As the title suggests, the first Orbx product for X-Plane is now out. https://orbxdirect.com/product/kcgx/xp11?utm_source=orbx&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=kcgx_xp11_release

Bought! Hopefully this will be the first of many.

 

 

Done, and super cheap and installed without me having to read instructions and download a bunch of other developer freeware.

This is exactly what XP11 needs, unified and simple installation and uninstallation.

Cheers, Rob.

For those on Mac and Linux, ORBX will provide a standard zip folder as FTX central isn't available yet.

The FTX installer works great. It correctly looks at other scenery installed and places things in the right place (hopefully :)). 

Great news. Purchased and downloading.

Looking forward to seeing this! Hope you had fun working on it Tony.

Edit - oh dear got a problem  - will post on Orbx support forum - a "SystemAugmentationException"

Edit 2 ..................although it appears to have loaded okay  

cheers

Peter

Edited March 4, 20188 yr by CaptCWGAllen
Update

4 hours ago, tonywob said:

For those on Mac and Linux, ORBX will provide a standard zip folder as FTX central isn't available yet.

The FTX installer works great. It correctly looks at other scenery installed and places things in the right place (hopefully :)). 

Great job Tony!

It's about time you were compensated for your talent.

I still remember someone saying, Orbx propably is not going to develop X11 sceneries ever, as one wise man said, "what today is true tomorrow is a lie"!

Very nice news!

 

Slight side step from the topic but i really want to suggest that if anyone even if they only have xp11 on there system but rarely use it, please buy this to encourage more developers and orbx to continue to produce products for this platform 

I’m a bit anxious about letting FTX Central mess with my XP scenery config file, which is heavily customized by me and ordered in very particular ways so that all my scenery shows correctly. Scenery in XP is so simple to install and manage individually that installers really aren’t necessary and may do more harm than good. 

1 hour ago, Griphos said:

I’m a bit anxious about letting FTX Central mess with my XP scenery config file, which is heavily customized by me and ordered in very particular ways so that all my scenery shows correctly. Scenery in XP is so simple to install and manage individually that installers really aren’t necessary and may do more harm than good. 

While I also prefer modifying my .ini myself (after all it's not rocket science, and at least I know what is going on with my custom sceneries), you can just make a backup copy of it before installing KCGX, to make sure that there is something to fall back on. But as I gathered, everyone is pleased how FTX Central handles changes in the .ini, and there should be no problems.

1 hour ago, Griphos said:

which is heavily customized by me and ordered in very particular ways so that all my scenery shows correctly

and

1 hour ago, Griphos said:

Scenery in XP is so simple to install and manage individually that installers really aren’t necessary

you lost me there, aren't your two statements contradicting each other?  "heavily customized" and "so simple"?  None of the 3rd party XP11 products I've got that have installers have been an issue for my XP11 setup ... click and go. 

The issues I've ran into are 3rd party products that don't have installers, have readme.txt files often with missing or inaccurate procedures on how to copy files over (adding the element of human error which would not happen with a well coded installer) and into different places, some "purchased" products even require I go download freeware from somewhere else and install other plugins in order to make use of the product I paid for?

If XP11 wants to attract a wider scope of users, they need to keep them away from manual process of copying files and editing files as a requirement to installation.

Cheers, Rob.

No, not in the least contradictory.  In fact, it is because it is so simple to add scenery (just put the folder in the custom scenery folder) and also simple to order the ini (if you understand the hierarchy) so that the scenery shows correctly that I'm able to heavily customize it without issue.  

However, if FTX Central buggers around in the ini, there's a chance it will disrupt the necessary order for everything to show correctly.  

I don't use third-party scenery with installers, so have no experience.  Third party aircraft with installers are not an issue, as there is no ini to configure.  Some have indeed had issues with third party scenery with installers.  

Again, my concern is with installers that must alter the config ini, which any scenery install must do.  Perhaps they have worked out a seamless way to do so, but I still have concerns.  

So if it's so simple, then why are your "heavily" customizing it ... "if you understand the hierarchy" ... and what if a user doesn't?  I guess we disagree, there are very different levels of "customers/users" and to make it a requirement for them to understand their scenery_packs.ini is something that shouldn't be a requirement.  For "power users", sure go to town, they will anyway ... but for folks that don't want to fiddle and do want to fly, they shouldn't need to know ... this is a GOOD methodology for any FS platform.

