Their choice.  I passed on their King Air as well as the GTN430 because of it.  If their perception is that they'll make more money by charging more for professional and commercial folks then it makes sense.  But, they'll likely be losing some sales and loyalty from the other folks.

 

I'm with you. I don't buy a car and drive it to work, then have to buy it again just because I choose to drive it on a motorway rather than the country lanes.

 

Still the same car, and being licensed to drive on the m-way is a user obligation, not the vendors. If it was actually a different car, well a vendor might have grounds. It's all a Flight 1 smokescreen to drive expensive trade to F1 Tech. And I'm not that gullible.

 

I also passed on the B200, I've passed on the GTN, I've passed on GEX.  I'm passing on all future purchases from this operation - I don't have FSX installed any more and I don't agree with their pricing model and fake moral stance. 

 

That being said, I was never a target customer as I already have Global, which is a far superior product in the locations I'm interested in. 

 

If we cast our collective minds back to FSX days, I bet most of us with FTX products originally had GEX/UTX and all that palaver. I certainly recall the reason to change then was for a superior product. I see nothing in the screenies so far to show me anything has changed to alter that view with this latest portover. FTX Global/Open LC Eu/FTX Vector is a superior result in P3D to this new release.

Quote "FTX Global/Open LC Eu/FTX Vector is a superior result in P3D to this new release".

 

Each to their own and we are all entitled to our opinions.

However, I can't agree, to me ORBX is so non lifelike, it's very much like a kiddies cartoon depiction. I think this new offering looks far superior and the colouring is way, way better than anything I've seen from ORBX.

I have Global, Europe LC together with all their UK and Ireland packages and I've taken them all off, I tried to like them but they are just so unrealistic and monotonous.

 

Phil

Orbx : "Lets take care of our new and existing customers for P3D, whatever version, we will make triple installers at no extra cost, and for new customers, we will charge the same as for FSX.

 

Flight 1 : "Lets charge these soppy flight simmers an arm and a leg, as we can use the old story about having to hire lawyers. Lets copy PMDG, they got away with it.  And, no triple installers, will bleed the buggers dry."

Hello everyone, well I'm a bit frustrated over this GEX for P3D thing. I have been on this forum, the Lockeed P3D one and last but more important the Simfourms where Nick and his crew hang out. I have not seen one post from anyone who has bought and tried this software. If this is true Nick and the developers must be very frustrated if no one is buying after all the time and effort that was put into making this product. Surely there must be someone who is using this. Not even a word from any beta testers who must have been involved at some point.. Is it so bad nobody is talking about it or are there other reasons???

 

Nelson

OK, so I just installed this and will give my initial impression.  I have been looking forward to this since it was announced as I have been using default P3D textures along with UTX 2.0.  I had FTX Global on my FSX install but have not used it since installing P3D in April.  To be honest, my first impression of GEX World is disappointment.  I took some shots with default textures and compared the same location with GEX installed and I just don't see a dramatic difference.  In fact, the overall tone of default P3D is better IMO and more natural.  GEX textures have a little too warm of a tone IMO.  Cities should stand out as a more distinct greyish color during the day.  The city textures in GEX just do not stand out like they should to me.  What I am really disappointed with is the night textures.  Default P3D textures are fantastic. They have a realistic orange glow that is visible from higher altitudes and at a distance.  That along with UTX 2.0 made my nights quite stunning.  GEX has gone to a dim yellow and a lot of red and green textures I assume to mimic the traffic signals. The entire night environment is back to being way too dim....almost like FTX Global :(   I may need more time to get a better impression but my initial impression isn't very good at the moment.  I can't figure out why no one can get the night textures correct.!!??  Vector lighting is one thing but it seems like the default P3D light textures could have been matched as LM got the night lighting right.

 

 

Eric

OK, so I just installed this and will give my initial impression

 

Thats what I thought you would say - staying with ftx - I did not see anything earth shattering to invest a chunk of money on unless it blew me away but glad they are bringing more P3D addons to the table as I have bought a ton of flight1 products so they are creating very nice products - all the best to GEX product launch

Thats what I thought you would say - staying with ftx - I did not see anything earth shattering to invest a chunk of money on unless it blew me away but glad they are bringing more P3D addons to the table as I have bought a ton of flight1 products so they are creating very nice products - all the best to GEX product launch

 

 

Hey Rich - Yeah, if I was a current FTX Global user I don't think the switch is worth it.  I think FTX Global day textures win out between the two but GEX, although still too dim and yellow, has better night textures than FTX.  The other odd thing is the GEX interface doens't even indicate I have it installed...which means I don't even know how I would uninstall it!!   

