FTX ORBX vs UTX

[tttocs 301]

Maybe I'll just get out there in my 182 or 337 when I get the chance. 

 

I wish ORBX would do Arcada in California (maybe they will now that they have 'the world' coming).  I just discovered the area and I'd love to see their interpretation of Eureka, the three airports and the coast.

 

As Bert mentions, NoCal is on their announced list for this year, though from a recent post I seem to recall it's probably going to be more like the end of the year.  Eureka is in the coverage area which means the airports around there will get the "standard" Orbx airport upgrades.  I think one of the most under-appreciated things about Orbx regions is that all airports in a region get a substantial upgrade from FSX defaults.  For us GA guys, it's a big deal.

 

Scott

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

As Bert mentions, NoCal is on their announced list for this year, though from a recent post I seem to recall it's probably going to be more like the end of the year.  Eureka is in the coverage area which means the airports around there will get the "standard" Orbx airport upgrades.  I think one of the most under-appreciated things about Orbx regions is that all airports in a region get a substantial upgrade from FSX defaults.  For us GA guys, it's a big deal.

 

Scott

 

It's be nice if they gave the area the Felts treatment.

[Krister 51]

Most taildraggers in FSX aren't very realistic.  A few are pretty nice.  The new Pacer, for instance, is pretty good at modeling taildragger behavior, at least at the lower end of the speed spectrum on landing and roll-out.  The A2A mil-birds are also good at this, but probably not the place to start. 

 

I find that the Scout, and even the A2A Cub and the Carenado C185 (among the bush planes I've mentioned above) are not that good at modeling traildragger behavior.  For the most part, though, FSX taildraggers will not punish bad technique anything like the real world will. :huh:

A couple of years ago I got my ultralight license (not the one you have in the US, the European version) an I did all the flying in a taildragger (Eurocub). I can't say I've never been good at landing small aircrafts in MSFS but once I started applying what I had learnt IRL to flying in the SIM I vaaastly improved my landings. The way I was taught to land a taildragger corresponds to what the famous Wolfgang Langewieche called "Mushing".  The taildragger I fly the most in FSX is the Sibwing Bird Dog which I actually prefer to the A2A cub.

[tttocs 301]

 

It's be nice if they gave the area the Felts treatment.

 

I think the only payware airport they've announced for NorCal so far is San Carlos in the Bay area.  But they've been known to push out some unannounced surprises.  Yep, Felts is a great airport.

 

Scott

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

Ah...so, by Norcal, they must mean down to at least San Francisco and the bay.  There's a lot of good airports in that whole area.

[BilboBaggins 82]

Yes, Orbx hands down. I have the NGX and the J41 and have flown both maybe 10 hours each. Otherwise I have several thousand sim hours bush flying, and I mean bush flying, largely in the Cub and often into strips the C172 would find challenging. Most of my flights are at 1000 or so AGL.

 

 

I have UTX and GEX and pretty much quit flying FSX until Orbx came along and saved the sim for me. I'm a RL pilot, and even with UTX and GEX, the sim was just too little like life for me when flying. But with Orbx, I can believe I'm flying over real country again.

 

 

They do unique textures for each region, and as someone who has lived in several Rockies states, I can tell you they get the textures right. All the airports in a region get upgraded and some are very nice.

 

 

Get the demo. It covers the whole Olympic peninsula and you can get Bowerman (KHQM) and Vashon as freeware airports in that region. Bowerman is one of their best, free or pay. Vashon is right across the sound from Seattle, the worst FPS hog in the sim, so you'll see how your system can handle it.

 

 

Not sure what is meant by the question of how we keep,it real. But if you mean what airstrips, there are lots of little strips, even in PNW. CRM has the Idaho forest service strips that challenge even the Cub. And you can land off airport in tons of places in all the scenery. But the freeware OzX set of strips for the San Juan islands are fantastic!

 

Good to hear that re: Vashon/2S1; I've become addicted to ORBX PNW and related airports (KORS is fantastic, you can even see Orcas splashing in the sound as you take off, and the soundscape as well as the design all around the airport is astonishing), but I keep obsessively flying N from 2S1 around the Seattle Tower and past downtown, across Boeing Field to either runway 34R or 16L approaches, simply because it forces me to tune a custom config to make that actually run. Try it with Carenado's recent SR-22GTX, both MFD and PFD G1000 on, and REX heavy weather running with HD 3D clouds, and you'll pretty much hit the current most challenging performance scenario. On my system the SR22GTX is an almost guaranteed CTD passing over Boeing field except on a cloudless day. I've even gotten that to work, though, with a little finagling of LOD radius and mesh detail, and car traffic down to 6 (looks more realistic to me anyways).

 

ORBX along with REX is a must-not-miss combination, in my opinion. There are few to no software entertainment or simulation experiences as satisfying, period.

[MatthewL 16]

I just purchased GEX as well and its really good too! Good for flights with my PMDG!

[rservice 4]

If you like a challenge on the big iron, try a flight into and out of  ORBX Bowerman  in the PMDG 747. Watch your fuel and flaps.

Ron