Simviation Forums

So, this problem has probably been aired many times but in all the years I have used FSX and earlier versions I haven't seen a resolution.
I have a lot of aircraft, they are related by maker, history or oddness. I can seperate them into categories in the initial window but the more aircraft I have, the longer FSX takes to start and it can get very long. I suppose it checks through all the sims before starting but is there a way to prevent it going through the routine until I have chosen an appropriate hanger containing the aircraft I am intent on crashing?
Microsoft did a wonderful job in creating FSX so that people like me can 'fiddle' with it to our heart's content.
Any ideas please?

Create a new folder in "Simobject" and name it "Hanger" Transfer the little used aircraft into that folder. FSX will not see any aircraft in the "Hanger"

Better still, name the folder "Hangar". A Hanger is what you put clothes on.

could one transfer only the liveries of various planes, into the ''hangar'', without it affecting performance?....

You can also unclick the tab so it will only shows the aircraft and not every livery. That will speed up the loading time.

Tiger1962 wrote:Better still, name the folder "Hangar". A Hanger is what you put clothes on.

Must have missed my morning coffee.

@yancovitch:

Better than move texture folders is to make a backup of aircraft.cfg and in the original, erase the entries to liveries or variants that you don't use. Remember that the active livery must start as [fltsim.0]. EXAMPLE

ORIGINAL BEFORE ERASING ENTRIES:

[fltsim.0]
title=A2A Piper PA-24-250 Comanche N6229P
sim=PA24_250
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=a2a
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=N6229P
ui_manufacturer="Piper"
ui_type="PA-24-250 Comanche"
ui_variation="N6229P"
ui_typerole="Single Engine Prop"
ui_createdby="A2A Simulations Inc."

[fltsim.1]
title=A2A Piper PA-24-250 Comanche N7791P
sim=PA24_250
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=N7791P
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=N7791P
ui_manufacturer="Piper"
ui_type="PA-24-250 Comanche"
ui_variation="N7791P"
ui_typerole="Single Engine Prop"
ui_createdby="A2A Simulations Inc."

[fltsim.2]
title=A2A Piper PA-24-250 Comanche N8665R
sim=PA24_250
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=N8665R
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=N8665R
ui_manufacturer="Piper"
ui_type="PA-24-250 Comanche"
ui_variation="N8665R"
ui_typerole="Single Engine Prop"
ui_createdby="A2A Simulations Inc."

[fltsim.3]
title=A2A Piper PA-24-250 Comanche N822JH
sim=PA24_250
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=N822JH
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=N822JH
ui_manufacturer="Piper"
ui_type="PA-24-250 Comanche"
ui_variation="N822JH"
ui_typerole="Single Engine Prop"
ui_createdby="A2A Simulations Inc."

REDUCED:

[fltsim.0]
title=A2A Piper PA-24-250 Comanche N822JH
sim=PA24_250
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=N822JH
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=N822JH
ui_manufacturer="Piper"
ui_type="PA-24-250 Comanche"
ui_variation="N822JH"
ui_typerole="Single Engine Prop"
ui_createdby="A2A Simulations Inc."

Thanks to papituwall - I'll give that a try. Being savaged by the 'odd' tiger doesn't really worry me, at the age of eighty I feel I'm entitled to make the occasional error which might well be ignored by some who haven't any better contribution to offer. I've checked this message and can find no further errors.

Sad to say, none of this does what I had in mind. I think my problem is that on startup FSX opens all the aircraft loaded into it. The more aircraft the longer it takes to present the selection screen. What I was dreaming of was to start with a hangAr with only a small selection of aircraft, then when the first screen comes up different 'hangArs could be selected. Thats possible but the program would still run through all of the aircraft before it starts - is there a way of avoiding this to achieve a faster start time?

There are various methods of doing what you want. The easiest way over this is to drag all the aircraft you don't use (except the default aircraft) into the Hangar folder.

Then if you wish to use one in the Hangar simply move it back again. You can't possibly need all those aircraft installed at the same time.

Adrian39, I think after a while, most users of FSX and ilk will experience your problem. Many of them mentioned are very good, but I use a combination of those suggestions. Namely, I sort my aircraft into folders "Military Props",Military Jets, Civilian...General Aviation...Helicopter...you get the idea. Then the Category I wish to fly for extended time, couple of days, whatever, I rename the default Aircraft folder to AC, or something else and rename the category folder I wish to fly to "Aircraft".. Reduced loading times tremendously. If that's too cumbersome, the easiest way to speed up loading, of all the liveries you DON'T want to load, go to the corresponding entry in the aircraft config file and just place an * or ? in the panel= entry. That aircraft will not load. I limit having default aircraft in the folder by placing commonly used panels in the FSX/gauges folder and move whole sound folders into the aircraft.... I limit the use of the "alias" routine. Decreasing the number of aircraft in the Aircraft folder definitely speeds FSX initialization. Many good suggestions out there.
Good luck..Let us know how it works out..........Terry

Thanks Terry. I'll give that a try, sounds promising.
I have a ten year old grandson; when he visits the first thing he wants to do is fly the microlight and crash it a few times! If I haven't anticipated his arrival by starting FSX in advance, he loses interest before the first screen appears!
So, your suggestion may get me a few brownie points. His sister already believes 'there's nothing wrong with grandad'. She doesn't know about the dementia though!!

Thanks.

I have to ask forbearance because as I have noted I'm getting ancient and I often find difficulty in getting my brain cell to work reliably.

In trying out Terry's suggestions I have hit a problem which I cannot remeber how to solve. In trying to add some aircraft to FSX from a couple of DVDs carrying all I have ever downloaded, I find the aircraft appear as 'bare metal' I have fiddled about with the aircraft.config files in regards to textures and so on but the aircraft still display bare. What have I forgotten since I last used FSX - Anyone know?

Have you enabled DirectX10 compatibility mode?
Are those aircraft FS9 portovers?

Preview DirectX10 is checked. I don't know what the significance of 'preview' is!
I have tried four out of the many I have on DVD. Though there was some fiddling on occasion when I was using Windows 7 they all worked. It's a year since my motherboard died and I have only just got round to installing FSX again but with windows 10. Now Viscounts 700 and 800 from JBK comes up with textures the rest I have tried are just ghost-like white and grey. Please don't suggest installing each one in turn because there are two DVDs full!
Thanks for your help, things never used to be as difficult as this I seem to remember.