I think many people seem to think (or want to believe might be more accurate) that scenery developers just get an image, press a button, and viola instant scenery for FSX. It simply doesn't work like that

 

Generally you are right, but here we have an existing price model on essentially the same product from the same developer, to base our opinions. He sold the entire set for $260 on an included 2TB external disk drive. By his own statements, he was doing ok (At least breaking even), until the shortage of drives due to the flood at the primary factory, which was why he teamed up with PC-Aviator. Let's just say he was just breaking even. By doubling the price at $520, he and PC-Aviator would still be making a healthy profit, even adding extra to cover the cost of adding a water mask, does not equal 5X+ the original cost!

Thanks Helen. I see a lot of those scenes and I really get excited flying over the Blue Ridge Mountains and descending into Charlotte, NC, especially in one of the wing views (another reason I like ProATC-X as I have the co-pilot bringing my flight down to the glideslope while I enjoy the scenery from the wing views!). :lol:

 

 

 

Thanks for that. I'm glad you are watching this forum and posting in these threads too as you answer a lot of our questions or clarify things. When members have issues and can't get a satisfactory answer, the product sometimes suffers in sales. I'm still tweaking my settings and doing some experimenting as my FSX load times have increased dramatically since installing all this V2 stuff. And, when I load the PMDG, it takes almost 2 minutes for it to show up. I now only activate the scenery I plan on flying over but even that has barely reduced the load times. The PMDG aircraft seems to load faster now but not much. I really think the problem is my AI program as things really startup faster with that disabled. Got to have the AI though. I'm just spoiled as FSX always started up within 10 seconds until I started adding all the commercial scenery and MyTrafficX. Thanks for the great V2 scenery so far. Really enjoying it.

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

Jim,

 

If you made the change to your LOD_RADIUS setting in the FSX.cfg and set it higher to 7.5 or so for MegaSceneryEarth, this is what will cause the great increase in load times... but the benefit (and it is well worth the extra load time in my opinion) is that you get much sharper textures rendering further out into the distance. This is especially evident if you load up at an airport that has some mountains in the immediate area within 10 or so miles from the airport... You see those in high detail from a distance and it looks amazingly real!

 

Of course, running complex addons like the PMDG stuff and AI will also add to that load time by a good margin too.

I also have the Sim Savvy scenery installed and intend to at least install MSv2 for those states that interface with water (ocean and/or Great Lakes). I use photo-scenery for the same reson as Helen (welcome to AVSIM). If you've flown above an area and been using dead reckoning (as required for the Private license), or even want to try some of the visual IFR procedures (usually at the big / busy airports), you don't want computer-generated scenery.

 

Jim- does the Pro-ATC add-on actually allow the FO to navigate by ATC? That sounds really cool!

 

Thanks, Bruce.

Are those downloads the entire state or is it only a very small area in certain states?

 

It's an ever-growing set of blocked sceneries that cover all of some states and some of others. Check it out.

you made the change to your LOD_RADIUS setting in the FSX.cfg and set it higher to 7.5 or so for MegaSceneryEarth, this is what will cause the great increase in load times...

 

No, I have very conservative FSX settings. Basic NI settings too. The slower startup and load times began before installing MegaScenery Earth V2. It could have been Orbx scenery plus MyTrafficX. I tried the 7.5 LOD just to see the improvements but decided it wasn't worth it. I did change my Texture_Max_Load to 4096 though and that probably has some bearing on fps. I'm one of those individuals who doesn't get all excited about high/low fps. Just as long as it runs fluid with little stuttering. I have DX10 turned on but that definitely has no effect on my fps. I was just commenting that I'm doing some testing so that I can tell others should they have fps problems with this scenery (and I doubt that will happen).

 

The PMDG 737 loaded almost instantly on the startup screen w/o addons installed. But I do see a 50% reduction in fps between the VC and a wingview.

 

Jim- does the Pro-ATC add-on actually allow the FO to navigate by ATC? That sounds really cool!

 

Yes, once you taxi to the runway and takeoff, the co-pilot can takeover by changing the frequencies, altitudes as directed by ATC, raising the gear, putting the aircraft into AP VNAV LNAV and descending as directed by the traffic controller. You have to go into the cockpit once in a while and make sure he/she is performing okay and the aircraft is on course though. You can turn this function off too and do all the flying but maybe have your co-pilot do certain tasks like raising the gear.

