EU Netherlands Photoreal in XP using Ortho2XP and W2X

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, Benny said:

I'm so lost... is that project X that is coming back????

 

Lost lost lost....

 

For any lazy readers: No XP project in progress

[Museumkeeper]

50 minutes ago, Richard Bui said:

For any lazy readers: No XP project in progress

Sorry Richard but I am lost too. According to JV in previous page to a question from TonyWob

 

'Oh the airports are coming, that is an active project which Ed Correia is leading for us. It won't be all of them but certainly a bunch, starting with Meigs Field which is done. '

 

Who is correct

 

Kind regards

 

Ian S

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Posted Friday at 11:24 AM

Oh the airports are coming, that is an active project which Ed Correia is leading for us. It won't be all of them but certainly a bunch, starting with Meigs Field which is done.

 

@Tony - I feel your pain, OSM can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. Fortunately we have the luxury of two concurrent competing toolsets developed in-house which we can feed any data source into with pretty good results, so we're continuing to work on this tech.

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[GCBraun]

5 hours ago, Richard Bui said:

For any lazy readers: No XP project in progress

 

Huh....? What is this all about then?

 

"That said I guess the cat is out of the bag that Orbx is developing for XP (I revealed this in a recent interview at Cosford FlightSim show), and I would be interested to hear if there is interest in a NetherlandsXP as a payware product with all the usual Orbx 3D POIs modelled etc?"

 

[John Venema]

There are NO active Orbx region projects in place for XP11.

 

There are some airports being ported (without PeopleFlow and Objectflow which do not work in XP11). That is the extent of our XP activities. 

 

We are reluctant to spend time and R&D on regions given the availability of freeware tools to create and annotate large areas using photoreal. There is also no native seasons support in XP which again takes away a lot of the attraction of regions. Finally, the landclass based scenery system used in FSX/P3D is very different to the terrain system used by XP. If we did anything at all it would be a photoreal based region with a control panel to allow seasonal switching or a version of ObjectFlow to automate that. This is why I'm asking the question to XP users to see if there is demand. The response thus far leans towards airports which is where we will focus our initial efforts.

 

Hope this clears up the confusion.

[Mike707]

 

2 hours ago, John Venema said:

There are NO active Orbx region projects in place for XP11.

 

There are some airports being ported (without PeopleFlow and Objectflow which do not work in XP11). That is the extent of our XP activities. 

 

We are reluctant to spend time and R&D on regions given the availability of freeware tools to create and annotate large areas using photoreal. There is also no native seasons support in XP which again takes away a lot of the attraction of regions. Finally, the landclass based scenery system used in FSX/P3D is very different to the terrain system used by XP. If we did anything at all it would be a photoreal based region with a control panel to allow seasonal switching or a version of ObjectFlow to automate that. This is why I'm asking the question to XP users to see if there is demand. The response thus far leans towards airports which is where we will focus our initial efforts.

 

Hope this clears up the confusion.

John,

I would love to see Orbx regions in X-Plane. Many people have X-Plane but are lukewarm to it because the default scenery is lacking.  You are correct that a user is able to the time to create ortho scenery, which also takes a HUUUUUGE amount of HDD space, but many of us don't want to invest the time learning how to do that and would rather just purchase a product that is complete, fully supported, and updated. 

I would think that many of the P3D users that do have X-Plane on their system would very much be interested in purchasing professional and quality Orbx regions. I know I would.

[Rob Ainscough]

2 hours ago, John Venema said:

The response thus far leans towards airports which is where we will focus our initial efforts.

 

OrthoXP is NOT end user friendly, not even close, requires a lot of time/effort, downloading, and massaging.  There is also the issue of color matching, optimization, elevation adjustments, etc. etc. - basically all the work Orbx does with regions and any PR you folks blend.

 

XP11 add-ons are missing that "press a button" and it just installs and works option.  

 

My vote would be for both, airports and scenery integrated into FTX Central.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[sightseer]

my vote is also for both for what its worth.  I want a good product that I can buy and install and then go fly over a large region - like PNW.  It can be photoreal or the current FSX appearance -- Im fine with it so long as looks good. but you must keep xplanes night lighting.

[Mark Abdey]

Again, for what its worth I would love to see some Orbx region content for XP, as well as airports... more so personally.  I have made lots of Ortho tiles in XP11 but, the results are very mixed, and of course they are all one season. To have an interesting, large region, with seasonal control, accurate colour matching and precise autogen placement I'm sure would be very welcome to many

 

[FILOU]

All products that ORBX offers would be amazing in XP11 for me and for many people.It's not very important what the undecided think about ORBX in XP11.

