After a lot of teasing and cautious statements, we are proud to finally announce that we're now making good progress on our first MSFS AI traffic package featuring the JYAI F-35A at RAF Lakenheath!

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Brilliant news! Really looking forward to this.

The pictures look fantastic. Obviously a lot of hard work has gone into this. Well done to John and Pete. Might even have to invest in MSFS myself now.

Great news, have been using the AIG beta program with frustration at times due to the limited AI support currently in MSFS. I know it will get better and now something to look forward to.

Awesome work !!
may i suggest to start a new MSFS section in the forum for updates and discussions about it ?

There is this thread, https://militaryaiworks.com/forums/topic/19865, but it's a bit buried.

John

Victory103 wrote: ↑15 Jul 2022, 02:53 Great news, have been using the AIG beta program with frustration at times due to the limited AI support currently in MSFS. I know it will get better and now something to look forward to.

Well, our packages will use the same AI engine with the same limitations: spinning aircraft at the holding, flat take-offs and landings, aircraft going around and not coming back... But when it does work, it's the most immersive experience I've seen in any sim to this day.

Kulbit wrote: ↑15 Jul 2022, 07:55 may i suggest to start a new MSFS section in the forum for updates and discussions about it ?

Yes, the forums will be reorganised soon with dedicated MSFS sections.

I have never seen our test aircraft spin at the runway hold Greg and the take-off and landings seem reasonable. The only real problems for me are the inability to kill the pushback and the bumping along the taxiway. We need Ian to sort the parking at Lakenheath of course.

Other than that, I agree totally - it's a very immersive experience, particularly when taking screen shots in Drone camera view. The best ever view in any of the sims. Great fun.

John

John Young wrote: ↑15 Jul 2022, 16:37 I have never seen our test aircraft spin at the runway hold Greg.

I saw it during testing yesterday for the first time. The second element of a formation had to hold short of RWY 24 while the lead was taking off. It started spinning but soon got a line up and wait instruction after a quarter spin, then turned back in the other direction towards the runway for line-up.

I'm preparing a list of known issues with the AI engine to avoid that our forums get flooded with such reports.

I've only tested with two aircraft departing together. The one at the hold waiting for the first to clear the runway, I've never seen spin.

Maybe if we limit the flight plan to no more than two movements at a time, we won't have a problem?

Greg, so you got this effect with a pair or with two pair?

…might it be better to discuss anything further relating to this issue, in the developer area.

Regards,

Pete.

There’s nothing to discuss, really. The sim is agnostic to the concept of formations so the setup doesn’t matter. As soon as an AI aircraft needs to hold during taxi, be it at the holding position, on the apron while waiting for another taxiing aircraft or anywhere else, there’s a (seemingly random) chance that it will start spinning around. It can’t be avoided until it’s fixed by Asobo. A lot of people have already tried, believe me.

I reiterate my statement that this package, like every other AI traffic product out there even AIG OCI with its clever injection mechanism, is bound by the same limitations in the current MSFS engine which we will do our best to document. Just a matter of shaping correct expectations.

How will these get installed? I don't have MSFS (I use P3D) but I have seen in AIG that manually installing AI in MSFS is complicated. Will there be a installer for these?

The simplest thing is to follow the MSFS rules for installation. This would involve simply unzipping an archive into your Community folder, or into whatever structure you use if you control your addons using something like MSFS Addons linker.

No fuss or bother. Unzip into the community folder to install and delete the folder to uninstall. It keeps everything simple.

We have started talking about a package naming structure so that all users will be able to see at a glance what they have installed. It maybe that on some occasions a package may have more than one folder but providing that we get it right it will all be simple and obvious when you see it.

This is the best news and even with all the issues this means the aircraft will at least be ready whenever Asobo rewrites the traffic engine. I’m sure that will cause new issues itself but at least the models and textures will be ready for the new AI system in the future. In the meantime we can enjoy the packages as they are released! Thank you all!

This is great News! Does this software includes Military air traffic from around the world?

Not sure what you mean by "this software". If you mean MSFS, the answer is no, not by default. If you mean the Lakenheath package, then just the F-35A's for the moment. I'm just getting my FSX "E" model ready before we start the conversion process, so the F-35A's may not be alone for long.

John

Breathtaking news - and only reason for me to grab MSFS finally. I lost a lot of motivation to attend to flightsim last month.
But you revive my spirits regarding this.
Thank you all involved for this fantastic progress and work!

Yes I mean MAIW,, thanks for the reply. So the package will inject the traffic and routes automatically? I've had AIG and the process of manually installing every single airline is a big turnoff. I am beta testing FSLTL and their injector loads routes literally on-the-fly, which is totally great