This came to me as a private message:
1. What you need:
a. Google Earth
b. Lamont Clark's AI Boat Traffic Compiler (AIBTC), which you can download here: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/aibtc02.zip, with instructions here: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/
You need to STUDY Clark's instructions. It took me several read-throughs, and several experiments before I got my first working BGL.
2. Draw a PATH using Google Earth. Start where you want to start! How do you draw a path? Look for the icon near the top that has three little boxes and a plus sign. When you have it like you want it, give the path a NUMERICAL name (like 1942). This may well be different from the FILE name (e.g., RoutesOahu.kmz) that you save it under. I missed this part when I was reading the documentation, and it took me awhile to get it straight. Not sure what I'm talking about? Play with it. Not sure about the difference between PATH names and FILE names? Look at my KML file (part of the attachment) and see: there should be two paths in that file, 1941 and 1942.
Private messager: I think this is the step you need to do next.
3. Save your path in KMZ format. (KML works too, but apparently KMZ works more reliably.)
4. Clark's program requires two other files, and it expects to find them all in the same folder. It also expects the files to follow a certain naming convention, described in Clark's instructions. (I ignored this and it didn't work.)
5. The Boats file is easy. You get the boat name from the TITLE line in the boat's sim.cfg file.
6. The Routes file is weird. I still don't understand it completely. Start with Clark's template. Notice, though, that you are going to be using your path number, not Clark's. This is the number that you gave the PATH back in Google Earth, not the filename in which the path is saved.
Remember, all traffic times are local, not GMT.
7. Once you have your three files, point the compiler to the folder with your three files as the source, and a scenery folder in FSX as the target. For the target, I use a special folder, "Nimitz Carrier Traffic/Scenery," which is under "Addon Scenery," so that I can turn it on and off easily. (If you do this, you'll need to add the folder in the Scenery Library. Don't forget that the new folder needs a scenery subfolder, and that your files will go in that subfolder.)
But you can also put traffic files in existing scenery folders. Do what you know how to do.
8. Try to compile a plan. The error messages will usually tell you what went wrong. Chances are pretty good that you're forgetting to do something that's specified in Clark's instructions.
9. If you successfully compile a plan, test it. Again, all traffic times are GMT, not local, so in setting up your test flight, specify the GMT time, not the local time. Fortunately, the time and season screen lets you input GMT directly.
Ok, you've done all that and it still doesn't work. My suggestion is to post what you do have, esp. the three component files, here and let us work on it together.
Attached is the most recent version of my Oahu bgl. With Clark's compiler, you can DECOMPILE this back to its three component files, including a Google Earth .kml file. One of the problems I noticed was that my second boat, a helicopter destroyer, was too close, or even on top of, the Nimitz. Solution: create a second route, with end points slightly different from the first, and space out the timing interval to 7 minutes instead of 1.
I'm going to start a thread on this in the public forum; that way whatever we learn together will become public knowledge, and hopefully we'll get several people making boat plans.
1. What you need:
a. Google Earth
b. Lamont Clark's AI Boat Traffic Compiler (AIBTC), which you can download here: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/aibtc02.zip, with instructions here: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/
You need to STUDY Clark's instructions. It took me several read-throughs, and several experiments before I got my first working BGL.
2. Draw a PATH using Google Earth. Start where you want to start! How do you draw a path? Look for the icon near the top that has three little boxes and a plus sign. When you have it like you want it, give the path a NUMERICAL name (like 1942). This may well be different from the FILE name (e.g., RoutesOahu.kmz) that you save it under. I missed this part when I was reading the documentation, and it took me awhile to get it straight. Not sure what I'm talking about? Play with it. Not sure about the difference between PATH names and FILE names? Look at my KML file (part of the attachment) and see: there should be two paths in that file, 1941 and 1942.
Private messager: I think this is the step you need to do next.
3. Save your path in KMZ format. (KML works too, but apparently KMZ works more reliably.)
4. Clark's program requires two other files, and it expects to find them all in the same folder. It also expects the files to follow a certain naming convention, described in Clark's instructions. (I ignored this and it didn't work.)
5. The Boats file is easy. You get the boat name from the TITLE line in the boat's sim.cfg file.
6. The Routes file is weird. I still don't understand it completely. Start with Clark's template. Notice, though, that you are going to be using your path number, not Clark's. This is the number that you gave the PATH back in Google Earth, not the filename in which the path is saved.
Remember, all traffic times are local, not GMT.
7. Once you have your three files, point the compiler to the folder with your three files as the source, and a scenery folder in FSX as the target. For the target, I use a special folder, "Nimitz Carrier Traffic/Scenery," which is under "Addon Scenery," so that I can turn it on and off easily. (If you do this, you'll need to add the folder in the Scenery Library. Don't forget that the new folder needs a scenery subfolder, and that your files will go in that subfolder.)
But you can also put traffic files in existing scenery folders. Do what you know how to do.
8. Try to compile a plan. The error messages will usually tell you what went wrong. Chances are pretty good that you're forgetting to do something that's specified in Clark's instructions.
9. If you successfully compile a plan, test it. Again, all traffic times are GMT, not local, so in setting up your test flight, specify the GMT time, not the local time. Fortunately, the time and season screen lets you input GMT directly.
Ok, you've done all that and it still doesn't work. My suggestion is to post what you do have, esp. the three component files, here and let us work on it together.
Attached is the most recent version of my Oahu bgl. With Clark's compiler, you can DECOMPILE this back to its three component files, including a Google Earth .kml file. One of the problems I noticed was that my second boat, a helicopter destroyer, was too close, or even on top of, the Nimitz. Solution: create a second route, with end points slightly different from the first, and space out the timing interval to 7 minutes instead of 1.
