Gypsy Baron

Glad I could help, then and now :) Paul

Look at the MD-83, which I believe is an FSX default AI aircraft. In the MD-83 folder is a "soundai" folder. In that folder is a file "soundai.cfg" In that file you find: [fltsim] alias=B737_800\soundai This is pointing to the default B737_800 soundai folder. That is the structure you need but the "alias=" path can be to whatever aircraft 'sound' or 'soundai' folder you have and wish to use for the AI aircraft in question. Paul

In flew the below legs in the A2A B-17G as part of the 91st Bombardment Group's "Hop Program". A series of 135 hops designed to familiarize new members with the operation of that aircraft and to hone formation flying skills. We always fly 'real time' and I personally always stay in the VC except for head calls and a trip to the kitched for more coffee. I have flown all of these legs more than once. Initially after I first joined the 91st a few years back, and subsequently to accompany other new pilots on their hops as various phases require a minimum of 2, 3 or 4 B-17s in formation. SBFZ - GOOY Pinto Martins Intl. - Leopold Sedar Senghor 1674 NM KMCF - KALW MacDill AFB - Walla Walla Regl. 2009 SRF - PHJR Hamilton - Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Field) 2091 JON - PKWA Johnston Atoll - Bucholz AAF 1413 RODN - PWAK Kadena AB - Wake Is. 2185 PHNL - PADK Honolulu Intl. - Adak 2030 The longest flight time was approximately 12 1/2 hours. My current A2A B-17G has over 1700 hours on it The lowest time engine (#2) has more then 1500 hours on it. Paul

Somewhere out there is a little utility that will grab your FSX serial number. I can't remember what it is called or where I got it but someone here, or in the Google world, should have the info. Paul

FYI, I get G3D errors, trapped by FSUIPC4, around the area of UKBA, Duxford, Stansted. I am pretty certain that these errors are caused by scenery elements as they always occur in that area. I haven't taken the time to fly test patterns to try to pinpoint the actual position of the error-causing elements yet. I just don't have time to do that at the moment. I have OrbX EU plus Global and Vector installed and run in Hybrid mode so I believe the active scenery reverts to the EU scenery. I do have several custom airports installed as well so one or more of those may be causing the issues. I have REX soft clouds installed but I am almost certain that these are not causing the G3D errors sine, on my system, they are area specific. I suggest running FSUIPC4 in FSX. That SHOULD trap the G3D errors, preventing a crash. The FSUIPC4.log file will show if any G3D errors were trapped along with a time stamp that might prove useful in tracking down where in the flight you encountered the error(s). Paul

You can move scenery anywhere you wish, as you must 'tell FSX' where it is when you activate a folder in the Scenery Library. One could edit the scenery.cfg file to add the new paths or you could rename your 'old' scenery.cfg and then move the scenery. Let FSX build a new scenery.cfg and then go about adding all the folders to the new Scenery Library. I've done both in the past. If all you want to do is move your entire 'Addon Scenery' folder you could move it to th ROOT of a new empty drive or partition reserved exclusively for scenery and then MOUNT that drive or partition into the EMPTY 'Addon Scenery' folder in the FSX directory. I have done that operation with m\y Addon Scenery, now residing on my "J:" drive (FSX is on my" X": drive) as well as my OrbX scenery, now on my "O:" drive. That removed over 1.5GB from my FSX folder Another thing I do is swap scenery.cfg files...cfg's tailored for a given region or type of flying. I keep several scenery.cfg files in the default location with descriptive names. Europe_scenery.cfg, USA_scenery.cfg, Missions_scenery.cfg, etc . When I want to change scenery cfg files I simply open the desired cfg file in Notepad and then do a 'Save as' operation or simply remove the prefix leaving 'scenery.cfg' and save that, overwriting the last used file. Do this BEFORE you launch FSX to avoid any anomalies. Another thing to do is disable any and all photos cenery if you do not intend to fly in those areas. FSX loads them by default whether you fly there or not, impacting your VAS. Paul

You are welcome. Here are 3 JPGs that I annotated a long time ago explaining how the HotKeySelect assignments and the FSX Control Menu relate. Hope those help to clarify the operation. Paul

