For those of you who are having download problems, please note that the problems are not originating from our server and the problems are most likely at your end.

This'll be fun...

HEADS UPOK guys,Robert Ferraro is now aware that there is a problem with downloads.He has a technician working hard on that issue.Let's give him the time to find the reason of the d/l slowness.:--)

"If the customers are not contacting us with the problems instead of complaining at forums it is a bit hard for us to KNOW that people are having problems........the forums are treating us very unfairly considering the problems are not caused by our servers. This is really really unfair on us and I will be asking Avsim management to intervene on this thread because it is unfairly and incorrectly damaging our reputation when there is nothing wrong with our server but instead problems at the user

You guys don't give any support at your own forums, the last post by AerosoftDevelopers at the Megascenery Forums was May 5 2008, and you wonder why people come here and complain ? It does no good to make posts at the megascnery forums because they never get answered. People like myself, Bobby, and Skydvdan got tired of being the only ones to help and defend you guys, if you feel you're reputation is being tarnished then look in the mirror and maybe think about making some posts at the megascenery forums so people know that you will at least try and help.

I was just going to ask why he came here to defend his product and give a sorry statement that the download problem is on the users end (wrong of course) but not make any posts or announcements on their own MegaScenery forum! From my standpoint PC Aviator's reputation has been seriously damaged by their own actions!Todd

I was just going to ask why he came here to defend his product and give a sorry statement that the download problem is on the users end (wrong of course) but not make any posts or announcements on their own MegaScenery forum! From my standpoint PC Aviator's reputation has been seriously damaged by their own actions!Todd

Completely agree. I have been a long time supporter, but it is rediculous that myself, Bobby, SkyDan, Paavo, Manny and others have been acting as inpromtu support for the last couple of years on the Megascenery board because Robert, Dean B., and the boys at Aerosoft Australia either don't have the time or can't be bothered supporting their own product on the message boards. It's not like the boards are overwhelmed with questions. It's just unacceptable the customers themselves have to pick up the slack. Brian S.

HEADS UPOK guys,Robert Ferraro is now aware that there is a problem with downloads.He has a technician working hard on that issue.Let's give him the time to find the reason of the d/l slowness.:--)

Thanks David. Our technicians have confirmed that there is nothing wrong at our end. End users should do some traceroute tests to check the responsiveness between their ISP and our (or any) server. A good tool is: http://visualroute.visualware.com/index.html. Simply use megasceneryearth.com as the domain to test.Another thing you can do within Command prompt is to run the following command: tracert megasceneryearth.com - you can see exactly the path and response times between your PC and our server.Users can also checkout traceroute.org.The total journey should be under 100 ms - preferably less than 75 ms as an indicator of a good healthy route. We tested a number of traceroute servers and found times of up to 350 ms - this is enough to reduce transfer rates by factors of 5 to 10 or more. Data can travel through up to 20 to 30 routers/switches/devices (all owned by different companies and providers) between the target server and end user's machine. All it takes is one poorly responsive device on this journey to greatly affect download times. David you'll note that on the test between your connection and our in office IP your results were as poor as when you were connecting to the megasceneryearth server - a completely different server. So between where you are, your ISP and the United States there is a big delay or problem router/switch. Clearly - this is something we have absolutely no control over.So again there is nothing wrong with the megasceneryearth server which runs at between 1 and 10% bandwidth capacity. So there's a lot of room for the busiest periods. Users may find when they run these tests that they may not be getting what they think they are from their connections due to these poorly responding points. ThanksRobert

Not long ago there was a damaged undersea cable in the news which affected the internet speed in many countries. Not sure if this is fixed now or if it can be a problem regarding the MegaSceneryEarth downloads. With the ping theory however, i can't agree. I live in Asia and ping the US usually with 280 to 380 and Europe with about 400 to 430. Still i download with 420 KB/s on many US or Euro servers which is the maximum speed for my connection.Providing a resume option is a MUST for files that size.

You guys don't give any support at your own forums, the last post by AerosoftDevelopers at the Megascenery Forums was May 5 2008, and you wonder why people come here and complain ? It does no good to make posts at the megascnery forums because they never get answered. People like myself, Bobby, and Skydvdan got tired of being the only ones to help and defend you guys, if you feel you're reputation is being tarnished then look in the mirror and maybe think about making some posts at the megascenery forums so people know that you will at least try to help.

Paavo - and we appreciate the input and help from diehard Megascenery fans such as yourselves. I think you understand just how much focus and time goes into developing this scenery and running our companies. It's often hard to find time to visit the forums. My work day starts at 4 am (almost every single day) and ends at 8 pm - and the developers work just as long but at opposite ends of the clock. We are not a Microsoft with 50,000+ employees. We're just a small team of people and the focus on creating products is overwhelming. While we may not respond as often as we would like on the forums, we read and take in what we need to to correct things.We responded here to defend ourselves on the download speed issue because we feel we were getting a unfair bad rap on this when the problem was not at our end. People are quick to jump on the forums and blame (sometimes unfairly attack) companies for problems that are not even those companies' faults. The internet is a complex animal in terms of how data travels from server to end user and problems can occur anywhere in between and not necessarily at the server.I can assure you we have invested a lot of money on the most state-of-the-art equipment and software for our servers delivering the megaSceneryearth content and we have also had the smartest technicians around tune (and continue to monitor) our servers for best performance possible for the end user. The capacity is there to handle the most busy of periods we anticipate - but it's amazing to see how quick people are to try to fault us and our server for problems whose reasons may be elsewhere.Thanks for supporting us and our products.Robert

