www.farmboyzimsflightsims.com
FBZFS
Just Flight's Traffic 2005
By Farmboyzim
I haven't been that interested in the subject of AI traffic in the past. I've usually been more concerned with the aircraft that I was sitting in, being happy to let MSFS handle the AI traffic. Even then, most of he time you could find that I would have the AI Density set to a very low percentage, if not zero. Others out there, I have noticed from looking at screenshots on various websites (sorry about not having a place for you folks and your screen shots on my site, YET!), there are quite a few of you that enjoy the presence of other aircraft. It does make for a more "real" environment.
There are certainly freeware products out there that help you manage your AI traffic, and I might add, they do the job well, but, for the most part, they assist
you in adding aircraft and flight plans that you must input, with not a lot of extra utilities, if any. This product does so much more than others that are out there, it's amazing, and easy! I particularly like the "easy" part! It seems that these days, the "administration" of MSFS 2004 could possibly take just as much time as a flight from KSFO to KLAX! In a single prop plane! OK, maybe I exaggerated there, but you see my point. I suppose it's fine if you're into the programming aspect of the sim, but for me, I'd rather be flying! Just Flight's Traffic 2005 turned me into a user of AI aircraft!
Traffic 2005 expands FS 2004 utilizing realistic AI aircraft and air traffic in both the airliner and General Aviation categories. I've seen some liveries in this product that I haven't come across in a long time! The only livery that did not impress me very much was that of the Southwest Airlines. Other than that, they all look great. Of course, you're not going to find the detail that is found in a regular add on product, but gmax was utilized in the development of the AI traffic to ensure high quality and performance friendly on the frame rates, depending on your particular operating system and set up. All the models feature animated control surfaces, gears, props, engine fans, and transparent windows. Even the smoke from the tires is there when a "heavy" lands! The AI aircraft are all painted in real world liveries, with reflective
textures, and will also reflect the correct aircraft or airline identifiers and tail numbers, in relation to its country of origin. A Cessna flying in Germany will have a registration like D-EAEH, while a Piper will be designated with something like G-CLEA, etc.
In just the Airliner category, there are over 280,000 scheduled flights that are flown by more than 500 airlines, utilizing over 1,200 aircraft, with connections world wide. The traffic data base also includes thousands of General Aviation flights, worldwide. Something that's new to the AI aircraft category is the implementation of AI Helicopters in both the General Aviation and Business categories. The models of choppers that are included are:
Bell 206 Jet Ranger - 4 variations
Eurocopter AS330 "Squirrel" and "Twin Squirrel" - variations
Eurocopter EC135 - 7 variations
Robinson R22 - 3 variations
Robinson R44 - 5 variations
These variations are employed in public service as well as police and rescue helicopters. I enjoy flying helicopters once in awhile, and it was a nice addition to see them in the sky, or taxiing to a helipad.
When you download this product, you will no longer see the default aircraft about, for they have been replaced with all real world airlines and aircraft. Around 1,500 airports around the world have been modified by placing additional taxiways and parking to accommodate the increased amount of traffic that will be present. This will ensure a smooth traffic flow at the various airports. 50 of these airports have been altered to reflect real world airline parking.
Installation was typically easy, as all Just Flight products are. During install, you will be asked the normal installation questions, i.e. path of installation, language to be used, etc. In addition, you are asked if you are installing into FS2002 or FS 2004. This is a very important question that must be answered correctly in order for the product to work correctly. They utilize two different programs. Traffic 2005 requires that you have the 9.1 FS2004 update in order to work properly. If you don't have the update, the install will terminate, and you'll be given instructions on how to download it from the Traffic 2005 DVD-ROM. They can't make it any easier for you unless they came out and did it for you!
Minimum System Recommendations:
1.7 GHz processor or better
256 Mb RAM
32 Mb Graphics Card
Sound Card
2.8 Gb of free hard drive space
Of course, it would help if you had MSFS 2004 installed!
As I said earlier, there are a host of items that make this product stand out from all the rest. Let's cover a few of them now.
