Looking for guidance for AI gate assignment

[HA036]

Have the PHNL, the Hawaii vol 1 and KORD.  I know the gate numbers and I know what airlines belong at which gate.  Has anyone been successful assigning AI airplanes to a gate?  At PHNL for example, up to 10 airlines are assigned to a gate, which is fine, I am happy to enter them. 

But is there something REALLY simple I can use to make those assignments? Some XML file? These are WoAI planes that have had their BGL files upgraded from FS9 to FSX (dumb planes, don't use jetways etc) (I was in computers a long time ago and EVERYTHING has changed). Am using FSX and have ADE9X and Airport Facilitator X. 

I've tried to assign the airlines and I do, UNTIL I actually go to fly, then the airport is a mess. Textures etc are screwed up. This is my only goal in life (I'm old) is to get Hawaiian Airlines at gates 26 thru 34 (if I recall) plus KAL and QFA etc. and not screw up the beautiful PHNL in the process.  Any ideas?

Anyone been here before..my searches didn't provide me with anything.  I will also go the support for those products mentioned, but since FSDT has rendered these airports with detail and love, thought I'd come here first. Is there some tiny place I can add the airline codes such that I don't have to recompile the airport or anything else where I can screw things up?

Thanks in advance!

[cmpbllsjc]

After reading your post I am kind of confused when you way that after you edit the parking codes the airport is a mess and the textures are messed up.

I own all the FSDT airports minus PHNL and the Hawiian package and have changed parking codes in most of them using ADE and haven't had any issues. Just make sure that after you load the ADE .bgl that you want to edit and compile it, that you remove the original from the Scenery folder of the airport your working on. For example, if you want to edit the ADE file for KORD you would open the one that is called AP_KORD.bgl and edit the parking codes, when you compile it it will probably be saved as something like KORD_ADEX_(your initials).BGL. Then replace the new one with the stock one in the OhareX/Scenery file called AP_KORD.BGL. Make sure you dont have two ADE files installed for the same airport. You may also want to load the stock approach data back into the ADE before you compile it.

In short here's what I do.

1. Copy the ADE file you want to edit to your desk top. If you want to modify the parking codes for KORD go to the FSDT/OhareX/Scenery folder and copy the AP_KORD.BGL file to your desktop.

2. Open ADE

3. Using the drop down menu in ADE go to File/Open Aiport from BGL and use the folder up to get to your desktop and select the file called AP_KORD.BGL

4. Once the airport in loaded in ADE find the first parking space you want to edit and left click on it to high light it, then right click on it select Edit Object.

5. When the box opens up you will see the parking codes that are currently assigned to that parking space in the area that says "Airlines". In the third line down in that section you will see the parking codes and in that box you can put in a new code manually or use the top drop down box to find the airline and place it that way. Just make sure to put a comma after each entry if you enter them manually. Also be aware that some of the codes supplied by ADE may not be the correct ones for the airline you are trying to assign. Its for that reason that I usually enter them manually and check then against the parking codes for the actual AI plane itself which can be found in the a/c's cfg file.

6. Once you have finished correcting your parking codes using the top menu in ADE and select Tools/Load Stock Data and put a check mark in the box that says Approaches, then click Import.

7. Once the approaches are loaded then you can compile the airport by going to File/Compile Aiport. When the Save As box pops up you can put in a file name you want or can just leave it set to the name it default to which is usually the airport name_ADEX_your initials.BGL. Make sure the destination to save it is your desktop.

8. After it compiles find the new file and drop it into the FSDT/OhareX/Scenery folder. Assuming that you still have the default ADE on your desktop called AP_KORD.BGL then you can delete that file in your OhareX/Scenery folder and just have the new bgl you placed there.

That's it. Once you have completed those steps you should be fine. The only reason I can see that the AI wouldn't use the new parking codes is because you have multiple ADE files installed for the same airport. As far as having textures messed up, modifying your ADE shouldn't do anything to the textures, so maybe something else is wrong with the install of the scenery or your computer, or perhaps its multiple ADE files causing the problem.

If I were you I would also take the default ADE file that is left on your desktop and place it somewhere safe in a backup folder in case you want to revert back to it at some point. See if this works and post back if you have any more questions.

[HA036]

Thanks cmpbllsjc.  I did everything except l didn't mark the Import Approaches.  Now the fun part. Why aren't ANY AI aircraft showing up?  I've read about half a dozen reasons why they don't, but none of them have worked in my case. Well thanks and if you have any ideas on missing "dumb" AI aircraft, let me know.

[cmpbllsjc]

Why aren't ANY AI aircraft showing up?  I've read about half a dozen reasons why they don't, but none of them have worked in my case. Well thanks and if you have any ideas on missing "dumb" AI aircraft, let me know.

What airport specifically is the AI not showing up at? AND what AI packages are you using?

The only thing in FSX I am aware of that make AI not show up sometimes is:

1. Having a/c ground shadows turned on - depends on the scenery

2. Possible DXT10 preview issue

3. Traffic bgls not being complied to work in FSX.  Example - If all Traffic BGLs are compiled with the FSX SDK then they show. If a single FS9 SDK compiled Traffic BGL is in the mix, only the FS9 compiled Traffic will show. An exmpale of this is if you install all the WOAI packages and convert the traffic bgls to FSX format but leave one traffic BGL in FS9 format then you will have a lot of traffic not showing up, which has happend to me in the past. Also some addon scenery developers sometimes include custom traffic which if not complied to FSX format can cause this to happen as well, which I have seen happen with some Aerosoft and FranceVFR sceneries.

4. Mulitple ADEs or AFCADs for the same airport

[HA036]

Divine intervention? It is all there. I turned down the sliders for amount of traffic and there were some new planes. Then I turned them all the way back up and it is now as I expected it to be all along.  I will not mess with DX10 (not ready for prime time in FSX) and have the shadows off. Will work to bring them back if I can.  Thanks for your outstanding help and patience.  Don't know really why it should work now, but I'm not looking that gift horse in the mouth.

Again, Thanks 

[cmpbllsjc]

Glad to see its working now.

At least you have a couple things to think about in the future should you have an AI issue pop up again. It's usually comes down to something simple and easy to fix.