Hi,

I am still using FSX while switching to X-Plane and I have a question/remark. Is it safe to say that Radar Contact is still one of the best ATC despite its age?  New ATC software have a fancy user interface, but in terms of functionality and realism RC still seems relevant. I know that VATSIM/IVAO is great (I used them a lot in the past) but I am talking purely offline ATC.

Happy flying,

Olivier

I think so.  I used RC4 for over 20 years, but stopped when I could not get it to function properly in XP12.  I also had conflicts with XPUIPC and certain aircraft & helos, so in the end, I had to shelve RC4, and XPUIPC.  There is a post in the RC4 forum that describes getting RC4 to work in XP. I know it works in XP11, but not so sure you can get it to in XP12.  Read up and ask questions in the RC4 forum, is my suggestion before writing it off, though.  

 

I also think Radar Contact is the best ATC add-on for FSX and even P3D. I used it for many years. Is there an equivalent for X-Plane?

Dave

Here is the link to the post about how to get it to work in xp12:  

 

XP12 has a decent atc of its own, but still needs some work.  There are 2 payware options that work quite well in XP12:  Pilot2ATC & SayIntentions.ai.  SayIntentions.ai is a subscription based app, but to me, is worth every penny and then some.  What I would normally spend on beer or dining out easily covers the monthly price.  Also, they are creating a freeware version that is a bit limited but still great option.  Real voices, no robots at all and behaves like a human as far as it can answer a lot of questions.  I suggest first trying default XP12 atc and see how it suits you before considering other options.

The one issue with trying to get RC4 to work in XP12 is getting makerunways to work.  It is needed for RC4 to have all of the data from XP12 airports, and I could not find how to get it to work in XP12.  It works for XP11, but not 12, afaik.

 

1 hour ago, beechcaptain said:

The one issue with trying to get RC4 to work in XP12 is getting makerunways to work.  It is needed for RC4 to have all of the data from XP12 airports, and I could not find how to get it to work in XP12.  It works for XP11, but not 12, afaik.

Has anyone asked John Dowson to help with MakeRwys for XP12?

Not I.  I don't see any forums related to xpuipc, seem non-existent.  Only reference to download links is a repository from a google search.  I must be missing something, as at one time I seem to recall xpuipc in the download links section of the fsuipc site.  They seem to have changed things up quite a bit with the layout.  Unless I'm grossly mistaken.

 

Ah, my mistake. I thought Pete or John might have produced it for XP. They didn’t. Always a third party. Pity.

I think Enrico Schiratti still hosts the older versions of XPUIPC on his Project Magenta site.  Thorsten has a site up for a new XPUIPC, but it's not progressing well over the last year.

Unfortunately, the changes to XP12's data formats breaks the XP version of Makerwys.  The workaround I've used is to update XP11 with Navigraph and run Makerwys on that, and then copy the data files over to XP12.

I've not had good luck withn RC4 on XP12, however, because of the changes made in altitude handling--the new temperature effects on indicated altitude in XP12 result in a split between indicated altitude and physical altitude that isn't accounted for in RC4, so it chews on you for being off your altitude when the temp dev is significant.

@Ray Proudfoot John Dowson has discontinued support for MakeRwys for all platforms now.

17 minutes ago, Bob Scott said:

@Ray Proudfoot John Dowson has discontinued support for MakeRwys for all platforms now.

Thanks for letting me know. Guess I’ll be staying with P3Dv5 for a very long time.

Thanks for your insteresting input - indeed, RC cannot be used with XP12. I guess I will go on using both sims, and getting to know the Xplane ATC (that does not look that bad, not as good as RC though).

Happy flying,

Olivier

13 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Thanks for letting me know. Guess I’ll be staying with P3Dv5 for a very long time.

As will I.

Thank you all. A very informative thread. 

Olivier - you may (or may not....) be interested to know that PF3 (Pro Flight Emulator) is now a free product that could be worth considering.  Whilst development has

now ceased, support is available.  Here's a link to Oncourse Software's homepage - https://www.oncourse-software.co.uk/index.htm

Kevin, thanks for the tip - I will take a look.