I use CameraDefinition entries in my aircraft.cfg file to define the left, right and one other view. I then assign them to FSX views via the HotKeySelect statements added to the CameraDefinition entries. On my X-45 stick, I assign the 4 views VC (F9), the left, right and other views to the #2 hat switch. A flick of the thumb changes the views instantaneously. Very easy to implement and add to all your aircraft. I use the 'other' view as an aircraft-specific assignment. It might be 'over the cowl' for a good view while taxiing or a closeup of the instrument panel. I use TrackIR so the left/right cameras are usually down and left, down and right to see controls on the sides of the cockpit in my single engine aircraft or the right seat and two other views in my multi-engine aircraft.. TIP 'takes care' of looking left or right In the A2A B-377 I used the CameraDefinitions to move me to the FE Station, the right seat and the Navigators position. Here are my definitions for the B-377: [CameraDefinition.001] Title = "Co-Pilot" Guid = {8ff6c134-098d-409f-baec-caba3f683f98} Origin = Virtual Cockpit MomentumEffect = YES SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel SnapPbhReturn = False PanPbhAdjust = Swivel PanPbhReturn = False Track = None ShowAxis = YES AllowZoom = TRUE InitialZoom = 0.5 SmoothZoomTime = 2.0 ZoomPanScalar = 1.0 ShowWeather = Yes XyzAdjust = TRUE ShowLensFlare=TRUE Category = Cockpit PitchPanRate=100 HeadingPanRate=100 InitialXyz=0.99, 0.0, 0.0 InitialPbh=20, 0, 0 HotKeySelect=5 [CameraDefinition.002] Title = "Flight Engineer" Guid = {BBCB4E9C-ECF6-4c6c-AD83-C16084DC0B10} Origin = Virtual Cockpit MomentumEffect = YES SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel SnapPbhReturn = False PanPbhAdjust = Swivel PanPbhReturn = False Track = None ShowAxis = YES AllowZoom = TRUE InitialZoom = 0.4 SmoothZoomTime = 2.0 ZoomPanScalar = 1.0 ShowWeather = Yes XyzAdjust = TRUE ShowLensFlare=TRUE Category = Cockpit PitchPanRate=100 HeadingPanRate=100 InitialXyz=0.5, 0.0, -1.17 //InitialPbh=20, 0, 30.0 InitialPbh= 0, 0, 35.0 HotKeySelect=6 [CameraDefinition.003] Title = "Radionavigator" Guid = {515136DD-1A45-47c9-AF8D-C749BEEFA8C3} Origin = Virtual Cockpit MomentumEffect = YES SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel SnapPbhReturn = False PanPbhAdjust = Swivel PanPbhReturn = False Track = None ShowAxis = YES AllowZoom = TRUE InitialZoom = 0.4 SmoothZoomTime = 2.0 ZoomPanScalar = 1.0 ShowWeather = Yes XyzAdjust = TRUE ShowLensFlare=TRUE Category = Cockpit PitchPanRate=100 HeadingPanRate=100 //InitialXyz=0.1, -0.3, -2.5 InitialXyz=-0.2, -0.40, -2.3 //InitialPbh=7, 0, 263.0 InitialPbh=-15, 0, 275.0 HotKeySelect=7 usually all you need to do to customize a view is tweak the InitialXyz and InitialPbh values. Paul

What are your system settings? Are you running hi-res scenery? Do you have anty/much photo scenery that is enabled in your scenery.cfg? FSX is only allocated 4GB of address space so having 16GB or 8GB won't matter as long as there is sufficient memory for FSX (4GB) with the OS loaded and other programs, etc. Paul

I have my OrbX folder on a different drive, outside the FSX folder. I have an EMPTY OrbX folder in the FSX folder and then mount the 'real' OrbX folder (drive or volume) to that empty folder. I do the same thing with my Addon Scenery folder. You will need to create disk volumes for each, with all the files/folders in the root directory. Essentially this new drive(volume) becomes the OrbX 'folder' or 'Addon Scenery 'folder'. Once you have created the 'external' folders(Volumes) and created the empty folders in FSX, go to My Computer, select Manage, Storage, Disk Management. Right-click on the volume for OrbX and select "Change drive letter or path". In that dialog you then select "Add" then "Mount in the empty NTFS folder" Point to your EMPTY FSX OrbX folder and click OK. Paul

