AI traffic disappeared

[Sluggie]

Hey guys, I'm sure this has been posted before and I've tried some of the other tips but basically...

I run FSX with hundreds of simviation add-ons and it's great, but recently I upgraded my Just Flight Traffic to Traffic 360 and it seemed to work fine for a while but then one day all the other aircraft disappeared. I have the odd aircraft flying but nothing at the gates of any airport? I can't exactly remember when this happened so I can't think what I changed but I generally don't delve into the PC workings too deep and usually stick to the sliders in the options menu. And I have uninstalled and reinstalled twice to no effect.

Any other ideas or hints gratefully received.

Cheers, Sluggie

(A real world rotary wing pilot who prefers the fixed wing sim world)

[FabioL]

Hi,
Is the traffic default FSX AI, or is it T360?
Have you got the appropriate JF T360 entry shown in FSX or Prepar3d CFG file?
I'm away from my PC right now, but if you have a backup CFG, then search for this entry and copy IT into the corresponding section of you current CFG.
I'll post an update later, memory permitting!
Fabio

[Sluggie]

Thanks for the quick reply Fabio,

I'm also not at my FSX PC so I couldn't tell you accurately. I'm back home tomorrow so I'll check those settings then.

Cheers, Sluggie

[FabioL]

Hi,

No worries!

Here is the line from my FSX.cfg (it's the same in Prepar3D.cfg):
SimObjectPaths.X=SimObjects\JFTraffic360 {where "X" is the next incremental sequential number}

Good luck, let us know!
Fabio

[Jetranger]

Don't forget, if your using FSX, should any 2004 AI Flight plans be inserted, it'll wipe out any A.I. Air Traffic, unless you convert the 2004 AI Flight plans to FSX format.

good luck !

[FabioL]

Good point!
AI flight plans BGL files are located here:
<Your "Microsoft Flight Simulator X" Directory>\Scenery\World\Scenery
If in doubt, I think that Just Flight has a free AI BGL version checker , or easier still, just move obvious AI traffic files out, and just leave the default Traffic 360 AI BGL present (ai-traffic.bgl).
Good luck!
Fabio

[Visitor66]

Hi there Sluggie,

I also use Traffic 360 and often forget that you need to "compile" traffic routes for it..............


On the Windows desktop, without FSX running, If you press the start button and select:

All Programs, then Just Flight, then Traffic 360

you'll see the Traffic Control Centre.

You just need to go through the options one after another, to set your preferences.

On Traffic Movements, you have to select when you want the flights to appear,

(I use Summer 2012 for instance), then click Compile traffic plans, it may take quite a while,

then just name the plans you've created in the dialog that comes up.

You'll see a black box saving it to your PC.

That's it. (There are updates available from Just Flght's website too).

Sorry about the long-winded post.

Cheers, For Danglia.

[Jetranger]

Knew I had read this somewhere before, I'll pass it on to all you other Flight Simmer for general Knowledge

"Don't Mix FS9 and FSX Traffic Files: !!!!

FS9 traffic files are compatible with FSX. However, as described more fully in the User Manual, if FSX "sees" a compiled-for-FS9 traffic file, it will generate AI traffic for that file and any other compiled-for-FS9 traffic files it "sees"; but, it will "NOT" generate traffic for any compiled-for-FSX files. This has nothing to do with AI Flight Planner. It is a FSX "feature".

So, if you "DON'T" get (or suddenly stop getting) AI traffic from compiled-for-FSX traffic files, the first thing to look for is a compiled-for "FS9 file" somewhere within FSX's scope - probably in the Scenery\World\Scenery folder. You'll find AI Flight Planner's Find FS9 Files function very useful for this.


and the LINK to this Valuable bit of Information can be found here : http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?folder=AIFP&function=be-aware

[Sluggie]

Thanks very much for all the replies and help.

Like I mentioned before I don't delve too deep into the programmes themselves but willing to have a go.

So, firstly I did indeed use the compiler and stacked it up with VFR traffic and Winter and Summer schedules. It took about 5 minutes to run through it all before showing me the black box then finished. Ran it after that and no difference.

I then took note of the ai-traffic.bgl file so.....I probably did this wrong...went into the scenery/world/ai traffic and simply renamed it?!? It was aircrafttraffic.bgl from memory. This also didn't make any traffic appear on the ground. I eventually uninstalled JFTraffic and JFT 360 and reinstalled it. Alas, the problem did not go away. I have the traffic sliders up to 85%. I still have traffic in the air as I can see them through the 'views' window but there is nothing at any of the airports.

So if any of you has the patience and time to talk me through slowly about where I should be looking next that would be fantastic. My last resort is simply to uninstall the whole of FSX and acceleration and all the files including JFT360 and start again.

Once again, thank you, Sluggie.

