Got my copy today. An "Airliners Special" edition :lazy: ....sorry guys :lol: I know some of you'll be as excited as I wasn't. If and when I ever get interested in bus driving there's no end of info for me here though.

 

Anyway in the middle of al this heavy metal is a review of FTX England. As per usual they lead with an award ("Classic") follow with a review and then a % score. They give it 90 which, with a "Classic" award, seems a tads high for a review full of screengrabs of bits they notice aren't very good or wrong or unrepresenative?!

 

Oldy enough opposite the review there's a FULL page ORBX ad for this very product... :rolleyes:

 

Still at least they've identified issues that many of us have already highlighted. Trouble is they've found more I hadn't found yet. :unsure:

 

Well more support for a patch or two as I see it, once the other issues a few folks seem to have found are sorted.

 

Geoff

 

Oldy enough opposite the review there's a FULL page ORBX ad for this very product... :rolleyes:

 

Geoff

 

LOL...... :Pig:

wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Well, they gave the Just Flight DC-3 a platinum award, so I tend not to take their reviews seriously. It's a happy go lucky mag and I wouldn't expect them to compete for a Pullizter prize.

The article summed up the scenery pretty well in that one shouldn't expect it to be like photoscenery, but it does offer a fair representation of England. IMO 90% was way too generous, but since the following page was a full page advert for the same product, what can be expected ;-)

Ah, PC Pilot

 

I haven't been a regular reader for some years now. However, if it's anything like it was back then here's an interesting exercise to try. Make a list of the publishers who have products reviewed in the magazine and then look at the ratings. Then go through the magazine and count how many adverts you find from the very same publishers. You may spot a pattern.

........but it does offer a fair representation of England

A point somewhat negated by the small screengrabs of the faults that they found illustrating that it wasn't a good representation of England. In fact the main article illustration had me reeling with disbelief ......but then I know the Lake District and anyone who'd stood by Wast Water and looked across at the Screes would understand my confusion. In fact the two larger sets of comparative shots of London had me reading the captions to see which version was default FSX and which was FTX! :huh: It's a bit like advertising a second hand car as in "Show Room Condition" alongside a picture showing it has a huge dent in it? :rolleyes:

 

Still as you say their "scoring" and Awards in their reviews are random in the extreme. When I was at school and we had to sit tests and exams 70% would have been a pass. If anything gets 70% in a PC Pilot review the "code" in that message is don't even think of getting it! Nothing gets 100% but bizarrely things with lower %'s get "Awards".

 

It's not a bad little rag and it does cover just about any flight simulator, has some nice little tutorials, comparative articles between real flights and simulated ones in the same aircraft etc. but with so many reviews as part of it's content it needs to look at setting some sort of "levels" for anyone to give them any creedance? :unsure:

 

In fairness what they actually said is

If you just want aflavour of the scenery we get in England, then ORBX FTX England is well worth a look. It's not perfect and in some areas it's nothing like the actual scenery it depicts. I make this comment as the holder of a PPL with regard to areas that I've flown over many times myself. Having said that not many people will have had that experience, in which case they're unlikely to appreciate the difference.

....and yet that gets 90%

 

Personally I think that folk who've never flown anything other than a simulator will "spot the difference". We're not all as unobservant as the reviewer seems to think! .....and his comments about only photoreal packages comparing with what you see on Google Earth (whilst true in the strictly photographic respect) don't do justice to some other regions FTX have covered IMO.

 

Of course articles get edited before publication and magazines survive on their ad revenue so we have to read between the lines and in this case believe what we see in the supporting images?

