Henrik Nielsen's Global AI Ship Traffic for MSFS

[KL791 2,273]

6 minutes ago, fakeflyer737 said:

Ive noticed these weird lines in the Detroit river and Im wondering if that an elevation problem which i would think means ships cant sail through it? 

Also, any reason why Lake Ontario wasnt listed in the Great Lakes package ? 

Thanks for all the hard work.  

Yes 😄 because there are other things in life and small surprise like non-flat water can waste a whole Sunday and tomorrow and during this week I will be extremely busy with other real life stuff. Lake Ontario has a different set of models so no time today - and I might disappoint all and say that I will wait a week unless it starts raining this evening - I have had my share of computer for today.

The lines you speak about are most likely height differences - the ships can sail across, but the problem is that the ships stays at one height above sea level but the water surface changes, so rivers are extremely complicated....

[chatman 29]

1 hour ago, KL791 said:

The routes on rivers have for that reason in previous versions been done with short segments "between" bridges, but now the worst problem is the height variation - and just as I am sitting looking at the lake surface at the moment it is an even worse job with the rivers... the Mississippi is mighty long... and so is the Amazonas, where we also had a decent traffic in earlier sims.

Thanks Henrik! Not only for the marvelous job on the add on but also on your time answering my and many other questions 

[KL791 2,273]

1 hour ago, Republic DC9 said:

Thank you for your work on this Henrik...can’t wait to see ships off my home airport KSBM Sheboygan but in the meantime just saw 4 of your lovely vessels en route Skagit to Orcas Island.

Maybe you can then help me in my ignorance.... Will the below type of barges and push boats be seen on the lakes? I guess they are more for the rivers, but it is difficult to figure out as the push boat itself might pass on the lake and can be seen on marine traffic, but that doesn't mean that it would do the same with a large number of barges...

 

[Republic DC9 234]

37 minutes ago, KL791 said:

Maybe you can then help me in my ignorance.... Will the below type of barges and push boats be seen on the lakes? I guess they are more for the rivers, but it is difficult to figure out as the push boat itself might pass on the lake and can be seen on marine traffic, but that doesn't mean that it would do the same with a large number of barges...

 

Hi Henrik - that type of towboat and string of barges looks like what you’d see on the Mississippi/Missouri/Ohio rivers to me (I spent some time living in Dubuque along the Mississippi and loved watching these go through Lock and Dam #11).

On Lake Michigan I often see this type of barge where the tug pushes in a “notch” in the stern, these are often old ships with the stern and old propulsion removed.

https://www.mlive.com/news/2018/09/720-foot_ship_loaded_with_dies.html

I have seen this combination (Youtube Link below) many times including at anchor in the Manitowoc River...she used to be the steamer tanker Amoco Indiana back in the 1930s but was converted.  It was great fun seeing her up close.

I think I’ve seen tugs also pulling (not pushing as on the rivers) barges on Lake Michigan...sometimes they’re quite a ways offshore.
 

Based on my Great Lakes ship stories old sailing vessels like schooners were also converted into barges towed by steamers and interestingly they seemed to have their own captain and crew (and sadly would sink independently of the ship towing them OR would stay afloat while the ship tugging them sunk!  Lake Michigan is beautiful to live by but on gusty November days I’m glad to be in my snug office less than a mile from shore and totally oblivious to the high seas! 🙂 

  

Edited September 26, 2021 by Republic DC9

[KL791 2,273]

7 minutes ago, Republic DC9 said:

Hi Henrik - that type of towboat and string of barges looks like what you’d see on the Mississippi/Missouri/Ohio rivers to me (I spent some time living in Dubuque along the Mississippi and loved watching these go through Lock and Dam #11).

On Lake Michigan I often see this type of barge where the tug pushes in a “notch” in the stern, these are often old ships with the stern and old propulsion removed.

https://www.mlive.com/news/2018/09/720-foot_ship_loaded_with_dies.html

I have seen this combination (Youtube Link below) many times including at anchor in the Manitowoc River...she used to be the steamer tanker Amoco Indiana back in the 1930s but was converted.  It was great fun seeing her up close.

I think I’ve seen tugs also pulling (not pushing as on the rivers) barges on Lake Michigan...sometimes they’re quite a ways offshore.
 

