Orbx England released this weekend...

[SteveW 1,792]

I hate scenery mainly because any tweaks go out the window with each different package. Best to use a defualt setup for any new addon and re-evaluate the performance from there. I found ORBX ENG was good on my systems regarding fps. In flight, I could "look over my shoulder" and see the cooling stacks near Ramsgate but it's not turning as soon as you can just make out the washing in your back yard VFR, I suppose it's not supposed to be. I knew where I was when looking out the window though. Mainly there are no sheep.

[Holclo 3]

The postman will be popping a copy of FTX England through my letterbox within the next hour. Reading this thread I don't know whether to install it or send it back for refund!

[SteveW 1,792]

lol, it's autogen, so some degree of imagination is required. It's not quite Marmite, but it is a cute representation of England.

[lateagain 45]

There's a thread on FTX support forum specifically about problems that some folk are having which MAY be related to other scenery packages. When I read it they were having problems reproducing the reported issues. As someone who worked much of my life as a technician I have a lot of sympathy with anyone trying to fix an intermittent or inconsistent problem with anything is always the hardest. Given that there are so many different set-ups, installations and tweaks out there and many have had no problems with running this I guess this might take a while. Can't criticise the support for effort.

 

lol, it's autogen, so some degree of imagination is required. It's not quite Marmite, but it is a cute representation of England.

:lol: ...well it seems to have a lot in common with Marmite? Love it or hate it? ^_^ and one of the issues is the nature and placement of the Autogen :unsure: It may be that the randomness of Europe and the UK's urban development is going to need a rethink on that area of autogen?

 

Holclo, I have to say that so far I've not experienced some of the running problems others have reported and my criticisms are "artistic" rather than any malfunction with the software. I guess if I were you I'd follow discussion in the FTX support forum to see what they come up with (may have already come up with ...check it out) before installing it.

 

I suppose the most helpful thing we can post for folk thinking of buying it is "Do you have previous FTX titles? Did any of them cause any issues on your system? Are you able to run those on your system with recommended slider settings?"

 

I'd have to answer "All of them, No problems and Yes". That's no guarantee if there's a yet to be found issue but it's better than nought? BTW my PC specs are on the FTX forum if you want to check them. I'll update that here later in case that's helpful to anyone. Mines a reasonable set up but no cutting edge supercooled overclocked wonderbox :lol: . Put it this way I sometimes get low fps and stutters with certain aircrfat in certain areas but mostly flying Low and Slow I get acceptable performance. FTX has few areas that have challenged my box, or indeed grabbed my attention for poor performance. A couple at most in several thousand square miles of landclass!

 

I'd be amazed if FTX don't come up with a fix, a solution and some patches so personally I'd hold off on a refund until the current issues are addressed?

[Holclo 3]

Steve and Geoff,

Thanks for your input. I sim almost 100% in UK. I have installed and run the free FTX demos - both worked OK (minimal time testing). I have a 737 cockpit set up running the IFly 737 and UK2000 Xtreme airports. Recently I installed the GENX Volumes 1,2 and 3- whilst these are OK I was smitten by some of the great screenshots from FTX EU.

I am aware that these two do not run together etc and issues with FTX should an uninstall be necessary. I don't think I can get to the FTX support forums unless I am registered which in itself would negate any refund i would be entitled to.

[lateagain 45]

I don't think I can get to the FTX support forums unless I am registered which in itself would negate any refund i would be entitled to.

Is that because there's a code/number you can't access without unwrapping it? If so that is a bit of an issue :unsure: . Most of my purchases nowadays are by download so the relevant details are all in e-mails.

 

I guess you could e-mail FTX and provide them with what details you have and explain the issue. Can't see why they couldn't give you access or a workaround? Might also be worth contacting the folk you bought it from and explaining the issue?

 

Whilst I fully appreciate publishers anti piracy concerns I sometimes think that they hinder legitimate customers rights? ...and often when what you've honestly bought is found in numerous torrent sites with a simple Google. I sometimes think folk lose sight of these realities whilst dealing with customers :huh: .

[lateagain 45]

Just visited the FTX Support forum, and I have to say it's an impressive array of questions and answers! It appears that there is still an outstanding issue or two with FTX ENG,(no solutions yet so this is a precis of ideas there) either the FTX Europe switch (?) OR with some clash with UTX etc. Lots of folk both side of the counter looking into it.

 

Right now an MSTS Route that I had a small part in putting together has just arrived on my HDD after SIX YEARS Development. Kind of puts some FSX developments in perspective? Working hard on helping some final pre release testing on that so no time to recheck stuff I've read on the FTX Support forum but as far as I remember you only need your order number to register? Awful feeling looking at a few screen grabs there that I may have some issues after all. Need to recheck so I'll report back when I have the chance.

 

Geoff

[Holclo 3]

Geoff,

Thanks. Have just been having Fibre Optic Broadband installed and have been offline most of today. Have my sim pulled apart just now to re-establish my FSX network. Will maybe get to the forums later tonight. Again thanks.

Bill

[AJT1967 1]

Well, I can post some results today. And like I said, in no way meant to flame.

 

I have installed:

 

FSX SP2

UTX Europe

GEX

REX

UK2000 Sceneries

Carenado Bonanza F33

Resolution set to 1920x1080

Airline Traffic 25%

GA Traffic 25%

 

And I am getting 28 fps sustained on my computer.

 

Again, not panning anybody, but perhaps some tweaking is in order with this scenery? For now I will leave it off of my system. Shame.

[lateagain 45]

Again, not panning anybody, but perhaps some tweaking is in order with this scenery? For now I will leave it off of my system. Shame.

Got a Name? ...just that it's friendlier.

 

Didn't take your post as panning but if you're running it OK why leave it off your machine? Those having problems being looked at right now have posted shots on the FTX forum. Looking at those you either HAVE the problem or you don't. Until they identify the cause of the problems folk are posting it's hard to see why it's not affecting everyone.

 

I'm tied up with some rail sim testing right now but I had been running FTX ENG without any obvious problems. I tried a few tweaks and the last thing I did was to make some alterations in scenery heirarchy. Only after that did I notice what might have been the same issue but it might just have been a GPU lagging behind. Until I get a chance to get back and try some tests I can't be sure.

 

Geoff

[TheDanger 182]

Reading this thread I don't know whether to install it or send it back for refund!

 

Maybe pop a bit of string through it and hang it from the xmas tree?

[Holclo 3]

Maybe pop a bit of string through it and hang it from the xmas tree?

LOL--- That is exactly what has happened to it! My wife grabbed it and said it was a wonderful Xmas pressie she had just bought me. Now just waiting for Santa to deliver it.

Bill

[RCITGuy 35]

LOL--- That is exactly what has happened to it! My wife grabbed it and said it was a wonderful Xmas pressie she had just bought me. Now just waiting for Santa to deliver it.

Bill

Bill, how much stuff do you have installed already?

Do you have a test hard drive or FSX install you can experiment with?

 

If you have a loaded system with tons of tweaks and add-ons, me personally, I'd avoid it knowing what I know now.

Don't do what I did and build up your hopes for something "Wonderful" though... You may well be disappointed.

 

I really seriously and truly do hope it works out well for you, really I do, but my experience with it means I will never, ever hand over another penny to ORBX ever again.

I did a LOT of reading up on ORBX and all their other stuff, and it has some awesome reviews, so I expected a lot, and feel horribly let down..

 

Your profile has no PC specs/info or your location, so its impossible to gauge your reaction to it...

If your from the UK, then you will be disappointed to find a lot of things do not look as they should, not even close. If your from anywhere else, you might love it if you ever get it to stop stuttering like a scratched DVD...

[Holclo 3]

Richard,

Thanks for your input. I have a pretty loaded system but as I use mainly the iFly Pro (Cockpit Builders Edition) it means a lot of the load can be transferred to my second, networked computer. So, up to now, my FPS have been good. I have tried the two free ORBX areas and they worked ok (FPS) as far as I could determine over a short trial period.

I mostly sim in the 737 and find Genx volumes 1,2 and 3 OK but hate the "flat earth" on final approach. Although I do a little low and slow flying VFR is not on my "must have" criteria. Although I like some ground realism I do appreciate that ORBX is land class and not photo real.

Bill

[Jean-Paul 167]

John Venema announced today that SP1 would be available mid-January.

 

We have made hundreds upon hundreds of changes, bug fixes and improvements to England including better compatibility with VFR Germany and reducing the appearance of blue blocks of water in certain landclass areas. We have also completed all the road systems including all moving traffic and missing bridges etc.

 

However we have discovered some of the changes made to try and achieve compatibility have caused many of our textures to lose their autogen trees and housing. We're not going to release an SP1 that makes areas of England look barren so we have to fix that.