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Bobsk8

My feeling about Orbx

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I watched a video the other day on youtube where the creator of the video was bragging about the Orbx trees. I decided since they were cheap I would but the add on and try it. I ran the install program, and when I opened it, it said it needed to updates some files to the Orbx library. Well, that's strange because all I wanted was some trees. So I ran this update which consisted of 2,298 files that took a long time to download. I watched as the file names scrolled by and I see aircraft, trucks, vehicles, airport bgls, buildings, etc. etc. etc.  So I bailed out and stopped the install. Then I took a 2 hour flight in my Q400 and 1/3 of the way through the flight, P3D starts stuttering, and jerking, and finally locks up altogether and crashes.  I have never had a hiccup out of this program so I couldn't believe this was happening. I then look for an uninstall for this program in windows control panel, and there is none, or no record of the program even being installed. Now I go to the Orbx support, which is really there forum, and post the problem, and someone tells me I have to run the update or it won't work correctly. So I ran it, and it installed all this garbage in my P3D scenery folder. 

 

So I fire up the Q400 this morning for a 2 hour flight, and about 1/3 of the way through, P3D starts stuttering again and I look at my Ram usage it it is a bit over 4 gigs and the CPU is running wild. Finally it just locks up and quits. Now I go into a folder that Orbx installed on my hard drive and I find a script that says it will uninstall the trees, which I did. Now I go back to the scenery file in P3D/scenery/global to see if the trees are gone and they are, but there is still file after file of orbx trash in the scenery folder, trees, building, all the junk that was in the update that I ran yesterday. And the topper is, there is apparently no way I can get rid of this stuff, because I don't know if it supposed to be there or not. 

 

I don't know how a software company can sell add ons in this day and age without telling the customer that there is no backup to default as part of the install, and warning the customer to make a backup first. Then added to that, there is no uninstall program. I have never seen a piece of FS software that didn't have an uninstall. Now I have to fire up P3D again and try this 2 hour flight to see if it will crash again, and if it does, I guess I will have to uninstall and reinstall P3D. What a nightmare, thanks alot Orbx.... :mad:  :mad:

 

Oh, I almost forgot, I went to their forum this morning looking for the location of that script to uninstall the trees, and their forum is down.....


 

BOBSK8             MSFS 2020 ,    ,PMDG 737-600-800PMDG DC6 , A2A Comanche, Fenix A320,    Milviz C 310 ,  FSLTL  

TrackIR   Avliasoft EFB2    FSI Panel ,  ATC  by PF3  , A Pilots LIfe V2 ,  CLX PC , Auto FPS

 

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First of all, you can open FTX Central and select Default.

 

That should turn off all Orbx scenery.

 

Then..

 

Have a look at your scenery.cfg file (you can open it with Notepad).

 

Look for

 

[Area.xxx]
Title=FTXAA_ORBXLIBS
Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_ORBXLIBS
Layer=xxx
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE

 

If you want to disable all Orbx scenery libraries, you can set Active=False

 

Same for any other Orbx lines that you want to turn off.


Bert

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And not only that, you've been told all this AND given other advice across the various other topics you've posted in about the self-same issue over the past few days.

 

Do you not read the advice other simmers give you? Why should we bother giving it you?

 

I CATEGORICALLY tell you the problem is with your implementation of what you have purchased, NOT the products. I apologise to everyone else, but clearly I need to shout this at you

 

THERE IS NO VAS PROBLEM WITH HD TREES!!

 

Your problem lies elsewhere. Listening to what others are telling you might be a good start, doncha think?

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And not only that, you've been told all this AND given other advice across the various other topics you've posted in about the self-same issue over the past few days.

 

Do you not read the advice other simmers give you? Why should we bother giving it you?

 

I CATEGORICALLY tell you the problem is with your implementation of what you have purchased, NOT the products. I apologise to everyone else, but clearly I need to shout this at you

 

THERE IS NO VAS PROBLEM WITH HD TREES!!

 

Your problem lies elsewhere. Listening to what others are telling you might be a good start, doncha think?

 

My P3D runs fine

I Install Orbx Trees

Immediately after that, it crashes on long flights, which it never did prior to letting the trees installer do it's thing. 

 

You say the problem is due to the implementation of what I purchased.  I ran the installer that came with the product, that's all I did. Get real.  


 

BOBSK8             MSFS 2020 ,    ,PMDG 737-600-800PMDG DC6 , A2A Comanche, Fenix A320,    Milviz C 310 ,  FSLTL  

TrackIR   Avliasoft EFB2    FSI Panel ,  ATC  by PF3  , A Pilots LIfe V2 ,  CLX PC , Auto FPS

 

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Bailing out midway through the install can't be good either. It's a library update, let it do what it's trying to do.


i7-13700KF, 32gb DDR4 3200,  RTX 4080, Win 11, MSFS

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I Install Orbx Trees
Immediately after that, it crashes on long flights, which it never did prior to letting the trees installer do it's thing.

 

The Autogen in P3DV2.5 is optimized so that it does not eat up virtual address space (VAS) on your computer.  You only get 4GB's of VAS.  No more.  You run out of VAS and P3D crashes.  Orbx trees may not be as optimized as the P3D default trees.  They are probably prettier but to use them, you have to limit your flights to short flights and/or move your Autogen slider down.  If you want eye-candy for P3D, then you must give and take in order to use it and enjoy it, especially for long flights.  P3D (or FSX) will not allow you to do anything else.

 

Best regards,


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The Autogen in P3DV2.5 is optimized so that it does not eat up virtual address space (VAS) on your computer.  You only get 4GB's of VAS.  No more.  You run out of VAS and P3D crashes.  Orbx trees may not be as optimized as the P3D default trees.  They are probably prettier but to use them, you have to limit your flights to short flights and/or move your Autogen slider down.  If you want eye-candy for P3D, then you must give and take in order to use it and enjoy it, especially for long flights.  P3D (or FSX) will not allow you to do anything else.