Based on my Great Lakes ship stories old sailing vessels like schooners were also converted into barges towed by steamers and interestingly they seemed to have their own captain and crew (and sadly would sink independently of the ship towing them OR would stay afloat while the ship tugging them sunk!  Lake Michigan is beautiful to live by but on gusty November days I’m glad to be in my snug office less than a mile from shore and totally oblivious to the high seas! 🙂 

  

Thanks for this even if it means that my Mississippi barges will have to stay in wharf until I get time to do something with the river. I have a few of these push barges already included, and will look into do some more at a later stage - they are also good for some of the East Coast harbors.

[dobee51 348]

11 hours ago, KL791 said:

You don't have the old Ever Given scenery installed...? It seems like you have too many compared to what we have placed as AI.

No. I don't have that one installed. Just Project Coastline Suez.

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

We call that type of barge an "articulated tug barge" or ATB.    Those that primarily stay in rivers tend to use lines to mate the tug and barge together.   

Larger versions and ocean going versions tend to have articulated couplers that provide better sea keeping abilities,

Look at this freak,   The Crowley Shipping Liberty ATB

Edited September 26, 2021 by Waldo Pepper

[KL791 2,273]

44 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

No. I don't have that one installed. Just Project Coastline Suez.

Hi

Thanks for the screen shots. It is indeed my ships, but placed as statics.

Do you know how have done the scenery? I can't find it by google and I don't like to download from Mediafire after some less good experiences.

 

[KL791 2,273]

40 minutes ago, Waldo Pepper said:

We call that type of barge an "articulated tug barge" or ATB.    Those that primarily stay in rivers tend to use lines to mate the tug and barge together.   

Larger versions and ocean going versions tend to have articulated couplers that provide better sea keeping abilities,

Look at this freak,   The Crowley Shipping Liberty ATB

Interesting video and interesting hull shape... a ship built on two cigars....

[dobee51 348]

I think those ships are moving. 

They sell their Project Coastline mods at Simmarket. I learned about the Suez mod from their Facebook page. It is a free giveaway.

https://www.facebook.com/PjCoastline/

Edited September 26, 2021 by dobee51

[KL791 2,273]

51 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

I think those ships are moving. 

They sell their Project Coastline mods at Simmarket. I learned about the Suez mod from their Facebook page. It is a free giveaway.

https://www.facebook.com/PjCoastline/

Thanks - I have contacted them and will figure out but I don't think they move... on his page it is all about static.

[Pastaiolo 1,688]

Yeah they don't move, he uses some of your ships as static library in some of his harbours too i think.

[citationjet 3]

Hello, quick question....I have installed the latest version and just flown along the Northsea coastline from Westerland(EDXW) towards Hamburg and the Elbe river....I didnt see one single ship....nothing in the north sea, nothing on the Elbe River towards Hamburg? Traffic is set to 10%

Any ideas? Thx in advance

Mark

[jetlag 65]

Thanks, Henrik, for this great contribution to our hobby!   Just like the previous poster, I am puzzled by my experience last night as I was testing.  I had all traffic at 6% and local daytime.

- Suez canal: a couple of ships at both ends, none in the canal.  No worry.

- Then I went to the immediate vicinity of Messina, Calais, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Singapore:  absolutely zero traffic.

- Then I went close to Sidney and the place was teeming with ships of all kinds, just as expected!

I wonder if there is a simple explanation?  something I overlooked?

[dobee51 348]

6 hours ago, citationjet said:

Hello, quick question....I have installed the latest version and just flown along the Northsea coastline from Westerland(EDXW) towards Hamburg and the Elbe river....I didnt see one single ship....nothing in the north sea, nothing on the Elbe River towards Hamburg? Traffic is set to 10%

Any ideas? Thx in advance

Mark

All boat traffic, ferries etc. should be set to 6%. Apparently that is the setting that maximizes global ships traffic, and minimizes the effects of default MSFS traffic. 

If you look inside the gaist-msfs-V2\Scenery directory you will see all of the traffic files for the mod. You can't really read all the content of those files, but if you load them into Notepad++ you can read the ship names to look for. For example traffic_Ships_EU_Hamburg_74280.bgl contains a ship name AI_MSC_Zoe in it. And there's many other files for German and North Sea ports.