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re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Share hints and tricks or your own modifications for MAIW Packages in Flight Simulator X and Prepar3D.
tl2450

re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

This is my first post here in MAIW. First of all, thank you very much to all of you for all of the work that is done here, there is a lot of amazing scenery here. I'm a former Miramar based F-14 Tomcat Aviation Orndanceman. I served in VF-114 Aardvarks and aboard Enterprise and Lincoln. I miss the Navy and I especially miss being around Navy TACAIR; I now live vicariously through my PC and flight sim and some of the scenery allows me to revisit what I used to do.

I've been a flight sim bubba for sometime now starting with F-14 Fleet Defender many moons ago; unfortunately, I'm not very computer savy, I'm used to throwing it in, downloading it and viola! It works. For a short time I was a member of the USNVA and I had a lot of help from the leadership of that group; at one point my CAG was able to go into my PC and move things around and everything worked. Unfortunately because of my current career in law enforcement I couldn't give my squadron or the USNVA enough of my time. That being said, I still enjoy flying when I can and I love the eye candy!

I have been after a realistic looking KNTU for sometime now, and I found the USN Airliners pt. 4 on the MAIW page. I've read the directions which were quite overwhelming and I watched the video; that was better but, I have some questions and I'd appreciate any and all assistance you guys are willing to provide.

1. The directions talk about FS9, with this file being a FS2004 file do I have to do anything different?

2. Re. the video, I use WinRar and there are some parts in the video I'm unable to accomplish like switching to Win7 re. compatability, does that change anything?

These are probably simple questions for all of you but I'm sweating the possibility of f-ing up my sim and I don't want to do that at all! I would greatly appreciate any and all assistance, as a matter of fact if someone has a step-by-step simplistic or novice set of instructions they could send me that would be a BIG BIG help.

V/R,

Tom
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by campbeme »

tl2450 wrote:This is my first post here in MAIW. First of all, thank you very much to all of you for all of the work that is done here, there is a lot of amazing scenery here. I'm a former Miramar based F-14 Tomcat Aviation Orndanceman. I served in VF-114 Aardvarks and aboard Enterprise and Lincoln. I miss the Navy and I especially miss being around Navy TACAIR; I now live vicariously through my PC and flight sim and some of the scenery allows me to revisit what I used to do.

I've been a flight sim bubba for sometime now starting with F-14 Fleet Defender many moons ago; unfortunately, I'm not very computer savy, I'm used to throwing it in, downloading it and viola! It works. For a short time I was a member of the USNVA and I had a lot of help from the leadership of that group; at one point my CAG was able to go into my PC and move things around and everything worked. Unfortunately because of my current career in law enforcement I couldn't give my squadron or the USNVA enough of my time. That being said, I still enjoy flying when I can and I love the eye candy!

I have been after a realistic looking KNTU for sometime now, and I found the USN Airliners pt. 4 on the MAIW page. I've read the directions which were quite overwhelming and I watched the video; that was better but, I have some questions and I'd appreciate any and all assistance you guys are willing to provide.

1. The directions talk about FS9, with this file being a FS2004 file do I have to do anything different?

2. Re. the video, I use WinRar and there are some parts in the video I'm unable to accomplish like switching to Win7 re. compatability, does that change anything?

These are probably simple questions for all of you but I'm sweating the possibility of f-ing up my sim and I don't want to do that at all! I would greatly appreciate any and all assistance, as a matter of fact if someone has a step-by-step simplistic or novice set of instructions they could send me that would be a BIG BIG help.

V/R,

Tom
Tom, if its just the scenery your after and not the AI then just follow the below steps.

1) create a "New Folder" on your desktop.
2) Run the package installer, directing it to your newly created desktop folder.
3) Copy the contents of the package Addon Scenery folder.
4) Paste the contents into your FSX Addon Scenery folder.
5) Copy the contents from the package Effects folder.
6) Paste the contents to your FSX effects folder.
7) Start FSX and activate the scenery.
8.) You may have to fool about with the AFD/ Land Classes to clean it up for FSX ie, Bushes, parking sizes, land classes files etc etc. But another FSX user may be able to share there AFD with you.
Mark
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by KevinJarvis »

You must also add the type of aircraft folder to the FSX cfg file.

The Ownls Nest has a great tutorial on how to use MAIW in FSX.
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by campbeme »

KevinJarvis wrote:You must also add the type of aircraft folder to the FSX cfg file.

The Ownls Nest has a great tutorial on how to use MAIW in FSX.
I never do that and all works fine. I just copy the Individual Aircraft folders and past them into the Airplanes folder, never have messed with the cfg file.
Mark
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

Mark & Kevin,

Thank you so very much for your replies, I really appreciate it, I mean it. I'm happy with just the scenery, for now Mark; in fact I had know prior knowledge that AI traffic could even be created. I'm coming to the realization that I really need to learn from all of you how to get the MAIW files to work in FSX so I can really enjoy this hobby, I'm missing out on an awful lot. Once I get the scenery up and running is it difficult to add the AI traffic? Is there scenery out there for KNTU that I can add static aircraft parked on the ramp? I have the MAIW Lemoore scenery and it looks like a ghost town, there are no static Hornets or anything. When my CAG installed it on my pc I didn't need the static a/c because we'd fly in to Lemoore as a squadron or wing and occupy the ramp.

