AI Prop engine Sounds

[Batman93210]

Hi yal.


AI addon traffic. How can I get the prop AI traffic that I add to use there own engine sounds??


For an exsample I addit an Super Constellation to my AI traffic. but it's using the Cessna Skyhawk 172SP engine sound . So how would I get the Constellation to use the Conie's engine sound??

[Graycat8524]

Badda Badda Badda Badda Badda Badda Batman!!

Sorry -- I'm showing my age.

[Batman93210]

Thank you for the repy

I under stand about the sound cfg file. I addit the Connie as an IA with ttools, I also fly the Connie. I'm not under stand ing how to get FS9 to assign the AI Connie it right sounds.  I'm still just green I gess. ; :-/

[Graycat8524]

No problem whatsoever, Batman.

What I have done in the case of aircraft that I fly as well as assign to AI is to create an EXTRA folder in my Main FS 2004 directory\Aircrafts folder for the AI aircraft.

In my case I have the excellent Douglas DC-4 by FS Berlin that I fly and also have as an AI aircraft.  Now FS Berlin has an AI version of the DC-4 that you can download.  I assign this one to be the AI Aircraft in TTools and "escort" it in a Vought F4U Corsair or Grumman F6F Hellcat.

In your case it would not be difficult to "convert" your Constellation to an AI aircraft.  

Start out by making a New Folder in your Flight Simulator\Aircraft folder.  Name it "AI Connie" or something similar.  Next go into the Constellation   folder (of the aircraft that you normally fly).  Copy and Paste only these folders and files into the new "AI Connie" folder:

Model folder
Texture folder
Aircraft.cfg
Constellation.air (or whatever the *.air file is named for your Connie)

Create another New Folder inside the "AI Connie" directory called Sound.

Follow the directions I listed above to create a new Sound.cfg file defaulted to the King Air 350.

Now double click on the AI Constellation's Aircraft.cfg file.  Using the Notepad editor rename the Connie's title to something different.

Example:
Say for instance when you open the Constellation's Aircraft.cfg file you should see at the top:

[fltsim.0]
title=Lockheed Constellation (or whatever)

Change this to:

[fltsim.0]
title=AI Connie (or whatever)

Now we get to do the interesting stuff.

Open Traffic Tools.  If you don't have a recent copy of the Aircraft.txt, Flightplans.txt, and Airports.txt files then first do a Decompile.

Open the TTools Aircraft.txt and locate the entry for the AI Constellation that you already have.  Change the name to the new AI Name that you typed in the title section of the AI Aircraft.cfg File (i.e. AI Connie (or whatever)).

That's it!!  Re-compile Traffic Tools and whoosh!!  There's your new AI Constellation!!

[RollerBall]

Hi all

Afraid it doesn't appear to be as easy as that. That would work fine for an ordinary aircraft but for some reason AI work to totally different rules.

From the work I've done with AI it would appear that there's a variable in the air file that controls the sound file used.

For example, I've played with helis using air files from small singles (eg C182) and turboprops (eg Kingair) and even with the Bell sounds (folder or aliased) the helis use the sound from the aircraft whose air file was modified.

Even simply changing the engine type in the air file and leaving all else unchanged still leaves the sounds of the original plane.

I've just not had the time to look into it further but I think there's more to it than meets the eye

[alrot]

Badda Badda Badda Badda Badda Badda Batman!!

!!

....lol...

[Graycat8524]

Absolutely true, Rollerball.  I couldn't agree more that "for some reason AI work to totally different rules".

Normally when I assign AI aircraft I can just use an aircraft in Traffic Tools (it doesn't matter if it is an AI aircraft or a player flyable aircraft) and the sounds will come out just fine.

Maybe there is an additional issue that Batman is experiencing.  Batman may follow my suggestions and we may recommend something else if these don't work.  

[Batman93210]

Thanks agen


Well I did all you sed to do and it's stiil uesing the def.  Cessna Skyhawk engine sound .

Here's what the AI Connie cgf file locks like


[fltsim.0]
title=AI l-1049 MATS CONNIE
sim=connie
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
panel_alias =
sound_alias =
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=
ui_manufacturer=Lockheed
ui_type=Super Constellation
ui_variation=L-1049
description=Mil C-121 Lockheed Constellation Trasport              
atc_heavy=0
atc_airline=MATS
atc_flight_number=654

And ths sound file cgf I edited

[FLTSIM.0]
product_code=FSIM
alias=AI l-1049 MATS CONNIE\sound

I also made New Folder in  Flight Simulator\Aircraft folder.  Name it (AI l-1049 MATS CONNIE)

Well to make a long stroy short .

