DVC & animations using AA question

[Rugglesbie]

I am using FSDS1 and AA to design for CFS2. I tag for internal display any of the AA taged parts(rudders and swingwings) that are visible from the pilot view in the DVC. When I send the fsc to AA for processing, AA crashes my video card or something the monitor goes black and the monitor then gives a no signal prompt. I then have to do a dirty shut down, loosing all unsaved work, to restart the machine.

"O.K." I think "AA does not support parts in the interior view." So I remove the animation tag in parts properties for the interior view parts, figuring a static view of the parts is better than nothing. When I send the new version to AA same lockup occurs. Seems while I removed the AArudder designation from the check box in parts properties of FSDS, in the parts list the part still retains the V122 designation that all the AA taged parts display in The FSDS parts list.

That's the problem, now for the Questions. Is there a way to display rudder and wing parts animated with aircraft animator when you are viewing from the DVC?
Failing that. Is there a way to remove all the animation tags (parts properties tag and the V122 designation)from the parts? So I can at least get static representations of them into the DVC. Any help or even wild guesses are invited and appreciated.

Rugglesbie

[Hagar]

Hi Rugglesbie. I'm not the best person to answer this as I haven't used AA for over 1 year & no longer have it installed. I don't remember a problem with viewing normal AA tagged parts (ailerons, flaps, elevator, rudder etc.) animated with AA from cockpit view.

May I suggest that updating to FSDS2 might be worth considering. It will take a little getting used to after FSDS1 as the animation & DVC basics are completely different to name but two examples. I find the extra features make it well worth the trouble & FSDS2 is far more satisfactory in every way for creating CFS2 aircraft.

[Rugglesbie]

I have not gotten that far Hagar. The problem comes when I send the .fsc to the animator. As soon as Aircraft Animator starts to process the model my monitor goes blank, then the no signal from cpu notice comes up on the screen. I can do nothing except kill power to the computer to restart it. I lost all the animation information from the model and had to completely redo all the animations. When I remove the interior view tagged animated parts AA works normally. Weird hunh?

Rugglesbie

[Hagar]

Providing you tagged the parts correctly I suspect it's a problem with the model rather than anything else. I seem to remember that AA has a parts or size limit & maybe it's too complex. You could easily check this out with a simple test piece.

I always used to run AA separately when possible rather than via FSDS. I looked on the latter as a temporary fix to allow AA to work with the latest sims before it was updated. The latest version of AA can be set to work with CFS2 & FS2002. Running it separately creates another AA backup file (2 instead of 1) when you first animate a project. This allows you to tweak the animation without running FSDS every time. It's also much quicker & more convenient.

[Rugglesbie]

Where are the backups stored? In AA ? Or the mdl file? or a file in FSDS? In AA all I get is a save option, no open option. When I loose the animations I can't even load one of the backup mdl files to get it back. I have to redo the animations.

Rugglesbie

[Hagar]

The AA backup files should be in the Model folder of your project. They have file extensions like mdl.mpi & mdl.nmp. I can't remember exactly.

PS. Mail me if you wish. Then maybe we can sort this out.

PPS. If the options are set correctly AA will automatically read the MDL file of every aircraft installed to the appropriate sim (CFS2 in this case) when you run it. This option is also available from the AA Animation Wizard. It will also tell you which ones can be animated. AA can only re-animate previously animated aircraft with the 2 backup files in the Model folder. This is not possible if you (or the original author) originally animated them via FSDS. I suggest producing your project from FSDS as a New Aircraft under different folder & sim names. Then instead of running AA from within FSDS, try animating it by running AA separately as I suggested. You must have the current version of AA (free update for registered users available from Abacus) as earlier versions do not recognise CFS2.

[Hagar]

Update. I decided the only way to refresh my memory would be to install AA. Unfortunately, the latest version I have backed up (Version 1.2E) does not appear to support CFS2 or FS2002. AA also seems to have been completely removed from the Abacus website. This is a pity but understandable as aircraft animated with AA are not supported in FS2004. It's possible they can do something if you're a registered user & contact Abacus Product Support.

From what you're saying I can only assume that like me you're using an earlier version of AA. I found it's possible to tweak aa.ini to recognise CFS2. This might not resolve your problem as it won't include the latest features.

PS. If you wish to try the tweak, find aa.ini in the AA root folder & open it in Notepad. Add the line in blue & exit Notepad saving changes. (This must be the exact path to your own CFS2 root folder.) AA should now recognise CFS2 when you run it - listed under Combat Flight Simulator.

[Values]

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

; FS98/CFS/FS2000 directories. Normally, AA would get them from the
; system registry. If this doesn't work, remove the semicolon from
; the following line(s) and enter correct directories.

;FS98_Dir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator
;CFS_Dir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Combat Flight Simulator
;FS2000_Dir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2000
CFS_Dir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Combat Flight Simulator 2

[Rugglesbie]

I am using AAv1.3 boxed version. I got it last summer from Abacus's closeout sale I guess.  The cfg file shows support for up to fs2002, cfs2 included. The only thing incorrect is the sims directory address in AA is set for C drive and I keep my sims on the D drive. A quick edit fixed that, but do I add the semicolon back in after the edit?. I made a manual back up in notepad of all the info listed in the properties boxes of the animated parts. So now I have info that crashing AA won't wipe out.  When I create the new model do I use seperate parts tagged for exterior/interior view(rudder.ext, rudder.int) or do I click both internal and external view  check boxes in the  part properties box for a single part? Does checking both work? When AA has crashed I have been using seperate parts.

[Hagar]

Great. Glad we got that sorted. Installing CFS2 to a different drive could well explain it.

Going from memory, the same parts can be viewed internally & externally by selecting both options from FSDS/Part Properties. Animating them should not make any difference. Using duplicate parts for each view is unnecessary & almost certainly the cause of your problem.

I managed to track down the latest AA myself. Your Version 1.3 appears to be the current version. It's still posted on the Abacus site which has always been difficult to navigate. If you still have problems please mail me from the address in my profile. You could possibly send me your FSC source file so I can try it myself. It's been a while since I've used FSDS1 or AA but I'm sure we can figure this out.

PS.

A quick edit fixed that, but do I add the semicolon back in after the edit?

No. The semicolon in front of a CFG or INI entry is known as a remark. It disables the following command line.

[Rugglesbie]

I will try working it that way  And post the results later

[Rugglesbie]

Setting the parts to both int.and ext view worked great, Hagar, Thanks Tremendously

Rugglesbie

[Hagar]

That's great. Glad you fixed it.