+- FsPassengers Forums (http://www.fspassengers.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Flight Simulators (http://www.fspassengers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=7)
+--- Forum: FS2004 General (http://www.fspassengers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=10)
+--- Thread: .air file structure (/showthread.php?tid=15781)
.air file structure - Realm174 - 27-12-2008
Hi everybody!
can anyone point me to any information on the .air file format/structure? I've been googling like crazy and still can't find any info on it...
thanks!
Re: .air file structure - Joeflyer - 27-12-2008
Happy reading:
http://www.absint.com/artist2/doc/crl2/air.pdf
I Googled Air File Format and found quite a few items about it. The above is just a start. Looks worse than FAA regulations
Re: .air file structure - Realm174 - 27-12-2008
Thanks Joey, but the link has nothing to do with the .air file format as in fs2004. I realize I did not specify, but considering I was posting
that in the FS2004 forum, I thought if might be obvious
I googled a bunch of things prior to posting my question.. I tried flight dynamics, file format, file structure, etc... I was not really expecting
someone to tell me they googled "air file format", I know how to do that when it's that simple..
Actually, to be more specific, what I'm looking for is the service ceiling for the installed aircrafts. I need to be able to access that information in a "programmatic way" for an application I'm working on.
Post Edited ( 12-27-08 15:19 )
Re: .air file structure - Dutch64 - 28-12-2008
You can use airedit or AAM (don't remember what it stands for anymore). Both are decent freeware products to edit all you like in your airfiles. (But
make backups though before you start editing, editing air files is not that easy, you will have to understand the different values well)
Re: .air file structure - Realm174 - 28-12-2008
Thanks Dutch! I actually came across aired, which is a neat tool that I might use for a different project...
I've been thinking about this, any maybe the .air file is not what I need.. I dunno... I'm hoping that someone that knows fs9 from a
perspective different than flying can point me in the right direction... All I'm trying to do is find out what's the maximum flying altitude for the
aircrafts I have (AI related if you care to know...). Yes, I realize I could do this by hand, but that's not the point. This is just one step into a
much larger project.
Re: .air file structure - Leftcoaster - 28-12-2008
Hey Realm174, am no authority but I think that you are looking in the wrong place for what you need. As I inderstand it, FS9 does a decent
job modelling the atmosphere up to 99,999 feet and the delimiters of any absolute ceilings would depend on aircraft, current weight and
prevailing FS9 weather conditions.
The .air files rely on tables which the FDE author has prepared based on real-world data OR fudged to create real-world performance, the
two are not mutually exclusive. At some point, an FS9 aircraft will reach its absolute ceiling or flight envelope coffin-corner but exactly how
high that is will be somewhat variable, just like real life. Should you choose to edit the data your AI models may suffer from the effects of
the Laws of Unintended Consequences.
You might be better checking for answers at one of the AI sites or technical forums that are out there for example:
http://www.world-of-ai.com/Forum/index.php
or
http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsim/cbfsBB/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=3bae803f6610431e5c0df96a713c29d8
Good Luck
Re: .air file structure - Joeflyer - 29-12-2008
Hmmm, so I Googled the wrong thing...shame on moi
Re: .air file structure - Realm174 - 30-12-2008
Joeflyer : no harm done buddy!
Leftcoaster: I kinda guessed that I was looking in the wrong place, after looking at some of the air files with 'aired'.
Alright, so I'm looking for ideas then... Part of the application I'm working on is generating AI flight plans, based on certain user-defined
criterias. To some degrees, there's some randomness (ran-dumb-ness) into it. Basically, you pick the origin of the flight, the time
window and the number of flights being generated. The airplanes get chosen randomly through the list of installed planes. The
destination os also random. (I'll get into the purpose of that whole thing another day
). One of the issue I have is that I am trying to pick some somewhat realistic altitude for those flights. I obviously can't have a Cessna fly at 45000 ft, and it wouldn't be realistic to have a 777
flying at 2500 ft.
I looked in the aircraft.cfg files, to see if there was anything somewhat common that could help me figure out a "normal" altitude, but
couldn't come up with anything.
So if anyone has any idea on how I could go about this, that'd be awesome!