johnfromoz

Thanks for the insight, Harald - I think I will reconsider buying the Mil after all! ^_^

Yes, I agree, I separate the regime of the 40s from the technology. I know of the AI Mil helicopters but wasn't sure about purchasing the MI8 (I think it was) as I didn't know anything about the company processing the money. MAIW have some good helo air files I sometimes transplant for personal use.

Yes, I understand the issue re the markings. I have the FS conversions to "Golden Wings" and "Silver Wings" on separate drives, and the Golden Wings has a few quick adjustments I can do to select the 1920s-early 1930s, the immediate prewar period, or early WW2. I'm going to have to add the marking to the Lufthansa aircraft for the later period! Interestingly, I have almost no purpose-designed AI aircraft in Golden Wings, nearly all are converted user-flyable models. Some needed no conversion to work well. You can probably get away with it in the 1930s, when skies were less busy! As for helicopters, in my modern FS9, I am doing the same as you are, it's satisfying to see them. I also have a lot flying in "Silver Wings" - mostly in places like Vietnam! Here's a crude illustration. All six AI helos are headed for "LZ Xray" out of Camp Holloway (Pleiku) either on strafing runs or for 'dust-off' and - a case in point to this thread - me flying this close tended to confuse the AI engine and they sailed off towards Cambodia!

Jive1, I have a fairly basic question. How do you know it doesn't turn? If you have flown alongside or near it, your presence can throw AI aircraft off an they will just chug off into the wild blue yonder. One way to avoid that is to track the aircraft itself from chase view, for which the default, I think, is Ctrl+shift+F to cycle forward, and Ctrl+Shift+V (or W) to cycle through all AI in the other direction. You may need to set this up in control assignments. Also I suggest you park at the field nearest where you think the trouble happens, switch off your engine then start tracking. Not turning, and not arriving, may be part of one problem, or two very different problems. For example, flying beside the AI might disturb turns, and not arriving may be an AFCAD issue. And AI do make some unexpected turns. I have tracked them on simple circuits and sometimes they are not square, but involve a few doglegs. I've even had AI appear to steer around landscape, quite unexpected but nice when it seems to happen. I often do as Tom and others say - drop the air file from a reliable AI aircraft into the new AI plane folder. I also change the aircraft.cfg to aircraft.txt, then copy over the aircraft.cfg from the same folder I got the air file from. Into that, working from the renamed aircraft.txt, I copy (and overwrite) all the [fltsim.X] entries, and the sections for [lights], and [contact points]. Also, if it's there, the [General] section. As Tom said, you will need to change the "sim=" line in each [fltsim.X] entry to identify the replacement air file. Don't know if this is accepted practice but it's worked fairly reliably for me. Harald, nice screen shot!

I may have obfuscated! I didn't think I said that! "There are some good models which never make the better-known download sites, and links, at least in the readme, are invaluable. As one example I've spent hours browsing Russian FS site..." In my experience there are two major sites, so famous I needn't even name them ^_^ There was a third, where I started, way back, but it's fallen behind and has become user-unfriendly. My point is that there are many base models which can be found by an intelligent search on the two main sites. Come to that, I sometimes just Google for a model and find it. It does require careful selection of search terms and an understanding of the results. If I Googled "Russian Firefox" I would not, for instance, follow a result that offered me a Russian wife! But, that said, there are a number of good downloads we never see on the Big Two sites. I have quite a few favourites listed for other downloads so usually I get by, but I would encourage uploaders to use a little common sense. I think, for instance, some SKJ models are not on the familiar western AVSIM or FScom, but places like AVSIM.ru (or AVSIM.su) or others have them. There are a few boutique designers out there, too, with sites just catering for their own work. The bottom line remains - if in doubt, it costs nothing to include a link. That only falls over when a supplier closes its doors (the long popular AIA, for instance) but even then, their models are sometimes transferred to one of the big, stable sites. As a last resort, a cry for help on the forum may at least find someone who can email a now-vanished model.

Hi Richard - I'm in Modbury, an internet "black spot" requieing wireless, or submission to our telco wannabe monopoly. I have a couple of FS friends nearby who are happy for me to get downloads via them, but it's sufficiently frequent to be a nuisance. So, I do have other options but appreciate the offer. I'd really just like the same access other areas have, but I guess that will wait for the marvellous super broadband with fibre optics to get here! At least now I find I can sometimes resume a broken download, which I couldn't previously. Momtchil - no luck with the download manager. I have checked it to monitor my browser, but all I can download is php files - can't seem to find a way to get the URL for the actual zip into the manager.

Thanks once more, I'll try that. And sorry I didn't acknowledge you earlier! Interestingly, a few files I previously had trouble with came down fine via the "new" library! Either every cloud has its silver lining, or maybe it was just luck. Don't know if that points to any reason for the original problem.

