Question about AI Traffic

[H4wkeye1 1]

So with the release of the free and amazing AIG AI pack, which is probably the most complete one atm, I began to wonder something. Since it uses .bgl files to inject the traffic, how does it affect performance of the sim, if it even does so at all?

I know that UT Live is not hard on FPS due to using SimConnect to inject, but is .bgl really that bad or not? I heard mixed opinions over the years.

Would love to hear what's the opinion these days, thanks!

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Whether a BGL file is used or SimConnect is used, performance is affected most by the number of active AI aircraft in the user's reality bubble. That number can be limited by using the traffic limiter in FSUIPC5. Also, the more elaborate that the AI models are, the more performance is affected.

[H4wkeye1 1]

Thank you for the fast reply jabloomf. So the best middle ground would be a paid FSUIPC5 and it's traffic limiter. What would the approach here be? Set in game traffic slider to 100% and then set limits in FSUIPC5 or maybe set in game to 30-40 and use FSUIPC5 to lower that as AI gets too dense and starts dropping performance?

Cheers.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

That would work. I should also mention that the freeware program AI Companion has a traffic limiter. I use  AIC, but I've never tried its traffic limiter. You can read about it here:

https://www.alpha-india.net/forums/index.php?topic=29651.0

AIC is very nice for displaying lists of your AI either while simming or while offline.

[threexgreen 3,135]

9 minutes ago, H4wkeye1 said:

Thank you for the fast reply jabloomf. So the best middle ground would be a paid FSUIPC5 and it's traffic limiter. What would the approach here be? Set in game traffic slider to 100% and then set limits in FSUIPC5 or maybe set in game to 30-40 and use FSUIPC5 to lower that as AI gets too dense and starts dropping performance?

It doesn't matter what the in-game slider is at as long as you have a set limit in FSUIPC anyway. If you have a limit of, say 20 AI aircraft only, it doesn't matter if the in-game slider is at 100% or 50% because the limit is basically a bottleneck that the in-game slider doesn't have authority over.

[H4wkeye1 1]

8 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

That would work. I should also mention that the freeware program AI Companion has a traffic limiter. I use  AIC, but I've never tried its traffic limiter. You can read about it here:

https://www.alpha-india.net/forums/index.php?topic=29651.0

AIC is very nice for displaying lists of your AI either while simming or while offline.

Thank you, I will check that out!

@threegreen Ah I see. Thanks for the explanation. So the FSUIPC limit is what matters.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

14 minutes ago, threegreen said:

It doesn't matter what the in-game slider is at as long as you have a set limit in FSUIPC anyway

This is more or less correct since the concern is for performance when flying near international airports that are located in densely populated urban areas. However, keep in mind that in sparsely populated areas with less air traffic, the AI slider will still control the number of AI aircraft that the user sees, since the traffic limiter settings are never exceeded.

[H4wkeye1 1]

Gotcha. Thank you. I just checked AI Companion and it does seem very interesting (Also doesn't require paid FSUIPC). I will test that out first. Thank you all for the help.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

I don’t limit AIG traffic at all. 100% set in P3D. At EGLL the count can go above 200 but bear in mind that includes all Ai inside an 80nm circle so will include Gatwick, London City, Standard and other nearby airports.

How much you need to reduce Ai depends on your hardware. Finally whilst the AIG package is technically free their servers aren’t so contributions are always welcome to help with that.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

In my post above Standard should read Stansted. Bloody autocorrect. 😠

[H4wkeye1 1]

I've been doing some testing lately and I have not seen any significant FPS drops while using the AIG AI traffic, tested at Vienna airport, with in game slider at 40%. Lots of planes and the FPS is 30-40.

[Nemo 1,305]

6 hours ago, H4wkeye1 said:

I've been doing some testing lately and I have not seen any significant FPS drops while using the AIG AI traffic, tested at Vienna airport, with in game slider at 40%. Lots of planes and the FPS is 30-40.

Yes, traffic at LOWW is great and fps are pretty good. I think this is also because FT LOWW is well designed and not such a framerate eater like compareable airports from some other designers.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Nemo

[Christopher Low 5,339]

On 6/25/2019 at 6:55 PM, Ray Proudfoot said:

I don’t limit AIG traffic at all. 100% set in P3D. At EGLL the count can go above 200 but bear in mind that includes all Ai inside an 80nm circle so will include Gatwick, London City, Standard and other nearby airports.

How much you need to reduce Ai depends on your hardware. Finally whilst the AIG package is technically free their servers aren’t so contributions are always welcome to help with that.

Same here, Ray. I run my custom AI setup @ 100%, and my PC is nowhere near as powerful as yours. I just hate the thought of some aircraft not being displayed at certain airports, when the entire purpose of building a large AI database is to make the airport environments as realistic as possible. If my framerates drop down to 15fps (or even lower) on the ground, then so be it. This is the case for me at FlyTampa Amsterdam Schiphol (with TrueEarth Netherlands) and SimWings London Heathrow Professional (with TrueEarth GB South). Obviously I would prefer higher framerates and smoother performance, but I do not trade visual detail like this for anything.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Christopher, I made the mistake of upgrading Aerosoft Berlin Brandenburg Pro yesterday. With Ai at 100% guess how many Ai there were there mid afternoon? Just 6. That’s the problem with realistic schedules AIG create. Huge airport but hardly anyone is flying there. All the traffic goes to Tegel apparently. Im going to try and change the schedules so they switch from EDDT to EDDB. That should be fun!

Incidentally, switching to Aerosoft Heathrow Pro over the P3D v3 version gave me another 6fps excluding Ai. Seems 64-bit optimisation has its benefits.

Seeing all those airlines at airports is what makes it so enjoyable for me.

[H4wkeye1 1]

I have not tried Heathrow with this AI yet, usually it eats my framerates a lot, probably due to the fact it has so many big airports close + a very large city. But so far a flight with 45% AI has been enjoyable. I will try bumping it up next time.