Orbx versus Ultimate Terrain/GEX

[Gary1124 181]

So, Orbx global and Orbx LC works with Flight1 Ultimate Terrain, which I have? The UT doing what Orbx Vector does?

[coastaldriver 919]

On the mesh issue - I have not bothered with mesh addons in general. That comes from my experience in FSX with mesh enhancements (where they did do a lot of good but FSX was so out of date anyway) and doing a lot of careful study about mesh in the first place. Basically - the mesh comes from only two commercially available sources, the US and Europe which in turn is based on curent or available satellite data (some old, some new).

It has been my experience that for what is western nations (call it what you like) mesh is good and the sim mesh in P3D is high quality as well. Japan is a good example, never needed a mesh enhancement there it has always been well mapped by satellites like the US and Europe. It seems to be the case that when you get off the beaten track that is those countries or areas that are mapped quite crudely by satellites, the addition of a better mesh at a good resolution does make real changes to the scenery. Holgermesh for PNG is one, there is an Alaskan Mesh (38M that cover the west including the Aleutians) and the ORBX South America and Africa Meshes as well, in some areas a replacement mesh is just not available and you have to use the stock mesh (same as everybody else). IF people tell you that they have some magic mesh they are gilding the lily in my simple view. 

I do know that a better mesh would work wonders in the region that runs from Iran throught to China and covers the Himalayas but if there is one, nobody is going to give to us!

[Gary1124 181]

I'm sure Uncke Sam has Landsat data that would work. Only DOD sees it. So, what type of enhancement does terrain shape and elevation? Important for my ridges and valleys here.

Thanks.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

22 hours ago, mikeymike said:

So the better option would not to have mesh or vector installed for v4 or v5?

It depends on whether you like to see detailed mountains. The Alps are transformed with a good mesh product such as FS Global Ultimate.

There is zero impact on frame rates and although loading takes a little longer it's not a problem really. Yes, you do get cliff-edge effects around some airports where the enhanced mesh meets the airport scenery but FSG has a utility for smoothing that out. It generates a small BGL which you place in a separate folder and that's that problem fixed.

[mikeymike 360]

4 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

It depends on whether you like to see detailed mountains. The Alps are transformed with a good mesh product such as FS Global Ultimate.

There is zero impact on frame rates and although loading takes a little longer it's not a problem really. Yes, you do get cliff-edge effects around some airports where the enhanced mesh meets the airport scenery but FSG has a utility for smoothing that out. It generates a small BGL which you place in a separate folder and that's that problem fixed.

Thank you.

mike

[Bob Scott 7,720]

12 hours ago, Gary1124 said:

So, Orbx global and Orbx LC works with Flight1 Ultimate Terrain, which I have? The UT doing what Orbx Vector does?

Yes.  UTX USA needs a few minor tricks (detailed, I believe in their forums) to make it install in P3Dv5, and once-installed it works the same as in FSX and previous versions of P3D.  I disable the UTX landclass scenery areas in lieu of the better/more current Orbx OpenLC.  And UTX does not touch elevations.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

2 minutes ago, w6kd said:

UTX USA needs a few minor tricks (detailed, I believe in their forums) to make it install in P3Dv5

If you bought it from Flight1 they have provided an updated installer for v5.

[Gary1124 181]

4 hours ago, w6kd said:

Yes.  UTX USA needs a few minor tricks (detailed, I believe in their forums) to make it install in P3Dv5, and once-installed it works the same as in FSX and previous versions of P3D.  I disable the UTX landclass scenery areas in lieu of the better/more current Orbx OpenLC.  And UTX does not touch elevations.

 

I will be going to V4 because I have cherished aircraft that work in 4 but not 5 yet.

It seems only the "Study Level" publishers have been diligent about P3d V compliance. I know many say 5 runs better than 4 but I am encouraged over all the posts I've read about 4 running better than FSX. 

I think I will start off with my existing Ultimate Terrain and GEX and when discretionary funds become available to me I will uninstall those and buy Global and LC at the same time and use UT only for terrain, mesh disabled. Then top it off with building and foliage autogen and NA airport package.

[rlashier 93]

You will need to replace GEX with GEP3d, which Flight 1 markets for use with P3d.

[Gary1124 181]

1 hour ago, rlashier said:

You will need to replace GEX with GEP3d, which Flight 1 markets for use with P3d.

Okay. Thank you. I was thinking GEX was dual platform. I will look it up.

I discovered by cleaning up my 240 gig drive C I can recover a lot of space. I should be able to fit P3d for on C side by side with FSX until I get it set up. The I will move FSX-SE to my HDD drive D with my other Steam downloads.