Orbx remarks about X-Plane

[EngineRoom 205]

JV's comments about X-Plane aren't really surprising. He's built a company up that makes FSX scenery and is now looking to P3D being the future. They've established a recognised brand that has garnered very positive reviews from just about every source, their product catalogue is growing at a faster pace than any other developer/publisher and has gained a tremendous momentum.

 

It would be foolish for Orbx to now start developing for X-Plane. It would take very significant time and resources to migrate their products to X-Plane. It's not just a matter of porting over a few 3D objects and some textures. Orbx sceneries are heavily reliant on their proprietary "Flow" technology and I would imagine getting this to work in X-Plane would be quite a job, if not impossible. Likewise their developers would have to take the time out to learn X-Plane development techniques and their support staff would have to learn the ins and outs of X-Plane. All of this would be a huge distraction from their main thrust - FSX/P3D. Let's also not forget the reality of the matter - X-Plane's user base is a fraction of FSX's. Why would he want to take Orbx's finite resources away from its highly successful FSX development to make products for such a platfrom with a much smaller user base?

 

JV is a businessman, he's stated that many times already. He's out to make money. As opinionated and abrasive as he can often be, he's come from nowhere to build arguably the biggest name in the FS addon market in a relatively few short years. He's quite clearly got big plans and isn't going to be easily swayed.

 

Which brings me on to my next observation - the apparent eagerness of some to have a dig at JV and Orbx at every opportunity as evidenced in this thread. It's getting more than a little tiresome. Yes we know that JV banned quite a few people from his forum a year or so ago because they voiced dissent or criticism for Orbx. Yes we know a lot of people felt very disgruntled that he put all his catalogue on discouted sale a few weeks after the full price pre-order customers received their products (I was one of them). Yes we know JV is very opinionated, abrasive and doesn't take criticism well at all. However, do we really need to bear a grudge against a guy we've never met who makes scenery for a flight simulator? Do we really need to make digs at him and his company and talk them down at every opportunity? Is it not rather petty, and to be honest utterly juvenile? Are there not more important things in life to concern ourselves with? Surely the shenanigans that went on at the Orbx forums at the end of 2011 have run their course now? What is to be gained from constantly sniping at JV whenever the opportunity presents itself?

 

I choose to purchase Orbx products because I like them and I want to enjoy them in my sim. JV owes me nothing nor am I beholden to him. To hear condescending terms like "sheeple" used to describe Orbx customers says far more about the person using that term than those they are trying to describe.

[MSFS Ralf 149]

Sorry, but I really don't understand that. ORBX scenery enhances airports, landscape and landmarks. I don't know about an XP add on that comes close. Show it to me and I'll buy it now.

[LAdamson 240]

Sorry, but I really don't understand that. ORBX scenery enhances airports, landscape and landmarks. I don't know about an XP add on that comes close. Show it to me and I'll buy it now.

 

Yes, I'll be picking up Orbx Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This is part of my flying country. This is what interest's me. When it's also released by a X-Plane developer, then let me know. As to JV...............I've never heard of him until now.

[alainneedle1 97]

JV's comments about X-Plane aren't really surprising. He's built a company up that makes FSX scenery and is now looking to P3D being the future. They've established a recognised brand that has garnered very positive reviews from just about every source, their product catalogue is growing at a faster pace than any other developer/publisher and has gained a tremendous momentum.

 

It would be foolish for Orbx to now start developing for X-Plane. It would take very significant time and resources to migrate their products to X-Plane. It's not just a matter of porting over a few 3D objects and some textures. Orbx sceneries are heavily reliant on their proprietary "Flow" technology and I would imagine getting this to work in X-Plane would be quite a job, if not impossible. Likewise their developers would have to take the time out to learn X-Plane development techniques and their support staff would have to learn the ins and outs of X-Plane. All of this would be a huge distraction from their main thrust - FSX/P3D. Let's also not forget the reality of the matter - X-Plane's user base is a fraction of FSX's. Why would he want to take Orbx's finite resources away from its highly successful FSX development to make products for such a platfrom with a much smaller user base?

 

JV is a businessman, he's stated that many times already. He's out to make money. As opinionated and abrasive as he can often be, he's come from nowhere to build arguably the biggest name in the FS addon market in a relatively few short years. He's quite clearly got big plans and isn't going to be easily swayed.

