Eu england by FTX

[Benjamin J 751]

I think we have to bear in mind that VFR London covers a tiny area and the frame rate hit is high. In other FTX regions with Cities there has also been a performance drop on my machine but this is just part of the England package so we'll have to wait and see what actual users report? UK2000 Extreme London City was reviewed as having better frame rates than the Aerosoft version so my guess is that the FTX London and UK2K Ex London City will give the best results?

 

geoff

 

My post was not about the FPS, though (assuming you were reacting toi me). My problem is that the OrbX London screenshots don't show any info on the actual looks of the scenery because they chose to make the shots artsy and all that, with pretty skies and beautiful lighting. I didn't intend to say that it ought to be exactly like London VFR or better, not did I want to make comments on FPS. What I'm saying is that when screenshots are posted, I want them to be informative first, and good-looking second. Because of that I reserve my making an opinion on OrbX London. But as I said, the rest of FTX England looks nice, so far. Don't think I'll buy it, but still, it looks nice.

[GaryGB 10]

My initial impressions are posted here:

 

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?73222-HU-ORBX-s-England-Scenery-moves-closer&p=758882&viewfull=1#post758882

 

[Guest]

The screenshots look very nice for sure but my problem, I think, will be with England itself... I own Horizon's scenery so I have flown in that region a lot but I actually only flew above Wales because England is nothing but small fields, small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields and some more small fields... And it's all flat too.

 

Orbx is the best generic scenery out there but I wish they hadn't picked England. I find it quite boring to fly there. I just read England will really actually only be England and not Wales, so... I doubt if I will get it. I still think PNW was Orbx's best region ever. Lots of diversity. All the other regions offer too much of the same (too much places where the scenery repeats and nothing happens) and England will be even more of the same, I think.

 

Correct me if I am utterly wrong...

 

EDIT

I just had a look at England on maps.google.com and I think in real life the place already looks like default FSX landclass scenery... so how can you improve something that isn't interesting to start with...? Obviously this is all very personal, subjective and mho. I also find the biggest part of the NZ South Island very boring while I know a lot of people like it so... don't make your purchase decision only based on my post LOL

[Rocky_53 1,606]

The screenshots look very nice for sure but my problem, I think, will be with England itself... I own Horizon's scenery so I have flown in that region a lot but I actually only flew above Wales because England is nothing but small fields, small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields,small fields and some more small fields... And it's all flat too.

 

Orbx is the best generic scenery out there but I wish they hadn't picked England. I find it quite boring to fly there. I just read England will really actually only be England and not Wales, so... I doubt if I will get it. I still think PNW was Orbx's best region ever. Lots of diversity. All the other regions offer too much of the same (too much places where the scenery repeats and nothing happens) and England will be even more of the same, I think.

 

Correct me if I am utterly wrong...

 

EDIT

I just had a look at England on maps.google.com and I think in real life the place already looks like default FSX landclass scenery... so how can you improve something that isn't interesting to start with...? Obviously this is all very personal, subjective and mho. I also find the biggest part of the NZ South Island very boring while I know a lot of people like it so... don't make your purchase decision only based on my post LOL

 

Hiya Jeroen, I can understand your initial reservations and I hope you are wrong. I originally shared your concerns also, and I suppose we won't really know until the scenery is released. In fairness, the UK is actually quite diverse in it's lanscape. The really cool thing is you can fly relatively short distances and experience this diversity. You have the rolling moorlands of Devon and Dartmoor within a very short distance to the Quantock hills, you then have Salisbury plain and the Marborough downs, then northwards along the spine of England there is of course the Pennine way, continue north into some of the most stunning scenery in the UK IMO, to the north Yorkshire dales, across to the west and the Lake District and then north towards Scotland, which of course will be a place with it's own wonderful mountainous scenery as will be Wales. Both I hasten to add will also be released as separate sceneries to compliment England. I agree with you about PNW, it is also my favourite place for GA flying, and although it has great diversity of scenery, it is on a much larger scale than the UK. I think the UK will offer a condensed version of all the things that are present in many other Orbx releases.

[Guest]

You have the rolling moorlands of Devon and Dartmoor within a very short distance to the Quantock hills, you then have Salisbury plain and the Marborough downs, then northwards along the spine of England there is of course the Pennine way, continue north into some of the most stunning scenery in the UK IMO, to the north Yorkshire dales, across to the west and the Lake District

 

Wow.. that sentence looked a lot more interesting then my one (small fields, small fields, small fields, small fields, etc.). It's almost a poem! The way you put it, England might be interesting after all LOL I will keep a close eye on it and wait for the first reviews to appear.

[Rocky_53 1,606]

:friends:

[FlyGeordie 17]

The screenshots look very nice for sure but my problem, I think, will be with England itself... I own Horizon's scenery so I have flown in that region a lot but I actually only flew above Wales because England is nothing but small fields, [blah]

 

Correct me if I am utterly wrong...

 

:Yawn: ...... This is at least the second (possibly third or more) time you've spouted this "England is boring" stuff. It's pretty ridiculous really. There is so much variety in England; the rural, the cityscape, the (very) old, the (very) new.

 

......where you're up for discovering it that is, and not just blinkered, with a fixed opinion.

 

Can you believe that people bought the Aerosoft product of the continent of Antarctica????? (and it's a brilliant scenery).

 

...kind of goes against your dare I say juvenile "concern" that FTX England "will be boring because England is boring".

 

Let me make this easier for us both :-

 

Correct me if I am utterly wrong...

 

.... You are utterly wrong.

 

B)

[dogtrack 18]

Horses for courses I guess, each to their own. I fly mostly in Switzerland but enjoy home airspace from time to time. Looking forward to Southern Alaska personally.

[OmniAtlas 93]

Orbx England will be good for one reason - vatsim heavy region, so I will definitely fly in these areas more often.

[andrewholdsworth 0]

Hi Guys. As the owner of Flightstore.co.uk, a big supporter and stockist of ORBX titles I am looking forward to offering FTX England on our website and stores..

However as some of you know, I also own the publishing company Playsims Publishing which publishers Horizons's VFR Photographic scenery , Treescaoes from Earth Simulations and UK2000 Airports.

 

I wanted to make this clear from the outset as obvioulsy some people may think i am taking advantage of a conflict of interests when reading my post below.

I assure you that as my primary business is Flightstore Pilto shop, i will sell anything to the best of our ability that is in demand, regardless of other interests.

 

But being the publishers of this well known software does allow me to give a more detailed perspective as to what the future of this title might hold, as we know quite a lot about making scenery.

 

Without doubt FTX Englnad as a replacement landclass for the default FSX scenery is a no brainer. It looks far better. I cannot comment on performance as we have not seen it run yet, but i know Orbx and this will have been at the forefront of their minds.

 

The question is , what happens to those FSX scenery libraries that have other 3rd party software on them.

 

1.) Certainly it will overwrite and effectively hide any VFR Photographic scenery for England whether that is Horizons or Just Flights VFR Scenery

2.) Blending: There are no blends between say the Welsh or Scottish border in FTX and VFR Scenery as they use different images, so you will see the border and colour changes.

3.) You may have to remove Aerosofts VFR London scenery, If you keep it and moveit above FTX England, the chances of 2 x LONDONS RUNNING is I think too much to expect and Orbx will probably argue why would you want to.

4.) Earth simulations Treescapes products will be hidden unless these are movedabove but i can say with much certainty that if you do that it will look rubbish.

There will be trees everywhere, certainly conlficting with FTX landclass buildings

5.) UK2000 , Gary's airports remain the biggest question as ORBX will launch the inital airfield Goodwood that has been designed to blend with FTX, but none of Garys work will blend with FTX. At this stage we dont even know if it will cause conflicts.

6.) REX and REX Essential. No idea.

 

 

We are hoping to test this software as soon as John Venna at Orbx gets a copy to us

we intend to do 3 tests

1.) Clean install over FSX generic with no artisitic embelishments

2.) Install over VFR Scenery and treescapes but leaving UK 2000 airports above it

3. ) Install over VFR Scenery, but moving treescapes and UK 2000 above it

 

We wll post our results as soon as we have them.

 

Hope you have fould this post useful as we dont normally do this sort of thing as it might look like punting for business, but in this case i think we have a good reason to get involved.

There are 43,000 VFR scenery users out there each with an average value on their PCs of around £100 each, So this will be a big ask to remove all these if that is what is required. And as the front line for customer support and complaints we need to know, just as you do, what exactly will happen here.

 

Keep an eye on our website for a pre-order launch. You can sign up to your newsletter if you want which will let you know immediately when we have the details online.

www.flightstore.co.uk

 

if anyone wants to contact me directly my email is andrewh@flightstore.co.uk , but please dont spam it around or i will to change it again!!!

Thanks

Andrew Holdsworth

 

Hi Guys. As the owner of Flightstore.co.uk, a big supporter and stockist of ORBX titles I am looking forward to offering FTX England on our website and stores..

However as some of you know, I also own the publishing company Playsims Publishing which publishers Horizons's VFR Photographic scenery , Treescaoes from Earth Simulations and UK2000 Airports.

 

I wanted to make this clear from the outset as obvioulsy some people may think i am taking advantage of a conflict of interests when reading my post below.

I assure you that as my primary business is Flightstore Pilto shop, i will sell anything to the best of our ability that is in demand, regardless of other interests.

 

But being the publishers of this well known software does allow me to give a more detailed perspective as to what the future of this title might hold, as we know quite a lot about making scenery.

 

Without doubt FTX Englnad as a replacement landclass for the default FSX scenery is a no brainer. It looks far better. I cannot comment on performance as we have not seen it run yet, but i know Orbx and this will have been at the forefront of their minds.

 

The question is , what happens to those FSX scenery libraries that have other 3rd party software on them.

 

1.) Certainly it will overwrite and effectively hide any VFR Photographic scenery for England whether that is Horizons or Just Flights VFR Scenery

2.) Blending: There are no blends between say the Welsh or Scottish border in FTX and VFR Scenery as they use different images, so you will see the border and colour changes.

3.) You may have to remove Aerosofts VFR London scenery, If you keep it and moveit above FTX England, the chances of 2 x LONDONS RUNNING is I think too much to expect and Orbx will probably argue why would you want to.

4.) Earth simulations Treescapes products will be hidden unless these are movedabove but i can say with much certainty that if you do that it will look rubbish.

There will be trees everywhere, certainly conlficting with FTX landclass buildings

5.) UK2000 , Gary's airports remain the biggest question as ORBX will launch the inital airfield Goodwood that has been designed to blend with FTX, but none of Garys work will blend with FTX. At this stage we dont even know if it will cause conflicts.

6.) REX and REX Essential. No idea.

 

 

We are hoping to test this software as soon as John Venna at Orbx gets a copy to us

we intend to do 3 tests

1.) Clean install over FSX generic with no artisitic embelishments

2.) Install over VFR Scenery and treescapes but leaving UK 2000 airports above it

3. ) Install over VFR Scenery, but moving treescapes and UK 2000 above it

 

We wll post our results as soon as we have them.

 

Hope you have fould this post useful as we dont normally do this sort of thing as it might look like punting for business, but in this case i think we have a good reason to get involved.

There are 43,000 VFR scenery users out there each with an average value on their PCs of around £100 each, So this will be a big ask to remove all these if that is what is required. And as the front line for customer support and complaints we need to know, just as you do, what exactly will happen here.

 

Keep an eye on our website for a pre-order launch. You can sign up to your newsletter if you want which will let you know immediately when we have the details online.

www.flightstore.co.uk

 

if anyone wants to contact me directly my email is andrewh@flightstore.co.uk , but please dont spam it around or i will to change it again!!!

Thanks

Andrew Holdsworth

[Andydigital 93]

The question is , what happens to those FSX scenery libraries that have other 3rd party software on them.

 

1.) Certainly it will overwrite and effectively hide any VFR Photographic scenery for England whether that is Horizons or Just Flights VFR Scenery

 

You have it backwards, no land class based scenery will ever overwrite photo scenery, not even FTX with its third party scenery breaking mode. Photoscenery (PS) always has priority number 1* and will always be visible instead of land class textures regardless of where it is in the scenery library layer list.

 

To use FTX UK the user will be required to disable any UK photoscenery products in the scenery library manager by removing the tick marks next to the huge list of Horizon/Playsims scenery entries, or at least the items/folders that have PS bgl's (photo 2.4, 1.2, 0.6 etc) inside them. You may need to disable the Mesh folders too but that depends on what resolution and source mesh FTX are using. Maybe the FTX mode switcher app can disable these entries automatically, presuming of course that FTX is still using that method with this scenery.

 

The same goes for Horizons VFR London, it will need deselecting (unless the user prefers it), it is a high resolution photo scenery product with custom placed 3D scenery on top of it and not autogen like is used in FTX products for the most part, so it can't be removed or hidden by an exclusion.

 

Treescapes (TS) will automatically be disabled when you deselect the photoscenery products, the TS autogen is in the texture folders within the Horizon areas, except for those small areas around some UK2000 airfields where the trees were added locally in the UK2000 folders to make sure they were not excluded by Gary's exclusions.

 

 

*Photoscenery can be overwritten by another PS product at a higher level of detail (0.6m is higher res than 1.2m, so 0.6 would hide the 1.2 textures) but no land class based texture scenery will ever display above PS, PS always overrides land class based textures.

 

Autogen on the other hand can be excluded by an exclusion rectangle, so FTX face the same problem of Autogen voids around some UK2000 products/areas.

[IAF747 8]

I have been interested in UTX or GTX but I am totally sold on FTX. Amazing scenery!!! Mix of photoreal and objects etc. Brilliant.

[Guest]

.... You are utterly wrong.

 

B)

 

Yeah, you are probably right... ^_^ I have to say that I've been looking at some more screenshots of this upcoming addon and I am already thinking about pre-ordering it... The thing is: I fly with real world weather now all the time (now that I have OpusFSX) and I would like being able to fly in a region that it (almost) within my timezone (instead of flying on the other side of the world) and close to my home country, so... I am beginning to look forward to FTX England, actually... ^_^

 

Nothing changes as often as a man's mind... well, my mind anyway...

[Manny 1,293]

If I get England Orbx do I have to switch back and forth between PNW and UK? If thats the case, I need to give this a pass.

 

what would happen if I install UK Orbx but the settings remain as PNW and then I fly UK?

 

Manny

 

When the English colonized India, They took over all the hilly terrain and built their summer homes over the hill side and called it "Hill station". From Coorg to Ooty, to Dehradun, to Missori, Gulmarg, to Manali to 100 other beautiful scenic hills and mountain sides in India,

 

After looking at the English terrain, I now understand why they did that. Apart from the fact that India is bloody hot, they hated flatlands!

 

LOL :lol:

 

And they did the same thing in West Africa too.. I lived in Jos, Nigeria for a couple of years.. and Jos used to be a Hill station built by the English.

[Paul_Yorks 97]

This today:

 

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/index.php

 

Looking amazing.

 

As a Horizon user, I'm torn (btw - Horizon does indeed have night lighting - v2 required) but I like PNW so much that I can't imagine I'll resist.

 

I've never got into the Trees addon - partly because I heard FTX was coming - and I do miss autogen in the Horizon photoscenery.

 

My main concern is UK2000 compatibility. I have a bunch of their airports installed, and if they won't work with FTX that might break the deal.

 

VFR London otoh I can do without - it's the biggest fps hog I've seen, bar none, and I only activate it for the odd microlight flight. With an addon Heathrow + VFRL + NGX even my PC is brought to its knees. So a decent FTX London compromise would be attractive too!

 

Great to see Flightstore making an effort to compare option.

 

Exciting to have choices, too.