ARNZ X - JustFlight

I installed the download version and had it completed in a few minutes once the standard online front end unlock process was completed. JustFlight do recommend you uninstall any other AI you may have, as I was using some freeware AI I removed both the aircraft and traffic .bgl files before installing and everything ran smoothly. The total install will use just over 3 GB of HD space for models, skins, traffic files, airport facility files for parking and the support utilities that come with it.

Documentation is in the standard PDF format for downloads and contains both a user manual and spotters guide. At 38 pages the manual gives a good overview of the product with suggested computer settings and goes into detail on how to use 'Spotty', the pushback truck and the tower views to maximize your virtual plane spotting experience, all of which we will look at more closely later. It also covers details on the Traffic Control Centre (TCC) providing info on how flight plans can be modified, carrier codes, Airport information, modifying aircraft to make them flyable, adding new skins and a general FAQ section to finish. While a little light technically regarding flight plans, overall the manual is well presented and thought out with enough information for the average user to get up and going easily.

The spotters guide is 46 pages and provides more info on 'Spotty' and then details the aircraft you are likely to see with performance information, first flight details etc and is a mixture of photos and screenshots.

Traffic, Models and Repaints - The good The Bad and the Ugly

Let me say from the outset that TrafficX is a mixture of innovative thinking and excellent implementation and yes some areas that in my view are not totally up to scratch quality wise. So lets talk about what, in my view, does not work with TrafficX out of the box, and then we can move on to what does, because there is way more that I like about this package than don't. Note that when a sentence ends with a '*' I will provide the JustFlight response to my question about these.

Traffic - Its AI Jim but not as we know it, in New Zealand at least.

As you will imagine I decided to check out New Zealand first so after a quick look at Tauranga where I found a lonely B1900D, and let me note here it was a genuine FSX model which brought a smile to my face, I then went to Auckland where I was presented with lots of traffic, make that two smiles on my face, however at this point I noted a number of issues that I'll deal with now. New Zealand domestic flights have some issues in Traffic X, I noted no Air NZ 737-300's operating domestically, neither did I see any ATR's or Q300's. At this stage it appears the 767-200 and A320's are plying the main trunk, and the Saab 340 and B1900D the heartland feeder routes. As we know the 340's left our airspace some time ago and the Q300's have been around for over a year, so their exclusion was disappointing and a little surprising*¹. I also noted yellow Freedom 737's operating in quite large numbers*².

JustFlight reply # 1: The problem here is that Traffic is a very big product and rather than specializing in one area it tends to cover lots of things. So in some areas where customers might be experts or expecting the level of quality of usual add-ons they might feel a little disappointed. To produce that level of detail in all areas would in truth take many years. We trust FS enthusiasts will understand Traffic X for what it is. It would have of course been ideal to have such expertise on the dev team, not only with the advice and reporting but also with actually creating content. We don’t have that expert knowledge and certainly don’t have the time or resource to be able to do this level of research. But and this is worth stressing, Traffic X is an open system where all of this can be added/removed/edited easily. You can create new aircraft liveries with the paint tool and you can schedule (add/remove/edit) flights with the Traffic Control Centre if you so wish.

JustFlight reply # 2: Freedom Air was a livery that we’d already created and we didn’t want to waste anything that we’d done previously, so we have included them again. It’s easy to exclude them from database compilation by either un-ticking the airline box on the compilation page or simply adding a ChronoTraffic time span that results in no Freedom Air livery.

Big wings in a small space

I had Boeing 747's parked up in domestic gates, as were A330's, so there are clearly some parking size issues that need to be addressed to get heavies parking at heavy gates. I looked through the JustFlight TrafficX forum and discovered the problem centered around the wing width settings in the aircraft config file, in some cases this was only half the actual width thus the problem. A simple enough fix is available to this via the information contained at this website*. I was able to quickly adjust the settings on the heavies and this got the parking sorted. Now, should this have been an issue 'out of the box'? No. Its not hard to fix if you are familiar with working with the config files (could be if your not) and you only need to do it once. The good news is the FSX jetways and baggage loading features are supported, so you can expect to find plenty of action around your traffic at airports. I noted a few aircraft where the contact points for doors were not correct, you can see below how the 747 has the jetway a little low, and the A300 has it a little high, yet the A319 is perfect. In my view this isn't a big issue, given no other AI package supports this feature I was pleased to see it had been included.

*Download Updated config files here. Ensure you read the instructions BEFORE you begin.


Contact Points	Perfection	Parking

AI's next Top Model?

