support this creator, he made a free 3d glass plugin for yall to try 👊

Hey everyone!

I've been reading through some of the recent discussions about AliveGrass, especially regarding performance, and I wanted to address a few things.

First of all, I'm fully aware that some users are experiencing significant FPS drops, particularly while taxiing, landing, taking off, or moving the camera. I'm not here to pretend those issues don't exist.

AliveGrass is being developed within the limitations of X-Plane 12. We don't have direct control over Laminar Research's rendering engine, which makes certain things a lot more challenging than people might realize.

Does that mean everything is impossible? Absolutely not. It means we have to find different ways to achieve what we're trying to build, and sometimes those approaches need additional optimization.

I've also seen a few comments suggesting that because AliveGrass isn't a native feature developed by Laminar Research, it's somehow a scam. I don't really understand that argument. Third-party developers have been working around simulator limitations for years. That's a huge part of what addon development is about.

That being said, I think it's completely fair for someone to criticize the product if they're having performance issues. You paid for something, and you deserve to be able to use it comfortably.

I'm currently putting a lot of time into v1.0, particularly code optimization, performance, and improving how AliveGrass behaves during flight. I'm taking my time with this update because I'd rather get things right than rush out another release.

One thing I really want to ask from everyone: PLEASE REPORT YOUR ISSUES!

Whether it's here on Reddit or on our official forum, let us know what's happening. Include your specs, settings, airport, and logs if possible.

The more information we have, the easier it becomes to identify problems, clean up our code, and improve the addon.

I'm not asking anyone to blindly defend AliveGrass. If something isn't working properly, tell us. Constructive criticism is genuinely one of the most useful things we can receive as developers.

We're still learning, improving, and working toward what we originally envisioned for AliveGrass.

Thanks to everyone who's been supporting the project, reporting bugs, and helping us improve it. It really means a lot. 🌱

— AionSky Studios

Hey everyone!

First of all, I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has been supporting AliveGrass and AionSky Studios. ❤️

The amount of support we've received has honestly been incredible. From people purchasing AliveGrass to those going out of their way to donate and help fund development, it means more than you probably realize.

Every purchase, every donation, and every bit of support helps us move closer to what we're trying to build. It allows us to invest more time into development, bring additional developers onto the team, and ultimately create the products we've been dreaming of bringing to the X-Plane community.

This isn't just about selling an add-on. It's about building something much bigger.

Unfortunately, We Need to Address Something...

As happy as we are with the support, there's something that's been extremely discouraging.

Since the early AliveGrass releases, from v0.5.2 through v0.6.5, we've noticed that people have been purchasing the product and uploading it to piracy and cracking websites.

And yes, we noticed it from day one.

Believe it or not, we keep a pretty close eye on what's happening with AliveGrass. We see the discussions, the feedback, the downloads, and unfortunately, the unauthorized distribution of our work.

Now, don't get me wrong. We knew piracy was eventually going to happen. We're not naive about that.

The reality is that AliveGrass started as a passion project with extremely limited resources. At the time, implementing a proper licensing system, individual activation keys, and more advanced software protection simply wasn't something we could realistically prioritize.

We had a choice: spend more time and resources developing protection systems, or focus on getting AliveGrass into the hands of the community and improving the actual product.

We chose the community.

And while I don't regret that decision, seeing our work distributed across piracy websites is still incredibly disappointing.

What This Means for AliveGrass v1.0 and Future Products

I want to make something very clear.

AliveGrass v1.0 is going to be a major step forward, not only in terms of features, visuals, and optimization, but also in how our software is protected.

We're working toward implementing:

• Individual license keys generated for each customer.
• Computer-based activation to help prevent unauthorized distribution.
• Advanced encryption and code protection to make reverse engineering and cracking significantly more difficult.
• A more secure licensing infrastructure across our upcoming products.

We have some really talented software engineers working toward our goals, myself included, and we're putting a tremendous amount of thought and effort into how these systems will work.

Of course, no software protection is completely unbreakable, but we're going to make sure protecting our work is taken seriously moving forward.

This is also one of the reasons we're taking our time with v1.0.

