FSLTL - live traffic finally released

[brucewtb 255]

OK a problem.  I have just flown into NZWN (Wellington New Zealand) and parked my PMDG 737 at gate 28.  It is 12:30 AM and there are two 737s already parked at gate 29 and gate 27.  There should only be one - flight 161 from Sydney.  Furthermore the 737 parked at gate 29 has a blank white livery (I see lots of these) but  the only airline that flies 737s into NZWN is Qantas.  So something is amiss here.

Bruce

[mmcmah 461]

1 hour ago, Cpt_Piett said:

What about the flight routes that can be enabled with the token? Anyone use that and can explain the advantages?

This talk about flying in real time vs. not makes me think that I'll probably keep using FSHud when I want to fly with AIG offline flight plans, and use the injector when I want to fly with live AI. I won't go back to using AIG TC though. 

I don't know about the flight plan token, but like your earlier post about KJFK, my experience was that the traffic injected at large airports leaves a lot to be desired. I set my IFR option at 250, VFR at 100 and parked aircraft at 10 at VHHH and I had very few aircraft and none moving, in real time (meaning the actual time). In comparison, AIGTC at 99% had a completely full airport and at 50% was still more full and more "alive" than FSLTL. So, despite all it's issues, and partly because I can time shift, I am going to continue using AIGTC and I have uninstalled FSLTL.

[Tuskin38 7,098]

24 minutes ago, brucewtb said:

OK a problem.  I have just flown into NZWN (Wellington New Zealand) and parked my PMDG 737 at gate 28.  It is 12:30 AM and there are two 737s already parked at gate 29 and gate 27.  There should only be one - flight 161 from Sydney.  Furthermore the 737 parked at gate 29 has a blank white livery (I see lots of these) but  the only airline that flies 737s into NZWN is Qantas.  So something is amiss here.

Bruce

the injector also spawns static aircraft based off flight history at the airport so the airport doesn't look completely empty.

Set that option to 0 if you want no static aircraft.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Tuskin38

[Shack95 2,700]

1 hour ago, Vel said:

In the Q&A video I watched it was explained that with an API key, FSLTL will hand the aircraft over to the sim with a flight plan for the intended destination.

Do we have to use a key every time we start FSLTL or is it active until we change it like the other settings?

And another question, how do you follow an AI plane in MSFS? I saw that in a Youtube video but I couldn‘t figure out how to do it. 

[Cpt_Piett 4,984]

51 minutes ago, mmcmah said:

I don't know about the flight plan token, but like your earlier post about KJFK, my experience was that the traffic injected at large airports leaves a lot to be desired. I set my IFR option at 250, VFR at 100 and parked aircraft at 10 at VHHH and I had very few aircraft and none moving, in real time (meaning the actual time). In comparison, AIGTC at 99% had a completely full airport and at 50% was still more full and more "alive" than FSLTL. So, despite all it's issues, and partly because I can time shift, I am going to continue using AIGTC and I have uninstalled FSLTL.

I think FSLTL has some benefits that are lacking with AIG TC, so I'll keep using both of them. 

26 minutes ago, Shack95 said:

Do we have to use a key every time we start FSLTL or is it active until we change it like the other settings?

You just have to enter it once, like with the other settings. When you are happy with your settings you kan just hit enter after you start the injector. 

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

If FSLTL is allowed to use AIG models, does that mean there is some cooperation going on between them? 
It would be great if they combined resources now, as we only need one system, and it seems like AIG have the most repaints, but MSLTL has the better sounds and logic.

This is certainly all going in the right direction, and if Asobo are improving their live traffic system like they say they are for SU11, it will be awesome.

Not sure if they cooperate - more likely that FSLTL can read the contents of the AIG folder and use it. FSHud can also do this. Hence - when I use AIG, I use FSHud to inject the contents of the AIG folder (not AIG TC as I can't deal with the instability issues). FSHud can also inject the contents of an offline GA folder (Phantoms mod) so I get both airliner and GA traffic, and can fly whenever I want to, everywhere in the world. 

[Tuskin38 7,098]

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

If FSLTL is allowed to use AIG models, does that mean there is some cooperation going on between them? 

No, it's just reading the aircraft.cfg files.

 

the FSLTL injector constantly crashes for me when I'm sitting at Heathrow. It works fine for about 4-5 minutes then just closes.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Tuskin38

[Drumcode 1,961]

23 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

No, it's just reading the aircraft.cfg files.

 

the FSLTL injector constantly crashes for me when I'm sitting at Heathrow. It works fine for about 4-5 minutes then just closes.

What happens if you reduce the scope of the IFR?

[Mike T 243]

Better than AIG
1. Setup: Orders of magnitude shorter install time and setup complexity. AIG is just notoriously complex, confusing, and inefficient at all levels.
2. Injector time: Injector takes seconds to start injecting traffic. AIG injector takes minutes to begin injecting.
3. Stability: Injector seems more stable than AIG (for me).
4. Sounds: The best sounds of any AI package for any sim to date.
5. Lights: Much more nuanced than AIG. Closer to reality. 
6. Contrails: Finally consistent contrails from AI Traffic.
7. Close to real time traffic: Call signs are going to be close to what's happening in the real world, including a lot of corporate IFR call signs
8. VFR traffic - WIP

Worse than AIG
1. Flexibility: You lose control over installed liveries. There is no selection in the installer, no visibility into what's there and what's not.
2. Lots of missing liveries: There are a LOT of missing liveries. In return, you'll get blank and default Airbus liveries. See issue 1 above.
3. Many missing models: There are quite a few models missing.
4. Empty airports depending on time: Early morning and evening with much fewer flights will have much less traffic at the airport. KIAD at 8pm had 3 airplanes at the whole airport.  Need to allow static traffic or have empty airports depending on time.
5. Go-arounds: Seeing MUCH more go-arounds, even with no traffic on the runway. Minutes later the flight may appear on the ground taxiing to the gate.
6. Take-off's hit-and-miss: Even at rush hour, take-offs may be almost non-existent. 

