Matrix Release

[Greg]

Military AI Works is proud to present "Matrix", a completely automatic military AI traffic installer for P3Dv4.

Matrix is an installable application to manage your military AI traffic setup with just a few clicks. It allows you to install all the converted traffic from our legacy FS9 packages and more right into P3Dv4.

Go to the briefing.

[Manschy]

WOW! Thank you so much for this gift!

[petebramley]

I have just installed the Global & Africa releases and all looks good so far. One question, for those like me who are forever fiddling with settings and install methods, will there be a facility to do a manual install at some point ?

Regards

[Firebird]

Well you have the facility now to not auto install a package so that you can mince around with it and add it later. Is that what you were after or more micro-manage sort of function?

[Greg]

Indeed as Steve said, there's a setting in Matrix to disable the add-on.cfg file that is created automatically. That way, P3D won't find your installation folder and you can move stuff to your custom setup as you like. This is explained in the manual.

If there's anything specific you'd like to see, feel free to make a suggestion.

[petebramley]

Thanks Guys

I understand about disabling the add-on.xml but what I want to do is install the package into a temp (C:\TEMP\MAIW) folder first so that I can check exactly what is included in the package and then remove the corresponding scenery/aircraft/traffic files I have already installed into my P3D (my poor attempt at converting stuff to P3Dv4 standard). Once I have done this then I would like to move the package to where it will permenently reside (D:\P3D Add-on\MAIW_AFRICA\). As I could not see a way to change the installation folder what I did was move the package over and then edit the add-on.xml to point it in the right direction. Is there any way of changing the installation folder or do I have to un-install and start again?

Two questions:
will each package have its own aircraft folder for each paint of individual units. Difficult to explain but in my FS9 layout I had just one C-130H Folder with each individual packages of texture files in sub folders:

\Aircraft\MAIW_HTAI_C-130H
Sub folder \Texture.Cannon
sub sub folder\RCH_XX_16_69-6568

The texture line for this aircrafts Aircraft.cfg would be:
texture=Cannon\RCH_XX_16_69-6568

I used this method in FS9 because multiple instances of the same model files slowed down the load times of the sim. Is this a consideration in P3Dv4 ?

If I add non-MAIW paints to the \MAIW_AFRICA_AIRCRAFT\MAIW_HTAI_C-130H folder will this cause a problem with future updates from MATRIX.

Now off to install Oceania

Regards

[Greg]

Is there any way of changing the installation folder or do I have to un-install and start again?

No, currently you can not change the installation folder via the GUI once it's chosen. This would require that all files are moved to the new folder and the add-on.xml files are rewritten if they exist. It's on my requested features list but I have not yet had a look at it.

If you have already set the package installation path to another folder, the only way to change it is by fiddling with the config file. Look for "C:\Users\You\AppData\Local\Military_AI_Works\MATRIX.exe\1.0.0.0\user.config" and change the value under "InstallPath".

What I would do in your case is:

1. Install in the temporary location "C:\TEMP\MAIW" with add-on.cfg files enabled (so the option on the settings tab disabled).
2. Recreate the exact same folder structure in your definitive location "D:\P3D Add-on".
3. Change all paths in the add-on.xml file to the definitive location (Matrix will not touch the xml files once created)
4. Now you can copy/move whatever you want to the definitive location. New packages will still be installed in the temporary location (remember to change the add-on.xml file after every installation). Updates will be installed in the temporary location as well.

Or alternatively, you can merge everything into one big setup in the definitive location with just one custom add-on.xml file and disable the ones created by Matrix. Its all up to you.

will each package have its own aircraft folder for each paint of individual units.

There is one aircraft folder of every type per region, if applicable. This means that if the C-130E model is required in both Africa and Asia, then it will be in both regions (MAIW_AFRICA_AIRCRAFT and MAIW_ASIA_AIRCRAFT), each with their respective textures. The structure of the texture folders is the same as in the original FS9 source package.

This is already a huge leap forward compared to the aircraft folder per unit as we had with the original FS9 packages. There is still some duplication, but maximum six times per aircraft type (if all regions would require that aircraft type).

If you choose the single big setup option I mentioned above, you can merge folders even further.

If I add non-MAIW paints to the \MAIW_AFRICA_AIRCRAFT\MAIW_HTAI_C-130H folder will this cause a problem with future updates from MATRIX.

Yes it will. As mentioned in the readme, updates will remove and overwrite files without warning. But if you choose the workflow above, you can add whatever you like to the setup in your definitive location.

Now off to install Oceania

Oceania is my current favourite. It contains some beautiful scenery.

[petebramley]

Thanks for the info Greg. I think I will stay with the install to a temp file and amend paths as required. Will keep all non MAIW paints in my main aircraft folder.

[Holy Cheese]

Greg,

just wanted to say thanks for this great tool! Downloaded last night and with just a few mouse clicks I had Africa, Oceania and South America installed and looking amazing

Great job guys, will be making my donation to this tonight

Thanks
Jack

[Victory103]

Timing is suburb, just received my new gaming rig and have P3Dv4.2 up and running, sans MAIW so far. My only issue is that I have just about every package already in FSX, many customized with paints, FP adjustment,scenery fixes and of course the "Real World Changes..." thread comes into play. I've spent most of last night watching vids on how P3D is structured with add-ons, what FSX models I can/cannot move over, graphic settings...next thing I know the bourbon barrel wine bottle was empty!

[Greg]

No auto-installer will ever be able to take all that into account, obviously.

All disbanded units in the "Real World Changes..." thread were actually removed from the packages, but I didn't hunt for the individual aircraft that have crashed or so since most people will hardly notice.

If you need any help with add-on.xml structuring, feel free to ask in a separate thread.

[Spirit Flyer]

Hello,

I hope there is no such thing as a stupid first question.

First, thank you for developing and providing this program! We need this badly and will make a great addition to the sim!

In the update for the Editvoicepack it says to install manually to editvoicepack xL. I do have the payware version and recent update, so do I install it somewhere in that location, in the contained data file, or somewhere else in the actual P3Dv4.2 program?

Kindest regards,

Spirit Flyer (Stephen)

[Firebird]

If EVP XL is anything like the original EVP you just open and import the files you want from wherever you have them on your system.
Of course it makes sense if they are all held in one folder.

[Greg]

You need to "Switch to the advanced user interface" first. Then click "File" -> "Import modifications". Go to the folder where you extracted the evpmod files. Now because most of the mods are still in FS9 format, you need to switch the file type (bottom right) to "All files (*.*)". Then select all the files in one go (with crtrl+A for example) and click "Open". Once imported, update your voicepack as usual. You can remove the mod files once imported.

[Victory103]

Thanks Greg just need to figure the easiest way to transfer files from 2 separate machines. As a test run I loaded up MAIW Oceania to keep it simple and noticed no RAAF F-18F/Gs, was this due to not being an original MAIW package?

[Firebird]

Only original MAIW releases/mods will be part of the package, so yes that is the answer to your question.

Whether any addons in our download hangar will be included in the future will depend upon compatibility and difficulty.

The reason we have severally cut back on packages is the lack of resources to make them happen on a regular basis. It therefore stands to reason that we don't have resources to convert members offerings to fit Matrix packaging requirements.
Devising a standard, implementing it, converting everything to it and keeping it up to date is a huge workload.

Whether this will change in the future is purely down to the time required and resources to achieve it but at the moment we haven't rolled the basic world in its entirety.

[Greg]

John Young's packages are the only exception to this right now. And only a handful others. I hope to include as much of Brent's excellent stuff as possible, but that's going to take time. Let's hope he continues to release FSX versions of his scenery now to make our job easier.

If you open the PDF with the details of the Oceania region (click on the map of Australia), you'll see what source packages were included (or at least the compatible parts).

[Joecoastie]

Chris, as I was reading your post I thought, "I've never seen any RAAF F-18's at Oceania. Am I missing something ?"
Wasn't until I read Greg's post I realized you weren't talking about Oceania - KNTU.
Got up and had another cup of coffee. Too early yet to be playing with forums and P3D installations.

[DMdoc]

Finally got around to downloading Matrix & the North America region -- awesome!
Questions:
1) If i had previously installed airbases (in my case, those in SC including KNBC and KMMT and KSSC and KCHS) and their P3D aircraft that are not yet in Matrix, is there any harm in loading those bases and their associated flight plans? I had kept all of my MAIW aircraft in a separate folder, and have remmed out the reference to that folder, so the aircraft from the old version don't show. As of now all those bases except KSSC show a bunch of aircraft.
2) If and when you add these airbases to Matrix, do I need to do anything (such as unloading those bases and/or their aircrafts' flight plans) or just leave them alone?
3) I'm using Matrix version 1.3.0. If and when this is upgraded, how will I be notified?
Thanks in advance.

[Firebird]

I think I shall let Greg answer this one as he knows more about the workings of Matrix and its plans.