NZFF

Many of us loved the free traffic addon AIG for P3D and I found out tonight that it's now available, free, for MSFS in beta.

This video is pretty much all you need to get started with it:

https://youtu.be/VnfGRLdy6M4

You need to download two programs, - the AI Manager (where you choose which airlines you want) and the Traffic Controller (which runs while MSFS is running and injects the traffic). They are here (click the Software tab):

https://www.alpha-india.net/ai-manager/

It's a bit fiddly at first but well worth the effort. Now you can have realistic traffic at world airports instead of those awful default planes.

So far I've only tried it in the UK but I'm sure it's fine here in NZ, - my only gripe so far is that it doesn't have Air Chathams yet.

Enjoy!

Is it possible to add your own (custom) models/liveries and flightplans?

Good question, - I have no idea how you'd do that, I think you'd need to ask AIG themselves.

Don't be in a hurry, - they are volunteers with day jobs and it seems like they are swamped, having just released this public beta to such a huge audience.

Probably worth asking on their forum though.

Scupper wrote:Don't be in a hurry, - they are volunteers with day jobs and it seems like they are swamped, having just released this public beta to such a huge audience.

Probably worth asking on their forum though.

I'll probably wait a while before diving into this one. Whatever AIG attempt to achieve will be greatly hampered by Asobo's appalling AI coding. The words "silk purse" and "sow's ear" spring to mind!

NZAA, showing some different airlines and types. You can easily find out which airlines to download for a particular airport by checking it in Wikipedia:



NZAA again (Flightbeam's new one):

good twin boy names

Dublin:

If you mostly fly regional NZ like me then as it is currently its not worth the hassle to Install, I tried it out but because there are no models converted for MSFS for the Dash and ATR, airports like Nelson etc. have nothing at all

Until they are available its a bit disappointing so far....

Otherwise the likes of AKL or SYD are fantastic

Yes. While central hubs look great, regional and small typical GA airports are completely empty as well. I hope AIG will fill these with regional carriers and GA aircraft by and by.

Kind regards, Michael

Or perhaps try and convince ORBX to update their AUS and NZ AI freeware package.
The AI modelling certainly looks great. Any appreciable hit on performance?

cowpatz wrote:Or perhaps try and convince ORBX to update their AUS and NZ AI freeware package.
The AI modelling certainly looks great. Any appreciable hit on performance?

Yeah I would love orbx to update that it was great! I hadn't noticed any performance hits on my system..

Some people have reported a certain hit of 5 fps or so. I didn't make an exact measurement but wouldn't observe any noticeable impact (with a traffic setting of 100% in the Traffic Controller). And this was under VR, e.g. at FB NZAA.

Not sure if the ORBX packages would work with AIG, if they made them MSFS-fit. AIG requires the internal bgl traffic set to 0.

Kind regards, Michael

MichaelBasler wrote:Some people have reported a certain hit of 5 fps or so. I didn't make an exact measurement but wouldn't observe any noticeable impact (with a traffic setting of 100% in the Traffic Controller). And this was under VR, e.g. at FB NZAA.

Not sure if the ORBX packages would work with AIG, if they made them MSFS-fit. AIG requires the internal bgl traffic set to 0.

I got a fairly noticeable frame rate hit on my old/modest system on the busier airports - but not too bad.

AIG works fine with the ORBX airports I've tested so far (EGNM) and also Flightbeam's NZAA. Early days yet, so haven't visited too many locations yet.

Adamski wrote:AIG works fine with the ORBX airports I've tested so far (EGNM) and also Flightbeam's NZAA. Early days yet, so haven't visited too many locations yet.

Sure, that's what I observed, too. I referred to the ORBX GA traffic packages, should they ever be transferred to MSFS. I doubt they will work with AIG, but who knows, things may change over time.

Kind regards, Michael

With P3d, Orbx had a free Oz/NZ traffic pack, but it wasn't (isn't) compatible with AIG, - you could have them both installed but would need to disable one or the other when flying in this region.

I'm not noticing any great frame-rate hit from AIG, - I just love it, - you can go planespotting at random (large) airports and see cool planes from airlines you've never heard of.

For a free addon, I think it's incredible, but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, particularly if you mainly fly out of small airfields. I do it all though, - big and small, and this makes the big believable finally.

I must admit AIG can be a bit of a laborious procedure - but the results are worth it:

1) High quality models (for the ones we have, at least).
2) Working lights.
3) Working landing gear.
4) Full arrival/departure taxiing.
5) Full interaction with MSFS ATC (such as it is).

Apparently, the newly released payware equivalent from Aerosoft has fewer models/flight plans and suffers all sorts of glitches (non-working landing gear etc.) - which they claim are down to Asobo - though AIG have found solutions.

To be honest - I'm not a huge fan of AI traffic (in any form) - I'd rather get to grips with a 200-step cold & dark start and enjoy highly detailed scenery + weather - but each to his own!

Scupper wrote:With P3d, Orbx had a free Oz/NZ traffic pack, but it wasn't (isn't) compatible with AIG, - you could have them both installed but would need to disable one or the other when flying in this region.

I'm not noticing any great frame-rate hit from AIG, - I just love it, - you can go planespotting at random (large) airports and see cool planes from airlines you've never heard of.

For a free addon, I think it's incredible, but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, particularly if you mainly fly out of small airfields. I do it all though, - big and small, and this makes the big believable finally.

Yeah I Agree too I do a bit of both, nice to see when u land in Welly to see all the A320's and a couple of Qantas 737s at the gates - just be nice to see the ATR's and Q300s there - definitely wont be uninstalling it though as its better than nothing!

HAHAHA This is where I came in, fifteen years ago!

I measure every iteration of flight simulators against the final evolution of FS2004, which we called FS9.5 because it had been manhandled to such a degree by the Community. You could do just about everything subsequent sims tried (and largely failed) to implement, and do it on a real-world computer.
It was the WIN XP of its time.

Great to see MSFS 2020 getting the treatment too - in a year or 3 I might buy that massive new computer and VR gear to binge the virtual skies again.

Dash8captain wrote:

Scupper wrote:Yeah I Agree too I do a bit of both, nice to see when u land in Welly to see all the A320's and a couple of Qantas 737s at the gates - just be nice to see the ATR's and Q300s there

I was testing out all my Oz locations for AI traffic and noticed quite a few Qantas Dash-8's ... though don't remember seeing any Atr's. Like you, I'm hoping these models/liveries (for ANZ) will be added soon.

Charl wrote:I measure every iteration of flight simulators against the final evolution of FS2004, which we called FS9.5 because it had been manhandled to such a degree by the Community. You could do just about everything subsequent sims tried (and largely failed) to implement, and do it on a real-world computer...

A yes, my wonderful Classic FS9, where I could start up a Connie at Prestwick and fly VFR Pilotage all the way to Oz - "Bear left at the Pamir Knot"

I'd downloaded this a while ago, but only got around to installing it today. Seems like a process, but the steps are made simple in the linked video. Very nice to see my NZCH with realistic traffic, I've missed that in MSFS compared to P3D with Orbx AI.
Just one issue -- with default traffic, I normally don't get the jetways connecting at the start of a flight, so I need to toggle the AI settings (change setting-apply-change back-apply) and then when I return to the sim the gates connect. Because of the way the AIG traffic is injected, this doesn't seem possible now. Some of my airports mostly work, others -- like Flightbeam's NZAA -- have just a couple of working gates. I think this is more to do with MSFS than AIG, though.
All in all a pleasant surprise that it worked first time and looks so good.