Project AI and commercial traffic addons

[jfri 42]

I had almost decided to buy My Traffic 2006. But considering the fairly high price and threads talking about drastic performence hits I now think about trying PAI. A couple of questions1) Is PAI basically the same kind of product (traffic addon) like MT2006 Traffic 2005 and UT but at no cost?2) What does the commercial alternative offers that I won't have in PAI? I suppose there must be something since it's possible to sell the commercial addons.

[AlaskanFlyboy 7]

I don't have the commerical products, but I believe they have a running scheduel updater. PAI aircraft have the scheduels at the time they were compiled. Which considering airlines don't like to change timetables more often then they have to, most of the scheduels are still accurate, but not as accurate as the commercial products would be.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

[Guest IanP]

Something else to note is that at least one of the commercial packages actually uses licensed PAI models!You'll find little odd extras in the commercial boxes - things like "spotter" modules and flight trackers that tell you what is where. All you basically get from a pilot's standpoint, however, is the ease of installation thing. Reinstalling all the PAI files after a rebuild (like I just had to) is a right royal pain in the rear. Sticking a CD in the drive is much easier if you don't want the hassle... ;-)I'm happy with Project AI and nothing in the commercial packs has made me want them more yet.Hope that helps.Ian P.

[Guest Edam]

>Reinstalling all>the PAI files after a rebuild (like I just had to) is a right>royal pain in the rear. Sticking a CD in the drive is much>easier if you don't want the hassle...I don't understand. When I had to reinstall I ran the installer, highlighted all of the PAI files that I wanted installed, and that's it. All of them installed in one shot.

[Guest prdant]

Does anyone know if FEDEX is available or are not allowing the use of their a/c.

[Dirk98 354]

>>Reinstalling all>>the PAI files after a rebuild (like I just had to) is a>right>>royal pain in the rear. Sticking a CD in the drive is much>>easier if you don't want the hassle...>>I don't understand. When I had to reinstall I ran the>installer, highlighted all of the PAI files that I wanted>installed, and that's it. All of them installed in one shot. Sorry, me neither.

[Guest dakotafan]

>I had almost decided to buy My Traffic 2006. But considering>the fairly high price and threads talking about drastic>performence hits I now think about trying PAI. A couple of>questions>1) Is PAI basically the same kind of product (traffic addon)>like MT2006 Traffic 2005 and UT but at no cost?>2) What does the commercial alternative offers that I won't>have in PAI? I suppose there must be something since it's>possible to sell the commercial addons. Hi, I have been using PAI for several months now and find it to be very good for populating AI traffic. It is your basic "no frills" solid program. It takes some time to initially download the airlines which you want and then unzip them but if you spend a little time organizingthe different types (Commercial, Cargo, etc.) into folders and save the unzipped files as well as the installer, reinstalling only takes a few minutes. You may want to consider getting a program called AI Traffic Mover (Freeware) which should be available here to help you add, edit and delete airline schedules and aircraft as desired. For GA traffic, get "GA Traffic" (freeware) also available here. With a little work (or a lot if you really want to get into it) I think you will be pleased with the results. I decided to save my money for another program that I would really use rather than purchase any of these addons. It is easy to get caught up in all the hype and find that it wasn't what you expected. Hope this helps. Regards, Dave

[AlaskanFlyboy 7]

As far as I'm aware FedEx doesn't have set schedueling. So people have had difficulty figuring how to make it's scheduels realistic.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

[Guest FlyinJ]

Hello prdant.I found a Fed Ex AI schedule out there somewhere and installed it just so I would have some Fex Ex livery flying around my virtual skies. I have no way of knowing if the schedules are realistic, but if you're interested, I can email the flightplans to you in a zip file. You can download the textures from Project AI. Jeff

[RFields5421 1]

