Traffic Swarms

[Sam Arnold 0]

I have had a traffic swarm on every one of my last 5 flights in FS9.They really slow the computer down so much, I find myself in the Traffic Explorer window deleting hundreds of AI that are in the sky.On some flights I get more than one (max. 3) swarms.Does anyone else get this issue and know how to stop it from happening?

[Benjamin J 751]

I'm not quite sure what you mean, actually. What is such a swarm, and at what spots does it occur? When I fly, I usually encounter AI planes all the time (depending on the regin of course, above Russia there is hardly any AI) with airports obviously being the hotspots. but I don't get any "swarms" of aircraft.

[bobbyjack 61]

Do you have traffic addons? sounds like duplicate traffic files.Bob

[red1 0]

You probably mean many AI in one area around the airport. This is quiet true to real life and esp if you are using any AI add-ons in FS. To help smooth things over you should try running AISmooth. If there is still too many for you, simply pull the traffic slider to the left. If your add-on doesn't lower traffic from that you may want to look into deleting some flight plans.

[Swoop 0]

Hey Sam, I don't think this will help you but I've got a question simply for my own interest, that is, if you don't mind. First off, Red1 is probably right. Now for the question, Is this happening when you are departing from a airport, arriving at an airport or both? The reason that I'm asking is because there is a setting in a flight plan which can force an arrival time at an airport. In other words, if you're starting a flight at 12 noon and the FS9 traffic slider is at 100%, then you could potentially experience a traffic storm if many flight plans have the force arrival time set to 12 noon and their destination is the airport that you're departing from. I read the other day about heavies diving into runways like F-18s when starting a flight and thought of that setting. Well regardless, let the group know how you faired and I hope it works out ok :)Mark

[Sam Arnold 0]

Hey guys.Thanks for all the replies.However, you have the wrong idea.By swarms, I mean imagine a swarm of bees, Not a flock of birds... This happens at cruise, generally when I am in 4x speed or having just slowed to 1x again.FS will show the reloading dialogue box and when the flight resumes, the time has been +/- by an hour and all of a sudden there are 200+ aircraft in one point in the sky. The begin to spread out, but you can imagine the job that my PC has to generate them all.They don't even belong in that area of the world.For example, I was over Japan. I had aircraft in the swarm that were routed JFK-LHR etc.

[b1ddys00 0]

I have experienced this before even over the atlantic. Never got to the bottom of what causes it. Cleaned all my ai out and re-installed but the same thing happens. Very rare though. Funny seeing a turboprop trying to cross the pond!!I have mapped numeric keys in FSUIPC to control my traffic levels from 0% to 100%. In this instance i would normally just hit ctrl & num2 to reduce traffic levels to 20%. This allows the CPU to recover quickly. When the traffic has dispersed i upped the level again..Ian

[davegriff 0]

Had a similar thing happen flying I think over Saudi Arabia. Didn't actually see the aircraft, but every so often fs would show the loading screen and ATC chatter would go mad!!

[red1 0]

hm...never experienced that before. But I fly only with add-on AI and over North America. Which traffic program are you using?

[Sam Arnold 0]

hm...never experienced that before. But I fly only with add-on AI and over North America. Which traffic program are you using?

What program? Just FS, no addons. I wasn't aware that any traffic programs exist, other than AI Smooth.

[Bruce Nicholson KMFR 20]

Sam,I've seen the "swarm" issue for about 6 years now.I can't say for certain why it happens, but I suspect it has to do with a timing issue within FS and the size of your AI aircraft library. Are you using FSRealTime? I've noticed that when FSRealTime adjusts my FS time to stay in synch with real world time, I see the spawning effect.You may know that AI aircraft are only generated within a certain distance from your aircraft. These "spawning" points (section boundaries) are divided over the entire FS globe. My suspicion is when the FS time is adjusted (for whatever reason), the AI scheduler becomes confused and begins to spawn aircraft into the local section. Not only those that belong in the local section, but also aircraft that should not be spawned and belong in other sections. This is why you see aircraft with flight paths that shouldn't be in your section of the world and why you see so many all originating from the same place in the airspace.It's an annoyance for sure and the only way to fix it is to wait it out, which can take quite some time and bring your system to a crawl, or delete all AI aircraft with the Explorer tool provided as an add-on by MS.Bruce

[Sam Arnold 0]

Thanks, Bruce.No, I don't use FS RealTime.That's exactly what's happening too, you got it right.But I have the way to deal with it; either:>Pause the sim, increase rate to 8x and back to normal speed, then un-pause>Go to time settings, move the time forward or backwards by 1 secondBoth methods will reset the AI and remove the swarm - without emptying the skies completely (as with the Explorer toolbox).

[Bruce Nicholson KMFR 20]

Sam,When you purge all AI using Explorer, they don't stay deleted, rather they begin to regenerate immediately. You can see this by watching the Explorer window.All you are doing is removing the swarm and the AI in your local section begin to appear as expected. You method also works, so it's personal choice.Bruce

[ronzie 21]

AI is sensitive to timing. If an AI refresh occurs by a manipulated time such as an advance or accelerated time there is a certain time window allowed for the AI to catch up with their flightplans. If they are playing catch up the density can unrealistically increase.As an example load a saved flight parked at a busy airport and traffic set to 100%. You'll note (use a wide overhead view) a rush of aircraft pushing back and a conga line taxiing to the active runway for take-off. After a few minutes a bunch of AI will arrive for landing.AI Smooth will help at airports.I never use accelerated flight but I imagine if you do AI left overs would mix with the catchup bunch. Slowing to normal does not refresh AI so left overs remain.I think you are wise in setting up your FSUIPC AI traffic density toggle as part of your solution.I don't use FS default AI and I was not aware it could be that dense. It would not hurt to go into "H:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Scenery\World\scenery" and see if there are any extra trafficxxx.bgl files in there. The default is traffic030528.bgl and there should be only one.

[Guest whicker]

If you have the registered version of FSUIPC be sure to uncheck'Keep FS clock sync'd to real time'Any time the FS clock is updated to the computer real time this can/may cause the AI Planes to respawn in your User Visual Zone like a swarm as you describe.