When I was making photoscenery for FSX, I had this problem.  The satellite images I was using (Bing) were not as green as the ground serms from a few thousand feet, but when I tried to colorize them, I had some similar effects.  the colourisation in Google satellite images is somewhat different to Bing, but both seem to suffer from a lack of green.

UPDATE: Bing recently updated the satellite imagery in my neck of the woods, and on Bing, everything looks amazing. More importantly, the roads are gray! (I don't know how to upload a picture here to show you, but trust me, it looks great)

Sadly, this imagery is still being tinted that pukey green in the flight simulator. It's not just roads, but everything has that green applied to it, including the normally gray rocky mountains above the tree line. I know that MSFS is using the same aerial photography as Bing, because there is a very distinctive feature on my property that matches perfectly with the current Bing maps (a time-sensitive feature that would not be present if not taken at the same exact time as Bing maps). This proves to me that Asobo is adding a false green tint to the aerial source material, perhaps even in the sim itself in one of the pixel shaders. I've been poking around in ten thousand config files hoping to find something that would allow me to turn this off, but no luck yet. It really drives me nutty.

Has everyone else just given up on this issue, or was it solved since I last checked this thread and my Google-foo is rusty?

 

Use MSFS Map Enhancement.It has both Google Maps as well as Updated bing maps, if you find using google maps controversial. Problem solved- no more green tint.

https://flightsim.to/file/19345/msfs-2020-google-map-replacement

You're welcome. 

Edited July 4, 20223 yr by vyper883
spelling

If that's the only way to solve green tinting, then I guess I'm stuck with green tinting (unless I can someday get 3DMigoto to work, then I'll be able to rewrite the shader and remove the tint myself).

Why not try it, it is very easy to use, you can use the newer Bing maps like you talked about or the google ones.  Am talking about what was linked above.  I use it now, and it is free.

1 hour ago, Keto Ketchup said:

If that's the only way to solve green tinting, then I guess I'm stuck with green tinting (unless I can someday get 3DMigoto to work, then I'll be able to rewrite the shader and remove the tint myself).

Actually, be careful if you use that add-on that uses Google map satellite data.  It modifies your host files in Windows. Make sure you know what the host files in Windows is, and that you can undo the changes  if you need to. You should make a backup copy of your hosts files in Windows before you use this add-on (if you already used the add-on, it’s too late to make a backup copy of your hosts file, the add-on already modified it).

What the other posters aren’t telling you are the problems that may come with it if you use the add-on. Here is an example of a user here in Avsim who had problems using it: 

 

Edited July 5, 20223 yr by abrams_tank

I was going to try this, but the latest update (5.10) appears to have problems. 
Users are complaining of CTD's, the option for auto updating being removed (you can't stop it auto updating), python scripts now being hidden, and some security software flagging it.
The author has also said he may make this paid software in future.

Map replacement mod works great.  Earlier on, I was a Google fan, but more and more I find the updated Bing imagery to be even better than Google, and MUCH better than what's currently in the sim (this all depends on region, but speaking generally.)

The lines added to your hosts file are removed when you shut down the program.  They can remain if you force close the program or it crashes (which I've never seen happen), but in this case, it takes about 20 seconds to open your hosts file and manually delete the two lines (or just open the mod, start it, then shut it down correctly).  It's really nowhere near as sketchy of a mod as some folks make it out to be...

 

 

2 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

It's really nowhere near as sketchy of a mod as some folks make it out to be...

True!  He has been doing this for sometime and nobody has had any security issues previously, and the hosts issue is overstated and easy to solve as you say.

It is just that the latest build seems to be giving some people a few issues, and he has now forced the updates, and hidden his python scripts, which has set some people off.
If he is thinking of going commercial though, it is obvious he would do that and take them out of open source to maybe protect them as they are developed going forward.

3 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

but more and more I find the updated Bing imagery to be even better than Google, and MUCH better than what's currently in the sim

I don't understand this line, as what's currently in my sim is exactly the same as the updated Bing imagery, the only exception is being the added green tint. At least in my home state (which is what I'm most interested in).

As for this mod, I'm just not comfortable running an administrator-mode uncertified .exe on my computer. It also feels overkill to me for solely removing green tint. I'm completely happy with the default scenery otherwise.

I'm quite annoyed that this awful green tint is still a thing in MSFS a year later (I took a bit of a hiatus while waiting for a bucket list of issues to be fixed), especially when the source material now looks so great.

5 hours ago, Keto Ketchup said:

I don't understand this line, as what's currently in my sim is exactly the same as the updated Bing imagery, the only exception is being the added green tint. At least in my home state (which is what I'm most interested in).

As for this mod, I'm just not comfortable running an administrator-mode uncertified .exe on my computer. It also feels overkill to me for solely removing green tint. I'm completely happy with the default scenery otherwise.

I'm quite annoyed that this awful green tint is still a thing in MSFS a year later (I took a bit of a hiatus while waiting for a bucket list of issues to be fixed), especially when the source material now looks so great.

In many areas the 'new' Bing maps are more detailed, and have better colours, than the default Bing textures in MSFS. I've had the Google map mod installed from its early days and it runs fine.  Some people have some well known issues, but that is no different than the sim itself and many addons.

If you don't like the added green tint on textures and roads, get rid of them with the mod. 

To see how poor the default textures can be, fly north out of L52 Oceano in California, and fly over St Luis Obispo. The colours and textures in the mod  are SO much better than default.

10 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

Map replacement mod works great.  Earlier on, I was a Google fan, but more and more I find the updated Bing imagery to be even better than Google, and MUCH better than what's currently in the sim (this all depends on region, but speaking generally.)

The lines added to your hosts file are removed when you shut down the program.  They can remain if you force close the program or it crashes (which I've never seen happen), but in this case, it takes about 20 seconds to open your hosts file and manually delete the two lines (or just open the mod, start it, then shut it down correctly).  It's really nowhere near as sketchy of a mod as some folks make it out to be...

 

 

Could you please provide some more details? Where would I find these host files and which lines should be removed if something unexpected has happened?

I've not had a lot of time to study this map replacer, but perusing the FAQ makes me think this software is acting as a proxy server, intercepting requests for terrain textures and redirecting those requests (probably with some modification to the request formatting) to Google or Bing directly rather than Asobo.

If this is the case, then the green tint is being applied by Asobo on their servers (perhaps on the fly, perhaps as an entirely different set of textures based on Bing's original textures) rather than in the game via a pixel shader. This squashes my hopes of finding a setting to turn off the green. I could still remove the green using a custom pixel shader if I can ever get 3DMigoto to work with MSFS, but I've not had much luck so far (it crashes).

When I get time, I'll study the code for the map replacer. Wouldn't it be great if I could redirect the sim's terrain requests directly to Bing (being where Asobo gets its data) without any extra processing?

I'm guessing the green tint is some AI algorithm or the other that's processing the Bing images on the MSFS servers and trying to remedy the noticable colour differences you get with aerial images taken at different places and different times. Which isn't that big of an issue on an online map service for general consumers, but is something you would try to do something about for flight simulation. If it's just the AI doing things and thinking everything is solved by smearing green everywhere, then hopefully some AI trainer can teach it not to do its business on the roads and only give it AI treats if the roads are nice and clean and free of green. 

4 hours ago, Nemo said:

Could you please provide some more details? Where would I find these host files and which lines should be removed if something unexpected has happened?

It's here:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc

Use notepad to edit it.

---------------------------------

default hosts file:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#    127.0.0.1       localhost
#    ::1             localhost