Orbx has ruined the rest of the world's scenery for me

[rufowler 2]

So my problem (if you can call it that) is basically that Orbx made their regions too darn good, and now the rest of the world seems pretty blah to me.  Some folks who share my view have just resigned to fly solely within the Orbx regions, but I really want to fly in the other part of North America that I'm familiar with in real life -- specifically the east coast and parts of the Midwest, which are areas they don't cover.

 

Right now my scenery software includes some FTX regions (though I'm sure all purchase all of them eventually), FTX Global Base, FTX Vector, and FS Global mesh.  I don't have a landclass layer as Orbx is supposedly going to release their own version called OpenLC in a couple of months, so I might as well wait.

 

Is there anything I can do to improve the look of large parts of the rest of the country?  I think I'd like to avoid photorealistic scenery as I'm a GA / slow & low flyer and I have a feeling I won't like the way things look close up since it will be flat.  Maybe I'm wrong though. I'm wondering about Ultimate Terrain X -- does that basically do what FTX Base + Vector does, and would not augment anything?  Are there other scenery packs out there that cover wide areas that I should know about?  Thanks!

 

(Btw, in case it wasn't obvious, this isn't at all a criticism of the base & vector combo. You guys are awesome!)

[zmak 331]

I here you, I pretty much fly regions exclusively for GA and use photo scenery for tubes.

 

Im confused you say you have " FTX Global Base, FTX Vector, and FS Global mesh" but yet the rest of the world is bland?. 

[rufowler 2]

I here you, I pretty much fly regions exclusively for GA and use photo scenery for tubes. 

 

So you think I'm probably right in my hunch that photorealistic scenery will look weird from my view ... which is rarely, if ever, above FL100?

 

Im confused you say you have " FTX Global Base, FTX Vector, and FS Global mesh" but yet the rest of the world is bland?. 

 

 

Well, not exactly.  I was being a bit facetious & kind of making a joke.  Basically I just want the rest of the world to look better, and I'm not sure if the ftx base + vector + mesh combo is pretty much as good as it gets.

[zmak 331]

Yeah photo not great below fl100 (mse) although buying MSE ultra res city's gives you a massive area to fly with sharpness down to a few hundred feet .

[Bunkers 52]

 

I'm wondering about Ultimate Terrain X -- does that basically do what FTX Base + Vector does, and would not augment anything?

 

UTX does what OpenLC + FTX Vector will do. UTX mixed with FTX Global is very good IMO. It's what I miss the most from FSX (I'm only using P3Dv2 now). With OpenLC ORBX will offer all the relevant layers of scenery. Either you wait for that (NA is second in line after EU I think), or you get UTX now.

 

EDIT: If you have FTX Vector you must probably disable/uninstall that if you consider using UTX.

[FloG 148]

 

 

So you think I'm probably right in my hunch that photorealistic scenery will look weird from my view ... which is rarely, if ever, above FL100?

There are a photoreal addons that actually do look quite good even close to the ground. One of them is the excellent freeware BlueSkyScenery for large parts of California, Nevada and Arizona, and its coverage area is growing fast. I for one find it pretty cool around Las Vegas, where I use it for some military training flights out of KLSV, but in areas where autgen buildings and trees are more important, it can look a bit boring compared to ORBX regions. I'd try BSS first to see if you like that type of scenery, and if you do, there are some quite nice ones for selected European available too (some even with autogen).

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

the Midwest exception is one region where XPX 10.30 nailed better than Orbx with Autogen Chicago and Minneapolis just need a couple skyscrapers it surreal flying over. Phoenix and San Diego I would use orbx or fsx as XPX looks way off there.

[rufowler 2]

UTX does what OpenLC + FTX Vector will do. UTX mixed with FTX Global is very good IMO. It's what I miss the most from FSX (I'm only using P3Dv2 now). With OpenLC ORBX will offer all the relevant layers of scenery. Either you wait for that (NA is second in line after EU I think), or you get UTX now.

 

EDIT: If you have FTX Vector you must probably disable/uninstall that if you consider using UTX.

 

Shoot. :-/  Not sure if it's worth it to buy UTX if I'd be disabling Vector.  Can anyone else confirm that this is true?  Is there a way to install UTX and just use it for the landclass layer?  Seems like that's really the missing ingredient here ... and if it's going to me several months for Orbx's openLC to come out, I might want something to hold me over.

[MDF86 123]

Totally agree with you. I branched out into GA flying from airliners and now I don't want to get back in the 737. I'm finding that even FTX Global areas look bad now by comparison. I'm hoping that when OpenLC EU and NA is released (the only areas I fly) it will make things interesting at high altitude again, as I do enjoy flying the airliners. But I'm all about the eye candy.

