Hi,

 

I would have never of known how addictive this hobby can be!  having started out with the default traffic and recently added some commercial traffic I am now reading all about this lovely scenery that can be had but I don't really know which way to turn as there is quite a lot available.

 

 I have been reading on the forums about the latest one called FTX Global, My system is a few years old now so I am a bit concerned that I am maybe getting myself into something that my system wont be able to handle, I do run around 35 FPS when in the air with the default scenery which I am happy with.

 

Will I be able to run scenery on my set up? and if so can you recommend a good one to start out with?  I do fly Uk to Europe mostly but would love to to some transatlantic runs too when I feel more confident.

 

Many thanks

 

Darran

Your PC will struggle with some of the heavier add ons. Global should have no effect on your frames though. It just replaces the default textures. In terms of gauging how well your computer can run other addons, try the UK2000 freeware versions. If you get more than satisfactory performance, than you should be fine for the full versions.

Global is good value as you get the whole world upgraded. Also orbx Wales will give you a good idea of how good orbx are as you also get an upgraded Cardiff and they enhance other airports as well in the region. A lot depends how much you can spend. I bought England and Scotland as well as pnw and was sticking just to those areas in Air Hauler but since getting ftxglobal I am opening up air hauler bases all over the world. !

I'd recommend to try demo versions whenever possible. UK2000 offer fully functional, not time-limited demos of all their airports, only the runways are blocked by some rather ugly texture squares; FSDT also have demos available for every single of their airports, but they vanish a few minutes after the sim is loaded. Both developers offer excellent sceneries, though some of them can be very demanding.

FlyTampa does not offer demos, but all their sceneries have a stunning level of details, and great FPS at the same time!

If you're more into GA flying, you could try some of the ORB freeware airports to get an impresion how their work looks, but be aware that unless you own their regional packages for the particular area, the freeware airfields will show a noticably better performance due to less details (e.g. 3D grass).

 

If you're considering Aerosoft airports, it is advisable to get some info prior to buying from them, because some - especially the older - releases have a horrible impact on FPS. Their Greek Islands series is absolutely awesome, though, and has (nearly) the same performance as default scenery.

If you're considering Aerosoft airports, it is advisable to get some info prior to buying from them, because some - especially the older -
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Thinking about buyiing some Aersoft sceneries to go with FTXG.  Not sure how to get the dates to tell which ones are older and affect frame rates.  For example, the four VFR Germany regional sceneries, do you know anything about their quality and FPS impact?  Also considering their Innsbruck and Nice airports.

 

 

Not sure how to get the dates to tell which ones are older and affect frame rates.

Yes, you're right, the Aerosoft shop page doesn't tell the release date of any addon, but Simmarket does. And age alone does of course not tell you enough to say that an addon is bad performance wise - but it is much more likely, because the modelling and optimization techniques became better and better in the past years. And of course the size of the airport plays a major role in that regard, too - best example are LOWI and EHAM, both are about 3 years old, but Innsbruck as the smaller airport performs a lot better than Amsterdam!

 

 

 

For example, the four VFR Germany regional sceneries, do you know anything about their quality and FPS impact? Also considering their Innsbruck and Nice airports.

I don't own VFR Germany, so I don't comment on it. However, I do own Innsbruck and Nice, which are excellent airports IMO. The only downside of  Nice is that I think the ground image has a quite low resolution, but from what I've read that compromise had to be taken, because better images would have been much more expensive that the scenery would cost a lot more.

If you want to buy only one airport at the time, I'd recommend Innsbruck rather than Nice, because it covers not onle the airport itself, but also the city of Innsbruck and the mountains around, creating a fantastic immersion. Besides the instrument approach can be really challenging, because it simply isnd't the typical 3 degrees ILS approach.

If you want to buy only one airport at the time, I'd recommend Innsbruck

 

 

Bought Innsbruck yesterday, and you are right it's excellent.  Still haven't exactly worked out the approach to rwy 08!

 

Also bought VFR Germany South but could not download it (it's twice the size of FTXG).  Have asked to exchange it for the CD version.

 

I live in the UK, and my scenery plan is to buy ORBX Republic and N. Ireland regions, when they come out, and construct additional regional sceneries through northern France (already have France VFR Nord-pas-de-Calais), through southern Germany (with Aerosoft VFR Germany) into Switzerland (with add-on airports and FTXG) and into Austria (again with add-on airports and FTXG).  Then I will fly from anywhere in the British Isles through nortnern/central Europe as far as Austria, 

 

 

Still haven't exactly worked out the approach to rwy 08!

