27 minutes ago, OzWhitey said:

The problems with the OpenLC cancellation are simple.

1. It was stated that the product was under development, when it wasn’t.

2. More importantly, other parts of the “puzzle” - world-wide coverage - were sold, on the understanding that a complete set would eventually be available.

Item 2 is more problematic, as - for example - Open LC Europe may have been purchased on the understanding that a future flight could be made from there to Asia.

At the least, if I was Orbx I’d be being apologetic about leaving existing customers with an expensive, incomplete set of scenery.

What is ironic is that they sidetracked the FSX/P3D OLC which are the natural complements of Global Base to the point where they decided to give up, because they redirected their in-house resources among other things to R&D work on a possible Orbx Global for X-Plane. (Italics are quote from JV’s post). Knowing that their FSX/P3D market is much larger than their XP market (according to data given by JV in a not distant past) ! 
 

 

What I find most irritating is not so much the fate of the OLC line but the way they communicate it to their customers.

"Whilst we did intend to cover the whole world with openLC products it was always a stretch goal. [...] We have not signed a contract with our customers for finishing openLC globally so whilst it may be disappointing for many of your that openLC Asia may never see the light of day, and openLC Africa is at risk, it is what it is."

That is all true but there is a certain difference between a "stretch goal" and cocky promises that were continuously made since the whole Global/OLC/Vector line started. Just four months ago our anticipation was stirred again:

"Exciting news on this front! Holger Sandmann is now leading a parallel team to work on OLC Asia and work will commence in earnest in the next week or so and we're aiming for a release well before years' end. This will be a spectacular and diverse region to explore and will also include some amazing photoreal areas such as Mount Fuji in Japan to name but one. This means you can count on two OLC regions in your hands well before Xmas." (accentuation was added by me)

It has a very dishonest connotation to make an u-turn now and claiming that customers were simply exaggerating the announcements. But I still keep my optimism for a possible release of OLC Africa and give ORBX the benefit of the doubt.

Edited November 23, 20196 yr by Wolkenschreck

42 minutes ago, Wolkenschreck said:

What I find most irritating is not so much the fate of the OLC line but the way they communicate it to their customers.
"Exciting news on this front! Holger Sandmann is now leading a parallel team to work on OLC Asia and work will commence in earnest in the next week or so and we're aiming for a release well before years' end. This will be a spectacular and diverse region to explore and will also include some amazing photoreal areas such as Mount Fuji in Japan to name but one. This means you can count on two OLC regions in your hands well before Xmas." (accentuation was added by me)

It has a very dishonest connotation to make an u-turn now and claiming that customers were simply exaggerating the announcements. But I still keep my optimism for a possible release of OLC Africa and give ORBX the benefit of the doubt.

Exactly. Thanks for bringing this up again. And this is not an age-old announcement where one could say "times are changing...". It's from July 10, i.e. four months ago and well after the announcement of MFS. This is a pretty steep u-turn.

Plus, Holger Sandmann isn't living in some loneley part of the world where he might have lost motivation and prefer going surfing on the sea instead...

I am with you and wouldn't exclude the faint possibility that JV revises his decision. And I would buy both of them.

Kind regards, Michael

1 hour ago, Wolkenschreck said:

What I find most irritating is not so much the fate of the OLC line but the way they communicate it to their customers.

"Whilst we did intend to cover the whole world with openLC products it was always a stretch goal. [...] We have not signed a contract with our customers for finishing openLC globally so whilst it may be disappointing for many of your that openLC Asia may never see the light of day, and openLC Africa is at risk, it is what it is."

That right there is classic Orbx tone with customers. A bunch of self-rigtheous individuals who have an arrogance about them that says we should all kiss the ring in order for them to bestow their products on us. No wonder Tom wanted nothing to do with them here at Avsim.So glad MS is making everything I have bought from them redundant. I fly commerical jetliners so their typical "Bill's Farm Grass Strip in Nowhere, Wyoming" type of airports have no interest to me.

Edited November 23, 20196 yr by B777ER

8 minutes ago, B777ER said:

That right there is classic Orbx tone with customers. A bunch of self-rigtheous individuals who have an arrogance about them that says we should all kiss the ring in order for them to bestow their products on us. No wonder Tom wanted nothing to do with them here at Avsim.So glad MS is making everything I have bought from them redundant. I fly commerical jetliners so their typical "Bill's Farm Grass Strip in Nowhere, Wyoming" type of airports have no interest to me.

Honestly, I have to agree with every word. While I enjoy the enhancements that the Global product line bring, I rejoice for the day they all become redundant once and for all! More so than others, these products have been the bane of my flight simming life...

May I kindly ask you to stay on topic. This is about the Orbx recent decision to kill OLC Asia. I am sorry, @Benjamin J but saying that Orbx products have been the bane of your flight simming experience does not make any sense to me. 

