Anyone with experience of Earth Simulations?

[AviatorMan 253]

 

 

I bought there Gurney and it completey screwed my fsx install

 

Yeah, same thing happened to me.  Not only would it not installed, it screwed my fsx  installation.  When I complained and asked for help, they did refund my money.

[gliderdriver 6]

I agree, lovely scenery with real atmosphere, but the ES installer must have cost them a fortune in lost sales.

[LeeL 272]

They look sooooo good though....

[raymar 969]

Be sure to read the IOM review and watch that video. Amazing stuff for FSX.

Ray

[TrafficPilot 121]

I am tempted but they need to ditch the MENSA installation process before I bite. I really don't have the time to run through their overly complicated security system.

 

Please Earth Simulutions - do a deal with Flight1 and use their wrapper system.

[WotanUK 289]

After reading all the comments, all i can say is that i would have bought this scenery today if it wasn't for the installer and the comments regarding it, 

[CFIJose 5,485]

Great scenery! But, installation was a nightmare. Not for me.

[EarthSimulations 8]

Dear All

We are very upset to see that some of our past customers are not happy with our efforts. This is really not what we want to see and we would like to explain our position.

Earth Simulations may appear to many to be a large company with vast resources at its disposal. This is not the case and in fact we are a very small company consisting of only two people (husband and wife team) aiming to produce the very best scenery possible. We work very hard to cover all aspects of our business to the best of our ability and always try our best to help anybody that comes to us for help and support. We are usually able to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently. Ultimately of course if a customer is not satisfied (which is rare) they will be reimbursed without quibble.

Our main skills are in developing the sceneries that we sell online. Our sceneries are extremely time consuming and complicated to produce.We aim high!.  ES sceneries are complex by any standard and this perhaps does lead to the installation being far more difficult to accomplish successfully, even for the most experienced installer programmer. Neither Vikki or I  have skills of the type needed to build installers for our complex sceneries, which is why we outsourced this task to a qualified programmer. We fully acknowledge our limitations which is why we paid a lot of money to the third party to have ESI developed for us. 
Despite the comments in this thread the overwhelming majority of our customers have no problems when using ESI to install our sceneries. However we are painfully aware that some of you have taken a strong dislike to ESI, so we are in the process of collaborating with another developer to address this problem. It is some consolation to note that your complaints are restricted to the installer only, and that everyone seems happy enough with the work that Vikki and I have done, i.e the scenery.

Whilst recognizing fully everything that has been said about ESI in this thread, I can't help but think that it is portraying ESI a little unfairly and is not really wholly representative. Because some readers of these comments have no experience of ESI themselves I have this afternoon made a very short video showing what ESI is, what it does, and how it works. I'd be very grateful if people would take the time to watch it before dismissing Earth Simulations ( and ESI ) out of hand.
 

http://youtu.be/eKXN8Gga--4

[Rocky_53 1,566]

Dear All

 

We are very upset to see that some of our past customers are not happy with our efforts. This is really not what we want to see and we would like to explain our position.

Earth Simulations may appear to many to be a large company with vast resources at its disposal. This is not the case and in fact we are a very small company consisting of only two people (husband and wife team) aiming to produce the very best scenery possible. We work very hard to cover all aspects of our business to the best of our ability and always try our best to help anybody that comes to us for help and support. We are usually able to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently. Ultimately of course if a customer is not satisfied (which is rare) they will be reimbursed without quibble.

Our main skills are in developing the sceneries that we sell online. Our sceneries are extremely time consuming and complicated to produce.We aim high!.  ES sceneries are complex by any standard and this perhaps does lead to the installation being far more difficult to accomplish successfully, even for the most experienced installer programmer. Neither Vikki or I  have skills of the type needed to build installers for our complex sceneries, which is why we outsourced this task to a qualified programmer. We fully acknowledge our limitations which is why we paid a lot of money to the third party to have ESI developed for us. 

Despite the comments in this thread the overwhelming majority of our customers have no problems when using ESI to install our sceneries. However we are painfully aware that some of you have taken a strong dislike to ESI, so we are in the process of collaborating with another developer to address this problem. It is some consolation to note that your complaints are restricted to the installer only, and that everyone seems happy enough with the work that Vikki and I have done, i.e the scenery.

Whilst recognizing fully everything that has been said about ESI in this thread, I can't help but think that it is portraying ESI a little unfairly and is not really wholly representative. Because some readers of these comments have no experience of ESI themselves I have this afternoon made a very short video showing what ESI is, what it does, and how it works. I'd be very grateful if people would take the time to watch it before dismissing Earth Simulations ( and ESI ) out of hand.

