Megascenery Earth California Released

[EngineRoom 205]

Head over to PC Aviator Australia. They've got a 3 for 2 deal on all MSE2 products. I just got all three California packages for 71 Aussie Dollars.

 

In the last week I've taken serious advantage of the 3 for 2 offer and purchased Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Now with having just got all three California packages for the price of two... I have a massive area (all of the Western US) of stunning scenery to explore and I've saved around 140-160 Aussie Dollars with the 3 for 2 deals.

 

My 120Mbit cable connection has taken a severe hammering though, as has my hard drive!

[tttocs 301]

 

 

Any idea whether you can use the autogen from V1.0 with V2.0 sceneries? Would that just be a matter of moving the objects folder to the V2.0 folder?

 

I'm using v1 autogen from MSE v1 Colorado tiles on v2 and so far I've not had any problems.  Things might not work as well trying to do the same with MSX SoCal, though, as I know the "X" products do some interesting things.

 

Scott

[altstiff 71]

I imagine that old AG files would work with new photo scenery, but I could be wrong with MSE V2 (as ttocs said it works with MSE V2 as well so there you go).

 

For example, I use my old France VFR FS9 Paris AG with the newer HD Paris photo and it looks fantatstic (no night lighting tho).

[fppilot 4,455]

I have been downloading it and hope to have it all completed today but need to do some chores first, like an oil change for my car. 

 

Ha!  And so true.  

 

I just finished installing California and then Arizona.  Started California at about 08:00 and finished about 17:30.  My computer did not have much idle time.  My connection tests out at 42.70 mbps with Speedtest.  About 5 hours was pure download (just California) queued with the Free Download Plus utility program.  Another 2 hours was consumed with the new improved installer.  The remainder was my manual copying of the .exe installation files from my scenery drive to a USB 3.0 backup drive, then deleting them from my SATA scenery drive and emptying the recycle bin.  Arizona took another 2.5 hours start to finish.

 

My link to the California maps zip file is no good.  Returns an empty page error.  That is the only glitch I experienced.

 

Other commitments keep me from flying tonight.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

My link to the California maps zip file is no good. Returns an empty page error. That is the only glitch I experienced.

 

I got that error too.  I'm sure it will be fixed soon.  I finished downloading and installing California around 5 pm.  I download about 7 files early this morning then finished it up starting around 11:30 am.  I do not like the new installer.  It extracts all of the files and throws away the zipped file.  So, after installation, you have a bunch of unzipped setup programs.  After installation, I usually kept the zipped setup files and threw away the unzipped ones to save space.  I can zip them all back up but that will take some time.  After the installation of California Central, the utility asked if I wanted the program to optimize my Fsx.cfg and I said no.  But, after completing California North, the utility evidently popped up while I was on the Internet and the next thing I saw was the changes were made to my Fsx.cfg.  Nooooooooooo!  When I ran FSX for the first time, the scenery was blurred and it was difficult for the scenery to render.  Even staying in one location for a long period of time the scenery stayed blurred.  I remembered my Fsx.cfg was altered so shutdown and bought my fsx.cfg back to where it was before the utility changed it.  This time no blurries and things were very clear.  I did see one major anomaly in the LA area and that is at dusk.  Dusk lighting shows up in large areas and it looks great but there are large blocks where there is absolutely no lighting, not even the default. Downtown LA is totally dark.  I have only been over the LA area so far and it looks okay but nothing spectacular yet. 

 

Best regards,

Jim

[cloudswimmer 24]

Just recalled that I have SoCalBlueSky scenery installed.  I anticipate that I will need to remove it from my FSX.  Is that correct?

No leave it be for now. You may want to use it over your MSE, For instance I have all of MSE Calif V1, but disabled tiles 36 37 38 39 40 41 69 70 71 84 85 91 92 93 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103

And I run Bluesky in those areas as they look much better. I can tell you right now just from the screenshot San Jacinto mountain looks worse in V2 than V1 and Bluesky. I lived there for several years and stared at it out my front window. Here is an example where you might want to try running a Bluesky tile over V2.

[fppilot 4,455]

Jim,

You can always copy the zip files to another drive or location before using the installer.  I like it because I do not have to sit at the keyboard unzipping each file and then sitting there executing each install file.

