Hello.Well after mulling through the long "WOW" post in this forum about Ground Environment, I am tempted now to give it a try.Before I do, I would like to know if there is really a big difference between the textures in Ground environment and the BEV ones?I pretty much only fly in the North American continent and I was wondering if there is really much difference using the BEV textures over the Ground Environment ones in north America?I have been really happy with the look of BEV and wonder if it is worth switching.The screen shots of the ground enviroment look really good, but will I notice a difference between BEV and GE? Is GE more or less "real" looking?The price is right for GE, so that's not the issue. Before I go through the hassle of unloading all my texture ad-ons, I would like to get an idea if the BEV to GE switch is really worth the effort?Thanks for the input!Scott :-)

>Hello.>>Well after mulling through the long "WOW" post in this forum>about Ground Environment, I am tempted now to give it a try.>>Before I do, I would like to know if there is really a big>difference between the textures in Ground environment and the>BEV ones?>>I pretty much only fly in the North American continent and I>was wondering if there is really much difference using the BEV>textures over the Ground Environment ones in north America?>>I have been really happy with the look of BEV and wonder if it>is worth switching.>>The screen shots of the ground enviroment look really good,>but will I notice a difference between BEV and GE? Is GE more>or less "real" looking?>>The price is right for GE, so that's not the issue. Before I>go through the hassle of unloading all my texture ad-ons, I>would like to get an idea if the BEV to GE switch is really>worth the effort?>>Thanks for the input!>>Scott :-)Well, Scott, I do not have BEV, but the combination of GE,FS Genesis,FE, UTerrain and ActiveSky has been great for me. And, they got together quit well. I did not have to do any manual stuff, just installed them and away with the mixture. Lovely effects!! Cheers and happy landingsFlygirl

>>I have been really happy with the look of BEVIf you're happy with what you've got, then why switch? I have (had) both) and am now using GE to get all seasons and regions without the hassle of waiting for BEV to release them. I would argue that the aesthetic difference between the two is a difference of opinion. ricardo

Scott,I've used both now in combination with UT, FS Genesis Land Class, and their meshes and there are pros and cons to each. In general I think it is really the land class that determines what you see as I am sure the GSGenesis folks fine tuned their product with the default textures. I found with BEV that there were weird grid like roads in very small mountain towns here in Colorado (where I fly most of the time). The neighborhoods were too white, regardless of the season, and there was a great deal of shimmering from the autogen. I know it is supposed to be customizeable but I never found that easy to use. In general I would have preferred the ability to turn down the "urbanization" to something that looked more realistic for this area.With GE, I find that many of the large expensive homes that grace the ridges of the Front Range foothills have turned into large factories or warehouses. Some of the green space on the mountain sides looks like virgin cloud forest with its lush green foliage, as opposed to the brown that is so prevalent this time of year. Also, I landed at Meeker CO the other day and there were palm trees. Again, I don't think any of these problems have to do with GE as much as the land class you use. I really hope one day all of these products can be bundled into one package so we can be sure of maximum compatibility. It might well be that that product will be called FSX though!David

Scott,The problem you are seeing with GE is becasue we made a mistake with some of the autogen.It's being fixed and later tonight you should find an update on our web site http://environments.flight1.net/Please let me know if you want an early update [email protected] Also, please repost here your findings once you've tried our new autogen.

As far as the shimmering is concerned, make sure your MIP level setting in FS9 Display/hardware settings is no more than 4, also use bilinear filtering. This will greatly reduce, if not eliminate the shimmering of the 3D objects.Pete! I have a question for you. I currently have the summer and fall textures for BEV as well as GE! I've tried different combinations, but the one that works best for me, GE on top of default textures, then a customized theme of BEV on top of that. This gives me GE Winter, and Spring textures, with BEV in the summer and fall (In US not sure if what I see is BEV or GE outside US). So far I'm happy with everything, but you mentioned you probably shouldn't mix and match, so I'm wondering if there is any potential issues, I should be aware of? Will it affect the stability of FS, or just the look of it? As I say, so far I have no issue, just wondering about potential problems, down the road!!Thanks

Hi Tom,Was that my post you were responding too? I had mentioned the weird factories in the foothills. If so, that is great news! ThanksDavid

Well, thanks for your feedback.I have decided to stick with BEV since I don't see any big reason to change to GE at this time. I have been happy with the look BEV gives and my next edition of it (spring textures) is free.Maybe down the road GE will be the way to go for me, but for now, BEV is just fine.Happy Simming!ScottATP/CFII/DA20 Type Rated - Instructor Pilot - USAFA (KAFF), Colorado Springs, CO & at KCOSAOPA #00956593, since 1987Background in Corporate, Airline, and General Aviation

The update that fixes the autogen is up on the GE site, it's amazing !http://environments.flight1.net/updates.htm

I have BEV which is quite good. No need to buy another ground texture program. :-)

Bottom line is that I spent $50 on BEV and love it. No sense in me throwing it away for another set of textures just because something new is out. In 7 months or so will not matter anyways.Besides,I would rather spend the $$$ on another plane to learn/fly/enjoy than another collection of colors and building blocks to look at.