I'm off a few extra days this week, I'll give your directions a shot Mark, also if you were the one who replied to me via Facebook, thank you my friend.

V/R,

Tom

AO, Baby! :wink:
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by nickblack423 »

Tom,

Now your eyes are opened make sure you look at some of our other traffic packages. As you are a former Tomcat boy at Miramar I suggest you try our TOPGUN package (though as an older package Im not sure how good it will look in FSX) featuring all the Miramar based Tomcats circa late 80s.

We have also released a full package of AI Hornets for MCAS Miramar as it stands now. Make sure you install these into your sim. You wont be disappointed.

And as has been said head over to the Owl's Nest where you'll find great tutorials on how to convert our packages to FSX.

Nick
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by campbeme »

Dont forget Lemoore, Atsugi and Beaufort all fully loaded with Bugs.
Mark
tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

campbeme wrote:Dont forget Lemoore, Atsugi and Beaufort all fully loaded with Bugs.
I have all three NAS's, just no static a/c...I'll look around. Thank you!
tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

tl2450 wrote:Mark & Kevin,

Thank you so very much for your replies, I really appreciate it, I mean it. I'm happy with just the scenery, for now Mark; in fact I had know prior knowledge that AI traffic could even be created. I'm coming to the realization that I really need to learn from all of you how to get the MAIW files to work in FSX so I can really enjoy this hobby, I'm missing out on an awful lot. Once I get the scenery up and running is it difficult to add the AI traffic? Is there scenery out there for KNTU that I can add static aircraft parked on the ramp? I have the MAIW Lemoore scenery and it looks like a ghost town, there are no static Hornets or anything. When my CAG installed it on my pc I didn't need the static a/c because we'd fly in to Lemoore as a squadron or wing and occupy the ramp.

I'm off a few extra days this week, I'll give your directions a shot Mark, also if you were the one who replied to me via Facebook, thank you my friend.

V/R,

Tom

AO, Baby! :wink:
Well gave it a shot and no joy - so far...I must be doing something wrong, what I have no idea though. I am getting three error messages before my terrain loads, here they are:

Scenery.cfg file error. Local scenery directing (scenery\ocen\scenery) in scenery Area.107 not found

" " (..\..\Addon Scenery\KNTU\scenery) in Area.115 not found\
Invalid remote scenery path in scenery Area.127

Any suggestions? Any and all as always are very much appreciated - (sigh)...

- Tom
tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

campbeme wrote:Dont forget Lemoore, Atsugi and Beaufort all fully loaded with Bugs.
Well, I gave it a shot and still no joy...I must be doing something wrong; what though I have know idea. I am however getting several .cfg errors when I open FSX:

1. scenery.cfg file error. Local scenery directory (scenery\ocen\scenery) in scenery Area.107 not found.

2. " " (Addon Scenery\KNTU\scenery) in Area.115 not found.

3. Invalid remote scenery path in scenery Area.127


Any suggestion???

I do have Lemoore, Atsugi and Beaufort I just need to add static a/c, like I said when my CAG from USNVA helped me add the scenery he said I didn't need it.

Thanks again for the assistance everyone.

Tom
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by Firebird »

When did these errors first show up, or another way of putting it what did you do after the last time it worked OK.
My first thing here is to work out why you can't find the default scenery (Ocen).

What I would do first is look at the actual scenery.cfg and see what is different about those entries mentioned, as opposed to the others around it. The actual scenery entries should not in '\scenery' but the name of the folder that contains the 'scenery' and 'texture' folders of an addon scenery. So in your case '\scenery\Ocen' and '\Addon Scenery\KNTU'.

The answer to number 3 is the most obvious. The path doesn't exist.
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tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

Firebird wrote:When did these errors first show up, or another way of putting it what did you do after the last time it worked OK.
My first thing here is to work out why you can't find the default scenery (Ocen).

What I would do first is look at the actual scenery.cfg and see what is different about those entries mentioned, as opposed to the others around it. The actual scenery entries should not in '\scenery' but the name of the folder that contains the 'scenery' and 'texture' folders of an addon scenery. So in your case '\scenery\Ocen' and '\Addon Scenery\KNTU'.

The answer to number 3 is the most obvious. The path doesn't exist.
Steve,

The "OCEN" error is old, that's been happening for awhile but it didn't effect the Jim Dahaeans KNTU I was originally using. The other two poped up after I removed that scenery and tried adding the new KNTU. I'll take a look at it...Ugh.

Thanks,

Tom
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by Firebird »

Tom,
If you are not that confident with manipulating your scenery.cfg file then try downloading and using a utility from Andrew Thornton, SceneryConfigEditor, from here http://sourceforge.net/projects/fs-sceditor/.
It allows you to add, modify, delete, activate, deactivate and even group sceneries together. It is for FS9 and FSX and I use it. It means you can modify your cfg file w/o having to keep loading up FS all the time.