Hey Rich - Yeah, if I was a current FTX Global user I don't think the switch is worth it.  I think FTX Global day textures win out between the two but GEX, although still too dim and yellow, has better night textures than FTX.  The other odd thing is the GEX interface doens't even indicate I have it installed...which means I don't even know how I would uninstall it!!   

 

Install what brother ?

Just a thought, if the GEX interface says it is not installed then maybe, just maybe you really don't  have it installed. I would certainly do some comparing with pictures that were posted on the simforums site> Stranger things have happened. Just my 2 cents FWIW.

 

Nels

Just a thought, if the GEX interface says it is not installed then maybe, just maybe you really don't  have it installed. I would certainly do some comparing with pictures that were posted on the simforums site> Stranger things have happened. Just my 2 cents FWIW.

 

Nels

 

It's definitely installed. I can see the new textures, etc. and the new night textures. Strange that the interface is no longer showing it....I'll have to check in with Nick on the other board to ask about it.

Install what brother ?

 

The new GEX interface says that I have GEX uninstalled even though it is installed.......odd stuff

Be interesting to see what Nick has to say about it. He has been very quiet since it's release

 

Nelson

The new GEX interface says that I have GEX uninstalled even though it is installed.......odd stuff

 

Ah you are referring to the area in gui where it says GE P3D (product Status = enabled in P3D) ad its not stating that - yup strange

Ah you are referring to the area in gui where it says GE P3D (product Status = enabled in P3D) ad its not stating that - yup strange

 

Correct, but it now appears to be working.... :unsure:

I purchased GEX-P3D a few hours after release.  Have only been able to fly an hour or two with it at the moment.

 

My quick impressions:

 

1. The textures do seem quite a bit toned down but I am coming from FTX Global where everything to me was too green.  This really is all personal preference though.  If you enjoy really vibrant colors in your sim then the product is probably not going to satisfy you.

 

2.  I really enjoy the new look of the cities.  In my hometown of Nashville with default and even Global it was basically default skyscraper building with large gray blobs around the buildings to simulate commercial.  Looked horrible as you were coming into major airports.  With GEX I see smaller building that really bring out the look of big cities as you approach not just large gray squares.  This could have been also due to my display settings; but with the same settings I used previously I see many more building in and around the cities.

 

3.  Performance is great.  I've been able to bump up building and tree autogen now to higher levels with no impact on frames or VAS.

Tree AG is very dense,  Scenery Complexity is Extremely Dense,  Building AG is now very dense.

Before I needed buildings at normal or I'd get stutters or graphical glitches.

 

I'm running with a 4 year system (old tech compared to what most members here use)  and was using FSdreamteam KLAX,  PMDG 737NG, Activesky Next, and REX soft clouds. I was able to maintain 32 FPS throughout the LA Basin at 7000 feet.  VAS remaining was 1.2 but I'm not positive on that.  I use no AI traffic.

 

4.  Night lighting I cannot comment on as I don't fly at night so I've never set my sim up with lights etc to fly at night.   I would listen to Flic1 for the night lighting.

 

5.  Price is steep, Yes.  Like I said in an earlier post I spent close to $200 on PMDG within a month and just spent $65 on the GTN a couple days ago (My flight school now has rental with the 750 in it).  My real life flight instruction for one hour cost me around  $180 and that is one day every week so about $800 month so this product was cheap for me.  Skip one flight lesson and its payed for.

 

6.  Installation was very simple with no issues.  Seamless integration with UTX USA and Europe.

 

 

My recommendation is if you are have a big ORBX collection and enjoy ORBX then stick with them.  ORBX looks great but for myself and a very, very small minority I don't really like their products  (Remember just my personal opinion.  Don't want to get flamed for not liking ORBX).  I own FTX Global and EU landclass, which I stopped using once I aquired UTX Europe.  I also own their Northern California which I installed and used once for about an hour,  uninstalled and have never used since.  

 

I'm not running with bloom enabled or any special coloring etc.  I use the sim to really practice for my IFR ticket and keep my PPL skills honed so admiring scenery and such are not my thing.  I stay on the flightdeck the entire time.  I own FTX Global due to the fact at the time there was no other option for P3D and it was better than default.

 

 

 

I purchased GEX for better performance which so far in my case it satisfied that requirement from what I've seen.  Please keep in mind this is initial impressions with an hour or so in sim so they may change later on as I will be flying in sim and real life next week on my vacation.

I remain open minded about it, but I'm confused. The "Academic" version of GEX will not run on P3D Professional? Or is it just that you wouldn't get any support? I run Pro so if I wanted GEX I need special permission from Flight1 Tech (and the associated price tag)?