OOOOOoooops - you are dead right - I did mean My Traffic 2005. Me bad! (Me old is more like it!!!) LOL Thanks for correcting that...

 

And yes, the current specs. It was after transferring files from my old one onto this new computer (about a year ago) that all this happened. I nearly tore my hair out (until I remembered I don't have hair anymore) as my "dream machine" was stuttering away - but only at certain airports. It wasn't until I noticed that it was consistently at major airports in high traffic areas like DC, NYC, London etc and began to suspect AI. I hate to even think about how many hours I wasted trying every kind of fix until I identified the problem. (I even formatted the hard disk and started all over again thinking I must have somehow glitched it! Aaaarghhh!)

 

Ian

ACA2005 isn't a utility so it won't help you identify the particular problem. ACA2005 is a comprehensive AI traffic program that will fill your skies with AI of every kind. You would want to remove (save) all your previous AI aircraft and traffic files so when you install ACA that's the only AI you have.

What this will do is give you a chance to see how your computer handles dense AI which is low poly and contains no mistakes. For example, with FSDT KDFW I was getting frame rates in the teens. When I used ACA instead, I had an airport packed with aircraft and frame rates in the 60's. What that told me was that the problem was either the aircraft I was using or the traffic files.

 

I then removed ACA2005 (the models are not up to current standards) and began fixing my original AI files.

 

I fixed the textures of those AI aircraft by eliminating all DXT3 textures that didn't have alpha channels - that helped a lot. But the fps and stuttering were still unacceptable. So by the process of elimination I described earlier, I went through my traffic files a few at a time until I identified the ones that were causing problems. In each case it was a file that used an airplane that was no longer in my aircraft folder. The denser the traffic, the worse the problem became. (major areas like New York, London, Washington DC area etc...)

 

I either found the missing paint or aircraft and reinstalled it or assigned those flights to other aircraft and then elminated the problem aircraft from the traffic file "aircraft" list. Once the file was "clean" (no missing aircraf) I recompiled them with TTools and once I was done, I was getting the same FPS (60's) at KDFW I had got with the ACA2005 experiment, using all the best AI models that are now available - AIA, AIG, AIM, TFS etc.

 

The difference was HUGE - I went from a slide show at places like KDCA, KDFW etc to smooth performance with FPS in the 50-60 range at 100% traffic. And I have a LOT of AI traffic!!!

 

Good luck

Ian

First I would like to thank you for your response.

Ok, as you said that ACA2005 isn’t a utility, unfortunately my doubt remains.

There’s a find error “utility” in this program, so can I assume that every error detected by ACA2005 is a possible cause for fs9 stutters?  Or only errors detected in traffic files, not influencing on stutters?

I’m not expecting that ACA fixes the problem, I presume that he will only identify where an error is, but I still have to manually correct it.

I have a lot of WOAI packages installed, HTAI traffic, and some light traffic files, generated by traffic tools.

The stutters occur randomly, near or far from airports. I have fps limited to 20, and all the sudden they drop to 12-13, but only for 2/3 seconds.

 I have already run dxtfixerx on fs9 root folder and on active sky evolution folder

 

Carlos

I apologize Carlos. I made a mistake. When I said ACA 2005 I really meant My Traffic 2005. ACA 2005 IS a utility - you are right. What I was referring to was a full AI addon that was originally payware and is now freeware - My Traffic 2005. I'm sorry for the confusion.

 

What My Traffic 2005 did for me was to show that the problem I was having lay in the AI aircraft or flight plans I was using. When I substituted My Traffic 2005 AI for the ones I was using, I found I could have massive amounts of AI and no stuttering or drop in fps. What I then had to do was isolate where the problem was in the original AI traffic I was using.

 

Fixing the flight plans where there were missing airplanes, PLUS previously fixing the missing alpha channels in the textures solved my problem and I was a able to have massive numbers of AI using AIA, TFS and all the other excellent AI models.

 

Sorry for the confusion

Ian

 

First I would like to thank you for your response.

Ok, as you said that ACA2005 isn’t a utility, unfortunately my doubt remains.

There’s a find error “utility” in this program, so can I assume that every error detected by ACA2005 is a possible cause for fs9 stutters?  Or only errors detected in traffic files, not influencing on stutters?