Brian Mitchell is the only one who has done a fairly comprehensive FedEx plan - his file is available in the Avsim file library - fedex_ver_1.0.zip Included in the file are a very good workable AFCAD file for KMEM - the main FDX hub,and great repaints by Tony Fosler for the AIA B727-100, AIA B727-200, FSP A300F-GE, FSP A300F-PW, FSP A310F-GE, FSP A310-PW, FSP DC-10F and FSP MD-11F. You will need to download the model files separately.The schedules were for the week of Sept 11, 2004.His plans do not include the regional Cessna Caravans, Fokker 27's, ATR's and other feeders. John Brooker has done Corporate Air, CSA Air, Empire Airlines, Morningstar Air Express and Westair Industries - flight plans available in the Project AI file library - search for FedExThe FexEx Lear 45's are in the Ultimate GA Lear 45 schedule - ultimate_lear45.zip - here on AvsimMountain Air Cargo is the latest release by Mark Lupus available on Boris's site - http://www.boris-cargo-fp.fsalliance.net/Back to the general subject:PAI is a great start - I would strongly advise you to install the individual airlines in individual traffic files in FS2004. Also you will need to install a couple of the model and flight dynamics updates - the B757 and B733 for sure and some others - need to check their web site - because none of the package has FS2004 flight dynamics.The basic difference between the three commercial products is the Schedules, Aircraft and Utilities:Schedules:Ultimate Traffic - uses real world schedules from the systems travel agents use - twice yearly updates for about $6 US availableMy Traffic 2006 - appropriate airline traffic for the region - some real scheduled takeoffs but most traffic is generated on a two airport round trip basis. If Southwest Airlines at KDFW or US Airways at KDAL bothers you - this might not be the best option.Traffic 2005 - airlines assigned by airport - traffic generated on a multiple airport basis for each aircraft - some long range real flights and departures but most traffic is approximateNone of these products provides 100% of the world's airlines - they do provide more than the PAI free packages.Aircraft:Ultimate Traffic - many FSP and PAI v1 models - only commercial traffic - no helicopters, no GA, no military - will include the default GA with the default GA flight plansMy Traffic 2006 - some first version models and several new models. LOD added to some of the Chuck Dome GA models - military, GA and helicopter models. Biggest issue with MYT models, especially military, is that many critical areas like drop tanks and weapons are a bright orangish yellow color and cannot be painted - no mapping of the texture to the modelTraffic 2005 - looks like this version includes almost all new models with 4 or 5 lod - 63 new / rebuilt models according to the Manual in the package - some nice GA and great performing helicoptersAll three of these packages have repaint quality issues. For the non-PAI/FSP models - the biggest issue is use of a flat side texture map which leaves 50% or more of the texture area unused. This basically results in sacraficing 1/2 of the detail capability before even starting. The number of default repaints and the speed in which they were done is also obvious.All three handle the issue of missing repaints basically the same way. No package has repaints ALL the airlines and all the aircraft in the schedules. Some models do not even exist as flyable, much less AI aircraft.UT - has generic repaints for each model - you can select to have non-repainted aircraft ignored and no schedule generated for them - or you can have generic repaints generated for the missing aircraft.My Traffic - has generic repaints for most models "White Wing" which can also be assigned to missing repaints, or ignored.Traffic 2005 - UtilitiesThis used to be a big difference in the three - with UT's complete control shell and auto update downloads - the My Traffic's totally manual process.The differences are minimal nowEach has a shell utility - each has the ability to add your own aircraft and schedules.All three have very helpful support forums.Now incase anyone asks - I do own all three - I do have the capability to have each of them on my system alone - I also have everything from PAI.Those are mainly for testing AFCAD and testing AI aircraft approaches and issues.For my FS flying for enjoyment and fun - I prefer the UT schedules and it's shell utility - to manage my AI traffic.I have replaced most of the default repaints with better ones and many of the models with more modern and up to date models.The choice is yours - the BEST AI traffic is what you build yourself - the question is where you want to start and how long you want to take building it.With the PAI package, you can have a good starting base of almost 200 airlines and military aircraft.With the three commercial packages - you have a higher level of traffic with more airlines for your start - enough for many people to be happy.One point - while PAI does have a lot of very high quality AFCAD files available - only the three commercial packages have AFCAD files with sufficient parking for all the aircraft in their schedules. This alone can be a significant factor in the performance of FS after installing all these AI aircraft.(Though the UT schedules - being real world - do have some airports which are not in FS - there is a very informational thread on the subject on their web site)Anyway, my three cents view as someone who has a few years practice with AI and has all three packages and PAI available.