Robert, I'm sure we can appreciate how much work is involved in running a small operation and to develop such a product. But there is still a bottom line here that MUST be drawn. To not lose your support base means you have to be responsive to your customer base. You simply cannot afford to ignore them, particularly with such a small niche product line in a specialized hobby. You will ultimately alienate your most staunch supporters. This is just my opinion, but as a supporter of your product (doesn't mean much, but I have purchased nearly every Mega product produced, am a magazine subscriber etc), heck, even a promoter on the various forums over the years, I can't help but be put off somewhat by the lack of response on your own forums. And the answer is not to shut down the forum. History has shown us that when you don't support a product, it is eventually doomed to failure. Really, give it a try. There are not that many questions asked, and it wouldn't take up too much time. I would challenge you guys to even open a Megascenery Earth forum, since it is a somewhat different animal. Anyway, enough ranting. And by the way, it would be nice if you could post on the website what the original resolution was of each scenery area so the potential buyer can make an informed buying decision. It's pretty clear that there is a vast disparity in the quality based up the locations and what people have posted. It seems the right thing to do. Thanks for listening,Brian S.

Robert, I'm sure we can appreciate how much work is involved in running a small operation and to develop such a product. But there is still a bottom line here that MUST be drawn. To not lose your support base means you have to be responsive to your customer base. You simply cannot afford to ignore them, particularly with such a small niche product line in a specialized hobby. You will ultimately alienate your most staunch supporters. This is just my opinion, but as a supporter of your product (doesn't mean much, but I have purchased nearly every Mega product produced, am a magazine subscriber etc), heck, even a promoter on the various forums over the years, I can't help but be put off somewhat by the lack of response on your own forums. And the answer is not to shut down the forum. History has shown us that when you don't support a product, it is eventually doomed to failure. Really, give it a try. There are not that many questions asked, and it wouldn't take up too much time. I would challenge you guys to even open a Megascenery Earth forum, since it is a somewhat different animal. Anyway, enough ranting. And by the way, it would be nice if you could post on the website what the original resolution was of each scenery area so the potential buyer can make an informed buying decision. It's pretty clear that there is a vast disparity in the quality based up the locations and what people have posted. It seems the right thing to do. Thanks for listening,Brian S.

Brian-I second your post. Also have bought a considerable number of Mega titles since the beginning. I have put any more downloads on hold now until there is an answer to the quality disparity. Checkbook is open and ready when I get an answer. Answers are good.

Robert,Although I also had some problems with slow transfer rater, the bigger problem (by far) was the disconnect issue. I never was able to load a scenery file without suffering from disconnects. Each time this means starting all over. If you could do something to help with that issue I would appreciate it. Over the years I have purchased a lot of your scenery, and plan to continue to purchase your products.Thanks,Jim

Paavo - and we appreciate the input and help from diehard Megascenery fans such as yourselves. I think you understand just how much focus and time goes into developing this scenery and running our companies. It's often hard to find time to visit the forums. My work day starts at 4 am (almost every single day) and ends at 8 pm - and the developers work just as long but at opposite ends of the clock. We are not a Microsoft with 50,000+ employees. We're just a small team of people and the focus on creating products is overwhelming. While we may not respond as often as we would like on the forums, we read and take in what we need to to correct things.We responded here to defend ourselves on the download speed issue because we feel we were getting a unfair bad rap on this when the problem was not at our end. People are quick to jump on the forums and blame (sometimes unfairly attack) companies for problems that are not even those companies' faults. The internet is a complex animal in terms of how data travels from server to end user and problems can occur anywhere in between and not necessarily at the server.I can assure you we have invested a lot of money on the most state-of-the-art equipment and software for our servers delivering the megaSceneryearth content and we have also had the smartest technicians around tune (and continue to monitor) our servers for best performance possible for the end user. The capacity is there to handle the most busy of periods we anticipate - but it's amazing to see how quick people are to try to fault us and our server for problems whose reasons may be elsewhere.Thanks for supporting us and our products.Robert

Hi Robert.Since you read this thread from time to time, I would like to hear a word from you or MegasceneryEarth. My case is this:I have ordered and downloaded the whole MegasceneryEarth Utah scenery ( Wonderfull product by the way-bravo!)Alas I am having problems with the UT-33.exeI have recieved a wrong link. When I try to download UT 33 (utah scenery) I am getting Utah-34.zip.My downloadvalidation is running out, and I have not yet recieved what I payed for, which i think is quiteannoying.Now my downloadvalidation is running out in two days, and would like a assurance, that the link will be prolonged, and that someone at MegascenertEarth is doing something about the problem.Information is the keyword to happy customer!KindlyJakob Arnholtz

Hi Robert.Since you read this thread from time to time, I would like to hear a word from you or MegasceneryEarth. My case is this:I have ordered and downloaded the whole MegasceneryEarth Utah scenery ( Wonderfull product by the way-bravo!)Alas I am having problems with the UT-33.exeI have recieved a wrong link. When I try to download UT 33 (utah scenery) I am getting Utah-34.zip.My downloadvalidation is running out, and I have not yet recieved what I payed for, which i think is quiteannoying.Now my downloadvalidation is running out in two days, and would like a assurance, that the link will be prolonged, and that someone at MegascenertEarth is doing something about the problem.Information is the keyword to happy customer!KindlyJakob Arnholtz

Jakob, we have corrected this. Just click on the UTAH-033 link on your invoice and the correct file will come down.RegardsRobert

Jakob, we have corrected this. Just click on the UTAH-033 link on your invoice and the correct file will come down.RegardsRobert

Downloading right now. Thanks a million times!!!!!Best regardsJakob Arnholtz

Is this the so-called revolutionary new addon for flight simulator? If so what hyperbole. :(