 

Best regards,

 

Well I agree, and that is understandable, but I think it should be mentioned in the sales info for Orbx trees on their website instead of claiming that with these trees, you FPS might possibly  go up some two digit percentage ( which I never believed) .. That was what made me consider buying this add on in the first place, thinking that if it had no impact on FPS, but on the contrary might even improve the FPS due to some hidden magic, that at least it couldn't cause any harm. Being a long time pilot, and flight simmer, to me the Holy Grail of a flight sim is how smooth it runs, and anything like add on airports and scenery with tons of bells and whistles stopped being of interest to me many years ago, when I saw the effects of installing content like that on the running of the simulation. I also don't like the idea of purchasing an add on be it trees. or lights, or anything else, and other files that have absolutely  nothing to do with what I purchased, are installed in my flight sim without first asking if I want them, and no way to uninstall them.  From now on, just sticking with default P3D and the two UTX areas I have,   

Bailing out midway through the install can't be good either. It's a library update, let it do what it's trying to do.

 

Didn't bail out of the install, I bailed out of the download. 


 

BOBSK8             MSFS 2020 ,    ,PMDG 737-600-800PMDG DC6 , A2A Comanche, Fenix A320,    Milviz C 310 ,  FSLTL  

TrackIR   Avliasoft EFB2    FSI Panel ,  ATC  by PF3  , A Pilots LIfe V2 ,  CLX PC , Auto FPS

 

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 ORBX advertises that they have optimized the trees further than default with no increase to the VAS. More trees, same performance and they look very nice especially during spring and fall.


i7-13700KF, 32gb DDR4 3200,  RTX 4080, Win 11, MSFS

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I really don't understand what you've done Bob? I have plenty of Orbx scenery and don't really have any issues. How can you see what's being downloaded? Is that through FTX Central? I wouldn't have thought Orbx trees would need to use anything like that as it just replaces the tree textures.

 

Jason


Jason Jackett

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I really don't understand what you've done Bob? I have plenty of Orbx scenery and don't really have any issues. How can you see what's being downloaded? Is that through FTX Central? I wouldn't have thought Orbx trees would need to use anything like that as it just replaces the tree textures.

 

Jason

 

Here is what I did, and I am going explain this because one person is commenting that I must be totally responsible for this add on not working properly.  I clicked on the install with my mouse. I used my right hand to hold the mouse, ( maybe I should have used my left).  ^_^   Then the installer ran and installed the trees. I then installed the update, and the 2058 files that came with it, and flew, and immediately had problems after about a half hour of flying. That's all I did.  Can you figure out where I may have gone wrong? 

 

I saw the names of the different files as they were being downloaded using FTX central. Almost all of them had names that had nothing to do with trees or shrubbery that I could see. 


 

BOBSK8             MSFS 2020 ,    ,PMDG 737-600-800PMDG DC6 , A2A Comanche, Fenix A320,    Milviz C 310 ,  FSLTL  

TrackIR   Avliasoft EFB2    FSI Panel ,  ATC  by PF3  , A Pilots LIfe V2 ,  CLX PC , Auto FPS

 

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Thanks Bob(?)

 

Understand.

 

How was the "update" presented to you? Was it part of the Trees installer? Did it give you a choice to install or not because my understanding (could be wrong) is that Trees does not require the Orbx libraries to function (and that sounds like what it was downloading).

 

Jason


Jason Jackett

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 To be fair, you did say that you bailed out and stopped the install. Everytime you install something from ORBX, it's advised to install or even reinstall the latest libraries to avoid problems.


i7-13700KF, 32gb DDR4 3200,  RTX 4080, Win 11, MSFS

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Yeah just following on from Dave's comment and if your p3d has been mucked up because of this you could fully install the Orbx libraries again so that they complete and then fully uninstall them. That might get you back on an even keel.

 

Jason


Jason Jackett

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Orbx trees may not be as optimized as the P3D default trees.

 

ORBX Trees had almost no impact on VAS on my system; performance was slightly better thank the default trees though.

 

To the OP, there obviously something awry with the install.

Try reinstalling in this order: 

- Reinstall FTX Trees

- Download and install FTX Central V2

- Download and install the ORBX Libraries for P3D V2 (very important to get the right version)

 

I would first confirm on the ORBX forums if the last two are required if you don't have any regions installed...

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First of all, you can open FTX Central and select Default.

 

That should turn off all Orbx scenery.

 

Then..

 

Have a look at your scenery.cfg file (you can open it with Notepad).

 

Look for

 

[Area.xxx]

Title=FTXAA_ORBXLIBS

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_ORBXLIBS

Layer=xxx

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

 

If you want to disable all Orbx scenery libraries, you can set Active=False

 

Same for any other Orbx lines that you want to turn off.

 

Just to be clear, although I don't think that it has anything to do with this fellows issues and I don't know if he has Central or Central V2, if the user has upgraded to Central V2 there is no default switch, but one has to click on FS Global, which is default....or course if you have Global as I do, the you are going to see Orbx textures and HD Trees if you have the settings established as your default.

 

It is all clearly set out in the Manual for HD Trees.  Under the "Settings" are tick boxes to turn on and off the HD Trees....which is implemented once you select a "Group" scenery.  The scripts are setup to maintain a backup of your original trees texture sets and can be found in a sub folder under Orbx Scripts.

 

The above posters comments about reinstall, installing Central V2 and updating libraries should be followed.

 

Your problem is most likely something else.


Bryan Wallis aka "fltsimguy"

Maple Bay, British Columbia

Near CAM3

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