AI traffic not showing? Fix traffic settings, FSLTL and other injectors, missing models, MSFS 2024, airport parking and flight-plan faults.
AI traffic usually fails to appear because the selected traffic source is disabled, its density is zero, an external injector is disconnected, required aircraft models are missing, or another package is conflicting. Identify whether you use offline, live, scheduled or injected traffic, enable only that source, then test at a busy default airport.
This is a general, cross-simulator diagnosis. Microsoft Flight Simulator, FSX, Prepar3D, X-Plane and mission-based simulators generate traffic in different ways, but the source, model and airport checks below isolate most failures.
Which AI traffic source should be showing?
The visible aircraft must come from an enabled traffic source; installing aircraft models alone does not generate flights. In this context, traffic simulation means active aircraft that follow routes, taxi and fly—not multiplayer users, airport vehicles or decorative static aeroplanes.
| Traffic source | What it needs | Typical reason it is empty |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in offline AI | Offline AI selected and airline or general-aviation density above zero | The wrong traffic mode is selected or an airborne-traffic slider is at zero |
| Live traffic | Online functionality, a working connection and an available data feed | Online services are disabled, blocked or temporarily unavailable |
| Scheduled traffic | Active flight plans, matching aircraft and suitable airports | No flight operates at the simulator time, the model is missing or the plan is inactive |
| External injector or plug-in | A simulator connection, a traffic feed or schedule, and installed model libraries | The injector is disconnected, has zero traffic limits or is looking in the wrong add-on location |
| Mission or scenario traffic | Aircraft groups, routes and triggers created by the mission designer | The mission contains no such units or their trigger conditions have not been met |
How do I get missing AI traffic back?
The fastest reliable fix is to test one source at one stock airport, then separate connection, model and airport faults.
- Use a busy default airport. Start a normal flight at a large stock airport during a period when your chosen schedule or live source should be active. Wait several minutes after loading because some simulators and injectors populate traffic gradually.
- Select one source only. Enable built-in offline traffic, live traffic or one injector—not all of them together. If you installed only aircraft models and have no traffic source, check which components are required to generate AI airline traffic.
- Check airborne traffic settings. Put the relevant airline, general-aviation or AI aircraft density above zero. Road traffic, airport workers, ground vehicles and parked-aircraft density do not create departures.
- Verify online functionality. Live traffic needs the simulator's online services and a reachable data feed. If offline AI works but live traffic does not, the aircraft models and airport are probably sound; investigate the connection, account services and feed instead.
- Read the injector status or log. Launch it in the order its documentation requires and confirm that it connects to the running simulator. A connection message proves only that the interface works—it does not prove that traffic was found or that visual models are installed.
- Confirm models and schedules separately. An aircraft detected by ATC but drawn generically, invisibly or not at all points towards model matching. No traffic objects at all points towards the source or schedule. Our explanation of how simulator time, aircraft assignments and airport identifiers control AI schedules covers that distinction.
- Disable competing packages. Temporarily remove or deactivate other injectors, traffic BGL files, TCAS-controlling plug-ins and scenery packages with their own traffic. Restart the simulator after changing its active add-ons.
- Try another airport. If the same source works at a stock hub, stop reinstalling it. The original airport probably has unsuitable parking, a changed identifier, closed stands or broken taxi and runway links.
FSLTL still not showing traffic in MSFS 2024?
FSLTL traffic in MSFS 2024 requires the injector to connect on PC and the separate Base Models package to be installed in the add-on location used by that simulator installation. Searches for an “FSTL injector” normally mean FSLTL; the misspelling can make the correct package or settings harder to find.
- Check both components. The injector and Base Models are separate. If the expected injector shortcut or model package “is not there”, verify that both components were installed for MSFS 2024 rather than only MSFS 2020 or an unused simulator profile.
- Use the active Community folder. MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 need not share the same add-on path. Do not copy a remembered path from another installation; confirm the active packages location used by the simulator.
- Load the flight before injecting. Let the aircraft reach the airport, then start the injector and leave its console running. A failure to establish the simulator connection is different from a successful connection reporting no eligible traffic.
- Turn competing airborne traffic off. Disable built-in live and offline AI while diagnosing FSLTL. Set generic parked or ground aircraft low or to zero for the test so they do not obscure gates or create the impression that injected flights are present.
- Inspect limits and filters. Maximum IFR or VFR aircraft set to zero, a very small injection radius, aggressive removal settings or a damaged saved configuration can produce an apparently successful but empty session. Reset uncertain injector options to sensible defaults rather than guessing at every value.