 

Which brings me on to my next observation - the apparent eagerness of some to have a dig at JV and Orbx at every opportunity as evidenced in this thread. It's getting more than a little tiresome. Yes we know that JV banned quite a few people from his forum a year or so ago because they voiced dissent or criticism for Orbx. Yes we know a lot of people felt very disgruntled that he put all his catalogue on discouted sale a few weeks after the full price pre-order customers received their products (I was one of them). Yes we know JV is very opinionated, abrasive and doesn't take criticism well at all. However, do we really need to bear a grudge against a guy we've never met who makes scenery for a flight simulator? Do we really need to make digs at him and his company and talk them down at every opportunity? Is it not rather petty, and to be honest utterly juvenile? Are there not more important things in life to concern ourselves with? Surely the shenanigans that went on at the Orbx forums at the end of 2011 have run their course now? What is to be gained from constantly sniping at JV whenever the opportunity presents itself?

 

I choose to purchase Orbx products because I like them and I want to enjoy them in my sim. JV owes me nothing nor am I beholden to him. To hear condescending terms like "sheeple" used to describe Orbx customers says far more about the person using that term than those they are trying to describe.

 

It's one thing to not want to make scenery for XP-10 but it's another thing to bash the product for your own personal gain, we are not talking about just been abrasif here.

 

As I always said, Orbx does have good scenery as I have a lot of them BUT I have a spine and when I see something wrong done to their own customers or see another company been bashed by JV I don't care about supporting such company anymore.

 

If YOU don't care about JV's comments more power to you as I will never tell you "Don't buy Orbx products", I am a business man and I've never talked bad about ANY of my competitions, I praise my products and tell my customers why they should buy from me, when you start bad mouthing other company you can ask yourself "What are they afraid of..."

 

Not sure he's gaining new customers.... http://www.orbxsyste...ws-john-venema/

[CFIJose 5,485]

JV's comments about X-Plane aren't really surprising. He's built a company up that makes FSX scenery and is now looking to P3D being the future. They've established a recognised brand that has garnered very positive reviews from just about every source, their product catalogue is growing at a faster pace than any other developer/publisher and has gained a tremendous momentum.

 

It would be foolish for Orbx to now start developing for X-Plane. It would take very significant time and resources to migrate their products to X-Plane. It's not just a matter of porting over a few 3D objects and some textures. Orbx sceneries are heavily reliant on their proprietary "Flow" technology and I would imagine getting this to work in X-Plane would be quite a job, if not impossible. Likewise their developers would have to take the time out to learn X-Plane development techniques and their support staff would have to learn the ins and outs of X-Plane. All of this would be a huge distraction from their main thrust - FSX/P3D. Let's also not forget the reality of the matter - X-Plane's user base is a fraction of FSX's. Why would he want to take Orbx's finite resources away from its highly successful FSX development to make products for such a platfrom with a much smaller user base?

 

JV is a businessman, he's stated that many times already. He's out to make money. As opinionated and abrasive as he can often be, he's come from nowhere to build arguably the biggest name in the FS addon market in a relatively few short years. He's quite clearly got big plans and isn't going to be easily swayed.

 

Which brings me on to my next observation - the apparent eagerness of some to have a dig at JV and Orbx at every opportunity as evidenced in this thread. It's getting more than a little tiresome. Yes we know that JV banned quite a few people from his forum a year or so ago because they voiced dissent or criticism for Orbx. Yes we know a lot of people felt very disgruntled that he put all his catalogue on discouted sale a few weeks after the full price pre-order customers received their products (I was one of them). Yes we know JV is very opinionated, abrasive and doesn't take criticism well at all. However, do we really need to bear a grudge against a guy we've never met who makes scenery for a flight simulator? Do we really need to make digs at him and his company and talk them down at every opportunity? Is it not rather petty, and to be honest utterly juvenile? Are there not more important things in life to concern ourselves with? Surely the shenanigans that went on at the Orbx forums at the end of 2011 have run their course now? What is to be gained from constantly sniping at JV whenever the opportunity presents itself?

