MegaScenery Earth and night lighting

[walterg74 0]

 

Hi folks, trying to see if anybody can clarify the following about MSE...

 

I keep reading on various posts where different VFR producst are discussed, about the differences between them and also about the lighting. And I keep seeing: "MSE does not have lighting"

 

And yet, looking at the MSE site, in the FAQ it actually states:

 

What Scenery Type Do I Get When I Purchase MegaScenery?

MegaScenery & MegaSceneryEarth provide 2 types of scenery in each package. You get daytime scenery created from high resolution aerial photographs and you get MegaScenery's famous custom NightScene Technology that gives you spectacular night scenery where pretty much every light emitting source is identified and illuminated. The effect is as stunning as night flying in real life.

 

 

So what's the real thing here? does it or does it not have lighting??

[walterg74 0]

Wow, not only no replies but also 0 views..? Is MSE going out of business and nobody buys this anymore..?

[tttocs 301]

Starting new topics can be hard sometimes, as people increasingly look at only the recent postings page (where non-popular topics rapidly disappear), rather than directly at some of the sub-forums.

 

As for Megascenery, you may be looking at information from the old MSE line rather than current MSE v2.  MSE v2 does not have feature separate night data, though at one time it was said they would eventually circle back and add night..

 

Scott

[walterg74 0]

Hi Scott, thanks for the reply!

 

Actually, I'm not looking at info for any specific version, at least not specified...

 

I am just taking this from the main MSE site, and clicking on the FAQ.

 

If it is old, they never removed it, as far a someone entering the site would knoe, it corresponds to whatever version they're selling at the moment.

 

So I don't know. False advertising..?

[tttocs 301]

I think you missed this line on that page:

 

All support items below this line apply to the first generation of MegaSceneryEarth and NOT MegaSceneryEarth 2.0.

 

Below that they reference features that were a part of the old product line, including the night textures.  The old stuff also included some autogen (though it was generally sparse).  The old v1 was in some ways superior to v2 - the problem was, the coverage in the old line wasn't extensive, and some of the imagery that was available at that time was simply awful.  With v2, they decided to go for broader coverage, use newer and better imagery but eliminate their custom autogen and forgo, or at least delay, night.

 

In this case, I think the worst I'd accuse them of is having a poorly designed support/faq page which doesn't offer much information about their current products.  I would agree that the information below that statement would be better off being deleted (or at least moved to a separate legacy page), but it absolutely does reference their legacy product lines.

 

Scott

[walterg74 0]

I think you missed this line on that page:

 

All support items below this line apply to the first generation of MegaSceneryEarth and NOT MegaSceneryEarth 2.0.

 

Below that they reference features that were a part of the old product line, including the night textures. The old stuff also included some autogen (though it was generally sparse). The old v1 was in some ways superior to v2 - the problem was, the coverage in the old line wasn't extensive, and some of the imagery that was available at that time was simply awful. With v2, they decided to go for broader coverage, use newer and better imagery but eliminate their custom autogen and forgo, or at least delay, night.

 

In this case, I think the worst I'd accuse them of is having a poorly designed support/faq page which doesn't offer much information about their current products. I would agree that the information below that statement would be better off being deleted (or at least moved to a separate legacy page), but it absolutely does reference their legacy product lines.

 

Scott

Well I'll be.. you're right. Didn't even see that..:(

 

So what are good solutions to get something nice at night? The NE series from aerosoft? (Is that product *just* lighting or is it something more?) do they even play together nice? I don't know if there's any better alternative for VFR than MSE 2.0. I heard this was pretty much the best you can have at least currently.

[tttocs 301]

 

 

Well I'll be.. you're right. Didn't even see that.. :(

 

No worries.  As I noted, it is an awkward layout, so I certainly understand how you could've missed it.

 

As for other options:

 

For wide area coverage, MSE V2 is pretty much the only game in town, but if you're looking for more limited areas, here are a few I know of.  Don't know what part of the world you're looking for, but one thing I'd take a look at is the new Ultimate VFR stuff: http://store.ultimatevfr.com/ .  Only available for a handful of SW US states, but it's on sale right now at dirt cheap prices.  Features autogen and night lighting and is getting some good reaction.  Haven't tried it yet, but I will be soon.

 

Other options in the US include Blue Sky's donation-ware photo scenery - but again limited to parts of the Western US and again no night.  Blue Sky also has updated airport files when needed to be sure FSX airports line up properly with the imagery.  This is another area where MSE (both v1 and v2) sometimes falls down as you can get some weird effects at some airports, including things like disappearing runways.  They (Blue Sky) also generally do a better job with water-masking and color matching imagery and include upgraded mesh.  Where Blue Sky is available, I generally prefer it to MSE v2. http://www.blueskyscenery.com/

 

Beyond that, the older MegasceneryX products are also quite good, featuring fairly detailed night and autogen.  These cover much smaller regions but in greater detail - like MSX SoCal, MSX Las Vegas and so on.

 

For my part, I also have the US UTX underlying all my photo.  While others report some issues with this, most of us seem to be able to see UTX lighting bleeding through MSE v2 so we at least get some measure of night lighting.  It isn't perfect, but it does work on my system.

 

Hope some of that helps, Walter.

 

Scott

[walterg74 0]

Thanks Scott, sure does. I will take a look at those others you linked. I already bought some MSE (just haven't finished downloadingandinstalling yet) at about half price onone of the usual sales. (Last one I bought was central Cali for 10 bucks). So whileI will look at the otherswhat about what I asked about the Night Environment series? Wuod that work with my already purchased MSE? (Provided we talk about thesame areas)

[tttocs 301]

 

 

So whileI will look at the otherswhat about what I asked about the Night Environment series? Wuod that work with my already purchased MSE? (Provided we talk about thesame areas)

 

Yeah, sorry Walter I meant to address that.  According to what I've read, it should work with photo, but unfortunately I've no direct experience with the product.

 

Scott

[walterg74 0]

Thanks again!

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

Wuod that work with my already purchased MSE? (Provided we talk about thesame areas)

 

AVSIM hosts the Night Environment Forums here so you can check out the photos and information there - http://forum.avsim.net/forum/698-the-night-environment-forum/.

 

Best regards,

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Regarding photoscenery:

• Best IMHO is UItimate VFR (payware, I own their Arizona state).
• Next would be Blue Sky Scenery (high-quality freeware/donationware).
• Then there's MSEv2: Some states are rather nicely done (most parts of Texas, for example), others may lack the resolution or the color correction in certain areas (Colorado would be an example for a lower quality, from my POV).

 

Regarding night lighting:

 

Night Environment works with all sorts of scenery. I use it with BSS' California, for example (and Aerosoft's VFR Germany, which is a hybrid product, but its base is photoscenery). NE can be configured to fit your system's performance (at least three different levels are available, with more options to come at some point in the future).

For NE there is a demo available, covering the city of Berlin (Germany).

[timmie k 0]

And now theres also Realworld Scenery, the best prices anywhere @ $20 per state, and it comes with winter scenery, and as of the next release, which will be Georgia, it will include custom made nightlighting just as good as anything made to add-on to photo real.

realworldscenery.com

check it out!