MAIW to FSX: Close, but no cigar....

[Navy Chief]

I installed a couple MAIW packages to FSX. The scenery install looks great, and the flight line is populated with AI aircraft.

The problem I have is they don't go anywhere. They just sit in their chocks.

I tried using AI Flight Planner. Created traffic.bgl files, but no luck with AI aircraft movement.

Where exactly are the traffic.bgl files supposed to go? I feel like I am closer to understanding this process than before, but I really want to solve this mystery. NC

[Ripcord]

Chief, if the AI is populating your parking spaces, then they are indeed going somewhere at some point, per a schedule. Look in your scenery/world/scenery folder for a traffic_MAIW_whatever.bgl file and you'll know that you have a traffic file installed. If you have AIFP then you can open up that file and see the schedule.

But I'm telling you, if you see the aircraft parked with chocks showing, then they will go somewhere at some point in time, you just have to know when.

[scotth6]

Hi,

You need to use AI Flight Planner to convert the FS9 traffic files to FSX, and after doing so get rid of the FS9 ones. There is an option to label them once they have been converted. Once this is done place the converted traffic files in FSX/Scenery/World/Scenery.

I think it may also be possible to leave them in addon scenery, ie in the scenery folder of the addon MAIW Airport. Just make sure you don't have doubles. If you have any FS9 traffic files in FSX it will stop all FSX traffic from working.


Edit: As Ripcord states above, if the aircraft are present at all it sounds like the traffic files are working. If there's a problem with the traffic file or aircraft in it, the aircraft won't show up at all. Check the schedules if they are included, or you can use AI Flight Planner to do this. Remember the times will be in UTC.

Cheers,

[DaveB]

NOT converting them to FSX format has caught me out more times than I'd care to admit!!:banghead:

Worth checking the afcad to make sure they have working taxiways from parking to the runway. If these are incorrect.. the AI may show but come departure time, they'll disappear.
ATB
DaveB:)

[Navy Chief]

NOT converting them to FSX format has caught me out more times than I'd care to admit!!:banghead:

Worth checking the afcad to make sure they have working taxiways from parking to the runway. If these are incorrect.. the AI may show but come departure time, they'll disappear.
ATB
DaveB:)

How do I check the AFCAD for this? I think I may have messed up the time schedule though, as one of the options is to choose local time, which I did. NC

[mikewmac]

I installed a couple MAIW packages to FSX. The scenery install looks great, and the flight line is populated with AI aircraft.

The problem I have is they don't go anywhere. They just sit in their chocks.

I tried using AI Flight Planner. Created traffic.bgl files, but no luck with AI aircraft movement.

Where exactly are the traffic.bgl files supposed to go? I feel like I am closer to understanding this process than before, but I really want to solve this mystery. NC
Hi Chief,

If our MAIW aircraft are showing up and you are using our MAIW AFCAD's, then you should be good to go to observe the scheduled MAIW flights. However, many if not most of our MAIW packages do not have weekend AI flights scheduled. Your best bet is to set FSX to a weekday when you want to observe MAIW flight activity. An easy way to check for departure and arrival times for AI aircraft from the airport you are currently at or near in FSX/FS9 is to install the Traffic Toolbox from the FSX SDK.

The AI Traffic Toolbox Explorer window will then be available to you in the FSX Tools drop down menu. Just left click on Tools then Traffic Toolbox and then Explorer. This will open the Explorer window containing a list of all the parked AI aircraft and enroute AI traffic within the spawned AI bubble around your current position with all their pertinent information such as Tail #, Aircraft Type, airline/callsign, airport flying from and to, departure and arrival times, IFR or VFR flight, current state of aircraft, T/G yes or no, airport parked at if applicable along with parking spot type and code, runway if applicable and half wing span dimension listed.

With Traffic Toolbox Explorer open you have all you need to know about the parked and enroute AI aircraft in your area to track them and if you want to watch one in particular up close and personal you just double left click on it in the list and another window will open up in spot view of that particular AI aircraft. I usually undock that window, move it to one of my other 2 monitors, enlarge it and watch that particular AI aircraft taxi out, takeoff, fly the pattern, land and/or taxi in to park. You can also use this viewing option to just watch an AI aircraft passing through your area.

[Navy Chief]

I installed SDK from my FSX disc several weeks ago, but (after numerous attempts) I have been unable to get the tools menu to show up on the FSX menu. I gave up.

