Hi All,

Despite some of it's initial issues I'm loving MSFS and see great potential. That said, something I'm not sure I fully understand is where we're at with AI Traffic.

From what I understand there are two options.

1. Live AI Traffic. This is based on ADSB (or similar?) data from real world aircraft. In relation to that:-

    a) Are there any models other than what appears in the default sim? Has any 3rd party developer moved their models over?

    b) I know there are a variety of liveries out there for the default aircraft (mostly for the A320) but how does one assign that livery to ensure its used when the ADSB data represents that particular airline?

    c) Based on what I've seen at places like YSSY and EGLL, I think I see about 10-20% of what appears on FlightAware. I've seen similar reports elsewhere. Anybody know if this is intentionally or if this is an issue with the sim?

2. Offline AI. This I presume is the same was what we're used to in P3D/FSX etc....internal AI flying predefined routes?

   a)  Does anybody know how what fight plan format is used? I presume it's not the same as P3D?

   b)  Anybody aware of any discussions from 3rd party developers about producing a compatible AI Package?

 

Thanks all

 

22 hours ago, KL Oo said:

Hi All,

Despite some of it's initial issues I'm loving MSFS and see great potential. That said, something I'm not sure I fully understand is where we're at with AI Traffic.

From what I understand there are two options.

1. Live AI Traffic. This is based on ADSB (or similar?) data from real world aircraft. In relation to that:-

    a) Are there any models other than what appears in the default sim? Has any 3rd party developer moved their models over?

    b) I know there are a variety of liveries out there for the default aircraft (mostly for the A320) but how does one assign that livery to ensure its used when the ADSB data represents that particular airline?

    c) Based on what I've seen at places like YSSY and EGLL, I think I see about 10-20% of what appears on FlightAware. I've seen similar reports elsewhere. Anybody know if this is intentionally or if this is an issue with the sim?

2. Offline AI. This I presume is the same was what we're used to in P3D/FSX etc....internal AI flying predefined routes?

   a)  Does anybody know how what fight plan format is used? I presume it's not the same as P3D?

   b)  Anybody aware of any discussions from 3rd party developers about producing a compatible AI Package?

 

Thanks all

 

1. Yes data is being pulled off flightaware. Which I believe is mostly oriented to USA. I'm just wondering why they didn't sign contract with flightradar24 which covers entire world mostly. Funny enough I believed they would synchronize live traffic with AI, I mean once they turn transponder off they turn themselves off in flight sim too.. hence disappearing off runway quite often (with some exceptions where pilots don't bother to turn transponder off during turnaround)

a) Not yet, but there are teams out there working on it.

b) It's possible to do, if I remember correctly you need to give icao code in config file. Lets say icao="ryr" would pick up that particular livery if "ryr" is the code from flightaware. However I have seen comments out there saying that sim still picks up liveries randomly. I wouldn't bother knowing how much live traffic you see in airports (close up)

c) Bugs bugs bugs. Make sure you put ground traffic down to 0%. What ground traffic does is only put static planes around airport which never move. It's completely separate from live traffic or offline traffic.

2. Yes file system is the same, funny enough majority of file structure is still the same from fsx. Which still makes me to think that "truly new engine" is false statement from asobo. As well as tons of other lies they said pre-release - "you will see every single aircraft in a sky" - yeah right.

a) yes they still the same and default ones can be de-compiled.

b) AIG (best one for p3d currently) is working on it.

It is possible to have AI traffic in msfs right now, only problem is we have to use fsx flight models which currently causing CTD if more than one aircraft or livery is present. We need to either

1) wait for asobo to fix MDL compatibility issue (which been acknowledge) to import all fsx models in msfs (they look a lot better in msfs than in previous sims) 

2) wait for native AI traffic models to use

3) wait for MCX to update their converter to convert fsx models to native msfs.

TBH I see offline traffic as main thing in future in this sim unless asobo pull a stunt and somehow fixes live traffic.

Edited September 24, 20205 yr by intheshadow

Offline traffic is the way to go, with pre scheduled routes. Beside that Right now real traffic is under par and we all like packed airport.

2 hours ago, intheshadow said:

1. Yes data is being pulled off flightaware. Which I believe is mostly oriented to USA. I'm just wondering why they didn't sign contract with flightradar24 which covers entire world mostly. Funny enough I believed they would synchronize live traffic with AI, I mean once they turn transponder off they turn themselves off in flight sim too.. hence disappearing off runway quite often (with some exceptions where pilots don't bother to turn transponder off during turnaround)

Flightaware is the entire world. Not sure why they would have more or less then FlightRadar, unless FlightRadar uses something more than just ADS-B.

https://flightaware.com/

The topic of MSFS Live Traffic gets more and more confusing to me as time goes on.  It is not possible to completely use ADS-B live data for traffic because of the reasons previously mentioned, mostly that not all aircraft have their ADS_B radios turned on all the time. Even if they did, in regions of the globe where ADS-B receiver density is thin, the exact positioning of an aircraft is not suitable for placing the aircraft exactly on runways, taxiways and at gates. Hence, it is my understanding that the Flightaware ADS-B data is used for general scheduling and enroute positioning, but that the sim controls the live aircraft on the ground and when taking off and landing. At least that what the marketing stated. But anyone that has used the online AI traffic option immediately realizes that aircraft disappear and appear like magic. I have a feeling the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on Asobo's enthusiasm for perfecting this option. RL Airline traffic is still way down from recent years and Asobo hasn't  been able to get very many airlines to agree to allow their branding to be used in the game. Freeware developers have slapped a bunch of liveries on the 320neo and with a little luck, one can get some level of matching, but it's hardly worth the effort at this point. The aircraft models don't match and one often hears a Southwest 737 and then sees a Cessna Skyhawk.

And then there's the offline AI Traffic which is identical to what's the default in FSX and P3d, except the schedules contained in the MSFS BGL file are pretty wacky and the models don't match the routes. Some people say that it's possible to use FSX aircraft and schedules to replace the defaults, but I have yet to see any tutorial on how to make that work. On top of that, Asobo decided to include a "Ground Traffic" option which fills airport parking spaces with geographically incorrect static aircraft. These static aircraft are sometimes mistaken for actual AI.

Sadly, AIG has been the quietest of all the development teams regarding MSFS. Either they intend to just spring a full blown MSFS AI traffic manager on us without any warning or they really can't figure out how to get credible AI traffic into MSFS. The MSFS SDK is certainly no help.