Megascenery Earth California Released

[Guest]

 

 

So being a California junky, I'm anxiously awaiting some screen shots before I plunk down the coinage

 

I have posted a thread with some screen shots and a video in screen shots forum on AVSIM.  Just some shot from area local to me at low altitude < 4000 ft ... I'll post some more when I have time.  Since I have both V1 and V2, I prefer V2 because it looks blended better than V1.  There are some issues here and there across the state but I believe those are being addressed.  The V1 had some very obvious changes in tint around LA (guessing difference is air quality - aka smog from source images) whereas the V2 is much more consistent.

 

Both did a pretty good job and I don't miss AutoGen at all (VAS and fps are greatly improved without them).  I am however using Instant Scenery 3 to add details to airports and surrounding areas ... starting with KCCR ... it is nice to have some 3D objects around points of interest or airports when < 3000 ft.

[PCAviator 37]

Re anyone with Scenery Library issues with California, if you are indeed having problems there, you can simply manually add entries to the Scenery Library for whatever part of California you appear to be missing in the sim. Just point the entry to the directory/folder where those files are installed.

[dogs53 1]

Is it necessary to "uninstall" V1 of Megascenery Earth California before installing V2.  In that I have SoCal and much of the state from V1, and given some of the mixed comments above, might it make sense to just install V2, and then "disable" V1 from the scenery selection area of FSX in the event that I would prefer V1?  Or am I worrying about nothing here? 

 

Thanks

[tttocs 301]

 

 

might it make sense to just install V2, and then "disable" V1 from the scenery selection area of FSX in the event that I would prefer V1? Or am I worrying about nothing here?

 

You're probably over-thinking it a bit.  I haven't bought any of California (yet, anyway) but I did install Colorado where I had v1 Colorado tiles.  I disabled v1, but eventually moved the v1 autogen over to v2 so that I could have both.  No issues there.

 

If you have MegaSceneryX SoCal, there may be a bit more involved, but v1 is definitely not a big deal.

 

Scott

[High Plains Flyer 35]

Over a year ago, I purchased the Sim Savvy photoscenery for the United States.  While it had some good points, its creator did not know how to do water masking.  This meant that coastal states like Louisiana, Florida and California looked absolutely awful.  (Louisana by far was the worst.)  The developer of this photoscenery apparently could not figure out why this expensive package which looked like crap was not selling particularly well.  I just chalked it up to another incompetent developer trying to sell a half finished product for a high price.

 

Eventually he sold his stuff to Megascenery.  Megascenery, to its credit did much of the water masking and fixed some of the coloring.  The colors on many of the sceneries really pop out now, as opposed to the desaturated Sim Savvy versions.  Of course, they jacked up the price by about a factor of 5.  All in all, I am willing to pay a higher price for a quality product, which this is.

 

I have purchased Megascenery Earth and have also purchased many sceneries for coastal states which were botched by Sim Savvy.  It is fair to say that the Megascenery Earth California scenery is a marked improvement over that done by Sim Savvy.  I will qualify this by saying that I have not spent a lot of time with this scenery -- primarily a flight with Floaty Twotter from Pier 29 in San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. (With the obligatory detour of flying under the Golden Gate bridge.)  So, to date, my experience has been limited to the Central California region.

 

Where this type of scenery really stands out is in desert areas.  With the default FSX scenery, and even GEX and FTX global, states like Utah are just a sea of brown.  With the photoscenery, the desert areas come to life.  I have also found this to be the case flying over the Mohave desert (using the Sim Savvy scenery -- fortunately the Mohave desert is a long way from the ocean, so the awful lack of water masking is not visible.)

 

The main criticism I would have with the scenery is that while the water masking is much improved from the Sim Savvy version, it is still far from perfect.  I noticed this in San Francisco Bay, near the Golden Gate Bridge and particularly around Alcatraz.  the water masking really is not there and FSX interprets this as solid ground rather than water.  This probably does not interfere with most flights, but Floaty Twotter did not like it at all -- it just stayed beached in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

 

My hope would be that Megascenery would continue to work on the water masking.  This is particularly true since the Pier 29 scenery is part of the Aerosoft Floaty Beaver scenery.  Besides, some of us use boats with FSX.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

My hope would be that Megascenery would continue to work on the water masking.

 

I totally agree with this statement.  I wish there was a tool we could use to do water masking ourselves then maybe post the fixed tiles to the developer or here in the AVSIM Library (sort of like what people do when they repaint an aircraft).

 

Best regards,

Jim

[meshman 109]

I wish there was a tool we could use to do water masking ourselves...

There *is* such a tool. But I think within the context of how I interpret your comment, there is no such tool. Existing BGL files of this type cannot be edited. Your only option would be to download the raw source and work on that, to create a new BGL file to override the existing BGL file within the Scenery Library.

[Guest]

 

 

I totally agree with this statement.

 

Jim or anyone, any word of updates to the MSE CA (an other states) that have some issues here and there ... SF Bay Area has a pretty significant issue with the bay itself, then Tahoe also?

 

Agree on the water blending, some is ok some not so good.  Angle/altitude/time/screen resolution can bring out the very obvious gradients.

 

I recall mention of MSE updates/fixes and also mention of "something new".  Any word on either?

 

Rob

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

I recall mention of MSE updates/fixes and also mention of "something new". Any word on either?

 

I'm assuming the "something new" was the release of all of the islands of Hawaii.  I read somewhere (I thought in this forum) from PC_Aviator that the developers were working on fixes to all of the MSE V2 scenery, including Tahoe.  Now I cannot find it (probably in the FSX Forum).  I patiently await any fixes.   

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Guest]

 

 

I patiently await any fixes.

 

Me too, fortunately I've got many other things to do in FSX, like learn the 777 and the Q-400 and I need to keep on developing my own FSX Manager product.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Just got an e-mail from the company CEO and he says they have "barely begun" and will be announcing and releasing new areas starting in October.  They will start to bring new countries from around the world.  Personally I would like to see them complete what they have already released before going into other areas of the world.

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Guest]

 

 

Personally I would like to see them complete what they have already released before going into other areas of the world.

 

Agree 100% -- but that sadly doesn't generate revenue :(

[fppilot 4,360]

Agree 100% -- but that sadly doesn't generate revenue

 

But it could cost them revenue.  I got an email from them today with a 30% off offer for the balance of the month.  A multi-use offer.  After California/Oregon anomalies, mostly with water elements on the borders, I am on the sidelines vs additional purchases. I have a few states I would like to add, but not until.......

 

 I also just completed a flight from Bloomington, Indiana, to Easton, Maryland, where much of the flight was over the Ohio river as it forms the border between Ohio and Kentucky and Ohio and West Virginia, and noted some pronounced segmentation to sections of the river.  Like ribbons of graduated intensity diminishing in color, then meeting new segments starting strong then diminishing to faint.  Almost looked like dams or locks on the river, but there are none.

 

[Guest]

 

 

But it could cost them revenue.

 

Very true, it's a double edged sword.  But MSE have done updates before, so I'll keep hoping it's a priority for them.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Agree 100% -- but that sadly doesn't generate revenue :(

Correct. But it will be hard for me to buy one of their "countries" if they don't have a method to fix what's an issue with products they have already completed.  Night lighting would be a major fix (what's good about night lighting is you cannot see any of the anomalies you would see during the daytime!).  There are many states that look very good such as Texas and Illinois but I do have issues with California, Oregon, and the Washington DC area (my home station).

 

Best regards,

Jim