FTX England/Scotland = Disappointment!

[birdguy 3,943]

I kinda wish I hadn't read this thread.  I have FSX England and Scotland and Wales and Ireland and I enjoy flying over them.  Never having been there myself I guess I was just fat, dumb, and happy.

 

I very much enjoy flying over the areas I know like all of the North America sceneries except Southern Alaska, another place I have never been so I don't know enough about it in real life to be critical of it.  But in those places I have been I think Orbx has done a good job.

 

I'm not above being critical of Orbx.  When FTX Global first came out I was very upset over the textures in the American southwest where I live.  Deserts don't have pea soup green textures.  I was so critical and upset over that in the official Orbx forum that John banned me from the forum for life, although I can access the support section.

 

Orbx has subsequently fixed the problem and now I have no complaints about FTX Global.

 

I can understand those who are familiar with a region to be critical when Orbx falls short in representing it.

 

I was born and raised in Northern California and can't wait for the Orbx release of that region.  I hope it meets my expectations.  If it doesn't you will hear from me here.

 

Noel

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

I was born and raised in Northern California and can't wait for the Orbx release of that region.  I hope it meets my expectations.  If it doesn't you will hear from me here.

 

I remember your posts about global and the green deserts on the FTX site, I think the whole thing kicked of a discussion somewhere on this site, and got a few people banned from the FTX site.

 

Anyway, I believe Northern California is being done by another team (or definitely is now as the contractor who did England have gone). They're definitely taking their time with it. I would expect it to be similar quality to PNW or the the new Alaska region, which I don't have, but have heard is really good.

[birdguy 3,943]

I hope  they accommodate Aerosoft's San Francisco airport and city the way they did Aerosoft Anchorage in SAK.

 

Noel

[dtmicro 1]

I agree that EU ENG was a let down (and I've not re-installed it, after a recent FSX rebuild) but I think EU SCO was a huge step up and I think it's a beautiful FTX region;  on a par with PNW and CRM easily.   Perhaps you're not flying to the right places in SCO;  try the Hebrides islands, Orkneys and Shetlands, and the northern coast areas.  It's not as impressive around Glasgow, Edinburgh or the lower highlands IMHO.

 

ENG was just a miss for me;  a big shame when it's your home country.

 

My fave FTX area overall is the mighty Australia (SP4), which has so much variety and scope, it's unreal.   I do like CRM too.           I was not impressed at all with NZ;  the texturing looks cartoonish in both those regions to me. I'll also go out on a limb in saying that, unlike CRM, the FTX PNW region is starting to look dated now, especially the (very repetitive) textures that sit below the autogen trees.

 

4 years ago I would have said that anything Orbx release was insta-buy, but now I think they're a mixed bag and I haven't bought a region since FTX Global and doubt I will.

 

Your spot on about the PNW region looking dated, and I will give Scotland another try, perhaps you are correct that I flew in the wrong area. PNW looks best with auto-gen set to max because it hides the ugly black texture underneath. There are some areas just North East of Vancouver - Canada that look incredible because of the MASSIVELY ridiculous dense auto-gen, though you have to get 3-4 miles away from the city for it to be playable unless you have a 5ghz i7.

 

I feel the same way about Alaska, the Juneau airport was just missing something, cannot explain it, but something isn't right.

 

Orbx is very hit or miss depending on where you are flying. Overall the best two Orbx areas around airports I have seen for Photo-Real anyhow is definitely JACKSON HOLE and CZST / Stewart in Canada. Those are the two areas Orbx has done the best.

 

Overall though if I had to pick one area and give Orbx an award, it's definitely the TETONS, that is the best scenery Orbx has ever done that I have seen. I am going to start flying AU now though and check it out, I know there are probably some interesting areas.