How to create AI-flightplans

[Frankis]

Frank,
I know this is tangental to this thread (Moderators you may wish to move any posts to another thread), but you are right. VB.NET is a totally different animal and requires new knowledge. The generated code is readable enough, but writing it is another issue. In my working life I was designing strategies to find the most cost-effective way to move legacy VB4,5 and 6 code into VB.NET and found that the traditional programmers who had originally written the application really struggled in converting to the new programming style. Without the requisite training the learning process was arduous and s/w was poorly written.
By comparing the effort employed by trained but inexperienced developers against experienced traditional developers I found that the new boys returned a better product which was easier to maintain and took less time in on-going support as it was object oriented and therefore more modular whilst the traditional was just one (or a few) large programs which after amendment or enhancement needed 5 times more testing effort and debugging. Costs were in the millions rather than the expected (by the board) tens of thousands.
My ex-wife told me recently that the lack of training has now bitten back as VB6 usage has now been discontinued and only 20 of the 120 small system developers are 'fluent' in .NET.

Yea and it's all a bit much for this old truckie Come part time dabbler in programing.

 

[bertvk]

Frank,
I know this is tangental to this thread (Moderators you may wish to move any posts to another thread), but you are right. VB.NET is a totally different animal and requires new knowledge...etc

Hi Charlie, Frank and others,
Ofcourse this thread (VB etc) is beside the original thread, but i very much like to know about other topics in the developersworld.
I learn every day at this forum.
And as long as Arno or other moderators do not intercept....by moving this posts I don't mind at all!

Regards and thanks for your contributions.
Bert

 

[bertvk]

Original thread: How to create AI-flightplans. (FSX)

Hi Mace,
Final conclusion at the moment.
1.Before i started with your Tutorial i had WoAI working all over the globe.
2.I had a selfmade flightplan for my local airports and aircraft with AIFPC and it worked fine.
3.Now i have produced a traffic_x.bgl with your tutorial and it does not work at all.
the files produces in TEMP2 are there; please see attached pict.

When i read those files half of it i cannot find in the Traffic_SDK at all...
Is it really that complicated?
I still try to continue, but it's rather frustrating when not one aircraft appears at none of the airports used.....

Regards
Bert

 

[Mace]

I have copied the Countries_regions.csv. But it still dont work!

When I get the files together, I will attach an SNE_airports.dat, and SNE_aircraft.csv, and an SNE_schedule.dat so that you can use my exact files, and see if you can get it working.

I will substitute stock aircraft so that you won't have to download any other aircraft--it will just "work".

 

[Mace]

Original thread: How to create AI-flightplans. (FSX)

Hi Mace,
Final conclusion at the moment.
1.Before i started with your Tutorial i had WoAI working all over the globe.
2.I had a selfmade flightplan for my local airports and aircraft with AIFPC and it worked fine.
3.Now i have produced a traffic_x.bgl with your tutorial and it does not work at all.
the files produces in TEMP2 are there; please see attached pict.

When i read those files half of it i cannot find in the Traffic_SDK at all...
Is it really that complicated?
I still try to continue, but it's rather frustrating when not one aircraft appears at none of the airports used.....

Regards
Bert

Well, I won't say it's not complicated...it is, a little, especially at first, but then so were tools we used in the past. Once you get it down, you rarely need to look at the log files.

Later, I will post my three files (SNE_airports.dat, SNE_aircraft.csv, and SNE_schedules.dat) and give you a command line that will compile 100% and will produce usable log files (if you need to check them).

It looks like your log files don't have much in them (based on their filesizes), so it's likely that most if not all of your flight plans were thrown out by the compiler.

 

[bertvk]

Well, I won't say it's not complicated...etc

Later, I will post my three files (SNE_airports.dat, SNE_aircraft.csv, and SNE_schedules.dat) and give you a command line that will compile 100% and will produce usable log files (if you need to check them).

It looks like your log files don't have much in them (based on their filesizes), so it's likely that most if not all of your flight plans were thrown out by the compiler.

Hi Mace,
You wrote: It looks like your log files don't have much in them (based on their filesizes).
You are right, but you must realize, that this last attempt was done with only 2 aircraft and 2 airports...
I still cann't find my mistake doing it your way...but done with the FS9 convert to FSX method i have at least the traffic running...
Nevertheless I still want to continue to understand and work with the "FSX SDK TDBB" method.

Regards
Bert

 

[Mace]

Here, attached, are the 3 primary files that you can use to test. These will compile 100% with zero errors. These are for La Costena, a small domestic carrier in Nicaragua.

(Naturally, if you don't have good AFCADs of Nic you will not see many aircraft. I know the default MNMG (the home base of La Costena) is hardly adequate for ops. You'll need some 8 meter and 12 meter parking spots.)

Attached as .txt files...since FSDev's board won't take .dat's and .csv's...

...and here is the command line to use:

trafficdatabasebuilder /Output=traffic_sne.bgl /Airports=sne_airports.txt /AircraftTypes=sne_aircraft.txt /Countries=countries_regions.csv /Schedules=sne_schedules.txt /Autoschedule=no /StatsDir=G:\TEMP2


Adjust /StatsDir to any valid path on your rig.

 

[Mr.E]

I did not understand how to get my AI to use a new paint, can you explain that better? How do I know what the aircraft's #typeKey is and what the title is?

 

[Mace]

I did not understand how to get my AI to use a new paint, can you explain that better?

Sure thing. I assume you know how to download and install a paint job? I'll skip over that part.

Let's say you have a SAS Boeing 737 repaint. Open the aircraft.cfg file for that aircraft. Note the sim= line in the aircraft.cfg file. ** WHATEVER THIS SAYS, IS WHAT YOU ENTER IN YOUR xxx_aircraft.csv file under 'Title'.