 

In regard to the fsx.cfg file, do you have the ability to compare the files to see what changed?  This concerns me.  I did not make a backup of that file before installing MSE Calif and Ariz.  I have quite a number of other MSE states and did not recognize changes in clarity before.  Perhaps then there is a level of clarity that I have not seen.  I would love to see more info on this.

 

Frank

[JimmiG 244]

It's going to be a tough sell considering BlueSky scenery covers the whole state at 1m/pixel for free. I don't doubt that MSE is going to look better, but is it going to look $99.95 better?

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

You can always copy the zip files to another drive or location before using the installer

 

Good suggestion for the future but I already own most of the US so doubt I'll be doing this again (except for product updates to fix all the anomalies found).

 

 

 

In regard to the fsx.cfg file, do you have the ability to compare the files to see what changed?

 

The utility changed by unlimited fps setting to 30 and it changed some of the slider settings in the Scenery section.  The recommendation they have made is to not set the slider to unlimited - http://www.megasceneryearth.com/support/MegaSceneryEarth-How-To-Optimize-Graphics-Settings.htm but I found that absolutely to be the wrong advice (unless you have a sub-par system).  They also removed my 7.5 LOD_Radius back to the default (so far with my Haswell system, I have successfully run fsx at 7.5 or 6.5 but that's ONLY if I enable only the scenery I will be using for a specific flight plan.  If I have all my 40 plus states enabled, then I will definitely get at least a warning I'm running out of memory).  I like this photo of my aircraft arriving over the mountains just east of Seattle enroute for KSEA.

 

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Dougal 165]

 

 

As usual, there are deals to be had so many won't need to pay full price. If you've already purchased previous area products (like MSX SoCal) you'll likely have a coupon in your email for 40% off.



As for quality, Dougal which MSE v2 states have you gotten? As I've mentioned before, these are not monolithic products where when you've seen one, you know what the others will look like. They're dependent on the imagery available and that can vary greatly. I've been very pleased with many of the states I've bought, OK with a few others and a bit disappointed in 2 of them. But the good ones are quite good.

My last two MSEv2 purchases were New Jersey and New York State, and to be honest, I don't see much difference at all to v1.  A real disappointment.

 

I also previously bought the whole state of California v1 and SoCal, but got no discount coupon in my email

I think I'll try Blue Sky...

[Clutch Cargo 388]

Yea, I just can't see getting Cali this time around.  I like my autogen and luv my dusk/night textures of version 1.  Didn't see really any better detail/resolution from v1 to v2 in their screenshots.  Jim, when you get 'er all loaded how does Northern Cal look to you?  That's the worst area of v1 with the "bluish" colors.

 

Clutch

[tttocs 301]

 

 

I also previously bought the whole state of California v1 and SoCal, but got no discount coupon in my email

I think I'll try Blue Sky...

 

Blue Sky is great and what I currently use to fill around MSX SoCal - the only problem is that, as noted, they don't fill in that last corner of SE California that adjoins extreme southern NV and Arizona.  No big deal, except - I have to cut across this gap from just about every SoCal airport when headed to points east like Las Vegas, Phoenix...

 

Scott

[Dougal 165]

Blue Sky is great and what I currently use to fill around MSX SoCal - the only problem is that, as noted, they don't fill in that last corner of SE California that adjoins extreme southern NV and Arizona.  No big deal, except - I have to cut across this gap from just about every SoCal airport when headed to points east like Las Vegas, Phoenix...

 

Scott

Maybe we can just pretend that's another 'Bermuda Triangle';-)

[tttocs 301]

 

 

Maybe we can just pretend that's another 'Bermuda Triangle';-)

 

I've been sticking my fingers in my ears and going "La la la la la..."!

 

Scott

[Dougal 165]

Just looking at the Bluesky site and the SoCal coverage chart, it's not so easy to know exactly what I do and don't need.  Or do I just download and install the whole thing and let the FSX Library sort it out?

Ho Hum... seems like the Bluesky download servers for CA are down at the moment.  Either that or we're battering them;-)  That reminds me... must go make a donation....