Orbx Acquires all of Vector

[Drumcode 1,892]

17 minutes ago, honanhal said:

Vector has been an absolute game-changer for me, even with all its problems (and in a 32-bit FSX, believe me, the VAS issues were no joke). There's simply no alternative to it if you want to fly anywhere outside of North America or Europe -- have you SEEN the default coastlines in most of the world?

If we're really talking about waiting a year for Vector in v4, that's just awful -- and also seemingly incomprehensible. They've already been showing shots of their new landclass product with Vector running in v4, so what on earth could take so long?

James

I've used it a long time ago in v2.5 and I had all sorts of performance issues so I've uninstalled and used UTX instead. Could you please remind me if it dims out some of the highway lights in the rural areas? Currently my interstates are lit up like christmas trees in v4 in the areas where they shouldn't be even visible from FL350.

[nealmac 260]

12 minutes ago, Daedalus said:

Vector is global, OpenLC is continental, I don't get how they can be merged. More info is needed.

Glad someone mentioned this. I also can't see how this would work, unless of course they go down the route of making LC a global addon, ie merging all their LC products with Vector.

 

What would it mean for customers who already have GV and say, European LC? Would we be entitled to the new package for a fee of X amount, minus the original cost of Vector and ELC? A lot of question marks over this move.

[Lenny777 299]

1 hour ago, FalconAF said:

I bought Vector well over a year ago but uninstalled it and went back to using my UTX.  There was just too many things wrong with it...VAS usage, inaccurate vector data, everything you would expect from an open source database that had not been made "ready for prime time" yet.  People would report the problems they found, and would get answers like, "I'll look at it when I get home from work" (from an actual forum post response).  The product has been around way too long to still have the kind of issues it has.  IMO, ORBX needed to take it over to maintain any credibility of the overall ORBX scenery franchise.  They couldn't just keep saying, "It's from a third-party developer we use, and we can't tell them what to do.....".

Anyhow, I'm not planning on buying ORBX new South America Open Landclass if I can't install Vector while STILL keeping my UTX installed for the US, Canada, and Europe.  ORBX needs to make Vector "modular" so the user can turn off the geographical areas they DON'T want to use it for.  UTX is still miles ahead in the same coverage areas as Vector.

I had UTX NA in the FSX days (before the P3D days). Do you think it's better than the ORBX products base, etc.? What about FPS? I've been thinking of going back and getting UTX for the world but not sure. I also have ORBX for Norway and England which do a great job in those areas.

 

 

[ErichB 3,638]

Just now, Lenny777 said:

I had UTX NA in the FSX days (before the P3D days). Do you think it's better than the ORBX products base, etc.? What about FPS? I've been thinking of going back and getting UTX for the world but not sure. I also have ORBX for Norway and England which do a great job in those areas.

 

 

I don't think UTX does anything beyond Europe and the North American region

[Lenny777 299]

Just now, ErichB said:

I don't think UTX does anything beyond Europe and the North American region

I fly mainly in Europe and some NA so that wouldn't be an issue.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Vector consists of polygons like shorelines and polylines like roads, utility  corridors and railroads. It also contains excludes which eliminate the sim's  inaccurate  legacy  polygons and polylines.

What ORBX bought was access to both the source code for the Configurator (which turns on and off various Vector features) and the original GIS databases which were used to create the features in Vector.

I'd be fibbing if I told you that the Vector BGL files don't work in P3d  V4. But if you install it and your V4 installation dies, don't say that I didn't warn you.

[Lenny777 299]

12 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Vector consists of polygons like shorelines and polylines like roads, utility  corridors and railroads. It also contains excludes which eliminate the sim's  inaccurate  legacy  polygons and polylines.

What ORBX bought was access to both the source code for the Configurator (which turns on and off various Vector features) and the original GIS databases which were used to create the features in Vector.

I'd be fibbing if I told you that the Vector BGL files don't work in P3d  V4. But if you install it and your V4 installation dies, don't say that I didn't warn you.

I'm using ORBX vector in P3Dv4 and have been since v4 came on the scene.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Don't let John V. hear you say that! 😉

[Skywolf 992]

Thank God  - Orbx bought Vector.  Dealing with Pilot probably annoyed them.  It was like 2 companies trying to support the product.  I even mentioned it years ago, why just didn't Orbx buy that code all right together (maybe over the years revenues increased) - Yep, this is how you do Acquisition.

