FSX-MS Seriously thinking to ditch all payware airports...

[~Craig~ 10]

Does this conflict with ftx global/vector?

 

No.   It upgrades default airport textures and models - which aren't touched by FTX Global/Vector.

 

 

@ MarkW  - great test, very useful, thanks. :smile:

[Pe11e 812]

Wait, you are stating that Zinertek replaced airport vehicles models, or only textures? As I saw in screenshots, the models look the same.

I'm pretty interested now after applying HD Airport Textures, will vehicles impact FPS the same as before? I'm still amazed today why default airport vehicles are so hard on fps, does anyone know? The models are quite simple, textures are low quality, so why fps sink like a rock when you set airport vehicle density on medium/high...? 

[Orbx 123]

Orbx has released over 200 freeware airports for FTX Global in the past year alone, just grab them from our website. These utilise all our libraries and include animated people and objects, 3D grasses and hundreds of clutter objects at each location, so they are substantially better than just a coat of lipstick. The free airports we're releasing for Europe are pretty much payware quality.

 

I think developers have a responsibility to give back as much as they get, to the community that feeds them. In our case since 2008 we've given away four times as many free airports as payware ones and also spun off a freeware group called AussieX which has given away countless airports, sceneries and repaints.

 

I'm not trying to solicit a slap on my back, just saying that payware developers have a responsibility to continue to maintain their roots in what makes the FS community great in the first place.

[MarkW 1,479]

Orbx has released over 200 freeware airports for FTX Global in the past year alone, just grab them from our website. These utilise all our libraries and include animated people and objects, 3D grasses and hundreds of clutter objects at each location, so they are substantially better than just a coat of lipstick. The free airports we're releasing for Europe are pretty much payware quality.

 

I think developers have a responsibility to give back as much as they get, to the community that feeds them. In our case since 2008 we've given away four times as many free airports as payware ones and also spun off a freeware group called AussieX which has given away countless airports, sceneries and repaints.

 

I'm not trying to solicit a slap on my back, just saying that payware developers have a responsibility to continue to maintain their roots in what makes the FS community great in the first place.

 

200?   Wow, had no clue (and I am on the Orbx website on a regular basis looking for updates to Global, Vector and LC)....thanks for posting.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

 

 

Orbx has released over 200 freeware airports for FTX Global in the past year alone, just grab them from our website. These utilise all our libraries and include animated people and objects, 3D grasses and hundreds of clutter objects at each location, so they are substantially better than just a coat of lipstick. The free airports we're releasing for Europe are pretty much payware quality.

 

I was thinking about this during a lot of this thread.  They make flying outside the regions pretty decent. 

[TurboTomato 90]

Actually, good examples of performance-friendly but enhanced airports can be found in UK2000's range of freeware airports.

[OldFlyboy 30]

I'm using quite a few of the free airports from ORBX and they are quite good. Sometimes I get a shock when looking out and seeing people moving around.....then remember....it's ORBX giving me this

[~Craig~ 10]

I honestly don't think the discussion was really relating to payware vs freeware airports.  I think it was more to do with VAS and performance balancing, and how owning payware airports can lead to us flying to the same places and / or having to 'manage' the selection / deselection of airports in the Scenery Library.

 

Notwithstanding that, the Orbx "Freeware Global Airports" are great though - there are dozens in the US, and some (nowhere near as many) in Europe.  And the true Orbx freeware airports (as opposed to freeware Global series) are even better;  eg KHQM Bowerman and EDBH Barth are two of my favourite Orbx airports from all of them;  free and payware.

[Anxu00 176]

Bought close to $200 worth of half price ORBX airports when they were on sale. Haven't tried them yet,as I don't have access to the computer with the 980 card.

 

In RL, I lived next door to the airport and kept a plane there. Toured the mountain west extensively. Scenery and airports, as well good aircraft such as Realair, is what makes a simulation for me. Just imagining I'm airborne with default, wouldn't last long.

I too have hundred invested in ORBX .  However, I found that the performance is currently not to what I expect given my system, so I only have ORBX Global, Vector and use only the free ORBX Global airports.  Not being personally up in the air around PNW, PFJ etc.  I have nothing to compare against.  But having seen the ORBX region and then Global rendition, I am not missing anything that much.  The trade off is smooth flight, no stutter, no slight pause when ORBX loads texture etc.  And the most important thing for me, less time to deal with updates.  

