Yep, it's all about the time it takes to add those water masks to the live version, which is different than the one they claimed in the latest Q&A as demonstrated by the transcript from the community managers I quoted in my original post. Considering the Oceania trailer was released on launch day, it means that the footage was taken around the time the Beta was live, and maybe before even.

They need to work on getting those water masks in quickly, or correct their false statement.

No idea why but they seem to have taken all the water masks out, at least the ones I checked.

Bahamas (pre-release trailer, before update, now):

Dahlak archipelago (X019 trailer, before update, now):

Edited November 29, 20205 yr by Shack95

8 minutes ago, Shack95 said:

No idea why but they seem to have taken all the water masks out, at least the ones I checked.

Did this happen with the USA World Update? Someone posted on the official forums another comparison before and after the latest update.

This could be explained by Bing satellite imagery upgrades requiring the masks to be done again, but as far as I can tell, between the Oceania trailer and my shots the imagery is the same, which means those masks were never pushed to live.

One thing that seemed to happen is that many parts of the planet had their elevation data changed in the last few days, possibly as part of patch 7.
Many scenery developers having to correct their products because of elevation mismatches

You would think that would only be limited to US but instead it seems to have impacted other places too. Another mistery.

39 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

Did this happen with the USA World Update?

 

No. My first 2 flights on day one (I was a pre-purchaser) was Tahiti and then Honolulu. I vividly remember my disappointment in not seeing those beautiful coral reefs.  And because I was curious, I also did a Great Barrier Reef flyover. No shallow water.

27 minutes ago, peroni said:

One thing that seemed to happen is that many parts of the planet had their elevation data changed in the last few days, possibly as part of patch 7.
Many scenery developers having to correct their products because of elevation mismatches

You would think that would only be limited to US but instead it seems to have impacted other places too. Another mistery.

If that's so then unfortunately it wouldn't be the first time stealth changes made it in, with no mention in the patch notes.

Coordinates for the Moorea shot are -17.48253 -149.93893 or thereabout for anybody that wants to try and also as a reference for a possible future water mask update.

Is blackshark.ai also in charge of water masks or are they only working on the autogen? I forget.

 

Edited November 29, 20205 yr by peroni

1 hour ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

Did this happen with the USA World Update?

I don‘t know. It‘s possible.

1 hour ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

This could be explained by Bing satellite imagery upgrades requiring the masks to be done again, but as far as I can tell, between the Oceania trailer and my shots the imagery is the same

I didn‘t notice any differences regarding imagery either. But as @peroni said, they changed the DEM, so that could have somehow affected the masks, who knows. I‘m just a bit surprised that they didn‘t mention anything in the last q&a (or did they?), given it‘s been such a heatedly debated topic since release. 

Every time I watch the QA sessions, I feel like I’m watching parliament in the U.K. Lots of interesting ideas and promises that are all hot air. And then the masses get frustrated because everything that was promised is either watered down or simply never comes to fruition. 
And reporting them Via Zendesk is like emailing my local MP......... 

To add insult to injury, they add in the last QA that their promo videos are made using an internal Dev mode. Correct me if I’m wrong, but someone watching those videos and thinking ‘wow, I gotta get that’, paying and then installing the sim, only to be let down because what is advertised and what they actually get are two different things. There isn’t even a disclaimer (that I can see). 
 

Sure, it is a great looking sim, most times. Sure, it’s modern. However there seems to be a creeping feeling that they appear to have bitten off more than they can chew. I really hope they do get all these basic issues fixed, sooner rather than later. You’d like to think that is their main focus. But as time goes on, one becomes more and more skeptical. 
 

33 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

If that's so then unfortunately it wouldn't be the first time stealth changes made it in, with no mention in the patch notes.

We all know that we buy a license to use a game, we do not own it. But the streaming makes this legal concept widely seen as a fiction, become a reality. The vendor can force upon the user additions, changes or subtractions of items without his/her knowledge or will.

I find it if not disturbing, at least questionable. There is a need for some ethical framework... 

4 hours ago, Biggles2010 said:

This quote is once again classic MS bulls**t.   ''We can't have an honest trailer because it might mislead people at some time in the distant future''

Yeah, I agree. But what is the truth? That they have a special version they refuse to release? Either way it makes no sense. 

1 hour ago, Shack95 said:

No idea why but they seem to have taken all the water masks out, at least the ones I checked.

Bahamas (pre-release trailer, before update, now):

Dahlak archipelago (X019 trailer, before update, now):

Why? Why is this sim getting worse?

Gee wiz, 20+ replies critical of Asobo, all just a little late to party 🤣

But seriously, those water masks are amazing, hope they can fix soon cause coastlines are just too "bland".

 

45 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

To add insult to injury, they add in the last QA that their promo videos are made using an internal Dev mode. Correct me if I’m wrong, but someone watching those videos and thinking ‘wow, I gotta get that’, paying and then installing the sim, only to be let down because what is advertised and what they actually get are two different things. There isn’t even a disclaimer (that I can see). 

I believe in the United States this fits within the legal definition of false advertising, since they are misrepresenting the item being sold.

For example, with a cereal commercial, they can replace the milk with Elmer's glue, have nice lighting, whatever - but the cereal itself has to be the actual cereal. 

In this instance the item being sold is the simulator and it's beautiful scenery and they are 100% misrepresenting it in the advertising.  They even put the 'CAPTURED IN REAL TIME 4K' notice on every video, which further implies that this is the actual simulator running on an actual graphics card.

I just feel we are not getting the complete truth now.  They made an excuse a few months ago that Bing updated the masks when it was high tide without them realising, so the water masks changed and the textures went missing. 
Can this really happen?  Do the tides really make the water lose all of its texture in the Bahamas etc?  

I think they have a bit of an issue that they don't want to divulge to us, as they seemed a bit sheepish about it on the twitch video when asked.  But as people say, we paid for what we saw in the pre-release videos, and although stuff like this wasn't specifically promised, they are still producing those videos to this day.  It wasn't the first time they were asked about this last week anyway, they were asked a few months ago, that is when they first made the remark about Bing over-writing them.

It is getting to the stage where I really don't know what to think.  Corporate machinations again maybe - such a shame - it sounded like a 'partnership' with the community to start with, now, not so much. 🙁