 

I even wrote a book on acquisitions in 2013....

 

Congrats to Orbx on this - I want one stop shop for majority of my sim needs.

[Luis_KMIA 242]

Currently with P3Dv4, I have Global, OLC, and regions.  The absence of Vector is not very noticeable.  

[qqwertz 772]

How differently one can perceive things. Vector is the addon that I miss most in P3D v4. Shorelines are so much better with it.

Peter

[FalconAF 213]

Vector could relatively easily be "broken down" into smaller parts that would coincide with the separate Open Landclass areas ORBX markets.  The source data is not just one big data file that covers the entire world.  It consists of much smaller .bgl files that when used together cover a larger geographic area.  It's no different than .bgl files for terrain mesh products.  If the source data WASN'T that way, then you wouldn't have separate vector products like UTX for the USA, Canada, Europe. 

ORBX doesn't HAVE to sell each Vector geographic area separately (or they may decide to start doing that by including only the files needed for an Open Landclass area WITH the Open Landclass area).  They could still sell the "Global Vector" as one single product that covers the entire world. But it needs to have the ability to turn the Vector parts on/off for each area that corresponds with an Open Landclass area then, at least until Vector is as good as (or better) than other products that exist for areas already covered. 

 

And yes, UTX has been better (more accurate) for the USA, Canada, and Europe for a LONG time.  And still is.  Vector was missing shorelines, beaches, etc in all of those areas YEARS after they were included in UTX.  Vector still has areas in the US that are unforgivable (like parts of Lake Michigan shorelines that weren't even CLOSE to being accurate as of only a few months ago...and I don't know if those have even been fixed yet).

I'm not bashing Vector just for the sake of it.  But for $80, even if it is a "whole world coverage area" product, it should NOT have all the issues it still has after all the time it has been available for sale.  And it got to the point where ORBX even had to quit making excuses for Pilot's.  Heck, ORBX was even telling posters in the ORBX forums things like, "We don't control what Pilot's does with their products".  That's a sad state of affairs for a company that (at one time?) had a public policy of, "We build our ORBX products around Global Vector.  We are not responsible for any problems you may have if you use a different Vector product."  So yeah...I'm pretty sure ORBX may have finally got fed up with Pilot's too.  It was reflecting very poorly on ORBX as a whole.

[Parping Couplet 117]

It's good to see Orbx internalizing a lot of previously outsourced items, including Objectflow. It seems to me that they have moved forward while various contractors are still stuck in their old ways and not developing at anywhere like the same pace.

Sadly, however, this creates an interim issue for Orbx and I have to say that having made a very hefty investment in their products I'll be somewhat dismayed if something as vital as Vector is not introduced to P3DV4 for a whole year or more. I rather suspect, however, that we'll see a conversion of the current product and then something more bespoke later. At least I certainly hope so.

It does seem to me that V4 has caught Orbx out a bit, exposing some weaknesses in its modus operandi up until now, in terms of an over reliance on clearly unreliable contractors. That's even more surprising, given how closely LM worked with developers in the lead up to V4 release. Orbx are such a big league player now and I would have hoped for a more seamless transition.

 

 

 

 

 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

I think some people are overly concerned about not seeing Vector and Global LC integrated for approximately a year. I don't believe that this means that it will be a year before users see a version of Vector for P3d V4. That year timeframe is probably required to create a unified product such that the LC data and the Vector data are consistent. At the moment the agreement is good, but not perfect. The unified product will probably also be made compatible with DTG FSW and legacy FSX versions.

[shivers9 1,174]

Man....I think I am going to have to hire a professional software consultant before the P3d V4 conversion is done. I spent a good part of yesterday catching up on my reading about which route I should take for vector. I have pilots 2010 data so do I just need to update to the 2018 version and if I do will I need to get an future update to work with vector when released. Perhalps maybe I need the FS Global Ultimate NG superdooper gold version download from hell but if I do will I need an update to work with vector when it comes out. Now ORBX has bought the Pilot stuff and talk seems to indicate that the Pilot folks have been draggin their feet getting ready for V4. That could mean poor workmanship in all recent Pilot products? Is it time to just spend 29.00 USD or so and buy the Flight 1 Ultit Terrain product until ORBX can figure out where they are? This assumes that the Pilot 2010 mesh will work in V4 Of P3d. Anyone know?

Edited July 14, 2017 by shivers9
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