I'm not singling out XP11, P3D has the same sort of issues and they're not good either.  P3D finally has their new add-on structure in place and working so that it'll not be problem in the future (however there are still a few exceptions here and there) and it takes time to shift vendors over to the new process.

I've got plenty of XP11 payware and freeware software and it has NOT always been "simple" to install, in most cases more complex than other platforms, it's a big weakness ... not in XP11, but in how "some" (not all) 3rd party content providers are going about the process.

Cheers, Rob.

 

You really don't seem to understand the relation of the words "simple" and "customize."  

I'm customizing the ini to include a great deal of free and paid scenery, both orthophoto based and otherwise, and it must be customized to do so because there is a hierarchy within the config ini that must be followed so that the various kinds of scenery will be layered correctly, and thus all show in the sim (just like in P3D, really).  And the process of doing so is simple (much simpler than P3D, for instance).  

It is the need to change the config ini in order to install scenery, and the risk of messing up the user configured hierarchy with an install package that is causing my concern.  

All of this is really straightforward, and I'm not understanding your confusion or your belligerence.

You may not believe it is ideal to ask the user to have this simple knowledge.  I certainly don't think it is a problem.  There we appear to disagree.  My concern is that given the current scenery structure and mechanics, and given Austin's famous indifference to suggestions for doing things any other way than the way he has decided, and given the way Orbx and FTX Central have caused issues in P3D and FSX in the past (and I have almost all of their scenery for those platforms) with scenery installations, and given their novice standing with XP, I have concerns about this way of handling scenery.  The question of its ideality, or whether current practice is user-friendly is a bit beside the point.  We'll see how it works out.  Perhaps it will be fine.  

But we are talking about more than installers.  We're talking about FTX Central, which may check and even change the config ini each time it is used.  And we're talking about XP, which Austin seems to change radically with each new update, perhaps in ways that won't play nice with FTX Central.  

And you certainly can't be suggesting that FSX/P3D, as platforms, hasn't been a tweak-infested power-user nightmare!  XP11, whatever its several faults, is at least an improvement in that regard overall, and it's simple method of installing and organizing all different kinds of scenery in the config ini is one example of that.  

Again, I'm not talking about "all kinds" of XP freeware and payware software, and am sorry you've had problems. I have a great deal of addons for Xplane and have had no real problems installing them.  Keeping them updated while Austin messes under the hood...that's a different story.  

But, as I've made clear, I'm talking about scenery, which only requires dropping a folder into a folder and putting the resultant scenery config line in the ini in the right location relative to other kinds of scenery.  That's what I would call simple.  

Edited March 4, 20188 yr by Griphos

46 minutes ago, Griphos said:

You may not believe it is ideal to ask the user to have this simple knowledge.  I certainly don't think it is a problem.  There we appear to disagree.

I "used" to have the same belief as you in regards to "my" (keyword) expectations of end users and flight simulation.  But after taking my somewhat elitist perspective, I soon discovered their is a very large collection of end users that don't know how to copy and paste, don't know how to edit files using notepad, don't even know notepad exists and some don't understand what or where or how they can get to file explorer.  These are very intelligent people, they're just not "computer/PC" users or very limited usage (mail and surfing) -- some are RW GA pilots and/or commercial pilots.  

I don't have problems, usually just the opposite, more often than not I'm helping out others with problems (be it XP11 or P3D) so I see where there are weaknesses in how a process is performed (like Installation).  

Some scenery does NOT involve just dropping files into a folder ... good example is Scenery4XP KSFO and Bay Area ...  the installation process is manual and 3 pages or so long with reliance on 3 plugins that need to be downloaded and copied also (Autogate plugin, Hanger Ops plugin, Real Flag plugins) - keep in mind this is payware scenery.  This is not uncommon, WT3 has a reliance on additional downloads also and it's payware.  This is fine for experienced FS users, but as XP11 attracts more and more users over a wider range of computer experience, this isn't going to be "fine" for them (trust me I've helped many 1000's of users with installation problems around scenery and/or just about anything on both platforms).

As far as Orbx, their FTX Central on the P3D side provides the ability to "set insertion" points for those that want to get more "involved" in their scenery ordering.  Orbx currently aren't providing a similar option for XP11 ... but XP11's method of organizing scenery based on folder naming does have some weakness and that's why very popular tools like xOrganizer exist (https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/31085-xorganizer-windows/).

Cheers, Rob.