How do I know what the aircraft's #typeKey is and what the title is?

The typekey can be whatever you want, but it much match between your xxx_aircraft file and your xxx_schedules file.

You can make the 'title' entry be whatever you want. But, always remember: they MUST match between your aircraft.cfg file and your xxx_aircraft.csv file.

Say your sim= line for your SAS 737-700 is:
sim=SAS Boeing 737-700 old livery

...then your SAS_aircraft.csv file will look like this:

B737-1,SAS Boeing 737-700 old livery,375,30,200,30,3100,6000,HARD|SOFT,18,GATE,100,yes,no
MD80-1,MD-80 SAS circus paint,390,30,200,30,2700,6000,HARD|SOFT,18,GATE,100,yes,no

Notice how 'SAS Boeing 737-700 old livery' matches EXACTLY with the sim= line in your 737's aircraft.cfg file. If it does not match, the compiler will tell you that it can't find the aircraft, and throw out the plan.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Tanocapo]

Oh Mace, let me tell you: I love you!!! This is what i've been looking for since... since... i... i don't remember since when!!!!
BTW, i have a question: Could i compile to different .bgl other than trafficAircraft.bgl? I mean having another traffic*.bgl working along with original.

Mace, really... YOU ROCK SR.!!!!!

 

[ccartmel]

aircraft.csv

Folks,
isn't it the title= entry in the [fltsim.x] section of the aircraft.cfg which must match against the type code in the aircraft definition file.
viz:
aircraft.cfg
[fltsim.0]
title = A310-222 fedex
sim = a310-304-v2
acTypes.csv
ac#fdx, A310-222 fedex, 477, 250 ..........

ac#fdx is the reference used to the aircraft in the associated flightplan file.

 

[GHD]

The sim= line is a reference to the .air file.

 

[Mace]

Folks,
isn't it the title= entry in the [fltsim.x] section of the aircraft.cfg which must match against the type code in the aircraft definition file.

OH yes, that is right. It is the title= line in the aircraft.cfg.

 

[Mr.E]

how can I remoe the standard ai and only use mine own? and how can I be sure my ai works?

 

[ccartmel]

To remove the standard AI all you need to do is change the extension (.bgl) on the TrafficAircraft.bgl file in your Scenery\world\scenery folder. Change to .bglx for example.

You can look at any flight in your own plan and establish departure time and departure airport (from previously visited airport, the last in the list if you are using the first flight), and go there via the World menu setting airport and time (less 15 minutes or so)through the commands available. Remember the times in the plan are GMT so you may need to adjust.

With the SDK installed into FSX (see other posts if this isn't present) you can also look using the 'Traffic Explorer' option visible in the tools menu in FSX to check if it is in flight should it not be on the ground. If you do this use FSX in Windowed mode as otherwise the Traffic Explorer window does not appear automatically.

 

[Mr.E]

I have a few problems with my AI! 1. My AI does not fly, I find at the gates at the right time, but it never moves. I does not communicate with tower, does not taxi or take-off. Why? how do I fix it?
2. When I try do change paint to a paint I have downloaded, my AI disappeares. Why? How do I fix it?

 

[Mace]

I have a few problems with my AI! 1. My AI does not fly, I find at the gates at the right time, but it never moves. I does not communicate with tower, does not taxi or take-off. Why? how do I fix it?

If your plan calls for a flight at 18:00, then it should start at about 18:01 with clearance and fueling.

If it does not, your flight plan bgl is not really calling for a flight at 18:00. You must verify (in the output logs that TDBB makes when you compile) that the flight is going to leave at that time. Have you verified this?

There is also a known issue of aircraft not pushing back (getting "stuck") if your Airport vehicle slider is set very high.

There are also known issues of an airport not having enough fueling truck spots, that causes aircraft to become stuck.

But check your flight plan TDBB outputs FIRST before suspecting anything else.

2. When I try do change paint to a paint I have downloaded, my AI disappeares. Why? How do I fix it?

You must verify that you have installed the paintjob correctly. If you have it in /texture.DLH then you must also reference:

texture=DLH

in your aircraft.cfg file. If this is not done, the paint won't appear.

If you verified that the paint is installed correctly, then it could be any number of issues. For starters, in your aircraft definition file (sne_aircraft.csv in the thread example), you must have the paintjob/variant DEFINED in the file. If its a Lufthansa 737-500 paint, you'll have a line:

(abbreviated for brevity)

735-1 British Airways
735-2 Braathens
735-3 Lufthansa

You must DEFINE a new line in your aircraft file or the compiler won't know that you have a new paintjob installed.

If you have defined it in your aircraft definition file, THEN the other pitfall could be, if you have not entered a flight plan for that new paintjob. This would be in your actual flight plan text file. You would need to reference, in the above example, 735-3 variant in your flight plan, something like this:

735-3,D-ECN,<etc. etc. blah blah>

...where the 735-3 is the very first thing in the flight plan for that aircraft. That is telling TDBB to use the new variant you have installed.

That's all I can think of offhand.

 

[MoToCroSs986]

Error Mesages

The _1schedule works fine, but the _1Aschedule returns an error: Departure and destination must be different: CYVR.

Any ideas please. Driving me nuts.

Thanks

 

[Difar]

Moto

Not 100% on this one, but it looks as though your flight/turnaround time between Calgary and Vancouver are too short.
Remember the 45min turn around time in addition to the leg time. Hence if it takes 2hr. flight time, 2:45 is needed for the total leg before the next dept. leg.

 

[MoToCroSs986]

Cool thanks I will try adding some time.

That worked. Thanks