# Settings - Advanced

Settings are available from X-Plane's menu: `Plugin > LiveTraffic > Settings...`.  In the "Advanced" section you can tweak some rather internal parameters of LiveTraffic, which you should definitely understand before changing.

### Logging

![Settings > Advanced > Logging](https://content.gitbook.com/content/t5MNX3JyNcFmOnewUy9b/blobs/DQBmlJ5Jrchwif94vPWw/Settings_Advanced_Logging.png)

<table><thead><tr><th width="154.33333333333331">Setting</th><th width="128">Default</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Log.txt logging Level</td><td>Warning</td><td><p>Amount of information written to X-Plane's log file <code>Log.txt</code>:<br><em>Debug</em> is <strong>most</strong>, <em>Fatal</em> is <strong>least</strong> amount of information.<br>Less than <em>Error</em> is not recommended.</p><p>In case you can reproduce an error or weird behaviour then please set this to <em>Debug before</em> your reproduce once more. Then <a href="https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/forum/457-livetraffic-support/">create a support request</a> and attach the resulting log file.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Message Area</td><td>Info</td><td><p>Level of messages shown in the message area in the top right corner. <em>Fatal</em> shows least, <em>Info</em> most messages.</p><p>Only selected messages appear there at all. With this setting you can further reduce the number of messages appearing. Less than <em>Warning</em> is not recommended, however.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Max Message List Len</td><td>250</td><td>Number of messages kept for display in the <a href="../../using-lt/info-list-window/messages">Messages List</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Aircraft Selection

![Settings > Advanced > Aircraft Selection](https://content.gitbook.com/content/t5MNX3JyNcFmOnewUy9b/blobs/3QfzKzZ1EE229h52Ope7/Settings_Advanced_AircraftSelection.png)

<table><thead><tr><th width="152.33333333333331">Setting</th><th width="131">Default</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Max number of aircrafts</td><td>50</td><td>Maximum number of aircrafts to display.</td></tr><tr><td>Search distance</td><td>25 nm</td><td>Distance in nautical miles around current viewing position which is scanned for live flight data.</td></tr><tr><td>Snap to Taxiways</td><td>15 m</td><td><p>Aircraft positions will be updated to the closest taxiway or runway centerline, if there is such a taxiway/runway in a maximum distance of this many meters.</p><p>The feature is completely switched off (and scenery no longer read) if set to <code>0</code>. See <a href="../../introduction/features/snapping-to-taxiways">here</a> for more details on taxiway snapping.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Live data refresh</td><td>20 s</td><td><p>Number of seconds to wait between two queries for live flight data.</p><p>Note that data for any one aircraft does not update continuously. Querying data more often will not have much of an effect.</p><p>If enlarging this value, then the <em>Buffering Period</em> and the <em>A/c outdated period</em> might automatically be enlarged, too, if necessary.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Above Height AGL of...<br>increase refresh to</td><td>10000 ft<br>60 s</td><td>These two settins work together and define that a longer refresh period is to be used when the user's aircraft flies higher above ground than given here. This is to save request budget especially for <a href="../../installation/opensky#request-limit">OpenSky</a> and <a href="../installation/ads-b-exchange">ADSBEx</a> connection, which operate with request limits.</td></tr><tr><td>Buffering Period</td><td>90 s</td><td>Seconds to buffer before displaying aircrafts. This serves as the look-ahead buffer for LiveTraffics data cleansing and take off/landing prediction and is equivalent to the time lag between LiveTraffic's aircraft display and reality.<br>Must be greater or equal to the <em>Live data refresh</em> period.<br>See an <a href="../../../reference/faq#what-do-you-need-the-buffering-period-for">FAQ </a>for more background.</td></tr><tr><td>Network timeout</td><td>5</td><td>Number of seconds a network request is allowed to take before considering it failed.<br>A low value lets LiveTraffic "fail early" and rather retry quickly, but may also contribute to server overload.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Contrails

LiveTraffic can produce contrails for jet aircraft. Contrail generation does *not* base on weather but solely on these settings. Keep in mind that contrails, using X-Plane's particle system, have the potential to affect performance, so change with care:

<figure><img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/t5MNX3JyNcFmOnewUy9b/blobs/8x8Qm4gxGiDxAVH2b1L5/Settings_Advanced_Contrails.png" alt=""><figcaption><p>Settings > Advanced > Contrails</p></figcaption></figure>