What do you sajuest from here.

Thank you for you time

[Graycat8524]

Heya Batman,

The first thing to do is to edit the Sound.cfg in your AI Connie sound folder and replace the line:

alias=AI l-1049 MATS CONNIE\sound

with this line:

alias=beech_king_air_350\sound

It should work then!  

If not, then we'll try something else.

[Hagar]

I've just spotted this. To elaborate on what RollerBall has already said, the AI aircraft work on a different principle to the flyable ones. From my experience with AI drones in CFS, they still use the appropriate sound with no Sound.cfg at all. Aliasing to a different sound would only affect the flyable version. To confirm this try deleting Sound.cfg from the Sound folder of your "AI Only" Connie.

I believe the AI sound is defined in the AIR file (section 310 Engine Type). I think these are the only options:
0=Piston, 1=Jet, 2=None, 3=Helo-Turbine, 4=Rocket, 5=Turboprop.
I don't see why FS would be any different.

I'm not sure where these default AI sounds are defined or located. If you can find out it's possible these can be changed, but the sound would be the same for all piston engined AI aircraft.

[Graycat8524]

I agree Hagar.  RollerBall had a similar suggestion.  My plan was to start off with the easy stuff first then go to the more advanced troubleshooting techniques (*.air files) if the easy stuff didn't work.

There are two reasons that I didn't have Batman mess around with the *.air files initially.  First he's going to need an Air File Editor program (I use William M. Roth's Air Editor v1.52).  Secondly, he's going to need to know how to use it.  It can be tricky if you're first starting out (thank goodness I follow three rules in modifying FS planes -- Backups, Backups, Backups!).

If you have a better plan for helping Batman let me know, I'll bow out, and you can continue from here.

[Hagar]

Hi Graycat. Please don't think I'm trying to interfere. I'm just trying to save you & Batman wasting your time. AI traffic was first introduced in FS2002 but the concept is based on exactly the same principles as the AI aircraft in CFS. I've been messing around with them since CFS1 (in early 1999) which gives me quite a head start.

I haven't checked out my theory in FS9 (don't have it installed on this machine) but this could easily be confirmed by deleting Sound.cfg from the AI Only drones as I suggested. If I'm correct there's no way to have different sounds for various types of AI aircraft of the same engine type. If it's possible to change the default AI piston sound to use the Connie sounds, I suspect that all the other piston engined AI aircraft will use the same sound - so even the AI light aircraft would sound like the Connie. In this case I don't think it's worth the bother.

[Graycat8524]

Absolutely Hagar.  Believe it or not the next step that I was going to try to solve Batman's issue was exactly your suggestion (as supported by RollerBall) with the *.air file.  I agree with you completely about the Sounds in FS 2004.  I've downloaded and installed many AI Aircraft that do not even have Sound folders.  So, the next logical step is the *.air file.

As I've said previously when I assign AI aircraft I can just use an aircraft in Traffic Tools (it doesn't matter if it is an AI aircraft or a player flyable aircraft) and the sounds will come out just fine.

I've been playing with the Flight Simulator ever since Bruce Artwick and subLOGIC put out version 1.0 for my Commodore 64!  You had to play using the 5 1/4" floppy disk since my original PC didn't have a hard drive!!  Saved games?  You had to remove the Program floppy and insert a separate game save floppy disk to save games.

What's really funny is to think back at the first version that I had back in 1983 and how far its come today from this first humble beginning.

So, enough of the memories spurred by the Ghost of Flight Simulators Past!  Each version has had its quirks and FS 2004 is no different.  I still don't know all of the tricks, so anyone is welcome to step in any time if I'm wrong (I've been wrong before in my life -- just ask my EX-Wife!  But be sure to have about three hours scheduled on your calendar for the full story!  A box of Kleenex would be necessary also).

[Hagar]

OK Graycat. Compared with you I'm only a begginer. All suggestions gratefully accepted here.

[quote]Absolutely Hagar.

[Graycat8524]

No Hagar!  I didn't mean to imply that I considered you a beginner!  Please don't get me wrong!  I was just reminiscing about the difference between the old Flight Simulator and how it's improved.  All I meant by my previous post was to point out how complicated and quirky FS 2004 can be.

You have suggestions, I have suggestions, and hopefully these suggestions get Batman's issue resolved.  I noticed that he hasn't replied to this post since Today at 1:56am (Dallas Time).  Who knows if he is still having issues?

Peace?