Satellite imagery for XYZ disabled - can anyone confirm? NOPE! Rolling Cache Issue!

[Steeler2340]

Dear all,

I flew a couple of times into Afghanistan - yes, Kabul (OAKB) the last couple of days.

Now just today - when flying out of Kabul - I noticed that previously loaded satellite textures was seemingly replaced by “generic (generated) textures)” - as if “Bing Data World Graphics” was turned off. In fact, I disabled and re-enabled that option, and all “online” related data is set to “On”.

But wherever I flew within Afghanistan (following the nav line anyway), the previously loaded (low resolution, at that point) texture data “disappeared” as soon as I approached that area and was replaced by generated texture data, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

I painted a yellow line to which the below scenery is “dumbed down” with the “basic world data” (yes, also the DEM is affected: mountains are getting “smoothened” etc.) and generic/generated textures.

Here is roughly the same scenery (same area), this time with the VFR map for reference:

So I “skipped forward” in my flight plan towards Katar and lo and behold: satellite texture data was available again (and was visibly being loaded / updated, so a) definitively internet connection and b) “Bing Data” was enabled for sure).

So again I “backtracked”, this time with “slew”… and yep: a couple of dozens of miles into Afghanistan and the (low resolution) satellite textures (that must have been loaded and cached previously at some point) disappeared again, being replaced by generated texture data, from roughly this area onwards (“towards Kabul”):

Can anyone confirm this? Now I can imagine the reasons behind this, but just curious whether that is a “local internet glitch” or “systematic” (= others see the same result)?

P.S. I am located in Switzerland - for whatever it’s worth.

UPDATE: I still get detailed satellite image data for Kabul via Bing Maps: Bing Maps - Directions, trip planning, traffic cameras & more - moving away from Kabul and satellite image data becomes less detailed, but that’s probably as before.

[StatesideSiren4]

Wouldn’t surprise me to be honest.

[longhorn1tx]

I went out of there yesterday; the airport looked like a modeled airport and the general area looked clear and like any other area surrounding an airport. No planes on the ground at the airport except a few GA. So I think they are cutting and pasting things now.

[PLATOE]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[Steeler2340]

I am sorry, it was indeed a problem with the “Rolling Cache”, as it seems! In fact, when I initially checked its setting it claimed to have been “disabled” (when in fact it should have been enabled - at last that was my last “concious setting”). Off course I deleted the rolling cache, enabled, disabled and enabled it again in the “first session”.

I now restarted FS 2020 completely and disabled the rolling cache. And now the expected satellite texture data is loaded again, as clearly visible in the following screenshot:

I am terribly sorry about this confusion!

P.S. I thought about deleting this thread, in order not to “fuel any more conspiracy theories” - but then again, it may serve as a reminder to “first check your settings” (and thoroughly reset them, including a full restart of the application) in case anyone else is running in a similar “Rolling Cache” situation.

And yes, I am aware that people have already recommended disabling the Rolling Cache in the past (in the context of “crash to desktop” however) - it is seemingly just the first time that I ran into such an issue related to the Rolling Cache myself.

[CasualClick]

Many areas that are hotspots and also areas where nation states unfriendly to transparency have not allowed or released updated aerials. This include North Korea and the People’s Republic of China. Smaller nations with security sensitivity also disallow updated overheads and PG. And in some places, it’s simply because there’s no commercial value in updating the aerials, so no one is spending money on it. MS-Asobo only has access to what is commercially available on the Open Market that meets Bing Maps technical requirements. Jorg and Martial explained this many times in previous Dev Q&As.

Let’s not make this political. It’s against the CoC.