Anyone know how to Add AI traffic to carriers?

[xpelekis]

In Missions, you can have AIs taking off & Landing in "FS Recorder
style", ie, maximum & free manouverability (with the AI Playback action
of missions that uses the native FSX video recorder, ie, pre-recorded take offs & landing
of the AIs of interest), while in between AIs fly in static or dynamic Waypoints relative to user or
other AIs (or changing between such Wpt lists, on user's or mission's command).

Personally, I prefere combining these functions by using CCP inside Mission environment.

 

[Victory103]

There is a mission somewhere IIRC that has F-18s taking off from the Nimitz. Played around with it for awhile until my HD crashed. Can't remember where i got it.

The LLFT in Hawaii FSX mission is one I have that a division of F-18s conduct a low level flight and then land on a static CVN-68. Ed Olander has several basic missions as well with AI on and off the boat. "xpelekis has taken this feature to new levels with CCP and his missions. Seeing the MAIW packages with modified airfiles allowing the AI to land on the "scenery" boat with an co-located afcad file was very cool, but again static boat.

 

[Mickey D]

Not possible I'm afraid for all the reasons stated. If it was we'd have done it for the Enterprise.

 

[SkippyBing]

I have done it, it fact it might still be an undocumented feature of the Flying_Stations add-on that's in development hell. The main issue is that after I got it working for one aircraft you'd find another couldn't make the turns as tight and would stall or just fly endless orbits around the carrier.
Basically it just passed waypoints to the AI aircraft which were calculated based on the carriers course and speed. Stopping is just a case of setting the aircraft's velocity to 0 once it's on the deck.

 

[codeseven]

I have done it, it fact it might still be an undocumented feature of the Flying_Stations add-on that's in development hell. The main issue is that after I got it working for one aircraft you'd find another couldn't make the turns as tight and would stall or just fly endless orbits around the carrier.
Basically it just passed waypoints to the AI aircraft which were calculated based on the carriers course and speed. Stopping is just a case of setting the aircraft's velocity to 0 once it's on the deck.

Interesting SB, thanks.

When the AI land on deck, slow down, but then veer off to one side or the other (usually starboard) and then roll off the deck, is that because the 0 velocity setting has not been set? I've managed to have them land on moving carriers but they would never completely stop on deck.

Also, it should be noted that everything I managed to do with AI and carriers was done in CFS2. I'm only assuming the techniques used to control AI in CFS2 would transfer over to FSX.

 

[xpelekis]

I'm thinking that AI's absolut speed should not set to 0, but to carriers current speed.
Thus relative to carrier speed is 0.

I've tried landing planes with hook - used as AIs - on static carrier. They "hit" deck at proper point
for caching the wires, but I'm not sure if the fault is that hook don't extend or AOA is less than needed
for hook to catch the wires (almost certain about the second).

 

[Ripcord]

Using Gauges

I have done it, it fact it might still be an undocumented feature of the Flying_Stations add-on that's in development hell. The main issue is that after I got it working for one aircraft you'd find another couldn't make the turns as tight and would stall or just fly endless orbits around the carrier.
Basically it just passed waypoints to the AI aircraft which were calculated based on the carriers course and speed. Stopping is just a case of setting the aircraft's velocity to 0 once it's on the deck.

SB that was you that built the Flying Stations 1940 Victorious carrier, wasn't it? The one that uses a gauge to detect your tailhook position, and then that, in turn, triggers some cool deck animations, a crash barrier or something... I studied that as a template for my carrier project, and thanks to you go guys, and a LOT of help over at FSdevelopers, I now have working elevators on my carrier.

So given this context, I am going to assume that you used some kind of XML gauge to move AI aircraft objects around your ship. These are true AI with speed/heading/altitude and other parameters being edited by the gauge, no? I was wondering myself if that might work.

I was able to create a successful carrier trap in a mission environment. I think what I did was created two aircraft. One was a helo below decks. For the jet aircraft that I wanted to land on deck, I have that one a series of waypoint that intersects an area behind the ship. Then I set up an area trigger that told the aircraft to turn on to the same heading as the carrier. Then I assigned it a lower altitude, and then as it got closer to the back to the boat, I use another area trigger to make it 'follow' the helo. Can't remember exactly what that was bit I was us FSX Mission Editor by Jim Keir in those days. When the speed slowed enough I set a trigger for that (or maybe altitude was the trigger there) and made it drop gear, extend flags, tailhook, etc. The jet would gradually do a controlled crash onto the deck. I used another altitude trigger (calculating the altitude when it touched the deck) to tell the thing to cut it's engines and apply brakes. Worked quite nicely. Never when beyond that, never got it to taxi to parking or anything lovely, but that much I was able to do -- unfortunately in a mission environment only, though.

 

[xpelekis]

Can't remember exactly what that was but I was us FSX Mission Editor by Jim Keir in those days

Discussion has gone too far but just for the shake of it, let me remind you what was
the "magic" that made available things you describe in Mission environment such as :

- a helo below decks, I use another area trigger to make it 'follow' the helo
- trigger to made it drop gear, extend flaps, tailhook, etc.
- trigger to tell the thing to cut it's engines and apply brakes :

SIMVAR.exe via which FSX/P3D Mission system communicates with simconnect, reading all available sim variables
and via mission triggers (custom actions), triggers events (applies keystroke commands) for the AI to
drop flaps, gear, etc...

I've tried a similar approach to what you describe, much simpler though and for static carrier in my case.

 

[codeseven]

You guys are much smarter about this stuff than I was using the Mission Editor back in the day in CFS2. If I remember right, I was simply programming the AI to land on an 'airfield' at a certain time and location. That 'airfield matched the speed and height of the moving carrier deck. Couldn't get them to stop on deck though. I even tried programming the carrier to slightly speed up, turn to starboard and slow to a stop, in an attempt to keep the landing AI on deck. But it seemed as though the AI were seeking somewhere else to stop.