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Helicopter AI

L

LivestockTony

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7
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us-alaska
Hi again,

Does Helicopter AI work, for an AI object? If any mission uses an AI helicopter, could you please tell me which one so I can look at it? Thanks! ...

I'm trying to make a R22 follow a triangular path. If I set it's AI type to Helicopter, I get no options for property set, and regardless of using an activateWaypoints action, the mission doesn't load. When I set AI type to Airplane, I can load the mission, and I get the AirplaneAI property set, but although the helicopter appears to be created correctly, it immediately autorotates through the ground!

I then tried spawning the helicopter from a spawnlist object, and calling the spawnlist and the activate waypoints from my mission start timer. I get the same effect, except the helicopter doesn't appear until the timer fires. I tried playing with the assinged heading, altitude, and speed but these seem to have no effect either.

I'm using SDK SP1a if it makes a difference.

Again, thanks,
-T

(In retrospect, I think I may have never seen an AI helicopter anywhere in the game... they never seem to show up on my traffic list when I'm looking through the view options in free flight.)

Edit: Forgot to add, that AI airplanes are working fine for me. Which makes me wonder if the helicopters have an issue...
 
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AI Helicopters do not work in FSX.

BUT:

You can create AI helicopters using tweaked air-files. Look at the other thread about this topic below.

In missions you can try to use a helicopter as a moving scenery object (also a thread about this below, look for sailing missions).

Finally, the best option for helis in missions is of course Accelaration. With the new Acceleration-Expansion-Pack you can record your own flightpath and assign it to any other object, may it be helicopters, cars or gliders.
This obviously only works if the user also has Acceleration.
 
Thanks...

Actually, when I upgraded to the deluxe edition (bought it just for the SDK) last week, I wanted to get Acceleration also, but it wasn't in stock. I'm in Alaska, and don't exactly have many software outlets. :( Suppose I'll have to order it.

In the meantime, I've changed my plot on the mission I'm working on to not require a heli. I'll try the mobile scenery options too.

I'll also try to do better searches in the future... I'm kinda embarresed by the past few topics all being started by me!
-T
 
Horst18519 said:
With the new Acceleration-Expansion-Pack you can record your own flightpath and assign it to any other object
Click to expand...

How to do this exactly using Acceleration? This might be a nice way to create AI flights operating from an aircraft carrier deck.

Ripcord
 
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This is described in the Acceleration SDK. You just record your own flightpath (with FSX built-in flight video) and save the file.
 
Ah, so that is it -- it is a video file that is saved. Well, then that shouldn't be too hard.

I have JKs mission builder program and I can see in there how to reference that file.... just didn't know what file to look for.

Thanks. I will try this out.

Ripcord
 
Ah, so that is it -- it is a video file that is saved. Well, then that shouldn't be too hard.
Click to expand...

OK, could have been wrong about that part. I am guessing that when I place the AI object in the mission, I still need to give it the exact position in lat/long, yes? Just filming my AI jet taxiing out and making it's flight is really not enough, apparently.

Ripcord

QUESTION: Do I need to have the time aligned so that the AI flight video recording takes place at the same time as my mission?
 
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Of course you need to place that AI object and assign the flighpath. See the sample Acceleration missions (carrier tutorial for example) how it's done.
 
Well, I read thru the SDK a couple times, the parts pertaining to AIplayback and I see now you need to set the lat/long position but not the waypoints. That is for another AIType -- using AIplayback doesn't allow you to set waypoints, which is fine.

I think my problem might be related to date & times not matching up. Could that be possible?

Ripcord
 
OK, I see that there is an FSR file (flight leader) in the Rocket Launch Air Cover Mission so now at least this confirms my guess that this is the proper method (using flight video playback) for setting up AI carrier ops. Wish they had included the XML files in the SDK for this mission.
 
That might've been nice. There are some Acceleration mission samples with recordings though, for example RB_Longleat_2006.
 
Thanks Thorsten for point out this Longleat 2006 mission -- hadn't noticed it. They used the AIplayback in combination with camera views in the XML. That's all it is, really. So if you don't need any of those special camera angles in your mission, really, you can use the AI object with AIplayback just as a standalone feature.

Of course that doesn't help me figure out why my AI plane isn't showing up in my mission, but I have a couple things still I need to test.

Ripcord

EDIT: OK now it works. The fix was one of two things: (1) changed the time that filmed the video to match the time of the start of my mission, and (2) changed the name of the FSR file so that it did not contain any spaces, just underscores, eg., FA-18_KW_TEST.FSR...... Not sure which item here was the problem, but its OK, I'll be sure to check both when creating these flight video playback files. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction, Thorsten.
 
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Celebrating yet another achievement in my slow journey up the learning curve. Thorsten, my man, you got a lot of free beer coming your way, should you ever make it over to Houston (or if I ever get to visit Kiel).:D
 
I get an AI Heli moving, using Mobile Scenery Objetcs.
I did a mission with an attached camera to an AI Heli, and I get set its course as I desired , using this.
But my AI Heli started at ground..... I don't know if it's posible tu use it, if you want to start your AI Heli flight on air.
 
PRoblem with moving scenery is that the movement isn't smooth enough if I'm not mistaken.
 
No, no problem with smooth. I don't know why, but all you must do is set the waypoint's speedknots over normal.And you must set the MSO Waypoint controller with the same ground cruise speed and ground turn speed that you've set in the waypoints. To view a Heli normal fligth, I set it to 200 kt.
The result ( what you see) is the same as an AI Plane.

To make an effect as a "travelling camera", you must set about 120 kt.
 
Horst18519 said:
AI Helicopters do not work in FSX.


Finally, the best option for helis in missions is of course Accelaration. With the new Acceleration-Expansion-Pack you can record your own flightpath and assign it to any other object, may it be helicopters, cars or gliders.
This obviously only works if the user also has Acceleration.
Click to expand...


How do I do this? I have Acceleration and want to create a mission with several AI Helicopters, and this seems like it would be the easiest option, but I have no idea how to do it.
 
Record your flight with the FSX video function, then save it. You can then use the new acceleration playback feature to make an AI object use your flightpath. See the SDK how to use it.

As far as I remember there are some small bugs in this feature, for example don't rename your saved file, and make sure you enter the correct path and file name in the action. (there are several threads about this here in the forum)
 
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