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Another "FSX ai 'planes not arriving" problem

Messages
19
Country
ireland
FSX AI problems....

Apologies if this has been done to death but despite reading the relevant parts of the manual,I'm confused with AI speeds, 37min. rule and compile/decompile in AIFP

I'm using FSX, Windows 7 64bit and AIFP to create AI flightplans.

When I compile flightplans using AIFP and using a mix of default FSX airliners (and add-on a/c which seem to work ok as AI planes,
albeit not showing up for landing) my AI flights take off from the designated airport at the correct time but do not turn up to land
after the return leg, at the designated times according to the AIFP-generated flt.plan.

However, after the arrival time has passed, with no sign of the AI aircraft, if I then reset the Sim time to a point just after the scheduled arrival time,
then my over-due airplanes are neatly parked on their correct stands and they start-up and take off normally for their next leg.
There are ample parking spaces for 'heavy' and medium sized jets.

I have read about the 37 min. problem and tried editing my flt.plans to have longer flight-times as compensation for late arrivals without luck.
I used guesswork adding various times from 30mins. to two hours, to the flight-times.
I then reverted to the AIFP-generated plans without using the 'override ETA' function.

Does AIFP always calculate the correct flight-times for 'long-haul' flights?

The only flights which turn up on time and land normally are domestic ones with a flight-time of around 30 mins. or so, but the problem shows up
when I try to use flights of an hour or longer, eg. transAtlantic flights. My airport (Shannon) is an add-on but parking spaces, taxiways etc. seem to
be in order, so I don't think it's a parking-space related problem.

I also have de-activated the "Aircraft casts shadows on the ground" option to no avail.
The aircraft have their default cruising speeds specified in the air.cfg files.

I have removed the default traffic.bgl file from FSX and just use the default a/c to make my own fltplans.


My specimen flight plan is as follows: EINN - KJFK - EINN.

Default Boeing 747-400.
Distance = 2669 miles (both legs)
Duration = 6:08 (both legs)

AC#1,,1%,24Hr,IFR
(1) 03:30,09:38,350,F,0747,EINN
(2) 10:00,18:00,350,F,0748,KJFK


I'm suspecting there's something wrong with my flightplans' duration times, but I have no idea which way to proceed from here.

Any help/advice appreciated!
 

gadgets

Resource contributor
Messages
9,388
Country
ca-britishcolumbia
Duration = 6:08 (both legs)

AC#1,,1%,24Hr,IFR
(1) 03:30,09:38,350,F,0747,EINN
(2) 10:00,18:00,350,F,0748,KJFK

The first thing I notice is that the flight time for the first leg is just over two hours (accounting for time offsets) and 12 hr. for the second. This may or may not have something to do with your problem.

I have included in the manual and on the website an exhaustive trouble-shooting procedure which includes, among other things, monitoring Traffic Toolbox Expolrer to determine the status of the AI. This would be a good place for you to start.

As for which cruise speeds to use, I recommend using the one from the aircraft.cfg file. However, AIFP computes arrival time based on whatever cruise speed is set for the AI in the Aircraft List. As for overriding ETAs, if you use published schedule times, you should be OK.

As to aircraft shadows, that has nothing to do with AIFP.

Hope this helps.

Don
 

gadgets

Resource contributor
Messages
9,388
Country
ca-britishcolumbia
tipp 55, in my response to you last night I suggested that the flight times were not of the duration you had stated. I must have been distracted, since I envisioned the times as local (I always work in local times) when they are, of course, UTC. Sorry about that statement. The balance of my response is valid.

Don
 
Messages
19
Country
ireland
Hi Don,

I was wondering about that last night....because I'm in Ireland and using UTC time throughout.

Still When I reset a new JFK-EINN plan and used the AIFP times which are quite close to real-life, I still had no B744 landing in Shannon, but if I wait till around the ETA and then advance my flt.sim. time to after the ETA, the a/c is there parked on it's stand..

Some of my shorter flt.plans have an a/c take off on the outward leg and arrive at the distant airport, and take off again on the return leg to the local field but don't show up for approach & landing at the airport or in Traffic Explorer. But as I said earlier, when I advance the sim. time by just one or two minutes after ETA, the a/c is on it's stand...and even when I roll back the sim time to the arrival time as per flt.plan, my 'plane has arrived - on it's stand and in Traffic Explorer... it's just that I can't actually see it approach and land.
Frustrating!!

By the way you are doing a wonderful job here. Much appreciated :)

John.
 

gadgets

Resource contributor
Messages
9,388
Country
ca-britishcolumbia
John, lets first of all try to isolate the source of the problem.

If this were a general AIFP problem, many more people likely would be complaining. So, let's start with the premise that the cause in somewhere in your system.

Do you have any FS9 traffic file on your system? (WoAI files are all compiled fopr FS9 - even when they are advertised as for being for FSX.) You can use the AIFP find FS9 traffic files function to look for them. If you find any and you want to retain their traffic, AIFP will convert them for you.

If that's not the problem, do you have any other traffic management add--on, e.g., My Traffic X. If so disable them and try again.

Finally, if the problem still exists, please turn off all your add-on scenery (except the AI fraffic file if it's not in scenery\world\scenery) and disable all other traffic files and try again.

If that works, re-enable everything a little at a time to identify the culprit.

If that doesn't work, please send me your traffic file.

As for the aircraft spawning where they should be if you start after the ETA, this is normal.

Don
 
Messages
19
Country
ireland
Don,

I already have my WoAI plans converted to FSX, but I currently have them removed to a temp. folder while troubleshooting this thing. They were behaving exactly as my present plans, i.e. not arriving/landing but spawning at the parking areas.

I'm just testing two fltplans in scenery/world/scenery right now, to keep things simple.

I'm just now converting my FS9 traffic.bgl file fltplans to FSX with AIFP as I type. I don't use FS9 much anymore so they are not a problem if they don't now work in FS9. By the way, they are in their own FS9 folder so FSX shouldn't be seeing them anyway.

I have no other add-on programmes in FSX. FS Navigator is installed with FS9 but I'm thinking that would not be a factor?

I'll get back to you later with my endeavours.

J.
 
Messages
19
Country
ireland
Don,

Looks like I have it sorted. After endless tweaking of flightplans,and having removed and added plans to my scenery/world/scenery folder, I discovered the following files were missing:

image_globe_00.bgl
image_globe_01.bgl
image_globe_21.bgl
image_globe_20.bgl
image_globe_11.bgl
image_globe_10.bgl
BNXWorld0.bgl
BNXWorld1.bgl
BNXWorld2.bgl
BNXWorld3.bgl
BNXWorld4.bgl
BNXWorld5.bgl
bvcf.bgl
lak.bgl

After replacing them, the AI planes started arriving and landing normally again.

Once again Don, thanks for your time and help.

John.
 

gadgets

Resource contributor
Messages
9,388
Country
ca-britishcolumbia
I have no idea what those files are for. Certainly, they are not used by AIFP. Perhaps, thay are part of the AI engine.

If anyone knows, please enlighten us.

Don
 
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