I find it an interesting post, what Allen posted on Simforums: he basically says that UTX is more complete and precise, due to better data (OSM vs commercial GPS data) and that UTX has been hand-crafted for years now, and many anomalies fixed by hand, which, he guesses, will reappear in FTX vector. I know only that I reported 2-3 errors within UTX and all were fixed quite promptly in the next update.

 

I just think it makes sense.

 

What, a developer of a competing product is saying theirs is better?  Unbelievable! 

What, a developer of a competing product is saying theirs is better?  Unbelievable! 

Yes, maybe. But I found his post interesting, when it comes to accuracy, and data source.

 

After reading "I love you Orbx " posts by the Orbx Appreciation Society, I wonder if most Orbx users care if it is accurate it or not.  I certainly do. I mean accurate as it can be.

Nice to have properly located roads with traffic....  but now, FTX Open LC is even more needed to prevent having highways in the middle of buildings.. :lol:

 

 

YIKES !!

 

To be honest, I'm not sure that this is indeed a step forwards. If that's what happens to cities, I think I am going to keep this well away from my sim. Those road textures are like something from Microsoft Flight Simulator 98. That shot has put me right off.

Yes Dave, I will be sticking with UTX
 

I find it an interesting post, what Allen posted on Simforums: he basically says that UTX is more complete and precise, due to better data (OSM vs commercial GPS data) and that UTX has been hand-crafted for years now, and many anomalies fixed by hand, which, he guesses, will reappear in FTX vector. I know only that I reported 2-3 errors within UTX and all were fixed quite promptly in the next update.

 

I just think it makes sense.

 

UTX doesn't have global coverage. What I like about FTX Global Vector is that it now upgrades parts of the world I have never bothered to fly in because of the inaccurate scenery. South America, Asia and Africa, here I come!

 

BTW, I own all UT and UTX products - but since moving to P3D I cannot use them anymore, so I've paid my dues and moved on to greener pastures.

 

It isn't without problems though. Roads kill autogen in cities (also a problem in UTX), and it would be great if roads were more customizable.

I jumped in with Vector since I don't have an investment in any other company's products and I am "in it for the long haul" with ORBX as I do have quite a number of items from them - but as you might expect with an effort this size, there are plenty of problems and strange looking places cropping up already, and it will just take quite a bit of time to work through them all I imagine. Some things I have seen so far are pretty trivial, like two sink holes just North of the runway at KAVX, but others are a bit more concerning I guess, like a really, really poor representation of the country around KNBG (New Orleans Naval Air Station), where the much of the area is a pretty big miss (the stock FSX representation is far better). It will be interesting to see just how many things get tossed up onto the Vector support forum over at ORBX in the coming weeks...

There already are so many errors reported in a very short time that I am afraid I will have to pass on this one... Add to that the apparently huge amount of roads that are added also in cities, making them look worse, like on the posted picture (that green on the sides of the road is fine in rural areas but kills cities) and pushing the autogen out of town (I rather have less roads and a lot of autogen giving the impression of a large city than actual roads making the city look odd), plus the impact this all will have on performance (also due to the fact all those roads can have traffic on them) and well... as I said, I think I will pass. OpenLC looks to be a lot more usefull and less power hungry addon for my use of the sim.

The one thing above all I love about Global is the performance, this sound like a huge step in the wrong way. I will pass also. I will like J have a look at OpenLC and see.

I was a UTX user for quite a few years and it's a very well supported program.

the major difference for me is cost.

FTX Vector is a global product ,where as UTX is a regional area and there are only 4 regions available.

Europe,USA,Canada and tropical Caribbean.that still leaves a whole lot of the world not covered.

I'm aware that there will be problems with vector,there always is with new products.and there will be things that are not right.just think like any product it will take time to perfect.still waiting for the NGX SP1 :smile:

 

   steve

I guess its good the store site doesn't work for me or else I would have purchased already.  Looking at the screenshots of double bridges and excessive amount of roads I will give it time for a few updates to see what happens.

 

I only fly in North America so I've already got UTX North America which I'm happy with.

FTX Vector is a global product ,where as UTX is a regional area and there are only 4 regions available.

Europe,USA,Canada and tropical Caribbean.that still leaves a whole lot of the world not covered.

 

   steve

 

And, let's not forget that UTX Europe only covers half of the contries, so it is a misleading product title.

Anyone here knows if you can disable the roads in the Scenery Library? I might get this for the waters alone maybe. The main thing that's holding me back are the roads.

 

 

No information about the source of their data and the licensing ?
 
If it's OpenStreetMap, then they should read this:
http://opendatacommo...s/odbl/summary/
http://www.openstree...rg/copyright/en

"never before achieved on a global scale": this is just false.

 

I believe it is based on OSM, although as you pointed out, this isn't clear, I've only read it on their forum posts. If my understanding is correct, it does basically the same thing for coastlines as the HD Mesh v2 for X-Plane does (Which unfortunately isn't global), which is also based on OSM data. If so, the effect will be worth it, as the X-Plane mesh makes a big improvement to the coastlines and rivers, and really looks fantastic. However, most screenshots I've seen of the product are almost always used in combination with something else.

 

Reminds me of OpenVFR and other similar sceneries for FSX, which aren't free (and IMO should be), which use OSM data extensively. I'm not the biggest fan of companies who take data that thousands of users (including myself) have worked on extensively in their free-time and then sell it. This is a problem I see with many so-called SatNav apps, which charge users to download the map data (which is OSM). I have no problem with companies charging for the viewer/converter, but I don't think they should charge for the converted data.

 

 

he basically says that UTX is more complete and precise, due to better data (OSM vs commercial GPS data)

 

OSM is, in some areas, actually better than commercial products

I´m just in the process of downloading FTX Global vectors, but with all the issues allready reported I guess I will wait installing it.

 

It seems that alot of bridges has been wrecked and that alot of places are plain wrong, like the binnen Alster in Hamburg, rivers near Toronto etc etc.

I´m also worried about the comments of large performance hit over dense scenerie like major cities.

 

I´m sure it will be fixed, so I don´t regret my purcase yet, but I wonder how this can pass their quality control.

 

FJ

The good part:

 

 

...and the bad one:

 

 

That is the center of Moscow.