 

I choose to purchase Orbx products because I like them and I want to enjoy them in my sim. JV owes me nothing nor am I beholden to him. To hear condescending terms like "sheeple" used to describe Orbx customers says far more about the person using that term than those they are trying to describe.

You took the words out of my mouth. I enjoy ORBX sceneries, but I didn't embrace P3D.

 

I want X-Plane to succeed. I want devs to design sceneries and planes. The more the better! But, I do NOT condone any developer for choosing one platform over the other. It's their right to choose. JV's opinions are just that and I've learned to just LOL sometimes.

[Geofa 108]

Ha, youngsters!? In what sense ... I've been coding since age 16, my first published game/sim was back in 1985 ... Air Traffic Controller (and I've got the magazine articles to prove it).

 

Perhaps hostility was too harsh a word ... maybe lack on enthusiasm?

 

Anyway, another example of a "dead" future? Can FSX do this?

 

 

I also coded at 16 but that was back in 1973...and Tom does have me beat! I did buy Air Traffic Controller though!

[boshar 6]

I would love to have an FS-X thats is screamingly fast and doesn't suffer from the blurries. I made a bootcamp partition on my brand new iMac i7 with GForce GTX 680 MX 2 Gb graphics card in order to have access to my Windows flightsimulator collection. Everything I throw at that machine looks amazing and runs blazzingly fast but FS-X is still the tweak fest that it always was.

 

I installed my ORBX PNW add-ons, apply the ORBX reccomended tweeks and up close and the first few minutes it looks amazing. After those first few minutes you start to notice the blurries and pop up. As always the blurries spoil the experience for me. Large amounts of tweaking can get rid of them for a while but then you switch to another area or add-on and it becomes another tweak party.

 

I'm used to the sharp X-Plane look. I never liked AI and artificial ATC (not even in FS-X) so those things I don't mis. I just want to enjoy my virtual flying, tweaking feels to much like work. I think the ORB-X guys are way to quick to dismiss X-Plane.

 

The thing that is never mentioned is the format that is used for X-Planes add-ons. X-Plane add-ons are pretty open and models, textures and ACF's can be opened, converted and used by a more technical user. I wonder if this is the real reason for developpers to steer clear of X-Plane add-ons.

[tonywob 4,770]

@Engineroom

 

Perhaps you're missing the point in that he's openly putting down another product, for whatever reasons, and people have a right to disagree and defend that product. I'm sure it does make perfect business sense for him not to pursue X-Plane, however his comments are damaging to X-Plane, and he should have acted more professionally. I personally won't buy from people/companies who I don't like, even if I really like the products, which I do. I don't know the guy personally, but I've lost respect for his company after seeing these comments, and I can tell from the reaction here and on their forum that I'm not the only one. I apologize if I called his followers who seem to praise his every post as "sheep", but seriously that's what it feels like sometimes, and I was once a loyal "sheep", buying every product they released. However, say something bad or critical on their forums and *boom*, you get a warning or are banned.

[CFIJose 5,485]

"In case I have not made it clear yet, we're still not a profitable company. Yes, we pay the bills, taxes, insurances, travel and all our contractors, but our ability to invest in more R&D and grow the business with more staff is still limited. We have had to tighten our belts in late 2012 due to escalating costs in running the business. Times are tough all over, Orbx is not immune."

 

Losing customers in NOT going to help ORBX be more profitable. JV should acknowledge that.

[FIVE-BY-FIVE 453]

I would love to have an FS-X thats is screamingly fast and doesn't suffer from the blurries. I made a bootcamp partition on my brand new iMac i7 with GForce GTX 680 MX 2 Gb graphics card in order to have access to my Windows flightsimulator collection. Everything I throw at that machine looks amazing and runs blazzingly fast but FS-X is still the tweak fest that it always was.

 

I installed my ORBX PNW add-ons, apply the ORBX reccomended tweeks and up close and the first few minutes it looks amazing. After those first few minutes you start to notice the blurries and pop up. As always the blurries spoil the experience for me. Large amounts of tweaking can get rid of them for a while but then you switch to another area or add-on and it becomes another tweak party.

 

I'm used to the sharp X-Plane look. I never liked AI and artificial ATC (not even in FS-X) so those things I don't mis. I just want to enjoy my virtual flying, tweaking feels to much like work. I think the ORB-X guys are way to quick to dismiss X-Plane.

