FTX: Global VECTOR Released

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

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:

 

 

Those roads look horrible. I wonder if Prepar3D 2.0 will ever get roads looking as good as X-Plane 10.

[Wothan 173]

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

 

Just posted exactly the same text in the Orbx FTX global vectors support forum + my order details, but the post was immediatly deleted by some admin.

 

Weird way to treat paying customers :(

 

FJ

[tonywob 4,770]

 

 

Just posted exactly the same text in the Orbx FTX global vectors support forum + my order details, but the post was immediatly deleted by some admin.

 

More than likely they'd just blame OpenStreetMaps anyway and tell you it's not their fault.

[WebMaximus 372]

I've learned throughout the years in this hobby that different companies treat their customers in very different ways...

[Pe11e 812]

I would really love to see a shot with the night lights over some dense area with plenty of streets and roads, it will be an eyecandy! But, big but... fps hit is expected.

 

Sent from my U8815 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Wothan 173]

I've learned throughout the years in this hobby that different companies treat their customers in very different ways...

 

Maybe stupid of me to go into such a discussion, but...

 

As You can see I´m stated to be "Commercial Member", that means that I´m developing stuff for another FS publisher.

 

In the support forums over there, we normally don´t delete posts just because they tend to be negative minded towards our products. Only if they are abusive or trolling will such posts be locked and ultimatively deleted (the latter very rarely).

 

The downside is that You will find negative posts about certain products, but at least it will be a honest forum.

 

I find deleting posts, just because they don´t suit the publisher, is very unfair towards customers who actually have paid for one of their products.

 

FJ

[StoreyedTrain 13]

No information about the source of their data and the licensing ?

 

If it's OpenStreetMap, then they should read this:

http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/summary/

http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/en

 

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

 

 

It really has to be the data from OpenStreetMap. (or Google or Bing but those would be having eula/licensing implications i guess)

Getting "official Topo data from every country would have cost them millions to buy the licensing for.

 

Openstreetmap is only "pretty good" in a couple of area`s, generally Europe is pretty good, with UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland being really good, and USA is very good too.

(fixing all errors is/equals getting all data correct in OSM, which you can actually do yourself)

 

Which gives me a couple reasons i really have little respect for their pricing point.

 

1st they take freely donated data and sell it for top dollar (45 Euro), just for recompiling the data.

(This package should be free just because of this, kickstarter on beforehand would have been fine tho, for example stating they need a certain amount of money to make the compiler, after that has been made it will be free to everyone.)

 

2nd lots of area`s in the world dont have any data in OSM (Africa,South America, Kazachstan area) which doesnt make it logical to ask any money for it. (there is nothing to convert)

 

3rd they dont mention/attempt making their recompiler running every month or so, which would generate a motivation for simmers to update/improve the OSM data, certainly for rural/natural area`s that usually get done last because nobody lives there. (in other words being able to indirectly improve the sim-looks by taking matters in your own hands, as a user, which could be a large push forward for the sim community.)

[tonywob 4,770]

 

 

3rd they dont mention/attempt making their recompiler running every month or so, which would generate a motivation for simmers to update/improve the OSM data, certainly for rural/natural area`s that usually get done last because nobody lives there. (in other words being able to indirectly improve the sim-looks by taking matters in your own hands, as a user, which could be a large push forward for the sim community.)

 

Indeed, this is an excellent point, and is one of the reasons I'm now an active OSM contributor. I used to just do it to improve my area by adding buildings and forests, but now I mainly do it because I enjoy it and it gets me out walking, cycling and discovering new places. I often add details that won't show up in flight-simulators, such as house numbers, postal codes and points of interest. However, what I really like doing is running the conversion myself using OSM2XP to see my efforts in the flight simulator. There is absolutly no incentive for me to buy this, as

 

a) I can't generate the scenery myself or just have the areas I want. I don't want to wait months for them to issue an update. Similar problem with X-Plane's Mesh v2, but the difference is that this is completely free and the scenery will also eventually be part of the default X-Plane scenery.

b) It costs too much for what is essentially the work of other people. IMO, they should charge for the converter and not the data. If they did this, I would have happily bought it. It's true most people won't want to convert the data theirselves, and the tool should include the data generated as is. But when you see an error, you can fix it yourself and regenerate the area. This benefits everyone and keeps with the open nature of OSM.

c) It's a great way and tool to actually find errors in OSM and fix them. e.g. Buildings incorrectly placed on top of other buildings flicker, incorrectly tagged areas or roads stand out like a sore thumb (if you know the area)

[simmerhead 885]

Why do you need OSM? There are several free vector data sets available from educational and gouvernmental sources around the globe if you have the right connections. I used free global data sets back in the 1990s while in univeristy to make digital maps.

[tonywob 4,770]

 

 

Why do you need OSM? There are several free vector data sets available from educational and gouvernmental sources around the globe if you have the right connections. I used free global data sets back in the 1990s while in univeristy to make digital maps.

 

Because they'd have to find data or a free source for every country to make the product global, which is either not possible or not free. In the UK the ordnance survey data can be downloaded and used for free, and includes coastlines, forests and basic buildings. Alpilotx AKA the author of the HD mesh v2 stated he used other sources as well, in V1 I believe he used the corine data for Europe. However, to do this on a global scale would be too expensive for them.

[WebMaximus 372]

Maybe stupid of me to go into such a discussion, but...

 

As You can see I´m stated to be "Commercial Member", that means that I´m developing stuff for another FS publisher.

 

In the support forums over there, we normally don´t delete posts just because they tend to be negative minded towards our products. Only if they are abusive or trolling will such posts be locked and ultimatively deleted (the latter very rarely).

 

The downside is that You will find negative posts about certain products, but at least it will be a honest forum.

 

I find deleting posts, just because they don´t suit the publisher, is very unfair towards customers who actually have paid for one of their products.

 

FJ

Yes, I did notice you're listed as a commersial member and I fully agree in every word you say.

 

I'm not a commersial member myself but I've been around in this hobby/community for quite some time and have lots of experience with most of the actors within the hobby and I learned (sometimes the hard way) how different companies react on critisism even when it's constructive critisism and to me that says pretty much all I need to know about the company.

 

The difference is really HUGE...we have these companies where you almost don't dare to even ask a simple question before someone either from the company or one of the company's fan boys will start jumping on your head for something you asked or commented on and then you have the 100% opposite where the company and it's community and support forums almost feels like a second home with people being friendly and helpful to each other and where critisism as long as it's not disrespectful is something that is welcome and will help make the product/service even better.

 

Another thing I've learned is that many of the companies within this hobby clearly are not professional businesses. They might be very skillful when it comes to creating addons for FS but they sure have lots of things to learn when it comes to customer relationships. I've lost count on how many times I thought to myself "If I would treat my customers like they treat me and others I would get fired even before I had the chance to say good bye..." and the only reason they can treat their customers this way is you can't go anywhere else to buy the same product...simple as that.

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

Download the manual for FTX Global Vector in here: http://fullterrain.com/usermanuals/FTX_Global_VECTOR_User_Guide.zip

 

They say that Open Street Map is one of the sources for vector data, and they also assure that this is a product that will receive improvements in the future, and as better data sources become available, they will be integrated.

[GodAtum 69]

i cant seem to get the 10% discount when buying both base and vector?

[Planeblogger 11]

I am really disappointed with the fact they 'forgot' to include an uninstaller AGAIN..

[mmann 72]

I am really disappointed with the fact they 'forgot' to include an uninstaller AGAIN..

 

I imagine, like Ultimate Terrain, they provide a one click solution to disable the product in FSX?