While V1 of FS Global Ultimate was the "latest and greatest" until NG came out a few months ago, it is NOT a new product - it has been on the market for quite some time. I had my copy for almost 5 years, and in that time I used it in FSX, P3DV2 and three iterations of P3DV3. As far as I'm concerned, I MORE than got my money's worth for my initial $150+ investment in that period.

I never asked for (or expected) an updated installer as new sim versions came out - I just transferred it to each new sim by copying the folder links to scenery.cfg - which anyone can still do with P3DV4, assuming that the core mesh folders are intact. Pilot's was "ahead of the curve" by installing their mesh outside of the core sim, even before it became fashionable to do so.

I freely chose to update to the new NG version a couple of months ago, in expectation of the upcoming release of P3DV4, and in response to several reports that the NG mesh had some substantial improvements in the data, as well as a new, and much more efficient way of loading itself into the sim environment. There is no question that both improvements are true. As others have pointed out, many parts of the American Midwest appeared absolutely flat in V1, while the same areas in NG show small undulations in the terrain (that actually exist). A small thing perhaps, but one which adds to the realism when flying low and slow - especially when the mesh is further enhanced with Orbx textures and land class.

The improved efficiency is what really stood out. The NG mesh loads much more quickly on initial boot-up of the sim, and I very definitely noted a reduction in microstutters using NG vs. V1 Ultimate Mesh.

I really don't think Pilot's is being unreasonable in only offering automatic V4 update installers for the newest version of the Ultimate mesh. They spent a lot of time and effort creating the new product, and as businessmen, they understandably would like customers to move up to the new version. The original Ultimate mesh is a 6-year-old product which has been replaced - they can't be expected to support it forever. 

It's not like Pilot's has invalidated the licenses of those who have the V1 mesh. Anyone who owns it is welcome to continue using it for as long as they want in P3DV4 or beyond - it just requires a manual edit of scenery.cfg to move it to a new sim platform. 

For those who want to use mesh and Orbx Vector for v4 (when its released), and want to use the flattening tools within vector config, my understanding is that you will have to fork over more money for Ultimate NG or a 64bit variant thereof. A little ridiculous if you ask me, considering Ultimate Global works fine once added to scenery config. I'm still not fully buying this.

29 minutes ago, SolRayz said:

For those who want to use mesh and Orbx Vector for v4 (when its released), and want to use the flattening tools within vector config, my understanding is that you will have to fork over more money for Ultimate NG or a 64bit variant thereof. A little ridiculous if you ask me, considering Ultimate Global works fine once added to scenery config. I'm still not fully buying this.

That doesn't sound right. Vector works with any add-on mesh, including freeware. Since Pilot's makes both Vector and add-on mesh, they obviously "recommend" that Vector be used with their own mesh product - but I don't think it's a requirement - it never has been in the past.

The Vector data itself is not 64-bit, nor is the mesh, and some individuals have already got Vector working in P3DV4 by manually copying its data folders and scenery.cfg entries from V3 - (though doing so is not recommended). The flattening tool in the configuration program does have to be updated to a 64-bit executable, which has to be done by Pilots - but once it is ready, no current Vector owner should have to pay anything for it - like all other Orbx products, the V4 Vector update will be free for current owners of the product.

The problem ATM is that the Vector configuration tool needs to be updated by Pilot's! for it to work in P3d V4. Vector  works fine in V4, if one manually adds all the Vector  BGL  files to scenery.cfg. Pilot's! has updated their free Airport Flattening  Mesh tool for FSG  Ultimate to work in P3d V4.

My guess is the issue with the Vector  configuration tool is in the way it turns on and off various  options by renaming BGL files. 

Pardon my ignorance this topic is getting dizzying!  I'm still using P3D V3 and won't be changing to V4 until the dust clears on all the add ons I care about and until I get a new GPU.  My question is:  if one is flying in FTX Orbx regional sceneries is there any improvement to be expected by also using a separate mesh product of the types mentioned above?

Thanks!