 

Getting off topic from the OP so will not say anymore. There are plenty of posts here in AVSIM about this addon.

 

Best regards,

Jim

No, I have very conservative FSX settings. Basic NI settings too. The slower startup and load times began before installing MegaScenery Earth V2. It could have been Orbx scenery plus MyTrafficX. I tried the 7.5 LOD just to see the improvements but decided it wasn't worth it. I did change my Texture_Max_Load to 4096 though and that probably has some bearing on fps. I'm one of those individuals who doesn't get all excited about high/low fps. Just as long as it runs fluid with little stuttering. I have DX10 turned on but that definitely has no effect on my fps. I was just commenting that I'm doing some testing so that I can tell others should they have fps problems with this scenery (and I doubt that will happen).

 

 

Ok no problem. In almost all cases, actual frame rates with MSE 2.0 will be higher than default scenery. This is due to the elimination of autogen (not needed with MSE 2.0) which consumes a lot of performance if set high.

Which part of the loading process does it slow down or stall on? What does it say on top of the load bar when it slows down? That might give an indication as to what is causing the long load times in your sim?

we are working on updating files to include an installer which adds the scenery area to your scenery library for you.

 

You might just give the choice to add them yourself or let the installer add them. I would just as soon add them myself, since I use a scenery manager.

 

If you made the change to your LOD_RADIUS setting in the FSX.cfg and set it higher to 7.5 or so for MegaSceneryEarth

 

When I did this I got OOMs. Mine is set a little above 4 and my scenery looks great. Distances should be a little less sharp naturally anyway.

This scenery is so good, I was able to find my father-in-law's house. He lives on top of a mountain in Tennessee.

Quick question for PC_Aviator...

 

Are you guys even considering making the MS 2.0 scenery available for X-Plane 10? Can these sceneries be converted to X-Plane? Is this even allowed?

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

 

Can these sceneries be converted to X-Plane? Is this even allowed?

 

This should help you: http://forums.x-plan...showtopic=35790

 

Key is to ask for permission.

 

And for the 64bit SDK: http://www.xsquawkbox.net/xpsdk/mediawiki/Main_Page

This should help you: http://forums.x-plan...showtopic=35790

 

Key is to ask for permission.

 

And for the 64bit SDK: http://www.xsquawkbo...awiki/Main_Page

 

Oh wow, so it can be converted! PCAviator, how can I request permission? Will asing here suffice or do I have to email someone?

This should help you: http://forums.x-plan...showtopic=35790

 

Key is to ask for permission.

 

And for the 64bit SDK: http://www.xsquawkbo...awiki/Main_Page

 

Well, I should have read before trying it out. I purchased the Delaware scenery and followed the instructions for FS2XP and it did not work. Why? Because FS2XP does not convert FSX photoreal sceneries. When it comes to photoreal sceneries, FS2XP will only convert FS9 photoreal sceneries.

 

Oh well, it was only $9 bucks for the scenery. At least I gave it a shot. If only Megascenery would release these for XP 10. :-/

The prices are *very* reasonable for photographic scenery compared to MSE 1.0 or the old boxed Megascenery products. It's similar in pricing to OrbX scenery areas. Both products will give you a very detailed scenery environment, using two different technologies (each with their pros and cons).

 

Any kind of high-quality, detailed scenery is going to cost more per square mile than generic scenery that's generated mostly automatically from freely available data. The key to enjoying and getting the most out of these detailed scenery products is to truly explore them. There's no way you're going to be able to appreciate all the details if you zoom past the scenery at mach 0.8 at FL450.

 

If you explore the sceneries bit by bit in a C172, even one region is going to last you for years before you run out of stuff to see.

No plans at the present time for XP10 compatibility. Yes even in a small state, there is many hours of unique flying to be enjoyed... you only need to move your flight line laterally by a few miles each time and you will see something new and it will be like a "first flight" every time!

Any idea when Western US states start getting released?

 

I think I will eventually buy at least some of these states if not all, but I wish to start from western states.

I just added NJ to my collection today, as I plan to fly there for real in April - another beauty!