Hmm that's awesome, I will be definitely getting it.

 

I hope also products for Africa and Asia will be released at some point...

Photo "patches" could be differing resolutions and/or timestamps and/or colour adjustments.

 

But you noticed the mentioning of custom 3D objects and custom autogen? Definitely more of a performance burden than the PS.

Ok, sure.  There could be "patches" like you say.  But, in the end, they are still photo real images in use everywhere.  So, if I could fly over every inch of Germany with VFR Germany, I'm going to see what Germany looks like for real(at the time the photo was taken anyway) and not some randomly generated stuff like we get with land class scenery.  That's what's most important to me when using photo real.  I'm ok with a little differences in color matching and even some lower resolution in areas as long as it's what I'd really see.

 

But, yes, it's the custom objects/autogen that causes the hit in performance.  That's for sure.  I've been thinking about trying to remove that and just use the photo real so I can improve the performance for this area.  I've gotten used to the "flatness" of photo real and don't need autogen.

 

 

One season, no autogen.

So I guess that means I'll stick to Switzerland Pro, but thanks for posting that - at least it took my excitement about this product :(

 

 

 

Does that mean that MSE Austria is next then?

Austria would be great, but Flugwerk Design is developping Austria Pro v.2, and as far as I am aware that one will at least have autogen. MSE might be nice to fill the gap until Austria Pro is released (unless of course it's too expensive)

Is there any chance that we will see Norway and Sweden given this fact?  I know good imagery for places that far north seem hard to come by.

 

I would definitely buy MSE Sweden since it's my home country and no other good landscape scenery exists for the region. For Norway, OrbX are already working on a title which would be in direct competition. Maybe not so good for sales..

 

The availability of imagery seems to be much better now than a few years ago. Even in the north, Google Earth at least has sharp color imagery. Maybe expensive to license though...

For Norway, OrbX are already working on a title which would be in direct competition. Maybe not so good for sales..

 

But Orbx is not photo real in the same sense that MSE is.  They are still land class based sceneries.  They may(and I think do) use photo real images for their ground textures but they are still "placed" on the earth in a random fashion based on the land class.  So a completely different product.

 

With photoreal like MSE, if you are flying over a farm, that farm would be there at the exact location in real life(unless it got turned into a parking lot or something since the photo was taken).

 

With land class like Orbx, if you are flying over a farm, that farm would probably* be somewhere within a 1kmx1km square in real life.  * Note I do say probably here.  There wouldn't really be any guarantee.  It would all depend on how good the underlying land class is.  And, even then, it still probably wouldn't be exactly where it is in real life and/or come anywhere close to looking like what it really does in real life(dimensions, color, etc.)

My 2 Trigabyte dedicated MSE hard drive is full.

I LOVE photoscenery, but I have mixed feelings about this. Some places will be great if done because of the terrain and lack of forests so the lack of autogen and seasons will not be a big factor like desert countries in the middle east. The lack of consistency and quality between MSEV2 states in the US makes me wonder about quality of these also since i have explored a few freeware source options myself and it is hit or miss.

 

I look at MSEV2 addons as photoscenery LITE since they don't want to invest resources into making them more complete with autogen and seasons, but for the price you are getting what you pay for. They really should hire a team to take the existing areas to the next level

 

I would gladly pay for 50 cm per pixel quality photoreal for Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, all of Africa, just putting it out there, These places look fantastic in photoreal without autogen or seasons.

 

I did a big chunk of Somalia for a project i am working on with HD mesh and autogen, and I love it, I just wish all of Africa had data like this.

 

Photoreal for Middle east (Desert) are would be really good.. not much need for autogens...

 

as for Swiss is concerned, if the Swiss Pro is photoreal, then we should be able to merge the two (i.e. if you already own Swiss Pro) and use the higher resolution phototexture with Swiss Pro Autogens. This is what I have done with O'ahu.. I used the earlier version of MS O'ahu with the Hawaii V2 and leveraged the autogens with the new high resolution textures.

