I don't understand Megascenery

[Manny 1,293]

I got an e-mail today with a message that Megascenery is teaming up with Sim-Saavy. So I thought, oh this is cool, we now can have good photo textures with autogens. But that's not the case.

 

It looks like Sim Saavy is now sold under Megascenery banner? It was announced with a big happy smile that there is not going to be any of the silly autogens. This is like someone peeing on my leg and telling me that its raining. I mean seriously, what kind of Putz do they think we are to tell us that we would be happy not to have autogens. The reason I don't have Sim Savvy and I have almost all the titles of Megascenery is precisely because of autogens of Megascenery. If they announce they are going to do autogens as a separate payware, at least that would make sense. I have used the HD photoscenery from VFR France and it doesn't cut it.... unless there is an autogen to go with it.

 

What is the value added here over the old Sim Saavy? Apart from diving it up by states?

 

One may as well use Tile Proxy for FREE.

 

Sheesh! Am I missing something here?

 

Manny

[William J.S.S 173]

I too don't agree with this.

 

I was planning on purchasing more of their products after how much I love the MegaScenery X SoCal, but now, if it is going to be devoid of autogen, I don't want it.

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Sounds like a cop out by Megascenery, less work... crazy though IMO

[tttocs 301]

The reason I don't have Sim Savvy and I have almost all the titles of Megascenery is precisely because of autogens of Megascenery

 

Autogen, night textures, lights and water masking are the reasons I've purchased several Megascenery areas. Without these things, Photoscenery can still be OK for day use in some areas (sparsely populated desert, for example) but it sure starts to fall flat in many others to my mind.

 

I haven't seen the announcement first hand, but as reported here it does seem like Megascenery is moving away from what were their strong points.

 

Scott

[Manny 1,293]

Autogen, night textures, lights and water masking are the reasons I've purchased several Megascenery areas.

 

They do intend to provide night textures... I would think water masking as well (Not explicitly mentioned)

 

Here is the full text.(The red color and bold text is mine for emphasis) and the laughable part is this "We feel that photoscenery should be what it is and not "tainted" with artificial autogen scenery. MegaSceneryEarth simply looks better to fly with as photoreal textures only."

 

So all this time, they have sold us tainted product? Ha Ha! This is what I meant when I said, peeing on our legs and telling us that its raining. Pfffft!

 

 

Here is the latest news from MegaSceneryEarth:

Announcing MegaSceneryEarth 2.0

 

Announcing the new MegaSceneryEarth 2.0.

We've recently teamed up with a new partner, Sim-Savvy, with whom we bring you MegaSceneryEarth and we are going to bring you what we previously promised - the entire USA within 1 year and then move onto other parts of the world for you to fly the Flight Simulator skies in high resolution detail.

We've made a number of changes to the product we bring you as well as changes to the pricing, ordering, and delivery model.

Firstly the scenery:

We've been able to source much better aerial imagery with which to create MegaSceneryearth with. All source imagery is between 50 cm and 2 meters per pixel. It is then displayed at 1 meter per pixel. With the higher resolution source imagery, your scenery is much sharper and clearer than ever before.

We've eliminated custom autogen. We feel that photoscenery should be what it is and not "tainted" with artificial autogen scenery. MegaSceneryEarth simply looks better to fly with as photoreal textures only.

Night scenery. We are working on bringing you night scenery as a free upgrade to any MegaSceneryEarth 2.0 scenery that you purchase. Since most flight simmers fly during the day 90% of the time, we have made it our priority to complete the USA day time scenery before we then move onto night scenery. When we do, you will receive a free upgrade to the day time scenery you purchased for the same area.

Also since we have done away with Autogen and also changed the data file storage size to store larger areas per file, MegaSceneryEarth 2.0 actually performs much faster overall in terms of scenery loading times.

Pricing, ordering and Delivery:

Ordering Model. No more single smaller individual tiles. We're now creating and offering scenery on a complete state basis. All you need to decide is which state(s) you want and you'll get to fly everything in that state from border to border.

Pricing. Scenery pricing is now much fairer with state prices ranging from only $19.95 to $39.95 depending upon the size of the state. The 2 largest states CA and TX will be priced a little higher when released due to their massive size. Overall, the new pricing is about 70% lower than the previous model.

Delivery. When you order MegaScenery you still have the option of download delivery with DVD master backup set. However, if you have no intention of downloading and do ONLY want DVD delivery, then you can save a couple of dollars per product, since we won't have download bandwidth costs, and order DVD ONLY delivery. Please note that all DVD delivery prices include FREE shipping to anywhere in the world.

So... that in a nutshell sums up MegaSceneryEarth 2.0. Please enjoy our initial offerings below and watch for new areas added very frequently.

So starting building your entire USA photoscenery world for Microsoft Flight Simulator X today!

The first title CONNECTICUT is available now for just $19.95 with more areas being released shortly.

Please note also that previous offerings are still available under MegaSceneryEarth 1.0 product category.

[FSMuseum 39]

Awful. I personally love the feel the autogen gives the world, such as trees houses and stuff. It gives a whole new level of immersion. Without it, you're just looking at a desert with "houses"

[Tom_G_2010 6]

I also received the e-mail. Someone please tell me we are all misunderstanding this announcement!

 

Are they actually suggesting that sat photos laid over terrain mesh with no 3D objects is somehow an improvement??? I thought I was misunderstanding that but now you all have me wondering...

 

I had to do some trouble shooting on FSX that lead to my temporarily disabling the Megascenery that I already have. As a low and slow GA guy flying mostly VFR I am so looking forward to turning it back on. And was hoping tp budget for more of it in the future. But, if that's the direction they are taking I won't be...

