In short, is ATC with STARS just unusable, or am I doing something wrong?

I just got Navigraph and want to use charts for everything now. My problem is during approach the ATC won't allow the STAR altitude.

I'm trying to use STARS to get around the ATC going "10000 feet! No! 12000 feet! No! 7000 feet! No! 14000 feet!"

Should I be expecting ATC and STARS to work?

Default ATC sucks big time. Don't expect default ATC to give you the correct altitudes. It will send you all over the place. To get more usuable ATC you'll need an addon (for now and probably for quite some time). I myself use FSHud but that one is still quite new and a work in progress. FSHud currently also has some difficulties using the correct altitudes but the next version should solve that. You can also look at PF3 or Pilot2ATC (both of which I don't own because of various reasons).

9 minutes ago, timers15 said:

In short, is ATC with STARS just unusable, or am I doing something wrong?

I just got Navigraph and want to use charts for everything now. My problem is during approach the ATC won't allow the STAR altitude.

I'm trying to use STARS to get around the ATC going "10000 feet! No! 12000 feet! No! 7000 feet! No! 14000 feet!"

Should I be expecting ATC and STARS to work?

You aren’t the only one, and the funny part is that on some STARS atc works perfectly.  I follow the charts and disregard ATC at that point and it finally catches up on or around final.  I hope this is resolved soon by Asobo, since the data is well established in terms of proper altitudes and speeds to be using.

1 hour ago, timers15 said:

In short, is ATC with STARS just unusable, or am I doing something wrong?

I just got Navigraph and want to use charts for everything now. My problem is during approach the ATC won't allow the STAR altitude.

I'm trying to use STARS to get around the ATC going "10000 feet! No! 12000 feet! No! 7000 feet! No! 14000 feet!"

Should I be expecting ATC and STARS to work?

Being a real world Pilot has more to do with following instructions than flying DPs & STARS. 😀

Becoming proficient at IFR flying is about understanding ATC procedures, FPs, & charts. The problem with MSFS is that is a PITA to create a flight plan that will stick. I spent time finding out what's the best way to create a flight that could be loaded into MSFS so that default ATC could take me from airport to airport without a hitch.

Using a combination of Simbrief & Little NAV Map, I have been able to create IFR flights that load and play well with live weather, live traffic, and default ATC. I focus on flying the plane and the Co-Pilot handles the ATC.

If you want real ATC, then consider VATSIM.

Edited July 11, 20223 yr by CFIJose

ATC in MSFS can be considered quite good, as long as you think of it as interactive background noise. If I remember correctly, Asobo had not planned for ATC to be in the sim, at least not at launch date, and the current version is just a stopgap copy of what was in FSX with some update.
I hope they will be able to do a major update for it, together with AI aircraft in the future.
 

1 hour ago, FrankR409 said:

You aren’t the only one, and the funny part is that on some STARS atc works perfectly.  I follow the charts and disregard ATC at that point and it finally catches up on or around final.  I hope this is resolved soon by Asobo, since the data is well established in terms of proper altitudes and speeds to be using.

YES! On some flights it actually works which confused me.

 

40 minutes ago, CFIJose said:

Being a real world Pilot has more to do with following instructions than flying DPs & STARS. 😀

.....

If you want real ATC, then consider VATSIM.

I hope the ATC instructions you get in this "Real World Pilot" game are better than MSFS! :)

VATSIM is a good suggestion, it's been in the back of my head for a while.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll consider:

1. Flying without ATC

2. Buying an ATC

3. VATSIM

If I'm doing a relatively short flight .. lets say 700nm or less in certain aircraft like the FBW and I set up the flight using simbrief and not waste too much time on the ground (30 mins) the default  ATC will usually do the flight plan as filed. What it will also do is allow me the freedom to request my desired flight level post departure and then i can request descent altitudes just before the TOD. At the destination airport the weather is mostly still matching the simbrief plan so the runway assignment is usually matching the filed flightplan or is a parallel runway after which there is an option to change it to the desired runway.

This works for the FBW but unfortunately doesn't work for the PMDG or the Fenix

53 minutes ago, timers15 said:

 

1. Flying without ATC

2. Buying an ATC

3. VATSIM

I never mind flying without for short flights, but much prefer ATC for anything longer.

PF3 and Pilot2ATC both have demo versions available, many swear by one or the other. My favourite is p2a by a mile but I know there are some that feel the opposite.

Personally I probably need to try VATSIM, but every time I check I don't see coverage where I want to fly....

 

G