FSX Tutorials - AI Carriers 2 Set Up (dotNet4 version)

[@MercuryGlider]

8 years later and this tutorial still works, thank you!

[@Novawing24]

Glad to hear it's still works!

[@benjaminluera4826]

Thanks so much for your assistance. I have used the old version with FSX accelerator but could never get the dot net version to work and the original developer never provided any instructions. I recently upgraded to Win 10 and then installed the FSX SE version so this helped with my rebuild. Appreciate all the hard work and time.

[@Novawing24]

I am glad that I was able to help! Thanks for the support!

[@mazo3270]

For someone who has returned to FSX recently, this was an excellent video and very well explained. I did have one issue and that is I didn't see the 'trusted' box appear on start up of FSX but by running the exe file from my carrier folder the options appeared in the add on drop down in the simulator. I also did a reboot after installing and configuring the files. This may have helped...I dont know for sure. I also liked the approach and take off procedures which has been a great help. Thank you.

[@Novawing24]

Thanks for watching and glad I got to help!

[@garyruhs9466]

You have to be kidding that this helps anyone that doesn't already know what they are doing. Don't know how anyone gets smart enough to use these carrier programs. I have gotten lucky on most of my aircraft installations recently but cannot begin to understand why carriers are so complicated. Thanks for trying.

[@joshbutts6092]

Its a really easy tutorial to follow actually, took me around 10 mins to install

[@natan.martinelli]

For those who are having problems finding the "exe.xml" or finding the "AI Ships" on the Menu Bar: EXE.xml: - If you have FSX:SE, maybe you're not finding any folder related to FSX in "C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming". - What you're looking for is here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\config In-game "Add-ons": - Open your FSX. - Once with FSX completely started, run the "AICarriers.exe", the .exe that came with the AI Carriers 2 download. P.s.1: Open your Task Bar and see if it's running. If it's not, run it as Admin. - Once AICarriers.exe is running, go back to the game, do the procedures shown in the video normally and run the simulation. - With the simulation loaded, press Shift+J to open the AI Ships Window, or open it through the Menu Bar, it will already be there. - Do the following just like you saw in the video. P.s.2: Maybe you won't be able to choose a waypoint to put the carrier, it may crash the AICarriers.exe, which happened to me, but you still can put it 1, 5 or 10nm ahead, just be sure that it will spawn on the water. ;) P.s.3: If you're having problems with the landing cables, sorry, it didn't happen to me, I don't know how to solve =/

[@belgeode]

Oh yeah I heard about this! Thanks for the heads up. I will have to check it out and see if it functions better than the current setup I have using java.

[@Novawing24]

+belgeode The process is a lot more streamlined and most importantly reliable than the old Java Script version

[@belgeode]

+Novawing24 Question. Do I need to uninstall the original one before installing this one?

[@Novawing24]

belgeode I highly recommend you do. If you already have the HD carriers installed they can stay but the base AICarriers should be removed before putting in th new dotNET version

[@belgeode]

+Novawing24 Done and done. Works like a charm. My nimitz, Ike, Bonhomme RIchard, and the other carriers all function properly.

[@louden9765]

in sp the carrier is their but i dont have the add on selecson on the top bar

[@nearkolob]

I just installed this. I have done everything, however the "AI Ships" does not show up in the add-ons menu. I do get the dialogue on startup so I know it is running.

[@natan.martinelli]

- Open your FSX. - Once with FSX completely started, run the "AICarriers.exe", the .exe that came with the AI Carriers 2 download. P.s.1: Open your Task Bar and see if it's running. If it's not, run it as Admin. - Once AICarriers.exe is running, go back to the game, do the procedures shown in the video normally and run the simulation. - With the simulation loaded, press Shift+J to open the AI Ships Window, or open it through the Menu Bar, it will already be there. - Do the following just like you saw in the video. P.s.2: Maybe you won't be able to choose a waypoint to put the carrier, it may crash the AICarriers.exe, which happened to me, but you still can put it 1, 5 or 10nm ahead, just be sure that it will spawn on water. ;)

[@kibidan5]

This video saved me who was facing the same problem in P3D v4.

[@Novawing24]

Happy to help!

