After many hours in the new MFS one thing is clear. Microsoft has delivered a jaw dropping foundation for what will inevitably mature into an unmatched product. The bones are certainly strong, and when the anatomy of its varying bugs and missing features are further refined and fully fleshed out, MFS stands to become the reigning champion in flight simulation.

That said…

In its current state, for VFR purists like myself there is one glaring issue that – no matter how I try to ignore it – continues to spoil the immersion for me: Bing Maps widespread ground color imbalances.

I’ve seen several forum posts indicating there is widespread color mis-calibration in Bing Maps around the world in a variety of locations, resulting in ground textures that display varying tones of lime green, bright teal, and even lavender-ish hues that wash over vast areas. And I mean VAST AREAS.

At first use one may not be unduly jolted by this because of the plethora of other “wow’ factors the sim first hits you with – clouds, dynamic lighting and shadows, ubiquitous vegetation. Just wow.

But settling in for a long VFR cruise across for example the four corners region of the American Southwest, and it begins to sink in….

“Uh…wait minute, this looks nothing like Utah… Why are the normally red and rust orange mesas and cliffs of Canyonlands National Park wholly awash in light teal…? Why is ALL OF NEVADA a weird shade of puke green? Oh word not allowed, why are the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado covered in a blue-green algae?”

One interview I caught with MFS developers indicate they are aware of regional Bing discoloration issues and that as new aerial data is acquired from around the globe over the coming months and years color calibration routines MAY remediate the issue, but when and how long – and how effectively - that will be forthcoming is anybody’s guess.

Since we’re easily talking about tens of millions of square miles of global landmass, chances are good it may not happen anytime soon. Perhaps many months or years.

If so, in the regions that are affected by the discolored Bing textures, it’s a real shame for those of us who enjoy VFR flights of discovery and exploration. Heartbreaking actually. After decades of waiting for such a profound leap forward in clouds, lighting, water, and all the rest, MFS’s unrivaled new immersive features are disappointingly diminished by an Earth… that in many places just doesn’t - realistically speaking - LOOK LIKE EARTH.

In real life I’ve extensively traveled the entirety of this region and know its geography, geology, and environmental color palettes like the back of hand. So for me at least, the way much of the American West looks in MFS is so frequently “off” it’s really disheartening.

Here are a few examples of MFS w/Bing Maps vs. USGS NAIP Orthos:

 

 

 

 

 

The point of this post is not to rag on Microsoft / Asobo in any way, just to give the issue a bit of exposure. Bing is MS, so the developers probably had absolutely no say in choice of mapping sources.  C'est la vie.

What has been achieved overall is simply stunning. We have waited decades for a leap this big. I’m excited to be a part of the journey and will wholeheartedly be rooting for and enjoying for the continued refinement of MFS as things progress. It stays on my hard drive with a fervent and optimistic hope for its future.

If 3^rd party programmers figure out a way to replace the ground textures with other sources without losing the trees, grass, and associated autogen real estate, then all the better. Now THAT would be awesome.

But if that CANNOT be done due to the fundamental structure of the sim… then I sincerely hope we see successive waves of color corrected Bing landscapes. If not, for me at least, Bing Maps will remain the heartbreaking Achilles Heel of an otherwise brilliant and revolutionary product. 

And lastly, to be sure, I can always fly near dusk or or just after dawn when the dis-colorization is somewhat swallowed by elongating shadows and back-lighting and let the clouds aloft and their spectacular lighting become the unrivaled headliners of show, which - it cannot be denied -  they most certainly are.

Ed Truthan / Rio Vista, CA

 

Edited August 28, 20205 yr by Truthan

Areas can be done as aerial imagery. The source is always a problem. Bing imagery needs an update and it needs Azure to 'unify' the world, so the world has a unified palette that is closer to reality. Esri has a good set of world tiles, but I believe the resolution might not be as good as Bing. Even Google has problems with tiles not blending into other tiles. The sim is young. It works. It just needs to work better.

Edited August 28, 20205 yr by rhumbaflappy