gord96 Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Hey all. So I have Global and a few airport packs. Curious for general scenery what is a good path to folllow? So let's say I just want to get a certain region. Like the Northern Rockies say. Is it ok to get that first? Or should always get 'Vector' next and then maybe an Open LC? If I skip an Open LC, is it better to get Vector before a region? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McGee Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Gord96, You really can do whatever you think will suit your flying best. If you want to fly a lot in a particular area, and Orbx has the area covered by a terrain region, I would buy that region first. If you like flying all over the place and have Global Base already, I would probably buy Global Vector next and then the openLC areas that you tend to fly in most. I also recommend a good mesh. You can get FreeMeshX for free (I use it and like it). Once you have purchased all the Global layers, you could then get a payware mesh, if you thought it would improve upon the free mesh enough to be worth the money. I don't think you can go wrong either way. The Global route gives you large areas of really good looking scenery. The terrain region route give you smaller areas of great looking scenery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gord96 Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 Thanks Matt! Appreciated! What does the mesh do? Maybe I should try that first. Does it install over top of Global? Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McGee Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Mesh is the elevation layer of scenery. It is actually the bottom layer that everything else is layered on top of. Orbx has a good explanation and images to explain the "layers" of scenery in their Definitive Guide to FTX Products. You can find it here: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/74345-the-definitive-guide-to-ftx-products-the-go-to-source-of-ftx-information/ It also explains the difference between terrain regions and the Global products. (Like the fact that terrain regions include mesh!) Mesh is basically a grid, where each square of the grid has an elevation number assigned to it. The smaller the grid squares, the more accurate the terrain looks. Mesh quality is expressed in either meters of resolution or Level Of Detail. 38m resolution is where each square is 38 meters. 38m is better than 76m. Level Of Detail gets better as the number goes up. LOD 10 (which is 38m) is better than LOD 9. The better the resolution the more disk space it will take up too. The default USA mesh is not bad at 38m. Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia is 76m. The rest of the world varies, but can be pretty poor. The type of terrain also matters. Even with great mesh, flat parts of the Amazon or Saskatchewan might look exactly the same, flat. However mountainous terrain, like the Tierra Del Fuego, can look radically better than the default. I'm using FreeMeshX and have been very happy with it. It is free. It is 38m for everywhere except 78m Antarctica, Greenland, and Russia (north of 60 degrees). Since FreeMeshX is 38m/LOD10, you won't see a change in the USA. (They are working on LOD11 for the US though.) You can download only the regions that you want since mesh can take up a lot of disk space. Personally, I would go ahead and get a free mesh product now. I wouldn't spend money on mesh until I had purchased Vector and openLC first. Even then I would take a hard look at how much improvement the payware mesh was going to offer over the free mesh to see if it was worth the money. Just my opinion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotjackson Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Vector can make a huge difference in some areas. Well worth the money. Keep in mind if you buy a region like N Rockies, it comes with its own high mesh detail (10m & 20m). Also, all full regions were designed to work with Vector, so you really need it to get the full experience. OpenLC makes a big difference too. Waiting for the rest of NA (USA & Mexico) to come out in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 1 hour ago, gotjackson said: Also, all full regions were designed to work with Vector, so you really need it to get the full experience. While Vector is indeed an excellent product, this is not the case, FTX regions contain their own Vector data and will look the same whether Vector is installed or not. The exception to this is the Australia region which looks better without Vector than with. It contains its own Vector data but since it is the oldest product, does not contain the exclusions of other data and very occasionally the result is less than ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 If you fly GA... low and slow and like sight seeing.. get a region. If you like to fly worldwide, get the Global line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gord96 Posted April 19, 2016 Author Share Posted April 19, 2016 I was big into airliners but recently got into GA as I purchased the A2A T-6 Texan. Now that's all I fly. So maybe grabbing a region is best then. Any suggestions for a good region?? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 gord, suggestion, If you like mountains and waterways PNW is a good region. Actually any of the North American regions are scenic and varied. The Oz regions are more open and sparse but many airports and features with them. No matter which region you start with just be aware it will not be your last use of the old credit card so welcome to the world of ORBXaholics!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McGee Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 1 hour ago, spud said: gord, suggestion, If you like mountains and waterways PNW is a good region. Actually any of the North American regions are scenic and varied. The Oz regions are more open and sparse but many airports and features with them. No matter which region you start with just be aware it will not be your last use of the old credit card so welcome to the world of ORBXaholics!!! +1. PNW also has a large number of Orbx payware airports available for it. It is the region I fly in the most. I also like the Central Rockies for the bush strips in central Idaho, South Island New Zealand has fantastic terrain too, though currently only two payware airports available. All the Orbx regions have good things to offer, South Alaska, Norway, NCA, SCA, ... You really can't go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eeros Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Vector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 5 hours ago, h3pilot said: +1. PNW also has a large number of Orbx payware airports available for it. It is the region I fly in the most. I also like the Central Rockies for the bush strips in central Idaho, South Island New Zealand has fantastic terrain too, though currently only two payware airports available. All the Orbx regions have good things to offer, South Alaska, Norway, NCA, SCA, ... You really can't go wrong. +2. Of all the regions I think PNW is the one to start with for us GA-types..........Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 For me, the most impressive regions in order: NZ south, Norway and Alaska. Why: I love mountain. Also with full fat region a lot of airport have been reworked. Get Plan G (free) and load the kmz file, now you can see all the goodies that the guys worked so hard on for region. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.