What AI Traffic Solution?

[Tuskin38 6,581]

7 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

I see. Do they recognize any aircraft models? I may have heard Cessna in the past… is that possible?

if the icao_type_designator line in the aircraft.cfg file matches a live traffic flight it will load that model.

So for example the A320Neo is 'A20N', so if you fly past a flight using a A20N according to Flight Aware, it will use the A320Neo model.

If you have proper liveries with the Arline code in their config, it will use them.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Tuskin38

[Dave_YVR 994]

4 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

I don’t want to have to spend a few hours getting AIG airlines into the system. It’s just not worth it.

 It comes down to whatever floats your boat. ST is crazy easy to install just keep in mind that it's using the default models from the sim, the only difference between it and the default traffic is that you'll be seeing real world liveries on those fake models. You will more than likely also see wrong liveries on the wrong continents etc. If none of that is important then ST is the way to go.

[Virtual-Chris 682]

2 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

if the icao_type_designator line in the aircraft.cfg file matches a live traffic flight it will load that model.

So for example the A320Neo is 'A20N', so if you fly past a flight using a A20N according to Flight Aware, it will use the A320Neo model.

If you have proper liveries with the Arline code in their config, it will use them.

So the more types of airliners I have installed, the more realistic the default AI becomes? 

What about the models that AIG installed? Since I added AC models and liveries last night, will the default AI use any of those models now?

I noticed when I switched the sim from offline AI traffic (AIG) to online AI, (without a restart) a bunch of the planes at gates were using the AIG models and Air Canada liveries… in addition to a few generic ones. Was the default AI using those models or was that just some glitch or remnants from AIG getting mixed in with the generic AI models?

What would be great is to use AIG to do a one time install of the most common Airbus and Boeing airline models and then let Simple Traffic put liveries on them. 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Virtual-Chris

[Tuskin38 6,581]

16 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

What about the models that AIG installed? Since I added AC models and liveries last night, will the default AI use any of those models now?

Live traffic will use AIG models and liveries yes. AIG doesn’t have every aircraft or livery, so some generics or wrong liveries will spawn, but they’re not very common.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Tuskin38

[Dave_YVR 994]

13 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

I noticed when I switched the sim from offline AI traffic (AIG) to online AI, (without a restart) a bunch of the planes at gates were using the AIG models and Air Canada liveries… in addition to a few generic ones. Was the default AI using those models or was that just some glitch or remnants from AIG getting mixed in with the generic AI models?

What would be great is to use AIG to do a one time install of the most common Airbus and Boeing airline models and then let Simple Traffic put liveries on them.

 The sim will use what liveries and models you have installed while still using the generic AI traffic. With that you may see ACA A320's in Europe or Asia etc.
Simple Traffic WILL NOT use AIG models or add liveries to them. 

 What you could do is install some of the larger AIG airlines and then use the Real Time traffic option within MSFS and it will display near Real Time traffic using the better models and liveries that you installed without having to run AIGTC. It won't be nearly as busy as having AIGTC running, but it also won't be as ridiculous looking as seeing the ST models and liveries.

[Virtual-Chris 682]

1 minute ago, Tuskin38 said:

Live traffic will use AIG models and liveries yes. AIG doesn’t have every aircraft or livery, so some generics or wrong liveries will spawn.

Really!?... That’s interesting. Then isn’t a decent compromise to install a few airlines with AIG to get as many different models as possible covered and then use Simple Traffic?  If I add British Airways and maybe one other major airline, that would likely cover a good percentage of the models out there. 

[Dave_YVR 994]

Why would you want to use Simple Traffic at all in that case?

 It's a mix of models and liveries that you want. Add a bunch of the larger airlines through AI Manager and then see how it goes using the Real Time traffic. Keep in mind, the longer your sim is running the better the traffic gets for some reason. When you first start at any airport, it will be slow to populate, but they will start showing up.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Dave_YVR

[Virtual-Chris 682]

3 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

Why would you want to use Simple Traffic at all in that case?

 It's a mix of models and liveries that you want. Add a bunch of the larger airlines through AI Manager and then see how it goes using the Real Time traffic. Keep in mind, the longer your sim is running the better the traffic gets for some reason. When you first start at any airport, it will be slow to populate, but they will start showing up.

