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Carrier tweaked AI

robystar

robystar

Messages
5,214
Hi all,

I guess Bob is going to like this!
So here is the story.
The USS Ronald Reagan, on his way to the Middle East (where else if you are too far away from the China Sea?), is anchored some 20 miles north of the island of Terceira (Açores/Azores) on which there is also a military base used by the USAF (LPLA, Lajes AB). As things are relatively calm in the Persian Gulf (They still have hangovers from the Islamic New Year and the Day of Mourning still has to come), the fleet will stay there till after Xmas so that the crew can have some time off and enjoy the incredible local nightlife on the island (I have been there, it is shit, but probably better than staying on board!).
Anyway, A C-2A is shuttling back and forth between the carrier and the base from where they can take a cab to the shops, restaurants, drugstores, and finally the many lively bars (with cheap liquor, floor shows and extremely pleasant female company fluent in English and easy to please) in the nearby bustling town of Angra do Heroismo [ˈɐ̃ɡɾɐ du eɾuˈiʒmu], the bay of heroic courage (you will need, for sure).
Taking off from the carrier is only an inevitable inconvenience (3G) but why the heck do they have to support another 3G upon landing on Lajes AB? The lights of the many beautifully lit Xmas trees on the base and the sight of the many girls, desperate widows, queers and children, all eagerly awaiting their money, is lost to them because of their trying to recuperate their breath and wits (they are not pilots, for heaven's sake).
And therefore and in order to be able to give them a nice Xmas outing on this lovely island in the middle of nowhere, I have the following questions:
- Regarding the AI tweaked C-2A: is it possible to, in one way or another and without simconnect, to switch the AI craft Flight dynamics from carrier takeoff/arrested to normal depending on the airport?
- Regarding the AI flightplans: I noticed that when the turboprop AI uses a 3000ft ALT VFR plan, they do not land on the right runway and make a rather silly detour. When IFR, everything is OK.
- And finally, wouldn't it be possible to bring all the invaluable contributions of Jim Vile (and if possible also RFields and others like Tom Gibson, Don Grovestine, etc.) together in a kind of Wiki where all (well almost all) the ins and outs of AI are to be found so that it is no longer necessary to spend hours in finding more info on this and various other sites?
I would do it if I were to have some help from somebody more knowledgeable than I am.

Roby

PS I have not included any screenshots on purpose as not all of us are sailors :D.
 
But what about sailor wannabes.

I don't know the answers to your questions, but I'm trying to get to 1000 posts, so I'm just going to write a bunch of gibberish.

I seem to have a dim memory of some one figuring out how to modify things in flight, but not AI. Maybe some one has an idea. However, you can do things in FSX that you can not do in FS9. For example, you can have several FSX exe icons on your desktop. Each, for example, with different groups of planes, ( or scenery, or whatever)so you don't have to load all 4000 of your aircraft if you don't need them. I suppose if you were AI watching at LPLA, you could load the land altered C-2a.

I also suppose that if you watched the carrier altered C-2a take off from the carrier, you could then go to some other airport far enough away so that you could copy the land C-2a into the airplane folder, go to LPLA and watch it land. Not very elegant, or worth the trouble, but doesn't use simconnect or fancy software.

I always use IFR flight plans because they just work better. You are using a modified LPLA. I assume it is all OK?

It has been suggested before that AI knowledge be collected into one place. I think that you are just the person to spearhead such a project.

Sorry for all my gibberish.

Bob
 
Hi Bob,

Apparently you are the only one to take interest in the subject and only because you want to reach 1000 posts (is there a reward for that?):rolleyes:.
Regarding the sailor wannabee I am figuring out how to include animated gifs in the scenery, that might be fun. I am experimenting with MCX in that respect but so far no luck.
Honestly (and leaving out the story), the questions were serious.
Moreover you taught me one thing I was not aware of and that is that you can have several fsx.exe with different aircraft loading. And I guess that is true also for the scenery library? Which would also solve my problem regarding winter photoreal textures! But I am not sure how to make this new fsx.exe. Tell me please.
As this is besides the subject of his thread and as I am over 1000 posts already (never knew but apparently it is a fact) I will follow your advice in taking up the challenge of trying to gather all relevant information on AI and would love to have somebody help me out with it. And I therefore return the compliment in asking you to be the one to help me with that as I can think of no better person either to sharpen the head of the spear:).

Rob
 
Rob

I know your questions were serious. And they are good questions. I was in a good mood when I answered, but don't worry, I won't do that again.

I get the feeling that most folks aren't concerned with AI the same way you are. There may well be some one out there who has figured out how to switch between carrier and land operation. Might have something to do with turning the tail hook on and off. No idea how to do that. I think one can adjust roll out on landing.

And for the reason you stated, I don't use VFR flight plans.

I don't mind helping you but there are those (like the folks you mentioned) who are far better at all this than I am. My needs a simple. I just need planes to fly in and out of my airports. after all this time I am still blown away by the fact that I can add stuff to FS. I will say that I think any collection of information needs to be heavily indexed so that things are easy to find. My biggest complaint about tutorials is that they tend to be written by experts who take the base knowledge of the reader for granted. I, who know nothing get lost right away. I have seen lists of wing spans and other AI info that are nice, but outdated now. And then there are all the different flight plan and airport editors. Some follow the SDK and some do not.

As for the multiple exe. idea, it's been awhile since I did it. I'll have to figure it out and get back to you. It is not hard, but it is a little different between XP and Vista(W7). It involves having a folder in your Sim Objects folder that has, say, just WW2 planes in it. Call it "WW2 Planes". Create a second FSX cfg (with a different name)that in the sim objects section has for planes only the WW2 Planes listed. Make a copy the FSX short cut on your desk top and in the properties section, point to the new cfg file. I'll have to double check, but that is most of the steps. When you open the copy exe, the only planes that load will be WW2 planes. If you want AI in this set up you would need AI planes in the WW2 folder and FPs already installed. I don't use this setup myself, but I do have it installed in my FSX because it sounded interesting.
Come to think of it, since FS sees FPs in many places, I wonder if you could put WW2 FPs in the WW2 folder so that they are only loaded with the new exe?
Sadly, no prize for 1000 posts. Just a milestone.

Bob
 
Hi Bob,

hink I am going to put this question regarding multiple fsx.exe with different aircraft , AI and scenery loadings in the general chat forum.
It is interesting enough to know if feasible or not.
 
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