Hello all,

 

I'm trying to do more flying to/from the Southern California and desert SW areas, including out into the Las Vegas and Phoenix regions - GA, mostly complex piston singles and twins with an occasional run in the Turbine Duke, Malibu JetProp and C90 KingAir. I've had landclass addons (GEX, UTX and a couple of other landclass packages) but I'm just not satisfied with the way they portray the arid SW, so I've been looking at what else I can do for this area.

 

So far, I've installed a selection of Blue Sky's photoreal scenery as well as Megascenery X - Las Vegas and Aerosoft's US Cities X Los Angeles. The Blue Sky scenery is WONDERFUL in the open arid country and I've been very impressed with it in that kind of terrain, but I'm far less happy with it in populated areas due to the lack of autogen, and there are many areas I'll want that Blue Sky doesn't cover. Aerosoft's package was a great addition to spruce LA up a bit, but extensive as it is it still only adds details to specific areas, leaving the rest flattened, dead and un-LA looking. Megascenery X - Las Vegas also helped fill in a bit there. But...

 

I've still got huge holes, and I'm still not completely comfortable with autogen-less photoreal in moderately to densely populated areas. I'm thinking the next addition will likely be Megascenery X SoCal since it offers some autogen, but I'd appreciate others' thoughts.

 

More than just specific recommendations (though those are welcome), I'm looking for what others have used as an overall strategy and what their tradeoffs were for completing the area in a cohesive manner for GA flying.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Scott

http://megasceneryearth.com/

 

They have all of Arizona and California. There are some texture color issues around the edges of the California map and the resolution is just ok. I'm slowly trying to complete my California map.

 

Edit: There is a hole in the coverage of SE California.

Check out Megascenery earth. They are not too bad. I prefer regular Megascenery packages to to Mega S.earth. But mega earth helps with giving cover to the gaps.. And in desert/Rocky mountainous areas, they are simply spectacular. I have installed a corridor from CA (Mega So cal) to LV (Mega LV and FSDT KLAS) to Phoenx (Megascenery Phoenix and Flight beam KPHX) to Tucson.

 

http://www.megascene...l/USAMaster.htm

 

You don't have to buy the whole of AZ if you don't want to. But the more areas you buy, the more its discounted. See which tiles/areas your need and then decide if you want to whole of AZ or not,

I purchased Megascenery Southern California quite some time ago and actually enjoyed it a lot. I would wish that the download had been a bit smaller, but that's a given with large photoscenery, and I think I got what I paid for.

 

The bonus is that the package is from a time when Megascenery was still making a serious attempt at detailed autogen. If you have seen Megascenery Hawaii, you know about what to expect, and that goes for how effectively other sceneries blend in, as well.

 

My only hesitation at all if I was purchasing today might be whether I wanted to wait for Orbx to continue its slow expansion down the coast, or just go ahead and enjoy myself with a nice product available now.

I really like the way that the Mega Scenery X SoCal looks. Does anyone use it with DX10 and have no issues? I have started using DX10 and now have to make sure addons I get are working with it.

 

Thanks and good info in this thread.

Thanks for all of the responses. I've hesitated trying Megascenery Earth, as I've heard mixed reviews on the quality compared to the "X" series, but prices are low enough that I'll try a few given the comments here. If I like what I see, I'll probably at least get the southern tier of AZ and then flesh that out with the X version of Phoenix. Sounds like the X SoCal is a good call as well to add some autogen to LA and get me down to San Diego.

 

Doesn't look like there are any good options for that SE bit of CA below Las Vegas, though.

 

As for waiting for Orbx, I wish. Still hoping to see NoCal this year, and maybe, hopefully CO next year. One of the great things about Orbx regions is that even the default airports get a substantial upgrade from FSX defaults which is huge for me, but this region is probably years away for them, if ever.

 

Speaking of airports, I know that KLAS, KLAX and KPHX are all good buys for the big boy flyers, but are there any good GA options?

 

Scott

Does anyone use it with DX10 and have no issues? I have started using DX10 and now have to make sure addons I get are working with it.

 

I have no problems and there's a video done by Les down in the FS Video Forum with flights day and night over MegaSceneryX SoCal.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Super! I missed those. Thank you for the reply. Well, off to go burn some hard earned cash I guess.

 

Thanks again.

Apologies for the silly answer, but it is sincere: My strategy for California is to wait. ORBX are expected to release northern California soon, and I hope the rest will follow soon after. Personally I prefer ORBX over photo scenery, so I'm happy to wait.

Megascenery Earth for AZ is pretty good.

 

Megascenery Earth FL, North East and few more are real bad! Terrible..actually.

 

As for Orbx vs Photoscenries (like Mega scenery), I prefer photo sceneries for deserts and "Rocky" (with stone/rock textures rather than fir trees) mountains. I can't imagine Orbx being better than Megascenery for places like AZ.

