Here are some comparisons of Dublin, Ireland utilizing P3DV2.3 default, Horizon PhotoReal and MegasceneryEarth 2.0. I paused the screen and then switched out the scenery so that the screen and all P3DV2.3 settings remained identical. Altitude was 6500'.

 

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I am quite impressed with the new scenery - this is the color that I remember so well from my visits to Ireland, the land of my Great-Grandparents!

 

Lyn

Thanks for the comparison.  I have Orbx, prefer to have lots of autogen.  But, each has its own similar but different look and feel.

 

So are you saying that the bottom shot is Megascenery and it is more like the real thing in colour?

Yes, the bottom shot is from MegaSceneryEarth Ireland. The colors of the "Forty Shades of Green" in Ireland are very bright in real life. MSE is far more accurate than the Horizon version.

 

I would love to have more autogen in photoreal but overall far prefer having the roads and buildings where they actually are in real life. For me, it spoils the immersion when I look down and see a road cutting a path right over and through buildings. I always fly VFR and use the scenery to navigate and sight-see. But we all have our own preferences and likes. That's what makes this hobby so interesting! There are so many great choices.

 

Lyn

 

Edit: Just noticed that the titles I had put on the images in Photobuckt did not transfer to the images here. Tried to edit my original post but it is too late.

 

Top: Default P3DV2.3

Middle: Horizon VFR

Bottom: MSE 2.0

Nice to see the old sod in Flight sim. The truth is in reality that the colour in Ireland is in the middle of the 2. THE MSE is a little exaggerated. I know it is called the Emerald Isle but that's just a little OTT to my eye. The MSE scenery is made of more recent photos though. If you look carefully you can see that the interchange between the M50 (Dublin Ring road) and the M2 ( the old Finglas road) has been modernized. The one thing I will say for the Horizon version is that I can see the house I was born in. Cant quite make it out in the MSE.

 

Personally, I prefer both of these to ORBX Ireland. I really don't think ORBX Ireland is any better than the default scenery. Love FTX but they get a fail for Ireland from me. Look at ORBX England - it is far superior so I don't know what their excuse is:-\

 

Personally as far as the British Isles are concerned I will be patiently waiting for Earth Simulation new scenery's and hope that they do Ireland once England Scotland and Whales are completed.

If you look at the coastline in the background, you can see that the Horizon scenery has nice water masks. The MSE scenery does not have this feature, and it would be a deal breaker for me.

If you look at the coastline in the background, you can see that the Horizon scenery has nice water masks. The MSE scenery does not have this feature, and it would be a deal breaker for me.

Gotta have good watermasks for photoscenery, I was considering this too to cover Ireland as I love the vivid green of Ireland. Horizon do watermasking, guess thats the only option.

Thanks for comparison shots. Least data looks newer. Don't see EarthSimulation  doing Ireland since i asked that in another thread and they answered that no plans do to no option to license the data or expense of buying outright. Maybe in couple years things will change. Would like to see Northern Ireland screen shot from over Belfast to see what it looks like!

I love photoscenery and it's one (of many) of the reasons I like X-plane. In X-Plane, the photo scenery is free and with World2XPlane (also free) you get OSM buildings on the photo scenery too. In places it does get the scenery objects wrong and it can look a little silly. Also, colour matching is non existent between tiles in some regions, but IMHO photo scenery in any sim simply can't be beaten.

 

I was flying IFR over photo scenery alps last night and was blown away by the views.

 

It is not my intention to start (yet another) X-Plane/FSX/P3D war here. Just sharing my love of photo scenery

Gotta say that the MSE is way oversaturated, too green by far. Horizon is probably undersaturated. I'm Irish btw. As the poster above, I also generated Irish photoscenery for X-Plane for free and it has superior resolution and looks more realistic. Plus it has autogen which is a big help with immersion. In my humble opinion, lovers of photoscenery are better served by XP but should be warned, it takes up a massive amount of drivespace. Another thing XP allows is color adjustments in sim to find your own preference.

I've never used photo scenery before. But I'm quite tempted to give it a go since I saw this release. However, I'm afraid that I'll be disappointed since I like my autogen settings high.

Earth Simulations PhotoGenesis/AutoGenesis is high resolution (30cm or 60cm options) photoscenery with masses of realistic autogen objects (many different types of trees, buildings, wind turbines, radio towers, churches, post boxes, street lights, traffic lights.......the list goes on). There will be a total of 18 volumes covering the entire British Isles. If you want to invest in the best, then now is the time to start!

Earth Simulations PhotoGenesis/AutoGenesis is high resolution (30cm or 60cm options) photoscenery with masses of realistic autogen objects (many different types of trees, buildings, wind turbines, radio towers, churches, post boxes, street lights, traffic lights.......the list goes on). There will be a total of 18 volumes covering the entire British Isles. If you want to invest in the best, then now is the time to start!

 

Yeah I've been keeping my eye on that one for P3d when it comes to Ireland. At the moment I don't have either P3d or FSX installed as X-Plane fits the bill for me, I like low GA fliying but when Ireland comes out in that product range I'll certainly reinstall P3d to check it out.

My vote would be on the Horizon Photoreal myself, and I'm also from Ireland. 

 

Yeah I've been keeping my eye on that one for P3d when it comes to Ireland. At the moment I don't have either P3d or FSX installed as X-Plane fits the bill for me, I like low GA fliying but when Ireland comes out in that product range I'll certainly reinstall P3d to check it out.

 

As far as I am aware, they are only intending to cover the British Isles at the present time.

 

 

Would like to see Northern Ireland screen shot from over Belfast to see what it looks like!

 

I would be surprised if the MSE data covers Northern Ireland. Acquiring source data for that neck of the UK woods seems to be more difficult than flying men to Mars.

Lots of responses that I need to reply to but first I have to get a shot of Belfast  -- yes Northern Ireland is included in this scenery.

 

I had SweetFx on in the other shots so that is part of the reason that the images are over saturated. Belfast will be without SweetFx.

 

Back soon.

 

Lyn