I must misunderstand. My thinking is that with the investment of installing a few airlines with AIG I can probably cover 90% of the airline models in use. Then use Simple Traffic to put liveries on them. Then I have a fairly good mix of both models and liveries without having to invest hours in adding hundreds of AIG airlines. Or am I missing something?

[Virtual-Chris 682]

Here are the top three airlines by aircraft models…

https://www.key.aero/article/which-airlines-fly-most-aircraft-types

1	China Southern	19
2	Delta	16
3	Air China	15

 

 

[Tuskin38 6,581]

4 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

I must misunderstand. My thinking is that with the investment of installing a few airlines with AIG I can probably cover 90% of the airline models in use. Then use Simple Traffic to put liveries on them. Then I have a fairly good mix of both models and liveries without having to invest hours in adding hundreds of AIG airlines. Or am I missing something?

Simple Traffic uses the generic Asobo models.

[Virtual-Chris 682]

14 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

Simple Traffic uses the generic Asobo models.

word not allowed. I see.  So the default live traffic will use models if they are there but Simple Traffic won’t? Bummer. I guess you either go all in on AIG, or choose default with lots of AIG models but generic liveries, or go with Simple Traffic and have lots of liveries but generic models. 

Maybe I will try adding some top airlines with AIG and just use default online AI traffic then. See how that goes. 

[Dave_YVR 994]

25 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

Then use Simple Traffic to put liveries on them. Then I have a fairly good mix of both models and liveries without having to invest hours in adding hundreds of AIG airlines. Or am I missing something?

 Simple Traffic will not add anything at all to your AIG setup. Simple Traffic will add real life liveries to just the default models ONLY. With Simple Traffic for example, you would see Westjet A320's and those hideous default hybrid A330's or whatever they are supposed to look like instead of all of their various 737's and 789's.

 Installing tons of airlines with AI Manager can take time for sure but you can still fly at the same time or do other things as it's installing everything outside of your sim. Select a bunch of the larger ones and set the install to Bulk and they'll all install on their own. You can even select to skip manual installs where required so that you aren't prompted for those few times that it's needed.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Dave_YVR

[Virtual-Chris 682]

You all know how this is going to play out… I’ll see you back here in a few days after I’ve installed all the AIG airlines 😫🤪😂😀

[Dave_YVR 994]

Haha, even just a few of the larger airlines to see how you like it. It also doesn't need to get done in one go, take your time and install a few of your favorites then fire up the sim to see the results while it installs some more.  Don't forget the big Cargo operators!

 Here's YVR after only a couple of minutes with Real Time. ACA868 departing for ZRH, Jazz191 taxiing in from YXJ and TSC771 about to push for YUL. Less than 10 minutes of downloading the 3 airlines and none of those goofy default models.


 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Dave_YVR

[Noel 4,531]

3 hours ago, Virtual-Chris said:

Thanks for your thoughts. I will probably go with Simple Traffic primarily because I want to jump around the world and one evening do a few flights around Hawaii and tgen the next night maybe switch to the Caribbean and tgen off to the Himalayas or something and I don’t want to have to spend a few hours getting AIG airlines into the system. It’s just not worth it.

Related question… with the default ATC and AI traffic, you get constant chatter which is cool, but I often hear ATC referencing “Generic” rather than a flight # or regular call sign. What is this referring to?

Simple Traffic is excellent at what it does, it is absolute plug n play, you'll never need to do a thing other than when AS updates it (which now I think is on it's 2nd or 3rd) you'll run their easy installer and it's done.  It has become very good at putting the right airlines in the right terminals--in large part.  I don't stare at the models anyway so if a nose is pointier than it ought to be it's out of my consciousness as I'm focused on piloting my own airlines using A Pilot's Life v2 which scores your piloting abilities on multiple criteria.  I use Simple Traffic alone w/ Real Time Online traffic in-sim and it works wonderfully.   MSFS ATC calls the Simple Traffic models by their correct liveries as well.  All in all, it's an excellent "simple" but highly effective solution and I highly recommend it.  If you like to fiddle around and configure everything and then grapple w/ issues w/ Sim Updates go ahead and dive in to AIG.