Is Orbx Global worth it for P3D v5?

[Biology 1,347]

Hi,

I have been watching Orbx/FTX Global Base vs default videos, and noticed that they really don't make much of a difference, same story for Tress HD and Buildings HD and even TerraFlora. I am confused, as Orbx Global is known as one of the must-have add-ons. How much of a difference does it make? Is it actually worth getting?

Thank you.

[micstatic 4,316]

Honestly makes a huge difference. You will notice within 30 seconds 

[PilotPete99 915]

21 minutes ago, micstatic said:

Honestly makes a huge difference. You will notice within 30 seconds 

+ 1

Cheers, Pete

[Biology 1,347]

I see, thank you.

So, videos like these are outdated?

[Christopher Low 5,341]

If that video is a reflection of the difference between FTX Global and default scenery in 2020, then both options leave a massive amount to be desired as far as I am concerned.

[Biology 1,347]

Also, if Orbx Global indeed makes a difference, what should I get?

I am on P3D v5, do I need to get Vector? I was planning to get openLC too, it says Vector is strongly recommended but not sure the information there is up-to-date.

[LRBS 944]

I see that you are using MSFS 2020 P3D and XP11, the question is what is more important for you.

If you are looking for scenery there is no question about MSFS2020.

If you are looking for stock aircraft dynamics (how they fly) XP11 and P3D.

If you are looking for a more stable platform less software issues XP11.

Right now I'm more into P3D just for the reason of how the airplanes fly, more stable. Visuals is MFS2020 are beautiful very close to Level D airline simulator but because the way airplanes fly so unrealistic I stay away from it, not worth it at the moment.

It's all about what are you looking for.

Re Vector, it's a performance hug.

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by killthespam

[Biology 1,347]

I am mostly looking for detailed & complete airliners, which is why I'm mostly using P3D these days. But the default is really ugly, and I wanted to have both good graphics and complex airliners.

[LRBS 944]

Ahhhh, unfortunately at the moment there is no winer. I'm with you on this issue.

All of them have problems and very stubborn, from "complete airline" aircraft experience I think that FSLabs and PMDG (even they have issues) are one of the best in this market that work on P3D.

This new version of P3D is very well CPU and GPU optimized and excellent on performance, but other aspects not so, lately is typical for the developers to fix something and brake more. It seems like all of them lost good programers and quality control.

Me personally I stoped investing in this hobby and wait to see who's worth it. 

[F737MAX 5,555]

Not for me.

Instead I use a combination of payware (TrueEarth or MegaSceneryEarth plus Nuvecta autogen) and freeware aerial imagery (plus autogen).

Photo scenery takes up *a lot* of hard drive space, yet I have narrowed it down to a select few contiguous areas (Western USA, Western Europe, New Zealand, parts of China and parts of Australia), that I've steadily built up over the past two years.
This makes my P3D look as as close as possible to looking out of the window in the real world. It's the intricate differences that exist in aerial imagery that I just don't get from landclass.
Because of aerial imagery's realism, I no longer fly in areas that I don't have covered by photo scenery in my sim (The one exception being Africa, using Orbx's landclass for the continent).

It's not always perfect, but it is such a more modern answer to Flight Simming in 2020 than landclass textures are, IMO.
YMMV.

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by F737NG
Clarity

[dave2013 1,123]

I highly recommend the ORBX Global Base Pack, which provides much better textures for the entire world, plus some landclass fixes that especially improve the U.S. Southwest and Southeast Asia.

ORBX openLC contain accurate landclass plus some custom textures for the regions they cover.  Again, highly recommended.

I have ORBX Vector and really like it, but if you're using P3Dv5 then you may not need it.

Dave

[Bob Scott 7,716]

You need texture replacements (FTX Global), a decent landclass (OpenLC), and vector scenery (e.g. Ultimate Terrain X or Orbx vector) to make it worthwhile.  I find that FTX Global combined with the Orbx Open LC products and UTX are a pretty decent solution in the vast majority of the places where I fly tubeliners (North America, Europe). 

You can find locations in every sim, MSFS included, that look terrible, and are not representative of the scenery overall.

[RichieFly 728]

3 hours ago, BiologicalNanobot said:

...and I wanted to have both good graphics and complex airliners.

The Holy Grail

Edited October 31, 2020 by RichieFly

[micstatic 4,316]

I also love megascenery earth with nuvecta. But I only really like it for the us west coast. Wasn’t a fan of Georgia and Florida so I stopped buying. But it’s great for California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona. The southwest in my opinion is a weak spot for orbx and megascenery earth with nuvecta massively improved that 

[Benjamin J 751]

1 hour ago, micstatic said:

I also love megascenery earth with nuvecta. But I only really like it for the us west coast. Wasn’t a fan of Georgia and Florida so I stopped buying. But it’s great for California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona. The southwest in my opinion is a weak spot for orbx and megascenery earth with nuvecta massively improved that 

I’m with you 100%. MSE photoscenery looks amazing in the American Southwest but I don’t like it too much in other areas. I’m guessing the improved quality specifically in the Southwest is due to the dry and arid climate, which allows for improved imagery quality.

I have Currently not reinstalled any of the OrbX Global addons, but I might still once the 5.1 HF1 comes out. My favorite feature of OrbX global was actually the road lighting at night, but I’m not sure I would want to deal with Vector again just for that...