Scotland better than England?

[Guest]

I left Norway because I don't want to get tired of flying there before FTX Norway South has been released. I reinstalled England and flew there a little but (sorry) most parts of England are a bit boring... So I flew up north, near Scotland, where there are some er... higher hills. Things looked more interesting there so I started thinking about buying FTX Scotland, mainly to keep me entertained until Norway has been released. (Yes, I also have FTX Global but although it's great, it doesn't give me what the regions give me. Simple as that.)

 

Now I read quite a few times that Scotland is 'one of the best' and 'better than England' and I wonder in what regard this is? Is this simply because Scotland itself is more interesting or are the textures better? (Imho a lot of the textures in England look a bit bland: they lack contrast which makes the autogen stick out.)

 

So if some of you who own both could give your opinion on this, I'd be very happy.

[Guest]

Pity I can't edit the OP anymore because I am back to Norway... I don't know exactly what it is but the combination of Norwegian freeware and FTXG plus UTX makes Norway shine and I am genuinly beginning to wonder if the upcoming FTX Norway South will be good enough... After a few flights above FTX England I found there is something lacking or wrong when it comes to the landclass and some textures that made me run back to Norway again. It looks a bit fake... Do you know those guys who are crazy about model trains and who have build a huge track on their attic with those little plastic trees and fake grass? Well, somehow FTX England makes me thing of that. While Norway looks stunningly real.

 

So forget about Scotland. I am too scared I won't like it as much as I like Norway as it is now. I really hope I won't have to say the same of FTX Norway South...

[bonchie 2,305]

Yes, it's better then England, or at least that's the general concensus. It also has a really cool high detail airport included (Cardiff) that's in a beautiful area that has people flow, etc. It's also a commercial airport, a maintence hub, and has a GA section so it's got a variety of uses.

 

The airport by any other developer would be $30 alone.

 

Also, if you have some UK2000 airports in England and Scotland, it just makes sense to have both for short hops.

[dogtrack 18]

@bonchie....excuse me, but, Cardiff is in Wales.

[EngineRoom 205]

It looks a bit fake...

 

For all the (unfair) criticism that Orbx England got when it was released I think it's actually very good. Take a look here:

 

http://highlevelphotography.photodeck.com/-/galleries

 

All aerial photos of various English town and their environs. I think the Orbx scenery is remarkably accurate given the inherent limitations of landclass and vector scenery. It rains a lot here and that means the landscape is very green all year round. There has been permanent human settlement and agriculture in these islands for the last 10,000 years and its had a long time to shape and change the landscape. We still have lots of small, irregular shaped enclosed fields here instead of the more modern large, rectangular fields. Lots of our roads follow the paths taken by Roman roads two thousand years ago, and as such aren't exactly the ruler-edged straight lines cutting across huge swathes of the landscape. Towns and villages dotted across the landscape go back hundreds, if not thousands of years. No other scenery package has captured the look and feel of England quite as well as Orbx have in my opinion. Even the photo sceneries seemed very washed out and pastel like. The default FSX and GEX Europe textures were a far cry from the real appearance.

 

As for your original question, yes Scotland is subjectively better than England. I think England was Sim720's first product, and by the time they got to Scotland they had really got their techniques and production down pretty well. Then of course bear in mind the Scottish landscape is a lot more interesting than the English - the more varied topography and much less densely populated and undeveloped areas. Just don't count on the Scottish weather being any good!

 

 

One other little thing with Orbx England.... turn on the road traffic and look closely. You'll see the traffic is all driving on the left. I thought that was a really nice little attention to detail.

[byork 2,258]

@bonchie....excuse me, but, Cardiff is in Wales.

 

That would be the mother of all bugs if FTX put Cardiff in Scotland :-)

 

 

 

Now I read quite a few times that Scotland is 'one of the best' and 'better than England' and I wonder in what regard this is?

 

Was the poster's name Braveheart by chance?

[bonchie 2,305]

@bonchie....excuse me, but, Cardiff is in Wales.

 

Crap, you are right. Scratch what I said but apply it to Wales. Lot of value there with Cardiff included in the package.

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

 (...)

 

One other little thing with Orbx England.... turn on the road traffic and look closely. You'll see the traffic is all driving on the left. I thought that was a really nice little attention to detail.

 

 

R U serious?!?

 

- Default FSX traffic in England drives on the left.

- In ORBX's first 'region' (FTX Australia) traffic drives on the left.

[EngineRoom 205]

I never realised the traffic drives on the left in the default and other packages.

 

Shows how often I fly with road traffic enabled!

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

I never realised the traffic drives on the left in the default and other packages.

 

Shows how often I fly with road traffic enabled!

 

 

Never mind!

 

Actually I think FTX ENG is a good "all in one" package for people who haven't invested in English airfields, VFR London, English photoscenery yet.

 

FTX ENG added a lot to "my" England.

 

But admittingly, excellent competing products had been released before FTX ENG ...

[simmerhead 885]

Well, I've just installed FTX EU Scotland tonight for the first time and must say that my first impressions aren't all that good. I mainly wanted to fly the Scottish Islands, Hebredies, Orkneys and Shetland (Used to be Norwegian territory). I've had a hop in the ultralight from most of the island airports and while things are surely much better than default, I was not impressed. Landclass seems a bit off (too much bog on many of the islands which are known to be greener than green in summer, but that is probably the fault of the defualt FSX LC grid), too much trees (There's hardly a single bush on many of the islands), crops where there should be mostly grassland. Lerwich capital of The Shetlands is missing, Kirkwall capital of The Orkneys is missing, Fair Isle hardly has a building and lack roads, the beach at Barra airport is brown, and where are the reast of all the pristine white beaches around these islands, and fianlly where are the sheep?

 

Compared to FTX NA scenery it feels a tad cheaper and not as detailed. Just compare the FTX version of the Shetlands with the San Juan Islands in WA. That said, sloped runways and the look of the custom landclass is overall very good for Scotland.

 

I surely hope FTX EU Norway South will be of a higher quality. I'm back to NA for now.

 

And yes, the Norway freeware is quite good, a bit lacking in Northern Norway still though.

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

A number of screenshots (users' ...) and more discussion here:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/412867-how-is-scotland/?hl=+scotland

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

There's still a bloody smoking chimney stack in the middle of Chelmsford where a cathedral ought to be! :angry:

[simmerhead 885]

There's still a bloody smoking chimney stack in the middle of Chelmsford where a cathedral ought to be! :angry:

LOL! Smoking Chimney, cathedral... What's the difference? I don't get your point

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

LOL! Smoking Chimney, cathedral... What's the difference? I don't get your point

 

I know it can be almost impossible to tell the difference, but to a discerning eye it's a bit, no, VERY irritating!

 

 

LOL