Yes, that approach is a bit tricky. If you need assistance, you could try the default "Appoaching Innsbruck" mission, which guides you through that approach, and it works perfectly with the Innsbruck scenery.

(...)  For example, the four VFR Germany regional sceneries, do you know anything about their quality and FPS impact?  (...)

 

 

Tough question:

 

There are alternatives for VFR Germany like DEX (North has been published already) and, maybe, even an upcoming ORBX FTX Germany.

 

VFR Germany looks a bit patchy, due to a high number of photographs integrated in the ground textures. Furthermore the vector data (Autobahnen/motorways, for example) have gotten slightly outdated.

Some of the blurriness of the textures actually account for some nice effects which look similar to haze to me.

 

I feel unable to say either yes or no; my own strategy is to update the 2 quarters of Germany that are more important to me (North and West) with DEX and leave East and South to VFR Germany.

 

You should really take a look at DEX and those ORBX/FTX regional demos (PNW and Tasmania as an approximation to ORBX's techniques on how they are going to render Germany) before you make your decision.

maybe, even an upcoming ORBX FTX Germany.

 

 

An ORBX  FTX regional germany?  Would love it, but in a recent post by J.V. on  the Orbx forum setting out the planned deliverables for the remainder of the calendar year, didn't  see any mention of Germany.  The only European regionals were the two Irelands and S. Norway.  What makes you think Germany  is in the near term plan?

FTX Global would be a great start for someone new to FSX.

I've just got a new FSX rig going, and want to keep it it fairly lean and uncomplicated, FTX Global came along at just the right time for me, it's great. Basically it re-jigs the built in FSX scenery, to increase the scenery "eye candy" effect, and in the UK and Europe (where I do all my flying) I think it excels. Plus the world wide coverage is a bonus.

I'm not knocking other scenery, I've bought everything going in my time, but as a simple uncomplicated add-on, for someone new to FSX, it's unbeatable I reckon.

For airfields, as suggested, try a couple of UK2000/FSDT demo's and see how you get on. I've found them to be fairly FPS friendly (except maybe UK Extreme Heathrow, which covers a lot of real estate).

If you want to do some general aviation UK flying. I'd really recommend UK2000 VFR Airfields. I love this scenery add-on. Basically aound 75 airfields per DVD covering South/Mid/North England. Nowhere near the standard of a proper payware airport add-on, but well above the basic FSX offerings. And as many are pretty small airfields, it doesn't take a huge amount of scenery work to have them really looking quite presentable, giving you a great choice of cross country flights to try. Very good value if you like that type of flying.

Eugene

Hello Darran,

 

Congratulations on your new found hobby.  I can tell you have "the bug".  It's good to learn the basics on default aircraft, but eventually you will want to purchase some upgraded add-on aircraft.

 

At this point I would recommend saving for an upgraded system.  The best way to go is DIY (do it yourself).  There are entire forums here dedicated to helping you along the way.  Good Luck

An ORBX  FTX regional germany?  Would love it, but in a recent post by J.V. on  the Orbx forum setting out the planned deliverables for the remainder of the calendar year, didn't  see any mention of Germany.  The only European regionals were the two Irelands and S. Norway.  What makes you think Germany  is in the near term plan?

 

 

Sorry, my bad: Seems I picked up someone else's "educated guess".

 

Since FTX Netherlands has been cancelled in the meantime, that guess doesn't look so "educated" anymore, anyway.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

But I've just got reminded of this one instead: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/70414-ftx-global-and-paderborn/?p=503491

Edited August 6, 201312 yr by olli4740

Thank you Dennis for the warm welcome and thank you all for taking time out to reply, I really am enjoying discovering the hobby and I have decided to start a fund to save up to build a new system which will probably take me about 9 months,I will probably be asking for recommendations when I have the money saved  :smile:  In the meantime I have purchased a couple of airports from UK2000 ( Gatwick and Luton) and I am very happy with them, I have a GTX 560TI coming to me shortly which should help a bit of the graphic front.

 

I never realised there was so much choice and I will definitely download a few of the demo versions and give them a try, the UK2000 VFR airfields sound great for the Uk as I like to fly GA for local flights and will also check out FSDT.  I do have one question, if I fly out of "range" of add on scenery does it just change back to the default scenery?

 

Darran

Yes and, depending on developers' techniques, you'll either witness the sceneries blend or a sharp border running between them.