renesis
renesis
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Dec 22, 2006 Posts: 68
Asked

Hi,

Is there such a thing as an ATC add-on, payware or otherwise, to improve on the standard FS9 ATC.

I, like many other I'm sure, use the ATC to increase the realism but I have to say that the "service" is pretty basic although it is vastly increased over FS2002.

A great improvement was EditVoicepack which has filled in a some missing callsigns plus added some new phraseology.

My question though is: can we go even better than this? For example:

1. Can we get vectors around conflicting traffic?

2. Can we improve on heading control i.e. "direct-to" waypoints?

3. Can we get less pointless interference with heading whilst approaching the airport - huge heading changes for no apparent reason only to be brought back on to the original heading moments later?

4. Can we incorportate more advance procedures - the hold, or a full non-precision approach?

5 Can we generally improve on the atc services and therefore realism?

In FS9 what you see is what you get. I'm not in with FSX yet and don't intend to either so I'm not sure if ther is improvement there.

Basically, can we get an ATC add-on which brings us more realism?

Cheers.

Answers 13 Answers

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nottobe
nottobe
CaptainCaptain
Joined: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 505 Location: KBOS
Answered

this one is much better:
http://www.jdtllc.com/

chrissie
chrissie
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Aug 07, 2005 Posts: 63
Answered

How about install VATSIM and fly online with live ATC. That would be the best and closest realism there is.

VegasFlyer
VegasFlyer
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Jul 14, 2005 Posts: 1149
Answered

chrissie wrote:

How about install VATSIM and fly online with live ATC. That would be the best and closest realism there is.

That's true but you need to go through trainning, which is free but it takes time. 😉

Doyley
Doyley
CaptainCaptain
Joined: Jan 29, 2006 Posts: 511
Answered

Radar contact is probably your best option. It is so many new options compared to the original ATC. The ATC in FSX is the same as FS9 I believe.

Drew B (belgeode)
Drew B (belgeode)
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Jun 22, 2007 Posts: 1140 Location: Pittsburgh PA
Answered

Million dollar question. does RC allow you to use fictitious airline names such as Steeler Air... I used editvoicepack to make Steeler Air audible in ATC calls, I would hate to have to redo it, after adding this program.

coolsan
coolsan
First OfficerFirst Officer
Joined: Mar 22, 2004 Posts: 114 Location: NYC and Mexico City
Answered

So, is radar contact really worth it? Does it fully replace the original atc? I don't fully understand how it works....

As said, flying online is much more realistic, but sometimes you just want a bit more realism with the atc, without the added pressure of flying on line.

Drew B (belgeode)
Drew B (belgeode)
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Jun 22, 2007 Posts: 1140 Location: Pittsburgh PA
Answered

With USAir Virtual I just got into using VATSIM... it's fine, otherwise i use default AI ATC.

Cheeks
Cheeks
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Oct 09, 2004 Posts: 1434 Location: YSSY
Answered

There is an option in Edit Voice pack which makes for more realistic AI chat 😉

VegasFlyer
VegasFlyer
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Jul 14, 2005 Posts: 1149
Answered

Cheeks wrote:

There is an option in Edit Voice pack which makes for more realistic AI chat 😉

It only speeds up the transmissions nothing else. I guess you can say it does make it sound a little bit more realistic but not a whole lot.

renesis
renesis
TraineeTrainee
Joined: Dec 22, 2006 Posts: 68
Answered

I eventually went with Radar Contact. Without doubt it enhances the ATC realism. I'll outline the pro's and con's as I see them.

Pro's

- "real" voices
- more realistic traffic control (crossing restrictions, speed restrictions...etc)
- MS flight .pln route import
- more in-flight flexibility (emergency, diversions, direct-to waypoints, flight level changes, requests, runways changes, option to fly full procedures)
- ease of use
- background "real life chatter" (which I turn off because it obviously repeats on itself eventually)
- Realistic differences in local ATC terminology (i.e. US ATC is as it should be, European is at it should be) To me this is what makes it a great program!!

Con's

- a disappointment to me was the lack of some airline callsigns. There are many, many available within RC but some of my favourites are not there. When a callsign is missing RC replaces it with a letter, e.g, Thomson becomes "tango", First Choice (callsign Jetset) becomes "juliet". There are many though that are present but the only reason I think it's a downside is because there is no option to "update" RC as far as I can tell. So, there seems no prospect of adding them, or others.

Otherwise, this is exactly the program I was looking for when I started this last year. RC runs as a seperate program alongside FS. From my perspective there appears to be no impact on FS performance.

***Excellent program and one I'd recommend***

Drew B (belgeode)
Drew B (belgeode)
Chief CaptainChief Captain
Joined: Jun 22, 2007 Posts: 1140 Location: Pittsburgh PA
Answered

EditVoicePack will allow you to construct the missing callsigns.

All you need are good ears and an understanding of how words are phonetically formed in the english language.

nottobe
nottobe
CaptainCaptain
Joined: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 505 Location: KBOS
Answered

John Decker said they would release v5 in 2008. V5 will support VFR ATC. But dont know when.....

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