There’s lots and lots of variables in play: What specific hardware you have. What version of Windows you have. What version of your graphics drivers you have.
This is one of the reasons that many people prefer consoles: Hardware is static. The devs know (almost) exactly what hardware their customers will be using, and can generally be certain that they have the latest versions.
I’m glad that you aren’t having issues but that doesn’t mean that others won’t.
I disagree. With “Live Traffic” (offline mode), the sim must calculate where and when to put other aircraft, do so, FLY THEM ITSELF, and show them to you if/when you’re close enough.
With ONLINE “live traffic”, the sim is relieved of all of that workload, except knowing where the traffic is in the sky, “pretending” to issue them instructions (which obviously they won’t follow because they’re actually real life aircraft listening to actual real life controllers, not our puny little sims), and showing them to you if/as needed.
Offline traffic breaks the sim if there is too much of it. It has been my experience, however, that LIVE traffic has no performance impact whatsoever.
I’m not sure precisely how they’re doing the live traffic, my best guess is they’ve got some supercomputer somewhere that’s monitoring Flightaware, ADS-B, and any other sources of data, and blasting that out to our computers with a slight delay to allow for processing. So, for example when you hear “Delta 123, descend and maintain 10,000”, it just so happens that the REAL Delta 123 just got the same instructions from a REAL ATC, somehow this supercomputer knows it, and instructs our systems to replicate it.
But even if I’m right, perhaps ESPECIALLY if I’m right, that means all that processing horsepower to do all that lives somewhere OTHER than our puny little gaming systems which are relieved of the burden of doing anything than replicating speech and rendering visible planes when appropriate.
So I give live traffic an A+, and offline traffic an F-.
Not unfair… not blaming anyone… just expressing what I have experienced. Yes, the scenery WAS breathtaking, but hard to enjoy it when you can’t control the plan. I can google images of exotic locations for the scenery, in this Sim, I hoped to actually “fly” through them. Just wish that fixes actually made the product better. There are amazing things with this sim, no doubt, but in the words of my dad, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
@PGACowboy62 I think a lot may not understand the complexity of the platform Asobo is building. There’s a ton of collaboration between departments - and consider the new work from home environment with this terrible virus spreading, it’s a huge job as you’ve stated. I understand your disappointment and would love to help get you back flying again. Could you post within the #self-service:bugs-issues category regarding the specifics of what issues are preventing you from playing? A quick search to confirm there’s no similar topics would be appreciated as well.
Again, thank you for staying as constructive and mature as possible during a frustrating scenario like this.
Great advice for everyone. Good luck with that one! 
That’s what flight simming has always been. Real life flying also actually.
I agree. I have also finally given up. There are MANY problems with this sim, and they have been getting worse with each update. Initially the problems were minor annoyances. Then with the third update I saw my first CTD. They were worse in the 4th and now even worse in the 5th. The AP, which was reasonably good at first is now worse than ever. Even simple fixes go untouched. The Cessna latitude for example. It’s fuel capacity is 5,168 kg. In the game it’s 5,168 lbs. Less than half the fuel capacity, yet a simple fix that hasn’t been made in two months. Maybe it’s only particular hardware that’s having a lot of problems, I don’t know, but the CTDs make it unusable for me. It’s a shame, they’ve created such a beautiful world to fly in.
Perhaps we can all put this into perspective. It’s an inexpensive home computer game. No life-or-death situation that necessitates such unreasonable drama.
Go for a run, do an anger management course, volunteer at your local food bank, learn a new language. If something this trivial adversely affects your life, I feel sorry for you. Perhaps take some time off and come back later. It’s supposed to be fun!
As a general reminder folks, the CTD issues are actively being investigated and a hot fix is expected to be deployed today.
You’re allowed to be frustrated, however please keep your responses in line with the Code of Conduct. Non-constructive, inappropriate or outright immature posts help nobody.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/news-ctd-hotfix-coming/310854/2
We are eagerly awaiting your mods to fix things, your constructive additions to the sim, or your own world simulator.
Yes, agreed, Sim generated AI Traffic takes a lot more processing power.
But
The reason LIVE Traffic is not having such a big effect, is because there is so much less of it !!
Sat at Boston with MSFS “real Traffic”, Live ATC audio, and Flightaware Radar.
Live ATC and Flightaware were in sync, as planes landed and took off.
Virtually Nothing on MSFS, not even anything delayed …
Lost of static planes Parked, but certainly not “Filled Skies”
Sitting watching Live Traffic on MSFS is “not my thing” – just as well, because it is virtually Non Existent (as so many others have reported)
No, it’s not.
Go back to whatever you enjoy.
I for one appreciate your response whether good or bad because that is the only way to ACTUALLY gauge what is going on and be proactive to try and fix it. Whether it’s a documentation or lack there of or a software problem or just not making you feel like you’re some kind of outcast in the community but welcome regardless of your experience whether good or bad. Some people don’t hear what needs to be fixed and they stay arrogant and stifle any negative responses, but the great people when they fail want to know what they need to improve and work towards that goal.
Time for a new PC my friend. I have one for sell if you’re interested.
Incompetence is the name.
Solved mu biggest issue… seems the Nvidia setting were changed to “ON” for sharpness. Turned that to “OFF” and also changed it to “OFF” on the monitor and all the shimmering went away. Everything now looks good again. No CTD or real issues for me now and back to enjoying the flights through the Canadian Rockies. Hope this may help someone else with shimmering issues.
You can mark your comment as solution so other people can find it here.
Maybe an update coming soon
Live traffic despawns when you’re out of a certain range. And there are nowhere near as many live traffic aircraft as AI generated.
I’ve tried both. After about 2 hours with AI, my system memory usage is through the roof and frame rate basically drops to single digits. With Live Traffic, I can maintain a steady 30+ fps for hours without having to restart flights or restart the game.
