FSX-MS Traffic Optimizer for FSX/P3D

[dukeav 46]

AI traffic can be a FPS killer at even moderate settings. Many of us like to decent amount of traffic around, but this finally becomes a tussle between volume and FPS.

 

To help this situation I have written a program which automatically tries to manage the traffic. The logic is pretty simple, you give the program a target number of AI aircraft, by default 100. Every 60 seconds the program will check how many AI Aircraft are there and then it will delete AI Aircraft above this number. Aircraft farthest from your aircraft are deleted first, so traffic around you should remain largely unchanged. 

 

You can change the target number to your choice based upon your hardware.

 

Traffic Settings within FSX:

You should set the the traffic density in P3D to something which gives you decent traffic around you. For example I use MyTraffic, so I set the density to 35%, which I think reflects RW traffic. In my situation my FPS goes from ~12 to ~18 with this program in KJFK.

 

How to use:

Unzip the contents - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_5rZp8PTz0qVkhVa3g3Q285X2M/edit?usp=sharing

Start FSX, let it come up fully

Start AirTrafficManager.exe

Enter the Departure and Dsetination ICAO codes (optional)

"Check" the "Auto Optimize" check-box

 

The first clean-up will happen 15 seconds after you check the check-box, and after 10-15 seconds of that you will notice your FPS increase.

 

I have not programmed in VB.Net for ages, so if you are going to try this out then you are a beta-tester

 

Notes:

1. This program runs separately from FSX so hopefully will not crash it.

2. If you get a message in the console saying unable to connect to FSX, please re-start AirTrafficManager.

3. Although the check for AI Aircraft is done every 60 seconds, the clean-up happens 15 seconds after the 60 seconds

4. The original program was for P3D, you can find the discussion thread here - http://forum.avsim.net/topic/451048-traffic-optimizer-for-p3d/

5. FSX version is not tested much as I mainly use P3D, and I created this version on request from FSX users

 

Requirements:

1. FSX SP2 / Acceleration

2. FSUIPC

 

Acknowledgements:

1. Uses the FSUIPC Client DLL for .NET by Paul Henty

2. Pete Dowson for pointing out the critical bug for SP2, Sesquashtoo / Ray Proudfoot and many other for testing and feedback in the P3D thread

[GSalden 4,656]

Many thanks !

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

Duke,

 

I haven't tried this version yet but have a couple of observations...

 

1) Can you provide a minimise button so the program can be moved off the desktop?

 

2) Some programs can detect if a flight plan is loaded in FSX and will then automatically load it into their interface. Active Sky Next is one. Rather than ask the user to provide 2 ICAOs maybe you could look at loading a plan even though you only use part of it.

 

Thanks!

[W2DR 1,859]

Tried it. Liked it. Thanks. And I agree with Ray, a minimize button would be nice.

 

Doug

[reecemj 144]

 

 

1) Can you provide a minimise button so the program can be moved off the desktop?

 

Ray and Doug right click on top and minimize...

[ZKOKQ 984]

Thanks Duke. And thanks to reecemj, never thought of that

[SierraHotel 976]

Great program and it works fine with AIController and ProATC.

[W2DR 1,859]

Ray and Doug right click on top and minimize...

 

Sheez.....so simple. Never would have thought of that.....Thanks.....

 

Doug

[garydpoole 183]

This is a seriously good program - just flew very close to Heathrow en route from EGSS to EGJJ with the traffic set to 50 and got hardly any drop in FPS !

 

Couple this with Fibre Accelerator and no longer is London airspace the frame hog nightmare that it used to be !

 

My only comment would be a feature to save the settings to individual files for future use?

 

Many thanks

 

Gary

[virtualstuff 752]

 

AI traffic can be a FPS killer at even moderate settings. Many of us like to decent amount of traffic around, but this finally becomes a tussle between volume and FPS.

 

To help this situation I have written a program which automatically tries to manage the traffic. The logic is pretty simple, you give the program a target number of AI aircraft, by default 100. Every 60 seconds the program will check how many AI Aircraft are there and then it will delete AI Aircraft above this number. Aircraft farthest from your aircraft are deleted first, so traffic around you should remain largely unchanged. 

 

You can change the target number to your choice based upon your hardware.

 

Traffic Settings within FSX:

You should set the the traffic density in P3D to something which gives you decent traffic around you. For example I use MyTraffic, so I set the density to 35%, which I think reflects RW traffic. In my situation my FPS goes from ~12 to ~18 with this program in KJFK.

 

How to use:

Unzip the contents - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_5rZp8PTz0qVkhVa3g3Q285X2M/edit?usp=sharing

Start FSX, let it come up fully

Start AirTrafficManager.exe

Enter the Departure and Dsetination ICAO codes (optional)

"Check" the "Auto Optimize" check-box

 

The first clean-up will happen 15 seconds after you check the check-box, and after 10-15 seconds of that you will notice your FPS increase.

 

I have not programmed in VB.Net for ages, so if you are going to try this out then you are a beta-tester

 

Notes:

1. This program runs separately from FSX so hopefully will not crash it.

2. If you get a message in the console saying unable to connect to FSX, please re-start AirTrafficManager.

3. Although the check for AI Aircraft is done every 60 seconds, the clean-up happens 15 seconds after the 60 seconds

4. The original program was for P3D, you can find the discussion thread here - http://forum.avsim.net/topic/451048-traffic-optimizer-for-p3d/

5. FSX version is not tested much as I mainly use P3D, and I created this version on request from FSX users

 

Requirements:

1. FSX SP2 / Acceleration

2. FSUIPC

 

Acknowledgements:

1. Uses the FSUIPC Client DLL for .NET by Paul Henty

2. Pete Dowson for pointing out the critical bug for SP2, Sesquashtoo / Ray Proudfoot and many other for testing and feedback in the P3D thread

 

 

Nice one useful,  but in case of UT2 not needed because the program does this already since the first release version ;-)

[Mithras 87]

Does UT2 do this? I had not noticed, is there a setting for it anywhere!

[JSkorna 137]

Nice one useful,  but in case of UT2 not needed because the program does this already since the first release version ;-)

It does? I have used UT2 for years and never once seen AI be removed or added based on FSP.

 

Where are the settings in UT2 to set this up?

 

Is this in the UT2 documentation?

 

Yes, I monitor my AI traffic with Traffic Watch.

[virtualstuff 752]

It does? I have used UT2 for years and never once seen AI be removed or added based on FSP.

 

Where are the settings in UT2 to set this up?

 

Is this in the UT2 documentation?

 

Yes, I monitor my AI traffic with Traffic Watch.

 

Lol UT2 gui and then Utilities > In game settings, but my guess is you already new that Jim ;-)

Those settings are very useful for great performance and AI I don't fly without it....

 

There is even an option called target FPS....

 

From the manual ;-)

 

1.  Keyboard Shortcuts - All controls for Ultimate Traffic 2 inside of FSX can have keyboard shortcuts assigned to them.  To assign a new keyboard shortcut, highlight the desired field to change and press the key combination you would like to designate.  UT2 does NOT check to see if this is conflicting with any existing FSX shortcuts.

2.  Target FSX Frame Rate - If you computer is running slow at very busy airports, due to the amount of ai traffic being displayed, you can use this setting to allow UT2 to automatically adjust your traffic density to reach your performance goal.  Ultimate Traffic 2 will dynamically reduce the traffic density until it is able to achieve the desired frame rate.  When your frame rate in FSX goes above the target rate, UT2 will increase the traffic density, up to the max setting on the Traffic Options page, as long as it stays above the target frame rate.  The minimum setting available is 6 FPS.  Setting below this value will turn OFF the target frame rate option.

3.  Aircraft Spawn Options - In order to be able to control the injection of ai traffic specifically for your computer, you can use the spawn options.  You can set the max altitude that aircraft on the ground will be displayed, distance from your aircraft that ai traffic will be spawned on the ground, and the maximum number of aircraft to display, using these settings.  These settings can be useful in eliminating or reducing any 'pops' or 'pauses' that may occur in FSX while UT2 spawns aircraft.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

Duke,

 

Thanks for the tip about minimising. Having had some time to think about this program I'm wondering what the purpose of supplying the two ICAOs is.

 

Does it affect which Ai get deleted? That would be my guess. For example, if I set-up a flight from Heathrow to JFK then all those Ai well to the east of London would be the first to go since they will never be close to my route.

 

But those out to the west - even 100 miles away I might feel inclined to keep. After all, I'm sure most would agree you don't want to sanitise the route you're flying. And each few minutes when you check and remove those in excess of the user's target would you also prioritise those behind your aircraft rather than ahead?

 

Just a thought which I think would enhance your already excellent program.

[JSkorna 137]

Lol UT2 gui and then Utilities > In game settings, but my guess is you already new that Jim ;-)

Those settings are very useful for great performance and AI I don't fly without it....

 

There is even an option called target FPS....

 

From the manual ;-)

 

1.  Keyboard Shortcuts - All controls for Ultimate Traffic 2 inside of FSX can have keyboard shortcuts assigned to them.  To assign a new keyboard shortcut, highlight the desired field to change and press the key combination you would like to designate.  UT2 does NOT check to see if this is conflicting with any existing FSX shortcuts.

2.  Target FSX Frame Rate - If you computer is running slow at very busy airports, due to the amount of ai traffic being displayed, you can use this setting to allow UT2 to automatically adjust your traffic density to reach your performance goal.  Ultimate Traffic 2 will dynamically reduce the traffic density until it is able to achieve the desired frame rate.  When your frame rate in FSX goes above the target rate, UT2 will increase the traffic density, up to the max setting on the Traffic Options page, as long as it stays above the target frame rate.  The minimum setting available is 6 FPS.  Setting below this value will turn OFF the target frame rate option.

3.  Aircraft Spawn Options - In order to be able to control the injection of ai traffic specifically for your computer, you can use the spawn options.  You can set the max altitude that aircraft on the ground will be displayed, distance from your aircraft that ai traffic will be spawned on the ground, and the maximum number of aircraft to display, using these settings.  These settings can be useful in eliminating or reducing any 'pops' or 'pauses' that may occur in FSX while UT2 spawns aircraft.

Andre,

 

No I truly didn't know! I will take a look.