ORBX confuses me.... just want realistic terrain w/out buying multiple options...

[heyjoojoo 0]

I am looking for basically three things to run as addons with my FSX installation:

 

• Realistic Terrain (mountains, valleys, rivers, streets, buildings, etc.)
• Realistic weather (clouds, skies, sun, day/night, weather,etc.)
• Realistic crew (flight attendant custom announcements)

I've seen ORBX but not sure which one to get...seems to be too many options... just need one that will handle all the terrain.

I've seen REX but also Active SKy - which performs better (san francisco fog appearance)

I've seen FS Cabin Crew and FSPassengers... are these outdated? are there better ones?

 

 

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

I'd say start with FSX Global. You will NOT be disappointed. 

 

Then, sit tight until OpenLC is released for this product.  This will bring out even more realism....but...only now, within the hype domain. We need persons of heart, to download and then give the community A/B shots of one area...and for the rest of us lemmings to see if its worth the jump over the cliff.....

[shivers9 1,174]

•Realistic Terrain (mountains, valleys, rivers, streets, buildings, etc.)

Their is no one product that will provide all of those features. The other thing to consider is that you computer is a little weak for todays standards and all of those add ons are going to be pretty hard on your performance.

[LeeL 272]

Im only going to comment on number three. FSCaptain hands down. Awesome product. Plus FSPassengers isn't supported anymore

[1st fltsimguy 466]

Realistic Terrain (mountains, valleys, rivers, streets, buildings, etc.)

 

There isn't just one product that will do these things unfortunately.  You will need to build the suite of products that give you the experience that fits your interests. Covering the globe can and will get expensive.

 

- FSX has been programed to handle certain things in certain ways.

- Terrain, IE the world is divided into many regions because terrain on the west coast of NA does not look like terrain in Great Britain,  therefore different sets of textures have been developed to deal with that.

- Terrain is divided in different elements in order to deal with some of the complexity.  Buildings are not terrain, but sit on the terrain.

 - accurate terrain elevation detail is "mesh" and that is usually a separate product but some packages of scenery also provide this with their scenery, this will "draw" your mountains and valleys and shape of the land in greater detail.

 - accurate terrain "vector" scenery - ie rivers, roads, coastlines, lakes, utility corridors, railway lines etc - things with lines in them, are a separate layer of information that requires a different scenery packages, ie UTX or now say Global Vector (Orbx)

 - Buildings beyond autogen or default fsx buildings are custom products and often included into regional and airport scenery packages to enhance the experience.

 

So you must make a decision as to what type of flyer you are.  Where do you want to focus your flying.

 

If you like to fly the globe in heavy's then you might want to focus on products that cover large regional areas.  If you like to GA fly, low and slow, then more localized scenery packages might be better suited.

 

Orbx provides sceneries at a variety of these levels, and they compliment each other.

- if you just want to change the terrible default textures of the world, then buy Global, and recently they have put out a product called Global Vector which will provide you with detailed vector elements as I mention. Also available to cover off new textures and vector elements are GEX and UTX products with do the same thing but are different in quality.

- if you want very detailed regional areas then Orbx does some of the best available.  In the regional packages you get very enhanced ground textures, upgraded vector scenery, enhanced airports and improved mesh - great products for low and slow GA flights.  If you buy their entire sets of regional sceneries then you will have large areas where you can fly heavies between airports in these regions.

- Orbx also then has a suite of enhanced airport sceneries that can be added to the regional areas to provide even greater emmersion.

 

Give us and idea of the type of flyer you are and perhaps we can propose a suite of scenery for you that covers off your interests.

 

I personally have all the above.  Mesh from several sources, UTX, GEX packages, Orbx - Regional packages and collections of airports.  To to this I have unloaded $1,000s to build the world I like.

[heyjoojoo 0]

I am an avid PMDG 737 NGX user and spend most of time doing short hops regionally. They tend to be within the U.S. So, I was really hoping for something that would add realistic terrain that is better than the default FSX terrain. I keep hearing about ORBX Global and was hoping that it enhanced the terrain worldwide and not just regionally.

[pocketwatch50 6]

It does enhance globally. Their regional packs enhance regionally and are much more detailed than Global but either way it's a big improvement over FSX default.

[1st fltsimguy 466]

If you buy Orbx Global ($100), you will need to buy Orbx Vector ($70) to get accurate vector info.  And if I understand it you will also need a good commercial mesh addon to get good elevation information (not sure of the cost), so you can see how it adds up.

