tup61

LOL I know, they are also way too big in 2020. :) Was hoping I'd never see that again in 2024.

Ouch... that water looks terrible... The waves are WAY TOO BIG! Totally out of proportion! Asif they pasted a close up shot from water into the picture. I really prefer the 2020 screenshot when it comes to the water... Nice comparisons btw!

Forgot to reply to this: it didn't change much in my case. I had ATC tellng me the STAR before my calculated TOD once with the newest versions: all other flights I still had to call for descend. I do wonder though if this has to do with me only flying the Vision Jet...

Traffic isn't supported yet. BATC will come with its own traffic in the future. Current traffic solutions can be used together with BATC but BATC won't see that traffic and won't control it. Unways in use depend on the sourec of the METAR. BATC uses VATSIM METAR. Try the Esc key the next time. EDIT Farlis typed quicker. But I typed more LOL) No, that's EA. 😉

Not sure if that also works when runways are missing. For SID and STAR problems that could work, yes. I do that all the time. Problem however is that you have to know the STAR (and later on the approach) in order to calculate your TOD. And ATC won't tell you the STAR until you ask for descent (in case it's late). To know your TOD you have to know your STAR and to know your STAR you have to know your TOD... that's a problem, haha! Now I usually pre-load the STAR that SB planned so I know where my TOD is but every now and then BATC changes the STAR and then things may change completely. Pre-loading the approach is even more problematic (or impossible, really) because you never know if you will be vectored or get a transition (and which one?). Approaches are also often assigned quite late. As I said: it's slightly annoying every now and then. 😉 Not if every restart results in the same fatal error. Than it is fully annoying, haha! Had this last thursday, probably due to a problem with a certain frequency. I finally had to forget about that flight and plan a new one. It is true that some bugs and problems can be overcome by doing this or that but it all still feels pretty unreliable to me. I guess different people have a different thresholds when it comes to what's annoying or not. 🙂

Since this is a BATC topic maybe it's a good idea to post the problems I am having with BATC right now (NOT in random order): - flightplans not being loaded (so flights becoming impossible) due to 'missing' runways, SIDs or STARs (terribly annoying if you spend time preparing the flight) - ATC missing waypoints (specially during STAR and approach) and hence ATC staying silent (terribly annoying after flying all that time and then having to end the flight without ATC) - STAR and approach given too late (slightly annoying every now and then) - fatal errors ending at all ( doesn't happen too often but terribly annoying when it does) I'd like to add things like no option to change approaches (can be annoying but well...) and obviously traffic but those are missing features, not bugs, like everything I mentioned above is. Now these are my main problems and they all have to due with reliability, really. Not being able to fly a planned flight or seeing a flight being ruined... that's what kills it for me. Reliability is way more important to me than I thought, that's for sure. Of course all this was to be expected with an EA in beta stage (if not alpha)! So I am not saying this is bad or that I am surprised: but at this moment (and after beta testing BATC for MONTHS) it just isn't the right ATC addon for me (at this moment). When all the above has been fixed and BATC will be as reliable as FSHud (which never has any of the mentioned problems: perhaps BATC should go the Navigraph route anyway...) I might probably start enjoying BATC again.

I can imagine that! But it's not really a matter of wanting in my case: my situation simply doesn't allow me to speak while flying. Having said that: with FSHud I hardly have to actually point and click: I can take care of 90% by using two buttons on my controls and I hardly have the UI onscreen.

