Traffic Tutorial Request

[Railrunner130]

I remember a long time ago seeing a tutorial written (I think by someone here) that outlined the differences between FS9 and FSX. As I recall, the differences deal with the touch and go command changing and the day format also changing. Does anyone have a copy or fill me in?

Also, is the a seperate conversion tool that I need? I recall having issues a while back with touch and goes not working properly in FSX.

[dhazelgrove]

You need to get a copy of AI Flight Planner (AIFP), which can do traffic for either FSX or FS9 and can also find and convert traffic BGLs from FS9 to FSX -- very useful if you suddenly find that your FSX AI traffic has disappeared.

I'd be lost without it. A definite 'must-have'.

Dave

[Lionheart]

This is copy/pasted from a tutorial I did on it at FreeFlightDesign.com



PART ONE

Basics of creating your own AI traffic in FS2004.

This is a tutorial for creating your own AI traffic. First, the basics.
First off, find and download the latest build of TTools.exe. It should also come with 'CollectAirports.exe' which you will also need.

NOTE: This is the 'easy' and quick way of making airfiles. You 'can' download menu style flight plan makers, but they usually have alot of bugs and wont always find your mistakes that will keep your planes from flying. After you do this method 'once' you will find its the best, quickest method there is. (At least for me).

A traffic BGL is created from 3 Text files, or TXT files.
* Airplanes file which your flightplans will use
* Airports list, which your flightplans will also use
* Your Flightplans, which comprise of strings or sentences.

A flightplan string starts at one point, and 'must' return to that point. Thus if just one hop and return (2 airports), then the first part of the string is to
the first hop, the second is 'return to home'. Thus the airport you start at will actually be at the end of the string, since that is where you come back to.
If you have say 4 hops around the land, the last one is your return to home. (FS will automatically place your plane at the last hop as the starting point).

Each flightplan 'executes' at a time you set for it. Time for a plane to take-off is Zulu/Grennich time, so what ever time of day it would be at GMT in that countries location would be your time entry. Then you also have 'every 2 hours, every 4 hours, every 6 hours, etc, including every 24 hours, and 'weekly'. Your flightplan 'must' fly once a week or it wont compile nor function, leaving the aircraft to 'not' show up.

Note; If you want a plane to just be 'parked' at an airfield all the time, have it only fly at night, one day a week, like 3AM for a quick hop locally on a Sunday
night. Its not as fun though to see the planes 'come to life'.


[CONTENTS OF TEXT FILES]

Here are some samples of text files for having Whirlwinds in FS9.

Aircraft_Whirlwind.txt <-----------------Name of TXT document

NOTE: 250 in the strings below denounts the max airspeed you wish these planes to fly at. Set to what you wish.

AC#884,250,"Westland Whirlwind Blue Gray"
AC#885,250,"Westland Whirlwind Weathered"

Next document.......................................... .................................................. ..................................

Below is the airports which the Whirlwind flightplans will use. These are copied off of the FS2004 Airports list program which makes a list of all
airports in your (your) FS2004. If you added an airport recently (as I did here, Twinwoods airbase), then I have to create a new list and find its GPS
location, and copy paste it into my 'airports' list.

Airports_Whirlwind.txt <------------ Name of TXT document

SK01,N51* 39.42',E0* 43.64',89
X3TW,N52* 10.94',W0* 29.39',269

Next document.......................................... .................................................. ..................................

This is your flight plans. You can easily start your own list from a single string, input your own airfields, and change the times to those you wish to use instead. Also remember to input the aircraft you wish, which below uses #885 and #885.

Flightplans_Whirlwind.txt <------------ Name of TXT document

AC#885,N1234,1%,2Hr,VFR, 08:00:00,TNG09:30:00,050,R,0000,X3TW, 10:00:00,TNG11:30:00,050,R,0000,SK01
AC#885,N1234,1%,2Hr,VFR, 08:01:00,TNG09:32:00,050,R,0000,X3TW, 10:02:00,TNG11:34:00,050,R,0000,SK01
AC#884,N1234,1%,2Hr,VFR, 12:06:00,TNG13:38:00,050,R,0000,SK01, 14:05:00,TNG15:19:00,050,R,0000,X3TW

[FLIGHTPLANS DATA STRING]

Here are some break downs of a regular string, as shown above

AC#884 <---- airplane designation from airplanes list. (I pulled those numbers from the top of my head. I dont think TTools will go higher then
2,000 though.
N1234 <---- Aircraft designation N number (you can change them if you are using the same planes such as fighters, etc)
1% <------Percentage above is the lowest 'setting' your plane will show up at. If I had 50% in a string, and I had AI traffic in FS2004 set to 30%, then
the planes wouldnt show up.
2Hr <----- Denotes how often this plane flies (Remember to include time to land with moderate traffic, taxi, and park. If too short, plane wont show
up).
VFR <-------- Type of flight plan. IFR takes a while longer and will tie up air traffic control with chatter, etc. Options; VFR and IFR
12:06:00,TNG13:38:00,050,R,0000,SK01 <------ Start time, TNG means if early, do touch and goes, (leave out if you dont want that), arrival time,
Altitude, which here, 050 is 5,000 feet, (FL 050).
SK01 <----- First hop
14:05:00,TNG15:19:00,050,R,0000,X3TW <----------- Last hop which returns you to 'this' airfield. (FS sees this as your starting point).

Note; I forgot what R means, lol.. arrghh

[Lionheart]

PART TWO


[AIRCRAFT LIST]

You make your list of planes from the aircrafts name designation in the aircraft.cfg file of each plane you use. This is what you need.

