CaptainAdlai

I'm curious about the number (if any) of major accidents our virtual pilots have. Do you crash frequently? Excluding goofing around, of course, who here has sent a bunch of virtual passengers to their graves? I've done it once. I decided to take some people on a fishing trip, flying a Falcon 50 on an IFR flight in Alaska. On the approach to Sitka, I was totally IMC, and due to incorrectly reading a chart, flew into a hill I couldn't see until it was just mere few feet away. It sounds stupid, but these pilot-error-type things are the biggest causes of real crashes. Needless to say, I was infuriated to crash a plane; I figured I'd never do it. I have an otherwise perfect safety record in the simulator, having not so much as blown a tire. How about the rest of y'all? Thanks for the info, everyone. Safe flying. B)

Unfortunately, that's not really possible. There is a tool called GA-Traffic that lets you select aircraft to randomly sprinkle around the world, which is really nice. It is, as the name suggests, only for GA stuff, so for airlines, I'd suggest WOAI. For military, you could look at MAIW. GA-Traffic - http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=fsx_ga-traffic_releasecandidate2.zip&Author=&CatID=root WOAI - http://world-of-ai.com/ MAIW - http://www.militaryaiworks.com/ Hope it helps.

Today, we'll be looking at what it takes to create a custom AI traffic package. By request of a user, we will focus on FedEx, though the procedure works similarly for any AI you want to create. First, it's a good idea to grab the following tool: http://stuff4fs.com/open.asp?Folder=AIFP&JS=TRUE This is AI Flight Planner, AIFP for short, and is what you need to generate the flight plans. Next, you'll want to read the manual, which is here. http://stuff4fs.com/Applications/AIFP/AI%20Flight%20Planner.pdf To get started on creating a custom AI package, you'll need some flight plans. The latest FedEx AI can be downloaded in our library here. http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=aig_fedex_summer_2013.zip&Author=&CatID=root Once you have this, you will require aircraft to fly these routes. Once again, we return to the library. You will need FedEx paints for the A300, A310, B727, B757, B777, MD-10, and MD-11. The download for the flight plans contains exact details on which aircraft you need. Technically, you can use any aircraft you want, so long as its name in the aircraft.cfg matches that in the flight plan. After you get all your planes installed (instructions on how to do this are included in their read me), you are ready to generate the AI traffic files. Just open up AIFP, and open the flightplan. Ensure that none of the aircraft turn up as red, and then click compile and save. Make certain that this file makes it into your scenery folder, or else your cool new FedEx planes won't be flying around. Also, if you're seeing red aircraft names, it means that nothing matches the name in the flight plan's list of aircraft names. That's all there is to throwing together an AI package. Thanks all, Hope to see you around here frequently! Adlai

Hi all, After about one year of silence, I would like to once again welcome myself to this forum. Over the next few days, I intend to release a considerable amount of content, starting with a guide on putting together a custom AI package. Following that, I'll be doing some reviews, mostly focusing on FS9 stuff. Hope to see this forum get more populated, and sorry about the absence, Adlai

Turboprops are definitely a lot of fun! The trick to finding good airplanes is to look beyond the "Best Sellers" pages of websites. Tim Conrad has several great freeware aircraft, including a few turboprops, from the A-29 MIL trainer, to the Russian An-32 airliner (and a few others in between, such as the PC-6). VirtualCol also has some decent turboprops, such as the Fokker 50 and ATR-42/72. The VirtualCol aircraft, while not amazing in any particular area, are not bad either, or anything close to it, and are also non-expensive, at around $10 each. Certainly worth it if you can spend $10 and want a turboprop. One you might try, and a favorite of mine, is the Saab 340 by FFS. It includes the Saab 340 Argus (AEW/C), the Argus without radar, the 340A, 340A Cargo, and the 340B, along with just about every (real) livery you can imagine. The external model is great, the 2D panels look nice, and the VC has good enough modelling and textures to keep me satisfied. More importantly, the flight modelling and systems are very realistic, and it does a good job representing a turboprop (Majestic currently has the only "true" turboprop for FS, though). The tricky part is acquiring the Saab. It is not officially distributed anywhere, meaning it must be downloaded from a third party source. The legality is a "grey area", and as such, I cannot endorse acquiring it this way. That said, it is certainly a great airplane, and worth looking into if you like turboprops. Another great freeware bird is the IL-18. It has a nice model and textures, well done flight modelling, and a good panel. The VC is also really well done, with a very realistic systems simulation. Hope you enjoy these fun turboprops,

