Ships, or the lack of

[PaulC]

Hello All,

I am rather thick when it comes to a lot of things in FSX. After so long faffing with MSFS you'd think I'd be able to do more than I currently can, but there you go!

So. I have both the Flying Stations Buccaneer and the Simshed Nimrod. Both fantastic aircraft I have to to say, and one of the reasons I like them is that in both there is a radar that works and picks up AI shipping.

I'm a bit of a backseater at heart so this appeals to me greatly.

However, my FSX does not want to show me ship and ferries. Even at 100%, it doesn't seem to throw anything up. Leisure craft near the coast, fine, but no biggies.

Why is this??? Is there none around the UK?

All I want is to go on a bit of maritime patrol and look for stuff on the radar and fly past it to ID it (I can feel a multi-crew project coming up for my cadet squadron here, too).

I aren't asking for bloody miracles but FSX will not oblige.

Sadly I have no knowledge of creating shipping. I've trawled the net (no pun intended but I've just smiled at myself! ) and can't find anything handy.

What's my best course of action?

Thanks,

Paul (Miffed)

[DaveB]

Hi Paul

I'm much like you I'm afraid. Every now and again, the urge 'takes me' and I knuckle down and DO something but I'm happiest letting someone else DO something so I can become the end user

As far as shipping in FSX goes.. there's a lot less than you'd imagine but.. fear not. Get over to Allnodes and type AI Shipping into the search engine. What will pop-up is a set of 75 FSX AI ships complete with all routes. There's a fix for it too so make sure you grab both

What you'll get is an impressive collection of ships and routes that span the globe but importantly for us.. a fair whack of it touches the UK and Europe. Rather than have me babble on. it's probably best you nip over and take a look yourself. It'll certainly liven the place up a bit and if you look at the routes, you'll know roughly where to go to find your 'targets'

In my opionion.. one of the most difficult things you can do in FS is find a ship at sea.. especially if you're low on fuel and need to land on it! Not that this will worry you in the Nimrod Check this release out and let us know how you get on

ATB
DaveB

[Jetstreamsky]

Try here http://www.fs-shipyards.org/index.php

and here for compiling your own custom routes http://lc0277.gratisim.fr/boat/

[PaulC]

Whey hey!!

Tonight I have great pleasure in reporting that I managed to make my own AI shipping appear.

I stuck a Russian Sub somewhere off the Shetlands (I have no real idea of its schedule however) and went looking for it in the Nimrod.

B^*>{er me if I didn't only go and find it!!

You may be thinking "yeah, so what" but I've been working on this for ages and this is the first time it's worked.

Thanks to Ben for his guide on placing shipping, coupled with my net research I've finally got there.

Now, I'm going to go and calm myself down!

Paul

[DaveB]

Well done mate

I find making ship traffic just too complicated.. so I get Ben to do it for me I really must try and get to grips with it

ATB
DaveB

[TSR2]

progress! Now you'll get addicted to it until you realise you're spending more time creating traffic files than flying.

[Brian Franklin]

Paul,

If you want it I have some AI Russian subs that transit from Polyarny down to UK waters on a daily basis. Also a huge AI flotilla that centres around Murmansk but covers a lot of the globe as routes.

All good stuff for using the Nimrod

[PaulC]

Brian,
That would be fantastic- just what I'm after.
My progress at filling up the world's sea with Soviets is slow to say the least!!

Thanks!

Paul C

[Brian Franklin]

Paul.

http://www.simshed.co.uk/transfer/naval/maritime.zip

Unzip to your main FSX folder and the files should all find their correct locations.

All you need do then is add the Addon Scenery\Polyarny to your scenery library. There is a set of routes in there by a Russian guy that I can't take credit for but I can't remember his name and he seems to have disappeared off the map. Anyway - to him - thanks!

The subs depart Polyarny on weekdays at or around 09:00 local - different days = different sub

Also must recommend this page http://milit.ru/1134_2.htm

PS. this will also give you some AI Nimrods out of Kinloss and some Russian AI flights out of Polyarny NAF

[PaulC]

That's great, thanks every so much, I'll let you know how I get on.

Ta!