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TechguyMaxC

Traffic + ATC + voice controlled crew - suggestions needed

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I have been out of the hobby for awhile and thought I would jump back in with P3D v4.  I'm all set with scenery (ORBX Global & NA regions + Flightbeam, FSDT, and FlyTampa airports), weather (ASv4 + ASCA), and aircraft (Maddog, PMDG, and a ton of GA planes), and now I need to pick a number of products to flesh out the rest of the sim.  I've got a week to weigh my options, purchase, install, and configure as that is the remaining time left to me before I go back to work after taking time off for the birth of triplets.  After that I only expect to really have time for a short hop here and there and really don't want to be fiddling with configuration all the time.  I've been simming since FS5 so I know that fiddling with FS can be like a whole hobby unto itself :laugh:

I need help from those of you that are using 3rd party traffic, offline ATC, and a voice control solution for P3D v4.  The key factor for choosing these products is that I need to use voice control for interaction as much as possible, both for reasons of immersion as well as a physical lack of desk space for a keyboard.

My system specs are: i7 7700k @ 5.2GHz (de-lidded and water cooled), 16GB 3600MHz RAM, GTX 1070 water cooled, 1TB dedicated SSD for P3D & add-ons, Windows 10 Pro latest updates.  This is connected to a 49" 4k tv and using Saitek yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals along with TrackIR.  

A few factors for consideration:

  • I would prefer an offline ATC solution rather than Vatsim (never know when I'll need to pause the sim with 6 kids including 3 newborns)
  • would prefer AI traffic whose models look good and have up-to-date liveries as well as can be controlled by ATC
  • a voice control solution (or solutions) to interact with ATC, ground (GSX) and cockpit crew

With all that in mind, what would you recommend?

Thanks in advance

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It isn't perfect, but I like to use VOXATC. It has functionality to use co-pilot for voice or you can speak to it. It populates and controls AI traffic. I think it sounds the most "realistic" when it comes to voices. You can also try it for 7 days before buying it with full functionality. I think Pilot2ATC is also another good option, but I don't know anything about that product. 

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@b757, thanks for the input.

Vox sounds like the best overall solution in terms of features but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the level of support and frequency of updates.  I do like that it controls AI traffic, that to me is a must-have feature so if Vox is the only one that can do this, I guess that answers my question as to which ATC program to purchase.

Is there any combination of programs that works well together to meet all of my goals?

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I agree with b757. Either VOXATC or P2ATC would be a good choice. If one is interested in immersive AI Traffic integration with the ATC then the former is better. VOXATC provides virtually no official support, at least that's the way it's been for about a year now. So if you want a perfect, turnkey solution, it isn't the best option.

P2ATC has excellent technical support and also is the only viable P3d4 ATC solution that also can replace the utterly goofy default ATC in XP11.

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1. Pilot2ATC is very good for IFR flights, SID/STAR assignment done by the program, and based of weather. Also has an option to monitor and operate the radios during cruise if you want to step away from the PC for a while. But, it does not support VFR flights at all.

2. For offline AI traffic I hear UT Live is good.

3. For voice interaction with crew and ground services, I would suggest Multi Crew Experience. It works with a lot of aircraft and has a free demo too. It does everything except interact with ProATC X.

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Hi,

I have VoxAtc, Pilot2Atc and PF3+MCE...

According to the mood and the type of flight, I use mainly VoxAtc and PF3+MCE, it is important to have MCE since it allows to dialogue with PF3 (PF3 has no vocal interface). PF3 without Multi Crew Experience only works with the keys on the keyboard.
I no longer use Pilot2Atc among other things, because the interface does not integrate into the P3D program, there is no interaction with Ai, neither vocal nor physically...

I use MyTraffic 6.

So, for "a voice control solution (or solutions) to interact with ATC, ground (GSX) and cockpit crew" : Multi Crew Experience (MCE)...

...and for "would prefer AI traffic whose models look good and have up-to-date liveries as well as can be controlled by ATC" : VoxAtc is the winner. PF3 interacts with Ai only vocally.

These three Atc programs have a free trial period...Try and choose :smile:

Regards,

 

Edited by DrumsArt
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Richard Portier

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MCE + PF3 or Radar Contact are probably among the best ATC combinations, you can even use MCE with the stock P3D ATC if you wish. In addition you get an acting co-pilot on most airplane add-ons (free updates whenever there is a new release) and detailed checklists for each airplane that you can amend according to your taste. You can try MCE free of charge for a while and see if it's for you. I see that support is important for you so check MCE forum here on AVSIM, it is second to none in terms of efficiency, friendliness and reactivity.

I almost forgot, you also get a voice interaction with the GSX ground crew for pushback as well as cabin crew...

Edited by Jean-Claude
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Suggest you try the 10 day trial of Pilot2ATC version 2.5.

Once you get use to using the proper grammar it works great for IFR and VFR flying (don't know why poster ninerwhiskey9W said it does not work for VFR as that is definitely not the case). 

Plus it has great support (see Pilot2ATC forum here on AVSIM).

