Something fantastic is happening here...was GEX broken?

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

I have all the UTX programs and regions.

 

I had always used GEX (and the latest updates, etc)

 

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I'm in a paused flight over central Michigan on my way towards Chicago.

 

Highways, roadways, and the road traffic itself, was (before FSXG) ho hum, not well defined, a few cars here and there at my setting of 20 percent. I pretty much ignored it below.

 

But...with having now overwritten GEX with FSXG, roadways are stupendous!  Highways and Interstates well defined, with beautiful shoulders, every town, county has a well developed and WELL TRAVELLED roadway full of FSX road traffic. No broken and missing interchanges, off ramps...whatever.  I am seeing the power of UTX probably for the first time. I don't believe that GEX was rendering what UTX was mapping out for it, even though it came from the same developer. I have never seen such great, connected and truly believable and cohesive FSX road networking as I am enjoying now. I think that perhaps what UTX was always trying to map out to GEX, was not getting properly represented. Perhaps the graphics calls of FSXG are doing the trick and revealing what I have never seen, but should have always been there with GEX at the helm.  Wow....this purchase becomes 'cheaper' by the fllight, lol.  Thank you, ORBX. VFR is unbelievable. I can only imagine what a tightened up Landclass will bring to the effort.  Wow, oh, wow.....back to the flight and near the shore of Lake Michigan. What a ball...what a hobby...yeehaw!

 

Post Edit Comment:  Actually, I have not seen roadways, all different classes of roadways and traffic look this good even inside dedicated regional ORX efforts, PNW, CRM, etc.  This is something new. Is it, ORBX?  Could this much better rendition, and depiction or roadways be Incorporated as an update to present regional offerings? This in my p.o. is definitely much better than I have ever seen in anybody's scenery to date!

 

Mitch

[Q_flyer 766]

........so you're liking it then?........

 

:smile:

[mmann 72]

Unbelievable for a product that is just textures and autogen mods.

[Midnight Music 252]

I'm finding the same thing too, all of a sudden I am seeing details I never saw before...roads, freeways, forests, rivers, even came across a sugar cane field on Oahu I had never seen before.

 

P.S. I don't use UTX, very little land class and I un-installed GEX...I like keeping it clean...FSX seems to work better that way.

 

Lee

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

I'm finding the same thing too, all of a sudden I am seeing details I never saw before...roads, freeways, forests, rivers, even came across a sugar cane field on Oahu I had never seen before.

 

P.S. I don't use UTX, very little land class and I un-installed GEX...I like keeping it clean...FSX seems to work better that way.

 

Lee

I was just coming back to also post-edit by saying that not only am I seeing a TON of new items, never before rendered under GEX, but with running the stock LOD of 4.5, I am seeing fluid traffic RIGHT OUT TO THE HORIZON...on perfectly formed roadways OUT TO THE HORIZON of the LOD.  This has never been the case.  Also, the road traffic is no longer vanishing on you. The traffic stays, adding to the realism factor. Wonderful, man....wonderful...

 

So, what was happening under GEX/UTX?!?!?!??    Wha.....?

........so you're liking it then?........

 

:smile:

I'm finding that this product is revealing much more that was suppose to be there..but for some reason under  GEX on my system, was not.  Right now, below me, out to the horizon of my blah 4.5 LOD...is an absolutely clear, real-life, road-way network.  I am finding so many things that have been piggy-backed onto the new scenery as a correction or perk.  Oh yeah...if it was scank......you'd know about it by my typing fingers...lol. Believe in that, if nothing else...  Seriously, from using this product for two days or so...fence sitters are missing a rockin' party....

Unbelievable for a product that is just textures and autogen mods.

Mmann, perhaps it is how the scnery was designed and how FSX 'sees it, calls it'.  Like I posted in this thread, there is a massive side-perk happening here, that was never communicated in marketing....

 

I would have to believe that the beta testers saw these side perks also, but were told not to comment upon them....yeah..as most would think it was marketing hype...   But no matter...the perks are being delivered, and I'm seeing and enjoying 'em...

[DickB 6]

Hang on guys - of course you're seeing details you didn't see before. You're looking at a completely different texture tile set. Anyone moving from FSX default to GEX might say the same thing.

 

But the comment about the highways/traffic is interesting. I always understood that UTX highways were just painted over whatever textures (FSX default, UTX, GEX, FTXG) were underneath. Unless the installation of FTXG has reset something somewhere.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

Hang on guys - of course you're seeing details you didn't see before. You're looking at a completely different texture tile set. Anyone moving from FSX default to GEX might say the same thing.

 

But the comment about the highways/traffic is interesting. I always understood that UTX highways were just painted over whatever textures (FSX default, UTX, GEX, FTXG) were underneath. Unless the installation of FTXG has reset something somewhere.

True, but I am/was a GEX owner, and the ante is now massive.  I just came into a dusk approach at Lansing, Michigan. The sky lit up by the retiring sun, and the street lights were on...traffic, what an approach...what an awesome visual experience!  All at around 27 FPS as well for this approach. Very fluid.  I also wish to eat some major CROW at this moment.  I had said that FSX was old and tired.  Outside of ORBX regionals, it was. It was...but now?   Crow Eating Time....FSX is refreshed in this latest product from ORBX.  It is now exciting to fly in, interesting to fly in, and giving great performance at the max graphic settings.  This is a new (eating crow...feathers...yuck..) sim, folks with this installed. It has also refreshed every other product that is running the back ground. How more enjoyable is such software that offers you cabin environment, as well as weather, when the world you are flying over, LOOKS THE PART!   Again, my approach to Lansing a moment ago, was like nothing I have ever seen to date, other than Orbx Regional purchases.  To see this in Michigan, is AWESOME!  I think that I am going to go to FALL and Winter settings now, and see what's what...  I'm having a serious blast with this...and after all, this is why I work...to make the hours when not working....FUN!

[JimmiG 244]

But the comment about the highways/traffic is interesting. I always understood that UTX highways were just painted over whatever textures (FSX default, UTX, GEX, FTXG) were underneath. Unless the installation of FTXG has reset something somewhere.

 

Yes, that's how it *should* work. I think the OP's installation was corrupted somehow, causing problems with roads and road traffic in particular. How the installation of FTXG could have "reset" this I do not know, but I do have a theory.

 

I'm assuming the FTXG installer modifies the terrain.cfg file. This file needs to have its sections numbered sequentially, otherwise you'll get broken stuff like that. During the installation, the FTXG installer might have "accidentally" repaired a corrupted terrain.cfg file by re-enumerating all the entries..

[Dr Vesuvius 22]

I have to admit, the same fundamental thought had occurred to me too.  GEX Europe did seem to offer a *slight* improvement over default textures, but certainly no quantum leap in aesthetics or realism.  Switching between a GEX covered area and a non-covered area didn't seem to be *that* jarring.  Seeing how well thought of GEX is and the screenshots some people produced with it, I genuinely and sincerely wonder whether there was something wrong with my GEX installation.

 

Dr V 

[Manny 1,293]

Now, the need of the day is Landclass ...UTX or something else

[Hirdy2013 104]

I agree.  FTX Global has really brought something extra to my sim.

 

Out of curiosity.  What % Road traffic are you all using?

[mmann 72]

 

 

Seeing how well thought of GEX is and the screenshots some people produced with it, I genuinely and sincerely wonder whether there was something wrong with my GEX installation.

 

Must have been. I have tried FTX Global but have removed it in favour of GEX as the areas I fly in were annoyingly too green in FTX Global. I think it depends on where you fly. Fly in an area that you would expect to be very green and FTX Global will look very good. Fly in an area where green isn't so dominate and GEX starts to look very good.

[scott967 62]

First off,  GEX does nothing with UTX roads, except that GEX can replace certain of the UTX textures.  I suppose if those textures went missing, that could be a problem.  The actual UTX "road" can consist of several different features which work together.  First is the "encasement" (typically grass) which is a strip on which the road is "painted".  The encasement is a line vector of sufficient width that the road texture will run "inside.  second is the "interchange", where the line vector encasement isn't big enough, instead a polygon vector is placed, again with appropriate texture such as grass.  Third is the road which is a line vector.  Among other things UTX allows options for road textures with "painted on" cars and ones without.  Next is the freeway traffic.  This is a line vector with no texture, it is simply an invisible path on which the FSX "living world" engine spawns moving models using models and speeds defined in the livingworldcfg file.  The amount of models spawned is determined by the population density file and traffic slider. 

 

scott s.

.

[Dr Vesuvius 22]

Must have been. I have tried FTX Global but have removed it in favour of GEX as the areas I fly in were annoyingly too green in FTX Global. I think it depends on where you fly. Fly in an area that you would expect to be very green and FTX Global will look very good. Fly in an area where green isn't so dominate and GEX starts to look very good.

 

Ah well, you see, I primarily fly over the original "Green & Pleasant Land", which under GEX looked neither pleasant nor sufficiently green.

 

Default & GEX "greenery" seems designed to be a compromise that could apply from temperate zones in the north all the way to the mediterranean. FTXG currently uses textures perfect for the northern climes (which makes sense if you consider it's probably borrowing textures from EU England, Wales and Scotland) at the cost of sandier, drier climes.

 

Dr V

[SpiritFlyer 987]

 

 

Thank you, ORBX. VFR is unbelievable. I can only imagine what a tightened up Landclass will bring to the effort. Wow, oh, wow.....back to the flight and near the shore of Lake Michigan. What a ball...what a hobby...yeehaw!

 

Now, don't be shy and reticent Mitch! Tell us what you really think! :wub:

 

Kind regards,

 

I always like genuine enthusiasm with our hobby, regardless of the current reason why. It is so contagious!