Ran across this web site for BirdsEye View, http://www.flightsim-bevs.com/. If it delivers on its promised features this could be great. As I understand it, nothing has been released yet and there hasn't been any talk of it around here as I recall, so perhaps beta testers are still under the gag order. I fly low and slow and love the sights out the windows of my Dreamfleet/FSD GA aircraft. Always after a new visual "high". Hope it meshes well with FSGenesis mesh and roads, rivers, etc.

No sooner did I post this when I spotted a parallel discussion elsewhere under a thread about FS Scene. Whoops. still interested in others' opinions tho. Some interesting concerns raised about other add-ons, although I own a good number of these.

As beta testers, we are allowed to talk about and post screen shots of just about anything you want. We have just been making an effort to avoid spamming all the forums. There will some public annoucements to the major flightsim websites in the next week or so.What really drew me to the product was the incredible textures down low. The autogen is redone to line up with the new textures, and the amount of autogen showing with your autogen slider to the right is the most FS2004 can display. All this with no more frame rate affect than default. There's no magic in the frame rate as the textures are all the same size as the defaults. They look better because of really talented artists. It really is as good as it looks. All of us on the team use 3rd-party mesh, mostly from FSGenesis. We also tend to use the FSGenesis landclass and Ultimate Terrain for roads, rails and coastlines. Some of us are using NuRoads 2 from FSGenesis as well for alternate road and rail textures.Feel free to ask questions, or if it is more appropriate as this is a payware product, sign up for the forums at www.flightsim-bevs.comThere are over 80 screen shots there, as well as some great videos, all taken withing FS2004. Tony=http://www.flightsim-bevs.com]

Hi,While the vids and screenshots look great, I was the one who listed concerns in the other thread. I also feel the developer has enough time to address and belay the concerns with proper actions.Here is what I have written in the other thread.**************Keep in mind while you view this add-on, the little disclaimer they attached over at their site in their forum. It seems many of the vids and screen caps include quite a few other add-ons to create their views. And other add-ons means money of course to get the same effect.Once you add in those other costs, it's pretty expensive. They are also charging for Each season separately. Ahhh, The trend continues. Break up as much as you can into as many different chunks. Oh well. To each his own. It's about the money of course.I'd like to see these on a stock system with no add-ons to really see what the product does or does not do. Just a stock video comparing default location to Bird's Eye.I also see a lot of NON-default Roads, so you will need roads to get the same effect as well.I also think each Video should be listed as what specific add-ons are being used so consumers are not mislead into thinking the product is something it is not.Perhaps a disclaimer should be stated on the front page of the site, so consumers are not surprised when their use conflicts with what the beta testers are seeing.I viewed the Ohio and Seattle Vids, and they are excellant, however, we should be advised specifically what add-ons are used.I also don't like the fact that there is no ABOUT Page or info on the team developing this. No Company Info, Address, Contact info, NAMES of Team members, no where on the site that I could find. Another Anonymous Developer. Whois shows domain registered to Tucows in California. If they are in California, they are required to list name, address, phone, etc... Know who you do business with folks. I recommend birds-eye add these things before release.Good Luck with your release.Regards,JoeFrom:http://www.flightsim-bevs.com/smf_1-0-5/index.php?topic=10.0"We understand that the feedback from the BEV demo videos and screenshots is overwhelmingly positive. However, we also feel obliged to tell you that BirdsEyeView installed with Flight Simulator, while being a significant part of the enhancement, cannot achieve the level of detail you see in the screenshots alone.Most of the BEV beta testers have the following addons installed:1. Ultimate Terrain - Canada, Alaska, USA2. FSGenesis 76m or 38m mesh for most areas of USA/Canada, 9m mesh for Grand Canyon3. FSGenesis USA Landclass project (or other enhanced landclasses)4. Enhanced clouds and/or weather using either/or Flight Environment 2004 or ActiveSky V (ASV)Please keep this in mind when viewing the screenshots and videos. BEV, while certainly enjoyable as a stand alone addition to your FS, was created to be a complimentary addon and when used in conjunction with other scenery enhancement creates a world that is several steps beyond the default product . The screen shots and videos throughout this website are a result of that union."Grab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

