7 replies to this topic

[Jive1]

Hey!
Maybe this subject was already discussed here before, sorry if so, but I could not trace it....
I wonder wether a possibility exists to have all AI aircraft in a separate specific AI-aircraft-folder in FS2004 and/or later (?) instead of having them in the same folder as the default aircraft.
Having two separate folders, the advantage could then be, that there would be two "smaller" folders than the present "long" one now, and that loading the aircraft data may go faster than it presently does, because the regular FS-engine would only have to scan the default/regular aircraft folder, and the AI-engine would only have to scan that separate AI-aircraft folder, and these separate two processes could possibly then go faster ...
There may also be some practical advantages, like intentionally separate lists, easier to detect AI or regular aircraft, and others....
Is Microsoft aware of this?
Greetz
Jive1

[sutkowij]

As far as I know this is not possible, however you can edit the AI cfg's to make them so that they don't display in the aircraft menu which will speed up that process.

[Jive1]

Het! sutkowij,
Your suggestion to make all the AI aircraft that they don't display may seem OK, but I'm affraid that the "regular aircraft engine" may see these AI aircraft nevertheless, and that the process may not be speeded up in that way ...  
Greetz
Jive1

[IBtheSarge]

Jive1, on Dec 20 2005, 07:44 AM, said:

Having two separate folders, the advantage could then be, that there would be two "smaller" folders than the present "long" one now, and that loading the aircraft data may go faster than it presently does, because the regular FS-engine would only have to scan the default/regular aircraft folder, and the AI-engine would only have to scan that separate AI-aircraft folder, and these separate two processes could possibly then go faster ...

That would be a MAJOR programming change involving several hundred (if not thousands) lines of code.  When FS9 starts up, it loads everything into memory it will need to handle your selections, and that means every aircraft you could possibly select.  The "AI engine" doesn't kick in until you have selected an airport of origin and date/time for your flight -- THEN it looks through your aircraft that are already in FS9's memory to determine which AI aircraft it has to handle for your selected airport and flight.

The aircraft directory on your hard drive is accessed once -- to load up all the aircraft in there on FS9 start-up.  All other aircraft selection processes, including AI, are accomplished using what FS9 has stored in memory.  That's why any changes you make to any folder in your FS9 directory has absolutely no effect until you completely exit then restart FS9; it only reads the data from your drive once -- at start-up.  So having two separate folders wouldn't speed anything up, as both folders would have to be read as soon as you start FS9 so the data can be placed in memory.

FS9 doesn't know if you've modified an AI aircraft to make it a flyable aircraft, or even if you're going to use it without modification just to taxi around and look at the airport.  (I do that all the time to fit-check modifications to scenery to make sure that aircraft I don't normally fly will fit into the space I've designed for it.)  FS9 operates on the assumption that if the aircraft is in your folder, there's a chance you might want to fly it yourself (it might be a 0.000000000001 chance in a million, but FS9 has to be ready for it in case you DO select it).

[johnpc]

A slight modification to that Sarge.

You CAN make changes to the aircraft without exiting FS9. I do it all the time. You just need to exit the select aircraft menu, modify, and then select the aircraft again.

As far as modifying AI planes you can do the same here too. To get them to show up at the airport you turn AI traffic off, go to the main screen, ALT-TAB to the desktop, modify, then go back and turn AI on again.

I do this if I have a problem finding the right texture for AI planes. Also handy if you modify panels.

To make the aircraft invisible in the select aircraft screen you need to change the .air file and change aircraft type=0 to 2.

It does in fact speed up the loading quite a lot.

@Jive1

Take it easy when you ask a question and someone tries to help you. Sutkowij was in fact correct in his statement. Angry faces are absolutely NOT necessary  

Edited by johnpc, 09 February 2006 - 01:15 PM.

[IBtheSarge]

johnpc, on Feb 9 2006, 02:08 PM, said:

A slight modification to that Sarge.
You CAN make changes to the aircraft without exiting FS9. I do it all the time. You just need to exit the select aircraft menu, modify, and then select the aircraft again.

As far as modifying AI planes you can do the same here too. To get them to show up at the airport you turn AI traffic off, go to the main screen, ALT-TAB to the desktop, modify, then go back and turn AI on again.

A little more detail than I gave, but absolutely correct.  When you exit the Create Flight screen (say, to Scenery Library, for example) you are dumping the aircraft out of memory.  You make your changes then, and when you reaccess the main screen, FS9 reloads all of the aircraft in the FS9/Aircraft folder, picking up any changes you made.

johnpc, on Feb 9 2006, 02:08 PM, said:

Take it easy when you ask a question and someone tries to help you. Sutkowij was in fact correct in his statement. Angry faces are absolutely NOT necessary 

Let's ALL remember to keep it civil .... never forget that when you ask a question, the member(s) response may NOT be the one you were looking for.  Just put that in the Stuff Happens category and press on.  If you don't think the answer is correct, simply posting "Any other opinions out there?" may get you some different responses.  If not, you're stuck with the one you got.  Don't like that one?  A lot of things in life will happen that you don't like; just file it with the others.

[johnpc]

sarge, on Feb 9 2006, 07:58 PM, said:

johnpc, on Feb 9 2006, 02:08 PM, said:

A slight modification to that Sarge.
You CAN make changes to the aircraft without exiting FS9. I do it all the time. You just need to exit the select aircraft menu, modify, and then select the aircraft again.

As far as modifying AI planes you can do the same here too. To get them to show up at the airport you turn AI traffic off, go to the main screen, ALT-TAB to the desktop, modify, then go back and turn AI on again.

A little more detail than I gave, but absolutely correct.  When you exit the Create Flight screen (say, to Scenery Library, for example) you are dumping the aircraft out of memory.  You make your changes then, and when you reaccess the main screen, FS9 reloads all of the aircraft in the FS9/Aircraft folder, picking up any changes you made.

johnpc, on Feb 9 2006, 02:08 PM, said:

Take it easy when you ask a question and someone tries to help you. Sutkowij was in fact correct in his statement. Angry faces are absolutely NOT necessary 

Let's ALL remember to keep it civil .... never forget that when you ask a question, the member(s) response may NOT be the one you were looking for.  Just put that in the Stuff Happens category and press on.  If you don't think the answer is correct, simply posting "Any other opinions out there?" may get you some different responses.  If not, you're stuck with the one you got.  Don't like that one?  A lot of things in life will happen that you don't like; just file it with the others.

No need to exit the flight even  

Just go to the menu Alt+options+settings+ traffic, turn the AI off, go back to the flight, Alt+tab to the desktop, make change/additions, alt+tab to FS go back to the traffic menu and turn it on. Bob's yer uncle and Sally's yer aunt!

The same when you add/change an aircraft in the aircraft folder. alt+tab to the desktop, add/change the aircraft, go back to the flight screen, go the select aircraft menu and there it is, added or modified!

Found this out just by chance, but it ain't half handy and saves a lot of time reloading each time.

Nice Sarge   hope they start behaving themselves!  

[PiP]

There is a lot of writing (more than you couls do this month) in splitting them up.

Unless you can write a simple program.

But you could have a traffic file in your My documents folder If you really wanted. Just needs to be in the scenery library.