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

Mar 7^th, 2003 at 11:17am

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

What is it responsible for and how can edit it?

10q

Liran Bar, Israel

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

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

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

Gender:

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.

Back to top

IP Logged

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

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

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

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

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

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

Gender:

Right ! Don't mess with the .air file.

Edit the "aircraft.cfg" file .

It over-rides the .air file.

Back to top

IP Logged

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

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

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?

Liran Bar, Israel

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

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

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

Gender:

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

Back to top

IP Logged

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

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

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....

Liran Bar, Israel

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

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

Brett_Henderson Ex Member
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

Gender:

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 ..

Back to top

IP Logged

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

BFMF Offline
Colonel
Pacific Northwest

Gender:
Posts: 19820

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

COMPLETED: If Anyone Cares, Here's A Map Of My Current FSX Flight Around The World

My Reality Check Bounced

Back to top

IP Logged

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

BMan1113VR Offline
Colonel
Los Angeles, California

Gender:
Posts: 9196

Quote:

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

Sincerely,&&Me&&&&SimV NFL 2006-2007 Season Pool Co-Champion (157-99; 9-2)&&SimV NFL 2005-2006 Season Pool Co-Champion (163-93)&&SimV NFL 2004-2005 Season Pool Champion (166-90) &&

&&Click for Assistance

Back to top

IP Logged

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

BFMF Offline
Colonel
Pacific Northwest

Gender:
Posts: 19820

i'll have to check it out

COMPLETED: If Anyone Cares, Here's A Map Of My Current FSX Flight Around The World

My Reality Check Bounced

Back to top

IP Logged

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

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

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

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

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

BFMF Offline
Colonel
Pacific Northwest

Gender:
Posts: 19820

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

COMPLETED: If Anyone Cares, Here's A Map Of My Current FSX Flight Around The World

My Reality Check Bounced

Back to top

IP Logged

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

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

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

Liran Bar, Israel

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

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

BFMF Offline
Colonel
Pacific Northwest

Gender:
Posts: 19820

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

COMPLETED: If Anyone Cares, Here's A Map Of My Current FSX Flight Around The World

My Reality Check Bounced

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #15 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 2:12am

liran_bar Offline
Colonel
Ramon, we shall never
forget you!
Israel

Gender:
Posts: 583

cool thank you all!

&&

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #16 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 8:22am

FSTipster Offline
Colonel
There are no stupid questions,
only stupid answers
U.K.

Gender:
Posts: 1514

The inclusion of the .air file as part of the construction of an aircraft model is something of a mystery.

As mentioned earlier, it contains the elements that construct the flight dynamics of the aircraft. There are a lot more entries in the .air file than in the aircraft.cfg.

I assume that these are things that Microsoft considered users would never want to change for some reason. (They got it well wrong with reverse thrust power).

Where entries appear in both the .air and the aircraft.cfg, the aircraft.cfg file takes priority.

In most instances, there's no need to access the .air file except where there isn't an equivalent entry in the aircraft.cfg.

Finally, it's worth noting that I'm sure there is nothing in the .air file that can't be reproduced in the aircraft,cfg file as an entry. I found the parameters when downloading the Panels & Gauges SDK.

Why Microsoft chose to have a .air file at all remains the mystery.

&&

Click the banner to visit the site

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #17 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 9:25am

Hagar Offline
Colonel
My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

Posts: 33159

Tipster. This is the clearest & most concise explanation I have yet seen on the relationship between AIR file & Aircraft.cfg & I agree with everything you say.

Quote:

Why Microsoft chose to have a .air file at all remains the mystery.

It's worth remembering that until the introduction of extra Aircraft.cfg entries with CFS2 the complete flight model was defined in the AIR file in all M$ sims. This was extended in FS2002 to include more flight model variables which made me think that in time they would do away with the AIR file completely. I've been proved wrong so far as CFS3 default aircraft still have AIR files.

Founder & Sole Member - Grumpy's Over the Hill Club for Veteran Virtual Aviators
Member of the Fox Four Group

Need help? Try Grumpy's Lair

My photo gallery

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #18 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 10:26am

FSTipster Offline
Colonel
There are no stupid questions,
only stupid answers
U.K.

Gender:
Posts: 1514

I think your knowledge of the history provides the explanation here.

I'd presume that the retention of the .air file might be based on on retaining backwards compatibility with old aircraft.

Or perhaps the remaining employment of someone at Microsoft who likes working with them. Grin

&&

Click the banner to visit the site

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #19 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 12:23pm

WebbPA Ex Member
I Like Flight Simulation!

Why not ask Microsoft?

http://zone.msn.com/flightsim/FS02Readback04.asp

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #20 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 12:34pm

BFMF Offline
Colonel
Pacific Northwest

Gender:
Posts: 19820

I really doubt they would tell us

COMPLETED: If Anyone Cares, Here's A Map Of My Current FSX Flight Around The World

My Reality Check Bounced

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #21 - Mar 8^th, 2003 at 12:45pm

WebbPA Ex Member
I Like Flight Simulation!

That's what the link says, but it explains why they won't tell you.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #22 - Mar 10^th, 2003 at 6:30am

IanK Offline
Colonel
Honey, where'd you park
my Harrier?

Posts: 124

Hi Liran,
there is a site with a lot of .air file support you can go to and with links to the .air support board where you will get answers to all your questions there.

Air File Editors
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hsors/FS_Soft/fsairfile.html

Air File Board, post March 2003
http://www.avhistory.org/scripts/MegaBBS/logon.asp

The .air file is not in ASCII but you can dump it and read it using AirUpDate program. The decode of the numbers is in AirEd.ini and there are 2 good editing programs that you can tune aircraft flight preformance with.

HTH
Ian

Back to top

IP Logged

	Search the archive: