I agree and don’t expect 100% perfection. However so many of us are not even experiencing mediocre performance much of the time. Right now I’m not even considering flying in this sim due to so many problems. This ATC issue is for me the biggest problem I’m dealing with but believe me there are many others that I’ve had to just “accept” if I want to fly.
Others may say “well just turn off the ATC and enjoy the scenery” or “well just jump over to Vatsim and fly with real controllers” or “get Pilot2ATC and not use the in game ATC”… in other words, many want you to simply transform your own desires to fit the sim, which is constantly changing with respect to functionality. I don’t think this is acceptable considering how majestic this could be if they could only get the basic functionality to perform at an acceptable level.
The ATC is issue #8 on the “Top Wishes” list, with a scheduled date of this year.
I use the default ATC myself every flight, to the point when it starts to go wonky with altitude issues, generally on descent.
Then I just don’t listen to what they say, and fly my flight plan - paying attention to altitude constraints until ATC gets back in sync, generally when approach clearance is given.
The missing voice is a real nuisance, but after I get clearance and pushback, I enable the AI to handle the coms, and when the fault kicks in and I don’t hear ATC, I can hear my AI repeating their directives, so I am able (sort of) to complete a flight with ATC.
It’s not a volume issue. Even with volume down, you still see the text of the ATC in your ATC panel. When this issue hits, you neither hear ATC nor do you see what they’re telling you in your ATC window.
I agree with you. I would really like to use the game ATC to make flights more “realistic” and expected that aspect of the game to be pretty near useful when it was released. Sadly. it must not have been a priority. I do use it from time to time but not seriously as of right now. Actually, I get even more peeved when I go to land and a truck or police car pull out on the runway in front of me. Talk about ruining the realism. Hopefully, these things will get resolved before I die of old age which may not be long.
I started randomly experiencing this after one of the hotfixes that followed SU5. Initially after SU5, Azure voice started cutting out randomly and switching to offline on almost every flight. Then after the hotfix, I would start randomly losing ATC altogether as described by the OP as well as losing Azure Voice.
Since the patch last week, I completely lose ATC on almost every flight. Sometimes it happens mid-flight, sometimes it’s like that from the start.
This prompted me to give up on built-in ATC and buy Pilot2ATC. Now all my default ATC fustrations (bad instructions, no vectoring, horrible altitude requests, etc) are a thing of the past.
I did the trial version many months ago but had nothing but trouble with voice recognition. I found out after the trial period was over that there’s a process for training the VR within Windows. I was unaware , but couldn’t bring myself to pony up for the full version after having the experience that I did. I think now, I’m ready to give it another go because the in game is beyond pathetic.
Same. I did the trial back in early December, but the voice recognition wasn’t working for me. It was really a combination of not having my voice recognition trained and me stumbling on phrases, incorrect phraseology, etc. That initial experience left me unimpressed.
But after completely losing ATC last week, and speaking to a couple of guys using it regularly and successfully (@skypilotYTS and @CaptainTick433), I decided to bite the bullet and buy it.
It has its shortcomings as in you no longer get ATC talking to AI / Live Traffic planes, so it takes away a bit from situational awareness. And you can’t monitor both radios at once (monitor a second channel), but otherwise, it’s been amazing. I added ATC Chatter to it, and now I have real world ATC comms going on the in background making it sound very realistic.
Well Crunch, your endorsement is all I need. As you know I have a great deal of respect for you and what you contribute to this community. It was your previous post that made me reconsider and now I’m just going to have to jump in.
The problem is with the AZURE servers, if you install the local voice file for Windows you will hear both sides of the ATC. Alternatively wait for the AZURE servers to come back online.
Uh, I don’t think this is true, at least in my case. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had the message that I’d lost Azure services and immediately I get the child-like ATC voices but both sides of the conversation remain intact as well as the Comm Log.
The problem that has been occurring lately is not giving me any message and my co-pilot voice remains as the Azure voice. I believe what you are referring to is a different problem altogether. Not be dismissed as the Azure servers are a problem and more so for some than others, but not the same as what we are dealing with here.
, but couldn’t bring myself to pony up for the full version after having the experience that I did. I think now, I’m ready to give it another go because the in game is beyond pathetic.