AI at airfields

[stiz]

Just something i've been wondering about, as most of the AI packages seem to focus on the airliners, do you care if theres AI planes at airfields? :engel016:

[kilo delta]

I mostly fly from small GA fields. Having traffic helps immensely with the realism factor. Without other airfield movements the sim would resemble something from 28 Days Later.:)

[expat]

I avoid the packages and prefer to have a few custom made flights of either GA or miliary (no commercial or tubes) at selected airports (including stationaryaircraft carriers with AFCADs) to give them some life and atmosphere. Downside for me is that cycling through to view even these few AI aircraft by hitting the A key usually causes severe texture loading lag and the blurries. I don't sense that others experience this problem.

[Dain Arns]

I mostly fly from small GA fields. Having traffic helps immensely with the realism factor. Without other airfield movements the sim would resemble something from 28 Days Later.:)

Definitely.
It bugged me today not seeing any AI at all trying out 'FLIGHT'.
In fact it was creepy like all those post-apocalyptic movies. :icon_lol:

I have to have cars moving, little boats floating, planes going somewhere.

[falcon409]

Generally I avoid the bigger "Commercial" airports and tend to fly into the smaller GA airports, kind of in keeping with the airplanes I fly now. I like seeing GA movement in and around the airports and so I keep the Commercial Airline slider off and GA way up. Also, because my system is not as powerful as some, I keep ground traffic at the airports turned off as that really drags my system down. However I do enjoy the highway traffic and found that to be a major draw for me when FSX first came out, so I keep that at a medium slider setting at all times.:salute:

[fxsttcb]

Definitely.
It bugged me today not seeing any AI at all trying out 'FLIGHT'.
In fact it was creepy like all those post-apocalyptic movies. :icon_lol:

I have to have cars moving, little boats floating, planes going somewhere.Yessir! Flight's kinda lonely. Even worse no ATC to annoy.
In FSX, with the multitude of AI available, there is no reason why your sim should be barren of traffic, unless you like it that way.
I want 'em. Lots of 'em...Don

[Daube]

I go to "airliners" airports from time to time, and I have AI installed for them.
But I fly mainly between GA airfields, and the lack of AI traffic there is dissapointing. It was, for example, my only dissapointment with OrbX PNW, even though Bowermann gets some nice (but very limited) AI traffic, with C172s eventually crash-landing on the runway...

[mal998]

I like AI at every airport, Airports only exist for airplanes, right? So it makes sense to me to populate every airport with at least a few planes.

[big-mike]

I like AI at every airport, Airports only exist for airplanes, right? So it makes sense to me to populate every airport with at least a few planes.

+1!
Michael

[JAllen]

I stay away from the big airports but find myself flying around them. I wish to have AI at all including military bases. Feels really creepy when nothing is moving.

Jim

[Dave Torkington]

I've disabled most of the FSX default AI and added a heap of MAIW stuff plus my custom aircraft thanks to AIFP.

This thread got me thinking - does anyone know if there are any decent repaints for the default FSX heavies? I'd put my default AI back in service if I could see real world airlines in the Sim. :salute:

[SeanTK]

The more AI the better for me.

Examples of what I use:

--HTAI Cessna package for global GA coverage

--World of AI corporate Gulfstreams, Beechjets, King Airs, Cessna 400-series, for more global GA coverage

--World of AI airliner and cargo packages (ALL of them) for global airliner coverage

--Great New Zealand Light AI Project Redux (gnzlapre.zip (http://flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=134951) @Flightsim.com) for New Zealand-wide general aviation and small airliner (like Sunair and Mountain Air) coverage.


I'll also use the MAIW Texture Replacer utility so I don't have solid prop disks on the propeller-driven aircraft.
http://www.interkultur.de/gossmann/fsx/pfn/navega.php?PHPSESSID=0557752b172cc6af6fee6cf4c12a1 bb0&dir=.%2FTools

[Victory103]

Same as SeanTK. My priority is military AI and I have been running all US based MAIW packs in FSX since I finally transition to it. I mostly fly military airframes, and like flying into a base and pretty much seeing the exact same aircraft on the ramp as I would expect real world.
All my WOAI packs include most of the major airlines and cargo. I also use many AIG flightplans/paints to add to the immersion, like real world, nice to sit on the fenceline and watch them come in.
Ultimate GA packs put tons of biz jets in and I highly recommend the HTAI Cessna payware.

I renamed the stock traffic.bgl from the get go and haven't seen them since. Most new flightplans keep GA out of the busy airports.

[FAC257]

I like seeing as much commercial and GA AI as possible.

For commercials I use the default FSX jets in as current as possible RW liveries. I also use the Coolsky MD-80 in the AI role for airlines that are actually still using them.

My AI GA fleet is 100% Carenado. I've only found one of theirs so far that doesn't work as an AI. It's a COG issue.

All of the above is programmed using the FSX Traffic ToolBox SDK to generate the AI Traffic file when I add in a new aircraft or want to regionalize the traffic.

For military traffic I keep that really simple by adding in an occasional CaptainSim C-130 flying to and from the few military airbases I frequent.

