Is the 4 season "mod" worth it?

[RW1 615]

@BijanStudio Not really comfortable using java. It's old and full of security holes. And most browsers do not support it or recommend it. Why have you chosen java Bijan? instead of using a more modern programme. 

[MarcG 2,978]

I thought Java was defunct some time ago?

[Wood4591 52]

Hi

 

What about Bijan -3Trees and Gorse bushes Uk ?

will they be installed with version 7 ?

[Wakner 14]

 

9 hours ago, flyblueskies said:

Bijan, I'm using the Addon Linker to link to the season folder, the Model Assets folder, and one of the mask folder. It all seems to work OK, but is there any problem using the Addon Linker?

Hi Bijan

Thanks for the update to your great product.

Similar to others I am not keen to reinstall Java, plus I would like to continue managing my addons through the Linker.

QUESTION: I understand that the 'Model Assets' folder needs to be in the Community folder but what about the 'Lib' folder?

Thanks

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[MarcG 2,978]

@BijanStudio 

In reference to this message from the Mod on the Official Forum:

"Please take all support and issues to the developers’ platform.

The MSFS forum is not to be used for support of 3rd Party product

Last reminder on this."

 

He seems intent on potentially closing the thread, whilst the issue of asking for support is another subject (I see no issue whatsoever...) newcomers to the thread are not going to read through 600+ posts to see previous warnings about not asking for support, nor like many will they read the T&C's of the forum.

So with that in mind and before the mod closes it, perhaps it may be prevalent to point everyone to your Discord channel again or even attach a simple message to the end of all your posts stating "not to ask for support" or something. Just a thought ☺️

[Victoroos 205]

17 hours ago, xenonsk said:

Just got notification from simmarket. Version 7.0 is out.

 

wooop!

[DeepestRed 214]

10 hours ago, RW1 said:

 Not really comfortable using java. It's old and full of security holes. And most browsers do not support it or recommend it. Why have you chosen java Bijan? instead of using a more modern programme. 

I am not Bijan, but I would imagine it's because it's what they know and are comfortable using to do the job.   That is frequently a limiting factor for small developers.

Beyond that, Java is not necessarily the beast that you and one or two others are making it out to be here.  The modern JVM (Java Virtual Machine, the "interpreter" that runs Java code) is capable of running code with speeds that are comparable to that of CLR languages like C#; it's certainly "good enough" for desktop use at least.   It's a highly stable platform with a large corporation backing it and powers many huge enterprise systems.   But, it's also capable of being efficient enough to run the phone in your pocket (assuming you have an Android phone).

And what you'd be installing it for is not to run as a browser plugin.  That is certainly something that anyone should be wary of these days.  Instead, it looks like Bijan has coded the desktop application that installs Four Seasons using a JVM language (not necessarily Java -- there are many languages which can run on the JVM), which requires having a Java runtime environment installed on your machine to function.   Think of the various times you've had to install .NET or VB runtimes when installing something on Windows;  in this use case the JRE is very similar from a high level.

Whether or not you want to install Java for this purpose is up to you, but it's not an outrageous choice on Bijan's part.  Honestly, while I think there are better choices for building a simple graphical installer, I'd rather have a Java app than yet another horrible bloated Electron application that bundles the entire JavaScript universe just to present an HTML pane. 🙂

And even if you don't want to use it, as has been pointed out here, you can manually install things as you have before.  Unless I am mistaken, all the "Auto Season" functionality does, anyway, is pick the season to install based on the current time of year.  It is not -- again, from what I can see having downloaded it -- going to automatically adapt to the time in your sim, so you're not missing all that much if you choose not to use it, especially if you already use Addons Linker.

EDIT:   According to Bijan, here, Four Seasons in automatic mode schedules a task that runs every 45 days to update the season in your sim.   I don't see evidence of a scheduled task on my system after running the Bijan installer, though, so I've asked them in the other thread how this is handled.   Pending that answer, this is similar to what the REX product does, except REX does it nightly.    (REX also very clearly tells you what it's going to do if you opt for the automated install and prompts you to confirm that you want the task created, which is nice.)

EDIT2:   Bijan has confirmed that this is supposed to be through a scheduled task but isn't working correctly at the moment and will be updated soon.