[@benjaminluera4826]

Hi Novawing have you ever added other carriers or LHA's to your config file? I want to attempt to land Dino's F-35B but can't find any LHA's to use. Appreciate it. Also have you ever done a tutorial on setting up an FMC for a commercial aircraft>

[@Novawing24]

I was able to add multiple ships from multiple devs over the years to this file, including Dinos LHA and others including HMAS Melbourne. So the principle still works, sometimes you had to mess with the coordinates a bit though IIRC. As far as a tutorial for an FMC, I'm still learning that myself (it will be part of an upcoming series) so eventually it will make an appearance!

[@djw2104]

Many thanks for this tutorial, plus the earlier one, I hope to have some carriers up and running once I have mastered the .cfg programming. (I am a member of the silver haired brigade.) I like to fly Sea Harriers, Harriers RN (NAS) and Buccaneers.

[@LtDogoop]

were you able to edit the cfg I am unable to do it

[@djw2104]

@@LtDogoop Yes, just perserverance and back up copies just in case. All now works well. Just make sureaicarriers is added to the FSX XML/DLL file using notepad as shown above and editing the carrier .cfg is easy. You can even add your own extra ships or formations. I even added a U-boat which is hard to find if doing an anti-submarine sortie. If it doesn't show in your drop-down menu run the aicarrier application seperately as soon as you start your sim.

[@LtDogoop]

@@djw2104 actually I am using P3dv4.5 and aicarriers is my first addon so i always have to start ai carriers separately every time I start the sim 🤔

[@goose5253]

For some reason, fsx asks me to run it and i say yes the application doesnt start. I did everything correctly and even if i try to manually start it, it wont start

[@cooperthorne8321]

How come I don't have an addon menu? i looked at the vid a few times and still cant figure out were i messed up. can you help me?

[@natan.martinelli]

- Open your FSX. - Once with FSX completely started, run the "AICarriers.exe", the .exe that came with the AI Carriers 2 download. P.s.1: Open your Task Bar and see if it's running. If it's not, run it as Admin. - Once AICarriers.exe is running, go back to the game, do the procedures shown in the video normally and run the simulation. - With the simulation loaded, press Shift+J to open the AI Ships Window, or open it through the Menu Bar, it will already be there. - Do the following just like you saw in the video. P.s.2: Maybe you won't be able to choose a waypoint to put the carrier, it may crash the AICarriers.exe, which happened to me, but you still can put it 1, 5 or 10nm ahead, just be sure that it will spawn on water. ;)

[@LucasBooneC]

the box does not show up when i open fsx. I am using steam edition if that makes a difference

[@LucasBooneC]

+Squidy please help me

[@natan.martinelli]

- Open your FSX. - Once with FSX completely started, run the "AICarriers.exe", the .exe that came with the AI Carriers 2 download. P.s.1: Open your Task Bar and see if it's running. If it's not, run it as Admin. - Once AICarriers.exe is running, go back to the game, do the procedures shown in the video normally and run the simulation. - With the simulation loaded, press Shift+J to open the AI Ships Window, or open it through the Menu Bar, it will already be there. - Do the following just like you saw in the video. P.s.2: Maybe you won't be able to choose a waypoint to put the carrier, it may crash the AICarriers.exe, which happened to me, but you still can put it 1, 5 or 10nm ahead, just be sure that it will spawn on water. ;)

[@thatdudekyan]

Hey! Not sure if your still reading comments but I need help, after following all your instructions the AI Ship would not show up on add-on menu. Would love a reply. Thank you - Kyan.

[@Novawing24]

Check to make sure that the aicarrers.exe application is running in your task bar. If not, manually start it and see if it then appears in your menu. If that happens then it's an issue with your exe.xml when starting your sim. Good luck!

[@thatdudekyan]

@@Novawing24 Yeah, I restarted my PC and it worked. Also got a combat F/A-18 and doing some A/A and A/G missions with the carrier. I wanna thank you so much lol

[@oliverorolin4381]

i dont have the addon tab and i have FSX SE with a few addons can some help..

[@natan.martinelli]

- Open your FSX. - Once with FSX completely started, run the "AICarriers.exe", the .exe that came with the AI Carriers 2 download. P.s.1: Open your Task Bar and see if it's running. If it's not, run it as Admin. - Once AICarriers.exe is running, go back to the game, do the procedures shown in the video normally and run the simulation. - With the simulation loaded, press Shift+J to open the AI Ships Window, or open it through the Menu Bar, it will already be there. - Do the following just like you saw in the video. P.s.2: Maybe you won't be able to choose a waypoint to put the carrier, it may crash the AICarriers.exe, which happened to me, but you still can put it 1, 5 or 10nm ahead, just be sure that it will spawn on water. ;)

[@benjaminluera4826]

Novawing how do you go about adding additional carriers to the aicarriers and conf.d folder so I can select them from the addon menu?