I took some time to look at the model quality and these ranged from stunning to functional. The 787 for example is based on the original Boeing concept design with a shark tail so I wondered if perhaps the models used in TX were those used in earlier versions of the package and then updated as per the FSX SDK*³. The A300/320/330/340 series are excellent models with particularly well crafted nose shapes, however the Boeing fleet seems to have come out second best as none of the Boeing noses other than the 747 and 757 really capture the look of the aircraft. The real ugly duckling amongst the entire fleet of 92 aircraft supplied in this package is the Hercules. The nose is quite long and with the high wheel base the aircraft sits high. I do hope its looked at as its the only aircraft I really felt needed to be fixed up. I was impressed with the array of GA aircraft and light jets, all look good with some such as the C152 actually having a pilot inside, which is very unusual for an AI model. TX also includes the Russian Ilyushin IL-76 and Tupulov TU-154, and all the models have transparent windows and cockpits of some description, though these are very basic as you can imagine. The fighter jets such as the F-117 and F/A-18 are also well detailed with nice reflective canopies, I really liked the look of the RAF VC-10, and even the AWAC is featured complete with animated rotating radar dome. On the topic of animation all the aircraft have appropriate gear, flaps, spoilers and engine reversers animated. You wont fine perfectly round engines or detailed landing gear, this is AI after all, but everything across the fleet is functional and appropriate for traffic.


Cessna 152	Hercules	AWAC	Eurofighter

F/A-18	F-117	VC-10	MIG 29

JustFlight reply # 3: We have different generations of models. Out of the 90 models some 20+ were from the first model generation (the ones that we did originally for FS Traffic 2002). These have been completely rebuilt, and these are the most popular aircraft in the fleet. Others like the A380 are Traffic 2005 generation, others are from the PlusPak generation. It’s impossible to remodel all aircraft due to time constraints, so we decided to start from the oldest ones. All of them though, have been recompiled with the latest tools.

Textures

I was a little disappointed with many of the Qantas liveries, the tails in particular are average to say the least with the flying kangaroo a little all over the place on some of the skins such as the A330 and 737. As I spent more time looking at TX I got past this and was able to appreciate that in most cases a good job had been done, I spotted a few issues with funny bits of texture in the wrong place, and Air Force 1 appears to be missing its wheel and engine fan textures all together. Given the sheer number of airlines represented it would be unreasonable to expect them all to be perfect, so while most skins are basic so the level of detail included such as fuselage lines etc is not high, they reflect the airlines the represent well. It was the Air New Zealand 787 that left me speechless to the point where I'll let the screenshot below tell the story. While it might be a nice concept for a mural paint scheme, this is simply not what the Air NZ 787's are going to look like (This is no doubt the purist coming out in me). All the aircraft have night textures with tail and fuselage landing light splash.


ANA Specials	Air NZ 787	787	Delta Special

Sounds & Panels

TrafficX installs a complete set of AI sounds for the aircraft, which are a major improvement over the default sound set that comes with FSX. The new sounds add depth to the package and has heavies through to props and even business jets now sounding the part with decent prop or large and small fan engine noises rather than indistinct whine type noises. One of the features of this package is every aircraft can be made flyable, and of course if you have an aircraft you can fly then you need a panel. The default FSX panels have been used for this, with an appropriate panel activated depending on the aircraft you are flying. This is a functional feature only and does the job of giving you what you need to fly, but don't expect the F-117A for example to have a fighter panel, it uses the default Bombardier panel.

From A Developers Viewpoint

As far as AI aircraft go I know a little bit about this topic having developed my own fleet of AI aircraft for not only FS2004 but also the Airways Total Control Simulator. This is not easy as you have to work to a basic formula, Model Detail x Polygons = Performance. If you get this formula wrong your AI will impact on performance and thus becomes a waste of time so balancing this equation is no easy feat. So, while people may choose to criticize some aspects of the models in this package, I suggest you try developing your own and see if you can do a better job. While I'm not suggesting the TX models are all perfect, they do the job and they do it well in the most crucial area, performance. So I'll forgive the Boeings not looking exactly like Boeings and given the rest are a good mixture of aircraft, Helicopters and fighter jets, I personally don't think there is a lot to complain about in this area. Top that off with the fact this is the first truly FSX AI package, so all the dynamic shine, animation, self shadowing goodies are present, its a pretty impressive effort. Some of you may also know that I do the occasionally aircraft repaint so while I was a little disappointed with the quality of a few of the skins, I say that as someone who is a perfectionist. In overall context the skins are good, and I'm sure well see over the coming months as the community embraces this add-on and the skin artists start work, many quality skins will be produced that users can then choose to install.

The TrafficX Extras

TrafficX is not just about the AI traffic, JustFlight have also included a number of additions that not only allow you to add new skins, make the entire fleet of aircraft flyable and add/change flight plans, you also get some tools within FSX itself to satisfy your virtual spotting cravings.

