SceneryTech Landclass - Still Relevant? - Any other LCs out there?

[Skywolf 992]

Hey,

 

I recently bought UTX US 2.1 and I am very fascinated by this product.  I am even planning to purchase GEX P3D.  The issue remains is that those products for the time being have UTX Europe and Canada is in works.  What about rest of the world?  Default LC is boring and have repetitive textures in P3D.

 

I looked into SceneryTech LC - their website hasn't been updated in years, is that product even supported or updated?  Heck last news is from 2009 on their site.  What is up with that?  I don't think they have P3Dv2 installers

 

Orbx Vector wins for having world wide Vector but it is damn VAS hog for the time being.

 

Thanks

[dave2013 1,151]

Yeah, the new UTX US 2.1 landclass is pretty awesome.

 

In my opinion Scenery Tech USA landclass is nowhere close to the accuracy of UTX US 2.1.  As for the other parts of the world, the quality/accuracy is mixed but overall just barely better than FSX default landclass.

 

Scenery Tech generally represents urban areas a little better than the default landclass - that's about it.  I've actually found that the default vegetative landclass is better in many areas.

 

All in all pretty disappointing for a product that costs $15 a pop. 

 

Still patiently waiting for ORBX openLC North America....  Developers keep hinting that it's nearing Beta, but it's been a year since openLC Europe was released and still not even a single screenshot.  Every month that goes by I say the same thing: maybe next month.

 

Dave

[pscharff 56]

For the moment I use Cloud9 XClass in combination with GEX/UTXv2. I really like UTXv2, but at least for the European version, and especially for Germany I can say that the rural regions are not made very well. So I have tried the LC products from SceneryTech and Cloud9. As a result I have decided to stick with Cloud9 XClass.

 

Patric

[Skywolf 992]

Wow - it seems like no one is really innovating on this scene of flight sim in depth. 

[louisdecoolste 12]

As ORBX focus on the Regions and already have key coverage in many U.S. areas OpenLC USA is only going to be a gap filler, unlike in Europe.

 

UTX only includes certain types of landclass, not full coverage. If the USA is your thing, then look to FTX Regions as a homogenuous solution - textures, vector AND landclass.  

[toby23 140]

Here's a guide on which Landclass products work best in which areas - http://www.simforums.com/forums/landclass-products-suggested-use-with-gex-gep3d_topic50977.html

[louisdecoolste 12]

Here's a guide on which Landclass products work best in which areas - http://www.simforums.com/forums/landclass-products-suggested-use-with-gex-gep3d_topic50977.html

 

That analysis is of course skewed, unsurprisingly, and fails to mention OpenLC from FTX which is the preferred source for Europe.

https://www.fullterrain.com/product/ftxgolceu

 

Independent reviews are all over the net, but here's one

http://www.iflysimx.com/topic/953-orbx-ftx-global-europe-openlc-review/

 

And here are some Avsim-based discussions and review

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/446540-ftx-global-openlc-europe-released/

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/446603-orbx-openlc-initial-thoughts-screenshots-image-heavy/

 

P3D uses many the same base textures as FSX by default, as well as the same limited landclass so most of the comments are still valid.

 

 

Ultimately the consumer needs to educate themselves and make up their own minds. Scenerytech does not take advantage of later landclass work from open source or other real world sources, and therefore is out of date. Although probably still better than default.

 

For USA choose UTX, for Europe choose OpenLC. That's where I would start.

[toby23 140]

Open LC is created for use with FTX Global textures. While it works with default textures, it does not call the correct textures. This is also why each Open LC area has to install is own custom textures and can't just use the textures installed by FTX Global, it's more than just Landclass.

 

FTX Global and UTX work ok together in the USA but only GEXP3D adds specific textures to support the custom UTX Landclass. It would be great to see ORBX offer some custom textures for these areas too.

 

LM also changed /updated a lot of the textures and Landclass used in P3D, they are not the same as a default FSX install.

[louisdecoolste 12]

Not the same, but mostly so. Refreshing the textures doesn't imply that the landclass was changed to reflect them.

 

When discussing P3DV2 L-M had his to say 

http://avsim.com:6081/page/index.html/_/pri-news/lockheed-answers-community-questions-r1819

 

 

 

1. What modifications did the World mesh and land class get for V2? And regarding Maps and Navaids, has any update to the World navigation and airport databases been included?

The world mesh and land class for the Prepar3D world has not been updated.  Our customers with geo-specific training requirements can add their own via the free Prepar3D SDK, or leverage the multitude of beautiful 3^rd party addons that are available.

 

 

Comparisons show very little difference at default between FSX and P3D

https://simmerhead.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/review-fsx-landclass-battle/

 

What differences there are seem to be based on additional LC calls, not better. The base material for the LC was not updated. FSX had a number of landclass calls that were latent, not active. P3D made changes to activate some of those and changed some minor textures to accommodate the join, but otherwise utilises the same source material.

 

You are absolutely correct that OpenLC is expressly designed to work with FTX Global textures. I wasn't aware that was the topic under discussion here, though ? We are discussing the landclass products alternative to UTX and OpenLC. the Cloud9 and Scenerytech products will induce changes, but they will not bne the correct ones.

 

That is precisely the reason that BOTH FTX and GE developers use Textures (in FTX's case) and  Vector (in GEP3D) to activate the permutations that are not possible just by changing the Landclass itself. Neither do them to inconvenience the other, only benefit the simmer with wider variation and better levels of exactitude. 

[codechris 9]

Here's a guide on which Landclass products work best in which areas - http://www.simforums.com/forums/landclass-products-suggested-use-with-gex-gep3d_topic50977.html

 

I can't vouch for any payware scenery other then airports as I don't have any. However, in that link he mentions freeware for Norway and there is some excellent stuff out there. Airports of Norway is an excellent set. A huge chunk of Italy has photo real freeware from Photorealtaly, however it's not to everyone's taste.

 

But, I've seen a lot of people swear by openLc for Europe

[Dominique_K 10,152]

Hey,

 

I recently bought UTX US 2.1 and I am very fascinated by this product.  I am even planning to purchase GEX P3D.  The issue remains is that those products for the time being have UTX Europe and Canada is in works.  What about rest of the world?  Default LC is boring and have repetitive textures in P3D.

 

I looked into SceneryTech LC - their website hasn't been updated in years, is that product even supported or updated?  Heck last news is from 2009 on their site.  What is up with that?  I don't think they have P3Dv2 installers

 

Orbx Vector wins for having world wide Vector but it is damn VAS hog for the time being.

 

Thanks

 

I've SceneryTech for the Indo Pacific  region, working without a hitch in P3DV2.5. It has been never updated and, even if it is mediocre (Honiara vanishes from the map for instance), it gives a sensation of reality that the default will never give you with its fields and villages on top of volcanoes. Coupled with Vector giving you precise shorelines and river basins and the OrbX Global textures, it makes flying in Indonesia or the Philippines, for instance, something convincing (I didn't say real). I dont use it for Australia, having thefar better OrbX AU.

[Anthony Vos 0]

 

 

 and Vector (in GEP3D)

 

GEP3D uses textures and autogen, UTX is vector, etc