Hi guys.

 

Currently I am running only GEX Europe and UTX Europe, but I want to fly all around the world. GEX and UTX are very expensive if you need to cover the whole world, but is it even better? I have no idea if I should choose FTX Global or GEX + UTX. The night lightning in FTX Global looks awesome and the textures does too.

 

So right now I have no idea if I should choose FTX Global or GEX + UTX.

 

- Nikolas

I own all UT-series and GEX Europe as well.

 

To me it was a no brainer to go over to ORBX FTX Global: It covers the whole planet, and is compatible with FSX, P3D 1.4 and P3D v2. As for the quality of the textures I think GEX is slightly better for urban textures, they're about equal for rural textures, but FTX Global is much better for wilderness areas, IMHO. Also, I use the other ORBX regions, and have no other scenery installed at the moment, so it's nice to have zero issues with compatibility etc.

 

GEX negative attitude towards P3D and their very expensive price to cover the planet (don't know if they do yet) made me leave them for good. Sad, because I was a long time loyal customer dating back to GE for FS2004.

I vote for FTX Global although it's not perfect. I like its textures more as they make especially many green areas of the world look better than GEX, however as it's just a texture replacement product some dry areas don't look that good with it, unfortunately FSX uses same textures in very different kind of areas which makes it impossible to create a simple texture replacement product that would look good everywhere. 

 

In future OpenLC packs ORBX is apparently going to add their own custom textures to landclasses which should fix this problem.

Don't forget, you still will need UTX along with FTXG.  They do different things and work together.  You also need a landclass program like Cloud9 X-Class or Scenery Tech landclass for the areas of your choice.  Have you given any though to using FTX-Vector instead of UTX?  I have never tried FTXV, I'm quite happy with UTX, BTW.

 

Nothing is ever quite as simple as it first appears, is it?

In my opinion gex+ utx is better (utx is much better than vector at the moment I think) but I switched to ftx global + vector because it covers the whole world and is p3d2 compatible (roughly). I think ftx global is slightly better than gex for what it's worth.

FTXG>GEX but not by too  much, the biggest upside of using FTX is that it covers the whole planet. If you plan on doing much flying in out of the way areas then it's well worth it!

FTX changes some core FSX files and potentially can cause problems with other addons, GEX does not and it plays well with others, I use GEX, its worth the price for me because it is trouble free, inproves my FSX performance, and looks great

FTX changes some core FSX files and potentially can cause problems with other addons, GEX does not and it plays well with others, I use GEX, its worth the price for me because it is trouble free, inproves my FSX performance, and looks great

 

Yes, FTXG does indeed change some core files, which might or might not be a bad thing in and of itself.  I have been using FTXG since it was released and have found no problems with any other add-ons I am using (see "my simulator").  Knowing NickN's position on FTXG I am left to wonder whether not playing well, etc is more of an imagined problem than a reality?  Strictly IMHO, your mileage may vary.

If I were starting from scratch, I would choose FTXG, FTX Vectors, FSX Global, and ST LC. This would cover the world and upgrade FSX to FSXI.

 

I prefer the FTX regions. I'm also creating regions from freeware and payware addons.

 

Norway is great example of what is possible. Free is good.

Global, no competition at all.

I think GEX textures are superior, but given Global is, well, Global, has better autogen, 3D night lighting and vector road lighting, I have to give the nod to FTX Global.

 

For me though, it's not without cost. I feel compelled to run at much higher autogen levels than I did with GEX to cover the mediocre urban textures and provide a nice density of night lighting. The result is a less smooth experience than I got with GEX which I ran at lower autogen density settings.

FTXG has really great looking night lighting as well, and doesn't affect framerates nearly as much as UTX lights do. Admittedly, this is based off the FTXG+Vector+LC Iceland demo (still haven't obtained FTXG).

 

Just remember, you do get night lighting with FTXG base, but to add the roads and other stuff that UTX does, you'd have to get Vector.

 

I think FTXG is a must have if you want to fly all around the world.

Do I need FTXG + Vector if I run UTX just without the night lighting on? If yes, is FTXG + Vector better than UTX? It will be pretty expensive for me, so I want to make sure I'll get something for my money

No.  You need either FTXVector or UTX, not both.  You need one or the other to make coastlines, rivers, and roads,  FTXG (FTX Global) will supply the night lighting.  Don't forget to get a landclass program too.  You need that to tell FTXG (or UTX) where to place scenery tiles.  Here's a link to SceneryTech Landclass at Flight1.  You can pick and choose the programing you need.  They aren't too expensive, unlike other flight sim programming.

 

I can't comment as to whether FTXVector is better than UTX, but I can say that when I read about Vector I decided to stay with UTX for the time being.  Just my personal choice.

 

 

This would cover the world and upgrade FSX to FSXI

 

With all due respect, FTXG is not that dramatic an improvement to FSX.  I've seen this comment made many many times before I purchased FTXG.  I finally decided to give it a try knowing all to well that these claims were not true based on the pics I had seen but I still bought it around Xmas.  While it is definitely an improvement over default FSX, it is absolutely no where near making FSX into FSXI.  Unless maybe you are Kermit the Frog.

 

GEX and FTXG are better than default textures.  They are also just different when compared to each other.  They are just different "artists" impressions.  Neither one is better than the other and it depends on what region you are flying in as to how close it comes to reality with. IMO, FTXG maybe comes closer in regions that are supposed to be green and GEX winning in the other areas as it isn't as green everywhere.

 

But, anyway, the FTXG is FSXI is just an opinion and no where close to fact.