- Interpret the result. Connected with no traffic candidates suggests feed, network, location or filter trouble. An injected-aircraft count with nothing visible points instead to Base Models, package discovery or rendering.
Windows background injectors cannot run beside the simulator on Xbox or PlayStation 5. MSFS 2024 is available on those consoles, but console users must use traffic features and packages supported inside the platform; MSFS 2020 was never released on PlayStation. PC users can follow our MSFS 2024 checks for traffic modes, Community packages and injectors.
Why can LSGG be empty while Duxford has no airline traffic?
LSGG is a sensible live-airline traffic test, while Duxford is not a dependable test of scheduled airline injection. A live source may find movements around Geneva when its feed is active, but Duxford primarily needs suitable VFR, custom, historical or mission traffic rather than an airline timetable.
If LSGG remains empty, test another stock international hub and check the injector's IFR limit, radius and connection. If only an add-on version of LSGG fails, disable that scenery temporarily; its airport identifier, stands or taxi network may be the difference. A live injector also does not normally invent historical flights merely because the simulator clock has been moved.
What changes in FSX, Prepar3D, X-Plane and mission simulators?
Older and non-Microsoft simulators use different traffic files and control interfaces, so an MSFS injector fix cannot simply be applied to every platform.
FSX and Prepar3D
FSX and Prepar3D scheduled traffic requires an active traffic BGL, valid flight plans and an installed aircraft whose title= value exactly matches the plan's aircraft assignment. Traffic files are often placed under Scenery\World\Scenery, although add-ons may register another active scenery folder.
In FSX, even one legacy FS2004-format traffic BGL can suppress FSX-format schedules. Isolate old traffic files if everything vanished after installing another package. For that common package-specific case, use our WOAI checks for aircraft, BGL formats and airport parking.
X-Plane
X-Plane's native AI aircraft must be added through the flight configuration, while traffic plug-ins usually manage their own aircraft or CSL model matching. Run only one plug-in that controls AI or TCAS data; competing plug-ins can leave targets on a traffic display while no aeroplanes are rendered.
DCS and other mission-based simulators
Mission-based simulators show only the aircraft defined or generated by that scenario. Traffic-density controls cannot create a worldwide airline schedule when the mission contains no AI groups, routes, scripts or active triggers.
What if AI traffic is still not showing?
A clean isolation test is the best alternative when normal setting changes have failed. If you are looking for an andere oplossing—Dutch for “another solution”—do this before reinstalling the complete simulator.
- Back up and disable traffic-related add-ons. Leave only the one injector and its required model library active.
- Reset uncertain injector settings. Use its reset or fresh-configuration option, then set non-zero aircraft limits.
- Restart and test a stock hub. Use one traffic source and no third-party airport scenery.
- Classify the outcome. No connection means an interface or installation problem; connected but zero traffic means source, feed or filtering; counted but invisible aircraft means models or rendering.
- Restore packages one at a time. The package after which traffic disappears is the conflict to investigate.
A full simulator reinstall rarely corrects a wrong Community folder, an inactive scenery entry or an injector reading an old profile.
Why are aircraft parked but not flying?
Parked aircraft are often scenery objects or ground-density models with no flight plan, so they will never taxi or depart. Genuine AI may also wait because its departure time has not arrived, the assigned runway is unusable or no connected taxi route reaches it.
Some airport sceneries remove or close parking stands where static aircraft are displayed. That reduces the spaces available to injected traffic, particularly when the requested aircraft needs a larger stand.
Why does traffic work at one airport but not another?
Airport-specific failures usually come from identifiers, parking capacity, stand size or taxi-network data rather than the traffic package itself. Add-on scenery can change an ICAO code, remove airline parking, disconnect taxi links or fail to connect a runway to the AI network even when the airport looks correct.
Success at a stock hub proves that the source, connection and at least some aircraft models work. Compare the affected add-on airport with its default version before changing the whole traffic installation.
Why can ATC see traffic that I cannot?
ATC can track an AI object even when its visual aircraft model is missing, culled or failing to render. Traffic labels, TCAS or the simulator's traffic map can confirm that the object exists and help separate model trouble from injection trouble.
An ATC line containing a callsign such as ADAM, a taxi clearance or a go-around instruction does not prove that a visible model loaded. ADAM is not a standard traffic-source setting; if it appears in radio text, treat it as a callsign or transcription. If ATC and TCAS both show nothing, return to the source, connection and schedule checks.