A point somewhat negated by the small screengrabs of the faults that they found illustrating that it wasn't a good representation of England. In fact the main article illustration had me reeling with disbelief ......but then I know the Lake District and anyone who'd stood by Wast Water and looked across at the Screes would understand my confusion. In fact the two larger sets of comparative shots of London had me reading the captions to see which version was default FSX and which was FTX! :huh: It's a bit like advertising a second hand car as in "Show Room Condition" alongside a picture showing it has a huge dent in it? :rolleyes:

 

Indeed, which is why I completely avoid areas I know. My home area looks nothing like the real area, and I did PPL lessons there, so I know what it looks like from the sky, and what the important VFR landmarks are, and most were missing or the wrong shape. In fact, an entire town was missing, which I reported and was told it will be fixed in the next service pack. I'm curious if people from the PNW or NZ do the same, or if it is just us in the UK who have this issue. I haven't mentioned this on the ORBX forum, because I'll probably get banned. When I fly around PNW or NZ using VFR charts, I get a good impression and feel like it is real. I don't do this in the north of the UK, because I know stuff is just plain wrong and it really does ruin it for me. Also, I'm glad I wasn't the only one playing spot the difference between the two London shots. I've never actually flown the default scenery for London, so I though OrbX added all of those buildings in.

I think people set the bar a little too high for Orbx here. Unlike Australia, NZ and the PNW England is an area that us English are very familiar with so we are going to notice things which are wrong. I also can't help but feel there is maybe, just maybe an element of Orbx bashing for the sake of Orbx bashing.

 

Despite all the criticism Orbx England is still the best depiction of the country available. Better than default, better than UTX+GEX, and better than the Horizon VFR photo scenery.

 

I understand it's the first product out the door from the Orbx UK developers. Say what you want about Orbx but one thing we cannot criticise them for is not supporting their products. They are very proactive in releasing patches and service packs and even going back and upgrading existing products. This and the news a service pack for England bodes well for the future. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm much happer flying over Orbx England than I am any of the alternatives I mentioned above.

I also can't help but feel there is maybe, just maybe an element of Orbx bashing for the sake of Orbx bashing

 

Where else do you expect them to do this on the ftx forum i think not

Well if you don't understand the many and various constructive criticisms that have been made of this package, most of which have been presented in a detailed and articulate manner by many people, then feel free to start a pointless flame about "bashing". "Bashing" seems to be an "over excited user"* cover for any criticism.

 

I can't think of any other consumer product where critics are accused of "Bashing" but if it makes anyone happy to dismiss considered and constructive critics by name calling there's nothing I or any other sensible user can do to stop those who want to do so.

 

BTW please link me to an official announcement of a service pack for FTX ENG because I can't find one.

 

As I have (repeatedly) said I do expect them to come up with one because they do support their products ......but some of the original official reaction included banning someone from the official forums for over a year when he wrote a very detailed feedback of where he considered some faults might lie! B)

 

It has to be said that several ORBX regions have had several service packs to address issues. The review this thread is about is based on what was released. The fact that it reiterated several points already made in these forums was IMO relevant.

 

Geoff

 

* some will appreciate this rather silly code for a forum edit <_<

Well, they gave the Just Flight DC-3 a platinum award, so I tend not to take their reviews seriously. It's a happy go lucky mag and I wouldn't expect them to compete for a Pullitzer prize.

 

I wrote two articles for them a decade ago, and I would like to thank Mark Embleton (the assistant editor at the time) for making it a relatively simple and painless process. I had never written an article for a published magazine prior to that (and I haven't written one since), but Mark instantly recognised my enthusiasm for the products in question (the Flight Unlimited series), and encouraged me to write the articles myself. I will always be proud of the results.

Actually Christopher I bought the DC3 before the review but it's one that's sat at the back of the hanger waiting for me to find time to divert to it. There's a reality there we as enthusiasts lose sight of too? So many add-ons and so much else to do with life rather than Simming :lol: Not sure why some folk here and on the "regretful purchases" thread have such a down on it? I guess the fact that the articles are written by freelance enthusiasts makes consistency difficult but at least they don't seem to have edited out any criticism here? It also keeps "hobby horses" under control :huh: ?

Despite all the criticism Orbx England is still the best depiction of the country available. Better than default, better than UTX+GEX, and better than the Horizon VFR photo scenery.

But by "better" do you mean more pretty or more accurate? Because even the default scenery is more accurate in certain areas.

 

So much of it is just either plain wrong or simply not there to start with. I don't think I've ever looked forward to an add on so much in my life.....or been so disappointed by the end result.

wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

 

For the record, it's "Nudge nudge, wink wink" -_-

 

 

:biggrin: