SteveW,

 

Many don't understand this idea about a "traffic bubble" and how AI enter and leave this bubble. Some watch planes leave this bubble and they think the plane just vanishes into thin air, and we know this is not the case. The plane just exits the bubble. Slew or fly fast enough and the very same plane will re-enter the bubble and become visible again.

Jim I think you noticed another situation within the sim about distances of visible objects.

 

From the SDK:

 

"In order to improve the performance of Flight Simulator, only a certain area around the user's aircraft is actually simulated at any one time. As the user flies the aircraft that area (referred to in the simulator as the "reality bubble") moves along with the aircraft. Simulated objects outside of the area are removed altogether, and new AI aircraft are not created if they fall outside these bounds. The reality bubble is in fact more of a box, and is aligned to lines of latitude and longitude, so the box becomes narrower near the poles than it is as the equator. The following diagram shows how the reality bubble works. There are always nine boxes (approximately 64Km square at the equator) that are simulated, and the user aircraft is always in the centre box. As the aircraft flies over a boundary line, then the areas that are simulated change."

 

"and new AI aircraft are not created if they fall outside these bounds"

 MyTraffic X has it's perks, being a wide variety of types but the models and paints are hideous.

 

Good point. But everything costs. The better it looks, the steeper the price. I mean as it stands, I can't even tell if there is other traffic in the air using P3D. I have to believe it is a purpose move by LM to reduce the load on the simulator. Perhaps someone with a deeper understanding can pipe up on this. The skies are pretty lonely, particularly at night. This is not a criticism of anything or anyone. I just hope this will be rectified in time.

 

I fear I am drifting. qaaya, as you've seen, each package has it's plus and minus points. Best of luck with your decision.

 

Graham

 

"and new AI aircraft are not created if they fall outside these bounds"

 

Ah, I think I see what you mean here. If someone follows an AI plane out over the ocean, it should remain visible as long as the user keeps it within the "reality bubble" of his/her plane. However, if a user switches to Traffic View to watch an AI plane (whilst sitting on the ground), that plane will disappear when it exits the user's "reality bubble", and it will not be displayed again.

 

Is that correct?

 

 

I mean as it stands, I can't even tell if there is other traffic in the air using P3D. I have to believe it is a purpose move by LM to reduce the load on the simulator.

 

That's what I have been wondering recently. If that's the case, then getting LM to issue a "fix" is not very likely.

I know what a "traffic bubble" is. The disappearance of UT2 ai traffic has nothing to do with planes leaving this bubble.

 

The original thread (active between Oct 2011 and Mar 2013) on the UT2 suport forum (accessible to registered owners only) seems to have been deleted, but here are two excerpts of test flights the administrator of the UT2 forums did:

 

On July 16, 2012: "I set off from Stansted at 90deg, out into the North Sea, then turned left to 60deg and flew parallel to the European coast, about 30 miles out. Sure enough, all UT2's AI suddenly disappeared. It wasn't gradual. They all disappeared at once. When I turned right to 90deg and flew towards the Dutch coast the AI suddenly reappeared as I reached the coast."

 

Again on July 17: "I flew from Nice (LFMN) SE over the Mediterranean Sea. Sure enough, all AI traffic disappeared until I hit the northern tip of Corsica, when it suddenly appeared again. There really does seem to be a problem with UT2's AI over water."

 

My test route was Algier - Marseille (DAAG - LFML). Why don't you fly it yourself at a busy time of day and watch what happens to AI traffic between Mallorca and Marseille?

 

UT2 traffic is not interrupted or cancelled, it is going on but *not visible* when your plane is further away than 30 nm from the shore. When you come closer to the shore it reappears.

 

As I said in my previous post: This bug is officially recognised by the publisher. On March 2, 2013: a representative of Flight1 posted: "You will have to live with it for now."

 

Apart from that UT2 is excellent. It's for the user to decide whether the bug is important to his/her type of flying.

If, like Jim Skorna, all you do is going "at 35K on a transoceanic flight (you) could give a flying refrigerator as to what AI planes are doing." If, however, you fly at lower altitudes over busy places like the North Sea or the Mediterranean you might be interested to see what ai traffic is doing around you.

If someone follows an AI plane out over the ocean, it should remain visible as long as the user keeps it within the "reality bubble" of his/her plane. However, if a user switches to Traffic View to watch an AI plane (whilst sitting on the ground), that plane will disappear when it exits the user's "reality bubble", and it will not be displayed again.

 

Is that correct?

Yes Chris, I believe that's what we all observe.

 

 

As I said in my previous post: This bug is officially recognised by the publisher. On March 2, 2013: a representative of Flight1 posted: "You will have to live with it for now.

I doubt that's an admission of guilt.

 

My test route was Algier - Marseille (DAAG - LFML). Why don't you fly it yourself at a busy time of day and watch what happens to AI traffic between Mallorca and Marseille?

Are you saying that if you follow a UT2 plane on a route it disappears in front of you, and reappears 30Nm off the coast. Seems flakey, Jim says he does that kind of thing with no loss of plane. Perhaps if you actually followed a plane you may continue to see it? That's interesting, I've not checked this out with UT2.

 

Thanks.

Fly 35 miles off the coast of JFK and I'll guarantee you that you'll have traffic around you.  

Fly 35 miles off the coast of JFK and I'll guarantee you that you'll have traffic around you.  

 

Jim, you are absolutely right. However, I do recall flying from CYVR to CYYC and watching traffic from the cockpit in FSX. Not so in P3D. Something is different in P3D. I used the default ATC for a flight and was advised of traffic on a number of occasions. D-----d if I could see it. This is not a 'one is better than the other' statement. Just an observation.

 

Graham

Steve,
"Perhaps if you actually followed a plane you may continue to see it? That's interesting, I've not checked this out with UT2."

Please check it out. Unfortunately the thread in said forum had been closed and deleted by Flight1 (after having admitted that the bug is real) but as far as I remember one of the guys chasing this bug (I wasn't alone) had done exactly what you propose: he had created a UT2 flight and followed it. UT2 AI traffic dis- and reappeared depending on distance from the shore.

I am still waiting for somebody doing a flight across the Mediterranean or the North Sea at a busy time (say Friday 1600UTC) and reporting having seen UT2 AI traffic all of the time.

Maybe we have been wrong then and I'll be quiet and extend my apologies to Flight1 and all of you.

Andreas, it is on my "to-do" list. Will let you know my findings asap.

Thanks, Steve. I would have to reinstall UT2 to do it.

 

BTW: A thourogh discussion of this bug can be found here on AVSIM

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/402527-ultimate-traffic-2-traffic-disappearing-over-water/?hl=+traffic+disappearing

You'll also read that even in that quoted thread, many others have not experienced this event of AI traffic disappearing.

@Jim Skorna

"You'll also read that even in that quoted thread, many others have not experienced this event of AI traffic disappearing."

 

"Many others"? In the quoted thread there is *not one* user who has flown an entire flight over the open sea with UT2 traffic present. If you found one, please quote it here.

 

In said thread you also find the final and official statement by a representative of Flight1:

 

"Again, this issue has been notated and if there is any progress on it, I will surely let you all know.  As I stated on the closed thread, we are rather stuck with this bug for the time being. I appreciate the test cases here.  These will come in handy if the bug is ever addressed in the future."
 

Thanks, Steve. I would have to reinstall UT2 to do it.[/url]

Me too. I'll look into this. If it's true, it's more likely to be a "feature" rather than a bug, since I would expect the program would have to delete the Ai objects itself. Once FSX is running an Ai aircraft it would go to it's destination (if valid), and can be followed all the way, unless interrupted say by another program.