[Dirk98 354]

Thanks, excellent review, RFields. One question: if I install UT, will I be able to add somehow GA traffic in some areas, helicopters and some military?Will it be difficult to switch between UT and, say, Adobe's (Korea) traffic packages?I've downloaded from Adobe's and waiting for my UT to come in about a week. And btw, which one would you recommend to install first to maintain consistency if any?

[Guest yarvelling]

I have all the current Project AI packages, and also Traffic 2005. Currently, I'm running Traffic 2005, however, and here's the nice bit....you CAN mix 'n match....!I have PAI Fedex traffic, and all the PAI military packs installed too, and have used PAI aircraft, in conjunction with AFCAD2 and TTools, to make my own custom AI for airfields; primarily a few of the European airports which are served by the USAF from bases here in the UK, such as Lakenheath (EGUL), and Mildenhall (EGUN). It's pretty cool to encounter F-15's, C130's, C-17's, and KC-135's buzzing around most of Europe, amongst all the regular commercial and GA traffic :)So, experiment....if you're unsure, download and install a few of the major airline PAI packs and see what you think! If you like what you see, then get the rest! If not, go for one of the commercials, but remember that you can still use the PAI aircraft for adding your own stuff that the commercials DON'T provide....Have fun :)

[Guest JTEK99]

>I have all the current Project AI packages, and also Traffic>2005. Currently, I'm running Traffic 2005, however, and>here's the nice bit....you CAN mix 'n match....!>I have PAI Fedex traffic,...This sounds like a good setup for me as I, too, have Traffic 2005 and absolutely *need* to have a solid FedEx series of flights in my sim. I haven't installed Traffic 2005 yet, but am wondering whether the voice packs that come with it are decent as well. This was one of the primary reasons I bought Traffic 2005 -- I wanted those additional voices!Any thoughts?

[RFields5421 1]

None of these are exclusive - preventing you from using the others.I would strongly recommend that you not all, or even two, at the same time. Overcrowding your airport with more AI traffic than you have parking - and any other airport within 108nm of your aircraft is the quickest way to create stutters and problems.UT has the aircraft assignment utility. If is very easy to assign many of the great stolen aircraft and repaints in the Adobe to replace the default UT aircraft.The UT latest schedules have more efficient aircraft usage and are more current anyway than those from the thieves - too many are summer or winter or three years old.But should you decide that you don't want to use UT's Air France schedule - you can use the one from PAI, or compile your own. All it takes is a mouse click in UT to unselect an airline.You can run GA, helicopters, military or anything else in it's own traffic.bgl file. You can import it into UT if you wish, though adding a lot of small airports can be a bit of a chore.Also - I run "special livery" repaints / airlines - like Southwest - outside UT in individual traffic files. That's the one biggest failing of UT in my mind - that I cannot assign a certain repaint to a certain tail number.But visit the UT forums, visit the Project AI forum, even the AIA forum and the Evolve AI forum.You really do need their expertise to learn how to correct the many erros in the Adobe package.

[Guest IanP]

My problems with the reinstall were caused by a combination of software error (an incorrect .pai file that has since been replaced by a corrected one - Air France) and hardware error. It took me twelve runs of the tool to get it to install without failing because every time I tried, it bluescreened.That isn't, however, what I was referring to here:If you are comparing PAI as a base install to one of the CD add-ons, you are comparing one CD with an auto-installer and possibly a couple of executable patches to over a hundred zip files, some of which you need to run, some of which you don't, some of which are optional. Yes, the tech and computer savvy amongst us will have no problems with this. Multizip extractors are excellent tools! On the other hand, most people still keep no backups of files, so would have to redownload all the files, work out which ones they need and don't, unzip each file by hand using the Windows interface and yes, then they get to run an auto-installer.I personally still think that PAI is the best overall package out there, given terms of coverage and expandability. It isn't the best in terms of frame rates but none of the more frame rate friendly packages come close to the coverage or ease of installation for expansions. It isn't - from scratch - the most user friendly, either. The CDs will always win that hands down.Again, personally, I'll stick with PAI but I don't assume it's everyones' cup of their beverage of choice... ;-)Cheers,Ian P.(Who's off to PAI to see if anything else new has been released now...)