FAC

[Bjoern]

Recipe for busy skies:

- All WOAI packages w/ converted flight plans.
- GA AI models from Avsim w/ random, autogenerated via Markus runner's GA-Traffic

I'm not that into mil AI, but those who are, MAIW packs are a good icing on the cake.

[Felixthreeone]

As an AI junkie, it makes me feel really good to read this thread and see the poll results. I thought I was in the FSX minority of AI addicted simmers...but, apparently I am in very good company!!! :icon29:

[Wing_Z]

Not being able to run AI the way I like it, was the biggest reason for not going to FSX, for me.

Matter of interest, how far along is FSX these days?
Can one run it on a one-step-off-bleeding-edge rig, with everything (and I mean everything, not just most things), maxxed at a big airport with say, 180 AI planes on the scope?
I'm not going there, so don't need convincing with inflated FPS claims, qualifications, and so on, just thought it might be interesting to hear how far the hardware has come in 5 years.

[Skyhawk_310R]

As an AI junkie, it makes me feel really good to read this thread and see the poll results. I thought I was in the FSX minority of AI addicted simmers...but, apparently I am in very good company!!! :icon29:

I'm glad to see it also, given I am the MilViz creater of associated AI, airbase, and mission kits for our aircraft releases! Nice to know that most folks would like to see this stuff! Would have put me a whole lot out of business if the results were flipped! LOL!!

For me personally, it adds life to the world, reminding you that you are not flying a one-man Air Force, but rather are part of a larger team.

Ken

[Skyhawk_310R]

Not being able to run AI the way I like it, was the biggest reason for not going to FSX, for me.

Matter of interest, how far along is FSX these days?
Can one run it on a one-step-off-bleeding-edge rig, with everything (and I mean everything, not just most things), maxxed at a big airport with say, 180 AI planes on the scope?
I'm not going there, so don't need convincing with inflated FPS claims, qualifications, and so on, just thought it might be interesting to hear how far the hardware has come in 5 years.

Well, I test out the stuff I create on my rig, which when I purchased it two years ago was state of the art.

I find that when the numbers of AI aircraft get around 20 to 30, things slow down. But, AI developers are smart to create low res AI aircraft that most folks wouldn't want to fly as their own payware but viewed from the distance you'd normally see on the apron or runway (or in flight) they look fine and your framerates can stay firmly in the 25 FPS range, which is as much as the eye can discern as normal.

Ken

[Felixthreeone]

There is a reasonable threshold. Above that, performance starts to drop off...but, I also feel that above a certain percentage, the levels of AI are not realistic. So what I have done is strive for a level of AI that is populous, but not overdone. I run Ultimate traffic II at 70% for airliners, My fsx general aviation slider is at 40%, and my FSX airliner slider (which controls MAIW traffic) is at 51%. I have now, what I believe to be, a great balance of traffic levels and performance.

....Keep in mind, that every other slider in my FSX is at the highest setting, including scenery detail, autogen, water..I don't use bloom, however. And my anti-aliasing settings are REALLY high....I use 8XSQ+4XSGSS, all this in conjunction with REX and ASE. I could lower my settings here and there, and bump the AI levels higher....but, I am very happy with the amount I have now. So, really, I say try it and see. Different people have differing ideas of what is a 'realistic' AI level...and it never hurts to try it at different settings!

[modelr]

I stay away from the big airports but find myself flying around them. I wish to have AI at all including military bases. Feels really creepy when nothing is moving.

Jim

I agree, so I have all airports populated. Creepy when no one home, just like in the cockpit, and no one flying the plane!

[VCN-1]

I would like to populate the airports with a few aircraft but I have not figured out how to do it properly.

I would really enjoy seeing a number of T-6Bs doing traffic patterns at a couple of NOLFs or T-38s at Moody AFB but it is beyond me on how to do it.

VCN-1

[Victory103]

VCN-1, you should be able to find some help on here or at the MAIW forums. I have the D.Friswell PC9/T-6 running around at all the USAF bases that have them and a few at NAS Pensacola. Not too many as these are based off the older flyable model and not really low polygon AI models, that might change soon with a purpose built AI. There are AI T-38's that work great.

[VCN-1]

Victory103

My problem is the lack of understanding on how to do an AI at a particular airport and have the aircraft work such as doing T&Gs at Choctaw NOLF as an example.

It just seems to be beyond my feeble brain to grasp what needs to be done.

I don't know even if there is software that sets it up for you.

VCN-1

[Skyhawk_310R]

No software will set it up for you. But, there are several utilities that will assist you in creating the required text files and then compile them and place them into your FSX/Scenery/World folder.

Essentially, you create three files. One is a flightplan of scheduled takeoffs from one airport and flights at a set altitude to another airport, with times for takeoff and landing. A second is a list of airports that the AI will use. A third is a list of the AI aircraft's configuration file entires.

There are several utility programs out there to ease the burden of creating and compiling these files. However, none are truly automatic and do require a small degree of study to learn exactly how they work. But, it is not particularly difficult either, and once you learn how to do it, then creating your own AI traffic at your chosen airports really becomes a lot of fun. Just remember that for an AI to function, it needs to have a parking spot and a properly set up taxi routing to the runway. FSX did not do this for the military airfields -- something that I wish had been done but it seems that Aces wanted a military-free zone in FS.