 

Oh and rufowler - yes you can use UTX landclass only. You need to install UTX and then in the control panel for it you can enable/disable all of the options you want to use. Just leave landclass enabled! Probably not worth shelling out for it now though unless money is no object, OpenLC EU is imminent and NA will be next.

[rufowler 2]

Yup, eye candy indeed!    Plus sometimes I feel like there's way less of that seat-of-your-pants feeling in the airliners.  Feel, I dunno, sterile.

 

Anyway, apparently Vector 1.2 is supposed to help things a lot too ... and obviously so will openLC which (luckily for you since you fly in Europe) is suppose to be released any day now.  Do you have the current Vector?  Do you use any landclass layer or are you just going to wait?

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

UTX does what OpenLC + FTX Vector will do. UTX mixed with FTX Global is very good IMO. It's what I miss the most from FSX (I'm only using P3Dv2 now). With OpenLC ORBX will offer all the relevant layers of scenery. Either you wait for that (NA is second in line after EU I think), or you get UTX now.

 

EDIT: If you have FTX Vector you must probably disable/uninstall that if you consider using UTX.

I miss a true UTX/ORBX GLOBAL in P3D, as well.  UTX is a great product, even though it has not seen any true updates for quite some time....actually, a very LONG time....:(

[MDF86 123]

Yup, eye candy indeed! Plus sometimes I feel like there's way less of that seat-of-your-pants feeling in the airliners. Feel, I dunno, sterile.

 

Anyway, apparently Vector 1.2 is supposed to help things a lot too ... and obviously so will openLC which (luckily for you since you fly in Europe) is suppose to be released any day now. Do you have the current Vector? Do you use any landclass layer or are you just going to wait?

Yeah I have FTX global and vector, and even with that I hate to stray out of the full ORBX regions now...I've been spoiled!

 

I don't use a landclass layer, I used to use UTX (Europe - never owned USA) just for LC with FTX Global which was actually very good. However I've just done a huge reinstall owing to a hardware change so elected to wait for OpenLC rather than reinstall UTX.

[rufowler 2]

I don't use a landclass layer, I used to use UTX (Europe - never owned USA) just for LC with FTX Global which was actually very good. However I've just done a huge reinstall owing to a hardware change so elected to wait for OpenLC rather than reinstall UTX.

 

So just curious: when you used UTX with Orbx products in Europe, did you let FTX handle the vector and simply diable that feature from UTX -- which I guess would mean you only used UTX as a landclass layer?

 

If that's the case -- if that in fact is possible to do -- and if I went ahead and made yet another impulse buy (I seem to be quite good at doing that lately!), I would basically be spending ~$40 usd for U.S. a landclass layer which presumably would brighten things up outside of regions.

 

Either that, or I do the sensible thing and for Orbx to release their North American version of openLC.  Decisions, decisions....

[MDF86 123]

So just curious: when you used UTX with Orbx products in Europe, did you let FTX handle the vector and simply diable that feature from UTX -- which I guess would mean you only used UTX as a landclass layer?

 

If that's the case -- if that in fact is possible to do -- and if I went ahead and made yet another impulse buy (I seem to be quite good at doing that lately!), I would basically be spending ~$40 usd for U.S. a landclass layer which presumably would brighten things up outside of regions.

 

Either that, or I do the sensible thing and for Orbx to release their North American version of openLC.  Decisions, decisions....

 

Yep that's right, I disabled everything except from landclass from UTX and let FTX Vector handle the actual vector data. The reason I did that was only because I already owned UTX Europe from a few years back. I decided to buy FTX Vector because it seemed to be a living, evolving product that was only going to get better in time. And also, seeing as I had FTX Global and I am eagerly awaiting FTX Open LC, it made sense to have all of my products from the same "family" for my fresh start with my reinstall.

 

I really miss the UTX Landclass layer as everything (even with FTX Global) looks so dull from high altitudes at the moment, but not long now until we have Open LC, thankfully. I'm hoping the USA version isn't too far behind EU!

[rufowler 2]

Totally agree, MDF86.  I wanted to keep it "in the family" too, and I liked what I saw from Orbx in terms of continuing development.  It's just these pesky landclass layers.  Hopefully North America will come very soon after Europe.  Like VERY soon ... or I have a feeling I'm gonna be out $40 for something I'll replace down the line.  Alas, wouldn't be the worst way to spend some money.  

 

Cheers!