Hi all

 

Firstly, I am not looking for product support for either of these products, and secondly, I am deliberately posting on Avsim rather than on a product specific forum because I am looking for impartial advice.

 

Currently, I have Prepar3D 2.4. For global textures, I have installed FTX Global and I have just purchased UTX USA v2.0. I am aware of what each product does, but am totally confused by the Autogen Lighting part of each product. I have researched and read manuals/forums etc... but there seems to be an expectation that everyone has a pretty detailed starting knowledge of these areas. Despite having been using flight simulators for more than 15 years, I am having to plead for a "Dummys Guide" to this area. Might someone here be able to help out?

 

Here goes.....

 

With FTX Global, I enjoy global textures and I notice that lighting appears to be provided for major roads (I assume this is whats known as "Autogen Lighting"). It looks good too!

 

Questions are:

 

1. Is there a performance hit with these, day or night? Documentation says zero FPS, but is this peoples experience?

2. What roads do these lights get placed along - is it just MAJOR vector roads?

 

I have now installed UTX USA v2.0. I disabled UTX's own lighting and confirmed no tick box against that entry of my scenery library.

 

3. Does FTX Global continue to place lighting on the roads, and if so, does it place them on the UTX placed vector roads? And does it still only place them on major roads?

4. Do I need to go back and do anything to FTX Global to make it work with UTX?

5. Are UTX lights better performance-wise than the FTX Global lights, and hence, is there a benefit to me switching to using UTX lights?

6. If I were to use UTX lights instead, how do I disable FTX Global lights - is it just to disable them in FTX Central?

 

Sorry for the many questions guys, but I am totally lost with this.

 

I would like first and foremost good FPS, and secondly, decent night lighting (but only on major roads)

 

Appreciated as always.

Rich

 

"For global textures, I have installed FTX Global and I have just purchased UTX USA v2.0."

 

Have you done any testing yourself?

"For global textures, I have installed FTX Global and I have just purchased UTX USA v2.0."

 

Have you done any testing yourself?

 

Sorry yes that statement is not quite right. I have indeed purchased UTX and done some testing, but I find myself randomly turning things on and off in the 2 programs without really understanding what Im doing (even having read manuals), hence was looking to leverage some experience from those more knowledgable than myself!

 

In terms of performance, I am not sure that my testing is yielding consistent results, hence im interested in the answer to the hypothetical question of what should I be seeing.

"I find myself randomly turning things on and off in the 2 programs without really understanding what Im doing (even having read manuals)"

 

Well, FTX Global covers the whole world.

And, UTX USA v2.0 does not.

 

So, in the USA or another country:

Did you have a problem with whatever combination of settings you used?

Did you have errors?

Was there something you observed that was bad?

It appears you may be confused between the lighting provided by each product.  Below is quoted directly from the UTX Autogen Lighting manual  FAQ (p 18) >>

 

Are The Lights Compatibility With Orbx Lighting ?

As UTX Lighting provides its own autogen definitions, there should be no conflict with Orbx products. Orbx Global base

lights will be displayed on top of the landclass textrures. UTX Autogen Lighting will be displayed on top of the UTX

vector roads.