Global AI Ship Traffic V2 for MSFS

As a replacement for the default I think its worth it, but remember, it just replaces models. It doesn’t add any more routes etc, so if you’re happy with the amount of default boats and where they are (and aren’t) sailing then I’d recommend it.

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I don’t fly across oceans, only around the coasts so a few boats with wakes and night lights will be cool. It’s only a tenner so I think I’ll grab it. It sounds like Heinrich’s mod is getting a nice upgrade at the weekend and I do appreciate the tremendous variety that his mod has so don’t know that I’d need the global shipping mod from Seafront.

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The Global AI Ship Traffic routes will not be compatible with Seafront Enhanced AI, which is why we always recommended a 5-6% AI ship setting to avoid problems with the default AI. In some areas or in the middle of the Ocean it can work, but not in others.

And we will not do the effort to make this compatible with a payware, so you will have to chose payware with a few nice models but repeated all over or freeware with different models and models relevant to each geograhic zone all on realistically tailored routes.

Sorry, but the two will live their independent life. We will upgrade now to get all 1400 models showing correctly with native models, which will also make more models show as the sim engine doesn’t display all the ships based on mdl files, and then we will go on beautifying and adding, but we do not want to be limited by a payware and they never contacted to check for compatibility…

Even if I personally don’t like it, and the routes will be a mess if you turn up the traffic, we will also soon tell you how to enhance your default shipping for free even if the default routes used also in the Enhanced AI payware are just not realistic, but that will be after launching the native models… :smiley:

To make it clear… The Global AI Ship Traffic was downloaded 42.000 times on flightsim.to in the last four months plus more from other sites. It has more than 300.000 downloads from different sites in its previous FSX and P3D versions over the previous 8 years. We never asked for money, and will not do so, but for info over the last months 87 people donated from 5 to 30 USD to the project… Everyone is free to choose and Seafront are welcome to develop their package, but why should we choose to be a complement to a payware with just a fraction of the models and 50% based on default routes putting ships in a half circle in harbors when you turn up your settings…?

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You might care to note that this fabulous chap is called Henrik, not Heinrich!

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Duly noted!

I was also thinking of getting the AI Enhanced Vessels as well so thank you very much for the clarification.A tenner or so saved there plus maybe more for the main package I was also considering.Thank you Henrik for that :+1::+1:

Very much looking forward to the new pack when it comes (maybe at the weekend? No pressure at all) and looking forward to learning how to enhance the default shipping for free. There might be some fun to be had there!

Thanks also for your fantastic support and your hard work in your spare time and for making these models free of charge for all of us :slightly_smiling_face::slightly_smiling_face:

I bought the Seafront Enhanced AI but have only adjusted the leisure craft up to above 80% and left the Ships and Ferries at 5%.

That was based on an earlier post which indicated that they should be compatible like that. Unless I read it wrong or the situation has changed.

I didn;t get quite get Henrik’s response to be honest. I wasn’t referring to the global shipping add on from Seafront but just the enhance AI that replaces Asobo’s stock boats. I don’t see how setting leisure boats at 100 and ferrys/shipping at 6 with the Enhanced AI mod is any different than running with the stock ships? All I want is Henrik’s mod for big cargo ships, tankers and the massive variety, and the Enhanced AI to give me some nice yachts with animated wakes and some coastal ships with night lighting.

I don’t see why they would interfere? In any event I have the Enhanced AI add on now and will install Henrik’s upcoming mod update when it comes out and see how they play together.

I’ve currently taken Henrik’s mod out because it seems to be causing freezing with the ship conversions in SU5 and the seas certainly feel emptier without it.

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I understand what you are saying and can’t fault your logic so like you I have no answer to your query.

Anyway, I think Henrik’s new pack is coming at the weekend so that should be interesting.

Still not sure about the Seafront Enhanced AI so it would be great if you could continue to keep us informed on your experience with it. The cost tbh is not really the issue just the extra immersion it offers and whether it is worth it. No point cluttering up the Community Folder and risking slow downs/CTDs if there is no real benefit imo.

Cheers :slightly_smiling_face::slightly_smiling_face: :slightly_smiling_face:

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I was disappointed initially, partly because of the shimmering wakes from a distant (VR, probably not an issue in flatscreen) and the fact that some ships disappear, which is just weird, but could well be a SU5 issue.

I really like the yachts, and would miss them if I refunded. The grey/blue ferry is very repetitive, but it clearly replaces that equally repetitive mini cruise yacht that Asobo made and gets repeated endlessly. I haven’t discovered any of the other boats yet.

The boats do have nice reflections, and the wakes look great up close. I haven’t flown at night yet, but I watched an 18 minute long Youtube video of its big tankers in a storm, and the lighting on the boats looked fantastic.

Definitely better than Asobo’s stock ships.

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Okay, thank you for the extra info :slightly_smiling_face:

It is correct as CromUK states above that the leisure craft does not affect Global AI Ship Traffic as they are not based on routes but spawned; the conflicts is e.g. on ferries as mentioned by Kjaye767 - especially as we are continuously adding more custom ferries and they obviously follow the same routes as the default, where Asobo/Microsoft team have included all ferry routes according to map information but using the same model for all independently if the route is to a small island or across the English Channel…

Another clarification the update “Quick fix” with all ships we promised for September; this weekend it is just a small collection of new ships and limited routes e.g. New York harbor to get started with native models. The Quick fix will still require around 260 work hours calculated based on what I tested yesterday… And that does not count for e.g. wakes, lights or smoke… The quick fix will make sure we have everything working and then we continue upgrading e.g. with hard decks for helicopters once enabled.

Luckily a couple of people contacted in the last days - some offering additional models - just saw some really nice screenshots of one steam passenger ship still active as a tourist boat - and others to provide help with texture conversion. Thanks both for new models but also for help in the very repetitive job of converting and testing files :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

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I’m glad you asked the question, tbh, because I was just as confused as you. I think, having read these latest posts, I’ll just forget about AI shipping for a while. Seems there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Thank you for all the work that you have done here, I for one am grateful and I’m looking forward to the new release.

Today I experienced quiet a number of pauses whilst in VR and was putting this down to an issue with SU5 and the sim loading in scenery. I then did a non-VR flight and noticed that when the sim paused, a number of multiplayer ships appeared in littlenavmap at the same time. Having removed Global AI Ship traffic I noticed that these pauses have gone away.

So currently missing your ships but now looking forward to your release at the weekend.

Keep up the good work and enjoy a coffee on me.

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That’s super useful thanks @hnielsen791. But… to be honest now I’m even more confused because if I’m reading this correctly; I have a choice of losing several tens/hundreds/thousands(?) default routes and the ability to use something like Seafront in future or have your (how many?) more accurate ones? I appreciate the variety (1400 models? Wow) and your painstaking effort in handcrafting individual routes but how much traffic do we actually gain in your mod on its own over default? How many actual routes are there in your mod? I’m just wondering if want to be locked into a 6% setting for a relatively low amount of boats out at sea.

Also what I don’t understand is how your mod is not affected by leisure boats but is incompatible with Enhanced AI which I believe uses leisure boats too?? Presumably I can use Enhanced AI, turn the leisure boats up to 100% and turn down the ship sliders to 6% with your mod (if I wanted to stick with yours over Seafront’s Global product?)

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the support as has already been said. For me it’s important to know the facts and I see a lot of ambiguity on these forums at times. Hopefully it’ll help others here too.

P.S. Good news about the CTD fixes

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Agreed. More clarification needed for sure

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Yes, thanks for asking those questions too.

Like you i’m 100% behind Henrik and appreciate all the hard work in his spare time. It’s absolutely fantastic.

But I must confess to not being fully up to speed on the benefits over Seafront and default and the extent to which the amount of ships is increased in the sim. Also, i’m not sure if we should have the slider at 6% or 100% for a greater quantity of shipping. I’m assuming 100% although we get more repetition of the default ships?

Clearly the variety of ships is massively enhanced but maybe the overall quantity of ships is the same as default.???:slightly_smiling_face:

Yeah… a little confused here…

I thought that the reason for the 6% was to switch off the default shipping so that only the GAIST shipping would appear. I don’t see that having the setting at 100% would increase the GAIST shipping, just that it wouldn’t turn off the default shipping per se.

Therefore having the setting at 100% should just mean that you get all the GAIST shipping, and all the default (or Seafront) shipping as well???

I understand that there may be a few routes that cross and perhaps get a collision or two close to ports, but I fail to see that they won’t work together?

Now… if the GAIST shipping above 6% creates the same ships and routes multiple times, then I could see there being an issue, but I think thats the clarity we need here :slight_smile:

Regards

Graham

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Yes, glad i’m not the only one here not fully enlightened.

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It’s definitely super confusing!
My understanding is that the volume of default ship spawns (the leisure and ferry sliders) are controlled by Asobo and neither Henrik or Seafront have control over this. So they are both unable to spawn more yachts and boats around the coastlines and inland rivers, which is essentially all I want.

Both can, however, create extra traffic using real shipping routes. Whilst on a certain academic level this is interesting, I personally don’t care whether the cargo ship I’m flying over is midway through a 2500 mile trek to Norway or it has just been autospawned where it is for my play session. I just want there to be more ships.

I want my coastlines to have lots of yachts, speed boats, kayaks, fishing boats etc like real life, and I want port cities to have cargo ships and tankers. Spawn a few cruise ship and ocean liners at various places and I’m happy.

Why it’s impossible to tell the sim to simply spawn some yachts in when I fly over Penzance but it’s entirely possible to accurately model a real ferry’s journey across the Atlantic in real time is one of those stupefying mysteries that I’ll never understand.

It’s absolutely ridiculous to me that Seafront has given me really nicely modeled yachts, with reflections, wakes and night lighting, but they have no control over when I see them, and how many. Like, how hard can this be to implement? Flying yesterday from Exeter airport all the way to Lands End, I didn’t see a single ship until I got Torquay, which had a couple, and then I saw a few more yachts (3 I think) around Penzance and Newlyn some 80 odd miles later.

I wanted tens of ships in every area, not low single digits here and there.

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