So unless I can get that figured out, Traffic Toolbox ain't gonna happen:banghead: NC

I had tried all different times of the day. No difference. I did notice in the Whidbey scenery that the aircraft would either be missing or different parking locations. In the Key West scenery, all the aircraft stay put; no change.

[joe bob]

I don't know if mine is typical but I have one of their airfields and the aircraft are not like a lot of scenery where the AI is frequently on the move.
I like this because I use it to simulate a no fly zone patrol. I may see an AI aircraft or I may not which makes the patrol interesting.

[mikewmac]

I installed SDK from my FSX disc several weeks ago, but (after numerous attempts) I have been unable to get the tools menu to show up on the FSX menu. I gave up.

So unless I can get that figured out, Traffic Toolbox ain't gonna happen:banghead: NC

I had tried all different times of the day. No difference. I did notice in the Whidbey scenery that the aircraft would either be missing or different parking locations. In the Key West scenery, all the aircraft stay put; no change.
Chief,

Have you checked your dll.xml file to see if there is a correct entry for the traffictoolbox.dll file with the correct path to its location in your Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK listed?

Your dll.xml file is located in the following folder: C:/Users/Your Name/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX and should include an entry that looks something like the following unless your path to the Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK is different than mine: (If any of the folders in the path to your dll.xml file are Hidden, most probably your AppData folder, you will have to open their properties and change them from Hidden to Read-only.)
<launch.addon>


<launch.addon>-Launch.Addon-
-Name-Traffic Toolbox
-Disabled-False-/Disabled-
-Path-..\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Traffic Toolbox SDK\traffictoolbox.dll
-/Launch.Addon-
</launch.addon>

Note:< and > replaced by - in order to post the above with all the entries displayed
</launch.addon>
The above is the dll.xml file entry that places the Traffic Toolbox in the FSX Tools drop down menu. If it isn't entered as shown above and with the correct path specified to where your Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK is located you won't get the Traffic Toolbox to be listed in the FSX Tools drop down menu.

[Navy Chief]

Chief,

Have you checked your dll.xml file to see if there is a correct entry for the traffictoolbox.dll file with the correct path to its location in your Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK listed?

Your dll.xml file is located in the following folder: C:/Users/Your Name/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX and should include an entry that looks something like the following unless your path to the Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK is different than mine: (If any of the folders in the path to your dll.xml file are Hidden, most probably your AppData folder, you will have to open their properties and change them from Hidden to Read-only.)
<launch.addon>


Note:< and > replaced by - in order to post the above with all the entries displayed
</launch.addon>
The above is the dll.xml file entry that places the Traffic Toolbox in the FSX Tools drop down menu. If it isn't entered as shown above and with the correct path specified to where your Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK is located you won't get the Traffic Toolbox to be listed in the FSX Tools drop down menu.


Yep, have been through all those steps, but will check and verify again.

But here is a question for you or whoever may know the answer..... I have FSX-SE installed; NOT the FSX-boxed version. Yet I have a directory for both versions in my C:\Users\Peter\AppData\Roaming..... why is that? NC

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36450&stc=1

[Navy Chief]

I did a Fault Finder report of my NAS Whidbey BGL file with ADE. Don't know if anyone can discern anything from this, but here is download link for it........

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TKVj3wG987NXphLU8xbWZCWFk/view?usp=sharing

and here is the fault report for NAS Key West:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TKVj3wG987MUVqQ3NSU0NlTWs/view?usp=sharing

[Navy Chief]

This is really getting frustrating. Just when I was beginning to think I understand how things work......it is still not working. :banghead: Understanding how to create flight plans, or in this case, simply convert from MAIW package and install into FSX, is for some reason eluding me.

I am going to figure this out, darn it. GRRRRRRRrrrr.... NC

[gray eagle]

Sent you an email on this, hope it will help to get it sorted.

-Butch



I installed SDK from my FSX disc several weeks ago, but (after numerous attempts) I have been unable to get the tools menu to show up on the FSX menu. I gave up.

So unless I can get that figured out, Traffic Toolbox ain't gonna happen:banghead: NC

I had tried all different times of the day. No difference. I did notice in the Whidbey scenery that the aircraft would either be missing or different parking locations. In the Key West scenery, all the aircraft stay put; no change.

[Navy Chief]

Sent you an email on this, hope it will help to get it sorted.

-Butch


Yep, got your email and I tried that as well. Still does not work. ,

I am two for two.........crap. Enough for tonight. Gotta stop before I get pissed and erase the drive. NC

[PHo17]

I did a Fault Finder report of my NAS Whidbey BGL file with ADE. Don't know if anyone can discern anything from this, but here is download link for it........

