I've been involved in the multiplayer arena for some years now.If you like big and very serious sessions then IVAO(great software) or VatSim (More European traffic) are good options. Both of the above require you to download additional software to join.At the other end of the scale are the sessions on Gamespy, the quality of which varies immensely!Although you might find a decently run session in Gamespy there are many drawbacks to these sessions as standard. To overcome this I’ve written an application that runs on an fsx server and enables the following;

• Autokick pilots spawning on runway at an airport controlled by ATC
• Auto kick players broadcasting on all frequencies
• Flight plans filing
• View your players on google maps.
• Embed maps and reports into your own web site.
• Auto kick players attacking your server by injecting planes.
• Auto close any friend requests
• Auto post message every 60 seconds
• Add active ATC info into messages
• Assign admin privileges to other players
• Admins can kick players from within chat
• Display a list of last 5 people to talk
• Gliders are auto-kicked on joining
• Choose if you want to auto kick extras/F-18s/Trikes
• Players can check their callsign
• Permanently ban players based on their Gamespy or IP address.
• Integrates with flightstrip software for ATC controllers

As a pilot you don’t need to install anything else, just join one of the sessions running the software. Most of these are listed in the Gamespy lobby.In addition most of these sessions allow direct connect access. The sessions are all listed on the front page of www.fsopen.co.uk/ You can see the number of players in each session and in addition drill into google maps and list flight plans.

Nice work, Dave but just one question: Why auto-kicking of gliders? Surely some guys want to fly gliders in multiplayer.

Nice work, Dave but just one question: Why auto-kicking of gliders? Surely some guys want to fly gliders in multiplayer.

The problem with gliders is that it's abused by kids. Call up a towplane, release towplane and repeat. Using this a player can inject 2 towplanes a second or so into a game. This will bring a fsx session to its knees and covers the ATC radar screen with eroneous traffic.

The problem with gliders is that it's abused by kids. Call up a towplane, release towplane and repeat. Using this a player can inject 2 towplanes a second or so into a game. This will bring a fsx session to its knees and covers the ATC radar screen with eroneous traffic.

Ah, i understand. i wasn´t aware of such an behaviour of some kids.

The problem with gliders is that it's abused by kids. Call up a towplane, release towplane and repeat. Using this a player can inject 2 towplanes a second or so into a game. This will bring a fsx session to its knees and covers the ATC radar screen with eroneous traffic.

Another option, is to Ban the Tow Plane, instead of the Glider.Then players can still fly Gliders.The Player will still get his LOCAL tow plane in his session, so he can launch his glider, but, the Tow plane will be banned from the server, so that it will not exist on the server and thersfore will NOT be sent to other players.BETTER STILL, Ban all AI aircraft from the server.This will also fix the issues when players are still running programs like AI Traffic, and attempt to launch 100's of AI aircraft into a MP session.GeoffFSMP

BETTER STILL, Ban all AI aircraft from the server.

Hi Geoff, yes I do that. Although I only monitor packets I've found that if you kick immeadiatly you see an ai injection the traffic doesn't get in to the server.However, I've been playing with WinpkFilter so might migrate to that so I don't have to kick players, just remove the traffic.

Why would you want to allow ANY AI traffic into a MP session ???If you do, and they get onto a clients machine, there is NO automatic mechanism to remove them, as there is with a Piloted aircarft leaving the session.I cannot see the justification for allowing ANY AI traffic onto the MP server.Geoff

I cannot see the justification for allowing ANY AI traffic onto the MP server.

Yes, I was agreeing with you.

and where do we get this program?

Hey Dave ! Nice work :).

If you fly on the correct server like FSMP the server does all the required work and no additional software is needed. Gamespy is far superior, people just dont want to hear that becasue they are stuck on platforms like vatsim. Check out the FSMP server and you will agree with me.