 

I love Orbx for PNW...so I am not knocking on Orbx.

 

Manny

Megascenery Earth for AZ is pretty good.

 

Megascenery Earth FL, North East and few more are real bad! Terrible..actually.

 

As for Orbx vs Photoscenries (like Mega scenery), I prefer photo sceneries for deserts and "Rocky" (with stone/rock textures rather than fir trees) mountains. I can't imagine Orbx being better than Megascenery for places like AZ.

 

I love Orbx for PNW...so I am not knocking on Orbx.

 

Manny

 

I agree and hopefully seeing what Orbx did with the jackson hole area, we'll see more and more of this great combo of Orbx with large detailed areas of photoreal incorporated.

 

I like the Megascenery offerings, but not the MS earth ones as the resolution and quality are often very poor.

 

I am a huge fan of photoreal, but like the OP I need autogen, luckily for me, i develop my own scenery and can add autogen if needed, but it is a tedious process and I would prefer to purchase an all encompassing package, full 1ft/p pixel or better photoreal, with water masks, nightlighting, seasons and full autogen, which would be a huge task with a huge file size and a big price tag considering the source imagery and the work involved, but doable

 

reading that the developer of Simmsavvy is now working on the megascenery staff, I am looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

Thanks for all of the responses. I've hesitated trying Megascenery Earth, as I've heard mixed reviews on the quality compared to the "X" series, but prices are low enough that I'll try a few given the comments here. If I like what I see, I'll probably at least get the southern tier of AZ and then flesh that out with the X version of Phoenix. Sounds like the X SoCal is a good call as well to add some autogen to LA and get me down to San Diego.

 

Doesn't look like there are any good options for that SE bit of CA below Las Vegas, though.

 

As for waiting for Orbx, I wish. Still hoping to see NoCal this year, and maybe, hopefully CO next year. One of the great things about Orbx regions is that even the default airports get a substantial upgrade from FSX defaults which is huge for me, but this region is probably years away for them, if ever.

 

Speaking of airports, I know that KLAS, KLAX and KPHX are all good buys for the big boy flyers, but are there any good GA options?

 

Scott

 

Not really... I'm in the same boat as you, especially when I fly on Pilot Edge. What I use is the freeware ADEX updates from the file libraries here... there's a few decent airports like VNY, SNA, ONT that look better than stock.

Not really... I'm in the same boat as you, especially when I fly on Pilot Edge. What I use is the freeware ADEX updates from the file libraries here...

 

I'll have to take a gander at the libraries and check some of these out. Thanks for the suggestion! BTW, a desire to give Pilot Edge a shot is one of the reasons I'm trying to flesh out this area a bit.

 

Apologies for the silly answer, but it is sincere: My strategy for California is to wait.

 

See previous comments and I'm also anxiously awaiting the NoCal release. Waiting has been my strategy up until now as well, but realistically I don't see Orbx releasing many of the places I want to fly for a good long while yet. I'm long overdue for putting plan "B" in operation.

 

Scott

I'm way late on this thread...missed it, but I have a lot of flying time in SoCal. MegasceneryX SoCal is, hands down, my favorite scenery. It has autogen (not great but it's there) and night panels, the resolution is quite good, the landmarks are accurate. Megascenery Earth in California is, hands down, my least favorite. Barely autogen at all, panel resolution is poor, colors are downright weird. They have a 2.0 version of Megascenery Earth in some areas that looks a lot better(!) in terms of resolution and color....still no autogen...sigh.

 

I'm planning on getting US Cities X - Los Angeles and overlaying it on top of Megascenery SoCal.

 

I'd really like to start flying further up the coast but I don't have any good scenery up there at all. I'm not an ORBX fan...but I'd get it if there's nothing else. At least I'd like to see what they do with wine country.

 

Gregg

Speaking of airports, I know that KLAS, KLAX and KPHX are all good buys for the big boy flyers, but are there any good GA options?

 

Scott

 

I too am primarily a SoCal GA flyer and use BlueSky and Cities X Los Angeles. My system is low spec so I keep autogen at minimal settings plus I don't like the look of some of the autogen buildings and trees.

 

My home airport is VNY and Aerosoft has announced that they will (eventually) develop it as payware. Another developer has expressed an interest in VNY as well. I also use Glenn Johnson's excellent freeware Photo Real KLAX, KSAN, KOAK, and KMSY. Other than that, I use the Cities X LA for major SoCal airports. I have home brewed a decent SZP and L70 with ADE to suit my own personal needs. They capture the flavor if not a literal interpretation of these GA airports.

 

Regarding the Central Coast, apparently Al Wheeler makes some good sceneries but I haven't used him. I do have a good freeware Monterey Peninsula airport.

 

Mslim