[FabioL]

Hi,
Did you rename the file by changing the extension BGL to something else, as renaming the file name but keeping the BGL extension won't change matters (unless a scenery is looking for a specific traffic file); for instance, EGKKTraffic.BGL to EGKKTraffic.old.
No matter, try moving the traffic files out of the directory instead; highlight all traffic files (ai-traffic.bgl etc), right click, select MOVE, and then paste them into a new folder on your desktop.
You say you're gettibg AI traffic in the air but not on the ground; are these aircraft default MS FSX AI traffic aircrsft such as Orbit Airlines, or are they airlines and airliners that come with Traffic 360?
Also, please confirm whether the line that I mentioned earlier in the thread is present in your FSX.CFG? For T360 to work, it must be there, otherwise only FSX AI will be available but only if the default FSX traffic BGL is present.
Which airports are you looking at? Are they airports for which you have payware or freeware scenery for? Try going to another major default airport for which you do not have additional scenery for.
I've never before heard of a situation where AI exists in the air but not on the ground, BUT it can happen that with some non-default airports, incorrect airport layout files (AFCAD's) may be wrong, in which case AI will land and then literally disappear because there is nowhere logical for them to go (AI timeout).
Finally, it is possible that with certain taxiway configurations, that the taxi route logic is impeded by the actual airport layout, so that AI will wait for other AI to complete their landing roll, or to vacate a parking spot, but if this doesn't occur, the new AI arrival will it literally disappear in a puff of logic. This may not apply to you because you say you have no airport AI traffic, so it cannot be a parking slot issue.
That's why you should try this at a major international DEFAULT airport, so that abundant parking will exist and that taxi routes will be tried and tested.
Above all, I'm sure this is fixable without doing anything too rash!
Best wishes,
Fabio

[Visitor66]

Hi there Sluggie, thanks for trying the compile system in traffic 360.

The Simv community is always helpful and there's some good advice on this tread.

There's one thing that you could try, as an experiment.

Traffic 360 (T360) sometimes copies the AI aircraft models to the wrong folder, especially if you've had Traffic X previously.

If you check in the FSX main folder, SimObjects, you should see a JFTraffic360 folder.

In there should be all of the aircraft that T360 will use to populate your sim. The folder may be called TrafficX, (that's been the case for me sometimes, even when not having had Traffic X on that system).

You may need to check in the Misc folder too. Now the experiment,you can copy and paste the Aircraft from there into SimObjects[/b].

Just make sure that you have the JFAI-AllAircraft folder in there, before you copy it over, as that has the sound and panel configs.

If you now recompile from the T360 Control Centre as before, you will hopefully have AI.

Cheers, For Danglia.

[Sluggie]

Hi FabioL...

Firstly, I'm using the default Chicago O'Hare airport as my test bed, it doesn't get much busier than that! So the airport is empty but when I go onto views and traffic I get the default MS...and from memory only the GA stuff, so I quickly click onto the Mooney G1000, and here's an odd thing, twice now the Mooney has been merged with itself - so a four wing two tailplane aircraft, another glitch. I don't recall getting any Boeings to look at or other airlines. I'm not too familiar with the FSX.CFG files. But I renamed the ai-traffic BGL file from the World/Scenery /AI Traffic folder - mistake?

For Danglia, I'll try that experiment tonight when I'm home. I have to admit to seeing two Just Flight Traffic folders. One is in the main MS FSX folder and another in the sim objects folder. I've also been advised to delete the Traffic X folders and just run Traffic 360. But I don't recall doing that when I first loaded 360 - and it worked ok then.

It's not the end of the world if I have to uninstall and reinstall all the flight sim. But with you guys helping me through this I'm beginning to get a lot more knowledge out of my PC too. Much appreciated.

Thanks, Sluggie

[FabioL]

Hi,

That doubling effect with AI aircraft is a very much known issue caused by resetting or reloading situations, whereby your aeroplane and scenery will reset, as will your AI, but your AI will spawn a whole new bunch of traffic right ontop of itself! Yes, double Boeing's can exist, as with all AI types, be they MD's, Boeing's, BAe's or Cessna's.

We need to see your FSX.CFG; I reckon this is where the issue is because you're only seeing MS FSX AI, and the T360 module isn't loading.

Please, before doing anything else too severe, and because this might be a quick fix, try opening your FSX.CFG in notepad. I don't know the directory location or whether you installed FSX as administrator, as sometimes add-ons do have trouble making changes to key FSX files (of which there are many, FSX.CFG is just one of these crucial files). It may be T360 couldn't enter this line, or that at some point you have rebuilt your FSX.CFG and in so doing, the T360 line will not have been recreated.

Without the correct entry, T360 will absolutely fail to load.

Open MS Windows Explorer, and navigate to the following directory, as this is where your FSX.CFG is located:
C:\Users\YOUR ACCT NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.CFG

Open FSX.CFG in Notepad, and then find the section that holds five or six (or more) "SimObjectPaths" statements, and in particular, this line:
SimObjectPaths.X=SimObjects\JFTraffic360

If it's missing, add it (ensure X is the next sequential number), save and close. It may be worth backing up your FSX.CFG beforehand, and to do this easily, simply right click on FSX.CFG in Explorer, and send it to a compressed file - it will be saved instantly!

Good luck, please keep us informed, and as has already been said, there is much valuable information in this AI Thesis thread, and I'm sure it can be sorted!

Best wishes,
Fabio

[Jetranger]

Knew I had read this somewhere before, I'll pass it on to all you other Flight Simmer for general Knowledge

"Don't Mix FS9 and FSX Traffic Files: !!!!

FS9 traffic files are compatible with FSX. However, as described more fully in the User Manual, if FSX "sees" a compiled-for-FS9 traffic file, it will generate AI traffic for that file and any other compiled-for-FS9 traffic files it "sees"; but, it will "NOT" generate traffic for any compiled-for-FSX files. This has nothing to do with AI Flight Planner. It is a FSX "feature".

So, if you "DON'T" get (or suddenly stop getting) AI traffic from compiled-for-FSX traffic files, the first thing to look for is a compiled-for "FS9 file" somewhere within FSX's scope - probably in the Scenery\World\Scenery folder. You'll find AI Flight Planner's Find FS9 Files function very useful for this.


and the LINK to this Valuable bit of Information can be found here : http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?folder=AIFP&function=be-aware