Are there any downsides to removing the default aircraft from the game other than losing the multiplayer 'default to' option when two players don't have the same plane?

I never use them, and I've removed and replaced the default traffic.bgl, so to me, they're just dead weight in the sim, but I wanted to ask some experts before messing about. 

I also don't use any planes the are aliased to the defaults in anyway, and those that did, now have custom sound sets & panels.

Thanks for the help. 

ShaneG wrote on Jun 15^th, 2010 at 5:47am:


Be sure you keep the default Cessna - in case you ever rename your FS9.cfg file so it is rebuilt.  The default flight (FLTSIM.FLT in your Flights/other subfolder) calls for that aircraft and if it is "missing" the sim will not start.

The same would hold true if you just remove the data on the situation= line in yiour FS9.cfg file. That forces FS to start with the default flight also.

Also be sure you do not have any "saved" flights which call for any of the default aircraft. If FS cannot find the aircraft a CTD is likely to occur.

I have seen numerous recommendations - usually associated with complex aircraft - to start with the "default flight" (rather than the default flight flight you may have set up) and then change to the complex aircraft. This is apparently "required" with some aircraft in order for all their systems to work correctly. I do not have any of those so am just passing on what I have read.

Any time I have needed to do a fresh re-install of FS2004, the first thing I have done after the install is to create a copy of the default aircaraft folder and squirrel it away for safe keeping - just in case I need any elements from it.

Hope these ramblings thoughts are useful.

It would appear as though I should just leave well enough alone then.   

See, I'm glad I asked the experts. 

I'm glad you mentioned the default flight issue Opa, as I wasn't aware of that, and I've come close to replacing that particular plane on many occasions. 

Thanks to all three of you. 

Shane, you wouldn't earn anything but a small amount of megabytes anyway. I understand that you never use them, but who knows. Perhaps one day you'll want again to check their fantastic virtual cockpits

PS: of course I was not referring to the default liners. I was more thinking about the vintage planes, as well as the default Cessnas. In fact, they were all transferred into my FSX hangar and I fly them a lot:
- C182 (very often)
- Vega (from time to time)
- Vimy (from time to time)
- Comet (very often)
- Trimotor (very often)
- Jenny (very often)

..and, as you know, the default Aircraft are absolutely vital for Pilots flying together in on-line Multiplayer sessions, and wishing their aircraft to show up correctly to each other*!

Flight Sim "Multiplayer" was designed around using the default Aircraft, and works very successfully in that Mode.

Paul..G-BPLF...FS 2004..FS Nav...and my trusty default Beech Baron 58..(I wouldn't be without it!.. ...!).

* (For the benefit of newcomers to on-line Multiplayer)

P.S. I think most of my extended loading times are more due to additional scenery and various additional effects I keep including in the Sim!.. ...!

The AI is probably the large hit, but I only use a couple WOAI packs.

I'm running:

-ALL of the available PAI packs
-ALL of the available MAIW packages
-ALL of the VOZ 1.8 AI planes
-And several others that came with various scenery.

My problem is, is that my Aircraft folder is larger than the entire initial install. 

There are 875 individual aircraft folders, inside the FS9/Aircraft/ folder, with almost 700 of those being AI planes.

It may seem like overkill, but no matter where I fly in the world now, I have real world traffic, civilian, commercial, and military. 



One of my favorite FS past times is to just sit and watch the AI do it's thing at various airports around the world. 

My wife would prefer I stick to aircraft.    

I'll have to let you do that kind of spotting for both of us.   

Wow, now that's some serious AI you got there Shane o_0'
Could be the source of your problematic loading times for sure. But deleting the two-three useless default liners won't really help compared to the 800 other aircraft remaining there

Hagar wrote on Jun 16^th, 2010 at 5:17am:



I wasn't really sure how much more space flyable planes full of panels & sounds & such take up over AI planes, so that's why I came here asking.   

And actually, you'd be surprised how much they see use.

I love to load up at random airports across the world, and just sit on the apron, and watch the AI do it's thing.

It's about as close to spotting as I can get out here in the middle of nowhere.
Even after all this time, I still see some AI planes I've never seen before, or even knew I had.   


A solution presented itself to me last night, and although it may sound a little strange, it did the job quite nicely.

I have removed all planes, except for the AI, and the defaults, and then just add in the aircraft folders of the planes I want to use for that session each time.
This has decreased my loading time significantly. 

ShaneG wrote on Jun 16^th, 2010 at 5:44am:

I believe the link I provided earlier mentioned doing that
So, how much HD space did you get back by moving them elsewhere (I'm assuming an external hard drive)?

BTW did you know that the CaptSim/Just Flight C-130 takes up approximated 2.5-2.7GB when installed?

My technique is to change any planes that are being used for AI to type=2 in the .air file so they don't show up in the selection screen.

Any planes that are not used for AI that I am not flying I simply rename the aircraft.cfg to aircraft.zzz and FS ignores them on startup.

I can pause a flight, renames a file from aircraft.zzz to aircraft.cfg and go back into the sim and that plane will then be available.

This way I don't have to move a bunch of files around, fragging my HD.

Just my 2cents.

cheers,
Joe

ShaneG wrote on Jun 16^th, 2010 at 4:36pm:

Maybe this will help- http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php

USE WITH CAUTION

...and don't blame me if you make a mess of things with that utility. It is not very happy about changing file extensions, but you can add another extension which should do the same thing.

Such as changing aircraft.cfg to something like aircraft.cfg.not or something else.

It will be easy to use if you have all the aircraft folders you want to change already moved into another folder, but that is not required.

Hope this helps.

cheers,
Joe

Ah yes, duplicate AI folders. 

My PAI collection is the big offender, with MAIW being a close second, and VOZ coming in third.

I've only got 4 WOAI files. 

I could probably cut the number of AI folders in half just by combining all the similar models, but I'm guessing that would then lead to a few .cfgs being several miles long. 

I've already combined all of their traffic.bgls into 3 files, instead of 800. So I guess this would be the next logical step. I would just need to make darn sure that I'm getting them matched up correctly.

JoBee wrote on Jun 17^th, 2010 at 10:47am:



Doing it now.

Sounds easy enough, just take it slow. 

Mazza wrote on Jun 18^th, 2010 at 9:33pm:



I've added it to the FAQs.

Good suggestion Mazza.