 

The thing that is never mentioned is the format that is used for X-Planes add-ons. X-Plane add-ons are pretty open and models, textures and ACF's can be opened, converted and used by a more technical user. I wonder if this is the real reason for developpers to steer clear of X-Plane add-ons.

+100 :clapping: :drinks:

[EngineRoom 205]

It's one thing to not want to make scenery for XP-10 but it's another thing to bash the product for your own personal gain, we are not talking about just been abrasif here.

 

Perhaps you're missing the point in that he's openly putting down another product

 

I think the main issue here for some is not that an FSX addon developer is criticising X-Plane. The issue for some is John Venema is bashing X-Plane - hence the negative remarks about JV, Orbx and their customers in this very thread.

 

It's the same people dragging the same baggage into every thread disussing JV or Orbx - this time under the pretext of defending X-Plane.

 

I'd invite anyone reading this to take a look at the unoffical Orbx forum here at Avsim - you'll see there are some posters here who clearly have an axe to grind with JV. I'd kindly ask those posters, please, for the sake of everyone else who is sick to the back teeth of hearing about it, stop trying to poison every thread about Orbx or JV - love him or hate him he's not going to change.

[Christopher Low 5,387]

He obviously knows something we don't. He explicitly said they are close to the Lockheed martin dev team. Current licensing has nothing to do with it. We don't know what p3d 2.0 licensing will entail. Maybe a sub company that will do the retail part keeping LM and the corporate side separate.

 

I'm guessing that you are close to the truth here, and also that P3D2 may very well be written in 64bit code. Think about it. If LM could get around the "not licensed for entertainment purposes" part of the licensing deal with Microsoft, and also get (for want of a better term) "FSX+" running in 64bit, then that would be a very significant step forward. Either that, or JV just fancies the thought of charging lots of corporate customers $500 a shot....

[Mountain Man 142]

The thing that is never mentioned is the format that is used for X-Planes add-ons. X-Plane add-ons are pretty open and models, textures and ACF's can be opened, converted and used by a more technical user. I wonder if this is the real reason for developpers to steer clear of X-Plane add-ons.

 

I've wondered about that myself.

[Guest]

Sorry, but I really don't understand that. ORBX scenery enhances airports, landscape and landmarks. I don't know about an XP add on that comes close. Show it to me and I'll buy it now.

 

Did you watch any of those Xplane 10 YouTube video links I posted? If not, do -- as you will find your answer.

 

I also coded at 16 but that was back in 1973...and Tom does have me beat! I did buy Air Traffic Controller though!

 

Ok you got me beat ... actually just found the publication (magazine), my game was called Airport Controller June 1984 (as I recall I actually coded the game back in late 1982, took'em a while to publish it) ... it was free, you just had to type in the source code (oh how times have changed). It was for TRS-80 Color computer ... couldn't afford a PC at the time ($5000 vs. $1000). Heck took me 4 years saving (I was a good saver) just to be able to afford the TRS-80 Color with a massive 32KB RAM (top of the line)

 

Here's a memory lane pic of that publication:

[Guest]

I'm guessing that you are close to the truth here, and also that P3D2 may very well be written in 64bit code. Think about it. If LM could get around the "not licensed for entertainment purposes" part of the licensing deal with Microsoft, and also get (for want of a better term) "FSX+" running in 64bit, then that would be a very significant step forward. Either that, or JV just fancies the thought of charging lots of corporate customers $500 a shot....

 

P3D V2.0 is not going to be 64bit -- LM have already confirmed that. As far as I'm aware there is no plan to move FSX to 64bit by anyone ... would be great if there was, but there isn't. And if that did happen, any 3rd Party add-ons that use custom 32bit DLLs will not work (that's a lot of good 3rd party add-ons) and will need to be made 64bit. But data files (aka textures and sceneries) should move to 64bit painlessly. So if LM do a 64bit move in FSX, I'd be REALLY REALLY surprised. But then there is the entire legal issues around LM license that some 3rd party Developers (PMDG) will not support. I like P3D, but it seems to be a much more complicated route than going XP10 64bit which already exists.