Creating AI flight plans in P3Dv4.. How similar is it to creating AI flight plans in FSX?

[JoeJeepWrangler]

I'll have a look later, Joe. It'll be something simple, I'm sure!

Thanks tim! let me know what ya find : )

[JoeJeepWrangler]

I'll have a look later, Joe. It'll be something simple, I'm sure!

Hey Tim, Any luck?

Thanks!

[TimC340]

Damn - sorry Joe, I've been busy with Real Life stuff. I should get time to compare your xml with mine tomorrow. It's going to be slightly different as all mine is based on a modified Matrix installation, and of course that's not available any more.

[TimC340]

Hi Joe

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to answer the question directly as I think my file structure is different to yours. That's mainly because my military AI is based on the Matrix package which no longer exists but which I've adapted over the years to fit my needs. I have all of my config backed up to One Cloud via Lorby so that a reinstallation of the sim requires only a few button clicks to reinstate all of my scenery and traffic. That means it's a good while since I've actually looked under the hood to see what's going on! However, if I describe my set up to you it might help you see where yours differs.

I have my Matrix (MAIW) set up as follows:

A master folder called Military AI Works, under which are the geographic collective folders, for example MAIW_NA for North America. There are also collective folders for Voicepacks, and an MAIW_Global folder which includes Effects, Scripts, Textures and the MAIW generic scenery libraries.

Within the geographic folders, there are sub-folders for Airbases (Scenery), Aircraft (SimObjects), Objects (a folder for Object Libraries), and World (traffic files and elevation files).

There are no add-on.xml files within these folders.

The master add-on.xml file is in c\:ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepare3D v5\ and mine is 325 lines long, so I won't include it, but the last two entries are:

[DiscoveryPath.0]
Path=G:\Orbx\Orbx Library\p3dv5
Title=Orbx Main Library
Active=TRUE
[DiscoveryPath.1]
Path=G:\Military AI Works
Title=MAIW
Active=TRUE

These are entries applied by Lorby that tell P3D where to look to discover directories that aren't in the normal file structure. You can get Lorby to do this by using 'Add Discovery Path' under the 'Discovery' Tab (fifth one along) and directing it to where you have your stuff. It's a bit of a belt-and-braces thing, but it might allow Lorby to pick up stuff you haven't explicitly told it about.



Once Lorby has been told about or discovered scenery or traffic files, it tells P3D where to find them via an add-on.cfg file in in C:\users\*you*\AppData\Roaming|Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v\

This the relevant line in mine (note that it's pointing P3D to OneDrive, where I keep my master files):

[Package.14]
Path=C:\Users\timco\OneDrive\Documents\Prepar3D v5 Add-ons\MAIW
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE

Within that MAIW folder in One Drive, is the add-on.xml that instructs P3D to load the files. Note that all the relevant folders are included, including the Traffic and SimObjects folders:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
<AddOn.Name>MAIW Matrix</AddOn.Name>
<AddOn.Description>MAIW Scenery and Traffic</AddOn.Description>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Effects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Effects.P3D</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>SimObjects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_AIRCRAFT</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>SimObjects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_AIRCRAFT</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>SimObjects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_AIRCRAFT</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>SimObjects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_AIRCRAFT</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>SimObjects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_AIRCRAFT</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>SimObjects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_AIRCRAFT</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Effects</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_EFFECTS</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Autogen</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_TEXTURES</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scripts</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_SCRIPTS</Path>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_AIRBASES</Path>
<Name>MAIW Africa Airbases</Name>
<Layer>342</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_OBJECTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW Africa Objects</Name>
<Layer>343</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_WORLD</Path>
<Name>MAIW Africa Traffic</Name>
<Layer>344</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_AIRBASES</Path>
<Name>MAIW Europe Airbases</Name>
<Layer>345</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_OBJECTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW Europe Objects</Name>
<Layer>346</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_WORLD</Path>
<Name>MAIW Europe Traffic</Name>
<Layer>347</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_AIRBASES</Path>
<Name>MAIW Asia Airbases</Name>
<Layer>348</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_OBJECTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW Asia Objects</Name>
<Layer>349</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_WORLD</Path>
<Name>MAIW Asia Traffic</Name>
<Layer>350</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_AIRBASES</Path>
<Name>MAIW North America Airbases</Name>
<Layer>351</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_OBJECTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW North America Objects</Name>
<Layer>352</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_WORLD</Path>
<Name>MAIW North America Traffic</Name>
<Layer>353</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_AIRBASES</Path>
<Name>MAIW Oceania Airbases</Name>
<Layer>354</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_OBJECTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW Oceania Objects</Name>
<Layer>355</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_WORLD</Path>
<Name>MAIW Oceania Traffic</Name>
<Layer>356</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_AIRBASES</Path>
<Name>MAIW South America Airbases</Name>
<Layer>357</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_OBJECTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW South America Objects</Name>
<Layer>358</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_WORLD</Path>
<Name>MAIW South America Traffic</Name>
<Layer>359</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_OBJECTS_CUSTOM</Path>
<Name>MAIW Global Custom Objects</Name>
<Layer>360</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_OBJECTS_GENERIC</Path>
<Name>MAIW Global Generic Objects</Name>
<Layer>361</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_WAYPOINTS</Path>
<Name>MAIW Global Waypoints</Name>
<Layer>362</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

These are the relevant Lorby screens:



I'm not sure if any of this is helpful, but do let me know how you get on. I also thoroughly recommend a study of the Lorby manual (it's in the program folder) and a visit to his forums which might help clear things up.

[JoeJeepWrangler]

Hi Tim! Thank you for all this information!
Unfortunately, I'm still not quite sure why mine isnt working.

How dangerous is it to just put my AI stuff into my sim installation? High chance of breaking stuff, Or is it fairly safe?
Thank you for all the help so far! I really appreciate it!

[TimC340]

No, it's fine to put it straight in the sim. Despite the warnings of dire consequences in case of reinstallation, I've found that P3D does a good job of leaving user files unmolested and still accessible after a reinstall.

[JoeJeepWrangler]

Thank you very much for the help, Everybody! I'll be sure to update ya'll if i encounter any problems!