GOOGLE MAP FOR MFS2020

[MrBitstFlyer 3,812]

For the last 24 hours I have seen blurry textures around the aircraft.  However, I see this using Bing maps if I don't have a rolling cache.  If I enable the rolling cache with Google data, would this be ok?  Anybody seen any problems?

[109Sqn 1,549]

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

That's like Burger King using McDonalds ingredients. 

 

1 hour ago, vcarlo said:

but what if most people preferred McDonald's ingredients to Burger King's and this increased Burger King's sales ??? 

The differences being that a) Burger King would never publicise that if they did it and b) the customer wouldn't be the one making the change (unless they broke into Burger King premises and made them themselves with the alternative ingredients, in which case BK very much would have something to say about it!).

[cianpars 1,158]

McDonalds v Burger King - TBH I don't see a great difference. Now Bing v Google - well that's a different story.  Having flown with Googles textures for a few days now, for me there's no going back. A bit embarassing for MS, but hopefully, rather than try to stop it, perhaps they should see it as a signal that they should be upping their game and react accordingly.

Looking to try a few flights in Spain over the weekend to see how the Google landscape compares there.  When I've compared Bing v Google images in the balearics in the past, there has been quite a big difference, but I will be covering a lot of Catalonia too.

I also plan to explore the Channel Islands as as I found in the past that Google has far superior textures.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

Not tried this yet.  I did do a comparison between Bing maps and Google maps for the areas I fly (NZ and Aussie East Coast) and have not seen a huge difference.   i suppose I should try it in game anyway just in case.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

Why don’t some of you try flying in North Korea and do a comparison? It should be profound if Bing maps don’t have data for that country.

[RobJC 2,069]

Just tried it. Google maps are better than Bing. It is pretty dramatic. Just seems more detailed. More lifelike. 

[Alvega 2,119]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Why don’t some of you try flying in North Korea and do a comparison? It should be profound if Bing maps don’t have data for that country.

Guess no one is going to use Google instead of Bings because it's better in North Korea anyway. Except people from North Korea. But those don't have access to Google...

[Freq_flyer44 108]

It's a great alternative, but you do lose the ocean state (it will always be calm basically, regardless of the windspeed) which is to be expected I guess.

[Fielder 3,634]

Nov. 10 a new version of FS.TO...

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

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Fielder

[Fielder 3,634]

Uh, oh, I have problems with new version. Check the messages on flightsim.to, people complaining the sim is now broken:

 

QUOTE: """ This completely broke my sim. My world map has no satelite data even after a clean install. Please help me fix it.

manne 26 minute(s) ago

I have the same Problem. Do you try top delete the host files?

archaicpariah

5 hour(s) ago

I tried it and it worked - but - there was a big impact on frame rate. If you want any kind of weather as well it tanks the frame rate totally. Worse since I stopped using it and after turning off my computer and restarting MSFS I keep getting "bandwidth too low" messages and "You've been switched to offline mode" when before I tried this mod I did not have those issues at all. It's stuffed up the Bing photogrammetry download process somehow. It's a good idea but obviously the game is tweaked to run with Bing maps for a reason.

Update: Deleting the 'hosts' file in the directory specified in the mod text above fixed the issue with bandwidth and switching to offline mode. """ END QUOTE

 

Me again: I had same issue keep getting 'bandwidth too low' even though speeds are normal on wifi. I will try deleting editing (by deleting 2 lines) in "hosts" file which should fix things. I don't recommend the new version of Nov 10 of the Google Map Replacement Mod until this gets sorted. Flightsim.to product page will have user reports when it gets fixed.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Fielder

[Fielder 3,634]

As the download page on flightsim.to says, you need to manually remove these two lines:

127.0.0.1 kh.ssl.ak.tiles.virtualearth.net
127.0.0.1 khstorelive.azureedge.net

From the bottom of the Hosts file (using notepad). But to do that you will have to click Properties on the Hosts file and grant full privileges to everyone and then click apply the changes. Then you may delete those two lines from the Hosts file.

I think the whole issue here is that this add-on is supposed to delete those two lines every time you click STOP on the addon's run box. But it can't delete them without permission, which you have to grant by applying full access permission in the Hosts file's Propterties box.

[Fielder 3,634]

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

[Fielder 3,634]

Here's what the file named C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts normally looks like without using the mod:

# 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

 

 

 

 

Here is what it looks like after running the google map replacement mod:

# 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

127.0.0.1 kh.ssl.ak.tiles.virtualearth.net
127.0.0.1 khstorelive.azureedge.net

 

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

So, it is supposed to be a blank file when the mod is turned off (STOP) and then become a two line file when the mod is turned on (RUN). That's how it should work. Its a windows system file.

 

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

5 hours ago, Alvega said:

Guess no one is going to use Google instead of Bings because it's better in North Korea anyway. Except people from North Korea. But those don't have access to Google...

Curiosity. Just to see the difference. And if Google can access the satellite data why can’t Bing?

[GCBraun 2,390]

As an active Ortho4XP user, generally, I have better results with Bing. While there definitely more clouds in the imagery, the color discrepancy between tiles is much better than Google Maps.

In any case, what MS/Asobo is doing behind the scenes cannot be disregarded. The quality of MSFS´s satellite terrain is much better when compared with X-Plane´s Bing tiles for the same locations