...Lloyd

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks everyone for your feedback and suggestions.  I'm hearing a lot of VoxATC, and I think with enough endorsement I am warming to the idea, but what about the actual traffic solution?  As I understand it UTL traffic cannot be controlled by Vox which leaves either freeware solutions that are DIY (I have to rule these out unfortunately due to time constraints) or MT6 which has very simplistic models that are not complex enough for my taste.  Is there a "hybrid" option similar to what is available in the world of weather add-ons i.e. Active Sky as weather engine and REX for textures?  If so, how difficult is this to setup and how well does it work?

Re: MCE:

I began to watch a video from the developer and had to stop after a minute or so.  The robotic voices just aren't going to do it for me, at least not for cockpit crew interaction.  In reality, I will likely only ever fly a few aircraft using simulated cockpit crew so I will probably end up going with FS2Crew for those specific aircraft (for now just the Maddog and NGX).  That being the case, is MCE still worthwhile if I go with Vox and FS2Crew or would it essentially only provide interaction with GSX at that point?  

Thanks again everyone, great info so far.

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+1 from me for VoxATC - it's own AI injected into the sim uses whatever models you have installed - as I understand it, it reads your existing active traffic BGL files, then injects those models into the sim in a bubble around your aircraft with the number being defined as a maximum number of AI in the VoxATC settings.  Very performance friendly.  It heavily favors departure and destination airports with arriving/departing/parked AI, then random in-flight traffic along your route. I wish there was a little more traffic at airports along your flight plan as it's weird flying over a major airport that is essentially empty, but I can live with that.  I use MyTraffic6a models, but you can use anything else except UTL right now - the "bridge" application needed for UTL may or may not ever come.  

The first officer function is pretty basic but does the job.

You can use Active Sky as the weather engine and any other texture engine for textures, 100%.  In fact, without cloud art, ASP4 is just weather conditions.  Super easy to set up.  Basically install ASP4, install REX theme, fly.  

 


I7-7700k@4.7ghz | 32gb RAM | EVGA GTX1080 8gb | Mostly P3Dv5 (also IL2:BoX, DCS, XP11)

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2 hours ago, TechguyMaxC said:

I began to watch a video from the developer and had to stop after a minute or so.  The robotic voices just aren't going to do it for me, at least not for cockpit crew interaction.  In reality, I will likely only ever fly a few aircraft using simulated cockpit crew so I will probably end up going with FS2Crew for those specific aircraft (for now just the Maddog and NGX).  That being the case, is MCE still worthwhile if I go with Vox and FS2Crew or would it essentially only provide interaction with GSX at that point?  

Thanks again everyone, great info so far.

If you have issues with a robot voice both VOX and Pilot2ATC are robots. PF3 and Radar Contact are not. There is another one out there, but I cannot think of the name. I think it is only good for IFR as well. 

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2 hours ago, kowen said:

If you have issues with a robot voice both VOX and Pilot2ATC are robots. PF3 and Radar Contact are not. There is another one out there, but I cannot think of the name. I think it is only good for IFR as well. 

You imply that Windows TTS voices sound unnatural, which may have been true when Windows 7 first came out but it is no longer true in Windows 10. If Win 10 voices are "robotic" they are no more robotic than Siri, Alexa or even HAL 9000 (which has served as the speech model for present day TTS voices).

If anything, the default FSX and P3d ATC voice approach of piecing together snippets of words has been abandoned by most developers. It's too confining and every time a new word has to be added, manual editing is required. And the other ATC apps use this same inefficient approach. 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

You imply that Windows TTS voices sound unnatural, which may have been true when Windows 7 first came out but it is no longer true in Windows 10. If Win 10 voices are "robotic" they are no more robotic than Siri, Alexa or even HAL 9000 (which has served as the speech model for present day TTS voices).

If anything, the default FSX and P3d ATC voice approach of piecing together snippets of words has been abandoned by most developers. It's too confining and every time a new word has to be added, manual editing is required. And the other ATC apps use this same inefficient approach. 

 

 

 

 

 

I am fine with them. I use both VOX and Pilot2ATC. OP said the robot voices where not going to do it for him which was the reason for the comment. I really enjoy both products. 

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4 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

If anything, the default FSX and P3d ATC voice approach of piecing together snippets of words has been abandoned by most developers. It's too confining and every time a new word has to be added, manual editing is required. And the other ATC apps use this same inefficient approach. 

jay

could not agree more...

for me the "more than happy with" solution is to use my TTS voices in MCE & compile the required sound files for one of those inefficient ATC apps using Nextup's Textaloud with the same co-pilot/s ..... tweaking what needs to be heard as needed and adding airlines / towers etc with ease to all concurrently.


for now, cheers

john martin

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11 hours ago, cyyt47 said:

Suggest you try the 10 day trial of Pilot2ATC version 2.5.

Once you get use to using the proper grammar it works great for IFR and VFR flying (don't know why poster ninerwhiskey9W said it does not work for VFR as that is definitely not the case). 

Plus it has great support (see Pilot2ATC forum here on AVSIM).

...Lloyd

You're mixing up Pro ATC-X with Pilot2ATC. ProATCX is IFR only.

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