G'Day gentlemen, and ladies.Many of you know me by my repainting reputation. In fact, about 90% of my time spent with FS2004 is doing just that, painting, with an occasional flight thrown in to alleviate burnout.I rarely buy payware flightsim addons as extra cash for me doesn't come easy. However, I've managed to stash away a few extra buck and have really been looking hard at "Ultimate Traffic."I would like to add more world-realistic AI but to be quite honest, not enough to spend the time doing it all manually; in which case I'd probably get everything screwed up anyway.I'm looking for add-on software that will do this for me.The advertising for Ultimate Traffic really looks good but, it's just that, advertising. As I am certain many of you know from experience, a good marketing department and package artwork can make a horrible product look very enticing.Before I buy, I was hoping that I could bother you guys, who have tried this software, for your personal opinions regarding it's quality; at least a number on a scale of 1 to 10, if you don't feel like writing out any lengthy statements.Your assistance on this will be greatly appreciated.Sincerely,Heather Sherman

I frequently fly out of Atlanta Airport as part of my job. Since I have purchased Ultimate Traffic, I often think as we are taxing out for takeoff, that out the window of the plane I am on, it looks just like my simulator with Ultimate Traffic Installed. In other words, if you want something that looks real, you can't beat Ultimate Traffic. I wouldn't fly FS9 without it. If you want to step the realism up a few notches, another add-on to look at is FSHot FSXwww.FSHotSeat.comThis adds sounds to all the AI aircraft including Ultimate Traffic , both Jets and Prop planes, as they take off, land,execute missed approaches, turn on reversers etc, plus a host of other sounds to augment the FS9 sounds. Great program for about $17.

Hey Heather, I seem to answer this question all the time, only because I think UT is fantastic. It's only drawback is, in a way, one of its greatest assets. That is the models don't compare to the freeware AIAardvark and FSPainter models (these are even more FPS friendly). The great thing is, Ultimate Traffic has a utility in which you can easily swap any UT model for one of your choice. So lets say you love Southwest and want all the various livery's (Shamu, Silver One etc.) but on better looking models, you simply use this utility to swap them out. It takes out the frustration of doing it yourself.UT will give you instant timetables for every airline. It will give you an animated flight arrivals / departures board for any airport including voice announcements. Right click on a flight and you'll get an instant ticket with flight information on it. This is great when you want to fly somewhere using the correct flight number and times. The package also contains a TCAS and some option to use your Palm Pilot which I don't use. You can also import your own plans and planes for virtual airlines. Bottom line: UT will bring the FS world alive in an instant. So will all the others, including the freeware Project AI. However, the Ultimate Traffic program offers so much more that I feel it is hands down worth the price. I hope this has helped! Best RegardsBoone,[email protected]"Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle. It's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes."

>Before I buy, I was hoping that I could bother you guys, who>have tried this software, for your personal opinions regarding>it's quality; at least a number on a scale of 1 to 10, if you>don't feel like writing out any lengthy statements.- A well rounded product with extensive worldwide traffic.Rating: 9/10Emerson de Oliveira,Porto Alegre, Brazil

I am relatively new to FS9 after using xplane and FLY for a number of years; my last use of MSFS was MSFS4. Since August I've been adding enhancements to FS9 and have found UT to be the best addon I have. It does have some drawbacks, but I think these are more related to how FS handles AI traffic than any problem with UT. What you will find is that at the busy airports the traffic will really clog up as FS tries to spawn all the flights at once. The solution is turn down the AI slider or turn the time acceleration up for a few minutes to let the situation sort out. The other solution, which works fairly well, is to get some of the new AFCADs from Project AI which utilize crossing runways. While this will unclog the traffic it can also be unrealistic as the traffic will be using runways that make no sense with regard to wind direction (I use real weather exclusively). Where UT really shines is at medium size airports. Turn the slider up to 100% and I swear it's just like the real thing. I live in CT and am very familiar with KBDL. With UT it really is amazing and fun! One other slight tweak: get AFCAD so that for your favorite airport you can assign the UT traffic to the appropriate terminal gates vis-a-vis airlines. Go get it; you'll be happy I think. I'm not so impressed with Flight 1's one aircraft I've gotten, but that's another story. Related question: any recommendations on USA Roads anyone??? Mike

Before you spend your money, have you tried Project AI? It is free and you can try it first and see if it fits your need. PAI was exactly what I wanted. R-