[@Novawing24]

You can place them in a text file using the syntax from the base aicarriers.cfg file

[@westjetq4003]

did what you said to do but it doesn't show up when I press alt and go to addons. I don't know why to do

[@Novawing24]

+WestjetQ400 Check your Taskbar notifications do you see AICarriers.exe running? If no then it has not been added to the exe.xml correctly. If yes then the aicarriers.exe was not set as a trusted application when you started FSX.

[@wildone106]

Great tutorial! I have 2 problems with it though, it seems I can only get the Shift+J menu to show up once per session..meaning I have to completely restart my PC to get it to work after the 1st time :( Also when I slewed myself onto the carrier in a launch configuration, save that flight then reload it...it flings me off instantly and there is no carrier spawned. Apart from that its great lol

[@Novawing24]

The saved file does not remember the carrier being there as it is dynamically placed by the tool In terms of not running at your next session, check in your taskbar to see if it closed when you closed FSX in the last session. If it is still there right click and close it before firing up FSX again

[@72VirginExpress]

Will you be looking to see if this works in P3dV4? I can't seem to get it to work. I can get the AI carriers Menu - but says no formation found and check aicarriers.cfg

[@benjaminluera4826]

Novawing24, thanks so much for all your help. I wanted to install this version prior to installing the RFN Tacan gauge. Great description and walkthrough, appreciate all the help. Are you aware of any Australian Navy airports in the vicinity of the Gulf Coast airport? Thanks again, cheers !!

[@Novawing24]

The Australian Fleet Air Arm only maintains a single Naval Air Station at Nowra, HMAS Albatross, south of Sydney.

[@LtDogoop]

Hello Novawing Can you please instruct me how to create .cfg files as I am unable to find any tutorials on it thanks very much

[@Novawing24]

*.cfg files are just text files, but when saved saved as *.cfg instead of *.txt. The format they are in is dependednt on the purpose you are using them for. For example there are a variety of differnent cfg formats used within the ESP family of sims depnding on what they are used for (aircraft settings, scenery settings, sim core parameters etc. Great way is to look through the SDK for the sim you are working on. For FSX:SE use the Microsoft ESP SDK available free online (a quick search of Microsoft's Developer pages will help here). Good Luck!

[@LtDogoop]

@@Novawing24 roger understood. btw do u have any idea on how the cfgs of ai carriers work? I want to install dino's LHA-6

[@hubba1963]

G-day mate Hope you can help me. I seem to have just about everything set up good . Ai carriers, Aicarriers2, Cops3 etc. But the aircraft front wheel locking bar dose not come down and lock to launching shuttle. I think i have missed something. When i look at my control button key settings there i can see tailhook fine and lock wheel but no where where i can set the nose locking bar to catapult or launch key ( shift - space bar ) Please i have come so far but i seem to have missed someting grrrr. Your help would be much appreciated Cheers!

[@EricTFDC]

I’ve got ai carriers installed and there’s someone hosting a server in fsx steam multiplayer and is using the uss nimitz configuration 1. Right when I load in fsx crashes.

[@Novawing24]

Even if the host has it spawned, you will not see it. Unless they are using TacPac from VRS Simulations, in which case you also need to have TacPac installed and enabled to be able to see and use the carriers.

[@quink99]

Thanks for an extremely well done video! Since it was so complete and explicit the fact that it didn't work is most probably my fault. That said after reviewing other comments here perhaps the following will help you help me."Check your Taskbar notifications do you see AICarriers.exe running?"The AI Carriers icon is present in my taskbar and when hovered over with the pointer says, "connected to Microsoft Flight Simulator X".When Task Manager is brought up it show, "AICarriers2...........Running"" If yes then the aicarriers.exe was not set as a trusted application when you started FSX."Upon starting FSX Steam none of the Trusted application boxes ever were presented during the start up of FSX Steam to set as Trusted Applications nor did "AI Ships" appear in the ADD ONS menu.Got any ideas where I might have screwed up?My thanks in advance for any help,Quink

[@matteo_oz3557]

i m using the f-14d and when i press shift U the nose goes down as in your video, but when i press shift I for the catapoult nothing appen. Why?

[@Novawing24]

make sure that the nose is close to the catapult shuttle otherwise it won't hook up

[@matteo_oz3557]

@@Novawing24 yeah i put the nose straigt the lunch rail and i press shift u where the wheel is near the pick up. So i see the launch bar going down as the nose. Than i press shift I but the ramp doesn't rise. I activate the AB but even if i press shift space the catapoult doesn't work and the plane takes off only with his trusth

[@howwerv9699]

Thanks for the great video. Everything is working and I've added some extra ships which all operate correctly. 1 problem is once I've used it once AI Carriers disappears from the add on menu? I have to completely restart my computer. do you know how to fix this? Many Thanks

[@markcomputertech7997]

How do you start off on the carrier deck? Nobody seems to explain this clearly. is there a set of commands?

[@Novawing24]

You cannot start off on the Carrier Deck. It is possible if you save a flight with your aircraft already on the deck, but out of the box no.

[@mro9466]

XP11 --> "Customize" then "Special Starts"

[@rederos8079]

How about lifts? They are warking but i dont know how to activate them.

[@Novawing24]

They are automated on a timer, it controlled.

[@rederos8079]

How can you controll the timer? And how long do you need to wait?

[@chuck.e.cheese.official]

I got everything to work but my carriers don't have the landing cables

[@ChinaLake100]

Same thing there

[@graysonadams2485]

do you have the acceleration pack?

[@frequentsimpilot7311]

Am I late...yup, I am...Never mind! Nice video you've done, mate! Thank you for helping! One question though...as far as I can see, you have to install the Nimitz class carrier pack, what about (if there is any) other carrier packs that aren't made from the dev of AICarriers? Will they work or not? Once again, thanks for helping! Cheers!

[@Novawing24]

You don't need the Nimitz pack, this works with any AI ship pack (including the boats included with default FSX and P3D)

[@frequentsimpilot7311]

Ok! Thank ya! Makes sense, anyway...

[@sfairforcedefender]

Hey man, I followed all the instructions and everything on my windows 10 laptop and the AI carriers work perfectly, but the NIMITZ stuff just won't spawn in. It shows up in the fsx add on selection screen in game, but when I click it, it just says object failed to spawn or something. Deleted and tried again, same result. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Could use some advice if you have time. I would really like the hd NIMITZ to actually be able to spawn in.

[@sfairforcedefender]

Never mind. Don't bother. I was placing the three files for simobjects, effects, and sound in the incorrect folder.

[@nashfiander3857]

Sorry for the late reply but I have the same problem what folders are you supposed to put them in? I did everything that he said but They still wont spawn in

[@lolDude19cool]

help my addons tabs is gone

[@photo_rohan]

Very nice! Worked perfectly

[@akarouge]

I dont have the exe.xml file, is that bad?

[@akarouge]

p.s. i use stream edition

[@akarouge]

help?

[@Zack-mh7oq]

you do you just have to find it here is where it is for me C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\config

[@akarouge]

i dont play anymore coz i ran out of space for the 22 gb game

[@olliemalmquist3460]

Hey, I would like to start this comment off with a big THANK YOU. The carriers appear with no problem (they even worked on FSX boxed edition). I do have one problem though, the arrestor gear doesn`t seem to work. I don`t know if it is just me not catching it or if I have done something wrong. I shall continue to try, but please help. Thanks, subbed and liked.

[@gherthort]

I am almost positive I installed everything correctly but don't get any dialog on start and shift J wont bring up a menu Edit: I got it working

[@Novawing24]

Great to hear!

[@serowservices9800]

How did you fix it?

[@adriancrane8943]

love the vid mate .

[@Novawing24]

Thanks for the support!

[@jakekelly23]

I don't have an exe.xml

[@natan.martinelli]

- If you have FSX:SE, maybe you're not finding any folder related to FSX in "C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming". - What you're looking for is here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\config

[@andrewwilkey6195]

thx for this video! no way in hell i could have figured this out on my own

[@lhsmithnet1746]

literally better than dcs. shame. but yet good since i have both :D

[@Novawing24]

For now, though Supercarrier looks awesome!

[@Txmoosetim]

thanks bud rilly helpful vid

[@Jet2Guy]

wow thanks!

[@simon-christopherchung885]

Than ks loads mate

[@ferral97]

heya nova how do i get missions to start on carrier i seen a vid of it but it spanish hahaha gr8 vid mate

[@malafor7454]

To make editing files easier use notepad++ its free and makes editing simple line by line. notepad-plus-plus.org/ Never used any carrier yet but will now. Is the Ark Royal available to download in HD ?