Where are these places? I am not familiar with these abbreviations....Sorry..

 

LOL....funny my wife was looking over my shoulder at the time I was typing this and she said the same thing, and I said well that's how us flight simmers talk sometimes.

 

Please go to the Orbx website.  Check their list of products.  They themselves use those acronyms.  Saves a lot of typing.  They are Orbx west coast of North America regions.

 

PNW=Pacific northwest region

PFJ=Pacific Fjords region

NRN=Northern Rocky Mountains region

CRM=Central Rocky Mountains region

SAK=Southern Alaska region

I was also totally underwhelmed with the free Orbx Iceland. But, with all the recent advancements in FSX add ons recently it takes a lot to whelm me.

 

Regards,

 

Ray

 

 

LOL....funny my wife was looking over my shoulder at the time I was typing this and she said the same thing, and I said well that's how us flight simmers talk sometimes.

 

That's so funny... in my case, my wife does not get anywhere close to my PC when I am "in the hobby", neither my kids. They know I enjoy the Fsim hobby but they don't  get involved. Which at a point in time becomes a challenge, one on its own with ear-phones and everybody away....as many of the simmers would appreciate!

Nah come on Mitch;

 

I read:     another instance where a developer has dared to focus on an areas other than the US, to which someone from the US comes along to tell us that it "wasn't really what people wanted" and that featuring part of the US would have been far better.   :rolleyes:

 

Please bear in mind that 99.975% of the population of Earth are not American, so interest for other areas of the FSX world does exist.

 

I'm delighted that a geographically significant, beautiful landscape; that forms a geological border between the European and American plates of the Earth was chosen.

 

Just 2c.

 

Actually, about 4.5% of the world's population is American, a lot more than your statement implies. I assume you were exaggerating on purpose.  Not that it really matters, though.

 

I agree that Iceland was a poor choice to show off the ORBX scenery layers in all their beauty.  Personally, I only use the place as a brief stopover on my way to/from Europe and North America.

 

I think they used it because it will be included with openLC Europe, so the textures they developed for the demo will probably also be used in other parts of the very far north of Europe. 

 

I've no doubt that openLC will be a substantial improvement over what we have now as far as landclass and customized textures are concerned.  Everyone's expectations, though, are different, so some will be thoroughly pleased while others will probably be disappointed.

 

Dave

I was also totally underwhelmed with the free Orbx Iceland. But, with all the recent advancements in FSX add ons recently it takes a lot to whelm me.

 

Regards,

 

Ray

I just watched an eleven minute video that cycles through the default (I think) then FTX Global, then adds OpenLC, then adds Vector, then Mesh, then does it all over again.  I guess I am looking at Iceland, but not sure.  The difference is very apparent and much improved.  I have no idea what the 4 levels would cost for a large area but it make it looks like a typical Orbx area only when all four are present.

 

Regards,

 

Ray

 I think that they might have also picked this land mass for the fact that it would offer the least impact on FPS performance

 

 

There's some truth to that. But you have to understand that as a combined product, Global Vector and OpenLC is not going to be earth-shattering eye candy, as it "only" corrects the inaccurate default land classifications that are present in FSX. But like the included demo of FSGlobal 2010 mesh, the whole package is a "proof of concept". which increases the accuracy of the three items vectors (such as roads), land class and mesh to give one a more realistic simming experience. I guess that most of us don't know RL Iceland well enough to realize whether the improvement is either nominal or significant.

How about an Orbx Kansas? Nobody cold complain about the blunt mountains and the lack of this and that. They've already got the wheat down pat by the looks of the weeds in PNW. As long as they get the few lakes in the right places and the Missouri river in the northeast corner of the state there would be nothing to complain about.

 

Noel

This morning I cruised around the Reykjavik-Keflavik region and was impressed with all the detail. I have never been there so I can't comment on the accuracy, but it is a beautiful piece of work.

 

I have been there, in fact I lived there for a while many years ago.  I still visit regularly. 