So I guess that means I'll stick to Switzerland Pro, but thanks for posting that - at least it took my excitement about this product :(

 

 

 

Austria would be great, but Flugwerk Design is developping Austria Pro v.2, and as far as I am aware that one will at least have autogen. MSE might be nice to fill the gap until Austria Pro is released (unless of course it's too expensive)

 

MSE will be inexpensive in comparison. Not producing autogen etc is a major time and cost-saver, and of course, these savings can be passed onto the customer in reduced product cost.

But Orbx is not photo real in the same sense that MSE is.  They are still land class based sceneries.  They may(and I think do) use photo real images for their ground textures but they are still "placed" on the earth in a random fashion based on the land class.  So a completely different product.

 

With photoreal like MSE, if you are flying over a farm, that farm would be there at the exact location in real life(unless it got turned into a parking lot or something since the photo was taken).

 

With land class like Orbx, if you are flying over a farm, that farm would probably* be somewhere within a 1kmx1km square in real life.  * Note I do say probably here.  There wouldn't really be any guarantee.  It would all depend on how good the underlying land class is.  And, even then, it still probably wouldn't be exactly where it is in real life and/or come anywhere close to looking like what it really does in real life(dimensions, color, etc.)

 

+1, excellent description of the difference.

I LOVE photoscenery, but I have mixed feelings about this. Some places will be great if done because of the terrain and lack of forests so the lack of autogen and seasons will not be a big factor like desert countries in the middle east. The lack of consistency and quality between MSEV2 states in the US makes me wonder about quality of these also since i have explored a few freeware source options myself and it is hit or miss.

 

I look at MSEV2 addons as photoscenery LITE since they don't want to invest resources into making them more complete with autogen and seasons, but for the price you are getting what you pay for. They really should hire a team to take the existing areas to the next level

 

I would gladly pay for 50 cm per pixel quality photoreal for Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, all of Africa, just putting it out there, These places look fantastic in photoreal without autogen or seasons.

 

I did a big chunk of Somalia for a project i am working on with HD mesh and autogen, and I love it, I just wish all of Africa had data like this.

 

 

The issue here is that to hire a team to do full autogen for a whole country would require a massive amount of time and money. Sure, it has been done before with products like Switzerland Pro and Austria Pro, but those products cost 5-6x more (which is fair because there is certainly that $$ amount of work that has gone into them). But also consider how long it takes to develop and release these products.

 

Our goal is to provide cost-effective photoreal scenery and cover as much ground as possible in the process, so some things have to be left out. Recall that we have already covered the entire USA (less Alaska) in high-definition photoreal in UNDER 1 year, and will have a pretty brisk release schedule for future products (about 1 new country every 2 weeks is anticipated). Mixed in with this we are addressing issues and patching existing products where issues are found and reported.

 

Its debateable anyway as to whether autogen "enhances" a true photoscenery, or if it detracts from it. It does work in some cases, but not in others in our opinion. But that is for the individual to decide of course.

 

Its all good food for thought however, and I am enjoying this dialog

The issue here is that to hire a team to do full autogen for a whole country would require a massive amount of time and money. Sure, it has been done before with products like Switzerland Pro and Austria Pro, but those products cost 5-6x more (which is fair because there is certainly that $$ amount of work that has gone into them). But also consider how long it takes to develop and release these products.

 

Our goal is to provide cost-effective photoreal scenery and cover as much ground as possible in the process, so some things have to be left out. Recall that we have already covered the entire USA (less Alaska) in high-definition photoreal in UNDER 1 year, and will have a pretty brisk release schedule for future products (about 1 new country every 2 weeks is anticipated). Mixed in with this we are addressing issues and patching existing products where issues are found and reported.

 

Its debateable anyway as to whether autogen "enhances" a true photoscenery, or if it detracts from it. It does work in some cases, but not in others in our opinion. But that is for the individual to decide of course.

 

Its all good food for thought however, and I am enjoying this dialog

 

 

Trust me, I am well aware of what is involved. There is obviously a part of the community that would be interested in a "more complete" package, whether it is a big enough market to make up the additional costs remains to be seen, but the main reason I bring it up is that you guys, PCAviator already have the source files, the marketing and the other tools to make it happen much quicker and probably more professionally than anyone else at this moment.