[Clutch Cargo 384]

Just got the email and checked the website as well. While I applaud the joining forces of Sim-Savvy to MegaScenery I am not "WoWed" by this announcement as I used to be when using their scenery.

 

Instead of improving upon what they had it appears to be taking a step back. No autogen? A deal killer for me right there. No night textures until they complete all of the USA? How long could that take... months? years? Another half-complete release in order to get some cash flow coming in.

 

Speaking of cash, your talking even at the cheapest rate $1,000 to cover the USA! Even Sim-Savvy was, what $300-$400 for the same? But I think that included a hard disk as well. Not sure how many simmers will plunk down that amount?

 

From their example looks like they did include water masking but not color correction. They should invest in developing software to take building footprint data and convert to autogen placement. And use their old method to automatically create road lighting for night - it worked well. And correct all that blue hue!

 

Oh well, if I want the same I can just use tile-proxy and save a grand. Sad to see MegaScenery and Sim-Savvy have taken this route. It's a route I will be taking a detour from.

[newtie 533]

No water masking, no buy. I can do without the autogen. This is the primary reason I didn't buy SimSavvy and went to Bluesky instead.

 

Mark

[raymar 969]

No water masking, no buy. I can do without the autogen. This is the primary reason I didn't buy SimSavvy and went to Bluesky instead.

 

Mark

 

 

I noticed the announcement is totally silent about water masking which is by far the biggest problem I have with the SimSavvy. The second is the color changes from state to state. I fly along the coast lines and from Louisiana to Flordia is gosh awful in the water masking department but a major upgrade over the default scenery.

 

I just purchased the parts of Louisiana that is a MegaScenery product and it is significantly better than the SimSavvy equilalent but without the autogen it would have been about the same as the SimSavvy. I also think this is a major step backwards but I am glad Larry landed on his feet. If indeed he did, time will tell.

 

Ray

[slait 169]

Agree with the OP, and can say the first thing that hit my mind when I read the email was "well, I see they found a way of producing a product cheaper on their end, and with fewer features. How rip off of them".

[newtie 533]

I noticed the announcement is totally silent about water masking which is by far the biggest problem I have with the SimSavvy. The second is the color changes from state to state. I fly along the coast lines and from Louisiana to Flordia is gosh awful in the water masking department but a major upgrade over the default scenery.

 

I just purchased the parts of Louisiana that is a MegaScenery product and it is significantly better than the SimSavvy equilalent but without the autogen it would have been about the same as the SimSavvy. I also think this is a major step backwards but I am glad Larry landed on hsi feet. If indeed he did, time will tell.

 

Ray

Agreed.

Bluesky seems to have mitigated the color issues, at least in CA. I live near SF and and very pleased with what they've done. I use Newport for the photoscenery around SFO and OAK which is better that Bluesky. Best of both worlds.

[raymar 969]

Agreed.

Bluesky seems to have mitigated the color issues, at least in CA. I live near SF and and very pleased with what they've done. I use Newport for the photoscenery around SFO and OAK which is better that Bluesky. Best of both worlds.

 

Yes, BlueSky Scenery is really good. Probably the best at any price and its free. I have the Chili Series installed that includes the bay area.

 

I just added the block with Miramar a couple of days ago. I'm waiting for KSAN and can then fly the KLAS KSFO KSJO KSAN route all in BlueSky Scenery. Their water masking is excellent.

 

I am working on a review that takes place mostly in Southern California and I am using the BlueSky scenery along with the new Aerosoft US Cites - Los Angeles. The two compliment each other nicely.

 

Ray

[tttocs 301]

Moments after posting here, I received the email as well. Hmm... OK, so night stuff will be there, but later, no autogen and water masking? Hard to tell, but the one river shot I see looks like straight photo.

 

Based on what I'm seeing and reading I'll stand by what I said before. It looks like Megascenery is taking away the reasons I've purchased from them in the past. While I appreciate the effort that went into SimSavvy, it just wasn't the product for me, while Megascenery, augmented in places by Blue Sky has done a fair to excellent job.

 

This just won't be the product for me either.

 

 

Yes, BlueSky Scenery is really good. Probably the best at any price and its free. I have the Chili Series installed that includes the bay area.

 

I just added the block with Miramar a couple of days ago. I'm waiting for KSAN and can then fly the KLAS KSFO KSJO KSAN route all in BlueSky Scenery. Their water masking is excellent.

 

I am working on a review that takes place mostly in Southern California and I am using the BlueSky scenery along with the new Aerosoft US Cites - Los Angeles. The two compliment each other nicely.

 

Ray

 

I completely agree about the quality of the masking. Missing the San Diego area is what finally convinced me to get Megascenery SoCal, though, and I have to admit that while both appear very similar, the autogen really brought the LA basin up a notch. If anything, adding the Aerosoft product just highlighted what wasn't in Blue Sky, while SoCal blends to it a bit better as the transition from lots of autogen to some isn't as abrupt as from lots to none at all. Once you get out of urban areas, though, Blue Sky absolutely rocks.

 

Scott

[Dirk98 354]

I got an e-mail today with a message that Megascenery is teaming up with Sim-Saavy. So I thought, oh this is cool, we now can have good photo textures with autogens. But that's not the case.

 

It looks like Sim Saavy is now sold under Megascenery banner? It was announced with a big happy smile that there is not going to be any of the silly autogens. This is like someone peeing on my leg and telling me that its raining.

 

Exactly my thoughts, Manny.

 

Dirk.