Hey,
while testing some AI Traffic stuff (SimConnect mostly but cross-checked with Live-Traffic). I encountered a change compared to MSFS2020.
In MSFS2020 the ATC would give arrival instructions (descent, STAR assignemtn, vectors…) to an arriving airplane as soon as the airport would be loaded in the reality bubble. The airplane would remain in the State Enroute. While closing in on the destination the ATC would instruct the airplane to contact the tower and start the final approch. Switching to Traffic State “Pattern”. Only at this point the SimVar for assigned Runway is set, even if the assinged runway is known already.
In MSFS2024 the ATC is now skipping the descent/STAR phase completly. As soon as the airport is in the bubble ATC asks the AI airplanes to descent, star the final approch and contact the tower (even if more then 50nm away). Traffic State directly changes to “pattern” and the runway is readable via the SimVar.
Is this new behavior normal or a bug? I guess it is a bug, since ATC would normally not tell the pilot to call the tower if 50nm+ away.
And since the ingame DevMode is using the TrafficState SimVar as well when checking “Names” for Airplanes can we expect that it is still fully supported even if the SDk docs lists it under “lagacy”?
Greetings
Kai