More realistic ATC rather than the standard.

[MadDog 353]

Hmm. I gotta say I'm disappointed. At airports with the traffic volume and complexity to require a STAR, controllers are not normally going to let pilots join the localizer/final on their own. Full approaches (procedure turns, arcs, etc.) may be allowed if traffic is light and the pilot requests it; but would rarely be the default operation unless the radar is out of service. I may just have to stick with the FSX ATC - even if it pulls me off any STARS manually entered in the FP way too early (similar to RC4 I guess).

[hero93 12]

<br /><br />Just use FSX ATC. When it wants to vector you to the airport, use the ATC Menu to choose another Approach.<br />Don't choose an ILS Approach as it is bugged and only supports transitions from VORs.<br /><br />Choose a RNAV or GPS Approach and then you can choose a proper transition for your STAR.<br />ATC gives you an direct to your selected Transition, and when you arrive there it hands you over to the Tower.<br />You can still fly an ILS Approach, ATC just doesn't use the phrase.<br /><br />That is maybe not very real, but it gives you all needed freedom to fly your Approach and STAR and lets you use your AI Traffic and Schedules.<br /><br />This, of course, works only when the Approaches and Transitions are listed in the AFCAD, otherwise you could add them yourself with ADEX.<br />Airports which support this method are e.g. all airports by Flightbeam, Montreal by FlyTampa or Helsinki by A-Flight.<br />(There are surely a lot more but I don't know exactly as I edit all AFCADs myself)

[Drumcode 1,892]

Radar Contact sounds the most realistic out of everything I've seen on YouTube, everything else sounds robotic and sped up for no reason.

[vololiberista 205]

Radar Contact sounds the most realistic out of everything I've seen on YouTube, everything else sounds robotic and sped up for no reason.

Really? RC is regarded as the most robotic!!

[Drumcode 1,892]

Really? RC is regarded as the most robotic!!

 

Not to me. Considering I'm a music major and a musician, I can tell you that phonetically RC sounds proper.

[shamrockflyer 647]

I use PFE. I like it because the voices are not robotic as in other programmes! There are many different accents both for your AI pilots and ATC. The Ryanair AI pilots clearly have been at the Guiness and have a very strong Irish accent! My favourite is a very "dishy" female who I hear piloting Singapore AI a/c!

Also if you want to or need to deviate from your ATC instructions PFE lets you.

Would you recommend it?

[MadDog 353]

The major issue I've found by requesting a full GPS/RNAV approach is that FSX ATC still tries to descend you away from the STAR profile and starts issuing vectors to the IAF (and then never shuts up). I wonder if any editvoicepack mods might eliminate the constant "reminders"...Tom, what's the name of your mod in the library? In addition, shooting a full approach off a STAR is just plain unrealistic (unless it's the middle of the night). For any of the ATC developers out there, the ideal solution would be to initiate vectoring off the STAR between 5-10 miles out (or allow the user to choose a fix where vectoring begins), simulate pilot's discretion descents and/or crossing restrictions, and introduce random holds at designated stacking points.

 

To my former controller's ears, default FSX and PFE sound the best. ProATC/X sounds pretty good (although I'd like to see more variety). RC4 sounds pretty awful and VOXATC takes dead last for it's crystal clarity... aviation radios just aren't that good!

[Drumcode 1,892]

To my former controller's ears, default FSX and PFE sound the best.

 

In terms of what? Emulating the speech through the radio or emulating the speech itself?

[tf51d 284]

Hmm. I gotta say I'm disappointed. At airports with the traffic volume and complexity to require a STAR, controllers are not normally going to let pilots join the localizer/final on their own. Full approaches (procedure turns, arcs, etc.) may be allowed if traffic is light and the pilot requests it; but would rarely be the default operation unless the radar is out of service. I may just have to stick with the FSX ATC - even if it pulls me off any STARS manually entered in the FP way too early (similar to RC4 I guess).

 I guess the best way to demonstrate is to see it in action. I have some full flight videos (and I do mean full flight - Long) demonstrating PFE on my Channel One with the Q400 (KSAN-KLAX), one with the CS777 (KMCO-KATL), and one with the NGX. (KLAS-KSFO). This one I defined SIDS/STARS. You can see them on my channel below.

[tf51d 284]

MadDog, on 08 May 2013 - 11:32 AM, said:

 

 

To my former controller's ears, default FSX and PFE sound the best.

 

 

 

In terms of what? Emulating the speech through the radio or emulating the speech itself?

 

 

You can hear samples of PFE on my videos. In general I agree with MadDog, about RC4 sounding robotic.

In the US region, there are a couple of voices that don't sound great (The ones that sound rumblely), other than those, they sound much more realistic then those in RC4. Especially those from other regions, of which I haven't found a bad voice yet. I know there is a freeware voice modification (Meatwater) for RC4, which I only heard on 1 video that used them, and those do sound pretty good, as opposed to the default RC4 voices.

[MadDog 353]

In terms of pitch/tone, cadence, and clarity (based on what I've heard from these programs on Youtube). Aviation radios are pretty low powered and the dynamic range is pretty limited. There are no basses or baritones in ATC...everybody's a scratchy tenor (or alto for the lady flyers). Speeding up the default FSX voices with editvoicepack is also a "must" for me.

 

I can't comment much on phraseology because I don't own any of the add-on programs yet. Default FSX phraseology is pretty good for the U.S. although we have adopted many ICAO phrases since FSX was released. I'd give it an 8/10. I owned PF2000 back in the day and remember it being pretty good too.

[bennyboy75 85]

I've only used default, RC and PFE. Default doesn't do it for me anymore. RC is fairly simple and always works as advertised but the voices are restricted and the phraseology gets repetitive over time. PFE takes a bit of getting your head around but has the most features, by a long chalk the most realistic voices and is the most immersive.

 

I've found that the best way for a uneventful flight in PFE is to pull out the STAR you want to arrive on and plug vaguely the right kind of altitudes for the various waypoints along it. At some point you'll be vectored off the STAR to final, just like real life. The last thing to do is use AFCAD editor to close the other runways to arrivals. Everything will go pretty smoothly.

 

VOX ATC looks promising, but some of the phraseology is a bit off. The voices also are a bit of an area of concern for me.

[xplanery 250]

Seems like either Radar Contact or PFE would suit me the best... I would prefer PFE for its voices that vary regionally, however I wonder if there's a way to put ATC on hold or something for a long flight like some review said is possible with Radar Contact? 

 

I would like to use it on long haul flights too but I'm not going to sit full 10 hours or so just to handle ATC. 

[tf51d 284]

 

 

Seems like either Radar Contact or PFE would suit me the best... I would prefer PFE for its voices that vary regionally, however I wonder if there's a way to put ATC on hold or something for a long flight like some review said is possible with Radar Contact?

 

Just note with PFE to get the most voice variations you need the optional voice pack, with that you get an additional voice pack for free available for download on their forum. This gives you a total of about 99 voice variations. The base pack I believe has 40.

[xplanery 250]

Just note with PFE to get the most voice variations you need the optional voice pack, with that you get an additional voice pack for free available for download on their forum. This gives you a total of about 99 voice variations. The base pack I believe has 40.

Ok good to hear, I will definitely get that one.

 

Any idea if there's a way to put ATC on hold for a long haul flight when I go away from computer, then continue handling ATC later in flight so that I won't get disconnected from the ATC or anything? 

 

// Never mind, I think I found out you can let co pilot to handle the communication when away from computer.