So I was really surprised at how bad this looked ,And yes I checked all my data connections were running and my PC is fine. And I am aware of the Distance draw issues but this stuff didnt even look or get better after I passed it, Its one of the rare times where the stuff in the distance looks better than what is near you… Its just really odd and the worst scenery or whatever this si that ive seen … And yes I love the game so dont start hating on me or it… Its like MSFS ran out of trees or the AI was on a lunch break I dunno… And some nice pretty Swiss alps for contrast…
I’ve seen the same in others areas. I think due to the limitations of Bing in some parts of the world there is some data missing which is where you get low texture areas like this. Hopefully Alaska will get fixed in the upcoming USA world update
I agree, it’s not very inspiring and doesn’t feel like what this sim looked like from the start. I just flew over nothern Norway and it’s pretty much the same thing.
Hopefully, Alaska will be part of the US update and while I very much doubt we’ll see better sat imagery, I’m hopeful we’ll get a much higher quality base mesh to improve the shape of the terrain.
I’ve read bing bought a lower quality of imagery above a certain parallel. Not one single place in the North looks anything other than bland junk so it must be true.
I’m flying a lot around south west of Calgary at the moment. I’m seeing what looks like burnt out ground and fuzzy ground. Looking on Bing maps I can see the burnt out areas are actually cloud shadows and the fuzzy bits actually clouds. Not sure how they can improve that other than get updated satellite photos 🤷🏻
Alaska is one of the worst places I’ve been to so far, aside from maybe Afghanistan and portions of PNG. Mountains are round where they should have better detail. The height maps in general are just not accurate, and often the satellite image is also lacking. I didn’t realize how bad the situation was until I started to create a few bush strips. Once you get into it, you realize you have to bring over a new satellite image and completely terraform the area just to get started. Bringing over a new satellite image isn’t really an option if the existing image isn’t at least good enough to give you reference points. Sadly, it’s not.
I’m crossing my fingers and hoping this upcoming USA update includes Alaska and not just the lower 48. IMO, it needs it more than any other state.
Edit: For reference, check out this airport in Alaska. Note how bad the terrain is here. There’s a massive hill in the center of the runway…it’s literally uphill both ways. The topography just isn’t right there.
I think it is related to the elevation mesh and resolution. In FSX I purchased the high resolution elevation mesh for Mexico and it was really a game changer, at least for me. There is a landmark mountain in my home town that looks terrible in FS2020 because the mesh is not Hi-Res. Waiting to see if ME/AS would enhance that or if there would be other 3rd party products to enhance that mesh resolution.
In the Q&A they said they’re trying to get hold of better mesh, but it means talking to governments as they generally have some of the best data - which is what happened with Japan, it went from a 30m mesh down to 5m. Some of the areas just won’t have particularly accurate data, I mean would it be worth mapping somewhere like Greenland down to a 5m mesh - probably not.
Not only mesh, aerial texture are missing and replaced by landclass in these ugly area. Changing Mesh will do nothing for that. Mesh are just elevation points.
I asked Megascenery why no Alaska and they said no image data. The Alaska in MSFS 2020 isn’t bad as long as it is not compared to somewhere in the states. It’s better than the orbx Alaska addon. Not sure how they can improve this unless something changes. What needs fixing is making sure the airports are all there, lots of very small towns with air strips mostly grass. Would like to see improvement with the bigger places like Anchorage fairbanks and A few others.
Spot on. It is a combination of the elevation mesh with the terrain landclass and textures to make it as it should be. What I was referring is, those rolling hills are because the mesh detail or resolution is poor. Instead of having dramatic peaks, they are hills.
On top of that you need the landclass for the realism and then the appropriate textures. We’ll see how the world evolve in these areas. In the meantime, I am waiting for those additional mesh resolutions at least in other parts of the world.
If you find such things send them there immediately.
