The difference is hard to quantify. FTX just seems to look better in my eyes. Remembering that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, all such statements are going to be subjective.

 

Having had GEX Europe and USA installed, I am glad I switched to FTX. It looks more plausible to me, as mentioned by many, in the regions I spend most of my FSX time. That is the crux, where you spend most of your time...

 

I think it to be a pretty mature product already, that can only get better with time and support via the OpenLC packages and additional development.

 

A

 

 

Andrew Entwistle

 

...
that can only get better with time and support via the OpenLC packages and additional development.

 

That is one thing everyone will agree with, Orbx is great at expanding their products with service packs; the difference between their FTX PNW region at release and with SP5 installed is like night and day.

Terrific shot!

 

Thanks

jja

If you post some coordinates + heading + altitude I could make a screenshot of a specific location so you can compare it to what you've got now.

Oh that would be great!!!  Try Macau Int. VMMC runway 34 towards Beijing with a climbing right turn to the ZUH vor up to about 8000 feet.  There is an entire city there just north of the Airport that isn't even shown in default FSX.   lookin forward to some pics....may buy FTXG tonight. 

Here is one thing to keep in mind that no one has mentioned yet. 

 

Regardless of what textures you are using, if you have a good quality 3rd party weather engine that models haze, fog, overcast, etc.. properly,  you do not see those textures clearly all that often in many parts of the world.

 

To me, this would make the differences between GEX and FTXG negligable if you already own GEX.

 

I was tempted to give FTXG a try, but since I have all the GEX regions and UTX and Scenery tech Landclass, taking the above reasoning into consideration, it is just not feasible to shell out another couple hundred dollars at this time(including LC).

 

Maybe in the future, who knows.

 

Bill

 

 

I was tempted to give FTXG a try, but since I have all the GEX regions and UTX and Scenery tech Landclass, taking the above reasoning into consideration, it is just not feasible to shell out another couple hundred dollars at this time(including LC).
 
Maybe in the future, who knows.
 
Bill

 

Bill, I'm on the fence too.  With FTXG does one get licensing for both FSX & P3D do you know?

 

 

With FTXG does one get licensing for both FSX & P3D do you know?

 

Both, yes.

 

 

There is an entire city there just north of the Airport that isn't even shown in default FSX.

 

Hm, I doubt if FTXG solves that landclass problem... but here is a shot anyway. BTW The ZUH VOR requires a turn to the LEFT, not the right... but since on the left there was mainly sea I suppose this screenshot shows the right location. Maybe you recognize that river. You can type the coordinates into FSX to make a good comparison.

 

Thanks for the posting J van E.  I installed FTXG last night.  My first impressions with most addons is underwhelment because I usually expect too much I believe. With FTXG I feel the same way.  I've only spent an hour flying with it and I feel that is is just a little bit better than even the default.  Maybe I'm missing something or just need to spend more time with it.  My opinion could change.  I understand that landclass, when it's ready will change a lot of things for the better.  With FTXG, and with GEX in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, there is one single house...the ENTIRE city is omitted.  Will the future landclass installments fix this kind of omission?  

 

To get the same level of city detail as default in Macau, I had to run the autogen sliders to max and my FPS suffered big time.  I'm gonna try flying more with FTXG today and hope my experience is better.  For now, at least, I don't recommend it to someone who is on the fence.   I'll post soon if my initial views on that change...and it very well could.

 

In the shot of Macau above, the city, compared to default, is fuller across the water with more building but the city itself isn't changed all that much and the outskirts, those desert-like looking patches kind of bother me...looks like default and is it really like that in real life I wonder.

This is what the area around Macao looks like with SceneryTech landclass:

 

I don't have GEX, but I have some comparisons on my site between default, FTX-Global, UTX, Prepar3d and the appropriate view in Google Earth:

* Default vs. FTX Global vs. Prepar3D vs. Google Earth

* Default vs. UTX vs. FTX Global + UTX vs. Prepar3D vs. Google Earth

 

Here's one (typical) example for the city of Chihuahua, Mexico:

FSX Default:

FTX-Global:

P3D:

Google Earth:

If you are wanting cities to be there that default FSX doesn't have then you need landclass.

 

Textures can't fix that.

 

I'd wait for Orbx to release their landclass regions personally but scenery tech is an option for Asia or Mexico.

Google Earth:

 

I give, why isn't someone streaming Google Earth into a flight simulator (other than GE itself) like XPlane 64 or P3D?    What a fabulous market for custom autogen based regional sceneries!  Google Earth + Google Earth:  marriage made in Heaven.  Whoever decides to broker this should be supported beyond all recognition--it's just what needs to happen to bring about a much needed quantum leap in our great hobby  :rolleyes:

This is what the area around Macao looks like with SceneryTech landclass:

 

Thanks for that screenshot Molleh.  Question.  I've never bought landclass before but ready to buy after seeing this shot.  How does the relate to UTX and FTXG?  I have both running now.  Can I just load Scnerytech landclass no problems?  Are they mutually exclusive?  Should I uninstall UTX first?  Any help appreciated.  : )

I don't have GEX, but I have some comparisons on my site between default, FTX-Global, UTX, Prepar3d and the appropriate view in Google Earth:

* Default vs. FTX Global vs. Prepar3D vs. Google Earth

* Default vs. UTX vs. FTX Global + UTX vs. Prepar3D vs. Google Earth

 

Here's one (typical) example for the city of Chihuahua, Mexico:

FSX Default:

FTX-Global:

P3D:

Google Earth:

Well none of these look like the Google earth shoot but to my eye the FSX default is the closest! :lol: