More AI traffic in the skies after the update?

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1

Has anyone else note a lot more AI traffic flying around since the update? I was flying an IFR hop from JFK to LaGuardia in the C172 last night just to check a few things out. Firstly, there was way more traffic around me that I had to pay attention to although initially I put it down to them being just more visible as it was night time. However, when I landed at LaGuardia and taxied off the runway I was held on the taxiway while TWO airliners landed (the veritable string of pearls). Never had that happened to me before. One, maybe once in a blue moon, but never more than that.

All that said it was unfortunately a little immersion breaking when these aircraft got half way down the runway on their roll out and then just disappeared. It seems that ground traffic still has a bit of work ahead of it.

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What are your traffic settings? Offline/online/real time, sliders etc…

3

Unchanged from before.

4

I assumed that, I was asking because I wanted to try and replicate your situation.

5

what did you have it on before

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Multiplayer OFF
Live traffic
Live weather
Real time - online
Airport ground traffic 100

7

There is more traffic in real world because of thanksgiving holiday in US

8

I saw an actual airplane yesterday. First one I’ve seen in the sim!

9

Over the last several weeks, Real Time Online Traffic has been next to none for me. I would bring up FlightAware (which from what I understand is the source the game’s live data) and FlightRadar24. I would see about 20 planes in my general area. Looking at traffic on the in-game VFR map or LittleNavMap, I’d see 2 AI planes. I’d be able to find those planes in FlightAware and confirm they were real world traffic, typically 5-15 minutes behind their real world schedule.

Testing this repeatedly over the span of a couple of weeks, I noticed I would consistently see 10-20% of real world traffic in game. Traffic on the ground was next to non-existent for the most part. I’d rarely see more than 1 other plane taxing around an airport.

Then some days ago (I think it was Thursday), something changed. I noticed a significant increase in traffic. The first flight I noticed this on was an Australian flight form Canberra to Syndey. Immediately upon taxiing I noticed this, as suddenly I was 3rd in line to take off behind 2 RTO planes - an airliner and a small single engine piston. I quickly looked up their numbers on FlightAware, and both had just taken off from Canberra in real life. Checking LNM, I saw serveral planes in the air around the area. I did a quick count to compare real life numbers from FlightAware and LNM, and the game was showing about 50% of the real world traffic. This continued through the entire flight. It was the busiest airspace I’d seen in months. Landing in Sydney, it was a hive of activity with planes landing, taking off and taxiing around.

Since then, I’ve seen heavy real time air traffic in game pretty consistently. So much that it’s amost hard to count how many planes are actually in the air now compared to real life. If it’s not 100% now, it’s ■■■■ close.

So needless to say, I’m thrilled that the skies are nowhere near as lonely as they used to be. The world is starting to feel like it’s a living, breathing place. That makes a huge difference.

Last night the Miama area was crazy busy. I took off from Opa Locka (KOPF) which is right between Miami and Ft Lauderdale airports. The last time I saw such chaotic, busy airspace was back shortly after launch during a flight in Nanjing, China. It was awesome.

BTW, my traffic settings (that matter)

Multiplayer OFF
Live traffic / Real-Time Online

10

OK, an update to this phenomenon. Today, performing an ILS approach into Sharjah (OMSJ), everything was peachy, I received landing clearance then I saw an airliner lined up on my runway just beginning its take off roll. Autopilot was already on the glidescope when I was ordered to do a go around and execute a missed approach. This was a tad annoying as my flightplan didn’t have the missed approach procedure programmed into my TBM so I had to wing it and fly something similar manually. Eventually got back on approach and kicked the autopilot back on to take me down the ILS and landed perfectly.

All these extra aircraft in the sim are a menace!

Seriously though I’d like to see the sim in the future being able to handle these sorts of situations and hold AI traffic from entering the runway when your plane is on approach and cleared for landing.

If this becomes a “thing” I may be forced to disable live traffic unless I can work out how to incorporate missed approach procedures into the Garmin. Going around in a C172 VFR is one thing but being told to do it while flying an IFR flightplan in something a bit bigger needs to be avoided.

11

As an update, in the Dev Q&A today, they did discuss some issues they were working with live traffic.

12

I noticed incrase in live traffic and one more thing.

Before SU6, when I turn on live traffic but labels are turned off I only hear it on the radio, but it is not displayed. When I turn on labels, I see aircrafts in air or ground.

Now with labels turned off aircrafts are displayed.

I’m sure about that, because I flied with F-14, approached really close (less than 50 m) to live traffic aircraft, I wanted to make screenshot without label, I turned labels off and no more aircraft.

Latter when I was on ground, same thing happened. Labels on, I see aircraft, labels off no aircraft.