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FSXA Wandering aircraft

raymk

raymk

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unitedkingdom
OK this may not be an ADE problem but has anyone found a solution using ADE that will stop some of the default FSX aircraft when used as AI (e.g. Piper Cub, Maule M7 & Extra 500) from deviating from the taxiways when they leave a parking spot? :confused:
When I modify an airfield I like to populate it (using AIFPC) with interesting a/c to make it more realistic :o but to have a Piper Cub going round in circles before eventually getting to the runway is a little bit disturbing. I have just finished modifying LOWS/Saltzburg where there are Red Bull hangars so I put in some Extra 300's to add interest but when they move off they insist on 'wandering about' before eventually heading for the runway.
I guess that the aircraft '.air' or '.mdl' files must be to blame but I am interested to know if anyone has found an ADE solution (assuming that I am not the only one to have noticed this phenomenon).
Has anyone else found this and, more importantly, found a solution?
 
They can't wandering about :D, all aiplanes should follow taxipath defined in the Ade file, must be a problem with the layout of the airport regarding taxipoints taxiways, hold short, etc. take a look the the Ade file if you see somehing weird. anyways here in Fsx never know :(
 
I've found that tail draggers tend to exhibit this "wandering around" behavior when the taxiway/apron/parking turns are too tight for the aircraft turning radius. They attempt to make the turn, but undershoot (badly, sometimes) and if they encounter another turn or intersection, things can get pretty comical.
I'm guessing it's because tail draggers have a much longer distance between the main and tail wheels (vs what a nose dragger has between the mains and the nose wheel), hence a much larger turn radius. I've tried adjusting the aircraft.cfg max turn angle, but with little success.
 
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You need to replace the Piper Cub flight dynamics with another version (I got mine from the web somewhere). They are flyable replacements, but also help their behavior as AI. They still overshoot turns, though, as described above - they just don't go in circles. :)
 
Tejal Bernardo said:
They can't wandering about :D, all aiplanes should follow taxipath defined in the Ade file, must be a problem with the layout of the airport regarding taxipoints taxiways, hold short, etc. take a look the the Ade file if you see somehing weird. anyways here in Fsx never know :(
Click to expand...

Some of the smallest planes in FSX will wander around after leaving a parking space, trying to exit a runway, turning on taxiways, etc.

Some of the larger single engine planes will turn left or right after slowing to taxi speed if still on the runway. They will then realign with the runway and continue to a taxiway exit.

Like Tom says you may find a better FD on the web sites
 
yes I have seen that behaviour when entering to a taxiway from the runway, seem they lost the orientation momentarily, there is a lot of issues with ai planes that would like to fix but I don't have time nor knowledge above all,. :greenflag
Like those airplanes that turn in the middle of the runway in short airfields, very annoying.
 
Thanks for your thoughts

Thanks to all for giving me your comments on this situation. At least I am not alone in getting this anomaly - I guess 100% satisfaction can never be expected.
I will do some testing using different designs of departure from a parking spot to reduce the radius of turn. Pointing the parking spot in the direction of departure helps a lot but I haven't got round to seeing what happens when an aircraft comes back to the spot and then has to re-depart.
Tom - I have downloaded a freeware Piper Cub which is said to have improved FD so will see what that does
 
I have spent countless hours tweaking the cfgs and air files for tail-draggers.

There are still a few that I cannot correct :mad:
 
Hi George,

Off topic, I know, but regarding your latest comment, I suggest you take a look at the cfg and .air file of the freeware FS9 Cessna 195 that behaves quit good as AI in FSX.
 
I gave up tweaking on the default planes that wander. Add some winds and they may not even make it to the runway :eek:
 
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Hi All:

I noticed when I use some tail-draggers in FS8, FS9, and FSX, that if one assigns the Tail Wheel Lock control to "ON", the aircraft is easier to maneuver with. :idea:

I have observed that most aircraft models seem to still have a tail wheel lock capability, an air brake / spoiler capability, and a water rudder capability ...even though the visual model does not display these, and the real world aircraft does not have them as a part of their original design. :eek:

Is this "mode" set into the Aircraft.Cfg or some other editable aircraft-specific end-user configuration file when one toggles this 'Tail Wheel Lock' "ON" ? :confused:

Could this 'Tail Wheel Lock On' control "mode" be coded into the specific files for an AI aircraft as well as when we do this with a user controlled aircraft during a flight... to keep them more "manageable" ?


I know little to nothing of the inner workings of AI aircraft, so I'd appreciate some feedback on whether this might work for fine-tuning the behavior of such AI aircraft. :o


Thanks for any help on this. :)

GaryGB
 
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For tighter turns in Maule AI aircraft overwrite in aircraft.cfg [contact_points] with this:
point.0 = 1, -8.0, 0.00, -3.5, 1500, 0, 0.36, 350.0, 0.3, 2.5, 0.7, 0.0, 0.0, 0

For tighter turns in Piper Cub AI aircraft overwrite in aircraft.cfg [contact_points] with this:
point.0=1, -6.00, 0.0, -3.6, 1800, 0, 0.238, 350.0, 0.300, 2.5, 0.40, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

This brings the tail wheel closer (in the code, not visually) to the nose wheels for a tighter turn radius while also keeping all wheels level on the ground. I've found this practically eliminates all "wandering" tendencies of the tail draggers. Note this only affects your aircraft but you can suggest it to readers in your scenery's ReadMe file. Also, note that this affects the turn radius when you are flying the plane! So make a backup of the files or comment out the original entries for easy restoration.
 
Gaiiden,

your suggestion strikes me as some very 'sideways' thinking.
I have used your figures in my Piper Cub cfg file and they now behave so much better. I haven't yet tried to 'fly' a modified version to see if the taxying is any more difficult but I very much appreciate the thinking behind your suggestion. I will also modify the Maule and may even try to do something with the Extra.
Thanks :)

Ray
 
See this for more details on the contact points section if you decide to mess with the Extra 300:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526949.aspx#mozTocId836373

The key thing to remember is that as you bring the tail wheel closer to the main wheels the aircraft's tail will sit lower and disappear into the ground, so you have to also experiment with making the Vertical Position value (#4) higher to raise the tail back up to the proper position so that the visible tail wheel contacts the ground properly. You can also play around with the Steering Angle value (#8)
 
Gaiiden,

yes that is exactly what I found when tweaking the Extra. I had the tail ploughing into the ground at first and also got the aircraft to somersault 'tail-over-propeller' until I found a value that just put the tailwheel on the ground.
Again thanks for your suggestions.

Ray
 
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