Why I don't like True Earth

[Penzoil3 480]

Watch out Noel. Disrespecting OrbX on another forum could get you banned...

LOL

Sue

Edited December 11, 2020 by Penzoil3

[The Flight Level 2,118]

9 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

I think the "JV" part of the team is a lot less involved these days.

Yes, he has stepped aside to see where he wants to put his energy in the future.

A message he posted back in October on the ORBX forums:

“I am still the largest single shareholder in the company and intend to hold onto shares in Orbx until the day I die, because it is a part of my DNA and I’m immensely proud of what myself and the team from the early days achieved in building the leading brand in consumer flight simulation software. But as with many things, sometimes you need to recognise your own limitations and allow your ‘baby’ to grow up and spread its wings and mature into something much bigger than what it would have been if we’d remained a small family company as we were for the first 15 years.

What it means is that Orbx’s loyal customers will always be assured the company will survive and flourish and continue to innovate.

As for me personally, I turned 56 in June and I am taking a year off from day-to-day involvement with the company to focus on my family life and re-energise my soul and mind for new challenges. I’ve lost 52 pounds since last Xmas and I’m exercising and eating a healthier diet. I live in a beautiful part of the south of England so enjoy living in the countryside here on the coast. Of course I will always be close to and involved with Orbx even if I’m not at the coalface anymore.

The opportunities that await Orbx are immense; the new MSFS has ushered in the most amazing VFR flying sim we have ever seen and our team has many hundreds of project ideas and actual projects in the works which will make that platform really shine. You can be assured we will continue to push the boundaries of MSFS and at the same time continue to support P3D, XP11 and even other platforms if and when they emerge.

So just because I don’t post on these forums daily anymore does not mean I have walked away; the opposite is true. I am still as passionate about Orbx as ever and will work with Anna and the board to ensure that the company continues to fulfil its original vision to innovate, make great products and above all respect and look after its customers.

I wish everyone here in the forums all the very best in the enjoyment of this fantastic hobby and thank you all so much for your continued tremendous support!”

[Christopher Low 5,390]

I am not entirely convinced that "letting the baby grow" will result in a better customer experience. It seems to be the opinion of quite a few customers that standards have slipped to a certain extent since ORBx "spread its wings".

[W2DR 1,860]

I agree. Things today certainly aren't the same as in years past.

[Dominique_K 10,152]

3 hours ago, W2DR said:

I agree. Things today certainly aren't the same as in years past.

yep, downloading and installing is a breeze nowadays contrary to the chronic disaster the old third-party shop was and their site is technically well managed by the new young guy and not out a couple of times a month like « in years past »😁.  As for the after-sale, I really dont see any difference, it depends on the dev involved in the product but Cooper does his best. 

[philmurfin 73]

Living in th UK,  I can only add that my big hopes for Orbx were all met with huge disapointments

 

Best....  Phil

[birdguy 3,956]

I have no way of verifying Orbx scenery outside of my corner of the earth.  But what they have done with the FTX sceneries of the Pacific Coast of North America: Southern California, Northern California, Pacific Northwest, Central Rockies, Northern Rockies, Pacific Fjords and Southern Alaska I judge as nothing short of outstanding.  I have found nothing about them to complain about.

I had high hopes for True Earth and purchased Washington, Oregon and Northern California.  As soon as I took my first flight around the San Francisco bay area a huge disappointment set in for the reasons stated in the post I lead this thread off on.

What I don't understand is how True Earth Northern California and FTX Northern California could be so different.  I would expect TE Northern California at 80GB to outshine FTX  Northern California at 6GB.  Maybe someone can explain to me what those extra 72GB are getting me.  Certainly not a complete Lake Tahoe or decent iconic bridges known world wide and no seasonal changes.  What exactly is the draw for True Earth?  The cartoonish colors?

Noel 

 

[F737MAX 5,738]

32 minutes ago, birdguy said:

TE Northern California at 80GB to outshine FTX  Northern California at 6GB.  Maybe someone can explain to me what those extra 72GB are getting me.  Certainly not a complete Lake Tahoe or decent iconic bridges known world wide and no seasonal changes.  What exactly is the draw for True Earth?

Lake Tahoe is an issue as it straddles two tiles of XP's terrain model. Covering the eastern part of the lake would have involved a significant part of Nevada aerial imagery to have been included in TE NorCal.

Two possible 'solutions'. 1. Buy MegaSceneryEarth Nevada, or 2. (for the more cost conscious) learn how to use Ortho4XP (the FSX_P3D edition) to generate photo scenery.

 

The big draw is having aerial imagery with appropriately placed autogen buildings, autogen trees and hundreds of POI models replace the landclass ground textures.

I no longer have to 'use my imagination' when I see repeating landclass textures, neighbouring sqaure landclass tiles where the land use differs, or roads / rail lines obvliously plowing through fields, houses, forests.

For all its flaws (and there are quite a few), TrueEarth is a massive improvement to my sim experience.

 

On 12/11/2020 at 12:24 PM, W2DR said:

I agree. Things today certainly aren't the same as in years past.

There's definitely a feel that more recent products from certain parts of Orbx development teams are rushed, lacking in the detail and care that we have seen historically from them.

Now that it works, Orbx Central is a great utility that finally simplifies the long and complicated processes that installing and maintaining flight sim add-ons usually involves. The fact that external developers are now partnering with Orbx makes the process even simpler - it has become an equivalent to Steam.

My only concern is that Orbx becomes the Valve of Flight Simming.

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by F737NG

[birdguy 3,956]

I have never been a big fan of photo scenery.  Especially not for the low and slow flying I prefer.  Since Orbx FTX scenery is pleasant and enjoyable for low and slow flying I'll just stick with it.  I sent my TE scenery back to the Orbx Central graveyard.

Noel

[Christopher Low 5,390]

Whilst I understand the concern regarding incorrect colouration of photoscenery (the Horizon photoscenery of the UK was very much a mixed bag in this respect), I really can't stand the unrealistic nature of landclass scenery. Poor definition coastlines, urban textures where streets just end for no reason, basic "strips" to represent roads that cut through anything and everything in their path, crude airport boundaries that look like parts of a jigsaw puzzle, identikit golf courses, and autogen building distribution that never looks realistic. I tried to use FTX Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland (because I did not have any photoscenery for that part of the world), but I just could not live with the generic look of it. Some of the rural areas looked OK, but the "fake" nature of the scenery was impossible to ignore.

Some people seem to be able to live with this, but I have not been able to for the past twenty years.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Christopher Low

[Skywolf 992]

I am just disappointed on the size of it all.  I have tons of SSDS but seriously loading times increase and install time is huge plus I have to leave the pc overnight to download/install it.

FTX versions are quite good but TE is super bulky to manage along with no seasons.  I know P3Dv5 has new tech to simulate snow/weather/changes etc from what I have read, but developers are not figuring on how to use it.

With MSFS world realism....TE is in some sort of twilight zone for P3D.  For xplane TE is great.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Skywolf