I am done with MegaSceneryEarth myself after buying a few of the poor quality Florida tiles for the Miami area. I finally took the plunge this weekend, actually last Thursday and installed the SDK, ADE, and SBuilderX. I started remaking the same photoscenery that I bought from MegaSceneryEarth and so far what I have made looks 100% better and it only takes me about 5 minutes to make per cell and that includes doing a quick color match and a night texture. It took me most of the first few night on Thurs and Fri to get the hang of it, but with Luis's tutorial here in Avsim and some help from a few in the scenery design forum, I am on my way. I wish I had learned how to do this sooner. After I finish I am going to post some comparison shots in the screen shot forum showing the difference between what you can do at home with SBuilderX and the MegaSceneryEarth tiles.If they put more effort into a least color correcting the tiles it wouldn't be bad, but it doesn't look like they put much effort into editing them.

That's funny because I've had the SDK and ADE since they were first made available. I downloaded SBuilderX about 4 days ago and pretty much said, I would take the time to figure it all out and build what I want, when I want it. Yes, at the rate I'm going I would potentially nickel/dime myself into a few pieces of CA here and there. Then once some of the other states become available I will be inclined to buy pieces of those states too. Or I can get down to business with the tools mentioned here and the only thing I lose is time. But in actuality I don't really lose a thing. This time around it was a mere 4 tiles.

Hey nobody forces you to buy their product. If it is too expensive then don't buy.Trashing them for charging too much is based on your subjective terms. Other people may think the price is alright.In the end market forces will determine if it was priced too high.The whole state of Ca. is too expensive for me but I like their So. Cal. for FSX

Hi Guys,Lots of good information here. Great site! I saw Socal was finally available for download, so I ordered it last night. 15GB split into 11 download links, IIRC. Wouldn't you know that file 8 was corrupt? Doing a right-click "save as" on link 8 showed the file was indicating something like 965MB (see attached) when all the files around it were 1.45GB. Sure enough, when I tried to open file 8 WinRAR said it was bad. The other 10 files downloaded fine. I emailed support earlier today and haven't heard back. I've been sitting on a useless download now for 24 hours. It's not a big deal, of course, but I was really anxious to try it out. Anybody else try to download MegaScenery Southern California X from MegaSceneryEarth?

That's correct, however you can now purchase Santa Barbara and other areas along the coast as individual Megascenery Earth tiles or sections if you wish. http://www.megasceneryearth.com/store/cart...;category_id=64

Brian,Sorry, now I am confused. I thought that MegaScenery X Southern Cal does not include Santa Barbara, it dioes have, however LA down to San Diego. I know that MegaSceneryEarth does have Santa Barbara but not LA and San Diego. I am looking for a package which does have everything from Santa Barbara south to the Mexican Boarder/San Diego.Would very much appreciate your help.Bernd

I am looking for a package which does have everything from Santa Barbara south to the Mexican Boarder/San Diego.

Such a package does not exist. You would need to buy MegasceneryX Southern California, which is a good product by the way, and then fill in the rest as far north as you like with Megascenery Earth tiles, which is not a very good product in my opinion.

Such a package does not exist. You would need to buy MegasceneryX Southern California, which is a good product by the way, and then fill in the rest as far north as you like with Megascenery Earth tiles, which is not a very good product in my opinion.

Thanks Ryebred, that's what I thought. I am going to hold off till I can buy a product that delivers what MegaScenery Earth promises. Have they ever heard of Truth in Advertising? You get all of CA except LA, San Diego etc. Oh well, times are tough - thanks for saving me money!Bernd

Thanks Ryebred, that's what I thought. I am going to hold off till I can buy a product that delivers what MegaScenery Earth promises. Have they ever heard of Truth in Advertising? You get all of CA except LA, San Diego etc. Oh well, times are tough - thanks for saving me money!Bernd

Actually that's not quite correct.If you order the entire state you will get Los Angeles and San Diego because purchasing the entire state allows you to download MegaSceneryX SoCal.The false advertisement is if you order the entire state you do NOT get eastern San Bernardino, Riverside, or San Diego Counties and none of Imperial County which on the MegaSceneryEarth web site they state that the entire Southern California area is included with MegaSceneryX SoCal which isn't true. So even if you ordered the entire state with SoCal X you still would be missing parts of California.Todd

I have some FS9 Megascenery and FSX Hawaii all excellent but I won't be buying any more, sadly.In total contrast here's an amazing announcement, in Italian but there's a button to give a rough translation. Most people could have a go a translating these two sentences anyway, Lo scenario di Tutta l'ITALIA in photoreal, sar

Excellent news for all simmers who like to fly over Italy !!

Hi Guys,Lots of good information here. Great site! I saw Socal was finally available for download, so I ordered it last night. 15GB split into 11 download links, IIRC. Wouldn't you know that file 8 was corrupt? Doing a right-click "save as" on link 8 showed the file was indicating something like 965MB (see attached) when all the files around it were 1.45GB. Sure enough, when I tried to open file 8 WinRAR said it was bad. The other 10 files downloaded fine. I emailed support earlier today and haven't heard back. I've been sitting on a useless download now for 24 hours. It's not a big deal, of course, but I was really anxious to try it out. Anybody else try to download MegaScenery Southern California X from MegaSceneryEarth?

