Wonky AI behavior

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
Been flying GA planes in GW3 nearly exclusively the last few weeks...and one thing I have always noticed is that the Gw3 AI Cub flies like it is drunk. It bobs up and down...almost like it is trying to climb but keeps stalling out. With the ATC activated, I am bombarded with a nearly endless stream of chatter as the ATC keeps telling Piper to expedite the climb to 9000...but the way the Piper Cub is flying, it will never make it to 9000.

I took a look at the stock FDE for the AI Cub, and the max gross weight was set lower than the empty weight..which made me scratch my head. I set the max weight to 1220...which is the accurate max gross for the Piper Cub. That made no difference. I swapped in the FDE from the flyable Piper Cub by Bill Lyons....that made no difference...the Cub still does its climb, stall, fall, climb, stall, fall routine.

Anyone have any clue how to fix the Piper so it will fly right and so that ATC can stop nagging at the poor little plane?

OBIO
 
Maybe the .air file and most of the aircraft.cfg from the default Cub? I use it for AI.
 
Maybe the cruise speed for it in the traffic BGL may be different to the one in the aircraft's air CFG. If so, that can cause the wonky behaviour. I had the same problem with an AI aircraft once, like you, I couldn't figure out why it was going up and down , like it was speeding up going up and then slowing down, going down.
I found that the cruise speed for it in the traffic BGL was way off and not the same as the cruise speed set in the aircraft's air CFG. I fixed that by changing the values to both read the same cruise speed. After that, the AI plane was flying nice and level.

Here's an example of what it should look like:
(from the default C208 Amphibian's aircraft CFG)

[Reference Speeds]
flaps_up_stall_speed = 72.0 //Knots True (KCAS)
full_flaps_stall_speed = 58.0 //Knots True (KCAS)
cruise_speed = 143.0 //Knots True (KTAS) << this is the set cruise speed
max_mach = 0.60
max_indicated_speed = 175 //Red line (KIAS)

in the traffic BGL: ( there are three txts, one called Flightplans, one called Aircraft, and one called Airports, all compiled into one BGL. Traffic Tools is used to decompile it and compile it all again afterwards) This one is from the Aircrafts txt.

AC#16,143,"Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian" << highlighted in red is the cruise speed set the same as that in the Cessna's aircraft CFG.

Both airspeeds should be the same. If they aren't, the AI would be showing erratic behaviour just as you described.

Hope that helps?
 
Okay, there are some seriously funky cruise speeds set for the AI planes.

Here's the AI Cub info:

AC#22,129,"GW Cub AI 1"
AC#23,129,"GW Cub AI 2"
AC#24,129,"GW Cub AI 3"

Check these cruise speeds out:

AC#3,477,"GW DC3 AI 1"
AC#4,477,"GW DC3 AI 2"
AC#5,477,"Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor"
AC#6,477,"GW DC3 AI 4"
AC#7,477,"GW DC3 AI 5"
AC#8,505,"GW DC3 AI 6"
AC#9,505,"GW DC3 AI 1"
AC#10,505,"GW DC3 AI 2"
AC#11,505,"GW Waco Cabin"
AC#12,482,"GW DC3 AI 1"
AC#13,482,"GW DC3 AI 2"
AC#14,482,"GW DC3 AI 3"
AC#15,482,"GW DC3 AI 4"

A DC3 cruising at 505 knots?!?!?!?!?!?
 
Those are the speeds from the original AI traffic file - AC#3-7 are the default Boeing 737s, 8-11 are the 747s, and the rest are the 777s. If you change the speeds to something a bit more realistic (I tend to use the cruise speed line that mrogers mentioned where possible, otherwise it's web research and hoping the FM is close), then recompile the file with TTools, it should balance everything out a bit better. It should also change the arrival times in the flights file to whatever it would be at the new speeds.
 
I will be working on adjusting all the cruising speeds to appropiate levels over the next couple days. Will get it recompiled and tested then will head over to The Old Hangar and see if they want to host this tweak to go along with the rest of the GW3 stuff they have.

OBIO
 
This is an excerpt from TTools help file. The speed must be changed in the aircraft.cfg file, then in the traffic file.

Cruise speed:
This is the cruise speed (TAS) given in the aircraft specifications. It can be found in aircraft manuals or other reference material. Note that this number does not determine the actual cruise speed of AI aircraft, that is based on a cruise speed parameter included in the aircraft model’s aircraft.cfg file. This number is used only by the compiler to compute the trip time for the flight so it can come up with arrival times and sector mapping for flight plans that don’t use fixed arrival times.
 
If they used the default AI flights as a starting point you might want to check on the altitudes on them. Those jets will cruise along at 30000+. Unpressurized aircraft like the DC-3 are not allowed above 12000 and usually fly a lot lower than that.

I modded the default flights for my AI set and have been there. You'll have the ATC fussing at the aircraft to climb to the altitude in the flight plan. With a bunch of them, the ATC won't shutup. If you're going to mod the whole set, expect to take a while doing it.
 
So a quick AI question, then - I've noticed that a great many aircraft.cfg files don't have a cruise speed line. If that's not there, what's determining the AI's cruise speed/performance?
 
SabreAce said:
So a quick AI question, then - I've noticed that a great many aircraft.cfg files don't have a cruise speed line. If that's not there, what's determining the AI's cruise speed/performance?
Click to expand...

It would default to the .air file. You can copy the speed section over from another aircraft.cfg and reset it.
 
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