Global AI Ship Traffic for MSFS: GAIST Ultra Version 5

The latest version 5 of the GAIST global ship, boat, and maritime traffic add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) 2020 release.  Bring the seas to life with this free-to-download, free-to-use package.  This ultra version enriches coastal and global maritime routes by significantly expanding the diversity and realism of ship traffic within the simulator.

Key features

The latest v5 expands on the previous release with the notable points below.

• Expanded Ship Roster: Now boasting around 1,000 unique ship models and nearly 2,000 distinct appearances including repaints, this version significantly enhances maritime realism across all virtual seas.
• Increased Route Coverage: Experience enhanced traffic density with expanded global coverage, ensuring a dynamic and varied marine environment wherever you navigate.
• Performance Optimizations: Routes are now optimized in their packing, ensuring smoother performance and quicker load times at the onset of each flight scenario.
• New Ship Categories: Notable additions include several cruise ships, an array of fishing vessels from the Americas, and a surge in the fleet of ultra-large container ships and oil tankers.
• Enhanced Naval and Ferry Operations: With over 300 ferry models accurately following their real-world routes and naval exercises featuring global navy forces, engage in diverse maritime operations.
• Real-world Events: Participate in global maritime events such as NATO naval exercises, the Tall Ship and around-the-world sail races, and more immersive, event-centric experiences.

Technical Enhancements in GAIST Ultra V5

• Improved model Level of Detail (LOD) to boost graphical performance without compromising the quality.
• Unified global route directory for streamlined data management.
• Rich variety of ships including specialized models for Coast Guard, ferries, and leisure vessels across diverse global locales.

This version not only increases the quantity and variety of ships but also enhances user experience through detailed attention to performance and realism. Whether it's witnessing a full-scale military exercise or exploring busy fishing lanes, each session promises a fresh and authentic sea-faring adventure.

Official Description

This is Version 5.0 of the Global AI Ship Traffic Ultra. Hundreds of new ships have been added since the last version bringing the number of unique ship models to around 1000 and the number of ships including repaints close to around 2000. The route coverage has been expanded increasing traffic density though the focus is as usual to have a diverse ship traffic according to what you could see in each region. Routes have been packed differently to improve performance at the start of a new flight.

Among the new models in this version are several new cruise ships, and different types of fishing boats from in particular North and South America complementing the existing fleet of regional fishing vessels from around the world. Also, the increasing number of ultra-large containerships is reflected with new models the fleet of oil and gas tankers expanded, and a number of ferries have been included in particular in the Pacific Northwest and in North Europe.

More than three hundred ferry routes are covered with their specific ferries, and you will find naval exercises with Navy ships from most regions. Watch a full-scale NATO landing exercise on the West Coast of the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark or the Brazilian or Chinese navies doing the same in their respective areas. Watch the departure of a Tall Ship race from Saint-Malo, Kiel, or Sandefjord or an around-the-world sail race departing from Gothenburg... Go looking for Maersk Alabama in the exact spot she was attacked by pirates on the coast of Somalia as later depicted in the movie Captain Phillips with Tom Hanks. More than 40.000 ship movements ensure that the sea is no longer empty.

This package provides global ship traffic for coastal areas as well as some of the main intercontinental maritime routes. More than 300 ferry models serve their real-life routes. Fishing boats and ship traffic are done with locally relevant models.

Compared to previous versions V5 has

• Improved loading performance
• All global routes now joined in one folder
• More ships including among other Coast Guard units for the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and the UK... 
• More fishing vessels... 
• More ferries including new models and routes on the English Channel, in the Meditteranean, along the US and Canadian East and West Coast, in the Baltic Sea, in the Java Sea... 
• More yachts and sailboats
• More dense traffic in general
• More models with LOD implemented for performance improvement

More than three hundred ferry routes are covered with their specific ferries, and you will find naval exercises with Navy ships from most regions. Watch a full-scale NATO landing exercise on the West Coast of the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark or the Brazilian or Chinese navies doing the same in their respective areas. Watch the departure of a Tall Ship race from Saint-Malo, Kiel, or Sandefjord or an around-the-world sail race departing from Gothenburg or Les Sables de Olonne...