Hi Joe, I just finished responding to you in the last thead. I must type faster!"Hi Joe,Those are some good questions and observations I'll pass them on to the powers that be. We do put the disclaimer about 3rd pary products both pinned to the top of the forum and at the top of the screen-shots post. I admit you do have to go to the forum to see this.Yes they cost you per season, but they will only cost $12 per season, and after purchasing the 4th, you get the 5th free. Compared to competing products, the price has gone down. It is up to the user/potential customer if they feel this is good value.If it makes you feel better, and it may not , Flight1 is expected to be the distrubutor.Tony"=http://www.flightsim-bevs.com]

Thanks Tony,Like I said, the vids look great.Thanks for passing this up to the others. I appreciate it. :-)Regards,JoeGrab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

Tony,You said in your last post that you buy the product by the season. If you buy four seasons you'll get the 5th free? Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. What's the fifth season? I'm pretty sure the US only has four, I don't know about other countries though, they're all pretty much entitiled to name their own seasons.Jeff

>Tony,>You said in your last post that you buy the product by the>season. If you buy four seasons you'll get the 5th free? >Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. What's the fifth season?>>JeffBrunch? :) From the BEV website:"There will be five volumes per region, each corresponding to the pre-set seasons with FS2002 and FS2004:Volume 1 Summer Volume 2 Fall / Autumn Volume 3 Winter Volume 4 Hard Winter Volume 5 Spring (FREE!) The fifth volume in a set will be a FREE gift to any one who has purchased the previous 4 volumes within the set, effectively providing a 20% discount on the entire set!This pricing standard will also apply to all future sets to include Europe, Oceania, Asia, Middle East, South America, Africa, etc. In addition For those who may be interested in purchasing specific volumes in any particuliar set, there will also be a 20% discount on the purchase of 4 volumes or more no matter which set the volume is choosen from. This will allow anyone the freedom to pick and choose and still receive a substantial discount!"This is me talking again- Another point to make, while the initial push is on to get the US textures out, any US textures than will display in other regions per how FS handles regions will display in those other regions as well. So, for instance, while the initial release covers the US as well as Canada, many of the rock, forest and rough textures will work for our friends in Europe.Tony=http://www.flightsim-bevs.com]

Hi Jeff,It listed as: Vol 1 - Summer Vol 2 - Fall Vol 3 - WinterVol 4 - Hard WinterVol 5 - SpringMike

Hello Jeff,Flight Simulator has 5 seasons, selectively applied to the different parts of the world, including where you live. They are Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter (no snow), and Hard Winter (with snow).Now, which ones do you get?Best regards.LuisEdit: Wow! a three-shooter. You guys are fast!

In order to get spring for the alleged "Free", you have to purchase two versions of the season Winter, plus fall and summer. :-lol Go Figure....So you buy, Summer, Fall, winter, hard winter, and only then after $48.00 plus the amount for all the other ad-ons in order to get the same effect.Grab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

Hi Joe,Note that you get the 5th free no matter what set you choose it from. So in theory, you could choose two seasons for North America, two for Europe, and then get a season for Asia.Full disclosure mode again- it will take some time to get all sets out, so it might take a awhile to actually execute the above example, as Asia for example, is probably months away from release.Tony=http://www.flightsim-bevs.com]

Hi Tony,Am I reading the web site incorrectly, it states.Vol 5 of the 5 volumes will be a FREE gift to any one who has purchased the previous 4 volumes within the set, effectively providing a 20% discount on the entire set!It states within the set, not any set.Am I reading this wrong?.Mike

Hi Mike,Does the copy and paste job I did above help? A little further down it says you can mix and match.Tony=http://www.flightsim-bevs.com]

Hi Tony,I see it now, thanks!!!Mike