FSX Aibtc

[robystar]

Hi all,

First of all, if someone is still googling for AITBC, forget it. Start searching for AIBTC and you might get lucky.
For the last couple of months, I have been (amongst other things of course) trying to have decent boat traffic using the FS8/9 way i.e. the way a.o. Holger sandman managed to get some nice traffic for his sceneries.
Unfortunately, one of the problems is that the traffic is not always there or depending on the time set in FS, corrupted, especially if the traffic concerns bigger distances.
After a lot of fruitless effort, I ended up using a program called AIBTC that makes it possible to schedule FSX boat traffic using Google Earth KML paths and convert those to the .cvs used in FSX. Wonderful and relatively easy to use as it is comparable to TTools.
However!!!
The last update of the program dates back to 2007 or something, meaning the author is no longer interested or has not found the means of enhancing his program any further.
The present program has the following setbacks:
- no visualisation through the traffic toolbox (the worst problem);
- no connection between the Google Earth 'real' world and the FSX coast lines ( I finally found out that FSX is terrible in that respect);
- no arrival/departure schedules for multileg plans (or I forget something?);
- all effects and lights (but that has nothing to do with the program itself) have to be 'nested' in the wake file as there are no other light effects or bow spray or smoke effects possible in the FSX boats .cfg. But how do you start aligning the effects and lights if you cannot visualize the AI vessel unless you go look for it and that takes ages!
- although lights can be added using the attach points of the model, you would then have to be able to decompile the model, add the attach points and recompile the model again without loosing some animations built in the model.
Guess I forgot some other deficiencies but in the end it boils down to the fact that you trade in an old AI 'technology' system for a new one that gives more possibilities on the one hand but prevents using some possibilities of the old system.
I would therefore love Jon to take up the challenge of trying to incorporate the possibilities of this program into his AIFP although I think he will need some assistance of other developers like Arno and maybe the guys from ADE to make it 'complete'.
By the way, the aforesaid should not only apply to ships but also to road traffic.
To give you a concrete example of the problems I face using AIBTC, please find attached a screenshot that took me two hours to make (just because it took me that long to find the vessel) to find out my effect placement is off
(The vessel on the foreground is the pilotable one, the vessel behind it is the AI one).

Roby

 

[GHD]

The present program has the following setbacks:
- no visualisation through the traffic toolbox (the worst problem);
- no connection between the Google Earth 'real' world and the FSX coast lines ( I finally found out that FSX is terrible in that respect);
- no arrival/departure schedules for multileg plans (or I forget something?);
- all effects and lights (but that has nothing to do with the program itself) have to be 'nested' in the wake file as there are no other light effects or bow spray or smoke effects possible in the FSX boats .cfg. But how do you start aligning the effects and lights if you cannot visualize the AI vessel unless you go look for it and that takes ages!
- although lights can be added using the attach points of the model, you would then have to be able to decompile the model, add the attach points and recompile the model again without loosing some animations built in the model.
Guess I forgot some other deficiencies but in the end it boils down to the fact that you trade in an old AI 'technology' system for a new one that gives more possibilities on the one hand but prevents using some possibilities of the old system.

None of the "deficiencies" are to do with AIBTC but rather with FSX.

Traffic Toolbox doesn't have the ability to view boat traffic even using the native Traffic Database Builder. However, given that you know your "flightplan" it is easy to position your aircraft over the start of the route just before the boat departs.

Coastlines in FSX are well known to be way out of position. You could use slew mode in FSX to extract the coordinates you need for waypoints.

AIBTC has no control over the boat cfg's.

 

[robystar]

I agree, George, that deficiencies is maybe not the right word. Shortcomings then?
True enough that it is maybe not due to AIBTC but to FSX. Nevertheless that does not change the outcome.
Once again, true that you can find out where the vessel is shortly before say departure but you cannot transfer your view to the ship itself. And the lights only come on when the ship is sailing.
How do you go about changing the coastline? Or do you have to stay well away from the coastline under all circumstances? How then about docking the vessel?
And OK AIBTC has no control over the cfg. So? Does that change my findings and my wish to see it different?
I have not the faintest whether it is beyond the possibilities of AIFP or other program nor if the authors would be interested, but if you do not ask, you do not get it for sure.
Don expressed his willingness to have a look at it, so...

 

[GHD]

How then about docking the vessel?

I create my routes in Afcad2, decompile to xml and convert the path to a kml for AIBTC.



I can get very precise positions with Afcad2 connected to FSX.

 

[robystar]

Great idea though a bit cumbersome.
Would have to get AFCAD2 out from between the mothballs.
Found a solution for aligning the effects also: Use the vessel as AI aircraft first so that you can view it in a pop up screen and apply all the effects/lights to the wake= xxx. I'll get there.
Thanks for the hint.