It is a bit strange that the price of FTX Northern Ireland is identical to that of FTX England, but maybe there is more detail in the NI product? Does anyone have any information regarding that? I do not own any ORBx products (I only use photographic scenery of the British Isles), but the fact that there is no photo scenery available for Northern Ireland makes me mildly interested in this one. Does anyone know if there are scenery packages available for the various airports and airfields in this region? I have access to the UK2000 Belfast Aldergrove Xtreme product, and I think that a photoreal Belfast City is close to release from another developer, but it would be nice to have detailed versions of the smaller airfields aswell.

It is a bit strange that the price of FTX Northern Ireland is identical to that of FTX England, (...)

 

 

To do some justice to ORBX, the ENG price on initial release was higher than the current one. It's come down quite a bit since then.

Once ORBX Complete the republic of Ireland they should release a bundled version of the British Isles including N.Ireland, Republic, Whales, Scotland and England for about the Same price as the PNW. I think the did that with all the Australia regions?

I'll certainly get it as I want to complete the set for the UK & Ireland as I pretty much only do regional flying with the Q400, NGX and Airbus X at the moment. FTX Eire and Aerosoft's Dublin X will finish things off nicely, although more Irish airports would be nice as Eiresim's are showing their age a bit now. Agree on the price though - I'm surprised they didn't look to put in a small Orbx quality airport like Belfast City or Derry to add a bit of value. Hell, they could have even offered to help the guy doing the freeware City airport finish things off by throwing some of their own resources at it and designing the package to fit around it, thinking about it. 

Once ORBX Complete the republic of Ireland they should release a bundled version of the British Isles including N.Ireland, Republic, Whales, Scotland and England for about the Same price as the PNW. I think the did that with all the Australia regions?

 

The AU regions cost around 25 AUD so they certainly don't sell them all for the price of one. Selling the entire British package for the price of PNW would be very er... odd... Don't think that will happen. The only thing that DOES happen is a price reduction when products become a bit older, like England which is a few bucks cheaper than it was when it was released. Don't get me wrong, though: I do think Orbx's prices are a bit off lately. And specially since they offer FTXG there is a lot less need (for me at least) to get the various regions. I won't buy them unless the prices drop 50% OR of I REALLY want the region (FTX Norway South for instance). For everything else FTXG (plus UTX) will do nicely. 

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the prices will drop in the near future because of less sales due to FTXG.

I think as a whole they've made some real bad choices for the UK and Ireland packages. I remember they were complaining about the airfields not selling and deciding possibly not to do anymore. 

I think it was a great message from the community that people won't accept paying full whack for a grass strip!

 

Having regional airports is a good way to go if they want to make airports. I believe Southampton will sell well, as you get more for your money. Hopefully they will consider doing more. Just doing GA airports takes for example the people who fly the J41, Avro RJ and Q400 out of the mix.

 

I also think they should have sold N.I and Ireland as the same product.

But I imagine the community will speak again on this and the price will drop before long. I like that they've done the scenery but as a price to size ration is not good at all. 

I'll wait and see if the price changes to make a decision.  

 

 

The AU regions cost around 25 AUD so they certainly don't sell them all for the price of one

 

Orbx - FTX: Australia SP4 Download which I believe is all of the Australia regions bundled is CAD$45

7,617,930 square kilometres

$0.0000059 per square KM

 

Orbx - FTX: EU Northern Ireland is CAD$31

13,843 square kilometres

$0.0022 per Square KM

 

Australia is 550 time the size of Northern Ireland

 

 

Orbx - FTX: EU Northern Ireland is CAD$31

13,843 square kilometres

$0.0022 per Square KM

 

Except that Orbx claims that FTX EU Northern Ireland has; quote "Over 30,700 sq km of scenery".

and no mesh included in this one either.

I was pretty excited about this as Northern Ireland is very close to my heart, but the price is nowhere near what I thought it would be for such a small area. On top of this, there is no mesh and it was stated by ORBX on their forums that they did only a few POI's for Northern Ireland also...seems like a partial effort at best which is really disappointing.

Any source I looked at puts Northern Ireland in the 14,000 sqkm ball part. That's the 6 counties. I had high hopes for Ireland but this does not look like a promising start.

