What's the final verdict

[bosflo 53]

Ok guys, now that P3D is becoming the more popular choice what is the best ai program to use?. I have the choice of Mytraffic 6, traffic 360, ### AI traffic, ultimate traffic, world of ai and maybe some other ones that I am missing. What program do you guys use. I have random thoughts on each one but would like the expert opinion from you all.

 

Mytraffic 6- seems good but those models just do not look good to me

 

traffic 360-also good but does it work with P3D v2.5 and planes are older companies

 

### AI traffic-probably the best but it's illegal so maybe it has viruses or other stuff

 

ultimate traffic-looks good but I heard most planes are not painted and are they updated with newer planes?

 

world of ai- for me the best, but they don't exist anymore and maybe are outdated now with some packages.

 

I think that ai is the most important part of me for the simulator so I decided to post this question because I want to use the right one. It doesn't matter if it is payware or freeware. The look of the models are also important because for years I have been spoiled by the models from world of ai (how I wish they still made packages) so hopefully I can find the package that works best.

 

thank you so much for any insights and opinions.

 

 

[newtie 541]

Let me Google that for you...

[Twenty6 694]

I use UT2 in P3dv3 and it runs fine. Don't know what you mean about unpainted models cuz I've never run across that.

 

You can add aircraft to the existing database. There are tutorials on the WWW that explain how.

 

Thing about UT2 is the program is abandoned by its author and the chances of it being updated are slim and none. Flight1 still sells it at a premium, which I don't understand.

[molleh 451]

I am using UT2 right now but like Jay said above, it's not being developed any more so it's kind of a dead end. However I still think it's very well done and most of the aircraft models are pretty good, especially the more common ones like 737s or A320s. Installation in P3D is easy but it's not a native one click installer either.

[Forkboy2 27]

 

 

 

 

Personally, I think the "best" is UT2, but replacing some of the default UT2 AI models with improved versions which can be found online.  However, UT schedules are getting old and the program is dead so there will not likely be future updates.

 

I've also done the following to improve load times and performance.
- Replaced all the individual light maps with generic light maps so there is one light map for each aircraft model instead of one light map for every livery. Disadvantage is not all the tails light up correctly, but don't really care about that.

- Dumbed down the AI aircraft models by removing unnecessary LODs and increasing the distances at which the more detailed LODs appear. To many of the AI aircraft models out there are way more detailed than they need to be.

- Mip-mapped all the AI aircraft textures and converted them to DXT1 or DDS DXT5.

- Fixed broken alpha channels

 

This was all a huge PITA and was sort of a hobby of mine for several months, but worth it now that it's up and running.

 

Also, plan on spending many hours tracking down missing aircraft textures.

 

Seems to me like there is a huge market for an AI product that:

- Has excellent quality, high performance AI models (both GA and airline)

- Uses SimConnect so it can run on a separate PC

- Uses real world flight schedules, updated at least annually

- User interface that makes it easy to replace models and paints

 

[molleh 451]

Seems to me like there is a huge market for an AI product that:

- Has excellent quality, high performance AI models (both GA and airline)

- Uses SimConnect so it can run on a separate PC

- Uses real world flight schedules, updated at least annually

- User interface that makes it easy to replace models and paints

 

I think you are absolutely right about this.

[bosflo 53]

yes, well said

[Sirxamoc 22]

I use JustFlight 360 and have had no issues, plus the benny is it does not tax my recourses as much as MyFlight did.

[simmerhead 885]

I use freeware. I have built up a collection over 10 years and it can't be beat in terms of realism and variety. I started with WOAI and MAIW, then added missing aircraft and airlines/Air Forces. If you spend an afternoon with AIFP you can build and edit an aircraft, repaint and flightplan collection quite easily, but it still takes you time! 

 

Sadly I can't share this collection with anyone since copyright issues prevent me from doing so. It is a real shame that many freeware developers are so anaI about copyright that they won't allow other freeware usage of their aircraft, repaints and flightplans. That way the work I've done over the past 10 years collecting models, liveries,flightpland, bug fixes, edited and corrected 100s of aircraft.cfg files, converted textures and flightplans to P3D format etc. can't be shared with you all. It would take you a few minutes to install and it would beat any payware offering out there. 

 

I've tried My Traffic and Ultimate Traffic - It doesn't come close, sadly. I would gladly pay big bucks for a quality AI program, but to date there still isn't a really good one. 

[newtie 541]

Something tells me someone's on this.

 

Just a feeling.

[Christopher Low 5,415]

 

I use UT2 in P3dv3 and it runs fine. Don't know what you mean about unpainted models cuz I've never run across that.

 

He means that some airlines in UT2 do not have any textures, which is why Flight1 have included the Daedalus (fictional) colour scheme. UT2 is great (I use it), but you really need to be prepared to do some work adding repaints and flightplans (for those airlines that are not included) to get airports to look suitably busy and realistic.

[jason99vmi 157]

Well you say WoAI is old and no updates.  Well you are sort of right but mostly wrong.  I had a very nice base of installing WoAI packages which are mostly old (I think they have some 2014 packages).   There are some websites that update the models and paints for each aircraft.  FAIB, UTT, etc

 

Alpha India Group does a fantastic job updating the schedules for each season.  They just finished up Summer 2015 and are starting to release Winter 2015/16.  These can all be found in the AVSIM library under 2004 - AI Flight Plans.

 

By using AI Flight Planner tool you can update the each carriers flight plan, aircraft, etc. 

 

You can also add tons of military aircraft via MAIW group. 

[gfd 15]

I'm another UT2 user. The implementation of the program is superior to anything else out there IMO. As others have stated, it is no longer maintained, so updating generic models and flight plans is required to bring it up to date. That takes time and effort. The fact that it is relatively easy is a testament to a program which hasn't been touched in several years.

 

I've used MyTrafficX for years and Burkhart should be commended for staying on his project. However, UT2 is flexible and does not appear to add as much overhead as the BGL based programs. Installing UT2 in Prepar3D requires a bit of effort, but the alterations are not active in the system.

 

Best of luck.

[bosflo 53]

Making my own ai sounds interesting. How do you go about doing that in P3D v 2.5? I looked at those links but they are all for fs2004 or FSX. I guess I can look for and idiots guide to making your own ai. That has to be somewhere on the net.

[gfd 15]

WOAI has their own installer. It installs BGL files and aircraft. Alpha India Group recommends using AI Flight Planner. Here is a link to AIFP

 

http://stuff4fs.com/open.asp?Folder=AIFP&JS=TRUE

 

With Alpha India Group, you get the plans, but you must download the aircraft separately.