Wanted to know which scenery package would cover the San Francisco/Bay Area better.The requirements would include the following...1.) Highest resolution2.) Area covered3.) Price value4.) Computer resources required5.) Frame rates6.) General look of scenery7.) Compatibility with FlyTampa

Gee I wish I had the gelt to buy both packages and compare them for you! (Grin) I have the MegaCity SF and FlyTampa's KSFO installed and they both work great on my P4 3.8GHz system w/1Gig of DDR2 RAM and the Radeon X800XT PCIe video card. Frame rates differ considerably when piloting an aircraft with high interior/exterior detail vs a default aircraft. I also have Ultimate Terrain USA installed. It all works great for me but may need a lot of tweaking on lessor systems. Hope this helps in your assessment.Jim

>1.) Highest resolution>2.) Area covered>3.) Price value>4.) Computer resources required>5.) Frame rates>6.) General look of scenery>7.) Compatibility with FlyTampa

I definitely prefer VFR Photographic over Megascenery for Norcal. Exploring the surrounding countryside is just so much more rewarding with the high-res aerial images vs the low-res satellite images used in Megascenery. If you just want to fly over the city, save yourself some bucks and get Megacity.

I have had the opportunity to review MegaScenery, and now I am working on one for Horizon's Dallas Ft Worth Area and I must say that I prefer the Horizon product much more, it holds the detail much better then that of the Megascenery packages. I can fly an FA18 out of Dallas Fort Worth and from about 500 feet to 6000 feet or better at fast speeds my computer holds the detail much better and I don't have to refresh all the time like I did with MegaSC titles.

Just to clear one point up - Horizon and Megascenery SF are not from the same source photos. Horizon uses aerial photography at 2m/pix from AirPhotoUSA in the San Francisco and Sacramento product, Megascenery uses Satellite imagery for theirs, although I'm not sure where their MegaCity data comes from (but it's not APUSA in the SF product).For those that don't know, the satellite imagery used is actually monochrome satellite photos, which are then artificially colourized by using other techniques, such as infrared imagery and similar technologies.So no, they are not based upon the same photographs at all...

>Just to clear one point up - Horizon and Megascenery SF are>not from the same source photos. Horizon uses aerial>photography at 2m/pix from AirPhotoUSA in the San Francisco>and Sacramento product, Megascenery uses Satellite imagery for>theirs, although I'm not sure where their MegaCity data comes>from (but it's not APUSA in the SF product).>>For those that don't know, the satellite imagery used is>actually monochrome satellite photos, which are then>artificially colourized by using other techniques, such as>infrared imagery and similar technologies.>>So no, they are not based upon the same photographs at all...Good point, the Megascenery is based on sattelite photos, while Megacity and VFR are based on higher resolution photos. I may be wrong on the source photos, but having compared views from both programs, I have thought I has seen the same cars and trucks in both images. Tony

How do you manually refresh scenary? what key strokes?Hmmmm.... I have never done that.

Looks like VFR Photo Scenery is the winner of the San Francisco/Northern California scenery contest since MegaCity SF is $28.90 (including shipping) while the VFR Photo Scenery package covers a much greater area at $29.99 (including free shipping). Thanks everyone for participating.One quick question...how does the city scenery compare...are they equal?

>One quick question...how does the city scenery compare...are>they equal?>Not sure what you mean?Tony

I meant the buildings, streets and freeways...are both packages of the same resolution quality. >>One quick question...how does the city scenery compare...are>>they equal?>>>>Not sure what you mean?>Tony>

Yet another question, what exact area does this scenery cover?How far south in the San Jauquin Valley...How far north, does this cover Redding and the Napa Valley...And now to the east...would it include the Feather River and Donner Pass areas...>I meant the buildings, streets and freeways...are both>packages of the same resolution quality. Thanks for any help...Darryl

Is VFR Photo Scenery subject to the same interminably long load times and blurries issue as Megascenery. I like to fly with extended textures on, and that really prolongs the load time.Has anyone used megascenery San Francisco with VFR Photo scenery and USA Roads? Not much on their site about compatibility.Thanks,Greg

Load times should be comparable. I turn off extended textures when flying over photo scenery. It is just a matter of the huge amount of unique textures being loaded. I don't think it is design issue, and don't think there should be a big difference between one or the other designer.There are some things you can do to reduce load times and blurries. The megascenery forums are a great place for tips. However, blurries and extended load times are going to be an issue with most current computers and this version of Flight Simulator. Tony

I don't believe you can use a road product such as USA Roads over photo scenery. Tony