Illustrative image, original image credit: Simplilearn
Thanks to @WinsWings' MAPA Challenge, more and more users are interested in knowing how to create AI compatible planes and what are the basic requirements for your plane to be spawned by the AI. In this tutorial I will try to answer all these questions and show you what you should do to create an AI compatible aircraft. Okay, that being said, now let's go to the basic requirements that will make your aircraft compatible with AI.
Requirement 1: Part count limit is 96
I've been studying AI since 2018 and after countless tests I found that the limit of parts that AI tolerates on Android is 96 parts. It's quite limited I know, but with that amount of parts you are able to do a lot, you are able to do from a simple Cirrus SR22 of 96 parts, to a full scale Antonov An-225 of only 95 parts!
However, the closer you get to the parts limit, the less chances your aircraft will spawn, so if your aircraft is above 89 to 95 parts, you will have to subject your aircraft to severe tests with A.I to ensure that can be spawned. the chart below shows the success percentage of most recent A.I approvals
Requirement 2: Your Aircraft cannot have more than 7 wings
The maximum limit allowed by the AI is only 7 wings, this also includes panels and wing structures, many make the fatal mistake of using panels and wing structures, or even wings without control surfaces to make small details on the wings like Winglets or smooth curves in the wings. You should no longer use these methods as this will void your aircraft's AI approval. Instead, you must use the fuselage to create fake or decorative wings and winglets, remember you are creating an aircraft to be controlled by the AI. so there is no need to make a highly detailed aircraft.
Requirement 3: Your plane needs to perform excellently in flight
Your plane needs to have a great performance in flight, if your plane has an anomaly or a very relaxed and critical stability or tends to crash easily, it will certainly be rejected by the AI. in addition he needs to be able to make aggressive and closed maneuvers, if he has any gyroscopes or helicopter blades in his fuselage he will also be rejected by the AI. so make a very maneuverable aircraft that has an excellent performance in flight.
Requirement 4: Make your aircraft be able to land at the main airports in the game:
For AI to be able to land your aircraft accurately and safely at major airports, you need to remove drag points from the entire aircraft fuselage. you just use XML to do this. you must remove all drag points until the fuselage is completely white and free of any aerodynamic drag.
((ATTENTION)): you must not remove the drag from the engines and wings, otherwise your aircraft will be very inefficient and will be rejected by the AI
Step 1: Select fuselage and enable XML
Step 2: Drag the elevator down until you find (calculateDrag)
Step 3: After finding, make sure that the script is aligned with (calculateDrag) so there are no errors. after that you will change (true) for (false), then confirm the change in the button below where the arrow displays
And that's how you eliminate drag points, NOTE: it's best you do this right in the first block you start building your plane, this will save you time and you will have to do this in each fuselage of the aircraft so it doesn't get too tedious
After removing all red colors from the fuselage it turns white, this is a sign that all drag has been removed and now your AI aircraft is able to land at any airport in the game
Final Requirement: Wait for AI Approval of your Aircraft:
After finally finishing your AI compatible Aircraft, now all you need to do is log into the game and enable AI traffic, I recommend leaving AI traffic on to increase the chances of your aircraft being spawned. it will take about 23 seconds to spawn, however you should never fly above 300 IAS/Knots , I recommend waiting patiently on the ground at Yeager Airport preferably, until your AI aircraft spawns in the skies. and when it finally spawns the AI it will make a programmed trajectory to evaluate the efficiency of your aircraft, it will make several aggressive maneuvers and several loops, after that it will follow a linear trajectory, this is the sign that your aircraft has been approved and from now it will spawn frequently in your skies.
I wish this info was known when I started playing SP. I really do. FINALLY someone comes along that actually explains the exact requirements for AI-friendly planes to spawn in. You have my thanks.
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I will add that the no-drag fuselage trick is just better for builds period; makes balancing realistic speed way easier. Also useful for multiplayer when someone inevitably spawns with a 1000+ part build and wonders why there's lag everywhere lol
Thank you all for the upvotes and comments, I really hope I helped you
@WinsWings I'm still studying this hypothesis, maybe there is a way to get around this parts limitation
so do we need to do an even lower part count if you want to build huge ones like 747?
@MAPA Thanks
@WinsWings (Large) at my current level as a base for SAAB, ATR, CRJ, ERJ Series
@MAPA how big is consider "large" - interesting
@WinsWings I still need to investigate whether this new update caused this interference with AI
@WinsWings The 96 part limit continues to apply to small aircraft, but large aircraft only tolerate 93 parts
@MAPA, so it that updated to 93 parts, max as of 11/2023?
@MAPA oh nice, then can you test my gostram super trainer?
@intruder72 Yes, but the parts count must always be respected
Can i add weapons?
@BYardley You are welcome 👍
Thank you so much now I know how to make AI planes I mean you helped me a lot
I love your tutorials by the way ✌️
@MobileBuilder21 No
@MAPA And, last question, can you use Structural Pannels?
@MobileBuilder21 Yes, I've done several tests and the AI rejects aircraft with wings with modified drag
@MAPA Do you think it will effect the spawn rate if just 2 wings have wingphysicsEnabled=false?
@MobileBuilder21 I recommend using no type of XML editing on the wings, otherwise they lose their efficiency
@MAPA Did that, can you have display wings (just for looks) with wing physics disabled then have your lifting wings at scale 0.0000001?
@MobileBuilder21 Discard these wings and create new ones without any XML modifications
@MAPA Ik, Im having problems with the wings saging when pitching down and going up when going up.
@MobileBuilder21 You don't need to apply this to the wings, just do it to the fuselage blocks
@MAPA Can you do dragScale=0 on wings? (Ik you cant do calculateDrag=false on them)