Difference between Vector and LC products?

[Kilo60 660]

I currently have UTX USA and EUROPE and was wondering what the difference between the ORBX Vector and LC products are exactly?

 

Is vector just roads and rail and LC the land class?

 

Do both/either require FTX?

 

Thanks?

[jetsflier 87]

I currently have UTX USA and EUROPE and was wondering what the difference between the ORBX Vector and LC products are exactly?

 

Is vector just roads and rail and LC the land class?

 

That is correct. Anything defined by a line is vector data.

 

Do both/either require FTX?

 

Both do/will require FTX. Vector doesn't require a mesh product, but without one, you may run into the plateau or valley effect because of elevation corrections.

 

Thanks?

 

My answers in bold.

[flapsdown 45]

I have run into all sorts of messed up airport elevations even with a "better mesh" (FSGlobal2010-FTX), installed. Vector was touted to provide corrections for "all 24,000 FSX airports", but to exaclty which mesh (Default FSX or an "improved" one) isn't real clear, and my anecdotal experience hasn't been good with either one - YMMV...

[Kilo60 660]

Ouch...So does Vector put the Airports on plateaus without a good mesh product?

 

May have to hold off if Vector requires a good mesh product and still has a multitude of airport elevation problems.

[anthony31 63]

Landclass is simply the underlying tiles which cover the surface of the world. They are approx 1.2 x 1.2km in size and they cover the land and the sea (which is called the waterclass, it's not a term used much but makes up 70% of the earth's surface). There are about 24 different regions in the world (eg Europe Germanic, North America Southwest etc) and each region can theoretically have around 140 different types of landclass (eg forest, city, grassland, farmland etc). In practice many textures get reused across various regions (particularly the city and town textures).

 

Vector data covers (whether ORBX uses all the following things I don't know):

Airport boundaries (which can be used to flatten surfaces plus many other uses, not just limited to airport boundaries), hydro polygons (ie coastlines, lakes and large rivers), Streams, Roads, Freeways (which is road traffic), Utilities (power lines, phone lines), Shorelines , Railways and  Parks.

 

Hydro polygons are important as they define the shape of the coastline. When creating FSX scenery the world is covered 100% by waterclass, then land class is placed over the top of that water to create an island (or continent depending on how big you want things to get). The landclass must extend past the shoreline as the next step involves putting hydro polygons to hide the excess landclass to form the coastline. On top of that you place a shoreline vector to create the beach and any wave effects. 

[jetsflier 87]

Ouch...So does Vector put the Airports on plateaus without a good mesh product?

 

May have to hold off if Vector requires a good mesh product and still has a multitude of airport elevation problems.

 

In short yes. There is a global mesh product from the developer PILOT's that is certified Global compatible.

[flapsdown 45]

In short yes. There is a global mesh product from the developer PILOT's that is certified Global compatible.

 

But I would be hard pressed to tell you what the benefits of buying it have been so far, as it didn't correct any of the linear data mistakes or correct any airport elevation presentations that I have run into or seen logged on the ORBX forums so far. If anything, the mesh (at least for the places I have been), has proven to be little better than stock FSX (except in Africa), and in some cases worse, as in:

 

[Nyxx 6,993]

Yes I've read many a report and staying well away from Vector and the £50 extra for the mesh. I bought PFPX, now that was £50 well spent. Unlike the mess vector looks like at the moment.

Have a good read of there vector support forums and work it out if you think it's worth £90 because you do need the mesh to really make it work and like above even then!

I will wait for LC and then see.

[jetsflier 87]

I do have a question - will vector be required for openLC?

[flapsdown 45]

I do have a question - will vector be required for openLC?

 

No - all of the FTX Global pieces are modular, pick and choose as you like...

[jetsflier 87]

 

No - all of the FTX Global pieces are modular, pick and choose as you like...

 

Awesome!

[Guest]

 

 

Do both/either require FTX?

 

To be more precise: Vector and OpenLC require FTX Global. 'FTX' is also a 'brand' for region add ons and Vector and OpenLC do nothing for those.

 

Also note that unlike UTX, Vector doesn't have a configurator so it's all or nothing, and all means: a lot of roads and too wide encasements. And as already posted, it will cause elevation problems, even with the correct mesh (which has to be bought separately).

 

I will pass on Vector and although I still have high hopes for OpenLC, I will probably skip that LC too and go back to FTX regions completely when they are made P3D 2.0 compatible. It's still nice to have FTX Global for when I fly along the borders of those regions. Regions are so much better than FTXG+Vector+OpenLC...

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

But I would be hard pressed to tell you what the benefits of buying it have been so far, as it didn't correct any of the linear data mistakes or correct any airport elevation presentations that I have run into or seen logged on the ORBX forums so far. If anything, the mesh (at least for the places I have been), has proven to be little better than stock FSX (except in Africa), and in some cases worse, as in:

 

 

Which part of the world is this?

[flapsdown 45]

Which part of the world is this?

 

That is Long's Peak,  the most distinctive mountain along the Northern Colorado front range, it is just south and west of Estes Park, Colorado...

 

 

To be more precise: Vector and OpenLC require FTX Global

 

Thanks for pointing this out, I should not have just assumed that he already had FTX Global...

[vonstroheim 2]

While waiting for FTX OpenLC and a debugged FTX Global Vector, here is some free solutions to improve FTX Global in Europe:

I'm very impressed with "openVFR terrain". It's landclass, roads, coastline, etc... based on OpenStreetMap, just like FTX Global Vector + openLC is supposed to be. And there is a free demo for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Netherland.
http://openvfr.freyt.de/magento/index.php/downloads/openvfr-terrain/openvfr-terrain-europe-793.html

Austria near Klagenfurt (LOWK) with FTX Global only:


Same with FTX Global + openVFR terrain:


Netherlands near Valkenburg (EHVB) with FTX Global only:

(also with NL2000 airports and SimSkunkWorks F84F)

 

Same with FTX Global + openVFR terrain:


More excellent landclass/vector based freeware that mix well with FTXG:

J. Kelloggs' Denmark map (denmarkmapx-2_1.zip):
http://www.jkelloggs.dk/scenery/denmarkmapx

J. Kelloggs' Estonia map (estoniamapx-1_0.zip):
http://www.jkelloggs.dk/node/600

Anthony Dyer' Scotland landclass (scotland lc.zip @ avsim)

Aurnaud Clère's France landclass (lc_france.zip):
http://www.gratisim.fr/arnaud-cl-les-sites-4?task=view
For FS9 but "lc_france_std.bgl" works fine in FSX. Includes bits of Germany and southern Belgium)

Don't forget to add a mesh! Here's a few suggestions:

Raimondo Taburet 38m France Mesh LOD 10 (fra38xv3.zip @ Flightsim/SimViation)

Raimondo Taburet 38m Alps Mesh LOD 10 (alps38xn.zip @ Flightsim/SimViation)

or more precise Alain Ragot's 19m Alps Mesh LOD 11:
v2 is here http://www.vf-air.com/MeshAlpes.zip
v3 is lost, was called ALPES_LOD11_V3.zip

Of course this is just a selection... More free mesh, vector and landclass to hunt for here and elsewhere:
http://www.freewarescenery.com/fsx.html

 

I'm still looking for a landclass for the British Isles... freeware... any idea?

 

Some more readings about landclasses:

http://simmerhead.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/review-fsx-landclass-battle/