I agree and everyone has their own pain threshold on issues like this. For me, I would pay up to $10 a month for what I’ve seen from BeyondATC so far. And if that doesn’t cover all my flights, I’d simply run some of my sightseeing VFR flights in the lower-cost mode.
Even the fastest PC in the world cannot do what Cloud AI is doing for BeyondATC and run MSFS at the same time.
Edited reply to clarify it was more of a general reply, even though I was quoting you, to explain generally how these things are working. I should have been clearer in intent, my bad.
Just to put my own 2 cents here: I’m not flying much, but I do want to have those flights as immersive as possible. So I’d reather be paying a per character fee as a per month fee.
However it wouldn’t be an act of pure evil from BATC to have both models running. There are plenty of services where the provider pays the supplier as per usage while you as a customer pay a flat monthly fee. Just think of Spotify. I don’t think BATC is a home project, so I assume they have someone with appropriate business skill to come up with a pricing for both scenarios in which they still end up as a viable enterprise while the customer feels satisfied.
What does grate my ears is the ATIS. I’m ready to believe there are airports where ATIS is this bad, but none of the real ones available on the liveatc website that you can listen to sound like a C64 speech synthetiser.
Also I’d really love to see a BATC video on VFR flights. Show off basic, traffic and deconfiction service and handling various airspaces to us!
I have been feeling this way since I first heard that ATIS. And they even spoke about how realistic the ATIS was…I was like , Huh?
No worries, just wanted to clarify that there will be a path of zero cost after purchase if someone really wants/needs it and is ok with the limitations.
Your characterization of AI services / systems was good and accurate.
There is automated ATIS at some facilities, I’ve yet to hear what one sounds like. Our facility doesn’t have one, we record it ourselves. Perhaps there is a way to randomize spoken/automated ATIS?
Never mind!
You have a great memory !!
BATC is not using a GPT engine, the AI is only used for voice conversion, the language processing is all using algorithmic code and not AI based, as previously confirmed on discord. The other yet to be released contender that keeps changing its name is using GPT.
Neat, best of luck to them.
I think it’s a US thing. For example if you listen to KSFO here it really does sound like straight from the 90s.
Wow. Most of the ones I have heard IRL sound more like the NOAA weather radio guy.
The free version(aka one payment version) alone will be better than any other product on the marked for sure.
The Premium version will be like a one off luxury car, it will cost - but im glad its an option for those who want the best. It will be nothing like it.
Either way, those options sound pretty reasonable do me.
A lot of Class Bravo airports have “D-ATIS” or Digital ATIS. It does sound like an old C64 voice synthesizer. They are HORRID, and nearly unintelligible.
Okay, I have to admit I was wrong and rescind my C64 comment. I tried to find US ATIS channels on liveatc and they are really that horrible.
On a completely different note: I checked the discord faq, but could not find info if a multiplayer feature will/would be possible?
You’d fly along with AI planes reacting to ATC and also other BATC players? BATC could inject them just like vatsim does. You’d have both the diversity and coverage of BATC and the community feeling of vatsim in one go.
I think there’s an Online / Multiplayer option under Data(?). I know I’ve flown with others, seen their tail numbers, etc. Not sure if this is what you had in mind though.
Nope, not that one. That would show EVERYONE withe option ON. I was talking about the way I fly on vatsim too. DATA/MULTIPLAYER setting is on OFF and the vatsim client injects everyone else also on the vatsim network into the game. So there is traffic, but only people flying under the same rules.
BATC also has a traffic injection system, so real world planes can be shown and more iportantly for you to fly along other planes that ARE listening to the same commands and are obeying them. Adding other players also connected to BATC does not seem like a big additional development while adding a lot of immersion.
But of course, I’m not a programmer so I just might be talking completely nonsense, that’s why I asked.
As a programmer I suspect it would add a lot of extra complexity. Maybe in V2 if we are lucky but we know it’s not in V1.
Gonna keep my eye on this one for VR implementation one day.
I know the devs say at the moment that VR is not being supported (i.e. with screen panels) but I’m willing to bet someone will come up with a way of doing it!