Tongass Fjords & P3D - ‘flying’ boats

[Rowcoach]

Good afternoon,

I’m not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but I’ll give it a shot. I moved my Tongass Fjords over to P3Dv4.5 this morning. Everything seems to have worked - except for the behaviour of the AI ships. They appear to be jumping into the air and then crashing into the water.

Is this just a quirk of AI ship traffic in P3D?

Cheers,

Colin

[nbrich1]

Flying boats?  No no you can't have flying boats! That is Terrain issues..

P3Dv4.5 Tongass "boats".. Thinking.. hmmm..  Did you update the required entries in the terrain.cfg file?

(The required 40 Tongass Terrain.cfg entries for use in P3Dv4+ are appended/attached to this post.)

Info: https://return.mistymoorings.com/getting_started/index.php#5

Once the terrain.cfg file is done/saved. (Sim off)

1. Delete the shaders folder >
Path >> C:\Users\your name\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\Shaders

2. Delete the simobjects folder >
Path >> C:\Users\your name\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\SimObjects 
and

3. The sceneryindexes64 folder >
Path >> C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\SceneryIndexes_x64

That should fix Tongass on the sim's next start up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

PS: Also for Tongass: did you update the AI models? > https://return.mistymoorings.com/getting_started/index.php#9    (This saves CTD as the original models in Tongass are non-com[patible with P3Dv4x But Rod Jackson fifxed them all up to FSX Native/compatible with P3Dv4x and above).

Hope this cures your Tongass problem(s).

Norm

[Rowcoach]

Hello Norm,

Thank you for the quick reply. It's not even that they are flying - it's more that they are doing routines that even the Snowbirds would be envious of. I can see a couple coast guard cutters and a cruise ship that are jumping into the air, doing flips, and then crashing down into the water again. I'll try to post a couple screen shots so that you can see what I mean.

I have updated the AI planes and the helicopter and they seem to be working fine. I've added the 40 entries to the terrain file as instructed. I just went back to confirm that they are there. They weren't at the end as I had originally cut and pasted, but they had been moved to somewhere mid list. They are still numbered sequentially, so I think that they're okay. I have both scenery files activated as suggested (just above FTX LC entries).

Everything else looks okay.





Both of these are taken from PASI. The one coast guard ship is kind of hard to see, but the cruise ship should be easy to spot.

Cheers,

colin

[rgerdes]

Could be the add on dll that is supposed to allow landing on sloped runways:
https://forum.mistymoorings.com/index.php?topic=4752.msg40625#msg40625

[Rowcoach]

Thanks for the link. I have both KFLL and PAKT so that could explain that.

I’m now curious about the possibility of adding parking to PAKT.

[nbrich1]

Not necessarily. Turn off pieces to be able to isolate the cause of the boat bouncing. If you turn off and all is ok, then the problem is with one your turned off pieces. So then re-add theose OFF pieces on by one until you find the culprit- then you know which one is causing the problem (and maybe it can be fixed).

[Rowcoach]

Huh, so I checked the file for KFLL as well as the main P3D folder and it looks like the slopedair.dll file was either deleted or renamed after its most recent update. I know it had been causing CTD's on my system when I first installed it.

I'm going to try to isolate the issue to see if I can narrow it down. I know a quick and easy fix would be to just delete the ship traffic files. I'd like to see if I can fix it first.

Cheers,

colin

[stiletto2]

See this thread where someone else had the same problem and solved it after eliminating FSSI AI sloped runway software and terrain.cfg changes.

https://forum.mistymoorings.com/index.php?topic=5070.msg43305#msg43305


Rod

[Rowcoach]

Thank you, Rob. I read through the link - unfortunately, the person who started the thread hasn't been on here since early December so I'm not sure if he is still active.

I have been looking for the FSSAI file, but I can't find it so I'm unable to turn it off.

I have been delaying deleting my terrain.cfg file. I still have a lot of scenery files that are still located in my main P3D folder. I have 1100+ (including the 40 entries needed for TFX) entries so it'll take a bit of work to populate it again. Doing a bit of a cost/benefit analysis right now.

[stiletto2]

The FSSI AI addon might only be there if you downloaded it from FSSI's page.  It was used in association with LatinVFR scenery though some people did download it separately to achieve the ability for AI to land on sloped runways.  The package included two files:  ai.dll and an add-on.xml file. 

The ai.dll file and an accompanying add-on.xml file would have been installed in your
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons folder.

Rod

[Rowcoach]

Thank you for your help, Rod.

As I don't have that file, I think it is pretty safe to assume that the ai.dll is not the issue. I didn't download it and I can't find it in the Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons folder. Unless I am missing something, I think I can scratch that off the list.

I removed the old terrain file and had a new one then added the 40 TFX entries at the end. Went back to PASI and I'm still getting the same result - boats and the float planes defying the laws of physics. I think I saw the coast guard cutter at about 15,000 feet at one point.

I've gone through the new terrain.cfg file a few times, but can't see any issues. I think this is something I just may have to put up with. I may just delete the traffic files altogether.

Any final suggestions?

Thanks,

colin

[jeff3163]

What are your water detail sliders set at?  Tessellation level?  Bathymetry on/off etc. 

[Rowcoach]

Hello Jeff. Thanks for your help. I do t think I have adjusted those setting since I first set everything up. Water detail is at medium. Tessellation factor is high. Bathymetry is turned off.

[Rowcoach]

A huge thank you to Jeff, Rod, Norm, and rgerdes.

Turns out there was a bit of a PICNIC (problem in chair, not in computer) issue. I followed Norm’s suggestion and reformatted the terrain.cfg file. Made sure everything was listed correctly. Turns out one of the numbers was out of place. I also happened to stumble upon the SlopedrwyAI folder in my P3D addons folder. Not sure how I missed it earlier. Anyway, I removed slopedrwyAI.dll and booted up P3D again.

Everything looks perfect!

I’m going to keep slopedrwy.dll as I do fly in and out of KFLL regularly. Now that I know it’s possible, I’d like to try replace the AFCAD for ORBX’s PAKT to allow spawning to the gates instead of the runway.

Once again, that you for all your help and patience.

Cheers,

Colin

[nbrich1]

Hurray!! Nice work Colin... Yep, just one wrong # in the terrain.cfg (or scenery.cfg ) will do it!!  Carry on sir and enjoy the sites. (without bouncing boats)!

Norm