new GEX vs FTX Global

[troppo1 0]

 

 

I have to say that granite screenshoot is quite impressive  Why doesn't Flight1 put up screenshoots like that on their webpage, that shoot could have sold me....
I think I have to reconsider everything I have said so far and eat my own words

 

now I didnt expect to hear that just from 1 shot, But""" I told ya So""" comes to mind.

 

It is a different sim with GEX and the granite faces are amazing, but there seems to be not much more different, except maybe less tree's than global and maybe framerates. I have really noticed a better fps with GEX

desert looks good, bit more hilly. Where is all the green that people were talking about?

[Kaboki 437]

 

 

desert looks good, bit more hilly. Where is all the green that people were talking about?

 

USA SW Region, but the patch is out with new lanclass and textures, so it's now fixed:)

 

 

 

now I didnt expect to hear that just from 1 shot, But""" I told ya So""" comes to mind.

:biggrin:  :blush:

 

 

bit more hilly

 

Might be that we are not in the exact same location. I see some hills in the distance in your shoot, so that maybe where I took mine..

[troppo1 0]

yes you were in a jet and covered a lot more ground than my little 172..

ok so we call it quits for the screenies, unless someone else wants to jump in???

 

Kaboki, I'll swap you sometime, you put GEX in and I will try Global, ok?

[Kaboki 437]

ok so we call it quits for the screenies, unless someone else wants to jump in???

 

Yeah I think we got most things covered...and I don't have time too or the patience to do any more screens

 

 

 

Kaboki, I'll swap you sometime, you put GEX in and I will try Global, ok?

 

Hmmmm, not sure I want to do that since I already bought FTX Global I don't wanna use extra money on GEX. So I'll stick with Global I think. But I do understand your excitement about GEX now B)

[csharpe 20]

I have been using the "new" GEX for some time, and it really is terrific once you get all those different areas interacting with one another.

I was also REALLY excited to see that ORBX was working on their FTX Global product!  However, from the "developer" side, FTXG has been creating some headaches.  Unfortunately, FTXG has REPLACED the assignment for the standard “grass” texture with a texture that is a mix of grass and trees. (This can also contribute to the “tree issue” with trees in unwanted places…like airport runways and aprons.) This means that any developer assigning the “solid” grass texture from SBuilderX will not find that texture where it belongs with FTXG installed. This also means that any developers who choose to use the “grass” texture as an airport background instead of the standard “Mask Class Map” will not see a solid grass surface. The reason developers sometimes choose “grass” over the “mask” is largely for aesthetic reasons… it just LOOKS BETTER in some instances, but it serves the same purpose. Because the standard grass texture contained NO TREES, it was always a safe (and sometimes preferable) alternative to using the “mask”. FTXG makes the grass texture useless, and thus, “breaks” every 3rd party scenery that has assigned a specific “grass/non-tree” texture based on satellite imagery.

[gandy 18]

 FTXG makes the grass texture useless, and thus, “breaks” every 3rd party scenery that has assigned a specific “grass/non-tree” texture based on satellite imagery.

 

 

Any chance you can give some examples of scenery addons it breaks besides vfr france autogen

[csharpe 20]

Gandy,

 

Only the developer truly knows if he assigned a grass texture and something incorrect was generated in its place.  The end-user has no way of knowing what the developer intended, unless something glaringly wrong appears... for example, a developer will not purposely put trees on a runway.   But as someone who creates scenery, I can tell you first-hand, that if I assign "grass" to a scenery, it is no longer generated as "grass" with FTXG installed.  That said, I don't use the grass texture very often.  However, when I'm trying to create an accurate scenery based off of satellite imagery, and I'm staring at an image that can only be grass with no trees, it would be kind of nice if the simulator would generate the corresponding texture that I assigned... as it did with the default textures and with GEX.  Maybe FTXG will go back and reconsider some of these texture reassignments in an update...

