Simviation Forum - What the hell does the *.AIR file do?

Mar 7^th, 2003 at 11:17am

liran_bar Offline
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What is it responsible for and how can edit it?

10q

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Reply #1 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 12:18pm

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
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The visual model (moving parts and all) is strictly for "our" benefit. It lets us see the plane the way we like it.

The .air file is the actual computer model that FS and the computer "move" around in space/air. All the parameters needed to calculate that models behavior (as a plane) are set in the .air file.

Most of the meaningful parameters can either be changed or "over-ridden" with changes to the "aircraft.cfg" file. The easiest way to do this,,is to study the file,, back it up and then experiment using a text-editor like WordPad.

It's a lot of fun,,, try it,, but do your homework first.

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Reply #2 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 12:28pm

liran_bar Offline
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when I load the .air file using the notepad all I see is wierd sigs....

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Reply #3 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 2:34pm

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
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Right ! Don't mess with the .air file.

Edit the "aircraft.cfg" file .

It over-rides the .air file.

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Reply #4 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 2:46pm

liran_bar Offline
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oh... well that I know how to deal with....

say mate one more question....
do you happen to know what file dictates to the FS wich texture file/part of file goes where on the model?

meaning: what file says where does every file of the texture go?

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Reply #5 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 3:29pm

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
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If you mean "how are the textures aligned or applied to a model ?" That is determined when the model is made and you can't change it without access to the source-file.

If you mean "how are different sets of textures (ie. paint schemes and liveries) assigned ?" That is determined in the aircraft.cfg file by individual paragraphs titled "[fltsim.X]" where the the line "texture= XXXXX" references an individual texture folder within the planes main folder.

Make sense Grin

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Reply #6 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 5:30pm

liran_bar Offline
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Hey...
Well I ment the first option..... and I was expecting that answer... though I don't wish to change it... I wish to understand the parts of the textures.....
Cause some times most of it is white and it's very difficult to figure out what goes where....

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Reply #7 - Mar 7^th, 2003 at 10:07pm

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
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Yup,, what you can do,, is edit a texture (say,, fuselage.bmp, or whatever it may be named) with a graphics program,,, place color coded dots on the texture,, note the pixel coordinates,, and then see where they show up on the plane. With a little work,, you can "map" the texture and get your repaint to look right ..

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Reply #8 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 12:40am

BFMF Offline
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You can edit .air files if you know what you're doing. You can download a free editor called AirEd

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Reply #9 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 12:59am

BMan1113VR Offline
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You can edit .air files if you know what you're doing. You can download a free editor called AirEd

yes, or with older ones you can use notepad

i also believe that flight dynamics editor(FDE), by abacus, recently became freeware

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Reply #10 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 1:06am

BFMF Offline
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i'll have to check it out

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Reply #11 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 1:34am

liran_bar Offline
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now what do you mean by "know what you do"?
Is there any tutorial I should read...?

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Reply #12 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 1:43am

BFMF Offline
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If you don't know what you're doing while editing .air files, you can seriously mess them up, so make sure to make a backup first.

I'm not sure if there's a tutorial or not

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Reply #13 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 1:54am

liran_bar Offline
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cool thanx....
one more thing... what is the air file responsible for?

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Reply #14 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 2:04am

BFMF Offline
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The .air files contain the Flight Dynamics for an aircraft. It basically tells the flightsimulator how an aircraft acts\flies

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