Mega scenery earth 4X Florida, not all it's cracked up to be!

OK Im making this posting because I've spent over 12 hours downloading, extracting and installing this scenery and to my surprise I wasted valuable time and most of all 40 bucks with this scenery.

 

After researching the product I thought it was worth the investment but thought has proven me wrong. Screenshots represented of the scenery have hidden a lot of things about it and I can only imagine this is why the company has said: Refunds are out of the question unless it's something on their end (their problem), otherwise it was designed to work on all installations of FSX, AND on all systems supporting FSX.

 

Well guess what? That's an easy way out of covering up shortcuts and shabby workmanship on their part and then focusing the blame on the user's computer and settings only to hopefully cover their own work, mistakes and again shortcuts.

 

I've been experimenting with this since I've installed it, I've gone through several settings with my system maxing out all the details, maxing out setting they suggested and even using their built in scenery configuration program which is suppose to give you the best display on your screen so that the scenery looks as advertised! well AGAIN this is not the case here.

 

I have gone through every combination of settings known, everything has been looked at and even more settings applied using the Nvidia Inspector to get even higher details and guess what? no use...

 

Oh sure, all scenery looks good the higher you are and I can appreciate the time they took to try and do a good job here but lets be honest here folks... their screenshots DO NOT TELL ALL and the user has to sadly find these things out after spending the money and a huge amount of time downloading and installing this stuff.

 

Below are two screen shots I created. The first one is of their scenery. If you look at these screens you'll see a huge difference between the two. The second screenshot is My creation of the same area using the same process and done correctly taking the time to get it right so to speak

 

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Lets take a look at just a FEW features you get in this package.

Both of these screens are taken using the same exact settings using very high resolution settings at 1920 x1080 for starters.

 

This is also taken with inland water (lake), some of the saltwater areas are even worse.

 

 

 

~ Notice the weird strange circles (curved lines) they left behind under the water. No idea what they were thinking here.

 

~ Then one of the most upsetting things and one of the most noticeable things right off the get go is the fact they did NOT take the time to mask ANY protruding areas that are out in the water like boat docks and a other objects. No masking what so ever which make these objects only visible *UNDER THE WATER*.... Also, if you turn down the water settings and look at this in different angles you can actually see their straight edge lines of the *Hurry up and get it done* masking job they did going right over the top of these objects. All they did were outlines around the State and a few other areas and that's it. This kind of work in itself makes the whole package/scenery look like some freeware I've seen before.

 

~ Another issue... the detailing and resolution, again is not done correctly and is of *hurry up* workmanship here!. These are just a few things that really make this software/scenery show it's true colors if you will and after trying several things, spending the last two days all day long trying to make this work even better, there's just no a whole lot your going to accomplish here and the enjoyment go's right out the window.

 

~ Also there are a few airports here and there with some buildings but for the most part those too are misplaced and scattered in wrong places. I just can't believe how they would let this go.

 

 

Their Work

 

http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo334/asw8055/Odds%20and%20Ends/Megascenery%204X.png

 

 

 

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My work:

 

 

This is how it should of been done and how you mask correctly if your only using a 2d photo generated satellite image.

 

http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo334/asw8055/Odds%20and%20Ends/My%20Scenery.png

 

You can clearly see the difference in my work. I've taken the time to get it right. One thing you can do if you want objects in certain areas is then lay down your docks, houses or whatever you want, THEN go back and make another scenery of the same area using the one you have used originally by masking over the docks, houses and even trees *on the 2D image* so that when it's reloaded again then you will see only the 3d objects you created but still have the surrounding area's as the original photo image. This is just another way of adding more details and I say this because after Megascenery installs, you have no objects as in Auto Gen... there might be a few airport buildings which I noticed they used the very minimal but that's not that big of deal because this scenery (Florida 4X) is only 2D anyway and is designed to be basically *Flown Over* but you can still see a bunch of problems with it which I've posted above in Their Screenshot so yes it spoils the scenery and makes it look cheap.

 

Megascenery,... If your going to make something this way and decide to make scenery that incorporates a huge amount of water in your scenery then at least take the time, sit down, talk to whoever you have working for you and decide to GET IT RIGHT! before you start such a venture.

 

When the state of Florida comes to mind when someone is asked about it... 99 percent of the time the first thing people recognize Florida with are the Beaches, Water and all the fun things they can do because this is what makes Florida what it is and if your going to take shortcuts around this only to hurry up so you can make money instead of putting out quality workmanship then you just made it worse for yourself and your product.

 

Bottom line for me is I will never spend another dollar on MegaScenery AGAIN. I would ask for a refund because yes THIS IS THEIR problem and not mine but ya know what? I know it's just going to be more junk I would have to deal with and I don't have the time for this kind of nonsense. I'll take my loss of $40.00 and then go back and maybe FIX some of my favorite locations around and in Florida and actually make it right! (For my own enjoyment of course) and no I will not distribute anything I create so don't ask.

 

Megascenery I'll send you the bill for my repairs.

 

I'm very disappointed in your work as are many others I've spoke with who have this scenery.

Good luck on your future products and take this criticism and use it wisely grasshopper and make your next product right.

 

 

~A~

This is a masking area I've been working on along with scenery for a section of Florida last year which is going to include all buildings, houses, docks, bridges you name it... it's all in there.

 

This is how water masking should be done if you want the correct image and modelling on a scenery. This screen was taken from a few miles high because of the size of the area which is around 15 square miles or so.

 

 

Amen!!! The water was real bad on the first Florida4x. I told them about it and they made it look a little better. But I had to download 12 more hours to get the up dates. 4x is better then the org. maga scenery (Florida) The maps they are using are old, I see a lot of building that are not there that should be.

A simple truth in life is you can always make it better yourself.

 

How much did you pay for the MSE?

 

How many hours did you put into your work?

 

What percentage of their coverage did you cover?

 

I am not a fan of their work, I bought Seattle and was, .....under-impressed.

 

However I admit I could not make my own for what I paid for it, not if I put a reasonable value on my time.

 

peace,

the Bean

Yours definitely looks better than theirs.

A simple truth in life is you can always make it better yourself.

 

How much did you pay for the MSE?

 

How many hours did you put into your work?

 

What percentage of their coverage did you cover?

 

I am not a fan of their work, I bought Seattle and was, .....under-impressed.

 

However I admit I could not make my own for what I paid for it, not if I put a reasonable value on my time.

 

peace,

the Bean

 

Yes I understand what it is is what it is more or less considering the time spent but if your going to be using locations with water then at least get the objects in the water separated or don't do it at all. I can deal with the rest of it but the water stuff just drives me nuts.

 

As far as my time on my work, well I can't put a price on it because I'm not selling anything and I could never make the money that it would be expected for my time anyway, no developer can. In other words no software out there has a price to justsify the hours spent and time, if it did then everything out there would cost hundreds of dollars, even repaints and the business would be dead. There's always more work put into something then what can be made on the work in this industry. I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for of course but I think the price could of included a descent masking to keep some of the most noticeable items above water and not submerged.

 

Maybe I went a bit off the deep end here with all this but hopefully maybe they will get wind of it and make their next one better. I'm not retracting any statements about it but rather I guess I could of just let it go but some things just need to be lifted off one's chest because this really bothered me.

 

I'm sure I'll have some fun with it and maybe be able to touch up a few areas in my own time. The rest of it is not really that bad (the higher you are) and they got close but again I think they got a little lazy on this one or someone must of quit on them or something and walked out the door but my rant is my rant and I'm sticking to it cause it's right :p

 

Thanks for the replies.

Cheers

~A~

I agree Alan, I bought the ultra res Pittsburgh scenery and used it once, so much for that. I think they need to take some lessons from you, yours looks 100% better!!