I understand the problem with things being scripted (although I don't really mind because ATC should be sort of scripted). And I understand SI is great according to some but 1. I don't want to use my voice and 2. I don't want a subscription for ATC (even with a price drop). And I wouldn't call BATC 'very good'. Very promising: certainly, but at this moment it's impossible to call it very good. Just now wanted to compare BATC with FSHud doing a flight which BATC had problems with a while ago but I couldn't even get started with BATC due to BATC repeating stuff and being completely buggy. As I said before: when it works it's great but it's totally unreliable and that kills it for me. The only thing BATC has going for it right now are the voices (which still is a matter of taste too) and perhaps (I'm no expert) phraseology, But in all other aspects FSHud is (way) better (for my kind of use anyway) and certainly WAY more complete. Still, the future looks bright for ATC addon addicts. ;)

I am back to FSHud for now... BATC is awesome when it works but too often it is a PITA. It can be a frustrating experience. I've been beta testing too long, I guess, haha! After flying with FSHud again I also noticed (again) how much features ATC is still lacking... and how awesome it is when something simply works. All the time and every time and everywhere. I still have high hopes for BATC of course but I simply have to take a break from it. The few great things it offers are no match for the full experience I am getting with FSHud.

I also see BATC EA more as alpha but the dev himself doesn't. Take note there has been a beta before the EA. In the official announcement the dev even thanks the beta team for its work and the version number went from 0.# to 1.#. So it is not MY opinion that BATC isn't alpha: according to the dev this is a post beta release. Would be odd to call a post beta release alpha. But regardless of all that: BATC is indeed more in alpha than in beta state... A fix would be nice indeed but once you know how it works it isn't a big problem. Not for me anyway. 😉

Would love to in all honesty but I can't use my voice for several reasons. Haha, hopeless, indeed, but the current standouts are being told to descend while still like 500 nm away from the destination (as if the TOC is TOD) and giving opposing instructions when it comes to the landing runway (like you are told to land on rwy 27 but the given instructions are for runway 09). Yes, well, indeed, it depends on your definition. Imho EA is a phase beyond beta, so it should be quite a bit better and getting ready for release. That definition corresponds with what the devs said about BATC because they first had a beta and when the beta was sort of good enough they released the EA. But during the EA some things suddenly became worse than during beta and a lot of the current problems are beta problems imho. So imho the current EA is still a beta. It certainly is NOT alpha though... Would be odd to call the beta beta and the following EA alpha... The EA of BATC isn't THAT bad, haha! It is in the options menu, in the left bottom. You can assign a button or key to it. Take note that the button or key works all over Windows so don't use for instance the E key if you also want to type something during flying. 😉 I'd advice a button on a controller. And while I am at it: he toggle always works to hide the UI but once hiddden it will only show up again when the UI isn't active anymore. So once you have clicked on something in BATC make sure to click on the MSFS screen again to make the BATC UI inactive or the toggle won't work as expected anymore. (Sounds complicated but I don't know how to put is more simple, haha!)

Ever tried to press Esc...? 😉 That'll do exactly what you want.

Agreed. The whole button support was a thing on the side too during beta. I had to BEG for actual BUTTON cotrol the entire time. But well, at least it offers enough now to be used by someone who doesn't want to talk. Do take note though that BATC is still in Early Access. I'd call it beta, actually. Because it IS beta. It's not really EA imho. Lots of problems going on all the time. But when it works it's great. The latest patch from yesterday seems to have screwed up a lot of things again though... People are asked to descend and get ready for the ILS with still 500 nm to fly and so on... it's a bit messy right now. Think I will use FSHud for my flights this evening. 😉

Yes! I am a pure button control user and don't even have a mic attached to my PC. I myself do have autorespond on because I don't like to have the UI open all the time but I do manually change frequencies (gives me something to do) so I have take action to make contact every now and then. With autorespond AND autotune on BATC would do too much to my liking. I fly a single pilot airplane so as I have it now the so called co-pilot actually is 'me'. You can either click in the UI on what you want to say but there also is an option to assign a button or key to whatever is on the top of the list of things to say. Like when I change frequencies during a flight I have to Announce on frequency and I always do that with the assigned button. On ground I often have to click in the UI anyway (for startup or taxi) because those options often aren't on the top of the list. And there also is an option to toggle the UI on and off screen with a single click (an assignable button or key).

Ratchet isn't a dev but a mod. Big difference. And he his comments should be taken with a pinch of salt because his answers concerning BATC aren't er... always right.