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TKVj3wG987NXphLU8xbWZCWFk/view?usp=sharing

and here is the fault report for NAS Key West:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TKVj3wG987MUVqQ3NSU0NlTWs/view?usp=sharing


According to your quoted links there are some faults in your NAS Whidbey and NAS Key West afcad files. Orphan links and open links prevents AI traffic moving. Perhaps those duplicate parkings too? (I am not sure about that). However if there are no more faults and still some working parking places and taxi links AI should work at least partly.

Pekka

[expat]

NC, if you see AI planes on the ramp you are most of the way there. Your traffic, AI and parking should be in order. Like the above poster says, non movement of aircraft (assuming these aren't "weekly" flights or they don't fly on weekends) is often broken links in the airport file which you can investigate with ADEX.

[Navy Chief]

So now I need to learn how to use ADEX. I figured out how to run the fault report, but that was it. NC

[DaveB]

It can be a very vicious circle NC. I don't think I'd know a missing link (unless it was obvious) if I saw one but was rather hoping you might at the beginning of the thread. While ADEX can identify such errors.. it'd be ideal if it could fix them and I don't think it can. Been proven wrong many times before though.

ATB
DaveB:)

[Navy Chief]

There has to be a way to get these AI moving around. I am not giving up this time, but it doesn't help that I still don't have a Tools menu with Traffic Tools. :mad-new: NC

What would be great if a SOH member, with experience with these things, could get connected with me via Team Viewer and maybe get this resolved!

[rdaniell]

Navy Chief,

In my experience, there's really only one way that you most likely will ever get this sorted which it looks like you have already realized. You will need to learn how to use ADEX and a FSX traffic program. I suggest that once you get comfortable with ADEX, that you open up a small default airport. Add a couple designated parking spaces and taxi paths to it. Then write a simple traffic file with just one airplane. By simple I mean just have it take off, fly around for 15 minutes or so, and then land.

Once you have mastered that, then add a few more parking spaces and aircraft to the traffic. Then have the aircraft take off, fly to another airport, land, taxi to a parking space, stay for awhile, and then return.

Google is your friend to find all sorts of tutorials.

I hope this helps ease your frustration rather than add to it. I shall look forward to your posting your progress.

Peace+

RD

[DaveB]

That's still a hell of an ask for someone who like me, has no interest in how these things work but just wants them to work as they should. The ideal solution is for someone versed in this field to say 'send me the two AFX files and I'll fix em for ya'. There are users out there who could do this in seconds and have em back 'by return'.

Fingers crossed for ya NC:encouragement:
ATB
DaveB:)

[rdaniell]

That's still a hell of an ask for someone who like me, has no interest in how these things work but just wants them to work as they should. The ideal solution is for someone versed in this field to say 'send me the two AFX files and I'll fix em for ya'. There are users out there who could do this in seconds and have em back 'by return'. Fingers crossed for ya NC:encouragement: ATB DaveB:)

Dave,

Please do not interpret my reply as being negative or rude in anyway. I have some experience with AI traffic and "fixing" someone else's traffic problem is not really that simple. The person attempting to "fix" it would have to have the same scenery and aircraft installed on their FSX for starters. Think of asking someone to do a repaint for you on a payware aircraft that they do not own.

Additionally, there have already been several members offering advice which apparently did not work for him.

Peace+

RD

[DaveB]

Dave,

Please do not interpret my reply as being negative or rude in anyway. I have some experience with AI traffic and "fixing" someone else's traffic problem is not really that simple. The person attempting to "fix" it would have to have the same scenery and aircraft installed on their FSX for starters. Think of asking someone to do a repaint for you on a payware aircraft that they do not own.

Additionally, there have already been several members offering advice which apparently did not work for him.

Peace+

RD

I didn't think that at all RD and appreciate that simple things can often turn out less so:encouragement: I have had similar problems with airports in the past and was able to pass them to 'a man who knows' who looked at the AFX file.. spoted the error and fixed it in two shakes of a lambs tail (that was a default airport too!!). I've tried fiddling with these things in the past with limited success but consider it something you really have to have an interest in. I much prefer them to work straight out of the box:ernaehrung004:

ATB
DaveB:)

[scotth6]

MAIW packages quite often have other waypoint files that may be required for the aircraft to fly to. Maybe these haven't been installed correctly. You could try reinstalling the MAIW package, which usually has to be installed to a temporary folder and then installed manually in to FSX. In my experience MAIW airports should be OK out of the box as far as traffic movements go. After all it's what they are created for.

