hjwalter

Aircraft parking codes do not need to be the real world codes but can be anything of your own choice and need to be specified in the AI (or flyable) aircraft's cfg file. The same codes then need to be specified in the amply sized "green circles" in your Afcad layout. E.g. a B-747 will not fit in a "green circle" parking position specified for a GA aircraft. Furthermore, the normal procedure for correctly positioning any "green circle" parking position on any airport's/airfield's apron, is to firstly slew a selected (small test-)aircraft in "top down view" to the exact visible gate position.of your choice, after which.you slew it further to it's correct heading. Your test aircraft can then be made visible in the correctly opened Afcad layout and that's then the place where your "green circle" must be positioned with the same heading. N.B. A flyable aircraft will only be directed to it's own reserved "green circle" parking position if the specified parking code in it's aircraft.cfg file corresponds with the one in the "green circle" but only when the flight itself was fully performed under ATC conditions, otherwise any randomly available "green circle" parking position with the correct size (or larger) will be alotted. This all sounds very complicated but I say again: firstly back up your original Afcad file, read the Afcad program's instructions and then try to discover all the program's possibilities one by one and not in a frontal way with all of them at once. A question: Which airport/airfield are you working on ? Hans

If you are unsure about how the far simpler (compared to ADE) Afcad program works and what all it's functions are, you can always copy/paste the original Afcad into the same (scenery) folder. The result will be a full Afcad file but with the extension ".bgl-copy" and which in so doing, will effectively become a backup of the original. After doing that you can experiment as much as you like via your Afcad program but if something does actually go wrong you can always delete the Afcad.bgl file you are/were working on and rename your "Afcad.bgl-copy" version back to it's original "Afcad.bgl". You can then repeat the same procedure from the beginning. The Afcad program is very simple to use via all of it's select/drag/drop/delete/edit/rotate and add possibilities but I agree with chris_eve that you should initially go through the instructions to at least be able to perform some of the basics and to learn how they work. Good luck. Hans

Hey Guys, I finally managed to download the Boryspil airport but when trying to install it, it turned out that I already had it. Not only that but my existing version, which I've had for many years, looked exactly the same as this newer version, the only differences being the naming of the BGLs and their quantity in the newer airport's scenery folder. I renamed my older version and gave the new one the same name, just to do some visual comparisons but was not able to find any significant differences, in fact none at all !! The end result was that I'm keeping my old version but also for another reason and that is that I had at some time in the past, combined this Boryspil scenery with that of the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant ruins, situated within a reasonable helicopter flying time away ...... for my toerists. Anyway, it's still a very well made airport scenery. Hans

Charliearon, (or anyone else), Thanks for your reaction but I've now followed the different links in this thread many times but always end up at "download" and "download now" buttons, which somehow do not seem to want to work. One of them even seems a little promising by what looks like it's waiting for a page of some sort to open but nothing seems to happen, not even after at least five times 20 minutes or so. You seem to have downloaded the Boryspil airport correctly via your quoted link but could you please try to again get past these buttons in test mode to see if you can at least confirm my problem. Thanks for any trouble taken. Hans

Hey Guys, When I try to use the supplied link under the first post in this thread, for downloading the Boryspil airport, I get a wierd looking warning about HTTPS being incorrect, missing, or something like that. Is this somehow dangerous or am I doing something wrong myself ?? Thanks in advance for any comments. Hans

Trying to fly AI aircraft in the same way as the specially made flyable ones, will sooner or later cause problems of an unpredictable nature and under unexpected circumstances. Even when model, aircraft.cfg and/or AIR files have been replaced/modified, the risk of unexpected problems remains. Why one would want to fly AI aircraft in the first place, remains a great mystery because if it's only a question of a model base file and paint combination then there are ample to choose from on the different FS sites, including AVSIM. Hans

