Hi All,

 

I currently only have one scenery add-on installed and that's ORBX PNW. I have been considering purchasing FTX Global and FTX Global Vector and I just wanted to see what people who have used it thought of it. Have you enjoyed it or have you found more problems with it than it was worth? I would sincerely appreciate any and all feedback on these two products. I know there's a ton of information on this online and I've been pouring through it this afternoon, but I always get great feedback from the community here so I just wanted to hear what people here thought about these products.

 

Again, I sincerely appreciate the feedback! Thank you!

Hi All,

 

I currently only have one scenery add-on installed and that's ORBX PNW. I have been considering purchasing FTX Global and FTX Global Vector and I just wanted to see what people who have used it thought of it. Have you enjoyed it or have you found more problems with it than it was worth? I would sincerely appreciate any and all feedback on these two products. I know there's a ton of information on this online and I've been pouring through it this afternoon, but I always get great feedback from the community here so I just wanted to hear what people here thought about these products.

 

Again, I sincerely appreciate the feedback! Thank you!

 

Get it now - no brainer transforms your sim - bit pricey to buy all at once but most bought it when each came out so was not to bad but glad I did

They are GREAT programs when paired up along with LC Europe just released.

They are GREAT programs when paired up along with LC Europe just released.

 

23,000 posts - holy moly Jim

I think its gonna depend on what type of flying you do. I have global as well as all the PNW areas and SAK. I fly mostly in my home state of California, and global was a big disappointment for me for the majority of my simming over the desert southwest including Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico. MSE has been whats kept me in the hobby. However I do enjoy once in a blue moon going to somewhere far off like Israel and crusing low and slow over all the buildings which you obviously don't get with with MSE. Or cruising low and slow with the Cub over trees in Canada every now and then, and Global is the ticket there. So I dont regret getting it, as far as generic textures go it knocks the socks off the stock textures. I look at all the Orbx stuff as art, sp its gonna be very subjective, when I'm flying in the Orbx world I feel like I'm in Secondlife or OSGrid without all the people and lag lol. Orbx is quality stuff for sure, and if you have the funds, like 3D art or MMP Virtual Worlds, and don't need exact landmark accuracy for real world training, Id say go for it.

I have FTX Global base pack only. It's great. It fixes a lot of that weird FSX default terrain and adds green where green needs to go, sand where sand needs to go, etc.

I have FTX Global base pack only. It's great. It fixes a lot of that weird FSX default terrain and adds green where green needs to go, sand where sand needs to go, etc.

+1. I installed and run FTXG with no problems at all and it is excellent where I fly (northern Europe). I do not use Vector, but only because I already had UTX installed.

 

Note that I have no other ORBX scenery. You will read that some who have other ORBX regions installed have seen problems with FTXG (and Vector and OpenLC for that matter). So be sure you can back it out if necessary.

As stated before - "It depends on what type of flying you do". If you expect to get good visuals below 3000ft this is not what these will bring. Of course It improves A LOT default textures and default data, however you can't expect miracles below this altitude.

Improvement is much better ABOVE 3000ft. It looks really amazing. After Global & Vector consider getting OpenLC since it improves everything even much further. I am amazed espacially with night lightning - this looks SO REAL.

 

Other my thoughts about these two:

- data is not as correct as UTX (there are some small roads missing), however highways and larger roads look much better (more vertex).

- AFAIK data is based on some open sources mostly, so you can see some bugs is some areas - islands missing, incorrect coasts - small things, but can be annoying if they are at your home airport / city.

- ORBX promised constant support for following years, so data will probably get more accurate in the future.

If you expect to get good visuals below 3000ft this is not what these will bring. Of course It improves A LOT default textures and default data, however you can't expect miracles below this altitude

I have to disagree. I do all my flying around 1500ft, and the FTXG textures are excellent IMO, even down to approach and landing. Sample image below:

 

I prefer the FTX regions. I only fly low and (rather) slow and so for me the NA regions can keep me entertained until FTX Norway has been released. ^_^ I just installed Prepar3D on my new PC and I don't even have the Global stuff installed... (I also own FTX AU en FTX England but even those aren't installed because NA offers more than enough!)

 

If you really want or need to fly outside FTX regions, Global/Vector/OpenLC/ is the way to go (you also should add Pilot's mesh to it). But even though I would like to fly in Europe every now and then, the superior quality of the regions is keeping me within FTX regions boundaries. 

As mentioned you should state what type of flying you do. Lets say for instance You go Low n slow. You can buy all the regions and a ton of airports for the $500 your going to spend setting up Global

 

An example is I bought 20 orbx airports on sale recently for $5 each (dvd) Most of the regions you can buy at $10-15 when on sale, now that's going to give you an endless supply of full fat stunning scenery that will take you years to thoroughly explore and remember your getting airports as well. I know there are free airports with global however they are.....lets just say there free :-)

 

If you like tubes then Global is better as most of USA, ASIA, Africa  and EUROPE are empty

As stated before - "It depends on what type of flying you do". If you expect to get good visuals below 3000ft this is not what these will bring. Of course It improves A LOT default textures and default data, however you can't expect miracles below this altitude.

Improvement is much better ABOVE 3000ft. It looks really amazing. After Global & Vector consider getting OpenLC since it improves everything even much further. I am amazed espacially with night lightning - this looks SO REAL.

 

Other my thoughts about these two:

- data is not as correct as UTX (there are some small roads missing), however highways and larger roads look much better (more vertex).

- AFAIK data is based on some open sources mostly, so you can see some bugs is some areas - islands missing, incorrect coasts - small things, but can be annoying if they are at your home airport / city.

- ORBX promised constant support for following years, so data will probably get more accurate in the future.

Absolutely agree. UTX Europe is more accurate with regards to road placement and the landclass with UTX is also better for example small villages etc. For me FTX Global + UTX Europe is more accurate than FTX Global + OpenLC + Vector. I've taken a few comparison shots so may post later. Not overwhelmed with vector and openLC tbh.

Last Friday, I bought Europe OpenLC and on Saturday, I bought Vector.  Personally I feel that this is a homerun.  I have been flying in Germany, France and Austria.  WOW!  Never have seen Europe so good.  I think it rivals their pay scenery areas.  The main difference is that you get the whole continent.

 

In the big thread in FSX forum regarding OpenLC, lots of folks have been lambasting Orbx for their prices.  In my opinion, if you try the products and see the difference they make, the price is definitely worth it.  OpenLC was something like 12 meg and Vector is something like 3 meg.  So these are big products and took a long time to develop.  Also, when installing the OpenLC, it looks like you get if not hundreds of new texture files, but thousands. 

 

No the products are not perfect, but they are a pretty darn good improvement.

 

ps:  I flew out of Innsbruck with UTX and noticed some funky elevation issues with UTX, but no problems with Vector.

 

Job well done Orbx!

I have Global, Vector and Open LC Europe.

 

Love Global. Makes a big difference to the FSX "immersion factor".

 

Vector - would have been nice if they'd paid a bit more attention to the roads especially in major cities. Looks like a rushed job to me. Considering going back to UTX until it's improved around Europe.

 

Open LC Europe - looking pretty good - have been comparing what I'm seeing in sim with my Plan G moving map on my other PC. Some areas like the Balkans look a bit sketchy though.

 

Overall all three make a big improvement to the FSX default textures/LC etc. Hope they improve Vector though.

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I very much appreciate it!

 

At this time I mostly fly GA aircraft as I'm still working on some piloting fundamentals (been using the FSX Learning Center and Aviator90 heavily). I've mostly stayed in the PNW region since it is so well detailed. I guess a good point to consider is whether I'd actually leave the PNW region if the rest of the world looked better!   

 

Does anyone have a problem with the mesh when using Vector? I had read in one or two places that Vector didn't always play well with the default FSX mesh - I can try and find that article. Has anyone experienced this?

 

Again, I sincerely appreciate everyone taking the time to respond! Thank you!