6 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

stepped on this idea pretty hard (again)

Excellent! So given your (not obvious) expertise, is there any wiggle room in the copyright laws that would actually permit LR to ship ortho or even direct ortho access with the sim? Or are they going to continue "step"ping on the idea "again" and "again" in the future? They seem to think it's not an option: quote

 

Edited July 2, 2025Jul 2 by blingthinger

4 hours ago, blingthinger said:

Regardless of how much you both try to push that it is

No, they did not. It's what you made of it, lol. Do you realize how utterly defensive you become when even the slightest criticism is expressed? It is truly hilarious.

On topic, I dropped X-Plane for now because an enhanced paid Map Enhancement tool is illegal; it just doesn't feel right to me to pay someone for illegal hacks. I seem to remember someone stating even Ortho4XP is illegal? Nevertheless, regarding Ortho4XP, it is so much hassle to download it and configure it, it is just not worth it to me.

I'm looking forward to the scenery enhancements the team will bring in the future, I have high hopes.

1 hour ago, Rimshot said:

On topic, I dropped X-Plane for now because an enhanced paid Map Enhancement tool is illegal;

I mean, it's a couple of quid (Dollars). The biggest gangsters in the world are the government, and I have zero empathy for corporate greed. 

Hi, I prefer ortho4xp for two main reasons.

1 Streaming at the end uses quite a lot of your system resources and the constant writing to the HD is not very healthy.

2 I have more control over my scenario. In europe, except in UK I use Orbx and Iceland I use Arc, in the rest I use orthos with here Maps with a -30 saturation filter, it's what suits my eyes best on my monitor. I also use the Sony mesh which I think is better and I always play some more confirmation to my taste.

It's a matter of taste

 

1 hour ago, Aglos77 said:

Hi, I prefer ortho4xp for two main reasons.

1 Streaming at the end uses quite a lot of your system resources and the constant writing to the HD is not very healthy.

MSFS isn't on your radar then ☺️

1 hour ago, Aglos77 said:

In europe, except in UK I use Orbx

I have Orbx but only see a UK ortho product listed. I tried it but didn't like the ortho at all.  I use it for the autogen though.

Do you use Here for the UK?

7 hours ago, blingthinger said:

I'm sure your personal relationships suffer accordingly.

As long as our partners are as stupid as us, we'll be fine.

5 hours ago, Rimshot said:

No, they did not.

Not both here, but in another thread yes, they both did. In this thread there was ambiguity and curious pushback against a simple clarifying question.

 

6 hours ago, Rimshot said:

Ortho4XP is illegal

I don't see how that one would be crossing any lines. There's no financial transaction happening. AO would be right there with it. Worst case scenario is a IP address block which means that at the worst case, they don't want you to download it in these quantities.

With ME, the worst thing that could happen is they go after the code author but I bet even that would be a twisted court case. Someone/thing as big as LR would have a target on the chest though.

20 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

Is there anything better than the LiveTraffic plugin?

are you using it with real traffic ?

47 minutes ago, fluffyflops said:

are you using it with real traffic ?

Yes.  Skies full of traffic.

14 hours ago, blingthinger said:

Excellent! So given your (not obvious) expertise, is there any wiggle room in the copyright laws that would actually permit LR to ship ortho or even direct ortho access with the sim? Or are they going to continue "step"ping on the idea "again" and "again" in the future? They seem to think it's not an option: quote

 

My friend, you continually expose your binary and linear thinking.

It's a talent in some situations, and a curse in others...

Again, I'm glad you weren't in charge of anything that challenges conventions, such as the Apollo program. Far too many "can'ts" there for a person of your mindset.

11 hours ago, Rimshot said:

On topic, I dropped X-Plane for now because an enhanced paid Map Enhancement tool is illegal; it just doesn't feel right to me to pay someone for illegal hacks. I seem to remember someone stating even Ortho4XP is illegal? Nevertheless, regarding Ortho4XP, it is so much hassle to download it and configure it, it is just not worth it to me.

Where have you heard that BS? MapEnhancement is nothing but a commercialized AutoOrtho clone (with a few enhancements to improve user friendliness), where you essentially pay the author to unlock the utility for higher zoom levels or some other extra functionality. The imagery itself is downloaded directly from map providers via their publically available API. The worst offense you can commit using this (and AutoOrtho and Ortho4XP, FWIW) is trying to download the entire world at the highest zoom level at once, which the download providers can easily sanction with download quotas, bandwidth limitations or an IP block. And no matter how much you download, as long as the data stays on your PC, they do not have any leverage whatsoever because you're essentially only caching it for personal usage. What would be illegal is downloading copyrighted ortho images onto your own server and providing access to it to anybody. Considering the cost of running a server that can supply terabytes worth of orthos at acceptable bandwidth, however, that's very improbable outside of the "more money than brains" domain.

O4XP is okay once you found a configuration that fits the entire globe. All you need then is time and a good provider that has both color matched and cloudless imagery.

Hace 9 horas, MrBitstFlyer dijo:

Entonces MSFS no está en tu radar☺️

Tengo Orbx, pero solo veo un producto ortopédico del Reino Unido en la lista. Lo probé, pero no me gustó nada. Aún así, lo uso para la autogeneración.

¿Utilizas Here para el Reino Unido?

I use the Orbx orthos I like it, it is also true that I can't judge the quality of the orthos I have never been to the UK and I have never flown over it I can only give my opinion of the province of Alicante in Spain there I do as you do with Orbx I use the overlay and then my own orthos with here.

12 hours ago, Rimshot said:

On topic, I dropped X-Plane for now because an enhanced paid Map Enhancement tool is illegal; it just doesn't feel right to me to pay someone for illegal hacks.

Understandable. However you don’t need to get the paid version. The base version is free and does a good job. I am using the similar free-versiom Autoortho and 95% of my textures are crystal sharp and more than enough. I’ve heard that map enhancement is even better (freeware).

2 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

Yes.  Skies full of traffic.

then you have the best

5 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

My friend, you continually expose your binary and linear thinking.

It's a talent in some situations, and a curse in others...

So to clarify, you made a statement that could be interpreted by a forum rookie as the lack of native ortho being LR's fault or lack of vision, or by a forum regular as a slight/slander against LR given that the regulars know that you know that it's not their fault, and the most intelligent thing you have to say is being unable to chose which palm of mud to throw (binary? linear? is it a talent?  or a curse!!???) so you just throw both? Mix in a healthy dose of shoot-the-messenger and repeatedly zero constructive evidence to support the notion that LR could actually do this legally without bankrupting the company? And I'm the fuddyduddy.... a truly bizarre tantrum....