 

As to whether autogen enhances or detracts from the experience, well you are correct, that is up to personal choice and i have seen examples of both depending on the source data and the skill of the developer, but when you experience products like earthsimulations Isles of Scilly and see how it should be done, it makes "me" want the whole FS world in that kind of photoreal detail.

Photoreal for Middle east (Desert) are would be really good.. not much need for autogens...

 

as for Swiss is concerned, if the Swiss Pro is photoreal, then we should be able to merge the two (i.e. if you already own Swiss Pro) and use the higher resolution phototexture with Swiss Pro Autogens. This is what I have done with O'ahu.. I used the earlier version of MS O'ahu with the Hawaii V2 and leveraged the autogens with the new high resolution textures.

 

Quite true. Simmers have been able to do this in the past.

Trust me, I am well aware of what is involved. There is obviously a part of the community that would be interested in a "more complete" package, whether it is a big enough market to make up the additional costs remains to be seen, but the main reason I bring it up is that you guys, PCAviator already have the source files, the marketing and the other tools to make it happen much quicker and probably more professionally than anyone else at this moment.

 

As to whether autogen enhances or detracts from the experience, well you are correct, that is up to personal choice and i have seen examples of both depending on the source data and the skill of the developer, but when you experience products like earthsimulations Isles of Scilly and see how it should be done, it makes "me" want the whole FS world in that kind of photoreal detail.

 

Very fair comments

Of course, there is no reason someone who does own the MegaSceneryEarth area could not do this on their own, or form their own team to make an "addon" product for the MSE area, but this is something we are not looking into at the moment, but the door is open

You want autogen for MSE Switzerland ? Open VFR has it and it can be put on top of photo scenery...

So is it going to be Europe first or a different continent each month?

 

Any word on the night lighting patch for the US?

But Orbx is not photo real in the same sense that MSE is.  They are still land class based sceneries.  They may(and I think do) use photo real images for their ground textures but they are still "placed" on the earth in a random fashion based on the land class.  So a completely different product.

 

With photoreal like MSE, if you are flying over a farm, that farm would be there at the exact location in real life(unless it got turned into a parking lot or something since the photo was taken).

 

With land class like Orbx, if you are flying over a farm, that farm would probably* be somewhere within a 1kmx1km square in real life.  * Note I do say probably here.  There wouldn't really be any guarantee.  It would all depend on how good the underlying land class is.  And, even then, it still probably wouldn't be exactly where it is in real life and/or come anywhere close to looking like what it really does in real life(dimensions, color, etc.)

 

This doesn't mean the OrbX way has advantages too - full autogen and seasons being the most notable. They also use vectorized landclass in many areas to get the shape of towns correct, especially along rivers or major roads. It's not just a landclass product.

 

However, even though the two products use two totally different techniques, my point was that they would be in direct competition in the sense that both are high-quality regional scenery products.

You want autogen for MSE Switzerland ? Open VFR has it and it can be put on top of photo scenery...

 

You have my attention! Will give it a try this weekend. Thanks for the heads up.

So is it going to be Europe first or a different continent each month?

 

Any word on the night lighting patch for the US?

 

Will have to wait and see on the first point, although there will likely be a few European countries coming sooner rather than later. The choices are largely dependant on available imagery.

 

Re night lighting for the USA - this is being worked on. More news on this coming soon.

This doesn't mean the OrbX way has advantages too - full autogen and seasons being the most notable. They also use vectorized landclass in many areas to get the shape of towns correct, especially along rivers or major roads. It's not just a landclass product.

 

However, even though the two products use two totally different techniques, my point was that they would be in direct competition in the sense that both are high-quality regional scenery products.

 

Of course, I see the main difference being Orbx is more "3D" overall... Good for low and slow type stuff, although for pure VFR flying (in the sense of actually navigating using proper VFR methods, photoreal will make that job easier and more accurate).