I’m not expecting that ACA fixes the problem, I presume that he will only identify where an error is, but I still have to manually correct it.

I have a lot of WOAI packages installed, HTAI traffic, and some light traffic files, generated by traffic tools.

The stutters occur randomly, near or far from airports. I have fps limited to 20, and all the sudden they drop to 12-13, but only for 2/3 seconds.

 I have already run dxtfixerx on fs9 root folder and on active sky evolution folder

 

Carlos

Hi Jon,

unfortunately you will have to take the plunge, and go to each folder where the error reside, and fix it manually, the first time I used it it took quite a while, but it's worth it, as your performance will be 100% better. You might also get some time error due to [Flightsim 0] is missing. There is a program called renumber aircraft config in the library. Take the identified aircraft config, and put it in the renumber folder, and run it, it will fix the error of the Flightsim 0 error.

Hope this help

Regards

:unsure:

 

Ive got over 1000 AI aircraft with errors with missing ATC_ID. So I have to manually go in and change every single one?! Let alone the other thousands of errors?

 

 

:Nail Biting: :shok: :cray:

 

 

 

See you guys in 2037.... :Cry:

Don't bother.

 

AI doesn't use that parameter, it is drawn from the traffic_*.bgl.

 

regards,

Joe

Hi Jon

I don't claim to have all the answers to stuttering problems. All I can do is tell you what I learned from my own experience of stuttering caused by AI.

 

If you have stuttering at a busy airport with AI on and the stuttering goes away when you turn AI off, it's a pretty sure bet that there is a problem with either the AI textures or your traffic files. It is probably both...

 

If you want to prove it, put all your current AI aircraft and traffic files (scenery/world/scenery in a safe place. Download the (now) freeware My Traffic 2006 from AVSIM and execute it. That will give you massive AI traffic worldwide with all new AI aircraft and flight plans. In my case, this instantly gave me high framerates and no stutters at addon airports like FSDT KDFW/KORD Aerosoft LFPG/EGLL etc. even though there was now MORE AI aircraft using those airports and proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the stuttering was being caused by my AI traffic.

 

If that is what happens to you, then you are left with the same two options I faced.

 

(1) Just stick with ACA 2006 AI and delete all my old stuff. The problem with that was the the models ACA used were not as good as the models used by WofAI or my own custom made traffic files. So I went with

 

(2) Isolate the faults in the AI textures and traffic files and fix them.

 

1. By fixing all AI DXT3 textures with missing alpha channels I reduced stuttering and raised fps but still had problems at those very busy airports.

2. By identifying and fixing traffic files that used aircraft or paints that were no longer in my aircraft folder, I completely solved the issue I had been having and got the same excellent fps and stutter-free performance I had got when I tried the ACA 2006 option

 

So, for what it's worth - my advice is try the ACA 2006 test. if that solves your problem then decide on whether you are now happy with what you have or you want to invest the time in fixing your old AI aircraft textures and traffic files. If you make the second choice and have difficulty understanding the instructions that have been given in previous posts and numerous other threads, I will be happy to walk you through the process I used. Mine is almost certainly not the most efficient process and I'm sure there are others who can give you better guidance using tools other than the ones I used. But what I did worked for me and if you want, I'm happy to help you do the same

 

Hope this helps clarify things

Ian

ps. I have no idea what DXT3 means or what an alpha channel actually is either. But that doesn't stop you from fixing them easily with available tools if you are willing to invest the time to do it

 

I have no idea what DXT3 means or what an alpha channel actually is either.

 

DXT3 is am image file compression method, such as JPEG.

 

Each pixel on a texture sheet has 4 channels.

 

3 of which contain one of 256 shades of Red, Green and Blue (RGB) which dictate the color of that pixel.

 

The 4th channel is the Alpha, which is a grayscale value that, depending on how the material is set in the model, controls either reflectivity or transparency.

 

ImageTool is the tool that Microsoft gave us in the Terrain SDK to convert textures from one format to another.

 

Textures that contain a solid, pure white Alpha channel that are converted to DXT3 with ImageTool have a bug. ImageTool incorrectly sets the flag in the file header to read as if the file does not have an Alpha channel, even though it does.

 

It is believed that when FS reads that file header it generates it's own Alpha for that texture and this extra step causes stutters.

 

regards,

Joe