So, if you want AI at military airports, you are also going to have to use any one of several utilities to layout parking spots and also ensure taxi routes are properly laid out. Then, you take the modified airport and either add it to your FSX/Scenery/World folder, or put it in your FSX/Addon folder and then add it to your FSX Library. You add scenery to the library by starting FSX, clicking the Scenery button, and then pathing to the folder and putting it into the list of scenery in the library.

Ken

[falcon409]

This was done by Nigel Richards in the FS9 Forums after I asked some similar questions. . . .an excellent Step-by-Step tutorial using "AI Flight Planner".
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?61608-arms-twisted-SIMPLE-AI-Flight-Planner-STEP-by-STEP

[JoHubb]

AI is a very important part of simulated aviation for me. Unfortunately, I think the AI engine in FS9 is not so good as in FS2002. There was more versatility in runway use in FS2002. The facility in ADE9X to code ILS approaches for AI flights has made up for that. No more flying through mountains on approach thanks to Jim Vile.

I run a small AI VA out of Kodiak, AK. It serves the local community but is also in direct competition with AI Penair. I've just recently re-opened the old USCG base at Sitkinak Island, AK so that the occasional AI USCG flight can call with relief crew. :jump:

John

[Wing_Z]

...The facility in ADE9X to code ILS approaches for AI flights has made up for that. No more flying through mountains on approach thanks to Jim Vile. ...Didn't know you could... does it add waypoints?
And, what about departures through the mountains?

I use AFX and don't think it has this facility in-built

[JoHubb]

Didn't know you could... does it add waypoints?

I use AFX and don't think it has this facility in-built

I am talking about Airport Design Editor (ADE) which has versions for FSX and FS9. The link serves as a tutorial but I didn't find it easy going. Jim Vile is the AI approach guru - you can do a search on AVSIM and take a look at his curved AI approaches. That is the easiest way to learn. And then make one yourself. I managed it but it was a slow process.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13751 (http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13751&page=2)

If you have ADE open any stock airport and you will see top right 'Approach Mode'. Click on this and your in. Backup any airport .bgl files you plan to work on.


And, what about departures through the mountains?
No, the programmers wrote code for approaches (they are all there in the GPS) but they didn't write SIDs unfortunately. Departures are hard-coded and cannot be changed.

Have fun!

John

PS I couldn't make the link open on page 1 - best to 'start at the very beginning'.....

[Wing_Z]

Thanks John - I thought maybe AFX also had this capability, I know ADE is very comprehensive.
Funny how some of the tools just have a feature you cannot live without - and then you end up learning an entire software package just for that!
I still miss AFCAD's very simple aircraft editor, so useful to jump in while doing parking...

[Pips]

I have to admit that most of what folks are talking about is flashing past over my head. :) No idea what the acronym's WOAI or MAIW mean. But I'm guessing that they have something to do with AI?

I spend my time potting around the countryside in small GA aircraft, bouncing from one small airstrip to another. Having some AI in the skies sure would liven things up somewhat, but not sure just how to go about getting AI planes out and about. Was thinking of something like Just Flights Traffic X, or Flight One's Ultimate Traffic. Do they fit the bill, or are they more large commercial airport AI add-ons?

[Victory103]

Pips,
No problem:

WOAI= World of AI www.world-of-ai.com (http://www.world-of-ai.com) <-- requires the WOAI installer
MAIW= Military AI Works www.militaryaiworks.com (http://www.militaryaiworks.com) <--all military based packages for most countries.
PAI= Project AI www.flightsimmer.com (http://www.flightsimmer.com)

Programs to set up AI with flightplans:
AIFP2= AI Flight Planner v 2 (FS9/FSX)
TTools= Traffic Tools 2 (FS9)

All freeware as well as all the models used.

[Pips]

Ahh Haa! Cheers matey. :)

[Daube]

I wish WOAI would replace their AI planes with FSX-native ones...
I wish WOAI would propose a full pack in just one file as well...

Also, something strange happened with AIFlightPlanner: I converted all of the FS9 traffic flightplans to FSX flightplans, and as a result, I got less AI planes in the airports ! :kilroy:
I never understood the reason...

[Victory103]

WOAI only assemble the separate models, paints and flightplans from other authors into one package with a convenient installer. Another in the AI game, AIG, get the flightplans together while one has to find the models/repaints themselves. Some model developers are releasing FSX native models, as AIA recently did which will cover the majority of your airline traffic (mostly Boeing). For the rest of the models, I haven't seen any major issues in FSX so far.

Not sure about the other issue, I have seen a lone FS9 traffic.bgl sneak into my sim and cause some problems, as soon as I found the bad one, all returned to normal.

[ramjet]

Hi All,

I've gotten used to seeing other planes and cars and now people when I fly. I like feeling like there's life down there and as I am trying out Flight that's one of the things I would like to see changed. I like having AI.

good flights, Cal