MyTraffic 5.2a

[jmig]

There was some discussion in another thread about AI traffic programs.

I upgraded from MyTraffic 5.1 to 5.2 and like the results. According to the write up most of the aircraft are now FSX models and provide less of a hit than the indigenous FSX AI aircraft. I don't know if that is true, I have never tried to into JFK or DFW with it on.

What I do like about the program is the large number of military aircraft. Also, from normal distances the AI models look good.

I installed it using the default settings. I think you can also choose either a higher or lesser resolution aircraft?

This is just one guy's unofficial first reaction to the program. If you own an earlier version the upgrade is discounted.

 

[airfighterjohn]

Had it for awhile and like it quite well. All the larger busier airports can drag down performance with this add on, but all you have to do is go in and turn down your traffic in settings. It DOES help, but if you REALLY want 40 aircraft taxiiing in front and behind you, then expect a performance hit...

 

[harleyman]

Agreed...I have and like MyTraffic ....I think the update has DX10 support..I could be wrong on that as I don't use DX10....

 

[StickMan]

I love this program for FSX, it adds a very nice level of realism to the sim. I did however at first think this programing was going to be a huge FPS hit. So I could not hold back after seeing pictures. So after installing I did see a hit in FPS at Major airports like KJFK, KLAS, KORD, using the default setting of MyTraffic 5.2. So I went back and moved the setting to the lower side and performance came back to where at the above airport I was getting 18 to 21 FPS.

This also spices up smaller airports with nice GA traffic and the military traffic is nice too but I like to see a little better textures on them. The best thing is going to your local International airport and seeing all the real companies that your use to seeing there. Also they use the A380 too much, I see it all the time.

Here's a few pics

 

[Naismith]

Don't know if it's still true, but I am led to believe that MyTraffic dont use real schedules with the result that there are gazillions of a/c up there all the time, whereas the oher two AI progs and WOAI use real world schedules with the result that late at night AI is reduced. Of course that may have been addressed in the newer updates.

 

[IanP]

MyTraffic uses entirely random schedules, but allocates aircraft by region. If you want masses of aircraft in the sky, this is by far the best option (although I still think that "from a distance the aircraft look reasonable" is a good description of many of the paints). It works in DX10 by not using the FS9 models (which are reducing in number with every release anyway) but is unsuitable for those wanting realisim - although it is very powerful in terms of editing tools, if you have the patience to do so.

JustFlight Traffic X uses ancient timetables. Many of the airlines in the default install ceased operations, merged into larger companies or rebranded several years ago. It is, however, the only pure FSX traffic out there. It is also editable, also has period traffic (not back to the 1940s unfortunately... I'd pay extra for that! ) but isn't as well supported as MTX.

Flight1 Ultimate Traffic is not FSX native in any way. There's supposedly an FSX native version coming, but no news of when. According to the F1 website, "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Important Notice - This product has been discontinued and is not available for purchase any more due to the new version (Ultimate Traffic 2) coming out soon." -[/FONT] that statement, however, has been there for months.

There is no FSX native freeware traffic out there. Any time you download a package from the big freeware groups that claims to be FSX AI, it is FSX format flightplans, using FS9 format models. However, this is the only option for current, real world, flight plans.

It's swings and roundabouts, depending on what you want. Having tried all but Ultimate Traffic, my choice is TrafficX, but for someone less picky than me about what they see around them, MyTrafficX is by far the best in terms of coverage, variety and has excellent support.

EDIT:

The best thing is going to your local International airport and seeing all the real companies that your use to seeing there.

That's one of the two very big problems I had with MTX: The two airports I use most frequently - Birmingham and Belfast Internationals, are absolutely heaving with British Airways jets. You will not see a single BA tail at either in the real world. Belfast is a hub for BMI Baby (not a separate airline in MTX), Aer Lingus and by far the largest operator is Easyjet. In MTX, you see very little but Ryanair and British Airways. All BAW flights out of Birmingham were transferred to FlyBe several years ago and they and Ryanair are by far the largest operators at Birmingham, yet there were no FlyBe, only rare BMI Baby and Ryanair flights in amongst the great morass of BAW tails at Birmingham in MTX.

If you go to a Royal Navy Helicopter base in MTX, it is crawling with European F-16s, USAF freighters, Scandanavian ASW aircraft... This is the way it is designed to work. It is not designed to be accurate, it is designed to fill the world with traffic. For most people that's not a problem, but I very quickly uninstalled it because it's not what I want.

 

[Naismith]

I think I will stick to WOAI and MAIW, they are free and in the main up to date scheduling wise and are pretty much all I need, I did buy UT about 18 months ago but found it a fps killer because as you say it is not strictly for FSX (yet), so I took it off. If they offer a reduced fee for a true FSX one I may be tempted again.