FS9 "supposed" to handle AI ground collision protection and it does most of the time.RC under certain conditions will detect and give you a command to follow a specific aircraft crossing your path.In the RC dialog box within your forward view you will see the runway assigned and distance to the threshold to give you an idea if you are headed in the correct direction.There are no via taxiway steering instructions.RC lets you assign keys to its menu functions so you can assign non-conflicting keys to bring of FS9 ATC if you wish. RC also lets you select the departure runway if you need to but it generally agrees with FS9 if AI is active. I am no longer familiar with FS9 ATC to recall how its ground procedures work.What I do is get an airport diagram including gate locations via:1. via flightaware.com - resources for FAA controlled airports. VATSIM local chapter for a specific country or their general chart links for non-FAA airports.2. use AFCAD to identify gate locations and either on the AFCAD printout or a printout of the airport diagram mark my "reserved" startip parking position.3. Use scenery provided charts as is often the case with payware airports.4. If all else fails I get an idea from the overhead view.5. airport web site for terminal layout.I do this for arrival and departure.

Ron's analysis, as usual, is very much spot on and helpful, but I have to quibble with a small point and make a suggestion: It is generous to say RC handles conflicting AI "most of the time". RC4 quite often selects runways with opposing or conflicting traffic. It just doesn't have much awareness of traffic, in the pattern or on the ground (as mentioned). So, what I do is keep a small volume level on the default ATC (but do not interact with it at all). This gives me access to FS's interpretation of what it going on and I can make requests to RC4 as appropriate. For example, to avoid being assigned a runway that conflicts with AI use, I set comm 2 to local ATIS or CTAF and begin monitoring. This gives me access to FS's ATC. If FS is broadcasting "Landing and departing Runway 16" and RC gives me "Runway 34" or a crossing runway (as if often does), I just request 16 from the controller and join the flow. Honestly this is a minor inconvenience to pay for a MUCH improved ATC environment. Take the plunge, and say good bye to unrealistic intercepts and all the rest. Incidentally, the latest sneak peek at FSX (see thread here) shows a lot of development in many areas, but specifically mentions that the MS team says they don't have plans for much more than a few trivial improvements to ATC, so RC should be with us a for a long time.

I have to say I only twice came into conflict runway wise, and on both occasions it was due not so much to RC4 but ActiveSky still updating the weather, then the winds changed and with it the active runway, so I was effectively the last aircraft to be cleared to the old runway, I know this as I heard the ground clearance clear the other aircraft on both occasions while I was taxiing.

I am not having the AI conflict patterns you describe. There was an interim release of FSUIPC that did cause low level problems.If you have Interact with AI checked in RC options, it should recognize if AI are present at the time approach decides the runway which is active. I have had occasion when RC changed the runway assignment on me while being vectored due to AI patterns or environmental conflicts so it does monitor things while you are still far enough away for a change.I am using version 4.01 with FSUIPC 3.65. I have not tested the released service upgrade to 4.2. FSUIPC is now at 3.70.

I have FSUIPC 3.65 and RC 4.01. I get planes taking runways when I'm on approach, and am frequently assigned the opposite end of the active as AI. Last nite I noticed one thing: If you listen to simultaneously to the FS Atis and RC weather update they often report conflicting actives. But they also report different weather broadcasts (letters). FS will say "Local ATIS Oscar" and RC will say "Local weather update Hotel" or something to that effect. I use active sky so perhaps it is interfering and getting them out of snych. Except for this issue, it is an excellent program.

fsuipc 3.70 and rc 4.2 are the current versionsif the ai start their travels, and then activesky starts the weather, they could be completely out of synchrc chooses the runways based on what the ai are doing. now if the ai aren't doing anything, and rc gives you a runway, then activesky kicks in, and the ai decide to start rolling, their runways are going to be different than rc's. their are several posts in the rc forum dealing with the sequence to start add-ons, and how to re-initialize the ai, after the weather is set. then let rc start up.atis reports are based on the time of day. i simply give you information alpha at midnight, baker at 1am, charlie at 2am, etc.....you also have to remember to rebuild th rc scenery data base after you add scenery. that may explain why planes are taxiing onto the runway. i think the runway is at one lat/long, and it really is at anotherjd

I think your weather is not getting updated before you start RC. Here is what I do:Start AS6 and get/load weather (I download current or archived and then load it into AS6.I do my external flight planning application (FSBuild 2.22 which interacts with AS6 winds aloft for fuel planning) and export to my FMC folder and to FS9. I import into the route page of AS6 the FS9 plan created so the waypoints are processed. AS6 is set not to start when FS is sensed. It is set to pause until refreshed. I also print the AS6 NAVLOG, look at the winds aloft, and pick the best cruise altitude. I then rebuild/export in my planner the route with the new altitude. I then do the same in AS6 processing the route with the new altitude.I start FS9 and load/create my flight insuring I am using the clear weather theme.I hit the refresh button in AS6 and wait until the weather writes are done to FS9. I also hit the AI update button that forces AI to reload and immediately updates FS ATIS. This insures the AI are now follwing the new weather patterns.I set up my aircraft preflight.I load up RC and after selecting whatever start it.I go back to FS9 and finish any weather dependent aircraft setup. By now all should be in sync.In RC I check ATIS and then get my clearance. The ATIS my not be the same letter in both but the data should be very close regarding winds, temps, altimeter.Everything should be OK.In summary, get AS6 and FS9 in sync as I described with weather and then force AI updates, and then activate RC4.

Sound advice, thanks.

Sound advise, thanks.

I'll attend a little closer to the order I start things and maybe punch the refresh button a few times. Thanks.