[fltsim.1]
title=Westland Whirlwind Blue Gray <--- Use this title string as the name for your 'Aircraft_your name here.TXT' file list.
sim=Westland Whirlwind
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=BlueGray
kb_checklists=
ui_manufacturer=Westland
ui_type=Whirlwind MK.I
ui_variation=Naval Blue Gray
description=The British Whirlwind was a diminutive, twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft company. \nThe Whirlwind was one of the
fastest aircraft in the air when it flew in the late 1930s, and much more heavily armed than anything flying. \nProtracted development problems with its
Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines delayed the entire project and only a relatively small number were built. \nDuring the Second World War only two RAF squadrons would be equipped with the Whirlwind, and despite successful use as a fighter-bomber


In Windows XP, to create a txt file from scratch, just right click on desktop and select 'New/Textfile'. These are opened and modified with Notepad which should automatically come up when double clicking a TXT file.

Always make the first names of these files the same, ie Aircraft_your name here.TXT, Airports_your name here.TXT, Flightplans_your name here.TXT.
The 'name' of your flight plans should also be the same. If they are not, they will not show up as a 3 file match. Example, Airports_Bugatti.txt. Bugatti must be spelled exactly the same in each of the three files names.

When you wish to burn a sample flightplan BGL, boot up TTools compiler, select the 3 txt files that will be your traffic BGL, then click Compile. TTools 'should' drop the file into your FS2004 for you.

Note; Your traffic BGL's go in 'FS2004/Scenery/World/scenery folder.

Your available time slots of which your traffic will 'cycle' is;
2Hr
4Hr
6Hr
8Hr
12Hr
24Hr
WEEK

[TROUBLE SHOOTING]

Reasons your planes will not show up.
* Too many planes for an airfield. (Not enough traffic spots). Open AFCAD, navigate to that airport, add parking spots.
* Not enough time between start cycles. Up your cycle time a notch. (Remember a plane has to enter air traffic for an airport, land, taxi, etc).
* Distance would mean the aircraft funs out of fuel. (Range of aircraft isnt adequate) Place a refueling hop in the flight plans string.
* Time not set to Grennich or GMT. To find out when you wish your plane to start up at, boot up FS, select airport and time of day. In the time selection
note the GMT time there. FS creates the matching GMT time for you in that selection window, (Time of Day).
* Planes wont land, (multiple planes in traffic). For some reason, they will pile up and only one will land at a time. Space them out 10 min's for better
traffic management on returns. If you are not worried about it, then have them all take off at the same time. Looks really cool having 5 fighters on the
ramp ready to take off.
* You didnt start at the other airport. Remember the first airport in the FP string is the 'last' hop. 'That' is your starting point.
* Your AI % isnt aligned with your Traffic setting in FS. (For 25% setting in a FP string, your AI traffic in FS must be 25% or higher or they wont show
up).

NOTE: If your planes for your AI use 32bit high rez textures, and you have a group taking off or 'at' the airfield, this will effect your frame rates
moderately. Make sure you have easy planes (frame rates wise) for your AI traffic. I personally will still use high memory planes, but not alot of them. (I
like a good quality AI plane to look at, lol).

[MAKING AI TRAFFIC TEXTURE PACKS]

You can tune texture packs to run faster in your FS for your AI traffic. Another thing you can do (for high memory aircraft) is make seperate texture
folders for your 'AI planes'. Then rename the texture packets as 'textur.AI_Gray Whirlwind', etc. Then add new 'entries' for the new AI planes in the
aircraft.cfg file, and use their titles in your AI planes list when making your traffic. Then with DXTBMP, simply resize your textures to smaller size, and
make them all DXT1 or DXT3 and you should be good to go. (Dont mess with the plexi or prop discs as they will have Alpha settings).

Also, you can find alot of AI planes online at sites like Simviation.com, AVSIM.com, etc. You can also use basic FS planes for this, such as ones used in
FS2002 or FS2000 that still work in FS2004.

Easy start;
* Decompile a traffic string. In TTools, find a traffic BGL and click Decompile. This leaves you with the 3 primary TXT files. (Dont worry, the BGL isnt
deleted).
* Rename the 3 text files to your own name, such as 'Aircraft_1945_Pearlharbour.txt', etc. (Spelling is utterly important with all files for matching or it
wont work).
* Put in your own airplanes titles by copy/paste
* Change aircraft numbers slightly
* In traffic strings, put in your own airport codes
* Create a new airports list. Click 'Find Airports' program (comes with TTools) and from that list, find your airports GPS coordinates, copy/paste into
your own airports list.
* Change altitudes and times settings for your FP strings 'hops'.
Click on TTools. Select your trio of txt files, click Compile
Boot up FS2004 and look around for your traffic.

That should get you some planes (or just one plane) at your fave airport(s) pretty q

[IanP]

Note; I forgot what R means, lol.. arrghh

R means the aircraft will fly under its registration for the flight (e.g. "N777UA"), while F means the aircraft will use a flight callsign and number (e.g. "United Seven Seven Seven Heavy").

Ian P.

[Lionheart]

Thanks Ian.

Man, why cant I remember that.. arrgh..


Bill

[Railrunner130]

Thanks for the input guys.

I remember how to build traffic in FS2004, I'm mainly interested in the differences between FS9 and FSX.

I've done stuff in FSX, but can't remember the changes between the two. I think there are day of the week number changes. (I think it may have even gone to 30 days.) I also recall the touch and go command was changed, but don't remember the new one.

Thanks.