Mods - Please feel free to move this if I'm putting this in the wrong area...

 

I'm definitely not meaning to stir things up, but I'm a little confused by the new ATC programs that are on the horizon...

I've been using Pilot 2 ATC for a year or so now, and I really enjoy it - in my opinion it's a "light-year" kind of improvement over the default MSFS ATC.... but now here comes the highly touted Beyond ATC, and Say Intentions (which I only just recently discovered). I'm wondering if anyone out there might have some insight to help me compare the three programs. It sounds like Beyond ATC and Say Intentions are going to be using AI, but I really wonder if the new ATC is going to that much better than P2ATC and if so, how or why?

Thanks very much in advance for the insight!

 

 

None of us really know because the new ATCs haven't released yet. I'm definitely watching BATC very carefully, however. If it's everything it's advertised as being, it'll be farther from P2ATC than P2ATC is from the default.

 

I too use P2ATC when I choose to fly with ATC control and have wondered the same.

Here's the text of a message I wrote on the 1st of March regarding the same kind of topic. I posted it on a flight related Discord and never got a response, so maybe it's way off:

 

"Going to ask a possibly stupid question: what user are SayIntentions, BATC and VoxATC going to be for?

As I understand is SI is entirely AI based, including the responses and the processing of your voice and commands (it's very flexible/natural), but I'm not sure if it injects traffic; primarily VFR in USA, but they seem very close to adding IFR.

BATC looks like it will inject traffic and control it along with you, the voices are either offline or "AI", but I've heard that the responses (and commands?) are more scripted that SI. Pricing model allows for one time charge (but no PTT) or variable costs depending on voice quality. Again, not as AI as SI, but perhaps more complete because of the traffic injection.

VoxATC seems to be an evolution of a prior sim product, but I don't know much about it. I'm on their Discord, but there's zero activity there and the beta testing is taking place in closed channels.

Today I use no ATC or I fire up P2ATC when I'm on a longer flight. I have a number of premium voices and it's fine for most things because I don't talk to it, but rather select the appropriate command (I generally fly at night and talking to the computer would bother the rest of the family). It works well enough and it can see my PSXT/RT traffic, but does nothing with it. None of the others would either, but it would be nice to have an option that injected realtime traffic and controlled it partially based on what's going on in the real world."

 

Sayintentions uses AI for controlling traffic, BeyondATC will "only" user AI for the voices. 

I think that Sayintentions (currently testing the beta) has some problems regarding simbrief databases, but a complete IFR-flight from A to B in Europe with a prefiled flightplan works fine - and, since its AI, you can always ask ATC for everything and they will come back with a solution.

Pretty certain that SI is the only product that will make it in the future.

As long as Sayintentions is $30 a month, I don't believe it will survive.

 

Not sure, really. There are so many programs out there and a lot of them feature promises...

Some have traffic programs with a subscription service. Some dont.

Me? I use Pilot2ATC because 1) it exists.  2) it works. 3) the developer is one of the most supportive and helpful of developers I've encountered.

MSFS is amazing for many things but AI traffic is not one of them. Instead, I just used P2ATC for myself (even though it recognizes other traffic) and let p2atc just inform me of the traffic. I have a lot of voice addons that don't sound like garbage and ATC chatter. It really adds quite a lot to everything. The ATC chatter adds to the void and the voices sound way better than some of the AI voice I've heard.

Plus, no subscription. I paid for it and support it but helping with their betas as well.

P2ATC is not at all new to flight sim. They've been around. The manual is ridiculously long for a good reason. It has taken the place of LittleNavMap and showing AI traffic as well.

Also, I have very little patience for vatsim etc as the controllers are not available when I need them to be, I have a toddler and like 10 other hobbies etc etc

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by Sonosusto

I am using FSHud at the moment but am also keeping an eye on BATC. And VoxATC, but as mmcmah wrote, they are very quiet. 

FSHud controlls AI - I am switching between FSLTL and AIG and in general it does a good job, I had zero problems so far. But I do miss Radar Contact every now and then...

I use P2ATC too and find it quite good.

Sayintentions.ai looks good, but doesn´t seem to control AI traffic - I also find it too pricey - 30$ per month is outside my budget.

Beyond ATC looks quite promising, but who knows how good / buggy it will be when released.

FSHud seems to be great too, but it doesn´t offer speech recognition. 

I have also used PRO-ATC/SR, but it seems more like a port over from P3D, just with added speech recognition that feels canned. 

 

Until further I look forward to Beyond ATC and hope it will be released soon.

I use P2ATC with extra voices from Windows plus the live chatter add-on. It is pretty darn immersive and the developer is always updating it. Being able to use speech recognition without typing in commands in a window just adds to the total immersion. I also like that the co-pilot can do some of the comms so you can ease into things as your knowledge improves. Getting everything setup takes some effort and the UI is pretty dated, but due to the nature of the product (speech recognition) you hardly need the UI. Just a great product reasonably priced (one-time purchase) and extremely well supported by the developer. 

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by RobJC

5 hours ago, TangoSierraMike said:

Mods - Please feel free to move this if I'm putting this in the wrong area...

SayIntentions.ai and BeyondATC are both only for MSFS right now so I think this is the right forum to post this thread in.

I don't use voice so I use FSHud. It's extremely easy to setup and use (the complete opposite of P2ATC with its 'ridiculously long manual') and it does the job.

BATC (which I am beta testing) will be similar to FSHud when it comes to ease of use. Install, set just a few preferences and off you go. How it will turn out in the end, I really don't know.

SI in its current state is of no interest for me at ALL. As I said I don't use voice and SI currently also doesn't do traffic (afaik P2ATC does neither) and it's way too pricey.

When looking at the specifications it seems BATC will offer the best of all worlds: voice and button control, complete control of traffic, FAA and ICAO procedures, worldwide accents, local settings for almost everything, one time purchase (unless you want Premium voices), extremely easy to use and so on. Only problem is: BATC hasn't been released yet and no one knows how it will all work out.

Out of the three available ATC addons FSHud wins by a large margin as far as I am concerned as a button user.

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by tup61

Beyond ATC is far and above any current or future ATC program! If you are serious about your flight simming hobby then do yourselves a favour and watch these videos:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxRQ4sgtdqM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGkFZRal4II&t=769s

https://www.youtube.com/@beyondatc/videos

4 hours ago, techman said:

Sayintentions uses AI for controlling traffic,

I thought Sayintentions does not control traffic at all? As far as I understood Sayintentions only talks to the user but does not control the AI traffic. Did I miss something?

AFAIK FSHud is the only available app that controls the AI traffic. VoxATC and BATC are expected to do so on release but they are not available yet.

 

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by RALF9636

13 minutes ago, SierraHotel said:

Beyond ATC is far and above any current or future ATC program!

I don't think you can say something like that purely based on video's. BATC isn't 'current' yet and until it has been released you can't really say if it will indeed be the best ATC addon ever. The specifications look great but you can't fly with specifications.

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by tup61

1 hour ago, tup61 said:

How it will turn out in the end, I really don't know.

Doesn't sound very optiistic?

Or is it still in a very, very basic stage?