TimJA

Is there any update on when this will be compatible with world update 4? It seems to be taking longer than the London fix. I bought this scenery so at least I'd appreciate some update on when I'll actually be able to use it again.

I have FS95 running on a win95 VM. I'd like to get a few comparison screenshot to show how far we've come in 27 years! I doubt I'll be here in another 27, and even if I am probably no longer simming (but never say never!)

I have the Chicago scenery. It's great. Such a pitty Meigs Field is no longer there for us Flight Simulator old timers but the world moves on I guess, and I could always get a scrape for the sake of nostalgia!

I still see Central London from Heathrow, but until Asobo improve photogrammetry caching at least I think I'm going to turn it off. Which is a shame because if I set the showcase cam at street level in The Strand and leave it for about 5 minutes to stream all the photogrammetry on my 20MBps connection, I can (just) make out what some of the shops are. I think I spend nearly as much time looking at POIs with the showcase cam and setting up nice screenshots (sundown with scattered high clouds can give some simply beautiful images) as flying! So perhaps I am wrong to grouch about the quality of the photogrammetry, given higher quality photogrammetry right now would be a total system killer even if you are running a high end CPU and a 3080 and have 150Mbps internet. I suspect the situation now is simply how FSX was when it launched as you mention. I remember back when FSX launched having a fast PC (and a fuller head of hair ) and expected to be able to turn the sliders right up. Which of course I couldn't! I can on MSFS but that does not take into account the streaming of photogrammetry and it's quality in MSFS. I have a particular interest in the Scottish Highlands and I can say that MSFS out of the box produces much better than I could ever get with FSX and 'photorealistic' scenery add-ons years later. What we will see in 3-5 years from MSFS may well truly astound us. I for one hope so.

I completely agree with you. I think it was to the detriment of MSFS that Bing Maps was used. But unfortunately MS could hardly launch a flagship product like MSFS that relies so much on spatial visual data and not use their own images. For MSFS users (and many others, I suspect) it would be better if Bing Maps had never existed. Then Asobo could have sourced far higher quality photography and photogrammetry and not had to rely on MS's poor in-house offering.

I have a 20Mbps connection and photogrammetry looks like melted buildings for me too (even when cached). I just don't think the photogrammetry is too wonderful to begin with. I have seen Google Maps scenery 'scrapes' where the photogrammetry is far better. This is installed locally of course and it looks great, but I have cached the photogrammetry areas where I fly in MSFS. I haven't used scraped scenery for a while as putting it into my community folder slowed loading times unacceptably. I don't know if this is still the case. Of course, the other issue with Scenery Packs after a MSFS World Update is duplication of hand-made features. I remember running with the London Scenery Pack just after WU3 and seeing two London eyes etc Tim