I just had this "out of memory" message for the very first time as well and after many years of problem free FS9 simming with hundreds of addon aircraft, panels and sceneries all over the world. However, in my case it happened every time during taxiing to the active (EHEH in the Dutch country wide scenery v3) in the default Beechcraft Baron-58 but with an addon panel which has never caused any problems before. I figured that the addon airport scenery and all the rest of it couldn't be the culprit because such scenery is always static. It must therefore be caused by something programmable and active, e.g. one or more of the panel's instruments. I replaced the panel with the same one from a very old backup and PRESTO, the problem was gone. A somehow corrupted/damaged instrument ? It certainly seems that way. Comments please. Thanks in advance. Hans

Runway surfaces do not influence AI behavior but wind direction certainly does. However, you cannot just change a wind direction at any airport and expect it to stay that way. Wind directions are never related directly to any airport. Here's what you can do: Change the wind direction (and weather, parking position, etc.) at your airport but then save your flight at that airport. The wind direction and many other aspects, will be saved and will automatically become active when you have shut down FS9, re-opened it and have re-opened that same saved flight. Your AIs will then behave according to your (new) wind direction. The same applies when you open a pre-planned and pre-saved ATC controlled flight at a departure airport with your named airport as it's destination. Open your flight at your departure airport, change the wind direction at your destination airport and then (re-)save your flight at the departure airport. In this case the wind direction at your destination airport will be saved and AIs will be behaving accordingly by the time you arrive there. However, please be advised that FS9 cannot save wind directions at your departure airport AND at your destination airport. I hope this helps. Good luck Hans

Hi Martin, The dust being kicked up is not caused by your airport's (Afcad) apron or taxiway surfaces but by some kind of effects error involving your aircraft, possibly even it's contact points. The "fx_tchdrt" effect should only be called for via one of the lines in the [Effects] section of your aircraft's aircraft.cfg file and nowhere else within that file. Check your aircraft.cfg file for any possible other entries which call for fx_tchdrt, especially in the [Lights] section. Also check for duplicate sections. Did you possibly replace your aircraft's panel by another, because some replacement panels have a hidden gauge which, under different conditions, call for one or more light effects in the aircraft.cfg [Lights] section. Such (differently named) light effects can be programmed to produce different effects instead of lights, e.g. dust, prop wash, smoke, etc. Does your problem also appear with other aircraft ? Which aircraft is causing your problem and from where did you download it ? Regards Hans

Hey there Jive1, Happy to hear that you have solved your problem but I still have two comments: 1. The AI engine accepts multiple traffic files, not only the main one in the World/scenery folder, but also others, possibly hidden elswhere in separate addon sceneries. Your "unpredictibility" problem could have been caused by such a hidden traffic file and which unexpectedly used the same aircraft number (60). 2. AI textures are always (or should be) very simple ones and which include so called mipmaps. Using the far more detailed flyable aircarft textures without mipmaps for AI aircraft, will cause your graphics card to constantly need to render them, even although the aircarft is far away and out of sight. Mipmapped textures are purposely used to prevent this and thus keep frame rates as high as possible. Regards Hans

Jive1, The AI engine certainly lives a life of it's own but I've never heard of or seen the type of unpredictability you write about. Have you checked at which of the two airports your aircraft is parked directly before it's "unpredicatble" departure ? Have you then gradually edited the time of day until it pushes back and departs ? Have you tried a (test) round trip of e.g. 6 hours instead of the 24 hours, so that you can test more closely ? Very strange problem indeed. Programming one of your flyable aircraft as an AI is however never advisable because the external view only aircraft will be dragging with it, a panel, sounds and a far too "heavy" texture set, most probably without the necessary mipmaps as well. Result ....... a frame rate hit. However, using such a flyable aircraft as an AI can never cause the specific unpredictability which you write about. Please also be advised that because of the very long parking periods you have programmed at both airports your aircraft will not remain visible for each complete period but will automatically pop up again, possibly at another free parking position, a certain amount of time before it's departure. Please post any further findings. Regards Hans

