Before you start...

• Understand and accept the limitations implied by LiveTraffic's design approach...there won't be planes everywhere, especially not everywhere on the ground.

• Verify requirements.

  • For Windows, this includes making sure latest Visual C++ redistributabls are installed. Download and install vc_redist.x64.exe.

  • For Mac OS here is a tip how to deal with security prompts if they happen.

This page will then cover

• ​LiveTraffic plugin installation (mandatory)

• ​CSL Model installation (at east one package required)

  • ​Bluebell​

  • ​X-CSL​

LiveTraffic Archive

In the following, all actual actions are put into green boxes like below. Impatient readers may just want to skip to the next green box. The texts inbetween help validating the steps were successful and give background info. You want to read all text if you are new to the matter.

This is what the folder should look like afterwards:

In the further course of the installation we will fill the .../LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL folder. You may have noticed the ShippedCSL folder, which contains a ground vehicle courtesy of X-CSL.

CSL Model Installation

CSL Models are models of those planes that LiveTraffic draws into the sky. So you need at least one of the following two possible packages. You could install both if you like. Beginners are recommended to start with the Bluebells. But the X-CSL models are available, too.

Bluebell CSL package by Oktalist

With the recent (31-AUG-2020) release 1.3 the installation got a bit easier:

The Bluebell CSL package installation comprises of 12 files if downloaded as ZIP from here, which is recommended and the basis for the following description:

(If you prefer X-Plane.org then there are the same files available.)

1. Select all rows (e.g. using [Ctrl+A])

2. right-click, select Download from the popup-menu

3. Google Drive creates a new archive with those 12 ZIP files, which takes a while, before the download starts. In the end you are downloaded nearly 650 MB

4. You end up with a drive-download*.zip. Unzip that so that you get the 12 BB_*.zip files.

Note that BB_Airbus1.zip and BB_Airbus2.zip both contain a folder BB_Airbus, and BB_Boeing1/2/3.zip all contain a folder BB_Boeing. Depending on how your ZIP tool handles this you either end up

• in just one BB_Airbus folder and one BB_Boeing folder, and the unzipper asking if you want to overwrite xsb_aircraft.txt and Credits.txt (say yes, all overwriting versions are equal), and you are done already,

• or the unzipper tool creates separate folders to avoid any overwrites. In that case you need to merge all BB_Airbus* folders and all BB_Boeing* folders yourself (and again: all Airbus versions of xsb_aircraft.txt are identical as are all Boeing versions). This might for example looks like this:

In the end, you should have a folder structure like this (only some folders are opened in this screenshot an example):

You see aircraft? Great! Check out the Aircraft List to see where they are, hit the ​ Camera button to hop on any plane's tail and see it up close.

To be really sure that your installation is correct and free of errors:

You should see about the following in your log. If so, everything's right:

0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  XPMPMultiplayer.cpp:231/XPMPLoadCSLPackage: Loading CSL package from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read  24 aircraft (A319, A320, A321, A332, A346, AT72, B733, B737, B738, B739, B744, B752, B763, B772, B773, B77L, B77W, CRJ2, CRJ7, DH8D, E145, E170, F70, MD11) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Leipzig_Air_VA/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read  31 aircraft (A332, 3 x C130, C17, 3 x C30J, C5, CL41, E3CF, EUFI, 3 x F16, 2 x F18, G115, 3 x HAWK, M339, 2 x MG29, 3 x PC9, SU27, 2 x TOR, TUCA) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Mil/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read 218 aircraft (6 x B462, 8 x B463, 53 x CRJ2, 12 x CRJ7, 8 x CRJ9, 3 x CRJX, DC10, 8 x E135, 12 x E145, 25 x E170, 29 x E190, 11 x E195, 13 x F100, 6 x F28, 4 x F70, 2 x J328, 5 x MD11, 9 x MD83, 3 x MD90) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Jets/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read  10 aircraft (4 x B06, 2 x EC35, 4 x S76) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Heli/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read 584 aircraft (27 x A306, 6 x A310, 9 x A318, 109 x A319, 183 x A320, 73 x A321, 64 x A332, 43 x A333, 8 x A342, 31 x A343, 7 x A345, 11 x A346, 13 x A388) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Airbus/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read   7 aircraft (2 x A319, A320, B738, 3 x MD83) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Repaints/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read  16 aircraft (7 x BE20, C150, C172, 4 x C421, H25B, 2 x LJ45) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_GA/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 WARN  CSLModels.cpp:416/AddMatchCriteria: Line 12: Different aircraft type (AT42 instead of AT43) for model 'BB_Props AT42_CLG' ignored, rest  processed
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read 201 aircraft (12 x AT43, 64 x AT72, 7 x D328, 45 x DH8D, 14 x F50, 11 x JS41, 12 x L410, 13 x SB20, 23 x SF34) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Props/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1019/CSLModelsProcessAcFile: Read 733 aircraft (5 x B712, 20 x B733, 13 x B734, 10 x B737, 212 x B738, 13 x B739, 106 x B744, 91 x B752, 142 x B763, 32 x B772, 9 x B773, 26 x B77L, 32 x B77W, 22 x B788) from Resources/plugins/LiveTraffic/Resources/CSL/BB_Boeing/xsb_aircraft.txt
0:00:00.000    LT/XPMP2 INFO  CSLModels.cpp:1111/CSLModelsLoad: Total number of known models now is 1824

(If you don't see any INFO line then your logging level is to low, increase it at least to INFO in the Advanced Settings and start up X-Plane once again.)

And now go ahead and do your

If you require more help and support check for ways here:

X-CSL

The X-CSL package comes with an installer, which makes installation a breeze:

• Create a target directory where the X-CSL models shall be installed, e.g. .../LiveTraffic/Resources/X-CSL

• Go to the X-CSL Download page and download the latest client. It doesn't matter which one you choose (at the time of writing there was one for X-IvAp and one for Altitude), generally, prefer the updater with the highest version number.

• Install the updater somewhere according to their instructions, then start the X-CSL-Updater.

• The X-CSL-Updater will not recognize LiveTraffic as a target. You have to tell the updater the specific installation location:

  • From the updater's menu select "Set Custom Path".

  • Confirm the warning regarding advanced usage.

  • Select the folder you created in the first step.

  • Done correctly, the Custom Path should now be displayed in the main window:

• Click the [Index] button: X-CSL Updater will download available models and present them in a list.

• From that list you can pick the models you want to install. Multi-selection possible, [Ctrl+A] selects all.

• Finally, click [Update] to actually download the models.

You can re-execute the X-CSL Updater any time to add more models or update existing ones to latest versions.

You might need to tell LiveTraffic where you installed the models. Add the path to the CSL Package Paths if it is not below an already configured one, for example like this:

Individual CSL Models

You may find individual CSL models on the internet. For example, there is a CSL Download section on X-Plane.org. A CSL archive contains several files in a folder structure.

• Once only:

  • Create one folder, which is to collect all those individual CSL models, e.g. LiveTraffic/Resources/Other

  • Add this collective folder to LiveTraffic's list of CSL paths, see Settings > CSL > CSL Package Paths. As LiveTraffic searches up to 5 folder levels deep it is sufficient to add just this one top-level path and everything underneath will be found, too.

• For each new model:

  • unpack the ZIP archive that you downloaded,

  • move the entire folder of the new model unter the collective folder, and

  • restart LiveTraffic (or all of X-Plane) as new models in existing CSL Packages are loaded on startup only.

This may then, for example, look like this: