I'm trying to understand why there are so many complaints for the default ATC.  All my ILS flights go without a hitch and the voices sound just fine to me.

I'll admit that I'm not an ATC aficionado but what is all the hubbub about?

 

sp 

Edited January 19, 20233 yr by Sky_Pilot071

Ryan is an Air Traffic Controller, so I'll let him explain what needs to be improved.

I actually prefer the FSX/P3D ATC over what we have in MSFS. It was customizable, it had more voices, and voices were less robotic.

The problem with MSFS ATC that is not human! LOL

I remember back in days of old FS, it took Microsoft to create the whole new version to add ATC . I think what we have is that ATC code with new voices. I think to implement ATC is very complex task there are some many variable . Those best ATC add on program still far from perfection. Thinking about sequencing along where ATC should consider online traffic while trying to pug sim pilot on.

Some is going to laugh but my biggest complain about ATC right are all those "go arounds" because of slow AI aircraft on active lol

 Number one for me is that it doesn't know even a fraction of the rules of separation, from both other aircraft and for terrain. Sure it's better than any other default ATC that we have seen before in previous sims, it's just still incredibly basic and lacking many of the fundamentals.

It is not that bad but far away from very good ( hate to say perfect because nothing is.. )

But if we lucky Asobo does some work on the ATC ( and AI Traffic ) 2023.

cheers 😉

5 hours ago, sd_flyer said:

Some is going to laugh but my biggest complain about ATC right are all those "go arounds" because of slow AI aircraft on active lol

Yes, the "go around" problem has always been an issue in PC flight simulators. Raul (Simbol) was intending to develop a solution to that problem in P3D, but then Microsoft Flight Simulator appeared, and the rest is history As for the ATC voices, based on what I have heard in YouTube videos, I much prefer the voices in P3D. They sound a lot more natural (as did those in Flight Unlimited 2 and 3 from over twenty years ago).

Edited January 19, 20233 yr by Christopher Low

Or decent to 2000 feet 3  minutes before touchdown when you are still at 30.000 feet 😉

41 minutes ago, altenae said:

Or decent to 2000 feet 3  minutes before touchdown when you are still at 30.000 feet 😉

No problem - need to practice a Khe Sanh Approach occasionally!  

ProATC handles Go Arounds, Diverts, Emergencies and Holding and the voices are human (although we could do with some more volunteers for different accents)

12 hours ago, Sky_Pilot071 said:

I'm trying to understand why there are so many complaints for the default ATC.  All my ILS flights go without a hitch and the voices sound just fine to me.

I'll admit that I'm not an ATC aficionado but what is all the hubbub about?

 

sp 

Because unless you only fly in flat areas the ATC is pretty much useless.  Try to fly in mountain areas.... 

Also, if Im VFR and suddenly need to ask for IFR clearance, the ATC want me to go too flight level 30, in a Cessna 172... 

Many times I just have to abandon the ATC, if not they will run me straight into a mountain. 

Probably a lot more problems that I cant think of right now.. 

FSX ATC was certainly better.

21 minutes ago, blueshark747 said:

FSX ATC was certainly better.

I think your memory dont serve you very well, it was the same sh.... Same goes for P3D... 

1 hour ago, Kaboki said:

Because unless you only fly in flat areas the ATC is pretty much useless.  Try to fly in mountain areas.... 

Also, if Im VFR and suddenly need to ask for IFR clearance, the ATC want me to go too flight level 30, in a Cessna 172... 

Many times I just have to abandon the ATC, if not they will run me straight into a mountain. 

Probably a lot more problems that I cant think of right now.. 

The default ATC in any sim is a waste of time. I have used all of the ATC programs there are for flight sim, and I settled on PF3 years ago. It still works, and works well. I use it on every VA flight I do both for tubeliners and GA aircraft, .

 

I know, I was just answering the question from OP, why people complain about default ATC...Because he seems too think its perfectly ok, which its not.

Also used some of the addon ATCs for other sims in the past, but they weren't any good for VFR. And many had those horrible robotic voice, and they left a lot to be desired.

Maybe I'll check out PF3, since you said it support VFR? I'll look into it. But Jorg also said they will rewrite the ATC and AI sometime in the future, so maybe I just wait and see what we get before wasting my money on band aids.... 

 

Edit: ok checked out a video, the minute the ATC started talking, just stopped watching. Those robotic voices is a killer for me.....  I'll stick to the 2 azure voices and a bad ATC, thank you very much:) 

Edited January 19, 20233 yr by Kaboki

8 hours ago, Dave_YVR said:

Number one for me is that it doesn't know even a fraction of the rules of separation, from both other aircraft and for terrain.

The separation from other planes is significantly worse than FSX or P3d, and I suspect it's because of the "real live air traffic" gimmick that I wish they'd just get rid of. It's incredibly irritating to be taxiing for takeoff, but the Airbus in front of you is doing pirouettes on the taxiway because the sim doesn't understand what it's supposed to be doing. Or to wait for a landing airplane, only to have it disappear 5 seconds after touchdown.  Things worked better when the sim handled air traffic rather than importing "real" data that isn't accurate anyway.

I don't know how you'd program ATC to handle air traffic that the sim is not in full control over, so I can understand why the thing can't maintain separation and in fact regularly clears you for takeoff when there's an airliner on short final.

 

The rest of the ATC problems, though, have existed for several generations of this sim and really do need to be fixed. Stop having me bounce up and down like a rollercoaster when I'm flying over mountains just because the terrain is changing below me. Stop waiting to clear me to start a descent from FL350 until I'm 10 miles from the airport. Stop vectoring me to land on a downwind runway. 

The trouble is that while P2ATC does a pretty good job, none of the aftermarket ATCs are all that much better. Even P2ATC requires all sorts of gyrations to get it to work. The voice recognition isn't very good and doesn't recognize common phrases ("ready for takeoff" might work but "ready to go" does not) and the non-voice interface is a mess. Especially if you want to change something that involves numbers, because it won't let you input them.