Since by some accounts MS FSteam might still be in the development stage of a next version and might be able to still incorporate some features bbefore going into beta, I sugggest this...First off I feel that most agree the spacing of ATC and ATC in general will need to be addressed in the next version but in addition to that I think another feature that would help in smoothing AI traffic while on the ground and at teh start of each flight would be that when you load up FS and the flight starts, only the AI that is scheduled to depart at the time or later of which the flight is will be loaded and parked while all other AI traffic that is not does not get loaded. That way when you start your flight you dont have 20-30 a/c all trying to depart and leave the gate at the same time.Also with so much data thats now available perhaps a new way of auto gen should be created. It would work by layering and open to modifying like how we have AFCAD. Start withe the coast lines and waterways like how Ultimate Terrain and programs like that use. Then cover the earth with sand, grass, forest or rock like how FS does now. Then layer on top of that the roads,powerlines and train track data. Use the same or simular techinque that google earth does for making the 3-d building in the big cities and texture them. Then layer auto gen to fill in the rest. If any given area has a high amount of roads crossing then that indicates a city so atuo gen will make city buildings and plants and houses on the out skirts. Then make farm houses and what not in the sticks area. Instead of things like crop fields being part of the texture the are auto gen so things like that can be assigned. That way the suface can be modified by addon users to ccreate areas to look more real.Not sure how well that would work since I'm not a programmer but the idea of having accurate road data that can not be used because in cities it looks stupid onto of textures that have painted roads. Also the fact that in google theres data that brings building into 3-d very nicely seems to make me think that this could be applied to fs.Kilstorm

Good points Kilstorm, but they and all others would be addressed if MS made FS10 completely modular with all the components easily replaced by addons by 3rd party vendors. That way you could stay with the default, which would be fine for many, or you could upgrade those areas that are important to you. I think even MS is surprised at what has become of FS9 with all of the incredible addons that have been released, and hopefully the future architecture will be such that it will be even easier to build enhancements. billg

Good idea!As far as autogen is concerned, I think a solution would be to allow each autogen object to have a level or priority number, with the higher priority displaying. The autogen could then be matched to multiple levels as you describe, but with if/then statements dictating which is displayed. So if you have a field texture displayed, and there's no overlap with a road or railway, then `trees` are displayed. Where the road overlaps, the `fence` or `streetlight` autogen takes priority and displays instead. The scenery layer goes on smaller numbers predominate, autogen on larger, to give a wide variation. For any given scnery element aftermarket developers could simply change the level manually or in clusters to change the autogen displayed on that particular `slot`. Combine that with additional autogen as clustered objects rather than individual items - `trees` become `forests`, houses become villages, warehouse becomes industrial estate, and you have the basics for a wider variety of autogen and easy adjustability to suit the needs of a specific location. Tweaking would be much easier as you might be able to use a text editor to change the priority level and force trees to appear in the middle of the industrial estate, if it's an estate in landscaped grounds. No doubt a scenery expert will now tell us why ths can't be done. But I can dream! Allcott