Models and textures by Erwin Welker, Jean-Pierre Fillion, Knud Kristoffersen, Martin Rueedi, Larry Robinson, Dexter, Milton Shupe, Manfred Siedler, Bernardo Barroso, Paul Donnelly, Finn Kristoffer, Didier ‘‘Lagaffe’’ Puentes, Andrew Thomsen, Kevair, Robystar, Antonio Diaz, Sebastien Viale, Alberto Garcia, Cxema, Pascal Dumat, Rick Keller, Lazarus Starkweather, Dave Garwood, Darren Lane, Jan de Jong, Wildlynxpilot, Sir Topham Hatt, Phaxmodels, Henrik Nielsen, and more

A great thank also to the many beta testers and a special thanks to the shipping company DFDS www.dfds.com  for providing documentation to make realistic models of their fleet of passenger and freight ferries and to DGzRS Die Seenotretter for allowing to model their 28m rescue boat Nis Randers. You can find more information about their see rescue operation and support them here: https://www.seenotretter.de/

Known issues

• Models do not have hard decks - they will eventually be reintroduced later
• Effects will display best with ground wind setting between 5 - 15 knots. Below this wind speed not much to see, they might look exaggerated.
• The MSFS engine is simple and not very stable; ships will sometimes be unstable or make strange movements if they meet other objects
• Not all ships appear in harbor areas with heavy scenery; some prioritization by the sim engine can prevent some ships from showing
• The project includes more than 15.000 textures and over 1000 model files, we do expect some glitches - if you find something really disturbing, please send me a PM here or comment on forums.flightsimulator.com
• If you experience a freeze at the start-up of a flight reduce the number of regional traffic packages active as the number of traffic BGL files has caused issues for some users depending on the system and settings. Reducing traffic to have just one or two regions active at the time should solve the issue.
• Please notice that some models are intentionally not linked to routes at the moment but they will be needed once we launch a Real-Time Version of the traffic.

Installation

Before installation please remove all old versions of Global AI Ship Traffic / GAIST and associated route files. However, if you use Global AI Ship Traffic Great Lakes you can leave this active as this version 5 of Global AI Ship Traffic GAIST Ultra does not cover the Great Lakes.

To install please unzip and drop the included file folders gaist-ultra-v5_0 and global-ship-routes_V1_1 into your MSFS Community folder.

In MSFS general options under traffic ships and ferries should be set to 5-10 % for best performance. Increasing above 10% will not add any traffic to this project.

Support

For support and additional information please follow our threads on the project on forums.flightsimulator.com, avsim.com, fsdeveloper.com, sim-outhouse.com in English, on flightsim.no in Norwegian and Danish, voovirtual.com in Portuguese, and pilote-virtuel.com in French. 

Idea and conceptualization Henrik Nielsen, KL791

Copyright Henrik Nielsen and individual file developers.

Referencing models in other projects or any other use or sharing of the models included in Global AI Ship Traffic / GAIST can only happen after written permission by the respective copyright holders for the individual models.

⇲ Download Now 3.13 GB

About the Developer: Henrik Nielsen

This mod was developed by Henrik Nielsen.

Henrik Nielsen has been developing AI boat, ship, and seacraft vehicles for Microsoft Flight Simulator since the early days of FSX/P3D.  His projects have been running for over a decade and have included support from many developers he has been in contact with over the years.  He has recently re-created his AI Ship/Boat traffic add-on for compatibility with the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) 2020 release.

If you like Henrik's mods, please do consider donating to his projects so he can continue to provide the freeware you enjoy in your sim.

Donate

The developer of this mod/add-on (Henrik Nielsen) has worked hard in order to produce this freeware creation. If you enjoy and make use of this release, why not donate to the developer to help support their projects?

Donate via PayPal

Adam McEnroe

Adam McEnroe is a flight sim enthusiast who has been simming since the days of FS95. Adam writes all of the download section editorials after testing each of the files. Adam has extensive knowledge using various flight simulator packages and thoroughly tests the files before writing about them. Adam also like to fly real-world aircraft in his spare time and is training for his PPL.

Should you wish, you can contact Adam via email at adam@flyawaysimulation.com.

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