I have been using UT for some time and I'm generally very satisfied with it.(I have been using fstraffic and PAI/other freeware before)Whether I would recommend you to buy it depends where/how you sim. If you are only flying in a relative small area of the world, UT might be a "overkill", but if you "wander" all over the globe then UT is hands down the best AI traffic availible, because you don't have to do anything other than install it and mayby check for updates occasionally. UT covers most of the real world airlines with decent framerate friendly models, but the volume of flights are quite big so there is a hit on performance if you run with 100% density. I guess it would be a near full time job to get and maintain the same level of AI traffic worldwide.What I find good:-Easy to use, install and update.-Many updates to afcad, liveries etc-You can buy up to date scedules if you want the traffic to be accurate. I'm using the stock scedule and it's ok for me, but the option is there.-The traffic density looks realistic and it's very easy to trim it to suit your system.-It's higly customable, like adding additional AI traffic and you can choose which airlines you want in the sim.-You can use to gether with other AI traffic add ons.Things which I find not so good:-There is no military AI-The afcad files aren't always topnotch, as many of them aren't made for multi runway use which can make "traffic jams" at bigger airports. This can sometimes be solved by installing 3rd party afcad files or you wil have to reload the traffic to reset it.-The updater doesn't check if you have an updated afcad file, which sometimes "inhibits" your 3rd party afcads.-The palm pilot has given me some trouble with a few panels, but easy fixed.I would give it 8/10CheersPeter

Wow!I'm impressed by the user reviews. UT definitely looks like you get your dollars worth.Regarding Project AI, I have glanced over it during it's existence but have never before messed around with it.It looks promising but, to be honest, I'm feeling lazy. I want something that looks great with the least amount of necessary user manipulation and installations.In regards to this, how does PAI compare to UT?Just in case, what is the link to PAI?I appreciate the time you've all taken to express your views on my inquiry. Thank you.Heather

PAI is great and uses the same models as UT. Here they are www.projectai.comBest RegardsBoone,[email protected]"Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle. It's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes."

Heather,Save your money and use Project AI. It takes all of 30 minutes to install the files. They have an auto installer program that you simply run and select the individual airline packages and then leave it! Thats it, you dont have anything else to do. The biggest time consumer is downloading all the airline packages, but you will have the same problem anyway if you choose to download UT.Here is the link to the auto installer page.http://www.projectai.com/packages/installer.phpthen download the airline packages from here:http://www.projectai.com/packages/installers.phpTry it, you won't regret it and it saves you some cash!

what's UT like?see for yourself, in one word busy :)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/93667.jpg

Can someone answer this? I too am Interested in UT. I've tried PAI and found it time consuming to download all the tools and airlines. Then when installed correctly, I keep gettting aircraft that would fly at 30000ft at 140kts with their flaps down and fluctuating altitude. Got tired of hearing ATC continually scold the AI of their altitude deviations. All seemed very unrealistic to me. Asked questions on their forum and was told I had to download update .cfg files etc. Pain in the butt and decided to scrap PAI. Does UT have this same problem? If it does, then AI isn't worth it.

All the tools?What tools? If you use the auto installers there are no tools required other than the auto installer package itself. The seperate airline package that you download all have the latest .cfg .air. etc, files included. If you follow the above links and read the instructions on the site for auto install (not manual as this DOES require knowledge and time) you will have no problems. I started with the auto install packages and have had no problems at all. edit: UT uses the same models as PAI anyway!

Been there, done all that. Still get aircraft deviating from their assigned altitudes flying at 140kts and flaps dowm. Tried it a year ago, tried it a month ago. Same thing. The downloads on that page aren't updated with the latest .cfg .air files, so no, I won't waste my time downloading them again (dial-up). By tools, I meant the installer.

>Can someone answer this? I too am Interested in UT. I've>tried PAI and found it time consuming to download all the>tools and airlines. Then when installed correctly, I keep>gettting aircraft that would fly at 30000ft at 140kts with>their flaps down and fluctuating altitude. Got tired of>hearing ATC continually scold the AI of their altitude>deviations. All seemed very unrealistic to me. Asked questions>on their forum and was told I had to download update .cfg>files etc. Pain in the butt and decided to scrap PAI. Does UT>have this same problem? If it does, then AI isn't worth it.That reminds me of another thing I really like about UT. The UT airliners fly like real commercial traffic. They fly the ILS properly, intercept the localizer at believeable angles and altitudes, maintain believable cruise altitudes complete with contrails at the proper altitudes and temperatures, execute missed approaches etc.