MSE v2 Germany...hmmhhh

[bernd1151 5,835]

Warning: this thread is a bit long!

 

I have enjoyed many beautiful scenery packages from MSE in the past, all oft hem covering the US. So far I have bought two European packages from them. The first one, Switzerland, I deleted the day after I had bought it, because the color variations between the different tiles were at least for me not tolerable. Being a German, I was excited, when they recently brought out photoreal scenery for my home country. And when they offered me a discount for being a customer with them, I bought all three parts. It took me three days to download them. Yesterday was my first trip and it took me straight to my home town in Westfalia. I was a feast, absolutely fantastic. I was happy to have taken the plunge.

 

But then It dared to fly into some of my favorite vacation spots, well….have a look for yourself. BTW, all photos are completely unaltered, just a press of the V button.The autogen scenery you see in some of them is from add-on suppliers such as Aerosoft and others.

 

Hamburg harbor

For me it is way too brownish and the water colors are completely off

 

Then I flew up north along the river Elbe towards the North Sea. This river is next to the Rhine river one of the largest in Germany

I don’t think they know, what water masking is, or at least they have difficulties applying it to their sceneries. The islands in the center and the right river bank are FSX default scenery

 

Further north I reach the mouth of the river and decide to turn west

Part of the right river bank is still default FSX

 

After the turn the scenery turns completely greenish, which is just plain aweful!!

 

One of the greenish effects is this reddish North Sea water

 

I then decide to fly south along this tile to see, when it ends

As you can see, it takes quite a while. The green even comes in variations

 

At its end the green color widens even further west

 

Ok, enough of this, let’s visit a friend near Leipzig in the east of Germany

Some of the flight was quite pleasant actually, but here around Leipzig it starts all over again

 

Parts of the country you cannot see, as it is covered by clouds within the photoscenery

 

The area further north-east of Leipzig and closer to Berlin is dotted with wonderful lakes. This is one of them

No thanks

 

Let’s head south to Bavaria instead. The Octoberfest started today in Munich

 

Before landing in Munich I wanted to visit first the area between Munich and the alps, as I was tempted by the MSE pictures of that area and as I know this part quite well.

 

Entrance into alpine territory

Brrrgh

 

Let’s forget it and turn west. This is the Forchensee, one of the many nice lakes in that part of Bavaria

Again way too greenish, especially in the distance

 

But it gets even worse further west

 

A thick layer of clouds cover a major part of this lake, which comes with two different color zones. Nice

 

This lake lacks water masking completely, so its pitch black

 

Let’s try the alps one more time

Interesting

 

 

Ok, my final stop for today will be the Lake Konstanz, which was beautiful in the MSE promotional pictures

Not so here. The reason is, the lake is surrounded by three countries: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As this scenery covers only Germany, the lake has on its right side MSE textures and on its remaining shores default textures. This is naturally also reflected in the water area. That is why it looks so strange. And unless you also buy their Switzerland and future Austria scenery, it will stay that way..

 

Conclusion: Like Switzerland, this is a mixed bag. I am not sure, how many customers PC Aviator expects from this scenery. At this state, I would suggest the scenery is still in beta and they should quickly go back to their drawing board and redo it completely. At $99.- they will make quite a few customers pretty angry, meaning they will lose them forever.

 

Ok, I guess I need an Octoberfest beer now. Anybody wants to join me?

[bernd1151 5,835]

There is one more thing to add, while flying a bit more above my home territory: some of the source data, MSE is using, must be over 12 to 15 years old. One example: where we have a big hyper market that was constructed 13 to 14 years ago, MSE shows a green meadow.

[zmak 331]

_{one word...YUK!}

[jetsflier 87]

It's interesting. Cloud cover was an issue in the past (Hawaii) and so all they did was make it $5. Also, if they have no evidence that this error is common in their own testing, have you thought maybe it's not their fault in this case? Maybe it is your computer? I highly doubt it is an issue on your end, but definitely speak to them I'm sure they will figure it out. That is ridiculous to see.

[xplanery 250]

 

 

There is one more thing to add, while flying a bit more above my home territory: some of the source data, MSE is using, must be over 12 to 15 years old.

 

Probably but that's just unavoidable, most of the world doesn't have free / cheap enough data available for such vast areas. United States is an unusual exemption in that matter. 

 

Personally I'm perfectly happy with the quality shown here, it's still way better than boring landclass based scenery. 

[bernd1151 5,835]

 

Maybe it is your computer? I highly doubt it is an issue on your end, but definitely speak to them I'm sure they will figure it out. That is ridiculous to see.

Yes, first I also thought, it's my computer. I also have their Hawaii scenery (and lots more). The clouds do not show up in any other scenery I have (exept Hawaii of course), so it must be in their scenery. I have contacted Robert by email prior to my purchase regarding the water masking issue, as this bothers me a bit. That was around 2 to 3 weeks ago. I never received an answer. And when I was offered later a nice discount, I said to myself: oh well, what the heck, buy it and try it out. The water masking is luckily not as bad as it is with their Oregon/Washington scenery I have. But honestly I did not expect these strange color differences. As Robert did not answer (he is just too busy I guess), I thought the only way to make them aware of these issues is a post here on Avsim.

 

 

Probably but that's just unavoidable, most of the world doesn't have free / cheap enough data available for such vast areas. United States is an unusual exemption in that matter. 

 

Personally I'm perfectly happy with the quality shown here, it's still way better than boring landclass based scenery. 

 

I agree. I don't care that much whether there is a building missing or not, as long as there is the feeling that you fly above real territory. I just mentioned it, as I am a bit unhappy with the other issues their scenery has. Have a look at what France VFR and Aerosoft do in this respect in other parts of Europe (I have their French and Austrian scenery respectively). None of these issues do appear with them. So it seems that it can be done much more properly. Yes, they are a bit more expensive, but I would gladly pay the full price of $99.- when I would know that most of the issues that I reported earlier, do NOT show up. 

 

If this is an issue with the supplier of the source data, why do the other two companies I mentioned not seem to have those issues. Do they screen their suppliers more carefully, before they buy from them ? Again, if this is an issue of price versus quality, I think many here would not mind paying a bit more for better quality. 

[zmak 331]

$99 is not cheap just for one country! For that I would expect at least the areas above to be patched up Before release.

[xplanery 250]

Yes, they are a bit more expensive, but I would gladly pay the full price of $99.- when I would know that most of the issues that I reported earlier, do NOT show up. 

Well to get an area similar in size to Germany from FranceVFR you would need to pay hundreds of dollars, that's several times more expensive... Same with Aerosoft too as Austria is quite small area to cover compared to Germany.

 

A lot of those issues can be fixed with a bit of photo editing, however it's certainly very time consuming. 

 

 

Do they screen their suppliers more carefully, before they buy from them ?

 

 

Maybe they have some special sources, don't know. Most commercial data available for sale is ridiculously expensive. 

[Pe11e 812]

So, MSE is taking money for some FsEarthTiles work, without full water masking and no photo editing? For me that is a scam on par with QW 787 Beta, 64bit converter, etc. There, I said it, shoot me now.

[xplanery 250]

So, MSE is taking money for some FsEarthTiles work, without full water masking and no photo editing? For me that is a scam on par with QW 787 Beta, 64bit converter, etc. There, I said it, shoot me now.

 

It's not a scam as they deliver what they promise. Also, do you realize how much time would it take for an individual to cover entire Germany with FSEarthTiles? 

 

Pretty much any photoscenery product out there can be done by anyone with some time & minimal photo editing skills, yet I don't find selling them to be a scam. 

[Pe11e 812]

How much time? 3 days of photo editing? Maybe 20-30% of entire Germany is covered with "faulty" photo that need editing, so it's practically 1/3 of work. To earn money, you must do a proper work, like ORBX. Of course, ORBX has much bigger fan base, so they can work on scenery for an entire year, but that is not a point I want to say. The point is, MSE delievered a pretty low quality photo scenery, and they are earning money for a lousy job.

 

One thing that can't be controlled are areas covered with clouds, you can't edit that.

 

Just think about latest Austria Professional HD East, and the top notch quality it delivered.

[davenicoll 104]

MMmmmm..

 

Was toying with the idea of getting this one...Not so now...I'll pass until it's all corrected if that ever happens.

 

A clear indication of "A picture is worth a thousand words".

 

Their Ultra res cities aren't bad...

 

Dave

[bernd1151 5,835]

What should be avoided I guess is for this product to get poor reviews. because this is what's happening right now on a few German speaking sites. People see some of the posted images and understandably react the way Dave does: I wanted to buy, but now I'd better wait. $99 is not too expensive for an entire country the size of Germany. But the poor quality of some of the parts covered make it an expensive proposition. And we are all humans, at the end we only talk about the poor parts and forget the many good ones, the scenery has to offer.

 

From a pure marketing (and possibly image) point of view, PC Aviator should maybe withdraw the product for the time being (others have done so before), redo it, then repackage it in smaller parts of maybe 6 to 9 portions and price them in a way that they can make money with it, but keep us simmers happy too. It would be a win win situation. because as the product stands now, neither side will have much fun with it.

 

Oh, one more thing (I hope my fellow simmers will not kill me now): it's a new product and people are eager to buy it. So don't offer it from the beginning at a substantial discount . Just my 2 cents  

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

The coloring does not bother me much as you really cant fix that unless you had 300 planes flying in Germany at the same time. The thing they should should do is redo and improve is the water masking. 

[bernd1151 5,835]

Yeah, the lack of water masking turns me off too, but this kind of coloring is at least for me as bad: