So expanding on the ORBX Global and ORBX vector threads both of which seem to have concluded (unless I am reading them wrong) that Vector and Global are no longer required...  I put required in italics as they were never "required" but always highly recommended to enhance the default scenery.  

Along those lines in P3d V4 I had a few more what I would call "global or base layer add-ons"  to enhance P3D.

Those included the Ultimate Terrain Series, GEP3D, and Toposim Mesh... 

My question is are any of these required or even recommended anymore for V5?  Reading the recent threads it seems the sim looks pretty good on it's own and in some cases performs better without all these add-ons.  

Anyone else tried V5 with and without UT, GE and add-on mesh?  Thoughts, feedback?  

It's seeming the hundreds in add-ons to get P3D to look good may really no longer be required...   I will still have GSX, AIG, and AI-Ships at the worldwide level.

Thank you!!

Edit:  Is the forum experiencing issues?  I tried to post this but got a bad gateway error.  Seeing a lot of duplicate posts lately I decided to try the forum in another tab before re-posting.  Sure enough despite the error my post was here.  Not sure if something is going on which is why others are getting duplicate posts.

Edited March 11, 20224 yr by psolk
Forum issues

1 hour ago, psolk said:

Those included the Ultimate Terrain Series, GEP3D, and Toposim Mesh... 

My question is are any of these required or even recommended anymore for V5?  Reading the recent threads it seems the sim looks pretty good on it's own and in some cases performs better without all these add-ons.  

Anyone else tried V5 with and without UT, GE and add-on mesh?  Thoughts, feedback?  

Yes, me. I did create a topic about whether Ultimate Terrain X was still useful for v5. My conclusion was that it wasn’t. Improvements in the terrain have made UTX redundant as far as I’m concerned. I can only speak for myself.

As for GE, I don’t have it so can’t comment. I still use addon mesh - FS Global Ultimate comprising improved worldwide mesh.

24 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Yes, me. I did create a topic about whether Ultimate Terrain X was still useful for v5. My conclusion was that it wasn’t. Improvements in the terrain have made UTX redundant as far as I’m concerned. I can only speak for myself.

As for GE, I don’t have it so can’t comment. I still use addon mesh - FS Global Ultimate comprising improved worldwide mesh.

Thanks so much for the feedback Ray it's greatly appreciated!  Looks like I will be doing away  with a lot of my V4 add-ons which could also be why I felt my install of V5 looked virtually identical.  I had layered it with the exact same add-ons so it should have looked very similar if not the same.  I'm thinking some of those V4 add-ons weren't actually enhancing V5 at all and may have been simultaneously impacting performance. 

It's sounding more and more like the Vanilla V5 is far superior to Vanilla V3 and V4 which required a significant investment to enhance the default scenery.  Very excited to get back into it V5 and give it another go!

Thank you again.   

10 minutes ago, psolk said:

It's sounding more and more like the Vanilla V5 is far superior to Vanilla V3 and V4 which required a significant investment to enhance the default scenery.

Definitely. LM aren’t very good at promoting their products. I still have v3 and UTX is still needed for that otherwise it looks awful.

But v5 has far more detailed coastlines that now mirror those in UTX but where those products only covered Europe, North America and the Caribbean / Central America v5 covers the entire world.

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Definitely. LM aren’t very good at promoting their products.

that's so true ray.  I still remember their video preview for V5.  It was so bad that it almost looked like it was a sabotage.  In actuality I ended up loving V5

3 hours ago, psolk said:

ORBX Global and ORBX vector threads both of which seem to have concluded (unless I am reading them wrong) that Vector and Global are no longer required...  I put required in italics as they were never "required" but always highly recommended to enhance the default scenery.

Is this really the consensus on Global? It seems I read in the post some said it was better. I’m not sure what the final thoughts really were. Clearly Vector is out but not sure if Global is just a matter of personal taste or if it’s better or worse. Regardless it doesn’t seem to effect f performance but clearly a large amount of files to manage I suppose.

Joe

3 hours ago, psolk said:

So expanding on the ORBX Global and ORBX vector threads both of which seem to have concluded (unless I am reading them wrong) that Vector and Global are no longer required...  I put required in italics as they were never "required" but always highly recommended to enhance the default scenery.  ......

I think it still depends on what part of the world your flying in. In northern Canada I find the default vector works ok with the default elevation mesh and ORBX vector works better with third party mesh.  I find there are elevated and sunken water bodies using the default vector data with third party elevation mesh.  As I mentioned in another post, the ORBX vector data uses single world wide large files to exclude the default vector data and this leads to longer load times and 2 to 3 second pauses when flying. I created my own excludes that covers all the world but in smaller sections and they seem to work really good so far, no more stutters and faster loading times. The other reason I use the ORBX vector, at my home airport where I do most of my flying from, some major rivers are missing with the default vector data.

