weird problem with ai plane

[Guest delsimflyer]

I have tried out two models of a340 to use as ai aircraft and both of them created exactly the same problem. After landing they come to a halt on the runway and dont exit, just keep sitting there, not disappearing too, disrupting the whole traffic motion.what is happening?

[Guest abulaafia]

you need to provide more details. which aircraft, FPs, etc. ==Marten:Weber==P-D920 oc3.64MHz 2GB RAM WinXP ATI X1900+1024MB 2xSATA250 2xVIEWSONIC 19"Need AI? Get AI: www.world-of-ai.com

[RFields5421 1]

What airport, do you have any modifications to the airport with one of the tools to modify parking, etc?

[Guest delsimflyer]

yep, with lots of heavy gates, but other planes are working perfectly fine.I have this problem only with posky a343 and overland a346.

[Mace 1,902]

You need to post more information.Please post the wing_span value (in the aircraft.cfg file) of the A340 that's getting stuck.Also post a list of parking spot sizes that are at your airport.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[jvile 1]

>>I have this problem only with posky a343 and overland a346.>Are the 2 planes that give you problems designed with a good set of .air /.cfg /.mdl's and tested for AI use as well as flyable?If not then why not use a 3rd party plane that is designed specifically for AI use.

[Guest abulaafia]

those are not AI planes. you really need to be more specific. ==Marten:Weber==P-D920 oc3.64MHz 2GB RAM WinXP ATI X1900+1024MB 2xSATA250 2xVIEWSONIC 19"Need AI? Get AI: www.world-of-ai.com

[Guest delsimflyer]

the wing_span=208.11 (feet ofcourse)the problem obviously is not with the wingspan or unavailable parking spots, or else the plane would have simply disappeared after slowing down.and the 747s are working ok, so no problem of wing_span should be there.as far as I know, there is nothing different between an addon user plane nad an ai model except that the latter has a little lower detail polygons, so I dont find any harm in using them for traffic aswell. All my other addon (around 12) non AI models are working fine as traffic.maybe someone can try using one of the two models as ai plane and see if some flaw comes out.please help.

[Guest delsimflyer]

ok, I was able to make out that it is somewhat related to contact_points of the problem plane. I temporarily substituted the original entry with some other plane's, then, it taxied really badly after landing but cleared the runway. I am unable to find the problem there, so here's the original contact_points section:[contact_points]point.0=1, 98.42, 0.00, -16.62, 1181.1, 0, 3.554, 60.0, 0.83, 1.7, 0.7235, 6.0, 8.2, 0, 0.0, 0.0 //nosepoint.1=1, -7.50, -16.80, -18.24, 1574.8, 1, 4.737, 0.0, 1.71, 2.0, 0.7470, 9.7, 14.1, 2, 0.0, 0.0 //left mainpoint.2=1, -7.50, 16.80, -18.24, 1574.8, 2, 4.737, 0.0, 1.71, 2.0, 0.7470, 9.7, 14.1, 3, 0.0, 0.0 //right mainpoint.3=1, -7.75, 0.00, -18.20, 1574.8, 0, 4.737, 0.0, 2.21, 2.0, 0.7470, 9.7, 14.1, 0,185.0,250.0 //center mainpoint.4=2, -10.17, -47.33, 0.00, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 5, 0.0, 0.0point.5=2, -10.17, 47.33, 0.00, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 6, 0.0, 0.0point.6=2, -83.33, 0.00, 2.50, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0point.7=2, 42.67, 0.00, -3.75, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0, 4, 0.0, 0.0

[RFields5421 1]

AI aircraft don't do well with more than three wheel contact points - a nose and two mains.Remove the center main - also put any comments (// ) on a separate line - not the end of a line.So far no one has said it -But the models you mentioned are really, really bad for use as AI.They are way too details and way too heavy on polygon counts for AI aircraft.They don't have LOD to make them less detailed as your view is farther away - and allow more of your processor and graphics power to be used to render close up objects and run the sim smoothly.I'd be very surprised if you don't have stutters from these aircraft. I'd be very surprised if your airport doesn't come to a screeching 2 FPS halt with a dozen or so of these planes on the airport.

[Guest]

Hey Reggie,interesting comment about using // on a separate line... I see companies all the time using // on the same line. what problems can this cause?

[Guest delsimflyer]

thanks, that did the job.I noticed that the default 747 also has only three wheel points defined when it should have five. but then how is the simulator able to sense the rest two MLGs, or are they just for appearence with no use?

[Guest abulaafia]

I think you are still confusing AI models with flyable models. ==Marten:Weber==P-D920 oc3.64MHz 2GB RAM WinXP ATI X1900+1024MB 2xSATA250 2xVIEWSONIC 19"Need AI? Get AI: www.world-of-ai.com

[RFields5421 1]

Contact points have nothing to do with the visual model you see in FS.They are invisible code which tells FS where the model makes contact with the ground.It is easier when the contact points match the wheels - but not essential.There are many real world aircraft with very sensitive center of gravity issues. When those aircraft are modeled accurately in FS and their contact points are set for the actual locations of the wheels - the plane will taxi on it's tail or it's nose.Or like the B-52 - when it's contact points are set to real world values - FS has no idea how to taxi that airplane.Two parallel nose gear - two main gear very close together under the fuselage - two outriggers.When you give that plane one nosegear and two mains spread out from fuselage - it works very well. If you leave the main locations at the real world values, the plane will be tail heavy, and will tip over on it's side in tight turns.The reason the modeler adds the center main is to make the touchdown effects (smoke) work.So for some AI we have to accept smoke effects are non-realistic locations. For aircraft with middle mains - that means no smoke from those tires.User aircraft in taxi mode are controlled by the user - but AI aircraft have to work with a simplified set of instructions. Multiple non-tricycle gear don't work for AI.It's pretty easy to build a plane which flies well as AI and a user aircraft - Microsoft's default aircraft do so.The default B737 is the basis for almost all flyable and AI aircraft flight dynamics. Once designers start going for specifics of Flyable ro AI performance - they make the aircraft unsuitable of the other operation.The biggest issue is the weight of the aircraft.A flyable aircraft such as you mentioned is set to work with the cargo weight at a set value. Pax are cargo - just noisy, complaining cargo. The flyable aircraft is also set to perform differently as fuel is burned off during the flight.AI aircraft on the other hand fly all the time at the aircraft empty weight. No fuel weight, no cargo weight.A well powered AI flight dynamic will be unable to get the plane off the ground when used as flyable with full fuel and cargo.A well powered flyable aircraft will rocket off the runway as AI.

[RFields5421 1]

We've seen issues with comments on the same line making AI aircraft not appear / titles unrecognizable. Other parts of the aircraft.cfg show the behavior of not working correctly with comments on the same line.Therefore, I prefer and recommend that all comments be on separate lines.Because I can't pin it down to which sections work which way - so better safe than sorry.