MegaScenery V4 for New Mexico

[Jim Young 2,356]

I haven't seen this mentioned yet but MegaScenery just announced they will be releasing a 60cm version of MegaScenery - https://www.megasceneryearth.com/preparing-for-the-release-of-the-first-megasceneryearth-4x.html.  The first release will be New Mexico and they have a couple of images at the link.  Looks pretty awesome but it will be a 210GB download for the State.  They expect every US States will take up 7TB's of hard drive space.  So, if MSFS2020 is not released on 10 October as I expect and is placed into Alpha/Beta testing for another year, I will be very selective when purchasing States here in the USA.  They will have a 1.2cm version too.

[Casualcas 830]

9 minutes ago, Jim Young said:

I haven't seen this mentioned yet but MegaScenery just announced they will be releasing a 60cm version of MegaScenery - https://www.megasceneryearth.com/preparing-for-the-release-of-the-first-megasceneryearth-4x.html.  The first release will be New Mexico and they have a couple of images at the link.  Looks pretty awesome but it will be a 210GB download for the State.  They expect every US States will take up 7TB's of hard drive space.  So, if MSFS2020 is not released on 10 October as I expect and is placed into Alpha/Beta testing for another year, I will be very selective when purchasing States here in the USA.  They will have a 1.2cm version too.

Wow! Wow! I'd hate to see how big the 1.2cm scenery would be! 

[CarlHill 79]

I would not spend the money.  Where did you ever get the impression that the new MSFS would be released this October? November 2020 at best is the thinking.

[ca_metal 2,019]

I think you saw the text "coming octorber 10th" on the last update video and misunderstood it. 

What is coming on october 10th is the first episode of their Discovery Series, showing some of the features of the new sim. 

They didn't even start the public alpha tests, which is suposed to start on the end of october.

[Superdelphinus 718]

Where has this November 2020 date come from? I’ve not seen it anywhere other than this forum. 

[Superdelphinus 718]

re the mega scenery thing. Looks nice, but a good example of mad pricing. So it’s $40 dollars ish for one state. What would that be for the whole of the USA - $2080? The whole world? 

[MatthewS 761]

Why bother? I'm not wasting any more money on P3D.

[F737MAX 5,598]

14 minutes ago, Superdelphinus said:

Where has this November 2020 date come from? I’ve not seen it anywhere other than this forum. 

It was guessed that MSFS would release at a similar time to the new Xbox 'Project Scarlett' console "Holiday 2020 release".

That's changed as there have been mentions very recently of mid-2020 release of MSFS.
 

[Jim Young 2,356]

24 minutes ago, ca_metal said:

What is coming on october 10th is the first episode of their Discovery Series, showing some of the features of the new sim. 

I did not see anything on their site which states this.  They should have stated this at the end of the video or made an official explanation.  Haven't we seen all of the features of the new sim with all the videos and the information gleaned from those who attended the one day session at Renton?  Not to be completely dumb on this subject of Alpha testing is this definition I found on the Internet:  "Alpha testing is carried out in a lab environment and usually, the testers are internal employees of the organization. To put it as simple as possible, this kind of testing is called alpha only because it is done early on, near the end of the development of the software, and before beta testing.  If anyone is selected to be on the Alpha testing, it will be the known experts in the flight simulation community and probably will not be more than 10.  There are a lot of experts at PMDG, FSDT, and other well known developers.  Those would be the ones I would select.

FSX was released with a lot of bugs and the flight simulation community did not participate in any Alpha/Beta testing before its release.  After release of FSX, a lot of bugs were found and posted in our FSX forums.  The ACES Team monitored our forums a lot (I'm sure at other FS sites too) and they fixed the bugs we found by releasing SP1.  Then came Acceleration.  More bugs were found and fixed when you installed the payware version of Acceleration.  The Aces Team, knowing many members did not want to purchase Acceleration, issued SP2 which contained only the bug fixes.  It was also coded so you would not have access to the features installed with the payware Acceleration.  Just the bug fixes.

So, historically, the Alpha/Beta testing has been done in our forums by our membership after the release of a basic version of the FS product. We are good and know how to find bugs in anything developed. It always amazes me when I see bugs found by our membership.  This would be a first if community members were given the product to Alpha/Beta test for a year.  I wholeheartedly do not recommend Microsoft go this route because NDA's are easy to break with leaks here and leaks there (unless they only select no more than 10 known experts in our community as I stated above).  The product only needs some minor added features - AI and ATC.  I read where they were working on ATC.  AI would be easy to update the FSX version by including all known AI around the world and including a Navigraph subscription that customers could sign up for or use an old freeware version that comes with MSFS2020.  With the setup of playing games on the Microsoft site, it would be easy to automatically make updates as issues are found (even if the application was downloaded to desktops).

There have been over 200 techs working on this product for at least a year.  What more is needed?  More members from the flight simulation community?  I can say with 100% accuracy that even if members from the flight simulation community got involved, when the product is released, members will find all kinds of posts and topics where bugs were found.

[Jim Young 2,356]

2 hours ago, CarlHill said:

Where did you ever get the impression that the new MSFS would be released this October? November 2020 at best is the thinking.

Where did you get the impression that the new MSFS would be released in November 2020?  From rumors/hearsay/second hand reports?

[ckyliu 1,749]

4 minutes ago, Jim Young said:

FSX... the flight simulation community did not participate in any Alpha/Beta testing before its release.  

Yes it did, Microsoft sent me several beta DVDs and I reported and got some bugs fixed. Just like this time anyone could apply and I was lucky enough to be accepted then.

Edited October 4, 2019 by ckyliu

[Jim Young 2,356]

2 hours ago, Casualcas said:

I'd hate to see how big the 1.2cm scenery would be! 

It won't be as big as the 1.2cm version as it will be $10 cheaper. 

[Jim Young 2,356]

5 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

Yes it did, Microsoft sent me several beta DVDs and I reported and got some bugs fixed.

Well, I suspect I will have egg all over my face on October 10th.  I can understand known developers or experts being selected and testing even after the release.  My point is that even though the product is thoroughly alpha/beta tested before release to the community, there will be bugs found by our community and I see no reason to delay the release so that some selected experts in our community can Alpha/Beta test for a year.  It does not compute....  It's great to know you were one of the individuals selected to test FSX.  A high honor IMHO.  Since there was an NDA, this is why I never heard of any FSX beta testing back in 2006.

[yanfeng12342000 132]

MegaScenery Competing with MSFS2020? You gotta be kidding me. I have bought MegaScenery, and it's flat satellite imagery. No trees, no buildings, no nothing. Can any of you fly in such thing in 2020?

[goates 576]

58 minutes ago, Jim Young said:

This would be a first if community members were given the product to Alpha/Beta test for a year.  I wholeheartedly do not recommend Microsoft go this route because NDA's are easy to break with leaks here and leaks there (unless they only select no more than 10 known experts in our community as I stated above).

Yet this is exactly what they are doing with the tech alpha preview coming this month. It is also what Microsoft has been doing with many of their products (Windows, Office and others) for many years now under their Insiders program. The final release won't be until sometime next year.

 

Per the FAQ from the MSFS site:

Quote

What is the Microsoft Flight Simulator Insider Program?

The Insider program is the way Microsoft Flight Simulator fans and community members can collaborate with our development teams to improve the simulation, experience, and services. As an Insider, you will have the opportunity to provide feedback and insights that help shape and inform current franchise initiatives and the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

 

What is a Preview Build (Technical Alpha/Beta)?

Preview builds are work-in-progress builds we’ve created for the purpose of working directly with our community to deliver the best experience collaboratively through feedback/suggestions. Each build will have a specific set of content/functionality meant to provide a slice of the overall experience. These builds will be time gated and limited to a specific number of Insiders. Participants in these builds will vary with each release so if you are not selected for one, that does not mean you will be excluded from others. As with all Preview builds, we expect some turbulence along the way but we are committed to doing our best to ensure we get you into smoother air, as quickly as possible. We view Preview Build participation is a critical step in our path to building the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator and look forward to working closely with you!

https://www.flightsimulator.com/insider-program-faq/