I have to same problem with a tile in the Cal-lower south section tile cal-016. Sent a message to support just a bit ago. The quality is definitely not up to Mega Socal X standards. The transitions from Socal to Mega Earth are quite abrupt. The new areas are very brown. It appears that the data used for this most recent release was taken near or during the fires we had out here and many of the area (mostly in tile 109 and 110) are blackened or burned on the hillsides. I have placed the socal X above the MegaEarth tiles and it is much better. I am still happy with my purchase because I live out here, and was wishing for more coverage towards the Ventura and San luis obisbo areas, (which is included in LS) and there are some areas that are pretty decent. However those that can't overlook these things, you probably will not be as forgiving.

I have to same problem with a tile in the Cal-lower south section tile cal-016. Sent a message to support just a bit ago. The quality is definitely not up to Mega Socal X standards. The transitions from Socal to Mega Earth are quite abrupt. The new areas are very brown. It appears that the data used for this most recent release was taken near or during the fires we had out here and many of the area (mostly in tile 109 and 110) are blackened or burned on the hillsides. I have placed the socal X above the MegaEarth tiles and it is much better. I am still happy with my purchase because I live out here, and was wishing for more coverage towards the Ventura and San luis obisbo areas, (which is included in LS) and there are some areas that are pretty decent. However those that can't overlook these things, you probably will not be as forgiving.

You would think they would verify the integrity of their downloads. I have some MegaEarth tiles from places I fly in real life (MI, FL, WI) because I was just getting tired of seeing generic textures. Some of them look okay, but I agree on the comments about washout and resolution. They are nothing like the screenshots I've seen of Socal X. I also have UTX and GEX and even just having proper roads and landclass data makes areas seem more realistic than default FSX. Still not as fun as having good photoscenery, though.Also, still waiting to hear back from MegaScenery on the corrupt download. I just checked and it hasn't been corrected.

I have to same problem with a tile in the Cal-lower south section tile cal-016. Sent a message to support just a bit ago. The quality is definitely not up to Mega Socal X standards. The transitions from Socal to Mega Earth are quite abrupt. The new areas are very brown. It appears that the data used for this most recent release was taken near or during the fires we had out here and many of the area (mostly in tile 109 and 110) are blackened or burned on the hillsides. I have placed the socal X above the MegaEarth tiles and it is much better. I am still happy with my purchase because I live out here, and was wishing for more coverage towards the Ventura and San luis obisbo areas, (which is included in LS) and there are some areas that are pretty decent. However those that can't overlook these things, you probably will not be as forgiving.

I posted about cal-016 on the web page. Still no response. The lack of support for this product continues to amaze me. I too bought the lower tier of of California to go along with my So Cal Megascenery X. And yes, the colors are way too rich and very dark, almost Armageddon like, but definitely an improvement over generic tiles.

I posted about cal-016 on the web page. Still no response. The lack of support for this product continues to amaze me. I too bought the lower tier of of California to go along with my So Cal Megascenery X. And yes, the colors are way too rich and very dark, almost Armageddon like, but definitely an improvement over generic tiles.

Lol. yeah they are pretty dark. Well, hey now there is a good reason to load up FEX's Forest fire weather theme :( Same here regarding cal-16, no response as of yet. I really need that tile, because I constantly fly in that area. Hoping we see some customer service here, i'm going over there to add my voice to yours. Maybe we will see some traction on this.

They use satillite data for MS Earth whereas they used arial data for MSX Socal (which is higher quality), why? So they can charge more and deliver less (typical).-jk

They are using free imagery now, not satelite. I proved this with with a comparison shot between our unfinished Washington Photoscenery and the new megascenery earth PNW in another thread here.

That's funny because I've had the SDK and ADE since they were first made available. I downloaded SBuilderX about 4 days ago and pretty much said, I would take the time to figure it all out and build what I want, when I want it. Yes, at the rate I'm going I would potentially nickel/dime myself into a few pieces of CA here and there. Then once some of the other states become available I will be inclined to buy pieces of those states too. Or I can get down to business with the tools mentioned here and the only thing I lose is time. But in actuality I don't really lose a thing. This time around it was a mere 4 tiles.

All you need to make photoscenery are GeoTiffs and the resample tool found in the SDK. It's really easy, but to do it correctly ( autogen, watermaksing, afcads, realigned default 3D objects ) it's a mountain of work.

I've tried to be objective and diplomatic regarding the Megascenery Earth titles.I have purchased a few Florida titles and have found them to be just horrible. After seeing screens from NY and Michigan I have decided not to touch these titles anymore. I agree also that over $200 for the state of California is rediculous. I along with many of my simming friends are waiting for FS Altitude or another high quality source with a reasonable price.

They are using free imagery now, not satelite. I proved this with with a comparison shot between our unfinished Washington Photoscenery and the new megascenery earth PNW in another thread here.All you need to make photoscenery are GeoTiffs and the resample tool found in the SDK. It's really easy, but to do it correctly ( autogen, watermaksing, afcads, realigned default 3D objects ) it's a mountain of work.

------------------Naip orthophotos for california in sid format - county by county downloadis available from:http://casil.ucdavis.edu/casil/imageryBase...county_mosaics/they are 1 m resolution--------------------------------for your information - naip for the washington state - are of not so good quality - they have been taken in different seasons - therefore lots of areas - of coverage do not match into each other - but they good for small scale photorealistic sceneryhttp://rocky2.ess.washington.edu/data/raster/naip/Florida orthoimages:http://data.labins.org/2003/MappingData/DO...04_stpl_sid.cfmUsda Gatewayoffers complete coverage for the us states Naip images - various resolutions - entire states / counties can be downloaded free of charge -http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/have fun ! making photoscenery - if you got time !