I'm asking because since ATC TOD calculation is always off, I tried to play without it, but this leads to other negative effects like not being given ILS approaches, having to "ignore weather", and overall it is not really immersive. The other option would be, I guess, to completely turn off ATC, but then, I would get no taxi ribbon, and risk colliding with the AI. Or, and it is where I'm leaning right now, give ATC another chance but descend at a slower rate since I know the TOD will be well in advance than what it needs. There is also third party ATC I could use I suppose, but I'm not sure if they interact really well with the sim AI planes?

What do you wonderful community do yourself?

 ATC doesn't know what anyone's TOD is, ever. Taxi ribbon? Use your in game map or have a taxi chart ready in another window. Anything is better and more realistic than using the ribbon including just winging it. Eyes out the windows looking out for taxi signs as you go.
 Personally, I just self vector for all my approaches and for most of my departures. Vatsim is too restrictive thinking that it's more realistic when it's really not (yes, it can be when there is steady traffic and someone needs to sort out the conga line, but otherwise not as they aren't really trained to think for themselves to be more efficient). As for 3rd party ATC addon's, I have yet to find one that is worth it. There's just too many variables between continents in both phraseology and procedures.

Edited April 29, 20233 yr by Dave_YVR

There is only ONE ATC addon that actually controls AI and that's FSHud. Highly recommended, specially since beta 1.3. None of the other available ATC addons control traffic: they only guide you. FSHud assigns procedures on the fly: runways, SID, STAR, approach, they are all assigned depending on the circumstances. FSHud treats you just as it treats AI, you are not more important, and that makes it all an immersive experience. Again: only FSHud does this. None of the other ATC addons actually controls traffic, as odd as that may sound.

O, and forget default ATC: it totally sucks.

Edited April 29, 20233 yr by tup61

I surely miss Flight Unlimited 3 brought to nowadays standards...

Sometimes I have difficulty understanding why a decent fully featured (VFR, IFR) ATC robot, able to control not only my aircraft but also all of the other significative traffic hasn't been created yet.

I have been reading about FSHUD and it's composition with AI injectors. It looks like the best option for MFS, but from what I have read / observed, even that one leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to a fully integrated ATC environment.

4 hours ago, tup61 said:

There is only ONE ATC addon that actually controls AI and that's FSHud. Highly recommended, specially since beta 1.3. None of the other available ATC addons control traffic: they only guide you. FSHud assigns procedures on the fly: runways, SID, STAR, approach, they are all assigned depending on the circumstances. FSHud treats you just as it treats AI, you are not more important, and that makes it all an immersive experience. Again: only FSHud does this. None of the other ATC addons actually controls traffic, as odd as that may sound.

O, and forget default ATC: it totally sucks.

The robotic voices are a real turnoff for me. 

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

The robotic voices are a real turnoff for me. 

Deja Vu, here we go again: Amazon Polly voices which FsHud uses are not robotic. They are used by companies all over the world and belong with the top voices in the industry. Just google review Amazon Polly voices.

It is just a personal opinion of Bobsk8 which he needs to express in every topic where FSHud is mentioned.

 

Edited April 29, 20233 yr by rob0203

10 minutes ago, rob0203 said:

Deja Vu, here we go again: Amazon Polly voices which FsHud uses are not robotic.

Really?

Maybe they don't sound robotic if you're an Android, but to me they sound terrible. Like a trailer for a dystopian Netflix series. 

16 minutes ago, rob0203 said:

Deja Vu, here we go again: Amazon Polly voices which FsHud uses are not robotic. They are used by companies all over the world and belong with the top voices in the industry. Just google review Amazon Polly voices.

It is just a personal opinion of Bobsk8 which he needs to express in every topic where FSHud is mentioned.

 

Well then they should get rid of the Youtube videos with FShud, because they all sound robotic. Why shouldn't I express my personal opinion, you have been on this thread for days, expressing yours. Post a video of the FShud  voices you think sound great, so we can hear them. 

Edited April 29, 20233 yr by Bobsk8

13 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

Really?

Maybe they don't sound robotic if you're an Android, but to me they sound terrible. Like a trailer for a dystopian Netflix series. 

Of course everybody can have their opinions!

But what do you think is a better alternative then for a flight simulator ATC? Voice actors?
At least the sentences with Amazon Polly are fluent in intonation and not stitched together sound files.

15 minutes ago, rob0203 said:

Of course everybody can have their opinions!

But what do you think is a better alternative then for a flight simulator ATC? Voice actors?
At least the sentences with Amazon Polly are fluent in intonation and not stitched together sound files.

I will say it again, post a video with FSHud with these great voices you are talking about, so we can judge for ourselves. 

17 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

The robotic voices are a real turnoff for me. 

They were for me too (because I find them worse than the previous version) but 1. they are a WIP and 2. I got used to them real quick. And in the end I prefer an ATC addon that actually does what it should (control traffic) and in a very easy and convenient way too. Just a few options (very few in fact!) and you're done. I don't like the other addons at all because of their convoluted option screens and UI that remind me of Windows 95 and of course because none of them control traffic. Seems a lot of people got used to that but in all honesty... an ATC addon that doesn't control traffic isn't an ATC addon.

Having said that: I do hope the voices will improve over time. 😉

If you haven’t yet, vote on fixing the default ATC engine on the official forum. I *think* it’s a planned upgrade someday. I’m just hoping that ‘someday’ is not years away. 

5 hours ago, rob0203 said:

But what do you think is a better alternative then for a flight simulator ATC? Voice actors?
At least the sentences with Amazon Polly are fluent in intonation and not stitched together sound files.

As a professional voice artist I take some umbrage at that remark, but I understand the opinion. 🙂  A real voice (especially a trained one) is always going to be more realistic than some AI creation.  Also, remember that an AI voice file is "stitched" too.

Now, voice actors come with different skills, and that's apparent in some of the current MSFS voices in use.  Some of the earlier voices had excellent timing on their clip points and made for more natural phrasing.  At least one more recent voice clipped their files very poorly, resulting in very unnatural phrasing.  I'm not ready to blame them totally for the result, as it's quite possible that MS/ASOBO didn't provide the artist with the exact timing that was required (or it could be that they're a poor technician).

Regardless, I can certainly state that doing this type of work is extremely tedious - if using real voices, they need to be provided with exact timing information (and be paid very well).

Thank you all for your inputs.  I'm tempted to try FSHUD, I'm just curious if basic features like airport request to land are available in VFR. 

I don't use the in-sim ATC as it's awful compared to real world.