Maybe the Bloom is of the Rose :lol:

It sounds less and less impressive by the second if comments further back in this thread are accurate. I would have thought it would have made more sense to create more POIs in a package that covers a much smaller geographical area. As for the untouched mesh, what on Earth is that all about? Surely it should have been upgraded from default??

Yes, I wonder what's up with this release... It also came quite suddenly: no news about beta's and whatever they usually do to build some hype. It was released quickly too: the beta should have been released in August but now the final product already is. And without mesh, not too many POI's, small size, not cheap... But well, I wasn't planning on buying it anyway.

 

I sure do hope they won't rush Norway South though!

I'm going to hazard a guess that Orbx may be learning a tough lesson with the UK scenery rollout.

 

I would certainly have expected Belfast airport to be modeled in this new region, as per Cardiff in the case of Wales. Instead I get the feeling from the screenshots that NI has received less attention to detail than it might have done - any early purchasers care to comment? - maybe because interest in the UK scenery is not as great as they anticipated, and they are now focusing on more lucrative projects and rush releasing the final two UK regions and essentially putting it behind them?

 

Whatever the case, it's really hard to see how the price of NI is relatively justifiable. There's also the very relevant point of the sheer volume of releases from Orbx, making the cumulative cost pretty high. Unlike when Australia and PNW were the only choices, it's now very necessary for most buyers to pick from the menu. That probably means that many buyers will want the more spectacular regions.

 

I suspect they looked at the business model for UK VFR scenery and tried to match that. The problem there is that many of us already have this, thus making the Orbx variant optional, rather than essential, ergo their recent volte face on the Netherlands region. I am still pondering over whether flying over a photoreal England is better than the "plausible" Orbx interpretation. It really is marginal, IMHO.

 

FWIW, I think there's a lot of mileage in them producing larger scale airports worldwide, specifically to blend in well with FTXG - Van Nuys being an absolutely obvious one. There's even a school of opinion to suggest that FTXG, with add on mesh and UTX (and later this year Orbx landclass), is good enough to make  buying bespoke regions less appealing, though I will be first in line, well after J Van E :-), when Southern Norway hits the shelves.

 

Northern Ireland is not the most breathtaking natural scenery from the air, in terms of topography etc. I suspect it will be a slow seller and maybe discounted quite quickly.

 

All that said, I totally admire what Orbx is trying to do and regard FTXG as the single best add-on I ever bought, along with the NGX.

Once ORBX Complete the republic of Ireland they should release a bundled version of the British Isles including N.Ireland, Republic, Whales, Scotland and England for about the Same price as the PNW. I think the did that with all the Australia regions?

 

Hmmm,, fishy! :wink: 

 

 

I think as a whole they've made some real bad choices for the UK and Ireland packages. I remember they were complaining about the airfields not selling and deciding possibly not to do anymore. 

I think it was a great message from the community that people won't accept paying full whack for a grass strip!

 

Having regional airports is a good way to go if they want to make airports. I believe Southampton will sell well, as you get more for your money. Hopefully they will consider doing more. Just doing GA airports takes for example the people who fly the J41, Avro RJ and Q400 out of the mix.

 

I also think they should have sold N.I and Ireland as the same product.

But I imagine the community will speak again on this and the price will drop before long. I like that they've done the scenery but as a price to size ration is not good at all. 

I'll wait and see if the price changes to make a decision.

+1 .....sums up my feelings on every count. Too little, too expensive, and just like with the disappointing sales figures Orbx have seem for the UK airfields, the community will speak..... whether Orbx listen is another matter.

 

PS... To anyone that missed SCO though; it is FANTASTIC! .... as well as all the mainland, the Western Isles, Orkneys and Shetlands are worth the price of admission. It is my favourite FTX Region so far (and I now have them all).

 

But I really believe, as others do, that N.Ireland either needed to come with the whole of Ireland (Inc. the Republic), or else should have included a detailed Belfast City airport. Without either, and with no mesh, I won't be tempted by this one....

 

Shame as make no mistake, Northern Ireland, in the real world is a truly stunning place, with amazing people. :cool: