Global Ships and Traffic not showing ships in MSFS 2024

Hi Geoff,

A couple of things to check first, as ship traffic is not quite like scenery objects — it is scheduled AI traffic, so it will not always appear instantly even in a busy area like the English Channel.

Try this in order:

1. Make sure the package is installed directly into your MSFS 2024 Community folder.

   You should not have a double-folder situation such as:

   Community\Global Ships and Traffic\Global Ships and Traffic\

   The actual add-on folder should contain the package files directly, for example things like:

   manifest.json
layout.json
SimObjects
scenery

2. Check that MSFS 2024 is actually loading the package.

   If the add-on does not appear in the simulator’s content/add-on list, then MSFS 2024 is probably not seeing it at all.

3. Check the traffic settings in MSFS 2024.

   Look for the marine/boat/ship traffic setting — the wording may vary slightly — and make sure it is not set to zero. I would test with it fairly high, at least for troubleshooting.

4. Test in daylight and give it a few minutes.

   AI ship traffic is route and schedule based. It is not guaranteed that a ship will be visible the moment you load in. I would start in the English Channel, use the drone camera or slew around the shipping lanes, and wait a few minutes.

5. Temporarily remove other scenery/traffic add-ons.

   For a clean test, leave only the ships package in the Community folder and restart the sim. That rules out a package conflict or priority issue.

6. Confirm the add-on version is intended for MSFS 2024.

   Some packages made for MSFS 2020 may partly work in 2024, but others may need an updated installer/package layout. If it was installed using an older MSFS 2020 method, it may not have gone into the folder MSFS 2024 is actually reading.

One small point worth mentioning: the English Channel is a good test area, but you still need to be reasonably close to the actual AI routes and at the right time. If everything is installed correctly and the traffic slider is active, you should eventually see something there.

Can you confirm a few details?

• Is this the MSFS-native version of the ship traffic package, or an older FSX/P3D/MSFS 2020 install?
• Where exactly did you install it — Community folder path if possible?
• Does the package show as installed/active inside MSFS 2024?
• Do you have any other AI traffic, scenery, or ship/boat add-ons installed?

That should narrow it down fairly quickly.

Ian Stephens