Trouble with Cook Strait Boats

[cooldad]

Hi all,

I'm still playing around with AI traffic and moved on to ships now

I can't seem to get the Cook Strait shipping to work under FSX with Real Wellington and the updated hi res mesh.



Here you can see a strange wall on the city side of Queens Wharf and the PCS floatplane parks underneath the wharf.



Here it looks like the French have been at the Ferry Terminal like the Rainbow Warrier

I'm using GNZLAP Redux after having converted the traffic file from FS9. I'm not sure whether the conversion process is the same for AI Boats in FSX. Even though the boats show, they never move.

If somebody has this working I'd like to hear from you . . .

Paul

[gojozoom]

Hi Paul,

I'm a big fan of the scenery Across the Strait, and I did try to make them work, but eventually gave it up. This is what I did and experienced:

First I tried the native FSX version of the package (fsxcookf.zip and fsxcooks.zip), but the textures on the boats ate up around 10fps, so I decided to convert the FS9 package instead. I did, and the boats showed up, but never moved.
I'm not too good with AI traffic in general, so I'm not sure what could've been done, but if you can solve it please let me know

Dan

[creator2003]

Thinking about acouple things that could be done maybe ,1. a flatten poly under the ships which would have to be placed pretty well so not to effect things near it ,the level would have to be set the same as the afcad height though im unsure there is a afcad there and if it would work well,sbuilderx or ADE tools can do this job .
2 the .air file and .cfg of the model could maybe swapped out for another similar working .air file or cfg for a fsx default ship which may correct the ship leaning over like that when sitting idle or make it work better , some contact points lights and effects smoke system will have to be copyed from this 3rd party model .cfg and paste in to the newer AI fsx .cfg you are replacing with ..

these are just some things that may be done to fix your problem, i will not say these things will work ,more of a guess as im far from a AI programer ,that would be the member Charl domain maybe he could shed some light on what maybe causing this .
i hope you get this sorted and some of the things ive suggested may work for you ..

remember to back up the files you are working on so you can always revert back to the beginning without losing data ..
mike

[cooldad]

Thanks Dan and Mike. I've pretty much sussed out most of my problems now. The strange wall at Queens Wharf was caused by an afcad called NZQW.BGL. I suspect this may have been some sort of height adjustment patch that Robin may have released at some time from memory. As for the ships rolling over I took Dan's advice and downloaded the FSX version ( whicjh I never knew was released) which updated the afcads for the port locations for Real NZ Welly.

I'm still testing but things seem to work ok except I can't get the Bark to ever leave from Queens Wharf. It berths half way on the wharf which may be the problem or maybe the model doesn't work in FSX. I'll update when I know more. This area really comes to life with boat traffic.

Paul

[Galp]

I also would like to try this package in FSX, but after downloading the two required Zips from Avsim I had trouble trying to understand the 'Read Me' instuctions...Dumb or what? So I tried emailing both the designers ( Tracey Henry & Barry Minister) for help, but both of their email addresses given in the downloads are no longer in use. What to do? Has anyone got the Cook Strait AI ships to work in FSX? Can anybody help please?

[cooldad]

Hi Galp, yes I finally got it working after a lot of fiddling. You will need to convert the traffic files from FS9 to FSX format for a start. Have you installed all the boats into their directories? It's all a big learning curve!

Paul

[Galp]

Hi Cooldad. Thanks for prompt reply. Now I'm even more confused cos the the files I downloaded are ( I quote from the read me) #1 "AI Ships in the cook strait AI Boat pack, for New Zealand for FSX" and #2 "FSX AI flightplans and afcads for the Cook Stait AI" So it looks these are already converted to FSX? Then both of the read me state "First make sure you have downloaded the original Marlborough Sounds AI boat pack from Avsim.com"....BUT the only other file on Avsim is "Updates for the AI ships in the Marlborough Sounds AI Boat pack, for New Zealand" This one is for FS 2004 and it also tells you to make sure you have downloaded the original (which I can't find!!) HO BOY...no wonder I'm confused. It is too much for my feeble brain, so unless you can give me a blow by blow description of what to do, then I will just have to give it away. Pity as it would certainly add to the Cook Strait experiance. Thanks anyway.

[cooldad]

Yes I went through that too and my old brain isn't as fast as it once was. I took it one step at a time and got there in the end.

I will have to refresh my brain over this now so give me some time and I'll get back to you a bit later. I'm a little busy at the moment but will follow up with you.

I don't suppose you know anything about AI Float planes? I'm having trouble with mine converted from FS9. It's like they all land on concrete when touching down on Rotorua or Taupo. I seem to be the only one with this problem, weird!

Paul

[Galp]

Hey thanks for that Cooldad. If you come up with any info on the Cook Strait Boat problem that would be much appreciated......NO HURRY! As for your floatplane problem, this sort of technical thing is waaay out of my league! hopefully one of the techie boffins will come to your rescue. Maybe you should start a new topic.

[Kahu]

I had the same problem and this was the solution;

Download the freeware AI Flight Planner programme then go to the file --sub-- menu convert fs9 files to fsx files, Make sure you remove all fs9 files that may show up from your FSX installation

[Galp]

Thanks Kahu, I'll have a go at that.

[cooldad]

Yes, thats a really good program to sort out AI stuff. It will find missing aircraft, boats and textures too. It saved me ...

Paul