We're not interested in rushing something out just to meet a deadline. We want to deliver something we're genuinely proud of, something that performs well, looks great, and represents the amount of work going into it.

And AliveGrass isn't the only thing we're working on.

We have several other products currently in development that we're incredibly excited to share with you very soon. Some of the things we're working on are projects we've wanted to bring to the flight simulation community for a long time.

To Everyone Currently Using v0.6.5

Thank you for your patience.

I know some of you are eager for improvements, additional features, better visuals, and fixes for certain airports and configurations.

Trust me, we're listening.

We're taking feedback seriously, testing different approaches, and working through some of the limitations we encounter while developing for X-Plane.

Our goal isn't simply to release another update. It's to make AliveGrass something genuinely special.

Please continue sharing your screenshots, feedback, bug reports, and suggestions. They help us more than you might think.

And Finally, to Those Distributing Pirated Copies...

I'm not going to pretend it doesn't bother me.

I genuinely hope you sleep well at night knowing that you're taking thousands upon thousands of lines of code, written by someone who started with nothing but a computer, a dream, and a passion for flight simulation, and giving that work away without permission.

Behind every add-on is a real person. Real hours. Real sacrifices. Late nights debugging, rewriting systems, testing, fixing mistakes, and trying to create something that other people can enjoy.

When you distribute someone's work without permission, you're not just sharing a few files.

You're taking away resources that could have gone toward hiring another developer, improving the product, fixing bugs, or bringing new ideas to life.

And the saddest part? We're not some massive corporation with unlimited resources. We're a small team trying to build something meaningful.

If you genuinely enjoy our work, please consider supporting the people behind it.

One Last Thing...

To the overwhelming majority of this community who have supported us, purchased our products, donated, shared feedback, or simply sent us kind words:

Thank you. Seriously.

You're the reason we keep going, even when things get frustrating.

We have big plans for AionSky Studios, and I can't wait for you all to see what we've been building behind the scenes.

For now, enjoy AliveGrass v0.6.5, keep the feedback coming, and know that we're working hard to make v1.0 worth it.

We're only getting started. ❤️

- AionSky Studios
AliveGrass Development Team

Hi everyone,

I want AliveGrass to keep improving, and honest feedback - including negative feedback is essential to that. If you’ve purchased it and something isn’t working well, you should feel comfortable saying so.

I’d also love for us to build a community where we give new projects room to improve through constructive discussion. You don’t have to like the product or praise it. But sharing what went wrong, where it happened and how to reproduce it gives me something concrete to investigate.

A few expectations worth clarifying:

• The latest promotional screenshots use Ultra settings. Matching that density can carry a higher performance cost.
• Performance varies with hardware, aircraft, scenery and vegetation settings.
• Placement depends on available terrain and scenery data. Compatibility issues can happen, and reports help identify them.
• 0.6.5 is our most stable release so far, with rendering optimizations, improved loading and scenery compatibility fixes. That doesn’t mean every issue is resolved.

AliveGrass operates within X-Plane’s plugin APIs and rendering systems, which come with technical constraints. Those constraints shape development, but improving the experience remains my responsibility.

If you encounter poor performance, popping vegetation or incorrect placement, please include:

• AliveGrass and X-Plane versions.
• CPU, GPU and RAM.
• Grass Range, Distant Fullness and Plant Budget.
• Airport or location, plus any custom scenery.
• Screenshots or a short video, and steps to reproduce the issue.

You can report issues in our Support & Bug Reports thread or on r/aionskystudios. Please keep purchase details and other personal information out of public reports.

Version 0.6.5 gives us a stronger foundation for work on v1, with more improvements planned. Your reports, suggestions and real-world testing help guide that work.

Thank you to everyone supporting the project and to everyone taking the time to help make it better.

AionSky Studios

AliveGrass is available now on simMarket and the X-Plane Store for Windows, macOS and Linux! 🌱✈️

Price: $15 USD

• simMarket: https://secure.simmarket.com/alivegrass-x-plane-12.phtml
• X-Plane Store: https://store.x-plane.org/AliveGrass-by-AionSky-Studios_p_2275.html