Hello !
Since it is evolving quite quickly, I wanted to reopen the subject and discuss what offline ATC is currently best for an immersive experience.
I have over a thousand of hours on VATSIM now, and I must say, I’m kinda leaning towards an offline ATC solution for the following reasons :
1-) Airports are always empty, or almost empty. (Except being part of an event).
2-) Trafic is always lower than the real life, rarely have to do holds, or need to follow a SID or STAR due to trafic density. (Again, except if there is an event, and even that)
3-) I have a baby coming soon, the ability to pause a flight will be necessary.
My goal would be to Inject trafic using FSLTL trafic injector (Using FSLTL Trafic Models), and use an offline ATC such as P2A, FSHud or ATC Pro/SR.
Though I’m hoping to have experienced flight simmer with one or many of the above platform, what are the pros & cons for each.
I’m currently trying out P2A, since it is the only one that gives a free trial, however that one require quite the configuration, voice are not great, requires to import all the airport/taxiways/runways etc using 3rd party aircraft. It may be a good sign that it requires such configuration, or is it too much ? I did a test flight earlier, and let’s just say that I need more practice with it…
What are your thoughts ? What do you think would be best for my needs for Offline Flying with Injected Trafic ?
Thank you !
Hello,
I use to be a ProATC person and now I use FSHUD. I really like it and it injects and controls the traffic movement. They are making improvements. The one to look forward to is Beyond ATC. You may want to look that one up. No release date but it looks and sounds incredible. I have only used FSHUD a few time (Only 80hours of flight time since MS2020 came out) but I always use it for IFR flights.
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Yea, I know Beyond ATC is coming, saw a video but it’s not out yet… I’m willing to pay for one now though.
Can you execute a flight from gate to gate with FSHUD ? How much complicate it is configure it ? Does reads taxiways Okay ? Work with AI trafic also ?
I’m not too sure about the features to track from an Offline ATC application like these so far because I’ve only use P2A, and so far, I’m hating it.
It’s not pretty, it’s not smart, It doesnt understand me even though I speak slowly and clearly, it sometime resets for no reason, wiping all my configuration, need to change microphone input in windows, use a 3rd party software to import all the Runways, Taxiways, Gates, and import it into P2A (it took 1h30min), it does not interact with Inject trafic. I’m just having a bad time with it right now and spend 10+ hours on it. Sometimes it hears me, sometime it doesnt. Loaded with frustrating bugs, like loading a bad callsign and unable to change it unless I restart the app. Also LOADED with documentation, it could WAY more automated and user friendly. I feel like the devs made it overcomplicated for nothing. I want to be focusing on my flying but P2A so far is using all my focus.
I’m just afraid if FSHUD is similar, you could tell me perhaps ?
I just gave up on Pilot 2 Atc, it’s frustration after frustration and I am very patient. It just don’t work. ATC just randomly start ignoring me and then you start troubleshooting and troubleshooting and nothing seem to be working. Don’t have time for this lol…
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Can you execute a flight from gate to gate with FSHUD ? How much complicate it is configure it ? Does reads taxiways Okay ? Work with AI trafic also ? It is not complicated at all. You can also import your simbrief flightplan. The instructions are very straight foward. There are a couple of videos which will help you out. It does read the taxiways Okay by using a guiding arrow in the FSHud window. It will work with AI. If you have FSLTL, you will launch it and FSHud. If you have the others, it should read the directories if they are in the community folder. They do have a forum on AVSIM. I do not use VATSIM at all so when this came out I use it with Flight Simulator First Officer and it all works well.
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I’ve tried all of them and none work without frustrating and sometimes serious problems.
I’ve given up completely with ATC Pro as it has been abandoned now for a considerably long time. It did look very promising at first but has not been updated now for many months.
Pilot2ATC I probably have used the longest. The voices as you say even with cereproc or other third party voices are noticeably synthetic. Importing with makerwys is a bit hit and miss and can be fiddly to get working.
Since the introduction of FSLTL I’ve used FSHud. They integrate extremely well and all in all (voiced included) it gives the better experience. I’m running the latest beta which seems stable and is updated regularly. The downsides I find is there is no speech recognition, although I believe it is being worked upon and sometimes the vectoring can be questionable at times.
All in all I think FSHud is for me until Beyond ATC arrives…
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Thanks for you feedback sir,
Yeah, I kinda get it, there are no perfect solution and our best hope is in Beyond ATC.
Although, if I can enjoy some airliner trafic in high density area like Dublin, EGLL, but also quieter places I can do with Ryanair or Easyjet. On vatsim, if I fly to remote places, forget it, no control, no trafic, nothing at all. Makes it so boring, I’d rather have robotic voices and see live trafic, and try to fit in.
I’ll get FSHUD until Beyond ATC also.
After a lot of consideration, I’ve decided the default ATC with FSLTL traffic is good enough for free. None of the pay solutions deliver sufficient value to make them worth it. 
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PF3 has been my ATC choice. Yes, the UI is “old” since it was based on the old PF2000 from the FS98/2000 days. However, it works. It interacts with the AI(even the injected AI), the voice set has improved over the years, you can declare emergencies, as well as perform holds.
Is it perfect, no, but compared to current options, it does the job for me.
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Pilot2atc with Amazon Polly voices (free) and FSLTL…
It’s ugly, it’s hard to setup, has a clunky user interface but it’s by far the best solution.
Pilot2atc can auto assign sid/star/runways dependent on real weather, it can do vectoring and go arounds, give instruction for obeying height restrictions and shouting if speed restrictions are not met, or if you are ofcourse.
The voice recognition works, but it’s optional.
It can be fully used by clicking phrases instead of saying ones.
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With Pilot2ATC, Can your AI co-pilot take care of Comms with ATC (read backs, etc)? This is one thing I like about the default ATC. My copilot will call for clearances and do all read backs, frequency changes, calls, etc.
Yes, the copilot can do readbacks, automatically or by button press. Copilot frequency change can be toggled on off independently.
Things he can’t do:
Request ifr clearance, pushback, taxi clearance, departure clearance and declare go arounds. He do readback these, but these have to initiate first by the user (voice or click phrases).
Since many, here and other sources told me that FSHUD integrates pretty good with FSLTL Trafic Injection, and that ATC PRO/SR is somewhat abandonned by the devs, I decided to get FSHUD.
Honnestly, I’m pretty impressed by it. I made a flight from Copenhagen to Prague, and it managed the trafic very well, including my aircraft, got a lot of instructions, it gave me a STAR even though my FP had none, figured my TOD.
However taxiways are meh, but that’s the only thing.
It’s not possible to talk, but that’s fine, I’ll leave to my co-pilot, at least there is trafic control. Speech recognition is not great anyways, most of the app expect you to speak perfectly, in a very specific format and order.
I’m happy with FSHUD, we’ll see with Beyond ATC how it goes.
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Can you use FShud on a networked PC?
Just thought about buying it, no talk possible no purchase possible . ATC equals voice communication.
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