Once again I'm replacing the horrific 'stock' AI traffic

[Bushi]

I have nothing but disappointment for most of the airplanes and liveries included with FS2004. I fully expect that the developers knew that the 'aftermarket' would supply quality aircraft for their FLIGHT sim.. and am happy they didn't blow the whole development budget on pretty flying machines! And as is expected, 99.9% of my logged time, is in 'aftermarket' airplanes, be they freeware or payware! Yes.. I do sometimes take the little Cub up for an hour or so.. simply because it was a Cub I soloed in :-)

But I absolutely despise looking at the default 737,s MD-80's, 777's, Dash 8's, 747's, (..even the low quality textures on the General Aviation types) that share the sky and airports with me. NOT wanting to fly in a post-apocalyptic "Omega Man" world where it's just me left... I have once again decided to replace pretty much ALL of the default aircraft that the AI controls, with ones of MY choosing!

I've done it before, then there was the GREAT hard drive crash of 2013.. and I've put this task off for far too long. So.... over the past week, I've been a busy boy! A couple I had replaced long ago, but decided to have a marathon replacement session... NOT as easy as you might think!

Sure, the detail is higher, so frame rate COULD suffer.. but by making almost everything DXT3 (I have NO idea if this helps), and with my system, (a widescreen gaming laptop), even in San Francisco with AI traffic set to max, my frame rates, especially if I actually SIT in the flight deck in the VC and look out the windows, do not drop below 23.. and I have them set for 25.. so.. not an issue! AND, well worth it for an airport populated by nicely modeled and detailed airplanes.

Yes, I've replaced one type with another in the 'aircraft' section of TTools, but have been careful that the new airplane shares a good bit of the parameters of the one replaced, in order NOT to cause issues with the flight plans. But for the most part, 747's and 777's were replaced by 747's or 777's, Md-83's by MD-83's, 737's by 737's...

I did replace the Dash 8's with a combination of BAE-146's and DHC Dash 7's, even though the Dash 7 from Milton Shupe wasn't very keen on being piloted by an AI... and took a lot of trial and error fiddling with the cfg. to even get it to fly properly... testament to the amount of work and detail incorporated into the flying characteristics of the original model... FAR more than the AI in FS2004 can deal with!! Sure, she porpoises more than a bit on short final.. but I'll look away and not judge the pilot.. . who does get the big girl on the runway in one piece! LOL

Anyway, it's been fun, I have TONS of cool looking eye candy now, and have replaced 17 of the airplanes listed in the aircraft list in TTools. I have yet to add any new flight plans.. maybe later.

So, this was three hours work this morning, a repaint of a blank white TDS 737-800 in WestJet colours. No paintkit.. just my tried and true 'tinting' method, and done from three good photographs sourced on the internet, and a downloaded jpeg of the WestJet logo.


Three hours... a far cry from the almost TEN I spent painting a TDS 727 Freighter up as a passenger carrier for my ficticious "PACIFICA" airlines. It was a lot of fun to do.. even adding all those windows....inside and out... and I'm happy.


I'll add my replacement airplanes in the comments below... three at a time.. because that's all I'm allowed..

So, here are three, my WestJet 737, Pacifica 727, and another paint converted from a freighter to a passenger carrier, my Emirates 777-200.


Cheers
Dave

[Bushi]

Air Canada 757, Aviajet MD-83, Airwave BAE-146


Some are used as they came, thanks to wonderful painters, and some I painted myself. yes.. I'm lazy sometimes!

[Bushi]

Cathay Pacific Cargo 747-800, TUI 737, and a nice little Grumman American 5b

[Bushi]

Nothing like a new sharper paint scheme on the Baron and an old low poly King Air... and a newer airframe for the GA crowd, a Katana..


So.. I'm sure you have seen enough!

But for anyone who hasn't tried this, and can't stand those bloody awful default airline schemes.. there IS an alternative. Just be warned.. not all second party airplanes are going to fly properly in FS2004 with an AI pilot... it's trial and error... upload.. install.. add.. find one, and watch it take off, cruise.. and land... most are okay, some unfortunately, are not!
Happy flying

cheers
Dave

[Blackbird686]

I re-did all of my stock AI as well as the flyable models in 32 Bit vs. the mipped DXT. They all came out looking a lot sharper. I believe the prop textures are modeled in on the prop driven birds so I left that alone.
Your replacement aircraft look very nice tho.... Excellent work.

BB686

[Naismith]

Be fair, some of the criticism on the opening line of the OP is against 15 year old plus coding.

[Bushi]

Be fair, some of the criticism on the opening line of the OP is against 15 year old plus coding.

Oh I realize that, and was happy that they did as much as they did. Hey, the FS2004 world is still good enough for me! But with what we have now.. yeah... those airplanes.. it's like they are from a different time.. oh wait!!! THEY ARE!!!!!

Dave

[Bjoern]

If the default planes aren't for you, there's always Project AI, World Of AI, Ultimate GA, Military AI Works and tons of separate models like Klaus Brosemann's, Mike Cronin's, Andras Neumann's, Henry Tomkiewicz's, Dee Waldron's and others. The sky is the limit.

[Bushi]

If the default planes aren't for you, there's always Project AI, World Of AI, Ultimate GA, Military AI Works and tons of separate models like Klaus Brosemann's, Mike Cronin's, Andras Neumann's, Henry Tomkiewicz's, Dee Waldron's and others. The sky is the limit.

Yup.. I'm familiar with them all, but I've now replaced nearly all of the aircraft in the AI world with higher resolution 'new' ones, or 32 bit 'repaints' of the default aircraft.

I just did not like the schemes presented on most of the default birds, nor the low resolution of the texture files. And really do not have to endure them now, when our systems can handle more than they could when the simulator was released so may years ago.

I had added more new aircraft with custom flight plans before, then I had a hard drive crash, and found my backup was corrupt... no joy there.. I might decide to add more flight plans again. Since I usually fly quite a bit in remote areas of the world, there REALLY isn't much to see most of the time anyway!

But I like to paint.. the weather hasn't been conducive to motorcycles, and besides.. I've aggravated an old knee injury, so, I was looking for something to do :-)

cheers
Dave

[Willy]

I've used the HJG and Cal Classic flyable aircraft as AI. A bit high end, but look great.