Although only announcing the project last month, Aerosoft has taken the decision to cancel Simple Traffic, declaring the product “dead.” This news comes from Mathijs on the forums over the weekend following the release of Sim Update V for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
According to the post, the latest Sim Update has “wrecked” the project as it has changed how AI traffic was injected into the simulator. Not only that but the files that Simple Traffic relied on have now become encrypted, meaning that the files are locked for editing or changes by third-party developers. Mathijs says that this is a massive blow for them and Jeff who is developing Simple Traffic. Aerosoft and Jeff do apologise for anyone looking forward to the project, but right now, there’s nothing that can be done to get past this hurdle.
Whilst announcing that the project is dead, there could still be some hope for it in the future. Other ways to create the add-on are being explored with some plans already being made. However, these ideas are not as smooth or as simple as the product would have been beforehand. Interestingly, Mathijs says that before any work can be done the “the sim [needs] to be a stable platform.”
This news is interesting as it shows the fact that even a developer such as Aerosoft, with close ties to Asobo and Microsoft, did not know about the massive changes Sim Update V was bringing and can’t work around the new restrictions for what was likely going to be a popular product for them. In the meantime, you could check out a similar freeware mod that will replace the AI traffic with new models and realistic looking textures.