[gandy 18]

Gandy,

 

Only the developer truly knows if he assigned a grass texture and something incorrect was generated in its place.  The end-user has no way of knowing what the developer intended, unless something glaringly wrong appears... for example, a developer will not purposely put trees on a runway.   But as someone who creates scenery, I can tell you first-hand, that if I assign "grass" to a scenery, it is no longer generated as "grass" with FTXG installed.  That said, I don't use the grass texture very often.  However, when I'm trying to create an accurate scenery based off of satellite imagery, and I'm staring at an image that can only be grass with no trees, it would be kind of nice if the simulator would generate the corresponding texture that I assigned... as it did with the default textures and with GEX.  Maybe FTXG will go back and reconsider some of these texture reassignments in an update...

 

 

So you make a claim about an addon but can not provide any examples. You really should provide some examples to back up your claim as im sure Orbx devs would love to hear about it as if it is there scenery causing the issue they can fix it. They do have an active dev team that do fix bugs. With the issues you are having you should make a support post as to me it sounds like there could be a guid conflict but i dont really know enough about scenery design to say that is the issue.

 

I use the custom grass on all my addon airports that have it and have no issues and it displays on my pc just like the developer promo screenshots hence my question for examples. I mainly fly in europe so most of my addon airports cover that area.

[csharpe 20]

So you make a claim about an addon but can not provide any examples. You really should provide some examples to back up your claim as im sure Orbx devs would love to hear about it as if it is there scenery causing the issue they can fix it. They do have an active dev team that do fix bugs. With the issues you are having you should make a support post as to me it sounds like there could be a guid conflict but i dont really know enough about scenery design to say that is the issue.

 

I use the custom grass on all my addon airports that have it and have no issues and it displays on my pc just like the developer promo screenshots hence my question for examples. I mainly fly in europe so most of my addon airports cover that area.

 

Sorry, Gandy.  I thought my quote was self-explanatory.  For every scenery I have created using SBuilderX, the grass has been replaced with the mixed grass/tree texture under FTXG but not under the default or GEX textures.  (This has been tested and proven to be so by other users as well.)  I do not make statements I cannot support, nor do I make claims. 

 

It is already well-known that FTXG changes the underlying architecture of FSX, and this is one of the results.  Any other developer using the standard method to assign grass through SBuilderX should encounter this under FTXG.  I can only speak to my sceneries (and there are 11 of them if you do an author search for "Carlyle Sharpe"), because as the developer, only I knew I selected "grass" and "grass" was not what was generated by FTXG. 

 

It's not rocket science... the sceneries were correct before an FTXG install, and now they are not.  I really can't make it any clearer than that.  It should be an easy fix for FTXG to return the texture reassignment to its original state, however, it may not be a pretty one.  There obviously was a method behind these selective reassignments that led to the dramatic "look" of the overall package.  Changing one element could affect the new look they were intending.  The only issue is, in their successful effort to transform the FSX world, they inadvertently changed the "look" of every 3rd-party scenery that relies on landclass.  The end-user may think it looks "better", but only the developer knows whether it looks "correct"!  For people who spend hundreds of hours designing and  hand-picking just the right textures to create the most accurate, realistic world as we see it, this is no joke.

[gandy 18]

You really need to take this up with them so they can fix it as i know quite a few people use sbuilderx and could run in to the same issue as you and others have.

 

If no ones lets them know then nothing will get done and the issue will remain for you and anyone else who uses sbuilderx. I dont know enough about sbuilderx to report the issue to them as i would not even know where to start.

 

As more and more developers are starting to make edits to the core scenery files its very very important to get any compatibilty issues reported and resolved, a good developer will care and will make updates to fix the issues, a bad developer will just avoid the issue.

[Jean-Paul 167]

Paul, I think he alread took it to their forum but it seems it was overlooked. I think I have the same issue on a very cool freeware scenery for the Faroe islands by Ryan Andersen. These islands are supposed to have no trees at all (all cut & burned) and now I get them in the worst places.

[csharpe 20]

Gandy, you've got it all backwards.  Companies shouldn't be messing with the core structure of FSX to begin with.  Many of us "developers" have full-time jobs that are not related to commercial scenery design, and we provide our service for FREE to the FS community.  I have been making small patches for the more glaring problems as they arise, but I cannot address every problem. 