 

I'm getting a little tired of some of these vendors charging all this money and putting out a half finished product, expecting the customers do the beta testing for them. :mad: As a matter of fact I have a new plane that is virtually unflyable until a service update comes out. :rolleyes:

Hi Folks,

 

Yep - Alan - feel your frustration - I've made a few projects with satellite imagery - with autogen - so I know what's involved... Your work does look much better... Thanks for the heads up - I'll be sure to steer clear...

 

Regards,

Scott

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sadly in flight sim & pretty much every other market there are quality providers others, not so much. This type of info is exactly why I appreciate forums such as this. Of course everyone has a bellybutton & sometimes one complaint is based on a factor the providers can't control. That's why I always want more than one opinion before I make a decision.

 

I was thinking of trying a 4X offering. After reading more than one or two negative opinions, I'll spend my money on other products.

Sadly in flight sim & pretty much every other market there are quality providers others, not so much. This type of info is exactly why I appreciate forums such as this. Of course everyone has a bellybutton & sometimes one complaint is based on a factor the providers can't control. That's why I always want more than one opinion before I make a decision.

 

I was thinking of trying a 4X offering. After reading more than one or two negative opinions, I'll spend my money on other products.

 

I came across this thread via Google, thought I should post my opinion as everything here is super negative against MSE 4X and that doesn't match my experience at all.

 

Background: I own the 4X versions of Florida, California lower + Upper south and have just purchased Texas NE today (not installed yet). I've also spent hundreds of hours making my own photoscenery - mainly using FS Earth tiles - and then adding objects on top of this. I've got around 6Tb of the 'homebrew' stuff now - need a new 6Tb drive for the ongoing project!

 

My thoughts: I like the MSE 4X product, for what it is. It is large-scale photoscenery, with no 'autogen' and no night textures. It's going to look different from landclass scenery like Orbx (I own all the Orbx regions, and many of their airports, so I certainly know what the difference is).

 

In general, the MSE products look exactly like the images shown on their product pages - there's no attempt to mislead buyers. In fact, I think the screenshots they use are not nearly as good as what I get out of P3D v3 plus a decent weather program.

 

Anyone can make better scenery for a small area, including hand-placed objects. That's exactly what I do, but I can't do it for a whole state. Megascenery gives me very large areas with decent resolution down low and excellent visuals up high.

 

I mainly fly tubeliners (Prosim, home cockpit). I play with Orbx form time to time, but large-scale photoscenery is far closer to the real thing and looks better too once you get up a little.

 

To dress up the scenery a little, I'd recommend night environment (where available) and NuVecta for trees. Helps for evening/dawn/night and low-and-slow, respectively.

 

I thought I should post this as I feel the thread is very unfair to the Megascenery guys - lots of negativity, 'I'll never buy another MSE product again' etc. Look, it's not perfect - the Megascenery water masking has always been pretty poor, for example, and I've heard that the first iteration of Florida for 4X was suboptimal in this regard (though I don't have any complaints about the version I have).

 

Large scale photoscenery in high res has been a long-term dream for flight simmers who want 'as real as it gets'. Here it is, its decent quality, the resolution is far better than we had a couple of years ago and the price is pretty fair.

 

Summary: if you like photoscenery, this is a decent product. Happy with my first three 4X purchases, and will be planning to buy more in the future.

I really enjoy photo scenery, but am also not very happy with the quality of Megascenery Earth. It has terrible color matching in various areas and bad water masking or none at all depending on what you purchase. Large scale or not, the quality is terrible as far as I am concerned and will not purchase anymore.

 

I am going to try Ultimate VFR photo scenery when they finish California and Nevada being as it has night textures and autogen.

My experience with them has been a total disappointment. I can understand a previous post here saying that he is happy with them because they cover large areas, but all it took for me was to see the horrible, unrealistic colors and water masking to realize I had in fact wasted my money. I thought their original SoCal and Oahu was pretty ok, but it has gone down hill fast. I even asked them to stop sending me emails, then was bombarded with 10 emails from them in 24 hours before they finally stopped.