What it also does is show your all your errors when you start it up. There are hard to miss.

I would say to install that load it and then check the errors out from there.
Steve
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tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

Firebird wrote:Tom,
If you are not that confident with manipulating your scenery.cfg file then try downloading and using a utility from Andrew Thornton, SceneryConfigEditor, from here http://sourceforge.net/projects/fs-sceditor/.
It allows you to add, modify, delete, activate, deactivate and even group sceneries together. It is for FS9 and FSX and I use it. It means you can modify your cfg file w/o having to keep loading up FS all the time.

What it also does is show your all your errors when you start it up. There are hard to miss.

I would say to install that load it and then check the errors out from there.
Okay Steve, I'll do that and let you know what happens. Thanks again pal!

Tom
tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

Firebird wrote:Tom,
If you are not that confident with manipulating your scenery.cfg file then try downloading and using a utility from Andrew Thornton, SceneryConfigEditor, from here http://sourceforge.net/projects/fs-sceditor/.
It allows you to add, modify, delete, activate, deactivate and even group sceneries together. It is for FS9 and FSX and I use it. It means you can modify your cfg file w/o having to keep loading up FS all the time.

What it also does is show your all your errors when you start it up. There are hard to miss.

I would say to install that load it and then check the errors out from there.
Steve,

I downloaded the scenery editor and the program did identify two errors, however I don't know what the errors are exactly so I compared them to the other MAIW files I have that are working and I did make some changes, here they are:

[Area.107]
Title=MAIW Oceana NAS (KNTU)
Local=Addon Scenery\MAIW Oceana NAS (KNTU)
Layer=115
Active=TRUE
Required=False

[Area.107]
Title=Oceania
Local=Scenery\OCEN
Layer=107
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE


I saved the changes and the errors are still there. If I knew what to edit and what to add, yes I would be comfortable editing the files. I opened the KNTU scenery and looked at every file, none of which were cfg.files though, they are all BGL, does that have anything to do with it??? This sucks Steve. I have an hour or two to get some stick time in and it turns in to an hour or two of researching how to get this scenery to work but I apparently keep f'n something up - AGH!!! I'm getting to the point where I'll pay someone to either talk to me on TeamSpeak or the damn phone or go into my PC and move stuff around to get it all to work! Sorr, frustration is setting in. Usually by now I get it and I'm good to go.

Thanks again,

Tom
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by campbeme »

Having two area 107 is not going to help. Just go into your FSX scenery library manager and remove all entries for Oceana, then just activate the correct scenery for oceana back into FSX.
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by Firebird »

What Mark says is correct you have two area 107s. This is what is causing the issue.
As he says delete the KNTU scenery, you can use SCE, and save. You should then find that there are no errors and FS should load up fine with the default Oceania scenery.

Once that is proved, then use the editor to add the KNTU scenery back. It will automatically add a free area number and you should find that your problems are gone.

Although I have years of experience of playing around with the raw files I still use tools like SCE as they are useful in highlighting problems quickly. In your situation you may not have known what the issue was but it did show you where the problem was and others can then help you.
Tools like this are invaluable.
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

Finally! Thank you Mark & Steve for all of your help - wow! I loaded Dino's F-14D on the active duty runway at KNTU and crossed my fingers and there it was.

I have one final question ("final" is probably a poor word to use here) anyway, there aren't any static aircraft and I would like some Hornets and Super Hornets, perhaps even a Tomcats. Do either of you or anyone else have any recommendations? Am I correct to assume statice aircraft would go into my objects/airplane folder?

Thanks again!

Tom
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Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by campbeme »

tl2450 wrote:Finally! Thank you Mark & Steve for all of your help - wow! I loaded Dino's F-14D on the active duty runway at KNTU and crossed my fingers and there it was.

I have one final question ("final" is probably a poor word to use here) anyway, there aren't any static aircraft and I would like some Hornets and Super Hornets, perhaps even a Tomcats. Do either of you or anyone else have any recommendations? Am I correct to assume statice aircraft would go into my objects/airplane folder?

Thanks again!

Tom
Really not sure why you want static aircraft, why don't you use the AI which comes with the package? Or is AI a no no on multiplayer?

Our NAS Lemoore scenery comes with almost 300 active Legacy and Super Hornets, so its really not a ghost town. :D
Mark
tl2450

Re: re: MAIW FSX Package Conversion

Post by tl2450 »

Mark,

When I was with USNVA we would fly in as a group and occupy the ramp so it didn't matter, but now I don't have the time to dedicate to a multi-player group, and the ramp at KNTU could use some a/c on it. I have Lemoore, Atsugi & Whidbey Island too, but there aren't any a/c there.

I'd like to add AI traffic, as a matter of fact I started reading the directions at Owls Nest but to be honest Mark, it intimidates the hell out of me because I'm a novice at this. Your directions got me over the hump and I'll use them to add more; they were very simple and made sense, I can cut and paste with the best of them! Any chance you could do the same for the AI traffic?

Tom
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