<table><thead><tr><th width="149">Setting</th><th width="117">Default</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Min Altitude</td><td>25000 ft</td><td>Minimum altitude for contrails, no contrails below</td></tr><tr><td>Max Alt. (0 = off)</td><td>45000 ft</td><td>Maximum altitiude for contrails, no contrails above.<br>Settings this to <code>0</code> disables contrail generation altogether</td></tr><tr><td>Life Time</td><td>25 s</td><td>How long does a contrail "puff" survive? Determines visible length of contrail.</td></tr><tr><td>Multiple Contrails</td><td>off</td><td>On: One contrail per aircraft engine, more realistic, but also more likely to affect FPS.<br>Off: One contrail per aircraft.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Miscellaneous

<figure><img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/t5MNX3JyNcFmOnewUy9b/blobs/1QPxLUMe0KeCr8qz23dI/SettingsAdvancedMisc.jpeg" alt=""><figcaption><p>Settings > Advanced > Miscellaneous</p></figcaption></figure>

<table><thead><tr><th width="147.33333333333331">Setting</th><th width="118">Default</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Own FMOD Instance</td><td>Disabled</td><td>Shall LiveTraffic create a separate FMOD instance for creating sound?<br>By default, LiveTraffic integrates into X-Plane 12's FMOD engine, which might help manage system resources.<br>In X-Plane 11, or when this option is Enabled, LiveTraffic creates its own FMOD instance.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Export

![Settings > Advanced > Export](https://content.gitbook.com/content/t5MNX3JyNcFmOnewUy9b/blobs/hdvmi7MBwRtAoigX1e9Q/Settings_Advanced_Export.png)

These settings control temporary (read: not saved to the configuration file) export of all received tracking data into a file named `<X-Plane>/Output/LTExportFD - <timestamp>.csv`. This export file can be used for analysis or for [feeding back into LiveTraffic](https://twinfan.gitbook.io/livetraffic/introduction/features/feeding-data).

<table><thead><tr><th width="160.33333333333331">Setting</th><th width="106">Default</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Export Tracking Data</td><td>Off</td><td>Export each received tracking data record from all active channels.</td></tr><tr><td>Export User Aircraft</td><td>Off</td><td><p>Export user's aircraft position every 15 seconds. The user's aircraft will be recorded with call sign "USER" to be able to identify it when fed back into LiveTraffic.</p><p>Both export options can be on at the same time.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Export: Normalize Time</td><td>On</td><td>The timestamp logged into the export file usually is a <a href="https://www.epochconverter.com/">Unix-like timestamp</a> telling the time when the position record was valid. With this option enabled the timestamp will instead be number of seconds since start of export. This might simplify analysis and merging several files.</td></tr><tr><td>Export File Format</td><td><code>RTTFC</code></td><td><code>AITFC</code> is an older, shorter format, <code>RTTFC</code> came with <a href="../installation/realtraffic-connectivity">RealTraffic</a> v9 and includes many more fields in the export.</td></tr></tbody></table>

If you want to make sense of the data in the export file, then you can insert the following header line in front of the export file and open it in your favorite spreadsheet application:

For AITFC format:

```csv
AITFC,hexid,lat,lon,alt,vs,airborne,hdg,spd,cs,type,tail,from,to,timestamp
```

For `RTTFC` format:

```csv
RTTFC,hexid, lat, lon, baro_alt, baro_rate, gnd, track, gsp, cs_icao, ac_type, ac_tailno, from_iata, to_iata, timestamp, source, cs_iata, msg_type, alt_geom, IAS, TAS, Mach, track_rate, roll, mag_heading, true_heading, geom_rate, emergency, category, nav_qnh, nav_altitude_mcp, nav_altitude_fms, nav_heading, nav_modes, seen, rssi, winddir, windspd, OAT, TAT, isICAOhex,augmentation_status,authentication
```

### User Interface

![Settings > Advanced > User Interface](https://content.gitbook.com/content/t5MNX3JyNcFmOnewUy9b/blobs/oXDcWd8QhqIr1Wlxfn8Q/Settings_Advanced_UserInterface.png)

<table><thead><tr><th width="143.33333333333331">Setting</th><th width="92">Default</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Message Window</td><td></td><td>Clicking the button [Reposition Message Wnd] opens the message window, by default in the top right corner, allowing you to reposition and resize it to your liking.</td></tr><tr><td>Transparent Settings</td><td>Off</td><td>Display this Settings window as a transparent window just like the <a href="../../using-lt/aircraft-information-window">Aircraft Information Window</a>. Changes to this toggle require you to re-open the Settings.</td></tr><tr><td>Font Scaling</td><td>100%</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Opacity</td><td>25%</td><td><p>Opacity of both the Aircraft Information Window (where this same value can be change, too) and a transparent Settings window.</p><p>100% means full black background, 0% means no background at all.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>

The \[Reset to Defaults...] button allows you, after a confirmation prompt, to reset all Advanced Settings to their respective defaults as documented here.