A custom voice pack is included that provides you with additional voices, one English, two British-English, and an English voice with a German accent. It replaces the default ATC voices. It utilizes the Windows Speech API.
"Spotty" is a virtual aircraft spotter, (not a dog), that comes with a "bag" of toys that you can utilize, while "plane-spotting"! You can move to wherever you like to watch the action take place. You open it just as you would as if you were selecting an aircraft to fly. It's located in the "Aircraft Manufacturer" selection under "Just Flight Traffic 2005", and select "Spotty". The MSFS flight map, GPS, Clock, ATC window, to name a few, are the items that are available to for you to use. Included is the option to open a small top down window in the upper left corner. After the top down window is open, click on your main screen to reactivate that view. If you don't, you won't be able to view around with the hat switch or keys. This is a rather neat feature. Try "standing" at the end of the runway as a heavy is taking off. See if you can "feel" the rumble!
Hop into the "Follow Me" vehicle and cruise around the airport. Watch your speed though, it's not a Porsche! Although, just for the heck of it, I gave it the gas, and I had to slow down at 140 KPH before I went through a hanger! If you activate
the "auto rudder" in your settings, you can use your joystick or yoke to steer the vehicle, otherwise, you need to use the rudder pedals. The "panel" is self explanatory, speed, tach, and two buttons.The left button opens the ATC menu and the right button opens the COM/NAV1 part of the radio stack, enabling you to manually enter freqs. Night lighting is automatically activated during the hours of darkness. You can activate the beacon on top of the vehicle by
pressing the "L" key on your keyboard. Another feature that was rather fun, was "catching" a plane and have it follow me to a parking area! These are some neat twists and additions for a Flight Sim add on.
Airfield - 20 foot tall tower
Airport - 55 feet high
Medium International - 200 feet high
Large International - 350 feet high
Actually, this was another fun feature to use! Just kick back and watch it all take place, or congest if you have AI density maxed out! Once again, choose this aspect in the same manner as the others. Make sure to place it off a runway so as not to hamper traffic, and endanger the tower! You can use the provided buttons to slew the tower about, or your yoke. There are utilities provided in your "tower" to enhance the effect.
A Heading Indicator showing you the direction that you are looking in, a light witch to be used at night, Terrain Monitor, and an ATC Monitor which covers Airport coordinates, elevation, local time
(a patch is available to correct a minor problem with the time display), simulation rate, weather info, Comms, and controls to change the view settings. All of these controls are quite easy to use. This feature was interesting to use, since you could observe various aircraft in their operations,
Somebody's going to have to Go Around! AI Smooth NOT in effect.
such as taxiing, take offs, landings, go arounds, etc.
To start listening to what's going on, activate your ATC window, and the fun begins! I chose to keep the ATC window from automatically popping up when a transmission was made, enabling a clear view and still listen in. I'll tell you what, while watching the operations and listening to the ATC, you get a fantastic idea of what it must be like to be in the Tower, responsible for all traffic coming in, going out, and on the ground! Quite the handful if you ask me. Give those folks a raise, they deserve it! I sat at KSFO, San Francisco, a very busy airport, for at least 15 to 20 minutes, and that was after checking out all the features in the tower. Don't bother trying to use the phone on the desk. No personal calls are allowed!
Here's a real bonus for you in this product! All the AI aircraft are not only for display, you can actually activate them as flyable aircraft! That's 63 aircraft with over 1200 different liveries! Wow! The Traffic 2005 Flyable Aircraft Tool (another great tool provided by Just Flight) makes converting these aircraft easy. You will notice however, that these aircraft are not state-of-the-art aircraft designs. They were designed primarily for AI use, so even though they are detailed, sacrifices had to be made to keep them all frame rate friendly.