Spotty

Included as part of the install is Spotty the spotter, which is basically a model of a dude with his aircraft spotting equipment that allows you to get close to airport fences and watch the action. Spotty is a high detail animated person (binoculars raise and lower from his eyes and his head turns), who has a 2D panel in the form of a spotting kit bag that allows you to monitor ATC freq's, view the map or GPS and even a clock so you know when its time for lunch. As a concept I really liked this, the modeling and animation of spotty is done well without being over the top, and because the VC view is clear it gives you an excellent ground view of the airport you are at.


Spotty	Spotty 2D

Pushback and Follow-me

While spotting from the fence line is fun, I'm sure most of us would agree where we would rather be is on the ramp in amongst the aircraft as they prepare for their next flight. TX caters to this as well by including both a pushback truck and a follow-me van. The follow-me van is a typical van you might see operating at any airport and while we don't see them in New Zealand they are very common overseas. In this case you have the choice of right or left hand drive, a nice touch I thought, and like Spotty the van is a full FSX model so all the surfaces reflect, even the side mirrors on the doors. The front and side door are fully animated, as is the rear door, and with the a click of a switch the follow-me sign and flashing light are activated. This model has a full VC and drives pretty well. The driver, a somewhat suave looking chap, is also animated and looks left and right as you corner as well as steering the wheel. AI aircraft are aware of what's around them so if you plant your van in front of taxiing aircraft they will stop for you, so it can be kind of fun to guide an aircraft or two down the taxiway, applying your brakes every now and then and seeing the ripple effect of aircraft braking, especially at an airport like Chicago where you can easily have a dozen aircraft lined up behind you. Slam on the brakes and watch the line of aircraft come to a stop, lots of fun in a childish kind of way, but if you cant mess with AI what can you mess with. In terms of driving performance you can get some pretty good speed with the van, it does tend to slide on the corners somewhat but I've found that with most FSX vehicles so nothing new in that.


Push-Back	Push-Back Detail	Push-Back VC	Elton John?

Animated Doors	Van VC	Van Interior	Through the back window

The Pushback truck is similar in style to the type we have seen operating at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports here in New Zealand, and work on the premise of connecting to the main wheels. However this model is designed to engage the front wheels and has a cab to keep the driver dry during rainy weather. Like the van this is also a well modeled vehicle. The driver has good detail and if I'm not mistaken it might actually be Elton John if you look closely. The flashing lights are well animated with the reflector actually spinning inside. The VC is a good rendering of what I would imagine these trucks would be like, and you have animated switches that allow you to listen in on ATC, turn lights on and off and control the animated windscreen wipers. The wheel locks also work so when you flip the switch they move into place securing the tug to the front wheels of the aircraft in a virtual sense, as you cant actually physically move any of the AI traffic. Fully reflective metal surfaces and rear vision mirrors are also a feature. The tug is very useful to get underneath the larger aircraft and generally zip around the airport. Don't expect huge speeds from this machine, its realistic in terms of it being a tug not a racer. All up both are good fun and work well for their intended purpose of getting up close and personal with the Traffic.

Tower Views

Tower views are not only a clever feature they are also very functional and provide plenty of information. You have 8 stations all with the same controls that consist of a radar scope that is fully functional, and a monitoring panel that gives you extensive information on wind, time of day, temperature and QNH (Queens Nautical Height - Atmospheric Pressure (Q) at Nautical Height). It also allows you to turn aircraft labels on and off, change ATC freq, change the sim speed and also adjust your eye point of view up and down and left and right, as well as adjust zoom settings. This is great for allowing you to visually watch aircraft movements without having to slew to do so. The radar scope is impressive, each AI aircraft is tracked in real time and by clicking on any of them various details about speed, direction, climb rate, aircraft type and registration, flight number and distance from the tower is displayed. There are three tower options available from short to incredibly tall, each one is the same in terms of controls but naturally the higher you are the better view you'll get of the operations, and because FSX treats the tower as an aircraft it means you can place it anywhere you wish.


Radar Scope	Panels	Tower	Tower Wide-Angle

Flightplans and Skins the TrafficX way

As mentioned earlier TrafficX does also feature two other utilities designed to add aircraft skins and also change flight plans and the other bits and pieces associated with the movements of the AI traffic in FSX.

Traffic Paint X

This small utility does two things, firstly it allows you to modify the textures pre-installed with TX. It was simply a matter of telling the program what my preferred editing software was, selecting the aircraft and skin and then it would open in my program. Cleverly this tool allows the user to bypass image tool to change formats, and unlike raw .DDS files (.DDS is the native FSX graphic format for aircraft textures) the image is already flipped for you so you are ready to go. If however you are wanting to add a new skin this was also as simple as clicking the button and another window popped up, this is where I entered details on the airline, registration number etc and is used to populate the appropriate aircraft config file so the new skin will show up and can then be included or added to flight plans. I found this tool easy to use, its got an intuitive interface and makes adding and changing skins a very easy process, particularly useful for those not comfortable or familiar with working with their aircraft config file.