 

FTXG knows what they have done, and there are numerous forums dedicated to this issue that have been led by commercial scenery developers with much louder voices and gravitas.  The ball is in FTXG's court.  Whether they choose to listen is up to them.  I will continue to design for what I know works: FSX and FSX+GEX, and I will apply FTXG "patches" when needed.

[lodestar 186]

Are you serious about that - "replacing standard textures" and "not folowing FSX rules" etc?

Well, FSX default textures are not great, this is why we are buying texture replacement, right? And FTXG is by far the best available texture replacement we have. Maybe they have to do it that way, you must accept some compromises if you want quality. Nobody forces you to use FTXG.

I would understand this drama if FSX was perfect - plug and play product, and then somebody suddenly made a product that does not fit perfectly, like we would be used By FSX is about compromises and tweaking from day 1, after you add HIGHMEMFIX for the first time. We should be used with that. Not that FTXG realy has some problems. If something is not compatible, post in ORBX forums or forums of that problematic scenery, but please stop complaining about non-existent, potential issues and FSX rules.

It's same like asking Majestic to stop using external FDE, becouse that is not folowing FSX rules and my EZDOK camera and some ACARS is not working. Have Majestic broke my FSX?  :lol:

Please stop. It's not a real drama. Make a patch. Post in forums and will be corrected

[mikea76 184]

First impressions are Wow, the textures on the mountains, the amount of buildings and the clarity of the textures are just what I saw on my mates pc. No real popping in of textures and so much more to see.

All this time on Normal autogen has really cut out a lot of buildings and tree's, now it's totally different.

I did the same flights that I do with Bluesky fotoreal and usually when leaving BS and going over to Default scenery I would leave the area and go back to Bluesky.

Now the diff between default with REX GEX UTX and default with the new GEX is amazing. Framerates are better then what I had even with the B200, maybe now I can put the MDF on the 3rd screen and still fly?

 

They have really done a great job, it looks like landclass or mesh is also enhanced, even tho I am still running FSGenisis mesh and no changes are made in GEX that I know of?, it looks like the mountains are higher and the valleys are lower.

But the big diff is the color, now it's not just green everywhere or just bland in default. the colors are great, tree's are totally different in color and different regions have different coloring depending on the landscape.

 

For a free upgrade, this is just tops, I am no longer stuck flying in PNW or BlueSky area's, now all the default area has come alive.

Time to check out my normal area's with PNW turned off, and see what the diff is compared to the huge difference between Default with old GEX and Default with New GEX with PNW on and off.

 

Highly recomended with Autogen on Max , hell just highly recomended, if their other scenery's are like this with this much eye candy at these frame rates, I am going to buy europe and go around the Alps and places like Innusbrug to check out the mountains and valleys  there.

Not being a city boy I havent tried big airports yets, love the B200 in the bush with fast times between takeoff and landings.

 

 

Hi Nick

[Jean-Paul 167]

Are you serious about that - "replacing standard textures" and "not folowing FSX rules" etc?

Well, FSX default textures are not great, this is why we are buying texture replacement, right? And FTXG is by far the best available texture replacement we have. Maybe they have to do it that way, you must accept some compromises if you want quality. Nobody forces you to use FTXG.

I would understand this drama if FSX was perfect - plug and play product, and then somebody suddenly made a product that does not fit perfectly, like we would be used By FSX is about compromises and tweaking from day 1, after you add HIGHMEMFIX for the first time. We should be used with that. Not that FTXG realy has some problems. If something is not compatible, post in ORBX forums or forums of that problematic scenery, but please stop complaining about non-existent, potential issues and FSX rules.

It's same like asking Majestic to stop using external FDE, becouse that is not folowing FSX rules and my EZDOK camera and some ACARS is not working. Have Majestic broke my FSX?  :lol:

Please stop. It's not a real drama. Make a patch. Post in forums and will be corrected

 

Looks as you've missed his point. He did post in their forum in the appropriate thread but got no answer... And there is an issue with the grass texture... 

 

And by the way, I love FTXG but I also would love that issue to be sorted out