Improving Traffic Flow
Yet another tool to make your life easier (these folks are great for that!) is a utility called AI Traffic Smooth. It can be found in the "Start - Programs - Just Flight - Traffic 2005 - AI Smooth" Its intent is to reduce go round’s that are performed by the AI planes at airports with a high traffic volume. If an AI plane is following another too closely, it will be instructed to maintain a holding pattern. The distance and headings between your aircraft and AI aircraft in your vicinity (around 30 miles from the airport) are checked, and if they are coming too close, or if it looks as if you're both on an approach pattern at an altitude and same general heading, the AI aircraft will be sent off into a holding pattern. In the case of parallel runways, this is taken into consideration and the AI aircraft on approach to that particular runway will still have authorization for approach. For certain technical reasons, if an AI plane already is on approach with gear down, it will be unable to retract its gear and proceed into a holding pattern. This issue is slight, and has no noticeable impact on overall realism.
Basically, instead of wasting time having each and every plane come down the tube, and then being waved off to go around, they'll be instructed earlier on, not unlike real world operations. A time saver for sure, and a definite enhancement in realism!
Adjustments can be made via AI Smooth - Settings, which is located in AI Traffic Smooth's "File" Menu. These are:
* Intercept Radius
* Intercept Radius User Plane
* Heading Tolerance
These adjustments are made BEFORE you start MSFS.
A Taxi Speed Tool is also provided. Default speeds are 17 knots for taxiways and 20 knots for aircraft taxiing or rolling out on the runways. To speed up the flow of traffic, adjustments can be made using this tool. It can be found in the "Start - Programs - Just Flight - Traffic 2005 - Taxi Speed Tool".
An Airport and Runway Editor is available for your use within this addition of AI Smooth. By entering ICAO data or part of its real name, it will give you information on that airport. You can edit airport data or add individual runways. The runway data can only be used by AI Smooth.
These topics, as well as those previously discussed, are covered in more detail in an easy to understand manual that comes with the product. Bonus points from me, personally! If you have read my past reviews, you'll know that I like to read "hard copy" just as much as I like to sit in front of the computer! Some of these manuals are well over a hundred pages, and can drink some ink! I could just read it from the computer, but somehow, I do my best reading in my Lazy Boy Chair, as old as it may be! There you go, a free plug for Lazy Boy! Maybe I'll get a free chair!
The manual is only 36 pages long, but covers everything you need to know to get the most out of the product, from installation to their policy on Piracy! It's done in a simple concise way that is very easy to understand. Graphics show various aspects of the tools that are provided, so you'll know what you're looking at, and there's a list of Aircraft and Airlines, from A to Z, that are the AI models. An impressive list!
The differences between Traffic 2004 and 2005 that caught my eye right off the bat were 100,000 + additional scheduled flights, 380 more Airlines, and 860 more Aircraft roaming the skies! The addition of the "Follow Me" vehicle is also new.
A dedicated Website is also provided for folks that purchase the product. Here you'll find product information, FAQ's, a user forum, and downloads from users that include:
* Airport Facility Modifications
* Aircraft Liveries
* Flight Plans
* Other files, i.e. patches/fixes, of which there is only one, for the time piece in the tower view.
* An upload page for users to share their files with other Traffic 2005 users.
There were quite a few pages of various files for uploading, all for FREE! But you have to be using Traffic 2005 to enjoy them!
In today’s Flight Simulation add on market, $ 29.99/£ 19.99/ € 29.95 seems to be a competitive and fair price for all the "goodies" you get in this package. Folks that enjoy the use of AI traffic while flying will certainly enjoy the added realism that this product offers, and the ease of use, not to mention the "extras". For those of you out there like me that have been turning down the AI Traffic Slider you'll want to turn it back up! Besides, if you're studying to be a pilot, you may as well get used to sharing the skies and taxiways with others, in as close to a real environment that you can get! I really enjoyed this product and it truly has made a "believer" out of me as far as the use of AI traffic goes!
The credits are long of those individuals that were involved in this project, but let me just say that you did a great job with this product, helping to make the "virtual skies" as "busy as they can get"! Mentioned also in the credits was the permission to use AFCAD by Lee Swordy and FSUIPC by Pete Dowson, fine contributors to the flight sim community!
For more information on Traffic 2005 by Just Flight visit their website at: www.justflight.com
Here's one feature that I enjoyed quite a bit also, and that is the "Tower View", which is selected in the same manner as the above items. You're given a choice of four different types of towers to "inhabit".
They are:
Thanks For The Visit !
