I hope it is me and not FSX, flying IFR in the PMDG 737 NGX, FSX ATC is behaving itself quite well. Then out of the blue it vectors me so far of course that; either I have to disconnect LNAV or am I suppose to make the change in the FMC. I am a total noob with flight plans and FMC, tried the tutorials and everything was fine, until I made my own flight plan from Flightaware.

I think this is normal for the default FSX ATC.  You will never get it to properly fly you on a SID or STAR.  If you want to use recorded ATC you pretty much have to go with Radar Contact or log on to Vatsim to get live ATC with the caveat that you only get this when controllers are logged on in the area you are flying.  I don't own RC4 so I am not sure how good it really is but I do know it is miles ahead of the default atc.

 

 

either I have to disconnect LNAV or am I suppose to make the change in the FMC

 

Are you using the heading mode yet?

FSX ATC is governed by the NavData found in the sim, and has no knowledge of the NavData used by PFPX, unless the FSX scenery has been updated to mirror that NavData AIRAC Cycle. SID/STAR are not part of a plan and FSX ATC will not try to route your plane onto them, but will suggest approaches found in the sim scenery NavData. During the flight with FSX ATC we have the chance to assign our desired approach and then choose a STAR from the FMC or an approach from the GPS. We want to use approaches/runways recommended by ATC if we have Ai traffic using the runways. Regular planners only use NavData found in the AIRAC Cycle they have current. I use a special flight planner (IF10) that understands the subset of data found in the AIRAC Cycle applied to the planner, and compares it to the NavData found in the sim scenery. This generates more reliable plans (and coroute FMC plan files) since the data used for the plan is found in both the sim and the aircraft navigation systems.

FSX ATC is governed by the NavData found in the sim, and has no knowledge of the NavData used by PFPX, unless the FSX scenery has been updated to mirror that NavData AIRAC Cycle. SID/STAR are not part of a plan and FSX ATC will not try to route your plane onto them, but will suggest approaches found in the sim scenery NavData. During the flight with FSX ATC we have the chance to assign our desired approach and then choose a STAR from the FMC or an approach from the GPS. We want to use approaches/runways recommended by ATC if we have Ai traffic using the runways. Regular planners only use NavData found in the AIRAC Cycle they have current. I use a special flight planner (IF10) that understands the subset of data found in the AIRAC Cycle applied to the planner, and compares it to the NavData found in the sim scenery. This generates more reliable plans (and coroute FMC plan files) since the data used for the plan is found in both the sim and the aircraft navigation systems.

So even when I updated to the latest AIRAC with Navigraph to PMDG, PFPX and FSX it still won't work? Sorry, I am very FP challenged.

So even when I updated to the latest AIRAC with Navigraph to PMDG, PFPX and FSX it still won't work? Sorry, I am very FP challenged.

When you update your PFPX, and your PMDG to the latest AIRAC, unless the Navs in the sim are also updated, there's no guarantee the same navdata is represented in the sim for ATC.

When you update your PFPX, and your PMDG to the latest AIRAC, unless the Navs in the sim are also updated, there's no guarantee the same navdata is represented in the sim for ATC.

I just checked the Data Manager and FSX is not on the list to update, how do I update FSX to the latest AIRAC, thanks.

I just checked the Data Manager and FSX is not on the list to update, how do I update FSX to the latest AIRAC, thanks.

Not easy; airports have come and gone, runways moved, navs dismantled, magnetic declination changed.

 

...like MarkW said, you can instead try RC4, which you can set up with the same AIRAC Cycle. Travel between airports with recent scenery addons or at least with not too many changes since the sim came out.

There's really not much you can do, with the exception of not using default ATC at all. Honestly, it's junk. You really have no easy of updating all of the nav data in the sim (although, I'm sure where there's a will, there's a way). Even all of that aside, there are some inherent limitations with the ATC outside of the nav data. Default ATC doesn't asign speeds, won't understand that you want be vectored around bad weather, etc. The list just goes on. My brother is a controller in one of the busiest control centers in the world and the few times he's messed around on my machine, I've made him turn on the ATC just to get his reaction (he usually just laughs at it)...

Not easy; airports have come and gone, runways moved, navs dismantled, magnetic declination changed.

 

...like MarkW said, you can instead try RC4, which you can set up with the same AIRAC Cycle. Travel between airports with recent scenery addons or at least with not too many changes since the sim came out.

I have been seriously considering an ATC addon, but every time I think I found one I would like I find a number of people complain about it. So far I have narrowed it down to VOXATC, ProATC, or RC4, Any advice is greatly appreciated. Let me say this, I can not stomach "Robotic Voices", kills it for me.

 

 

I have been seriously considering an ATC addon, but every time I think I found one I would like I find a number of people complain about it. So far I have narrowed it down to VOXATC, ProATC, or RC4, Any advice is greatly appreciated. Let me say this, I can not stomach "Robotic Voices", kills it for me.

 

I went through the same exercise and came away with the same impression. Re robotic voices, my research showed that none of those will fit then. Coincidentally, the only good thing about the default ATC is that the voices and langauge are halfway decent. Editvoicepack makes it even better.

 

I think there's a huge market gap here although I can't even begin to imagine how tough it could be to write  a solid ATC addon. But, then again, I also can't imagine how tough it is to accurately code/recreate a modern airliner... yet several developers have that down to a science...

I went through the same exercise and came away with the same impression. Re robotic voices, my research showed that none of those will fit then. Coincidentally, the only good thing about the default ATC is that the voices and langauge are halfway decent. Editvoicepack makes it even better.

 

I think there's a huge market gap here although I can't even begin to imagine how tough it could be to write  a solid ATC addon. But, then again, I also can't imagine how tough it is to accurately code/recreate a modern airliner... yet several developers have that down to a science...

I can't remember which ATC addon it was, but one of them I believe you can add better text to voice for a price. I think it was VOXATC, I shied from it because there were current unresolved issues. Maybe they have been resolved now.

I think there's a huge market gap here although I can't even begin to imagine how tough it could be to write  a solid ATC addon. But, then again, I also can't imagine how tough it is to accurately code/recreate a modern airliner... yet several developers have that down to a science...

It surprises me no company has tried to make a comprehensive ATC addon. The entire community has been wishing for one. They'd make a bunch of money.

I hope it is me and not FSX, flying IFR in the PMDG 737 NGX, FSX ATC is behaving itself quite well. Then out of the blue it vectors me so far of course that; either I have to disconnect LNAV or am I suppose to make the change in the FMC. I am a total noob with flight plans and FMC, tried the tutorials and everything was fine, until I made my own flight plan from Flightaware.

I don't think PFPX export SIDs and STARs. It will give you them in the briefing but won't inculde them in the exported file. If you open the kneepad in FSX and check the flightplan you would see that they are not included. You can you use Vroute(freeware) and download flightplans with SIDs and STARs. Then load them in FSX and the default ATC will recognize them as waypoints. If that is the case the default ATC will let you fly them and won't intervene until you are 90-50 nm away from the airport. That when it vectors you to the assigned runway.

 

What I do is, creat a flightplan in PFPX and export it to FSX format. Then, I impot it in Aivlasoft's EFB which is a great payware add on. In EFB, you can add SIDs and STARs to your flightplan, also, you can check weather for both Departure and destination. Once I am done, I click activate and I request clearence. Now, my flightplan, with the SID and STAR included, is recognized by the default ATC. If the weather changes at the destination while I am enroute, all I have to do is change the STAR in EFB and click activate. Again, I request an IFR clearence while I am enroute and the ATC will accept it. Of course, once I am close to the destination, I will get vetored away from the STAR.

 

As for other ATC add ons, I own all of them except for pilot2atc.

Each one has its own limitations.

It surprises me no company has tried to make a comprehensive ATC addon. The entire community has been wishing for one. They'd make a bunch of money.

 

Perhaps you haven't tried Radar Contact v4. That's very comprehensive. It's satisfied many users who previously used the default ATC. It also uses correct FAA / ICAO procedural language. Pro-ATCX doesn't. Not sure about VOXATC but I believe extra voice sets are quite expensive. With RC4 you get them all included in the one price.