Lets avoid to push the thread south and degenerate into a flame war. Lots of people are really aggravated by the Orbx recent decision. It is enough for one thread 😁!
 

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 20196 yr by domkle

6 minutes ago, domkle said:

May I kindly ask you to stay in topic. This is about the Orbx recent decision to kill OLC Asia. I am sorry, @Benjamin J but saying that Orbx products have been the bane your flight simming experience does not make any sense to me. 

I have to agree to Dominique once again. My Prepar3d world would look really poor if I removed all ORBX products. Maybe, that's because I am a pure VFR flyer and I am nearly only flying within ORBX regions.

Kind regards, Michael

5 hours ago, OzWhitey said:

The problems with the OpenLC cancellation are simple.

1. It was stated that the product was under development, when it wasn’t.

2. More importantly, other parts of the “puzzle” - world-wide coverage - were sold, on the understanding that a complete set would eventually be available.

Item 2 is more problematic, as - for example - Open LC Europe may have been purchased on the understanding that a future flight could be made from there to Asia.

At the least, if I was Orbx I’d be being apologetic about leaving existing customers with an expensive, incomplete set of scenery.

I read this as it was under development, given to a developer who was working on it but provided no updates and disappeared or has stopped working on it.

6 hours ago, domkle said:

I am not sure that I want a « salvaged » Africa, as  Jorg Neumann said about FS20, no half- assed solution.

If I understand well what John V recently said, the work has never begun on Asia. As he didn’t give any explanation, we don’t know the state of play though.

I am with you here, the Orbx small dev should have a field day if Orbx plays its cards right. Antagonizing the P3D crowd on the botched OLC business is sure an awkward way to begin with though. Truth is that most of the FS20 simmers will come from the FSX and P3D not the XP  community. Numbers speak. A sour taste in the mouth indeed as Coneman said earlier.
 

Holger and his team are capable of finishing the OLC products. The landclass is not that difficult compared to a region with hand placed autogen but it does cover a large area. Why not release what they can finish early next year and patch it up if necessary? The rest of the world looks boring when I am used to flying in OpenLC Europe and Americas. Another person said Asia and Africa wont sell a lot I disagree more people will be flying there than in OpenLC South America.

Because we don’t have a contract with them. 

Quote

We have not signed a contract with our customers for finishing openLC

 

Edited November 23, 20196 yr by UAL4life

Just now, Boeing or not going said:

Holger and his team are capable of finishing the OLC products.  

Yes, they are but salvaging (for Africa) is word I frankly didn't like... You salvage a wreck ! And at the end you have a salvaged wreck if you see what I mean.

For Asia, Holger cannot finish it up as the the work has yet not started, contrary to what we were told in July in then at the end of August. There are, in my opinion, three reasons why they abandonned the project : JV's known reluctance about it, the lack of  data and/or affordable data to draw the LC maps everywhere from Afghanistan to Taiwan, from Mongolia to Bali and the priority given to the TE lines of products.

 

1 minute ago, domkle said:

Yes, they are but salvaging (for Africa) is word I frankly didn't like... You salvage a wreck ! And at the end you have a salvaged wreck if you see what I mean.

For Asia, Holger cannot finish it up as the the work has yet not started, contrary to what we were told in July in then at the end of August. There are, in my opinion, three reasons why they abandonned the project : JV's known reluctance about it, the lack of  data and/or affordable data to draw the LC maps everywhere from Afghanistan to Taiwan, from Mongolia to Bali and the priority given to the TE lines of products.

 

Anything is better than default. I gave up in my attempt to get old SceneryTech landclass for Africa and Asia it places farms all over in the desert. Default landclass is not great and I am okay with a half attempt by Holger's team

Just now, Boeing or not going said:

Anything is better than default. I gave up in my attempt to get old SceneryTech landclass for Africa and Asia it places farms all over in the desert. Default landclass is not great and I am okay with a half attempt by Holger's team

The ST LC map for Asia isn't very good, I agree. The Indo-Pacific ST LC is slightly better with big flaws though. Africa I don't know.  For Japan,  Haruo-san's LC is a little jewel. 

Scenerytech guys abandoned their project right - or closed shop.  Haven't seen any updates since a decade. I am just gonna fly SA-NA-EU and teleport to Australia V2 lol (that covers lot of the world technically) - I was just excited to see entire world done by Orbx but now will see on how the world is in MSFS2020 (hoping for the best).

 

7 hours ago, domkle said:

Truth is that most of the FS20 simmers will come from the FSX and P3D not the XP  community. Numbers speak. 

Are you sure?  If I go into the MSFS subforum here at AVSIM, it is absolutely chock FULL of mainly XP users, and not as many mainly P3D users.   Is that subforum not a good representation / sample to rely on?