I had a ton of fun with FSX PNW back in the day. Are the "classic" Orbx regions still worth it for P3D V5 given the upgraded "vector" data? I already have the FTX Global and OpenLC.

I bought TrueEarth California but the scorched earth textures and very large file sizes make it a no go for me.

I fly both GA and airliners in P3D mainly in the California regions.

IMHO the regions are worth it but Vector is unnecessary in version 5 since the default vector seems fine. I leave it uninstalled. As far as the regions I would wait for a sale.

I found ORBX regions as quite 'generic' - creating own regions with FSET or ORTHO XP will give far superior results.

4 hours ago, Beardyman said:

I found ORBX regions as quite 'generic' - creating own regions with FSET or ORTHO XP will give far superior results.

Yes, I fully agree with you!

11 hours ago, level7 said:

I had a ton of fun with FSX PNW back in the day. Are the "classic" Orbx regions still worth it for P3D V5 given the upgraded "vector" data? I already have the FTX Global and OpenLC.

I bought TrueEarth California but the scorched earth textures and very large file sizes make it a no go for me.

I fly both GA and airliners in P3D mainly in the California regions.

Regarding the Vector data product of Orbx.

It is available for p3D v5 because LM's is a fairly half a job harry type of implementation, as in yeah it's better than their previous rleases, but not complete and really Orbx vector is still an improvement.

That said the Orbx P3D v5 implementation was also a bit of a half a job harry type of implemetation, where they updated and combined the excludes down to just 10 files.

The result is much slower loading times (due to the bigger files) and resultant stutters.

Luckely one of AVSIM's members has reworked the files so that the 9 are now 866 individual files for fast loading and file size stutterless performance, I think you'll find them quite the improvement performance wise.

Of course the Orbx vector product is a layer providing extra resolution and visibiltiy improvements, it does also have to be loaded into the sim and does add to overall performance costs, personally though I've never found it to be excessive on my hardware.

Cheers

Edited April 1, 20242 yr by Rogen

In my opinion; yes the NA regions are worth the money. I have all the classic regions (NA and Europe) and don't regret it. I think it's more accurate than Global or LC NA. There is a sale at ORBX; I thought until April 10. The discount is 30%.

 

 

I would say that for the price they are not worth it. 

Even with the sale most regions cost $35 which is a bit ridiculous IMO.

Dave

45 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

I would say that for the price they are not worth it. 
Even with the sale most regions cost $35 which is a bit ridiculous IMO.
Dave

Even with the sale, most regions cost around 35 AUD.
That would be around 23 USD.
You will need to find another way to criticise.

Thanks for all the input ... maybe i'll wait for a bigger sale.

I don't think I'll have the time to do my own ortho.

I have the seen the thread about Vector before but again seems like the upgrades in P3D V5 around that data negates the need for that in NA. I am intrigued a bit by Rogen's V4 setup but it seems odd to shell another $60 on an old version of P3D at this point in time.

36 minutes ago, level7 said:

Thanks for all the input ... maybe i'll wait for a bigger sale.

 

There are usually one or two sales a year where they will go 40% off (e.g., christmas).

IMHO they are still worth it even at 30%, esp if you're flights aren't FL 300 airliner cruises 🙂

Re file sizes for TrueEarth, I did once see a video tutorial on how to downsize them automatically using a free 3rd party utility. I tried it out with TE Great Britain and it did work just fine, and ended up far more pleasant that the default scenery.

It is totally worth it. I have almost all of the airports in the PNW region and its a blast going from place to place. If you can get a bigger SSD I would actually recommend True Earth OR,WA and CA. I have most scenery maxed and get amazing frame rates. Highly recommend. And as others have stated there is a sale going on.

2 hours ago, Reader said:

Even with the sale, most regions cost around 35 AUD.
That would be around 23 USD.
You will need to find another way to criticise.

Yes, and I wrote "$35", which means 35 dollars.  I know that it's Australian Dollars.

Still too much for an old P3D scenery that covers a relatively small area.

This is not a criticism.  The poster asked if the product was worth it considering that he already has P3Dv5 vector scenery, high quality terrain mesh, and openLC North America, and I gave my 2c.

Looks like you need to find something else to criticize, not me.

Dave

12 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

Yes, and I wrote "$35", which means 35 dollars.  I know that it's Australian Dollars.

You knew that it was AUD, but given that your location is apparently Tennessee, USA,
it might not have been obvious to anyone else reading your post.
My "2c" is that despite the presence of Vector and openLC, the POIs, photo inserts and enhanced airports
are on their own worth the 23 USD or £18, or 35 AUD.

Edited April 1, 20242 yr by Reader

Various regions in ORBX are totally worth it IMHO.

Agreed.