This is unfortunate. Frankly, I thought good web design included not burying the content under layer after layer of screens. And if there's a FAQ on the search function, I'm afraid I need a "search" option to locate it! But when it's found, one of the key searches is by author. It's already hard enough, here and elsewhere, to narrow searches for things like "Air France", where we get a heap of scenery for "France", or conversely, to get blanks for searches we know should bring results (as BAW345 said). I see the thread on the new format is locked and the library is under some kind of reconstruction. I hope this includes some retention of author names, and something good by way of search ability. AVSIM is too good a site to suffer the indignity of the changed file library.

Still no progress - I can't get an AVSIM link into Free Download Manager, the only place I can "copy" a link is from the hypertext on the actual download page for the particular file, and that gives me a 4kb php file, not the actual target. My ISP suggests I contact the host websites! We do expect a superb fibre-optic internet to fill this black spot, within the year. Our government promised it! ;)

I somewhat agree, as a small contributor to the AI repaints available. I hope I've managed to say in the up-front descriptions what model is needed. I don't put links there as, for one thing, I generally use well-known models, e.g. HTAI Cessnas. Certainly I mention sources in my read-me, which of course is one step further in for the user. I have been frustrated regularly by contributors who assume their models are as famous as HTAI or Fruit Stand. There are some good models which never make the better-known download sites, and links, at least in the readme, are invaluable. As one example I've spent hours browsing Russian FS sites, and Google Translate doesn't always help us non-Russian speakers. The searches turned up some good downloads, but took much longer than necessary for what is after all a hobby activity. I don't think it's asking too much for uploaders to make an intelligent guess about what's easy to find and what isn't. So if it's not one of the world-famous handful of model designers' work, a link SOMEWHERE would help. If in doubt, adding a link is cheap!

Thanks Momtchil - I'll try that. I think I paid for "Getright" but not sure if I can find where I stored it!

Thanks again, Chase. I'll try it. Used "Getright" years ago when on dial-up, but stopped when I moved to "faster" wireless.

Thanks for quick reply, Chase. I've already spoken with my ISP and they have no idea why this should happen! I believe, since it is consistent regarding sites and files, it is some unfortunate combination of our disgraceful internet connectivity here and something from the sending end - otherwise I would expect it to be more random, files downloading on subsequent tries and other "safe" files failing (not that you try a second time if the first worked, but I've done it accidentally on occasion).I'll try a file manage. Not sure how that will help if the file always becomes "unavailable" at the same point..

Hi - I have had this problem for some time and have tolerated it, but it's getting to the point that all the "good" files are inaccessible to me! Firstly, I am on wireless - hard to believe that a capital city suburb is a broadband blackspot, but ...This occurs both here and on what an earlier post called the "other" site - Flightsim.com. It occurs on those two sites, and I think something comparable happened on one other "boutique" FS site, but maybe different as d/ls would often just not start - and not just on my system - so I would have to say it's "just the two".I am not using a download manager, and am using my home computer. It has been going on for some time, through various Windows updates.It is neither time nor size related. I have (heaven help me, on wireless) managed a couple of hundred Mb files. I have d/ld large files from both FS sites. But for many files (now) I have the problem originally reported. The download just stops at some point, always within a few Kb of the same place in the same file. Just now I tried the 9.8 Mb "tbs2k5.zip" (Tokyo Bay) which stopped each time at 9.7 Mb. Apart from the sheer frustration, on wireless I have monthly download allocation and only getting 90% of a number of large files wastes it.It sometimes happens on small files, under 10 Mb. At other times quite large ones come through comfortably. It can happen within a minute or so of starting, or after 15 mins or more. It seems file-related. I was able to get a whole series of about a dozen sceneries for Formosa (other site!) except one, the same one, every time. I was able to get it from a computer elsewhere, on regular broadband.If I either let the stalled download remain without cancelling it, I eventually get a "Downloade error" report, "(File) could not be saved because the source file could not be read". If I try to pause and restart, I get the same message. If I then cancel the problem download, and move on to other downloads, I find the cancelled one may lead to a report that I have exceeded my download limit - even if only one d/l is running and I try to begin a second.When I encounter one of these problem files, I always let the one download run, with no others concurrent. If the download is large I only run one at a time anyway.Yes, there is some factor at this end perhaps, but I think also, since it is the same files each time from only two sites, there is something at the server end or perhaps even the file which makes those particular downloads fragile.I don't expect a magic bullet solution but if others are having issues like this, and report them, eventually the bits and pieces may come together and suggest an answer.

<Sigh of relief>I keep coming back to FS cos you never know what kind of curve ball it will toss at you next!