Author Topic: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.  (Read 4687 times)

jpmouse

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 10
How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« on: June 21, 2013, 08:56:36 am »
I love my FSDT airports, but I'm the only aircraft in sight.  I know I sound stupid, but how can I have AI aircraft at these airports.  My non-FSDT airports have AI aircraft.  I'm missing something, am I not? Need help.  Thanks in advance.

JP

virtuali

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51443
    • VIRTUALI Sagl
Re: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2013, 03:37:00 pm »
You are probably using an FS9 AI traffic pack and, on airports that have custom runway textures, they will not show unless you disable the "Aircraft cast shadows on ground" option.

This is not obviously an FSDT problem, since it happens at every airport with custom runway textures, and only if you use AI Traffic made for FS9, like World of AI. If you use native FSX models, there's no need to turn airplane shadows off, but of course this will help with fps, with many AIs.

jpmouse

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Re: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2013, 10:42:01 pm »
Thanks for your reply, Umberto.  I guess I didn't state my question very clearly.  I am using FSX, I do not have any AI packages.  I do not have ground shadows turned on.  I have no FS9 aircraft or AI models installed.  I agree that FSDT is not the problem. I simply want to know what is required in order to have AI aircraft operating  or parked at an airport.  In the native FSX program most airports have some traffic.  When I install a custom airport, there are no aircraft at all, except the one I am flying.  It is like a Ghost Airport Ha Ha. 

Can anyone help me figure out what to do to get AI action?

virtuali

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51443
    • VIRTUALI Sagl
Re: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2013, 11:14:35 pm »
I do not have any AI packages.  I do not have ground shadows turned on.  I have no FS9 aircraft or AI models installed. 

That's the problem. If you use default AI traffic, those airplanes are missing the airline codes, and all our sceneries rely on airline codes being present, and they always are in AI Traffic pack dedicated products, which most of users have installed anyway. Besides, the default AI are very heavy on fps, because they are the same models you can fly, so they are not optimized to be AIs.

You probably HAVE some AI but, they are likely parked in remote areas, not on the main terminals, because we flag all our parkings in the airport to be of the generic GA type, in order to get rid of the default FSX ground vehicles which would otherwise conflict with our own vehicles and other ground objects. Several developers use the same method, so you'll have similar issues at other airports too, if you use default AIs

But if the AI has an airline code, it takes precedence over the generic type assignment, that's why it's better to use a proper AI package made for FSX (such as Flight1's Ultimate Traffic 2), that will result in a vastly better airport, with real airlines parked at their own gates, and probably better performances, because those models have been optimized for AI usage.

jpmouse

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Re: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2013, 11:33:17 pm »
Ah!  Thank you, Umberto.  What a quick response.  I appreciate it and will start shopping for a traffic program to use.  Now I understand the problem and also why my frame rates are so low in large FSX airports (KSEA) that use FSX aircraft for AI.  Funny how I get the right answer when I make the question clear. LOL.  Thanks again.

JP

jpmouse

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Re: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2013, 12:05:14 pm »
I'm a happy guy!  Got Ultimate Traffic 2, installed and now I have nice traffic and very little framrate impact.  Thanks for the help. I like FSDT!
 :)

virtuali

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51443
    • VIRTUALI Sagl
Re: How to have aircraft at FSDT airports.
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2013, 01:48:08 pm »
Got Ultimate Traffic 2, installed and now I have nice traffic and very little framrate impact.

It's a good product, and is the one we use to test our sceneries for traffic assignment.