I tried using the contact link and form to send amessage to AVSIM but it failed for some reason. I was trying to report the following 'failure'. The Front Page Link at the top left of the Forums menu is no longer working. Instead, it takes you to the forums index page. Until yesterday it worked and took you ti the front page where one could use a single click to view the 'What's new' in the library. I hope you can restore that useful link! I received a 'bounced' message to my email address. The partial info follows: --------------------------------------- This message was created automatically by mail delivery software. A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed: [email protected] (ultimately generated from [email protected]) host mx1.hotmail.com [65.55.92.168] SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data: 550 5.7.0 (SNT004-MC3F9) Unfortunately, messages from (209.8.161.216) on behalf of (aol.com) could not be delivered due to domain owner policy restrictions. ---------------------------------- It is rather frustrating to not be able to report an issue when the reporting software is also broken!' Paul

You might try reducing the texture sizes for the AI aircraft by a factor of 2 or 4. I do that to all my aircraft that others in my group fly online and only keep the full default textures for the aircraft paints that I fly. ( I have over 70 A2A B-17G paints for the 91st Bombardment Group that I fly with ) I reduce the textures from 2048 to 1024 and add mipmaps to increase the visible range a bit on those aircraft. Paul

Eddie, having a button programmed to "Pause" TIR and another to "Center" the view really helps when you want to look at something like a map, GPS screen, chart. Just look at the area you want to stay focused on and hit the Pause button to lock TIR at that point. When done, just hit the Pause button again to resume 'normal' operation. As for the Center command, if I want to extend my view in any direction I simply look in the OPPOSITE direction and hit the Center button. I can then look further in the other direction. When done, look forward and hit Center again. These operations become 2nd nature in no time. When trying to see hard to reach areas, such as the de-ice controls in my A2A B-17G, which are located down on the left side of the pilots seat, I look to the left and lean forward to move my vitual head next to the pilots left window. I then hit Pause and use the hat to look down on the floor to the de-ice switches there. After setting them, I hit Pause again, look forward and hit Center. The only time I have problems with my neck is when I am flying formation in the B-17G and the aircraft I am forming on is slightly above or below my altitude, which is normal for that sort of operation. Again, here the Center button can be used. Slouch down or sit up higher and then Center to move your eyepoint in the OPPOSITE direction. This lets me look 'under' or 'over' the window frame. I also map the left seat (F9), right seat, and two other camera views to the #2 hat switch on my X-45 stick. With a flick of my thumb I can move between the seats or other views. This operation was essential when flying the A2A B-377...going from left seat to the FE station or Navigators station or the right seat. With TIR I could often check the FE station gauges simply by looking over my virtual right shoulder just to see if I needed to go to the FE view. ( I use the HotKeySelect= ) statement added to the CameraDefinition.00x entries in the aircraft.cfg file to assign those to the hat) Without TIR one has to do a lot of keystoke or hat work to get around the VC but a combination of TIR, custom views assigned via the "View Camera x" in the FSX Controls menu and associated HotKeySelect = statements in the aircraft.cfg file make for a much smoother operation. Paul I see KDFW got a post in as I was typing mine up

Actually, when you move your head with TIR, your eyes also must move, otherwise you would be looking somewhere other than where you intended to look. And depending upon your monitor screen size and how close you are to it you can look at different areas of the screen while your head remains stationary in the 'turned' position. As Ron states, using TIR becomes second nature in a short time and feels very 'natural'. I would never go back to the default hatswitch or keyboard view system ! Paul

FSX has Multiplayer and always did. After the Gamespy connect was dropped one had/has the option to 'connect direct' to a remote server. This is the option that I use as I fly exclusively on the DigitalThemePark servers with the 91st Bombardment Group. Since FSX-SE does not offer a working 'connect direct' option, it is of no use to me. Flying on the servers offered by DTG is not an option or desirable. Paul