If you have AIG is there a compelling reason to move to FSLTL? I don't think FSLTL is ready to replace AIG, especially if you're like me and have invested over 12 hours during the awful install and download process retrieving every AIG livery, and aircraft model. I think that once FSLTL fixes the missing models and liveries, addresses the empty airport and take-off issues, then it has the potential to be BETTER than AIG. But it's not there yet. In the same token if AIG enhances some of its deficiencies then it can retain its crown.

Either way, since BOTH of these wonderful packages are free, there is absolutely no reason to pay for AI traffic at this point. I'll most likely use FSLTL for major airports during normal hours. And use AIG for secondary airports or off hour flights. Thank goodness I have a 2 TB M.2 drive dedicated to MSFS!

[kiek 1,279]

6 hours ago, motishow said:

i am only saying that he has increased x10 the price in one year  making profit of the MSFS boom

That is fake news, sorry and period.

[FatherAnolev 3]

For what it's worth, my so far experience with FSLTL has been ... mediocre.

On the positive side, the installation is a breeze, and it's nice to just launch 1 app (the traffic injector) when flying. It's also nice to finally see traffic on my ND in the Fenix, and to see the planes actually hook up to jetways when at the gate, puch back with real tugs, etc. Very cool!

But on the other hand:

1. Too many missing liveries / white planes. I realize this is probably just a matter of time to address, but I wind up using AIG models instead of the FSLTL base models, as AIG "model matching" download on github / Google Drive has essentially zero missing liveries. Sure it's a lot more disk space (40gb vs 20gb), but I have the room.
2. Static aircraft often parked at weird gates. Supposedly FSLTL looks at "historical" information to pre-populate static aircraft at the gates, but my guess is that it's pretty old data. For example, KSFO should have various Alaska Airlines planes at one of their terminals (following their purchase of Virgin America) but I never see any.
3. Worst of all, and to be clear this is NOT the fault of FSLTL, but their decision to let MSFS ATC "control" the aircraft once they're spawned into the game leads to completly broken approaches / go arounds, poor choice of arriving / departing runways, and completely messed up taxiing. I once saw 5 aircraft holding behind a single aircraft that was stuck doing donuts, trying to figure out where it wanted to go. Also once had a plane just quit taxiing while crossing an active runway, and sit there for 5+ minutes.

I can easily work around #1, and could probably live with #2 (though annoying) ... but #3 totally breaks my immersion.

So for the time-being, I'll continue to us PSXT and RealTraffic (with AIG models). Unfortunately the planes sometimes taxi and fly a bit janky, and they don't hookup to jetways or use tugs, but on the flip side, they are doing 100% of what the real life aircraft are doing at ~ 30 seconds delay. It's simply awesome to pull up Flightradar24 and then cross-reference that with my game, and see real planes taking off and landing, with their real liveries, sometimes down to the actual matching tail numbers, in practically real time. Yes this costs me $10 per month for the RealTraffic subscription, but I've decided that it's worth it.

If Asobo/MSFS can ever do a better job at #3 above, then I'd likely switch to FSLTL ... but not until the traffic acts somewhat normally.

[AnkH 2,321]

1 hour ago, Tuskin38 said:

Set that option to 0 if you want no static aircraft.

According to various reports, this is also the setting that affects performance the most.

[Cpt_Piett 4,984]

28 minutes ago, Mike T said:

Either way, since BOTH of these wonderful packages are free, there is absolutely no reason to pay for AI traffic at this point. I'll most likely use FSLTL for major airports during normal hours. And use AIG for secondary airports or off hour flights.

Great summary! (I mean your whole post). Agree on all points. I’ll probably spend some time this evening comparing FSLTS and AIG at EGLL.

EDIT: Before I do the testing - the FSLTL settings e.g. IFR aircraft - that's aircraft numbers, right?

Edited September 30, 2022 by Cpt_Piett

[badgenes 125]

Maybe this has been covered but how does this compare to SimpleTraffic?  

[Mike T 243]

3 minutes ago, badgenes said:

Maybe this has been covered but how does this compare to SimpleTraffic?  

SimpleTraffic = Hamburger from McDonald's that you have to pay for.
FSLTL = Kobe steak made by a Michelin Star rated Chef given to you for free. 

[Phantoms 800]

Have not tried FSFTL yet. From the install and setup video posted on the first page they talk about two buttons added in the MSFS toolbar to reset traffic and remove nearby aircraft. Has anybody tried these, especially the remove nearby aircraft one? How weel does it work and how near to the aircraft does it remove? This really interest me based on sometimes approach being overrun by larger commercial aircraft, having no room to fit into all the landings and  many times having to go around. One thing that I'd love is a way to remove planes messing with me on final causing go arounds and near misses.