 

If you buy the above you will have planet wide coverage.

 

But your local areas will be nothing but default. While the ground textures will be better and the vector lines will be good you will still have a glorified FSX.

 

If you would like relistic looking ground textures, elevation, and nice looking airports you need to buy regional scenery packages from Orbx, unfortunately they only cover the west coast of NA at this time.

 

I have all the NA regional packages and most of the airports and can say my flying experience is fantastic in these areas.

 

Also, I have GEX and UTX for the rest of NA so this provides reasonable coverage for the rest of US and CAN.

 

In addition, I have purchased a lesser known addon, SimAddons airports for most of NA areas.  They are simply fantastic as well.

 

This all adds up to a lot of money to spend at once, I have purchased mine over many years as they came onto the market.

 

Yes Global, Vector and a good mesh will enhance the world FSX....and might be a good place to start.  I personally don't have any of these, but focus more on detailed regions.

 

In any case you will have to invest a substantive amount to get the enhancements you are looking for.

[Kuragiman 227]

I am looking for basically three things to run as addons with my FSX installation:

 

• Realistic Terrain (mountains, valleys, rivers, streets, buildings, etc.)
• Realistic weather (clouds, skies, sun, day/night, weather,etc.)
• Realistic crew (flight attendant custom announcements)

I've seen ORBX but not sure which one to get...seems to be too many options... just need one that will handle all the terrain.

I've seen REX but also Active SKy - which performs better (san francisco fog appearance)

I've seen FS Cabin Crew and FSPassengers... are these outdated? are there better ones?

 

Short answer from me;    FS Global Ultimate Mesh to do the polygon meshing of the planet, ORBX FTX Global to do the textures and Landclass that sit on top of the Mesh, REX4 for textures on the airports, sky and clouds, Active Sky NEXT to run the weather simulation and FS Passengers X with FS2Crew 737NGX for the crew.   While FS Passengers is in fact no longer supported, it works fine and has more airline management functions than FSCaptain.  If you are only interested in the dispatch side of things the FSCaptain is the better choice but if you want to run an airline and have crew voices for cabin crew and FO then FS2crew and FSPassengers rocks.

[zmak 331]

"I am an avid PMDG 737 NGX user "

 

I have both fspassengers and fs captain. Fs passengers is old and clunky and does not support PMDG products and the developer has walked away.

 

Fs captain is in another league with keen and proactive developers and is 50% off as we speak. This suits you better as you want crew over empire building

 

A world mesh and ORBX global to start with for scenery.

 

Active sky or Opus for weather engines and REX for textures

[Mephic 129]

@up as I am also interested in making some changes - From "world" mods I have ASN, REX 4 and ftx global. If I will buy fs global 2010 for mesh won't it mess up airports elevation? Than I guess I'd need something like ftx vector Which I heard fixes it and in the end landclass? (for example openLC when it gets released?)

[Kuragiman 227]

@up as I am also interested in making some changes - From "world" mods I have ASN, REX 4 and ftx global. If I will buy fs global 2010 for mesh won't it mess up airports elevation? Than I guess I'd need something like ftx vector Which I heard fixes it and in the end landclass? (for example openLC when it gets released?)

 

Yes, some airports will plateau on you.   You can use the free tool that comes with FS Global to flatten them out or toss out the $70 for Vector which from screen shots I have seen, is it and miss on the whole fix side of things.    Just use the free tool.  When you find an airport that is way off, mark it down and then go fix it for the next flight.    You will not fix them perfect as it has been said, FSX does not do sloping runways and a majority of your cliffs at airports are because of this.   I prefer real world terrain data over the inaccurate low resolution mesh that comes with FSX.   Mountains are incredibly awesome with a high quality mesh.   When I slap MegaSceneryEarth V2.0 tiles over them they are perfect.

[GodAtum 69]

Shouldnt you get FS Global Ultimate rather then the older FS Global 2010?

[Mephic 129]

Ultimate version has only region coverages from what I've seen and it would be more expensive in total to cover whole world.

 

I decided to gather money for fs global 2010 and ftx vector and get them together next year. Thanks!

[mmann 72]

Shouldnt you get FS Global Ultimate rather then the older FS Global 2010?

FS Global Ultimate is more for those that are after the very highest mesh resolution and would be the mesh equivalent of an Orbx FTX Region.

 

FS Global 2010 is a "cover the world approach" that is fits in with the new Orbx (and now Pilot's) Global products. These are good for those who fly in areas not covered by the regional products; or those who don't have enough money to buy all the regional products.