[LAdamson 240]

I've flown/drove around the picturesque Jackson Hole (KJAC) area numerous times. Teton mountain range in the background. This ORBX rendition is a must have, ever since I saw the release. Coming back to flight sims, this gives me purpose of doing so. It's a recreation of what I loved with real life flight. Default just won't cut it anymore.

 

Slowly tapped out on cell phone. Yuk!

[TurboTomato 90]

I honestly don't think the discussion was really relating to payware vs freeware airports.  I think it was more to do with VAS and performance balancing, and how owning payware airports can lead to us flying to the same places and / or having to 'manage' the selection / deselection of airports in the Scenery Library.

 

Notwithstanding that, the Orbx "Freeware Global Airports" are great though - there are dozens in the US, and some (nowhere near as many) in Europe.  And the true Orbx freeware airports (as opposed to freeware Global series) are even better;  eg KHQM Bowerman and EDBH Barth are two of my favourite Orbx airports from all of them;  free and payware.

 

Exactly. This is about performance and what makes a good add-on airport (or general airport enhancer), regardless of whether they are freeware or payware.

 

I'm on an enforced sim-break (and not even on holiday  :(  ) and I'm thinking that when I take my next flight (tubeliner short haul in Europe, much like pe11e) I'll do it without any add on airports at all switched on (I manage my scenery config on every flight now, using SCE). I have REX4, which is a good start for enhancing the default airport textures.

[Rocky_53 1,566]

If you fly from an Orbx region, the upgraded airports are excellent. So you have the benefit of a better looking airport over default, but without the performance clout of a big payware airport.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

 

 

If you fly from an Orbx region, the upgraded airports are excellent. So you have the benefit of a better looking airport over default, but without the performance clout of a big payware airport.

 

The one difficult part is knowing where they are.  I know some folks work on keeping a Google Earth file updated (thank god).  It'd be nice if that was hosted at Orbx somewhere...maybe a pinned topic. 

[TurboTomato 90]

And what if you don't do the Orbx thing?

[Mithras 87]

Well, I've just purchased and installed HDAirport Textures on the strength of this thread and I must say I am really, really pleased with the results. On my travels around the world those grey prison blocks look awful and repetitive, and there's far too much wide open blank-looking concrete. The buildings in this software look pretty decent and best of all the apron is now filled with markings, dirt stains and so on. I think turning up airport traffic also fills these default aprons out nicely too. Impressed!

 

This thread has struck a chord with me after I found myself flying around the USA, for me this is default land, with UTXUSA and FTX Global. I wanted free open flying, with no worries at all about fps or OOM worries, just flying for hours. I love Orbx England, Scotland and Wałes with my UK2000 airports installed, don't get me wrong, but there is something quite liberating about flying around with fps in the 60s, 70s and 80s!

 

As a GA flyer I am not that hard done by, I rarely fly airliners into the few payware hub airports I have. I have invested in quite alot of Caribbean airports as part of my attempt to build up an Orbx-style region, but these smaller airports are not heavy on frame rates at all. My money usually goes on airfield packages if possible, Aerosoft's African Adventures and its Island Hopping product, True Grit Papua New Guinea and UK2000 VFR airfields.

 

I hate super detailed airports, UK2000's Heathrow v3 has no appeal for me at all. I'm all for looking cool but keeping within reasonable limits. I realised this when I bought all of Orbx's UK airfields. Installed the lot, started flying between them with my high end system and A2A Cherokee, and started getting OOM warnings. And the settings ... do you want dandelions and butterflies enabled? What???? And the detail that goes into areas you can not see from the plane ... that whole concept baffles me. So I've uninstalled them all and stick with the UK2000 Volume 1 (version 2- awesome). I'm going to do do some more rationalisation over the weekend - inspired by this thread!

 

 

Here's a shot of Kolkata, with HD Airport Textures installed. I now put it in my list of top installs (should someone tell me I'm only allowed six!!) along with FTX Global, ASN and UT2....