Edited January 18, 2022 by DeepestRed

[skysurfer 76]

Hello.

What is the benefit to get 4 seasons pack instead of REX AccuSeasons? 
Thanks 

[bosflo 53]

I just bought this because of the automatic feature. I don't think I installed it right because I don't see any differences from default. Is there are certain location where I can see what the program changes. I would like to see if I installed everything correctly. I followed the install instructions but not sure if it worked. Thanks

[Simple B 141]

4 hours ago, bosflo said:

I just bought this because of the automatic feature. I don't think I installed it right because I don't see any differences from default. Is there are certain location where I can see what the program changes. I would like to see if I installed everything correctly. I followed the install instructions but not sure if it worked. Thanks

Open your community folder and look for BIjans folders, there should be 2 or 3 only depending on the options you selected to automatically install.

You should have model asset folder, 1 season folder (and 1 mask folder, if selected in Bijans installer) in your community folder.

 

[bosflo 53]

I selected auto season in the settings. Wouldn’t I have all the season folders in the community folder. I guess I need more clarification on the auto season feature. I did have a hard time copy and pasting my community folder so maybe that’s the problem. I have the winter folder and model folder but I still see snow covered roads.

[BijanStudio 896]

20 minutes ago, bosflo said:

I selected auto season in the settings. Wouldn’t I have all the season folders in the community folder. I guess I need more clarification on the auto season feature. I did have a hard time copy and pasting my community folder so maybe that’s the problem. I have the winter folder and model folder but I still see snow covered roads.

Only one season folder must be in community folder.

Please read the helps files in terrain mask folder to learn how masks works. If you want to roads and runways to be visible in snow, use snow mask only. Just having winter season will not clear roads.

Installation tutorial:

 

[Kaboki 437]

On 1/18/2022 at 8:11 PM, skysurfer said:

Hello.

What is the benefit to get 4 seasons pack instead of REX AccuSeasons? 
Thanks 

I bought this product mainly because of the photogrametry tree fixes and 3D trees, if it wasnt for that I probably would have gone for REX... 

[BijanStudio 896]

On 1/18/2022 at 11:11 AM, skysurfer said:

Hello.

What is the benefit to get 4 seasons pack instead of REX AccuSeasons? 
Thanks 

Here are list of feature that are ONLY available with 4 season pack:

1. Spring flower blossoms in all cities.
2. Flower fields in many parts of the world, UK, Japan, Africa, Asia, Europe, USA
3. More variety of trees and colors in each season.
4. Gradual transition of trees in different elevations.
5. Customized trees in upper UK and Scotland areas - Removed/reduced all vegetation from higher elevations.
6. Photogrammetry trees removal from cities (ongoing project)
7. Terrain Mask
8. Snow mask so roads and runways can be cleared of snow in winter.  
9. Multi ecosystem in the same area which is only doable with SDK, resulting in a variety of trees in the same area and creating lush forests, smooth transition.
10. 60 fall color sets with much more variety of colors instead of 3 preset ones.
11. Live correction of fall tree colors by using live cam available in several countries.
12. 3d leafless winter trees in several cities
13. 3d Joshua trees in Joshua National Park
14. 3d Pinus Sylvestris trees
15. 3d Blood Dragon trees
16. 3d Plumeria trees in Honolulu, Hawaii
17. 3d Rhododendron trees
18. 3d baobab trees
19. 3d bamboo trees
20. 3d banana trees
21. Florida 3d Mangrove trees
22. Black Forest in Germany
23. Black Forest in Colorado
24. Custom fall trees in the Rocky Mountains.
25. Customized fall season in Florida to remove fall colored trees. 
26. Famous Hills in China by Li River
27. Rocky cliff islands and in China
28. Manually corrected vegetation in 1000's regions which cannot be fixed by only using biomes. 
29. Cleared trees in 100's of runways.
30. Accepting changes by user's request.
31. Adding exclusions to work with 3rd party airports.
32. Instant support and frequent updates and continuously adding new features.
33. Auto season every 45 days with new software

Edited January 19, 2022 by BijanStudio

[skysurfer 76]

Thanks so much for the details. Looks great. I will never payoff my credit card. 🙂

Edited January 19, 2022 by skysurfer