Stivy

Good review but it lacks one important thing. I have all the products mentioned. & at first I was using GEX with UTX. Very impressive add-ons that don't seem to slow my oldish quad core down and really does enhance the original FSX ingredients. GEX & UTX are pretty simple to uninstall also. Follow the instructions and it doesn't really take that long. Replacing your backed up files is easy and both bits of software clean the registry trail and backup files really well. Orbx FTX Global on the other hand is a completely different story. It doesn't even ship with an uninstaller. There are no real instructions on how to remove the program manually and because of the way they've coded the program, it messes with your original FSX files so even when you use the backup folder to replace your original FSX textures, some of them have been corrupted by FTX. I also found that It doesn't integrate well with other third party add-ons either. I have four of the Fly Tampa airports and FTX integrates seemlessly and does the transition into that area very smoothly. However, I also have eighteen Aerosoft airports and when I reach the transition point flying into some of those airports, FSX just crashes and burns. Even with all the FSX settings to their lowest I get the same result. I can fly out of the airports and transition into Global but vice-versa is nigh on impossible. Never had the problem ever before when GEX & UTX were installed. Global is a beautiful piece of kit when used with Global Vector which I also purchased. They are a lot more accurate when it comes to following major highways & roads and I was able to find where I live a lot easier due to the better accuracy of the software. The town where I live was also covered in a lot more detail even though the town is of no relevance to anything historic etc... FTX Global buyers should be aware that if they are to uninstall the software they are more likely going to have to uninstall back to the bones and re-install FSX. My opinion after blurting all that out though is that if your never going to uninstall it, go ahead and buy it. It is a really impressive piece of kit and a lot more detailed & accurate than GEX & UTX. It also gave me 8FPS more than GEX & UTX did and as we all know that is a wow factor when it comes to running FSX on a low to mid spec PC. That said, because of my third-party add-on issues, for the moment it has been laid to rest in a drawer and trusty GTX & UTX have been brought out of early retirement. I have emailed Orbx about the problem, (as have many more people) but as yet had no reply. Hopefully an uninstall option will appear in a future software update but till then it will remain in the drawer. It's a little like being held hostage by a software developer, cause at the moment Orbx are churning out airfields, aerodromes and major airports like it's going out of fashion! As if they know it's not good with other products. That's the feeling I get anyway. If I would have known before I bought the software it would never have graced my hard drive in the first place as I only found out after installation had taken place, so buyers beware!!! Please do not think I dislike Global. It is an outstanding piece of kit, but for so much money you would expect it to be standard in all software these days. Once fixed, I will definately be re-installing it and along with the add-ons they are producing lately I can see it taking over all my other third party airports.