The reason for having overlays ?

[Staffan 12]

Hi,I just would like to ask about why having overlays?Is it for framerate problems or..?The reason for me asking is that I have bad framerate problems with my ESSA AI.I use the default scenery for ESSA, FS Painters and Project AI planes. I have made a Flightplan database from scratch with the available Scandinavian flightplans.When I have no AI I get 30 fps steady, but when I add the AI I get 5 - 8 fps. !!! :-hmmmSo, does an overlay solve my framerate problem or not?EDIT: I have all AI aircraft set to 30%.Fly safe,Staffan Ahlberg

[wsieffert 0]

I believe overlays were first used to utilize more of the airport that had multiple runways and to segregate different airlines to a portion of the airport as in real life.If you use overlays, it will probably cause further decay of your FPS, since more aircraft will be moving to the same airport via their different overlays.Recently, I see a trend to eliminate overlays and go back to a single airports with sized gates and aircraft radii to accomplish the multi-runways situation and airport segregation of the airlines. The main reason for using the single airport is less modification for novice user's. Project AI installers assume single default airports and user's must modify their AI extensively if they use overlays.

[Guest]

Hello Staffan,. As far as I know overlay will not help you with FPS. Overlay is used to create 2 or more "virtual AI airport" so that your traffic aiplane use 2 or more runways at same time. It's very useful in major airports to avoid traffic jam! . Maybe one of your AI jets is not a PAI (only one is enough to kill your FPS). So check your AI jets are all Project AI. . What's your PC's config and how many flight plans do you use in ESSA ?Hope this helps. ;)

[Guest]

Steffan,havong over lays has many reasons and depends on airport to airport.My goal is to have as much realism as possible.this means at EGLL,I won't need an overlay because it only has two active runways.at KATL however,there are always 4 active runways,so i make an overlay and I have 4 active runways (2 for TO and 2 for landing).another advantage is I now can have different ground and tower frequencies at KATL,which isrealistic

[Staffan 12]

Hi,The aircraft I use comes from Project AI, FS Painter and Mike Stone, and nothing more. Maybe I should try to remove Mike Stones L1011 and B727?The flightplans for ESSA comes from the AI file for Scandinavia which is available on flightsim.com and AVSIM I think. I have no idea how many flightplans there are for ESSA, but a rough guess would be between 60 and 100.My system:Athlon Thunderbird 1,4 Gig512 Mb SDRam/133Creative GeForce2 GTI 32 MbWindows XP ProTake care, :-waveStaffan Ahlberg

[Guest]

"So, does an overlay solve my framerate problem or not?"NO !!I have 200 gates at KATL and 200 airplanes parked at those gates and my Frame Rates are 12 fps for that single airport. 1 runway for take offs and 1 runway for landings.Now I create an overlay for KATL. I still have 200 gates and 200 airplanes parked but 50% go to the base airport and 50% go to the overlay. Frame Rates are still 12 fps. However I now have a total of 4 parallel runways active instead of 2. This does not mean I will get anymore airplanes unless I start adding more flightplans, but then I better add more gates and expect FPS to go down because more planes will be on the ground. Remember, if a gate is not available the plane will dissappear once it lands (if it was already enroute when FS2002 started). If the plane has not left its originating airport and the destination airport gates are full the plane will disappear after it gets taxi instructions.OVERLAYS DO NOT DECAY FRAME RATES, THE AMOUNT OF GATES YOU CREATE AND THE AMOUNT OF AIRPLANES AT THAT AIRPORT DECAY FPSThe 3 original reasons given for an overlay.1. It is a way to activate more than 2 paralleling runways at the same time.2. It is a way to make different airlines park at different terminals.3. It is a way to make GA traffic use a different part of the airport than commercial traffic.Then came AITM which allows us to change the radius of the plane in the .mdl file. GREAT !!! Combine this with overlays that are needed at certain airports and airplanes park more precisely at the proper gates (without having so many overlays for that airport).I had nine overlays for KATL, 7 for KDFW, and 8 for KLAX to get all runways active and park airplanes at their proper terminals. I now do the same thing with just 2 overlays for each and 1 additional overlay for GA aircraft by combining the use of 2 programs (AFCAD and AITM). Overlays still have there advantages on certain airports. KATL, KLAX, KDFW to name a few which all have more than 2 parallel runways and the only way to get ATC to activate all the runways is with an overlay, but the trend on this end is to utilize both overlays and radius where needed.

[Guest Stamatis]

Staffan,I am almost certain that the drop you are experiencing in frame rates is attributed to some of the the aircraft models that you use for AI Traffic.If you stick to PAI aircraft I can assure you that your loss will never be more than 10%. AT least this is my experience so far.Stamatis

[Guest]

"I have 200 gates at KATL"could you tell me which AFCAD file for KATL that is pleaseif it's not online,could you mail to me?sebastiaanlebeer@hotmail.com

[Staffan 12]

Thanks !I will try to remove some "non PAI" aircraft. :-)Staffan Ahlberg

[brandon 0]

What kind of Computer do you have? 12 fps is excellent for 200 planes... mine becomes a slide show :(

[Guest]

P4 1,5Mhz256MB RAM60GB HDGeforce3 64MB