Also just to confirm, for Traffic tools to work you will need the following entry (with the path corrected to match your system) in your dll.xml file. This is in AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX or FSX-SE, depending on which version you are using. The traffic tools should then be available from the FSX menu bar within the sim.

<launch.addon>
</launch.addon>See attached text file.

Cheers,

[Navy Chief]

MAIW packages quite often have other waypoint files that may be required for the aircraft to fly to. Maybe these haven't been installed correctly. You could try reinstalling the MAIW package, which usually has to be installed to a temporary folder and then installed manually in to FSX. In my experience MAIW airports should be OK out of the box as far as traffic movements go. After all it's what they are created for.

Also just to confirm, for Traffic tools to work you will need the following entry (with the path corrected to match your system) in your dll.xml file. This is in AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX or FSX-SE, depending on which version you are using. The traffic tools should then be available from the FSX menu bar within the sim.

<launch.addon>
</launch.addon>See attached text file.

Cheers,

Scott, thank you for the file. I will take a look at it. Thanks also to Dave and RD for your suggestions. I do agree with you that it is much better to learn how to do this for myself, rather than have someone else fix the problems. AI is just something I have never learned how to manage, nor have I taken the time to work with ADEX. Other than placing a few objects in scenery with Instant Scenery (and very little time spent doing that either), I have merely played around with these programs. I know they have a lot of features, but do require considerable effort in learning how to successfully use them. NC

[mikewmac]

There has to be a way to get these AI moving around. I am not giving up this time, but it doesn't help that I still don't have a Tools menu with Traffic Tools. :mad-new: NC

What would be great if a SOH member, with experience with these things, could get connected with me via Team Viewer and maybe get this resolved!
Chief,

I can't help you via Team Viewer or with FSX SE, but I did check our MAIW download database and found that the only MAIW Whidbey Island package we ever released was named MAIW Whidbey Island Growlers_Desmond Burrell.zip released on August 29, 2015, so I assumed that this is one of the 2 MAIW packages that you were having trouble with in FSX.

I had never installed this package in FSX myself, so I just did to see if I had the same problem that you have and I definitely don't.

When I started FSX at NAS Whidbey Island today, Monday, 3-28-2016 at 18:00 Z, there are 20 EA-18G's parked with 9 scheduled to depart on Monday and 11 scheduled to depart on Tuesday. In addition there are 2 F-18C's, Expert 56 and 57, inbound from NAS Lemoore for a 18:10 Z arrival.

2 EA-18G's, Rampage 21 and 22, are receiving their IFR clearance for an 18:00 Z departure for NAS Fort Worth JRB before taxiing out to Runway 14 and departing as scheduled. At 18:18 Z 2 more EA-18G's, Scorp 21 and 22, receive their IFR clearance to the Olympic Alpha MOA, taxi out to Runway 14 and takeoff as scheduled.

After that there are additional flights scheduled for 19:50 Z, 21:00 Z and 22:58 Z. I didn't watch all of those, but I have no reason to believe that they wouldn't depart as scheduled.

If you are indeed using an ADE file named NAS Whidbey, then that is probably the source of your problem. The MAIW AFCAD2 file for NAS Whidbey Island that was included in the MAIW Whidbey Island Growlers_Desmond Burrell.zip file is named MAIW_AF2_KNUW_CUSTOM and is the one that should be used with this package. It does have quite a few "unconnected nodes" but they are intentionally unconnected for design purposes and have no affect on any of the EA-18G flights.

Hopefully this information will help you get the MAIW Whidbey Island Growlers package working properly.

[gray eagle]

I might add that the path to SDK needs to be spelled out a little better the the attached file i.e.,


..\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Traffic Toolbox SDK\traffictoolbox.dll</path>


the above may work, but as you can see my SDK default installed in the C: drive hence:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Traffic Toolbox SDK\traffictoolbox.dll
in lieu of



MAIW packages quite often have other waypoint files that may be required for the aircraft to fly to. Maybe these haven't been installed correctly. You could try reinstalling the MAIW package, which usually has to be installed to a temporary folder and then installed manually in to FSX. In my experience MAIW airports should be OK out of the box as far as traffic movements go. After all it's what they are created for.

Also just to confirm, for Traffic tools to work you will need the following entry (with the path corrected to match your system) in your dll.xml file. This is in AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX or FSX-SE, depending on which version you are using. The traffic tools should then be available from the FSX menu bar within the sim.

<launch.addon>
</launch.addon>See attached text file.

Cheers,