ATC keeps changing Altitudes

[oldngray 8]

P3dv4, Cessna 410, flight from PAMR to PAKN, ATC changed altitudes 8 times in less than 45 minutes. Started out at 5000, up to 5600, down to 5000 up to 6800 back down to 5000, up to 11000, down to 6300, back up to 11000 and down again to 6300.

Light GA traffic. 

Another from PAHO to PAMR, ATC left me 11 miles out at 7000. with no alternatives, had to close out ATC and circle to land.

Is this uncommon, in both cases the flight was in Mountainous terrain, in the first case if I had descended as instructed it would have place me below the highest elevation.

Is there a addon ATC program that is better than the default?

Thank you

[pgde 571]

The default ATC has issues with mountainous terrain. Your experience is not unique. If you do a forum search you will find a lot of discussions about people's preferences for replacement ATC software.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

@oldngray, easy. Radar Contact v4 is a proper ATC program and now free.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/547732-radar-contact-and-jdtllc-in-transition/

 

[coastaldriver 920]

Ray noted this and finally doing something about it. Are there any issues in P3DV5 that you are aware of? Need to get my head around it and seriously need a proper ATC the one in P3DV5 is to put it politely - atrocious!

[IanHarrison 522]

12 minutes ago, coastaldriver said:

Ray noted this and finally doing something about it. Are there any issues in P3DV5 that you are aware of? Need to get my head around it and seriously need a proper ATC the one in P3DV5 is to put it politely - atrocious!

RC4 works perfectly for me. Used it in all P3D versions from v4 up to current 5.3++.

[coastaldriver 920]

Ah thanks for that information. Off to do the installation and reading on this. 

[coastaldriver 920]

OLDNGREY - Very sensible advice. Radar Contact V4 has been made free and I downloaded it all yesterday and spent the afternoon installing it. It is not easy in some aspects but there is a number of earlier threads about installation into P3D here at AVSIM. The biggest issue I had was getting it to install (As I do not have FSX) but once it did that, the encryption key system worked. You will however need to do a few extra things to get it up and running. You need Pete Dowson's MakeRWYS utility program (links on the other threads) installed and run as well. You will also need FSUIPC installed (this was a bit of a pain because I had it installed as a xml addon) and the installation package for Radar Contact still has the older FSUIPC V4 which it wants to install. Last but not least there was the issue of a system dll, but once that was registered it was all good. 

So my initial impression - well it certainly seems to do what it claims - give you realistic ATC. The catch is you do have to prepare and file a plan for it to work (fair enough no IFR free flight in the sim other than VFR anyway) all the voice wavs worked and are operative - the operator list may be a bit dated but that is no real issue either. 

I gave it a go from the sim default airport KRND and a short hop across to San Antonio. Even though I had a VFR plan not IFR it did work the way I expected ATC to operate on the ground and it certainly recognised or failed to respond to me being on the wrong runway so it would not give me a take off clearance at the holding point, once that was sorted it was all good. Off course being vfr I got no real services. I also tried it out with a flying boat on a water location and using the menu it provides I got a weather briefing and clearance via FSS which was pretty neat too. This is all done via the FSUIPC pop up window and your ATC box does the normal stuff as you will. The only issue I think will be suprressing the sims ATC if you accidentally activate or use that at the same time. 

The little pop up window which is run by FSUIPC works as well and can be resized or using FSUIPC hidden from view if you wish. Spent the rest of the evening in the very extensive manual that comes with it. 

So far I can see why so many say it is the only way to go for proper ATC in the sim, if thats what one wants. I do a mix of no radio no talk flying and full IFR so when it is full IFR it will be good to have a bit of sense and order to what is happening.

HIghly Recommended indeed amazing that it was done originally and the developers have bundled it out as a freebie for the simmers. 

Edited January 10, 2022 by coastaldriver

[Rogen 1,087]

There is also a set of reworked voices.

=======================================================================

https://library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=meatwater+vocpack&Sort=Downloads&ScanMode=1

MeatWater VocPack for Radar Contact 4 VERSION 2 ## Part 1 of 10 ##

File Description:
Beeing a permanent user of RC4 I always felt that the only real downside were
the voices which did not really sound like real ATC. The sheer amount of single
files (more than 80.000!) always kept me from working on them, but then I found
a way to batch process them, which took a lot of workload from me. However, due
to the nature of these files and because almost every different voice set had a
different "base-sound" as well, it was still required to fine tune the parameters
for every single voice set, which turned out to be a lot more work than expected/feared.

Once started I didn't want to give up half way down the road, so after many hours
I finally had a complete set with a more than satisfying result. By installing
these Version 2 remastered voice sets, ATC will now sound almost as the prerecorded,
real chatter files, meaning that you will have to listen much more carefully now in
order to hear messages that are directed to you. All voices now feature a "real"
ATC sound, making RC4 immersive as never before.

All included voice sets have also been increased in playback speed (new in this version!),
allowing for a much more natural and professional flow. This new version also contains
two remastered pilot voice sets that now feature a real "intercom" sound effect different
from the VHF sound effect added to the controller voices.

=======================================================================

Cheers

[blaunarwal 432]

On 1/8/2022 at 6:38 PM, oldngray said:

P3dv4, Cessna 410, flight from PAMR to PAKN, ATC changed altitudes 8 times in less than 45 minutes. Started out at 5000, up to 5600, down to 5000 up to 6800 back down to 5000, up to 11000, down to 6300, back up to 11000 and down again to 6300.

Light GA traffic. 

Another from PAHO to PAMR, ATC left me 11 miles out at 7000. with no alternatives, had to close out ATC and circle to land.

Is this uncommon, in both cases the flight was in Mountainous terrain, in the first case if I had descended as instructed it would have place me below the highest elevation.

Is there a addon ATC program that is better than the default?

Thank you

A good measure is to ask for a higher altitude...but yes the ATC needs improvement and LM will not do it i fear. I still use this ATC since it also handles AI traffic what all external programs can't do, not that I knew.

[coastaldriver 920]

Thanks for the reminder of the Meatwater pacs!

[oldngray 8]

Thank you all. Have been fly IFR without using ATC since having bad experiences back in the FS2000 edition.   Recently decided to try it again and thus the question.  Will take a look at  Radar Contact. 

 

[coastaldriver 920]

oldngray - i do not think you will be disappointed - I am more than satisfied now for those times when I want to use ATC ( I do a lot of no radio down in the weeds out of the way places stuff so ATC is irrelevant anyway). Ray Proudfoot's gentle reminders over time about the excellence of this program is well placed and on the money - no other program like it. 

[oldngray 8]

Well I took the advice, downloaded and installed RC4.

Generated a key, tried to start,  instead got the error msg missing dll. 

I haven't been able to figure out the how to.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

@oldngray, send me a PM with your email address and I’ll provide the missing DLL. It was included in Windows 7 but not 10.

[Caveney737 66]

On 1/10/2022 at 6:37 AM, coastaldriver said:

this was a bit of a pain because I had it installed as a xml addon

Did you have to re-install FSUIPC inside the simulator - I've installed RC4 ok but I don't get the little display window (AdvDisp).

I'm guessing it's because I have FSUIPC installed as an XML addon also and it's FSUIPC that drives this display?

Any advice appreciated.