I've been having a blast!...

[speedbird591]

It must be very satisfying to have these sounds accompanying the AI traffic, but at the moment it's not something that I want to spend time on. I've probably stretched my system too far, anyway!

But I have got a question about AI sounds. In FS9 there is a faint engine sound when an AI aircraft is passing, my question is - where does it come from? There is no sound folder in AI aircraft folders, so is it something that is provided by FS9 itself and how is it triggered?

If it is a standard FS sound, can't it be increased?

Excuse my naivety, but I hadn't thought of all this until Peter mentioned AI Blast...

Ian

[DaveB]

HI Ian..

Do the AI aircraft sounds come from their own soundfile.. usually aliased to a default aircraft?? My CalClassic aircraft work this way :think:

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[johnhinson]

I love AI Blast too. But don't expect ANY support, other than clearing your reg number (so you can reinstall). The authors haven't posted in their forum in years, and no one gets any email response for support issues.

Thanks, Tom - personally I think it is a poor show to be selling something that they cannot be bothered to support. It isn't the first time I have encountered this attitude with payware. Quite frankly, if people aren't prepared to support a product it should be discontinued or offered free of charge. Creaming off profit like that but not helping users is wrong.

It must be very satisfying to have these sounds accompanying the AI traffic, but at the moment it's not something that I want to spend time on. I've probably stretched my system too far, anyway!

But I have got a question about AI sounds. In FS9 there is a faint engine sound when an AI aircraft is passing, my question is - where does it come from? There is no sound folder in AI aircraft folders, so is it something that is provided by FS9 itself and how is it triggered?

If it is a standard FS sound, can't it be increased?

As it is an independent programme that inter-relates through FSUIPC, it doesn't seem (to me) to have any effect on FS performance so you may wish to try it. It does have an uninstall option which should restore everything as it was before if you don't like it.

As to MS's AI sounds, there are many replacement sounds available at places like AVSIM that will sound better than the default. The files live in the sound directory and are named like ai_lgjet01.wav and xai_lgjet01.wav etc. I'm not sure why there are so many files when the results are so basic.

Best wishes,

John

[petermcleland]

AI sounds are provided by FS9 but only "Idling". It is not necessary to have a sound folder in an AI aircraft's folder and if it is there it will be ignored. The default "Idle" sound volume is controlled by the "Environment" slider in Settings > Sound and you should set this at maximum...Then turn your computer sound volume up until the idle sounds are loud enough and then turn down the other FS sound sliders like ATC to reduce their volume till suitable.

With Advanced AI Blast you pop three phrases into the Aircraft.cfg file...here is the basic that is put in by AI Blast:-

[FSHS_AIBLAST]
OldName=BOEING
NewName=6591004

Then to that you add something like this (all copied and pasted from downloads):-

SndPower=B747-400RR_PWR
SndRev=B747-400RR_RVR
SndSpool=B747-400RR_SPOOL

Those three phrases are for the Boeing 747-400 that has the Rolls Royce engines (the other engine types have their own phrases)...So finally it looks like this:-

[FSHS_AIBLAST]
SndPower=B747-400RR_PWR
SndRev=B747-400RR_RVR
SndSpool=B747-400RR_SPOOL
OldName=BOEING
NewName=6591004

The three sounds are for Spool-up, Full Power and Reverse Thrust and they seem to be live recordings and have doppler effect based on your user aircraft's position.

I have removed the touchdown tyre screech as it was coming early and I have fitted all my traffic with "Tyre Chirp" which goes in extremely well with all the Advanced AIBlast sounds and of course being an Effect will occur precisely at touchdown (if you wish to remove the AI Blast tyre screech then please ask and I will tell you how to do it without problems).

With regard to support for the product...Regard this as dead but apart from that I love this product and enjoy the enhancement very much...My Kia Tak is really fabulous to watch and listen to with the real weather on...They have been having some thunderstorms recently

[johnhinson]

With Advanced AI Blast you pop three phrases into the Aircraft.cfg file...here is the basic that is put in by AI Blast:-

[FSHS_AIBLAST]
OldName=BOEING
NewName=6591004

Peter - this is exactly the point I made earlier but you said your Boeings hadn't been altered - I think they have. If you look under [General] I think you will find that number has been inserted in place of "BOEING" and this will stop the aircraft being announced as a Boeing. I tried changing it back but it simply changed it again at next reload.

I know it is a matter of taste but I prefer to be a "Boeing Stratoliner" as designed by Microsoft than a simple "Stratoliner" and I do rather object to software that forces its opinion upon you. :o)

John

[petermcleland]

That is strange John, because it seems to still call them "Boeing 747" and "Airbus 330" etc...I'll keep listening

[speedbird591]

As it is an independent programme that inter-relates through FSUIPC, it doesn't seem (to me) to have any effect on FS performance so you may wish to try it. It does have an uninstall option which should restore everything as it was before if you don't like it.

As to MS's AI sounds, there are many replacement sounds available at places like AVSIM that will sound better than the default. The files live in the sound directory and are named like ai_lgjet01.wav and xai_lgjet01.wav etc. I'm not sure why there are so many files when the results are so basic.

Thank you for that info, John. I would give it a go, but I believe it is not compatible with Windows Vista. However, I've taken your advice and found a better replacement sound file for the AI traffic.

AI sounds are provided by FS9 but only "Idling". It is not necessary to have a sound folder in an AI aircraft's folder and if it is there it will be ignored. The default "Idle" sound volume is controlled by the "Environment" slider in Settings > Sound and you should set this at maximum...Then turn your computer sound volume up until the idle sounds are loud enough and then turn down the other FS sound sliders like ATC to reduce their volume till suitable.

I hadn't even thought of that! I'm so used to things being complicated! Thanks, Peter.

Ian

[petermcleland]

I've discovered another small annoyance with AiBlast in that it sets the TCAS max range to 10 miles...I like to use it at 40 miles for my Mobile Tower Radar (it is the F16Radar which is used in several Classic Brit aircraft. Notably the 748 and the Viscount). A workaround is to have a shortcut on your desktop to FSUIPC.ini and always start FSHotSFX (AiBlast) FIRST, before FS9 then it will tell you that it has changed it to 10 miles. Leaving FSHotSFX running, you then click your shortcut to FSUIPC.ini and edit the TCAS range back to 40 miles. Finally start FS9 and you will have your full TCAS range for that session...Sadly, it will do it again the next time you start FSHotSFX and you will have to repeat the edit.

If it is not important to you to have your TCAS or Radar limited to 10 miles range then just ignore the above

[speedbird591]

Having listened to the advice given by John and Peter, I've improved my AI sound quite significantly. Just in case anybody else wants a simple upgrade without using AIBlast, I can recommend ai_sound.zip from Avsim. It simply replaces all the default AI sounds in the Flight Simulator 9\Sound folder with better quality .wav files of the same names (so you'd want to back up the originals).

They are still only engine idle sounds but are more realistic than the default ones and there is a selection to suit most a/c types. There is no need to amend the .cfg files as FS allocates the correct sound to the a/c. They work fine with my retro traffic and Manchester sounds quite authentic with a mixture of props and jets moving around.

Thanks again for the advice.

Ian

[Creampoint]

Peter

If you have a recent version of FSHotSFX (mine is 1.1.61) you can create an Options section in FSHotSFX.ini

[Options]
TCASRange=40

That fixed mine

See Help and Version Changes for more info

Hope that helps and thanks for the heads up in the first place - cracking little product despite its foibles

cheers
Simon