the airport authority. 

Thank you everyone.

Suggestions on the AI are appreciated.

Mitch

[hjwalter 25]

Yes, I still update my AI aircraft/repaints very regularly and now have around 1400 of them flying to and from my 840 addon airports around the world. I've also deleted AI flights to/from airports where I never fly to/from in flyable aircraft.myself.

At the moment I'm even systematically going through all my addon airports/airfields, am improving them scenery-wise and am adding new AI flight plans, using local AI paints. It has in fact kept me off the streets during the whole corona period up to now. 

Some of these AI aircraft were installed via the older WOAI process but relatively long ago and finding the required new paints, adding them, firstly to my AI fleet in my "aircarft" folder and then via the TTools program to my "flight plans", has become a very routine process..

I hope this (more or less) answers you question.

Regards

Hans

 

[trioer 10]

AIFP available on Alpha India forums, as well as all of the available flightplans off of that same site will have everything you'll ever need for commercial and GA. MAIW will have everything in nice packages for military. Still constantly updating everyday. TTools is a bit outdated compared to AIFP, and I would highly recommend that program instead. Then it will be time to update your paking at each airport!

[PebbleBeach 120]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:46 AM, trioer said:

AIFP available on Alpha India forums, as well as all of the available flightplans off of that same site will have everything you'll ever need for commercial and GA. MAIW will have everything in nice packages for military. Still constantly updating everyday. TTools is a bit outdated compared to AIFP, and I would highly recommend that program instead. Then it will be time to update your paking at each airport!

Trioer,
Perhaps you can elaborate more. I would like to update all my Delta AI planes and flight plans. I have not done this for years and my knowledge of how to do so has evaded me. The recollections of what I did in years past was to download what I wanted from WOAI and use their installer. Since WOAI is no longer around, I fear now I will have to download each base model, paint scheme, etc. etc. and install them myself. God I hope this is not the case. I visited Alphia India has you suggested but I only became molre confused. I'm not stupid. But can you, time permitting of course, provide a step by step instructional on how to achieve what I'm after? If not, or if its a huge time consuming process then dont bother. I truly understand. 

Respectfully,

Mitch (Michael)

[trioer 10]

7 hours ago, PebbleBeach said:

Trioer,
Perhaps you can elaborate more. I would like to update all my Delta AI planes and flight plans. I have not done this for years and my knowledge of how to do so has evaded me. The recollections of what I did in years past was to download what I wanted from WOAI and use their installer. Since WOAI is no longer around, I fear now I will have to download each base model, paint scheme, etc. etc. and install them myself. God I hope this is not the case. I visited Alphia India has you suggested but I only became molre confused. I'm not stupid. But can you, time permitting of course, provide a step by step instructional on how to achieve what I'm after? If not, or if its a huge time consuming process then dont bother. I truly understand. 

Respectfully,

Mitch (Michael)

Hi Mitch,

I understand your hesitation. It can be very overwhelming at first. Especially the Alpha India forums. They just changed the look as well about a month ago, and I am still getting used ot that. However, if you are still using all WOAI installed plans, they are far outdated, as are the models. If I remember correctly, a lot of those used AI Aardvark models. While great for the time, they have been surpassed by newer freeware models from FAIB. Also, the only freeware MAX model was released by AIA a little while ago, so unless you install that, you will not have access to that, as well as some FSP/SBAI models like the A359 and A220. As for point and click installs, well, unless we are running P3Dv4 and up, which we obviously aren't, it just isn't happening. Now, having said that, if setup correctly, AIFP can do that for you, you just need to download the plans from the "Release" section on Alpha India Forums. So if you are starting fresh:

1. Download and Install AIFP

2. Read the manual. 

3. Reread the manual. Cannot stress this enough.

4. Download your desired plan from the previously noted section. We will use the newest Delta plan from Summer 2021 as an example.

5. Load this plan into AIFP

6. Now this is where it will get tricky. For us FS2004 users, these plans will work, however the repaints all point to FSX and above textures, so point and click wont work here. 2 options

    * Download plans from 2018 from here on avsim. This will then give you point and click capabilities as long as you have the models installed. This becomes an absolute breeze and you should be able to install in no more than a minute or 2. However, you wont have A220's and your plans are 4 years out of date

   * Keep 2021 plans, manually install models needed and repaints needed. Can be a little searching for the right repaint for the right model. HOWEVER, you can use FSX and P3D paints for almost every model, just need a simple bat converter. (I'm at work so I cant remember the name off the top of my head.