Hi Guys, I've tested this problem very intensively at one of my addon airports and, to keep a long story short, have found three basic causes. However, there could be more but here I go. 1. It almost always occurs on curved taxiways before hold short points. 2. The taxiways before and after the hold short points are too narrow, combined with ..... 3. The maximum AI nose or tail wheel turning circles are insufficient. If the turning circle is insufficient the AI will turn wide and will stop outside the required margin on the taxiway. Following AI planes will then not recognize the stopped AI plane in front of it and will "merge" into it. The same applies to your user plane when not stopped in the correct position. Solution: Widen the taxiways before and after the hold short points concerned via the Afcad or ADE programs and increase all your AI maximum turning angles in their Aircraft.cfg/Contact points sections, to at least 70 degrees. Good luck. Hans

Any default/stock airport elevation must be exactly the same as that of any addon airport. Use the JABBgl program to adjust the default/stock elevation so that both are the same. However, you must first find out which APnnnnnn.bgl file contains the default/stock airport. This can be done by opening the default/stock airport via the Afcad program and then selecting but not actually opening it's addon version. The APnnnnnn,bgl concerned will then be displayed within the Afcad screen. Write it down. Find and copy this file to any working folder outside FS9 and then point the JABBgl program to it. The airport names within the APnnnnnn.bgl will be displayed, along with their editable elevations. After selecting the airport and editing it's elevation, rename the original APnnnnnn.bgl to e.g. APnnnnnn.XXXX. Then copy/paste the edited APnnnnnn.bgl back to it's original position. After that check the addon Afcad's reference data and runway elevations. Take care though because mistakes can easily be made. If something goes wrong you can always rename the APnnnnnn.XXXX back to APnnnnnn.bgl so as to re-activate the original situation. If you have a principle problem with editing default/stock files you could also place a flatten statement with the elevation of the addon airport, in the scenery.cfg file instead. For this you must select the whole airport area. Good luck Hans

Before you do anything at all you must press the "Lamp test" button on and off. This button is situated in the middle of the glare shield on the main panel. On the flight engineer's panel you have in the fuel section a turn knob via which you can pump fuel to and from the rear trim tank in order to set the very important fore/aft trim. Set it to "Auto" and your trim problem will automatically be taken care of. A (trim) gauge to the left of this knob shows two horizontal red lines and the white line should always be between these before take off and during flights. When the white line is outside either of the two red ones the "Auto" pumping process can take some time before the correct trim is achieved. Note that this (trim) gauge does not display actual fuel loads but only the fore - aft trim. The actual fuel loads per tank are displayed by the round instruments in the fuel section, the two top ones for the left and right tanks. The others display whatever you have set via the "Aircraft/Fuel and Payload/Change fuel" drop down menu, with the bottom one displaying the total of all tanks. I hope this will help you to fly this wonderful aircraft. Good luck Hans

Hello, Your link seems to be dead so I wasn't able to view your problem but it certainly sounds like a hardware graphics card/chip problem. Does your rig didplay, e.g. static pictures (JPG files), correctly or is it only FS9 which displays your problem ? Good luck Hans

A VFR approach is almost always different to an IFR approach. A VFR approach normally involves a downwind leg, then a cross wind leg and ends with the final approach/landing (leg), in any case very different to an IFR approach. Did you give the AI planes concerned enough slack to do these very specific approach types or do they simply fly off into the blue yonder never to return ? Hans

Mr Edtroit is correct in saying that the FS9 AI engine is not set up for handling sloping runways. These sceneries can only be used for flyable aircraft. Which freeware sloping runway airports/airfields are you referring to and where can I find them ? For me they sound very interesting ? Hans

I have no experience with MyTraffic but you can open the Flight Plans file via the TTools (TTools.exe) program when FS9 is not running. Then do a search for "VTBD" and change each hit into "VTBS". When you've done them all, save the file and re-copile it via the same TTools program. The changes will only become visible after re-starting FS9. But, But, But. Because the new addon VTBS did not have a default version in FS9 you will most probably need to add it manually to the TTools Airports list otherwise you will recieve an error message during the compilation process. For the required positioning and elevation data you can take those from the VTBS airport refence point specified in it's Afcad file. Good luck Hans

Wind direction is important for AI and flyable approaches at any airport. If you're watching AI approaches from your flyable plane at e.g. Paphos, you should change the wind direction there and then (re-)save your "flight" so that your selected wind direction will also be saved. The next time you open your saved flight all AI approaches (and take offs) will be made according to the new and previously saved wind direction. If you are flying to Paphos yourself from any other airport you should set the wind direction at Paphos first via the drop down weather map and then (re-)save your flight at your departure airport. The wind direction will now be saved at Paphos and you will be vectored there accordingly by ATC every time you open this specific flight. AI planes will be active at Paphos according to the same new wind direction every time you arrive there. However, please be advised that you can only edit a wind direction either at your departure airport .... OR...... at your destination airport, never at both. A wind direction can (sadly) never be "fixed" at any airport itself but can only be saved together with your saved flight from or at whichever airport that may be. I have no experience with Active Sky or it's relations with FS9, so I must assume here that Active Sky will overrule any FS9 wind direction editing procedures and should therefore have it's own editing possibilities with comparable results for AI and flyable plane approaches. Hope this helps. Hans

A model file always needs one or more for that specific model developed texture files. In your case it seems that there is a problem with the relation between the model and it's texture files.

Cannot make out if you are referring to AI or user flyable planes which are causing your FS9 to crash. If it concernes your own approaches in flyable planes I would want to suggest that you check for duplicate Afcad type files which are well known causes of this specific type of crash. Good luck Hans

Windows 7 has a protected area and if you've installed AI Smooth (or any other external program) within that area you could be faced with the problems as you describe. Always install external programs including FS, outside that area, preferably even in a separate and dedicated partition. Hans

Sadly there are no instructions of any kind in English included in the download, nor in any of it's previous versions, e.g. for starting up, flying,etc. from cold and dark. The panel has very many switches, push buttons and turn knobs spread out over a series of sub-panels but it's not even clear when switches should be up or down. The Russian captions do not help very much either. I did find some manuals in the Russian language on the internet and translated them to English via Google translate but even then these instructions turned out to be a puzzel saying, e.g. switch on the batteries, do this and that, check that and this and "proceed with starting the APU", without saying anything about which switches should be used, up or down and on which sub-panels, etc.etc. Let alone saying anythying related to starting the main engines, if I ever get that far. I find it very strange that SCS who produced this nostalgic masterpiece, did not take the trouble to produce clear usage instructions, at least in English. It's a great pity but "delete" is coming very near for me. Comments, anyone ? Hans

Have you tried to de-activate this addon Narita (including it's afcad file) and then making the same approach to the default version of this airport ? If your addon afcad is correctly made you should have the same problem. I do not have this scenery myself but is there high ground (mountains) along your approach course ? If yes then the best thing to do is to change the wind direction approx. 180 degrees at Narita while still at your departure airport and to then save that flight. During any subsequent flights using your now pre-saved flight, ATC will vector you for an approach from the other side. Narita's pattern altitudes for all runways should be no more than 1000 feet. Good luck. Hans

Martin, The normal position of any aircraft's CoG should be at or around 25% chord but in FS9 (and possibly also in FSX) the CoG is very often a relative position in relation to the "reference_datum_position" which can be anywhere, dependant on where the developer has decided to position it. All other attributes like, e.g. the gear, engine thrust, lights, fuel, passengers, etc. are all positioned relative to this "reference_datum_position". I agree with you that a CoG on the aircraft's nose is not really "as real as it gets" but it does not automatically mean that your aircraft will not fly as the developer intended it to do. Moreover, moving only the existing CoG position by any means, especially in the above relative setup, will most certainly have unpredictable results, both on the ground and in the air. I would therefore like to suggest that you try to fly your aircraft as is or was and then report back in this thread. Hans