That depends on how the author designed the AI model, but yes, in most cases, that is how it should be. Also, if you like watching AI, you might notice they sometimes deploy their spoilers in flight (as is normal). What isn't normal is that they'll (appear to) be using reverse thrust!

Most AI models have the reverse thrust animation tied to the spoilers. This is because the AI will not use reverse thrust when landing, but they do arm their spoilers, meaning that it appears they use reverse on landing when the spoilers deploy. The same applies to flaps, except for that they are connected to the beacon light rather than the spoilers. When they turn on the beacon, the flaps deploy, and then retract after reaching a certain speed.

The best freeware 757 panel is currently the one supplied with JustFlight's "757 Freemium". It features a mostly functional overhead, and a simple FMC with no VNAV ability. Nonetheless, it could still be considered very usable, and is free. Simply download the "Freemium", and then alias it's panel to the POSKY model.

That last shot with the C-130 was amazing. Great job on all of them!

Yup, I've been happily puttering around in the BAC 1-11-200. I forgot to mention that you must use your keyboard shortcut for "Starter 3". Just pressing the button won't work, except on the -510.

This, my friend, is a great idea. Where do we sign up? With all seriousness though, I would be interested in writing articles. Will there be any special requirements, or do we simply need to be able to dig up nice freeware, and then write about it?

The APU not workking on the BAC 1-11 is a known issue when porting it into FSX. To fix that, you're going to want to download the file named "DM_1-11.cab" here. http://www.cbfsim.co.uk/cbfs_bb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24145&start=60 Simply download the file, and stick it into your panel file for the 1-11. Allow it to overwrite the previous version. The APU will now start, run, and operate as it should.

The thing is, it's not. As an example, there was just a great Polikarpov Po-2 released the other day. Full VC with 3D gauges and instruments, a nice model and texture set, and good flight dynamics.

There's actually a lot of freeware with good systems, such as the ones I included in my original post, among many others. Another example is the great Embraer 110, which, aside from WX Radar, has all systems simulated. You can download it here. http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=12316966 It ports into FSX without issue.

It's good to know that people like you work despite a small user base. It really does mean a lot to those of us who do use freeware to the fullest. Thanks for your contributions!

Yep, freeware makes up a large portion of military aircraft. Same with vintage. Manfred's L-749, anyone? It is unfortunate how little notice freeware often gets.