There is no one solution for everybody.

On a final note, I compared both the default vector and ORBX vector with TMFViewer from the SDK and in some areas the default vector has more detail and in other areas ORBX has more detail.

John C.

I think ORBX Global Textures have better looking (and more dense) autogen than the default so it does look a bit better up close. I think the seasonal colours are probably a bit better too.

I've decided to go default ... I think for flying in the US works pretty well.

Orbx' OpenLC landclass products do still make a significant difference in v5, and since they require FTX Global, I'd say Global is still worth having. 

Vector is a, well, vector scenery product that places roads, railroads, power lines, coastlines etc, and v5's greatly-improved vector scenery obviates the need for Orbx Vector.

The Orbx LC products determine which scenery tiles to use in any given area, and they use the expanded/enhanced Global tile set to do it.  Unlike the airport sceneries that might say they require certain prerequisite products to work but really only suffer some color mismatches around the edges, I don't think LC will work properly, if at all, without Global.

Agreed. I recently re-installed v5 on a new system. For several days, I went with plain vanilla v5, but it just seemed a bit deficient. Adding FTX Global and the Open LC landclass products made for a much more pleasing appearance, for my taste anyway. And since these products had been purchased previously and offered no performance penalty (unlike Vector), why not?

So sounding like the consensus is ORBX FTX Global for textures, I was using GEP3D and OpenLC but no vector if I'm reading this right...  OpenLC is still a large investment.  To do the globe is $200+ USD.   Looking at the preview videos it may look better in some areas with OpenLC but I didn't see a $200+ difference in the preview vids.  I suppose I could also go back to Ultimate Terrain and enable only LC but while OrbxOpenLC and UT are quite dated V5 is brand new.  Are the dated add-ons really better?  

Is the default V5 Mesh improved like the Vector data?  Has anyone compared Mesh?  

Thank you again!  

Edited March 12, 20224 yr by psolk

If I were truly simming all over the globe, then I would likely balk at the expense of a comprehensive Open LC coverage.  As I fly almost exclusively in North America and Europe, the cost/benefit analysis is not a problem. 

OK, so my own .02 but I ended up trying Vanilla V5 first.  I really wasn't impressed around NYC with the textures or landclass at all.  Water detail was "ok" but not as detailed as my install of V4.  I ended up enabling the UT series again, reailroads, coastlines, water bodies and landclass.  Looked much much better but "still" required OrbX Global base textures.  

So my conclusion is depending on where you fly default is still not going to cut it.  At a "base" I found V5 still needs a texture overhaul and better landclass/coastline definition.  Outside of that I now have V5 looking "better" than V4.  It's going to take some playing around though.  I  had EA enabled and the 787 cockpit was super dark.  Also some VERY overdone reflections I need to tone down. 

The performance however seems like a massive improvement over V4.  With a G-Sync compatible monitor, Dynamic Refresh enabled in V5 and "Highest Available" refresh rate with frames unlocked in NVCP and P3D holy cow it was butter smooth in every aircraft over NYC.  That was with AIG at 95%.  The fact my AS install, PF3, PAc-X, EZCA, LINDA, EFB and OpenCockpits HW migrated right over was just a massive bonus.

Today I will try my first V5 flight and keep playing with EA to find an acceptable setting.  

So that's my own personal conclusion.  V5 while better default still needs some add-on help at least in terms of base textures, landclass and water definition.   Personally flight sim is still more about the aircraft than the scenery for me.  PMDG 777 and QW787 are my "go to's" so I spend more time in P3D than the other sim but if I am honest even V5 with close to $300 of add-ons to enhance it still leaves me visually wanting compared to the other one without a single add-on 😞   

Edited March 13, 20224 yr by psolk

I ditched Vector with v5 and am very happy generally - that addon caused me no end of problems in v4.

I'd agree I still think Global brings some vibrancy to certain areas - as someone who doesn't use photoscenery I always thought it did a pretty good job in areas like England etc. A PBR update would go a long way though - many of the default urban areas I've found have been looking exceedingly good in v5.

Also - I'm not sure if this is itself a feature of ORBX Global or v5 - but the streetlighting at night I find in V5 to be absolutely phenomenal, it makes night flying a dream.

I think v5 is at a point now where it stands up pretty well considering what it's based on. Definitely room for improvement but I can more than happily fly around default scenery in many areas.

I've just removed Vector by uninstalling in Orbx Central...is this all I have to do? Do I have to do anything else to remove it? It was installed in the P3D5 folder.