Modify a Skin	Add a New Skin

Traffic Control Centre

TrafficX has at its heart the Traffic Control Centre (T.C.C). The T.C.C is 8 utilities in one that pretty much allows the user to change any and all parameters associated with their aircraft fleet, flight plans, airport information and functions to your hearts context. The overall layout is attractive and easy to follow, and clicking each button brought an almost instantaneous response from the utility, with each screen providing information and options on the parameters it related to and how they could be changed.


TCC	Airport Info	Carrier Codes	Fleet Info

Airport Info	Provides information on all airports and allows the import of modified data for each such as parking.
Carrier Codes	Allows the editing of carrier info for parking, airline name and whether it has a fleet or a single aircraft. Sort order can be specified and new carriers added
Fleet Information	Provides editable data on each aircraft and the ability to change the paint scheme for it. Lots of options here to set aircraft range, maximum speed and even runway lengths it can operate from.
Hangar	This lists all the aircraft in TrafficX, each can be added to the flyable aircraft hangar allowing you to then use them in FSX.
Traffic Generation	Tick box selection for what aircraft will be used for VFR and Private jets, this section also allows FSX default and other add-ons to be used.
Movements	Tick box selection of all regions, countries and airlines that will be included in the traffic file. Means you can easily pick and mix what countries will have traffic, and what airlines will fly.
Flight plans	This displays all the flight plans for each airline, double click a flight and aircraft type, departure times etc can be modified. This is excellent for assigning special skins to specific aircraft and flights.


Hangar	Traffic Generation	Movements	Flightplans

There is no doubt this utility is extensive, and while the documentation is fairly light in terms of detail on its use, I found it intuitive and easy enough to understand what each item did and how I could change things to suit my own needs.

Around the World in 80 AI Days

With the 'technical' stuff out of the way it was time to see what coverage TrafficX would provide, the airlines represented and how it ran. After the early issues spotted with New Zealand it was time to head overseas and I'll say up-front that I was impressed. A week or so after release JustFlight provided a small hot fix as it seemed traffic volumes were not as high as users had anticipated. I didn't run TX without this patch so can't comment on what it was like 'out of the box' but personally I felt there was more than enough traffic at the major airports I visited. Without boring you with too much detail I did a sweep through Europe taking in France, Germany, Switzerland and Russian airports, the U.K was also packed nicely (Heathrow was impressive). I traversed the Atlantic and swept down the east coast through JFK, Washington and down to Dallas then to Vegas and LA and then down to Argentina. All had excellent numbers of aircraft and airlines, many I had never heard about before, but a quick Google search validated their realism. I spotted a few 737-800's that were black (see Germany screen shot below), so it looks like a texture assignment problem is going on for one or two airlines. I was unable to find any operational military aircraft with the exception of Air Force 1. I diverted to both Iraq and Afghanistan but still nothing so I have no idea where to find these, shame really given the range of aircraft types available with the package. I'll update this review when I spot them.


A380 in Dubai	A300 at Frankfurt	Moscow	Zurich	Yup, that's Concorde

Germany	No Pressure	Airbus A320	Heathrow	Cargo Operators

Asia revealed another large assortment of aircraft and airline types, I spotted a DC8 freighter in Hong Kong which was pretty cool along with a strong showing from Cathay Pacific as you would expect. Dubai had a vast number of airlines and aircraft, it was here I ran into a pair of A380's and also got to take a good look at the A330. While it was average in the Qantas skin the Gulf Air example I tracked really brought out the clean lines of the model. I was impressed to see a good variation of both new and older liveries across most of the airlines, this reflected the real world reality because it can take years to repaint an entire fleet, and I have to say it was cool to see some older liveries. From a virtual spotting point of view Dubai was fantastic, so many aircraft types and airlines were present it made for difficult choices on where to look.


A330 Gulf Air	'3 Holer' 727	Christchurch	747-SP and others

Hong Kong	Frankfurt	Sydney	Argentina

I felt Australia was a little light with traffic, Sydney seemed very quiet with very few Qantas birds to be seen but Virgin was well represented, in part this is about the time of day as well. I noted that Impulse, the long defunct 717 operator was here. It was nice to see the livery but for those who know the history Impulse went out of business over 7 years ago so was a surprise inclusion. If anything that find summed up the few quirks that exist in TX, I don't believe they detract at all and as mentioned before a few clicks of the mouse in the T.C.C will banish Impulse forever from your traffic, once again, if you so choose. There is a good smattering of special liveries throughout TX so expect to see your favorite special livery flying into an airport you would expect to see it.