7. Once all repaints are installed that you want, just hit compile and presto, you have installed new plans.

Really, once the models are installed, it goes be easily, even if done manually, as then you are just looking for repaints.. As more developers have given up the ghost so to speak on FS9, we have to continue to evolve our plan installations. 

I hope some of this helps. I know you'll have questions and don't hesitate to reach out. I highly suggest also to check out MAIW. All military is there and is installed even easier than World of AI. Also look for and download all of the Ultimate GA packages here on avsim so you will at least have some representation of that part of aviation. Though I have personally replaced most of that with newer plans and models, for your needs, I think it will suit you just fine.

Edited March 1, 2022 by trioer

[PebbleBeach 120]

Trioer,

BINGO! Thank you very for taking the time to write out this process. I plan to start in on this at earnest over the upcoming weekend. You guys are the best. Thanks again.
 

QUESTIONS:

1. Where do I download a version of AIFP that works with FS9? On their website they are referencing MSFS2020 and P3D.

2. Where can I find a list of the aircraft/repaints etc. that I need to download for the "Delta plan from Summer 2021" you reference?

Mitch

Edited March 3, 2022 by PebbleBeach

[PebbleBeach 120]

Trioer,

I finally was able to download and install AIFP. Huge problem though. First it directed me to download & install dotnet 4.8 which I succussfully did. 

But when I click on the executable AIGTech - AI Manager.exe the program hangs. Just sits there and does not allow me to pick a version. Initially tried on Windows 7 and later on my laptop Windows 10. Same thing. Just hangs.

PS: These bombardments of advertisements on Avsim's site is absolutely ridiculous. This would have never happened under Tom's watch. Sad.

Mitch

Edited March 3, 2022 by PebbleBeach

[trioer 10]

Hi Mitch,

Did you download AIFP from here :http://stuff4fs.com/open.asp?Folder=AIFP&JS=TRUE?

AIGTech - AI Manager is the wrong program. that is for P3Dv4 and up.

For the repaints and plans, i need you to go to https://www.alpha-india.net/forums/index.php?topic=36329.msg363638#msg363638 (must be logged into AIG) and download that Delta file. Inside will be links all the repaints and models you need. However, please keep in mind it mostly points to FSX repaints and models, so we will have to search for our own. It may be easiest to start with a 2018 or earlier plan, which will point to FS9 stuff, install it so we have a base, THEN install newer plans so that we have way less searching and modifying.

If you start this project this weekend, I will be around and will be more than happy to walk you through some setups till you get the hang of this.

Edited March 3, 2022 by trioer

[PebbleBeach 120]

Trioer,

Thank you again.

I now have AIFP. Unfortunately I cannot do anything with it has my account with Alpha India still hasnt been approved yet (24+ hours).

Mitch

[trioer 10]

5 hours ago, PebbleBeach said:

Trioer,

Thank you again.

I now have AIFP. Unfortunately I cannot do anything with it has my account with Alpha India still hasnt been approved yet (24+ hours).

Mitch

Mitch,

Good news! And you actually can start using it. Search Alpha India here on Avsim under fs2004 flight plans section and all of their 2018 and older stuff is posted here. Pick some small airlines like Air Canada Jetz for example. This will give us a good starting base and you will be able to see how this program works. I'm around most of the day as I took the day off work so I can help.

[PebbleBeach 120]

17 hours ago, trioer said:

Mitch,

Good news! And you actually can start using it. Search Alpha India here on Avsim under fs2004 flight plans section and all of their 2018 and older stuff is posted here. Pick some small airlines like Air Canada Jetz for example. This will give us a good starting base and you will be able to see how this program works. I'm around most of the day as I took the day off work so I can help.

Trioer,

I finally got in to Alpha India. In the process of downloading repaints, etc. Where do I find the base model for all these various repaints?

For example, I downloaded Amazon Prime Air from the link you provided on Alpha India page. Once downloaded, I see all the repaints & links to those repaints. But I assume there is a base model needed for these repaints? And I assume all those repaints will go into this base model folder yes??? If so, where to get base model? Maybe we use this Amazon Air as a learning process and hopefully I can tackle the rest later.

