AI Traffic

[mac44 15]

New to x planes 11 and just wondering what is the best for AI - 2 I have heard about are x-life and world of traffic? - really looking for something with minimum setup on the main airports - so which is the best?

[Colonel X 1,430]

As of now, X-Plane's own AI is the only that will give you an immersive experience. It's also easy to setup. That can't be said at all about WT2 (WT3 is on the horizon), and X-Life, well, its more like a gimmick, not really usable.

[Kuragiman 227]

Allow me to give a slightly meatier answer to the question as I have tried all 3 solutions and I'll tell you what I like and dislike about each.

X-Life:  Quick to setup but unless you have airport files for it you won't get much in the way of good traffic.  Traffic that it does produce does not follow any real world schedules or airlines that should be at the airport.  It kind of randomly picks stuff and then brings it in and sends it out from the airport.   This is a very quick and dirty way to get AI going.    I don't like it because the performance hit is not worth the payoff.   I shelved this thing PDQ.

World Traffic 2:   The better choice.   It will follow real world traffic schedules provided they were loaded for the airport.  This is easily acquired for free by python scripts available from the .ORG.  Grab your favorite airport, load it into the routes folder for WT2 and away you go... BUT... there is one small problem... well. .not small.. it's huge.     If there is no ATC network programmed into the airport's DAT file planes will spawn in on the runway when taking off and vanish once they land and do their rollout.    IF the airport does have a full ATC Network and someone has made the proper Ground Route file for your airport you will see the right airlines taking off on real schedules and flying real routes and they will taxi all over the place, push back from gates and pull up to gates.   The problem is... no one wants to take the effort to make ground routes for the 20000+ airports out there.     World Traffic 3 is coming and is suppose to take a lot of the user manual setup out of the equation.    This is my preferred AI software package.   WT3 will be free to owner's of WT2 so if you go with this solution there is no reason to wait.  Get it and upgrade once WT3 is out.

Default XP11 AI:   Eh.... REALLY quick and dirty way to get AI in there.  Be sure you DO NOT use any flyable aircraft as AI traffic.  You are asking for a performance dump.    There are AI packages available on the ORG for free that strips all the unnecessary bells and whistles out of the aircraft and turns them into AI only planes.   In a pinch, this will do but I don't like the fact that I have 50+ AI planes clogging up my aircraft selection menu as these aircraft get loaded as if they are flyable.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Kuragiman
Spelling and grammar errors. BAD K-MAN!

[Pochi 68]

Hello,

Thanks for the information here!

Though I am on XP10.5 and currently flying with no AI, I would like to try out Kuragiman method 3  in order to add traffic in XP the default way. 

Is there any global AI traffic package which is better to begin with? I found an old post here with a link to the org but the package seems no more available.

Any advice?

Best regards,

 

Pierre

 

 

[Colonel X 1,430]

Currently there's nothing out there that works with X-Plane 11. I "converted" the old XPFW Ai models, but the flight model is messed up. It would be great if someone converted the available "Bluebell" package (what WT and X-Life use) from .obj to.acf, so they would become usable as Ai planes.

I am currently using 8 default XP11 737s as traffic - with regional correct liveries (there's first class material on the .org) for each flight. So for the US I set 8 different US liveries, and vice versa in Europe. It's really quick in X-Plane when you copy the 737 for each livery and name it in Plane Maker. I see no real performance hit (4.6Ghz 4790K), AI spreads well on the CPU cores in XP11. And the quality of the default 737 (and the super sharp liveries of all airlines) makes coming close to this model during taxi ect. a real treat - a magnitude above any Ai product. The fact that all planes are actually flown your CPU instead of injected by a plug-in - it has its absolute strenghts. X-Plane really succeeds in creating a busy atmosphere using 8 planes only - especially if used in conjunction with the now fantastic static AC's spread around (get Mister X library). They also won't spawn on top of other planes, a thing that will become a real issue with WT and X-Life, as MANY sceneries have baked-in static AC. X-Plane KI flies the default 737 with accuracy and the ATC isn't getting congested - immersion can be great especially if you only rely on verbal ATC (no text window). It's all in all a lot better as the same scenario in XP10, also due to the new UI.

With improved ATC (hopefully SID/STAR!!!) as well as more usable models (default 747 once fixed by Laminar and that shiny freeware 777 on X-Pilot) on the horizon - as well as CPU's becoming more and more parallel (more cores), the vanilla X-Plane ATC/Ai system might finally become a viable option.

[Kuragiman 227]

Rob, incorrect my friend.   http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/37767-xp11-ai-aircraft-acf-files-for-airliners/

 

Follow the rabbit in the forum link in the description area to download the XP10 AI models then use the linked patch to turn them into XP11 capable AI.   Be prepared to have 50+ aircraft loaded into your aircraft selection screen BUT there you go.   XP10 AI working in XP11 via AI add menu.

 

Pierre, follow this link as well but you don't need the patch.  Just download the AI from the forum thread post and follow the instructions.   If you don't like to read here is the direct link to the XP10 ACF packs.     http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/profile/2374-morten/content/&type=downloads_file

 

Enjoy!

[Pochi 68]

Thank you very much Kuragiman!

Pierre

[Colonel X 1,430]

9 hours ago, Kuragiman said:

Rob, incorrect my friend.   http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/37767-xp11-ai-aircraft-acf-files-for-airliners/

 

Follow the rabbit in the forum link in the description area to download the XP10 AI models then use the linked patch to turn them into XP11 capable AI.   Be prepared to have 50+ aircraft loaded into your aircraft selection screen BUT there you go.   XP10 AI working in XP11 via AI add menu.

 

Pierre, follow this link as well but you don't need the patch.  Just download the AI from the forum thread post and follow the instructions.   If you don't like to read here is the direct link to the XP10 ACF packs.     http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/profile/2374-morten/content/&type=downloads_file

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for the link. I did my homework back then and converted some of them myself. I wonder if the guy used the same method, described somewhere else in the gutter of the org. I found out though that they behave bad, for example the 767s always crash on short final. Not even talking about the bugs the XPWF models always had, like missing lights, glass ect... Are you using them and and they all work fine? Then I'd give it another go maybe. But I admit it's hard to go back from having fully featured and detailed AI planes. Even if they're all 737s...

Edit, yes it seems he also just quick-fixed them: "all i did was fix the acf files so they can be used with XP 11 ( open in xp10 PM, save, reopen in XP 11 PM, get rid of the weapons stuff, set AP type and Manufacturer and save again)"

Those are shabby ;)

[Kuragiman 227]

Hehehehe I didn't say they were awesome!   I use Bluebell with WT2 myself which is gorgeous but you guys wanted to use default XP11 AI injection so there is the quick and ugly of it.