Okay from my impression of reading this thread is that FS Global Ultimate NG is the exact same as FS Global Ultimate, and the only difference is that the NG version includes a P3D v4 installer?

3 minutes ago, captain420 said:

Okay from my impression of reading this thread is that FS Global Ultimate NG is the exact same as FS Global Ultimate, and the only difference is that the NG version includes a P3D v4 installer?

No it is not "exactly the same". Of course, the mesh models the vertical relief of the actual earth's surface, and that hasn't changed all that much in the six years since the original Ultimate came out. It's not like Mt. Everest has grown measurably  taller, or the Grand Canyon measurably deeper.

NG uses newer datasets in many areas, and has (for lack of a better term) more "granularity". Locations which are mostly "flat" in the real world, were often absolutely flat in V1, whereas in NG, you can see subtle variations in the surface that really are there in the real terrain.

Case in point - I live in upstate New York, and on the plains south of Lake Ontario is a large Drumlin field, that covers several counties. Drumlins are elongated mounds of dirt, anywhere from a few hundred feet, to several miles in length. They were left by the glaciers  that covered this area 10,000+ years ago. Some are high enough to properly be called "hills", but many are probably only 20-40 feet high.

I have flown over this area many times in small aircraft. In P3D with V1 you don't see a lot of the smaller Drumlins, even at low altitude - while in NG they are much more apparent. It would seem that they definitely used higher-resolution source data, at least in this area - though this might only be of interest to those who like to fly low & slow over terrain that they are familiar with.

The biggest difference between V1 and NG is in how it loads into the sim environment. Pilots says they found a new and more efficient way to load mesh, and I very definitely see an improvement. I'm not sure what they did, but in V1, when initially booting P3D, it would pause at the 6 percent point when "loading terrain" for almost 40 seconds before continuing on.

I know this long loading pause was caused by the mesh, because if I disabled it in scenery.cfg, there was almost no pause at all.

With NG, that pause is only 8 to 10 seconds. Also, after installing NG, I saw a noticeable reduction in microstutters, compared to flying with V1, so the claim of "better efficiency" seems to be more than just marketing speak.

If you already own V1, it's debatable whether it would be worth updating to NG. It depends on the kind of flying you do I suppose. 

One positive note for those who do not have either version is that the total cost of Ultimate NG is considerably less than what the original Ultimate sold for when in came out several years ago.

14 hours ago, Noel said:

Pardon my ignorance this topic is getting dizzying!  I'm still using P3D V3 and won't be changing to V4 until the dust clears on all the add ons I care about and until I get a new GPU.  My question is:  if one is flying in FTX Orbx regional sceneries is there any improvement to be expected by also using a separate mesh product of the types mentioned above?

Thanks!

I believe the Orbx regions already include enhanced custom mesh, so the answer is probably "no". The various higher-resolution mesh products would be of benefit when flying outside of the Orbx regions - especially if you use Orbx Global textures and OpenLC.

I still use FS Global 2010 FTX.. I'd upgrade but the price is ridiculous considering what you gain by upgrading.. there should be an upgrade path.

I am also on FSG2010 and mainly fly in Europe. I would also say the improvements here and there in the mesh compared to the new product are barely visible in a daily flight. Maybe only if you do a side by side comparison, but then again it depends on the region. And then it also depends whether you mainly fly IFR or VFR.

I will also stick with FSG2010.

OK and finally, what's the best mesh product available for V4?  I still have 10y/o FSG mesh but when I installed V4 will make the jump to best available mesh.

29 minutes ago, Noel said:

OK and finally, what's the best mesh product available for V4?  I still have 10y/o FSG mesh but when I installed V4 will make the jump to best available mesh.

Don't know if it's the "best" but it is based on the most currently available datasets. Freemesh X, and as the name implies, it's free.

Edited June 12, 20178 yr by Twenty6
misspell

Too much of a pain to install, and not worth the gain. 18 disc is what have and all have to be installed in order to get just America installed ... hummm not worth it .