Mitch

Edited March 5, 2022 by PebbleBeach

[trioer 10]

11 hours ago, PebbleBeach said:

Trioer,

I finally got in to Alpha India. In the process of downloading repaints, etc. Where do I find the base model for all these various repaints?

For example, I downloaded Amazon Prime Air from the link you provided on Alpha India page. Once downloaded, I see all the repaints & links to those repaints. But I assume there is a base model needed for these repaints? And I assume all those repaints will go into this base model folder yes??? If so, where to get base model? Maybe we use this Amazon Air as a learning process and hopefully I can tackle the rest later.

Mitch

Mitch

For Amazon Prime, I am thinking off of the top of my head you need the 767 and 737 model? Please go here for both:

https://fsxaibureau.com/manufacturing/

 

[PebbleBeach 120]

14 hours ago, trioer said:

Mitch

For Amazon Prime, I am thinking off of the top of my head you need the 767 and 737 model? Please go here for both:

https://fsxaibureau.com/manufacturing/

 

FSXAIBUREAU? So these base models work flawlessly in FS9? So what do I do? Download these base models and put them into my FS9/Aircrafts folder? Then copy all the Amazon repaints into these folders? Very confusing. Also, last night when I started downloading the repaints I noticed many listed in "Repaints.txt" file were mentioned 3-4 times meaning I downloaded the same repaint over and over. Additionally, I noticed some of the repaints had mention of P3D in their file description. Hey listen. If this is too overwhelming then no problem. I can do without. Appreciate all the help you've provided up to this point. Thank you.

Mitch

Edited March 6, 2022 by PebbleBeach

[trioer 10]

Yup, these models work and look great! Yes, you are correct they go in the aircraft folder. I'm betting the reason you are seeing 3-4 times mentioned is it is a package of more than 1 repaint. Look at Frontier for example, some of those packages have 30+ repaints. They may be made for P3D but can be used in FS2004 with a simple .bat converter, which we havent covered yet. That's why again, I would highly recommend searching "Alpha India Group" here on Avsim for some older plans where you can install FS2004 specific paints first and automatically through AIFP which will give us a good base and cause less searching and converting later on. I think I'm your situation, jumping straight into 2021 plans is going to be more time consuming and frustrating. Here is a good tutorial link I pulled up for you (Ignore everything about Ttools and most model downloads, these have all mostly been upgraded since this was published)

https://www.atlanticsunairways.com/fleet/aitutorial/aitutorial.html

Can you do me a favor? For a quick and easier install, please download from avsim, search for aig_allegiantair_summer_2018.zip

This will get us Airbus a320, and since you use WoA, the MD80 you should already have installed 

Edited March 6, 2022 by trioer

[PebbleBeach 120]

Trioer,

You are one of the nicest human beings I've ever met on Avsim.

I'm still at this AI thing but I have so many candles burning right now I doubt I'll accomplish it. 10-15 years ago, I was very familiar with all this AI stuff using WOAI and TTools as I had an unlimited time to devote to it. But after having built (2) different simulators, the latter a motion sim, I think my 62 year old brain is fried. Us simmers are a unique crowd. We have to learn html, if we want to document our accomplishments for others to learn on a website, XML, if we want to build gauges, LUA, to make various sound components trigger, etc. etc. I even took up scenery design and offered up to the community close to 10 different airport upgrades. The most demanding for me was C+/EPL to program all the lights, sounds, switches, etc. to integrate with my simulator. 2 college courses at 50 years old and help from Ralph Robinson (EPIC), I finally conquered my dream some 13 years later.

Anyway, I spent the last 3-4 days downloading basepacks, repaint textures etc.,  working off of your very nicely written tutorial. I move the textures to the model file and edit the aircraft.cfg to reflect the texture additions. But then I draw a blank on how to make the flight plan accommodate these additions.

My friend, I'm officially throwing in towel and giving up. 😃. My initial intention was only to update the Delta planes. But I feel my brain is toast. 

I simply wanted to write you and thank you for all the time you spent articulating great responses & posting links to accomplish what you were trying to educate me on. That is a huge amount of your personal time taken away from you to draft these responses. I want you to know I thoroughly appreciate it. Honest to God I do. 

Thank you Trioer,

Michael (Mitch)

Edited October 22, 2022 by PebbleBeach