 

This is the real world view roughly NE from Reykjavik airfield. The Hallsgrimskirkja is to Reykjavik what the Statue of Liberty is to New York.

 

This is Aerosoft's version

 

This is Orbx's version

 

Aerosoft did well to include the church. For Orbx to leave it out altogether is unforgiveable!  Orbx's airfield buildings are more detailed though.

 

Overall,I prefer the Aerosoft version of the entire country. To my eye, it seems more accurate. The Aerosoft version also has a seasonal texture tool which AFAIK is absent from the Orbx. 

 

 

John

For the Aerosoft version:

IIRC, I have more buildings around the Hallsgrimskirkja than you do. What are your autogen settings?

 

For the ORBX demo:

Don't textures change automatically by the seasons there?

This has been said more than once, but needs to be said again... FTXG family does not add POIs. Was never intended to. Their detailed regions are for that. If the landmark ain't in FSX it ain't in the FTXG family. Simples.

 

Mike

Most of us haven't been everywhere in the world.  I've never been to Europe but due to my military service I've been all over Asia.  I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Lived in Denver Colorado for many years and have now been a resident of New Mexico for almost 20 years.

 

The point of all this is we are wowed by scenery of places we are not familiar with.  We get critical of scenery we are familiar with.

 

I learned to fly at Commodore Center in Sausalito California just across the Golden Gate from San Francisco on float planes.  Aerosoft San Francisco does a pretty good job of the city itself but puts only a dock and a generic building at Commodore center.  I could be very critical of that because it's not the way I remember it.

 

And Aerosoft Alcatraz Island is missing the housing for the guards that worked there when it was an operating prison.  As a boy I had a school chum who lived there and I would visit sometimes on weekends.

 

I am wowed by Iceland because I've never been there and don't know what I am supposed to be looking for.  That goes for all of Australia (except for Alice Springs where I spent several months when I was in the Air Force), New Zealand, and Europe.

 

I learned my lesson about being too overly critical about my local area.  When FTXGlobal came out the desert textures looked like pea soup.  I raised holy hell with Orbx to the point I got banned from the website.  I don't think I'll do that anymore.

 

I used to build model railroads.  Nothing there was real, only representations that jogged the imagination..  That's the way I look at FSX scenery now be it Orbx or Aerosoft, or OZx's Grand Canyon and Death Valley.  They take the bland, turn it into a representation that you can use your imagination to make real, and enjoy flying over.

 

And to make my point a little sharper in both FS2004 and FSX Coit Tower, a familiar San Francisco landmark, was placed not on top of Telegraph Hill where it's supposed to be, but at the foot of the hill.  Microsoft screwed up badly on that one.  And the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge look hideous in FSX.  But that doesn't prevent one from enjoying the scenery.

 

Sometimes we look too hard for faults and when we find them let them detract from what we find enjoyable about flight simming...flying airplanes.  Don't let a missing artifact that would be visible for only a few seconds spoil the rest of your trip.

 

Noel

Thank You so much, birdguy, for this excellent post, it helps me a lot.

 

Use the imagination, and it´s much, much more easy!

 

BTW seen any UFO´s  over there in Roswell, besides the ones in FSX?

 

Sorry, had to ask, when I noticed where You live.. 

 

:lol:

No UFOs, but a few extra-terrestials. They all sit on the city council and have no idea what we earthlings want.

 

Noel

Hehe...!

 

:American Flag:

 

God bless, Sir...

Just out of interest, how does it compare to Aerosoft's Iceland. A bit old now, I know. Anyone made a comparison or even have it....

I lived in Iceland for 13 years and have visited numerous times. I own Aerosoft Iceland X and have the demo installed now. FTX is far better. Aerosoft Iceland X has Iceland populated with far too many trees. The running joke in Iceland is that if you ever get lost in an Icelandic forest, stand up LOL! At present, my only real gripe about the ORBX Iceland free demo is that the most recognizable and iconic landmark in Reykjavik, the Lutheran church known as Hallgrimskirkja is missing. Regards