Since the beginning of time, freeware was a huge part in the FS community. Recently though, this has seemed to change. There seems to be a general consensus among the community here that freeware is dead. Here we will explore why it is, and, more importantly, why it isn't. The dead side of freeware. Over the past few years, freeware has gotten significantly less popular than it used to be. This is for a number of reasons. First and foremost is a raise in expectations. Unfortunately, many people have the misconception that freeware is of a lower quality then payware. Is some payware better than freeware? Absolutely. On the other hand, plenty of freeware is of equal or higher quality when compared to payware. Many users stopped using freeware because of other people pressing them to "Forget anything else, just get the NGX!" Precision Manuals' representation of the 737NG is, without question, superb, but should not be a substitute for every other FSX aircraft available. Expand your hangar; just because you have one nice plane, doesn't mean you can't have another. Another common reason people go without freeware is because of the native-vs-FS9 model debate. The vast majority of users here don't use DX10, and the frame-rate loss using FS9 models is usually negligible. Thus, this reason is nulled (except for our DX10 friends). There is, of course, a gain in eye-candy by using native models, which leads into another big reason people don't use freeware. Graphics. This is always a sticky subject, and generally comes down to "every man/woman them self". Do you think graphics are more important, or the usability of the aircraft? There are many aircraft, both payware and freeware, which focus in just one of these areas, rather than both. On the contrary, many aircraft, again, both freeware and payware, do deliver both, but most of those freeware aircraft are looked past. Many simply assume that because the author isn't charging for it, it must not be worth anything, and so don't give it a second look. Finally, the last reason freeware is "dead" is because a lot of people don't think freeware is being released anymore. This is not at all true. In fact, it's just an illusion caused by the individual's not searching. Plenty of freeware is still released, much of it of amazing quality. Freeware; the living. Much freeware is still being given to us, the community. And, if you don't mind slightly outdated graphics, the Freeware of Olde isn't a bad choice either. How many people here knew about this freeware Challenger 600? http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=404789&page=7 It really is a beautiful model, though I won't be downloading it until he adds a VC (scheduled for next year). While we're talking about business aircraft, we have a great Piaggio P180 and Piaggio PD808, both by Mario Noriega. They both have all the systems simulated, with the exception of the FMS on the 180. http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsx&Name=Piaggio&FileName=&Author=Mario+Noriega&DLID=&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View My two favorite freeware aircraft are the HS.748 by Rick Piper, and the DHC-7 (Dash-7) by Milton Shupe. Both have accurate systems, nice models, and great texture sets. Both also have fantastic flight models, with the Dash-7's being done by two real Dash pilots. The HS.748 is available here. http://www.cbfsim.co.uk/cbfs_lib/thumbnails.php?album=18 The DHC-7 can be downloaded here. http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=12222989 If you're into classic jets, it might be worth taking a look at David Maltby's site. http://dmflightsim.co.uk/ He has a DH Comet, BAC-111, VC-10, and HS-121. They all have fully accurate systems that mimic the real world, and look and fly great. They are, however, designed with FS9 in mind, though he has instructions available detailing how you go about getting them into FSX. My favorite is the BAC-111, especially since I know a guy who flew them with Florida Express, and later, Braniff. What's that you say? VOR's are for old people? Well don't worry, we've got freeware aircraft with fancy FMC's simulated too. Namely the reasonably well known iFly 747, and the JB 777 Panel. Both are great if you're into long-hauls or highly automated flying. It's worth noting that the 777 is simply a panel and must be merged with a 777 model. I recommend the POSKY VC model, which the panel is pre-configured to cooperate with. Both feature a full FMS, with LNAV, VNAV and everything else you'd want (except WX radar of course, an extreme rarity). The iFly 747 is here. http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=12223267 The JB panel can be downloaded here. http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=777+FMC&FileName=&Author=JB+Panels&CatID=fsxpan Then there's the Russian liners. Someone will always want these, so here they are. First, there's Tim Conrad's An-32. It has a great VC, model, texture set, and flight model. It's system simulation is nothing special, but the gauges are in Russian. It can be downloaded here. http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=12223348 Then there's the very popular Tu-154 from Project Tupolev. This has every little switch simulated, a beautiful model, great sounds, a brilliant VC, and a well-translated English manual. It is available here. http://files.protu-154.net/pt-154b2_fsx.html There's also an IL-86 with the same quality as the Tu-154, but with not even remotely close popularity. Also note, it doesn't have an English manual. (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Google+Translate) The IL-86 can be downloaded here. http://www.avsimrus.com/f/fsx-aircrafts-79/ilyushin-il-86-fsx-34990.html If you're into old Russian clunkers, you'll certainly like the IL-18. This has very good systems, a nice model, a VC and passenger cabin, and good sounds. It is here. http://www.rikoooo.com/en/downloads/viewdownload/51/529 Of course, you might want to just fly into 7S5 to say "Hi" to me, which means you need a GA bird. Not to worry; there's plenty available. First, run over to Classic Wings. http://classicwings.net/ Their planes are great, and their recent Sop Camel is amazing. Sure I can barely fly it, but that doesn't mean it ain't pretty. After you've browsed over there, check out Piglet's planes here. http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=12223721 If you still want more GA, simply pooter around Avsim, Flightsim, Simviation, and Google, and you'll be satisfied in no time. Pffff. Civil Aviation. I'm into military power! There are, indeed, plenty of military aircraft for FSX too. Most people will recognize Dino Cattaneo's name, as he is responsible for a top-of-the-line T-45, F-14, and F-35. He's also got an S-3 Viking in the works (I'm really looking forward to this). His aircraft are great in every sense of the word, especially if you're into fighter-jet type machines. His website is here. http://indiafoxtecho.blogspot.com/ This team of French aviation enthusiasts also made a nice collection of French military aircraft such as the famous Mirage. They all feature a full VC and nice sound pack. The flight models also feel realistic. They can be downloaded here. http://restauravia.fr/html/creations_fsx.html Scenery - That stuff you see out the window. And to think that's just aircraft! Want some freeware scenery? Look no further than here. http://www.freewarescenery.com/fsx.html Most, not all, but very close to all freeware FSX scenery is linked by this site. A huge help if you're looking for a specific area, since they organize by country. One example of a missed airport on their site that you shouldn't pass is Saint Barths. A great rendition is available for download here. http://marcoh.gratisim.fr/stbarth_en.html Wrapping Up. This is just a small (small!) portion of the great freeware that is available on the World Wide Web, and you'll find a lot more by using your favorite FS site or Google. Also remember that just because it says it's for FS9 doesn't mean it won't work in FSX. Often times they work perfectly in FSX with just a few changes. I hope I've managed to enlighten someone with this, and to expand some hangars from just the NGX, or AXE, to include a wide variety of aircraft. Leave your feedback, and any ideas you have about the future of freeware, an amazing plane you know, or anything else you'd like to share with the community.

Have you tried reinstalling it? I'll probably try if nothing else is can solve the issue.

Hi all, After buying the Wilco CRJ Vol.1 a few days ago, I'm still having one problem: the APR button on the AP doesn't work. Everything else works fine, and I can fly inbound on the LOC with NAV, but APR simply won't engage. When pressed, it lights up for less than a second and then reverts to NAV. So again, NAV lets me fly the LOC, but without APR, there's no way to capture the G/S. I also know that the G/S is active because I can see the G/S diamond moving. Any ideas? I'm reluctant to reinstall the CRJ, due to a number of repaints, but will do it if it's been known to fix issues like this.

I'm running my traffic at 100%, but that is because WOAI doesn't get affected by the traffic slider; it's all or nothing. Also, I don't feel like my FPS should be halved by the AI at a place like KPDX or KEUG. I know I've seen plenty of videos in which people have AI traffic, high settings, and lesser hardware than mine.

Hi all, Despite much (hours of) research, I was not able to come up with an answer to this problem. The problem is that on-screen AI cause a huge drop in FPS, sometimes in the range of ~50%. This happens whether I'm at a small airport like PASI, or a huge airport like KLAX. Also, this only occurs when they are visible. If an AI aircraft is out of my FOV, it might as well not exist. This leads me to believe that it is a texture issue, but that's just a best guess. I'm running WOAI, with 491 packages active, and FSX:A. Any ideas? I know AI cause an FPS drop, but it shouldn't be like this.

Nice shots! Is that the FFS Saab? If so, do you know if there is a legal way to acquire it?

Do any of the beta testers use MCE, and if so, how does it work? Realism includes flying two-crew aircraft with a second crew member.

The compatibility is simply referring to whether the copilot can control the MCP or not. Provided you use a third party copilot program, this is of no concern. The ATC aspect is not affected at all by the aircraft.

Out of curiosity, why don't those who are complaining just sit tight like me? I'll pass on the Pilot Edition, and wait for the Pro Edition and buy that. Just because a more expensive option is available, doesn't mean you've got to buy it, remember? Patience, anyone?