Swapping AIR files

P

P38man

Charter Member 2011
Is swapping AIR files as simple as that ?

Is there more involved ?

Of course I am thinking of doing it for aircraft with very close size and performance figures.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

EDIT: I just found that the "contact points" in the aircraft.cfg also need to be copied ?

Is there a simple method 1, 2 3 to follow ?
 
Well, you do have to change the name of the new file to that of the old. The results depend on many things too numerous to mention.

Best. Paul
 
Swapping the file is easy...but I would advise that you save the original! What you need to be aware of is that the .air file and.cfg files sort of work together. It's pretty easy to get in trouble if you are new to the flight dynamics world!

In fact...it's a given. :icon_lol:
What are you interested in tweaking? There is a pretty impressive talent pool here that may be able to help you get what you want, and you won't suffer any hair loss in the process! :jump:
 
Actually it's not hard at all. But there is just a little bit more to it than just swapping the .air file. Here's the procedure I use. Keep in mind these are only for your personal use, and you cannot upload your changes unless you get the permission of both aircraft's authors....


Say you want to make plane A fly like plane B...
Check the [Weight and Balance] section of both aircraft, and make sure that these lines
reference_datum_position = 0.000, 0.000, 0.000
empty_weight_CG_position = 0.000, 0.000, 0.000
are the same for both planes, or very close. Otherwise you might get some very unpredictable results.

In your plane A folder, make a new folder called "cfg".
Copy the aircraft.cfg and .air files, and paste them into the cfg folder. Then delete the originals.

Go to your plane B folder, and copy the aircraft.cfg and .air files, and paste them into the main folder of plane A.
Open up the copy of the aircraft.cfg file that you put in the cfg folder.
Open up the new aircraft.cfg file that you just pasted in.
In the copy of aircraft.cfg, hightlight and copy all the [Flightsim.x] sections, and the [General] section.
Go to the new aircraft.cfg, highlight all the [Flightsim.x] and general sections. Then paste in the info from the old .cfg, allowing it to overwrite.

Do the same for the [contact_points], [lights], [views], [exits] and [effects] sections. Save the new aircraft.cfg.

Now, go to the [flightsim.0] section of the old aircraft.cfg, and see what the old .air file was named...for example:
sim=b707

Rename your new .air file this name, so that the flightsim.x sections will call the correct .air file.

That's it. Plane A will now fly like Plane B. You may have to adjust the weights if there is a radical difference from the old to the new, if it has a case of the jitters. But most of the time it will work just fine like this.

Clear as Mud? lol.
 
In other words one can make a brick fly like a F18 if you like. Its great fun though to experiment, just remember to keep the original versions in a safe place!!!
Good luck
Keith
 
Swapping airfiles is nothing more than altering the "sim=" line of each [fltsim] entry in the aircraft.cfg to match the name (without file extension!) of the new .air file.

E.g. your default .air file is "1.air" and the new one is "2.air"

All you'd need to do is change each "sim=1" line of the [fltsim] sections in the aircraft.cfg to read "sim=2".
Nothing more, nothing less.

Just change the line back to the default airfile's name if you want to revert your change.


However, changing the .air file *might* have adverse effects on the handling of the aircraft in the sim, but this is something you'll have to test yourself.
 
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Many thank for these data, Astoroth; they're gonna come-in very handy!

I'd thought of the [contact_points], but I hadn't remembered the [lights], [views], [exits] and [effects] sections.

Good detail and technique, methinks.
 
While we're here, anyone plan on doing something about the AW109. Yes I bought it after I bought the Bell222. I said how bad can it be? And the model looked so fantastic. Well I was wrong, it's freak'n bad. The model is fantastic but I don't recall ever running into flight dynamics so far on the other end of the spectrum as the model before. I was going to dl the AW109 over at Hovercontrol and see if I could swipe the air file from that bird and see if worked in the ND craft. What a shame, and actually, I think the EH101 flight dynamics are actually better than the ones in the AW109.

LouP
 
Well the results were interesting.

Tried it on 2 planes - with plane C being the best AIR file.

A was heavier than B and C.

Performance down low (other than climb rate )and size (otherwise) was VERY similar for all though due to A's engine being bigger.

Worked well on B - wow!

On A - it was sluggish and the plane could hardly climb.

So yep...weight is important.

BTW Anyone PM me about a fix for a certain Safir ?

What freeware has great AIR files ?
 
Haha, all this A/B talk is rather confusing. I would imagine if you shared the plane/developers name you're wanting to modify, things could be a little more precise and a lot more informative for both parties benefits and end results. I'll close the door behind me :running:
 
huub vink said:
Much of the flight behaviour is controlled by the aircraft configuration file.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526949.aspx

Although it has some disadvantages as well this might be a good investment as well....

http://www.mudpond.org/AirWrench_main.htm

Enjoy,
Huub
Click to expand...

Yup, that's why I suggest moving over the aircraft.cfg file as well as the .air file. Makes a big difference. I tried AirWrench, and I have to confess that I'm one of the few it seems that doesn't like it. It seems to make other changes on it's own other than the ones that I want to make....So all my edits are done by hand with notepad for the .cfg file, and AirEd for the .air files.
 
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