 

http://youtu.be/eKXN8Gga--4

 

Darren, I'd just like to thank you on behalf of myself and the rest of the guys for taking the time to post the video. I'd also like to congratulate you on the bludgeongly beautiful sceneries that you produce. I own Guernsey, which is stunning. However, after having looked at some of the screenies of the Isle of Man on your website, I think I may well be adding it to my stable of sceneries! Keep up the good work and all the best for the future. Oh, and BTW, good luck with simplifying the installer! :wink:

[Nyxx 6,993]

Sorry, but I tried 3 times and it was your installer that for the first time in 5 years a scenery install completely mess up my install of fsx never in this time or since has a addon made it so I had no other option but to reinstall fsx to make it work again.

Your work looks stunning but comes at a risk of a nightmare reinstall.

Please make a normal installer.

I did not ask for a refund as ofc not everyone has a problem, but as you can see it's far from just me.

If you do get a new normal installer pls let me know

You should find me by my name below.

[EarthSimulations 8]

Hi David

 

I can fully empathize with the frustration you must have felt. However a complete re-install of FSX was almost certainly not necessary. We offer a comprehensive support service which I feel sure would have resolved the issue you were getting...had you only taken advantage of it. We have a 24 hour helpdesk / knowledge base that covers all known issues and provides immediate solutions to common problems, and as mentioned we will respond promptly to any requests for help if the problem isn't covered by the helpdesk via the contact forms. We can't help if you don't ask. 

[Nyxx 6,993]

Thanks, but all textures all over the globe where corrupted and after a few tries did a re-down load and the 3rd try fsx would not even open it just crashed with a ton of errors.

I read your "knowledge base" at the time.

 

Anyway...I will not risk installing your products until you have a new installer. Flight 1/Flightbeam/orbx/Aerosoft/Flytamper/MSE, you name it......never had any problems. A completely corrupted fsx is not something I wish to go though again and am sorry I don't think your "helpdesk" could have sorted it. With all due respect with 25 years into PC's and 12 years into flight sim'ing I know when something is screwed beyond a helpdesk/knowledge base.

 

Wish you the best with a new installer I hope it's good as I would like to run Gurnsey. I would buy more of your products, IOM looks fantastic.

It's funny, you make something that should be simple, hard because you have no wish to see your products for free on the internet and that I can fully understand but its the very people who pay you have to jump though hoops. ironic me thinks.

If I was you I would use Flight1.

[Christopher Low 5,324]

Whilst I would prefer to be able to download ES products using a different method, I would like to point out that I have had very little trouble actually installing the software......and I have purchased every scenery package that Darren and Vikki have created to date. The only problem I experienced was with Treescapes, but even that was sorted out. I have never experienced anything even remotely close to warranting a complete reinstallation of FSX, so I can only assume that something very strange happened with respect to the poster above.....

[simmerhead 885]

Dear ES team,

 

As more and more develoeprs are innovating beyond what the FSX platform was originally intended for, many users run into trouble. It doesn't even have to be caused by faults with the ES product or installer, but the product in combination with other addons.

 

My problem is with all the copy protection and bloatware side products (ESI included). Once you have accumulated a fair number of addons from various developers these add up to make a mess beyond my wildest imagination of chaos. Add to that the large number of addons that edit default FSX configuration files, change and/or replace original FSX files, a myriad of dlls, and some of us have to call it quits.

 

Too bad, because I'd like to add all your island products to my collection, but I just don't have the time and patience to get it all to work anymore. I've retired most of my 200+ payware addons and now only use freeware where I have full control over what is done to my FSX install. It has kept me completely out of trouble since my last reinstall in september last year.

 

I'm very glad to hear that many of your customers don't have any trouble with your products. Your products are in a league of their own visually, and they are a lucky bunch to be flying over your creations.

[bennyboy75 84]

Have both Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Guernsey's airport is a little dated now as IRL the ground layout has changed and the runway uses default textures, but it's something that could very easily be upgraded when ES get round to it and the rest of the island is stunning. Isle of Man is a huge step forward and has the whole island covered in a mix of custom autogen and photo scenery, along with a very accurate rendition of the Ronaldsway airport itself. If you like flying in the UK it's a good destination as it's literally a hop from Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh etc. and the runway is sporting enough for an A320 or 737. The shorter crosswind runway is used by the Q400 in real life and is a lot of fun for both departure and arrival, especially if you do the circle to land off the runway 26 ILS. 

They are apparently also working on Jersey, which is the shortest jet runway in the UK - HMS Jersey as it's known by BA crews, which is a fun and busy flight from a host of airports on the South Coast.