FSX-MS Ultimate traffic 2 question

[duckbilled 310]

I have been using some version of Ultimate Traffic since the day it was released for FS2002. I think it is a fantastic add on and while some of what I am saying may be obvious, I just want to point out a couple things.

 

UT2 has three basic parts: aircraft paints aircraft models and airline schedules. The schedules are updated fairly regularly ($5 to upgrade each time) but the paints and aircraft models are not usually updated. Most (not all) of the paints/models that were there with UT2's first release are still the only ones included with UT2. When a new schedule is released, there will be holes in the aircraft assignments. For example, UT2 includes United schedules for the 787 but it doesn't have the paint/model. You have to download and install the 787 and assign it to the UT2 supplied flight plans. Downloading and installation is a pain but using packages like WofAI can speed up the process. Assigning them in UT2 is easy.

 

When you first install UT2, this is what you will find:

 

Some airlines with some of their aircraft painted in the current color scheme

Some airlines with their aircraft painted in an outdated scheme

Some airlines with all of their aircraft assigned to an accurate paint

Some airlines with some of their aircraft assigned to the UT2 default paint (Daedalus) but with an accurate model

Some airlines with all of their paints assigned to Daedalus.

Many airlines with no assignments at all.

 

In short, it is fine out of the box and many people leave it that way. I suspect, however, than a lot of people, like me, are pretty obsessive when it comes to AI. A couple years ago I went through and downloaded every paint/model that I could find to bring UT2 up to date. The results are awesome but it takes a lot of work to get it set up. Once you do the initial clean up, UT2 makes it really easy to make minor adjustments. When American changed their colors recently, it was really easy to add the new colors to the UT2 supplied flight plans. You just have to keep up with things.

 

BTW, I have not updated UT2 in a while so some of my facts may have changed slightly. Still, I think it provides a pretty go picture of what to expect.

[NGXfanatic 85]

I'm fanatical when it comes to UT2, but as some folks have mentioned above, I too only see UT2 as a module to inject traffic into the sim in a more efficient and realistic manner than the old .bgl approach used by WOAI.  Mainly, I appreciate how UT2 suppresses the ground traffic that I don't pay attention to when I get above a certain altitude, which is 12,000 ft in my case (but the user can choose whatever altitude they want).  That feature alone aids performance the most.   And I really get a kick out of seeing AI traffic flying along the airways with me, something no other traffic program payware or freeware offers.  

 

With that said, it turns out 85% of the traffic I have in UT2 are not the supplied UT2 schedules, but are freeware schedules from the likes of UTT or Alpha India, imported into the UT2 database with Powerpack.  I recently built a new rig, and upon starting up FSX after reinstalling UT2, I saw almost no traffic at my airports!!!   Not until I added back my non UT2 paints into the simobjects folder did my airports spring back to life.   Crazy, but I don't like the UT2 schedules, even though they are very accurate for two reasons:

 

- The paints and models used are pretty limited.  As mentioned above, UT2 basically never updates the included liveries, and never adds new models, like the CRJ-1000 or 787.  That means no New American liveries, no sharklet A320s, and old Northwest paints in their Delta schedule, although I believe a free schedule update last year addressed the Delta fleet issue.   Anyways, user contributed flightplans found on the net often include a mix of old and new liveries, based on real fleet utilization in the real world.  So the current American Airlines flightplan offered by Alpha India has the appropriate number of 777s in the old and new AA livery, flying to the same airports they fly IRL.  Also, special liveries such as Oneworld/Star Alliance or one off paints like sports or olympic event themes are offered in the non UT2 flightplans.

 

- One engine variant per aircraft type.   This means you will see all the UT2 747-400s outfitted with GE engines, 777s with RRs, among others.  This is a minor quibble, and I appreciate most people don't notice or care, but I'm a stickler for detail.   A flightplan for British Airways from a source like Alpha India will account for the 777 RR and GE variants in the fleet. 

 

- Timeliness of schedule updates.   UT2 schedules are released about twice a year, i.e., fall/winter or spring/summer.   Externally sourced flightplans can often be found for each season.   Heck, there's even a flightplan out there just for the new Delta 717 flights! 

 

- More obscure carriers, and most cargo or charter operators are excluded from UT2.   Fedex and UPS immediately spring to mind.   It's easy to find those carriers on the net and add to UT2 via powerpack.

 

- Perhaps the most important reason why I prefer Powerpack schedules via default UT2.   UT2 will suppress ground traffic until about 15 minutes before departure, and 15 minutes after gate arrival.  This leads to airports with many empty gates, even during peak times.  You go to EHAM expecting to see 40 KLM flights at the gates, and only see 15.  A slight exaggeration on my part, but not too far off the mark.   UT2 does this to help with fps, but I think it was a stupid move, and it is hard coded into the sim.   I discovered that when I replaced a carrier in UT2 with my own powerpack schedule, airports gates were more full because traffic didn't disappear just because the flight was over or had not started.

 

These are some of the reasons why I have stopped using the base UT2 schedules.   It's a lot of work, but I enjoy it.  This is not to say that UT2 offers a bad representation of airline traffic, far from it.  It is the most realistic of the payware products because it uses real world data for fleet and route information.  But some tradeoffs had to be made to account for the complexity of real world fleet equipment levels.  Paints are very time intensive, and surely Flight1 can not afford to pay someone to keep track of the continuous changes to fleet paints and equipment and push those updates to the UT2 user base, it's not worth the effort for the niche base who support the product.   The important point here is that UT2's developers thought of the user base, and offers them the flexibility to taylor the product to suit their own needs.  You can set it and forget it, go on a treasure hunt on the web and add some special paints to the UT2 database, or even replace an airline entirely with a schedule/fleet paint structure you find more representative of reality.

You have that choice, and I greatly appreciate having so many options!

[Sportsfan23 2]

 

 

Timeliness of schedule updates. UT2 schedules are released about twice a year, i.e., fall/winter or spring/summer. Externally sourced flightplans can often be found for each season. Heck, there's even a flightplan out there just for the new Delta 717 flights!

 

How easy is it to replace the schedules included in UT2? Also say for a major airline like United is it possible to only take a few of the models included in that package and add it to UT2 or do you have to add all the planes included in a package and get rid of the United airline that comes with UT2 which I am assuming is in there.

[NGXfanatic 85]

It's easy, once you are familiar with the process.  When you download and install a package from outside UT2, yes, you do have to turn off the airline in UT2's database or you will have duplicate traffic.  Think of UT2 as a central database of airlines, including their routes and the aircraft/paints assigned to each route.  When you import an airline via powerpack, you are taking that airline's schedule, as formatted by folks who don't use UT2, compiling it with Powerpack into a format that UT2 can read, and adding it to the central database, but it won't overwrite the default UT2 database.  You have to tell UT2 to not inject their records of the airline's route/fleet by checking it off their main airline list, which is super easy to do.   The tutorial pdf listed earlier in this thread explains the process perfectly.

 

Take some time to practice, first with changing models/paints in the UT2 application, and once you are comfortable with that try replacing one airline in the UT2 database with a powerpack schedule, and you may grow to like it.  Like anything, some trial and error is involved, so make sure to work with backups handy in case something goes amiss.

[duckbilled 310]

- Perhaps the most important reason why I prefer Powerpack schedules via default UT2.   UT2 will suppress ground traffic until about 15 minutes before departure, and 15 minutes after gate arrival.  This leads to airports with many empty gates, even during peak times.  You go to EHAM expecting to see 40 KLM flights at the gates, and only see 15.  A slight exaggeration on my part, but not too far off the mark.   UT2 does this to help with fps, but I think it was a stupid move, and it is hard coded into the sim.   I discovered that when I replaced a carrier in UT2 with my own powerpack schedule, airports gates were more full because traffic didn't disappear just because the flight was over or had not started.

This has been an issue with UT2. I have 400+ traffic bgls operating in addition to UT2. Of course, some airlines are turned off in UT2. I have never bothered importing them into UT2 because I assumed the 15 minute injection rule would apply to the traffic if I imported it. Are you saying that it doesn't? If so, that's interesting.

[NGXfanatic 85]

This has been an issue with UT2. I have 400+ traffic bgls operating in addition to UT2. Of course, some airlines are turned off in UT2. I have never bothered importing them into UT2 because I assumed the 15 minute injection rule would apply to the traffic if I imported it. Are you saying that it doesn't? If so, that's interesting.

Yes, absolutely.  I discovered that Powerpack imported airline schedules bypass the 15 minute rule limitation.  I ran many internal tests that proved it.   I don't know why it works that way, but I'm not complaining.  IIRC, when UT2 was first released, there was a period where users were complaining that they saw too much traffic at airports, or flights that showed up a gates weeks ahead of schedule, double traffic and so on.  The developers had released some betas trying to correct the issue of extra traffic until they decided to implement the 15 minute rule in the current release, perhaps to circumvent the issue of "extra flights". 

 

I'm not sure if the traffic I see at gates with PP scheduled airlines is the correct amount, or if it's the extra traffic glitch, but it sure as heck beats the sparse amount with the 15 minute limitation.  The gate traffic density appears correct to me, but I haven't printed out the timetable to compare what I see on the screen with the printed schedule.

 

Yes, 400 bgls is a lot to convert.   My approach?   I import all the major airlines with PP, and leave .bgl files to traffic like very obscure, seldom seen airlines, GA, Bizjet, military and all cargo carriers.   The major airlines are my top concern, and make up the biggest percentage of AI traffic, so I can justify the work involved importing via PP because of the performance benefits such as hiding ground traffic when flying at the flight levels, and to see them fly waypoint/airway routes, and of course, actually seeing them populate airport gates!

[ejy1 0]

HI A.J.

 

I am new to the power pack software. Quick question for you, I have Windows 10 installed on my rig so where does one find the UT2 database that you speak of? I tried following your earlier instructions but I am unable to locate it.

 

Cheers,

 

John