The most important is the visual difference that your scenery will be under the XP11.It will be metamorphosed...and the commercial result will be what you expect.

[Sir Ash]

I was hoping for a region. Ortho4XP imagery with clouds, colour inconsistencies and W2XP's bland almost region-less autogen becomes no fun after a while. Freeware developers have lives to live and can't commit as much time to improving content as payware developers can. It's a shame because XP11 is a great new-gen sim.

[Steve Colbert]

14 hours ago, John Venema said:

There are NO active Orbx region projects in place for XP11.

 

There are some airports being ported (without PeopleFlow and Objectflow which do not work in XP11). That is the extent of our XP activities. 

 

We are reluctant to spend time and R&D on regions given the availability of freeware tools to create and annotate large areas using photoreal. There is also no native seasons support in XP which again takes away a lot of the attraction of regions. Finally, the landclass based scenery system used in FSX/P3D is very different to the terrain system used by XP. If we did anything at all it would be a photoreal based region with a control panel to allow seasonal switching or a version of ObjectFlow to automate that. This is why I'm asking the question to XP users to see if there is demand. The response thus far leans towards airports which is where we will focus our initial efforts.

 

Hope this clears up the confusion.

 

John - I really appreciate you soliciting feedback from XP11 users.

 

As a P3Dv4 user (and "heavy" Orbx consumer/addict) who has largely migrated to XP11, what I miss most is your Orbx airports.  There are an increasing number of high quality payware offerings for XP11, but I'd lying if I said flying the San Juans is the same without your Orbx airports (even with my considerable (and hard-won) Ortho4XP and scenery tweaking prowess).  I would buy (rebuy) Jefferson County, Skagit, Orcas, Friday Harbor, all of em', day 1, as soon as they're offered.  That would be my top wish list priority.

 

BUT that is not to say I wouldn't love your regions too, even if a form of landclass, and without seasons, in XP11.   Sure, I love Ortho4XP scenery because it's "reality", but creating those tiles takes a lot of work/time/clicking.  My XP11 Skagit area is gorgeous but still has fields where I need to exclude trees, "facades" from airports, etc.  I've gotten very good at all of these efforts over the past 10 months, but in some ways I feel like I have had to become my own one-man Orbx teamjust to get things the way I like them scenery-wise in XP11.  Immensely satisfying, in a way - but when I purchased your regions and airports thru FTX Central I was then ready to buy and fly.  And as a busy guy with limited time (like all your customers), flying is what I enjoy the most, and every minute tryng to place scenery objects at my own version of KORS or drawing custom Z19 zoom zones when making tiles could be spent doing a KSEA ro KBVS hop.  None of the above is in any way a knock against XP11 or Ortho4XP or P3D - all flight sims are wonderful to me.  They're all  just that much better with a FULL Orbx treatment.

 

And thank you for reconsidering offering product for XP - this buyer will support these releases.

 

P.S. if Larry's PNW ferries could be converted to XP11 and sold as an add on it'd be wonderful indeed.

 

Steve

 

 

[GCBraun]

I`d love to have Orbx regions using photoreal scenery. I do have several TB of Orthophoto, but I would gladly pay for a hassle-free experience with the Orbx quality touch and customizations on top. Being that said, starting with Airports and getting a feel of the XP platform as a general is also a fine approach!

[Pryoski]

Count me in as a supporter/fan of ORBX scenery. While some of the freeware scenery and freeware airports in X-Plane are very good, my personal preference would be for a quality consistent one stop shop aka ORBX.

 

[Triplane]

 I own everything ORBX has made and would buy it all again for XP..........Doug

[Vasily]

I too, want Orbx regions!!! Especially FTX Global to work in Xplane ! 

 

[CaptCWGAllen]

Count me in too - on all fronts - regions and airports - I have all your regions (except Australia) and a large amount of airports for P3D v4. They are fabulous! 

 

So definitely up for a complete set of ORBX for XP. It's the finesse that makes the difference - trees in the right place (not sticking through the roofs or on the middle of fields where they shouldn't be), the landmarks - those types of issues fixed I am more than willing to pay for. 

 

So ORBX and a decent weather engine (hopefully Active Sky before too long) will be perfect. Not too bothered about seasons - but if it can be done then, yes, that would be an added bonus. I see J Spahn i(Sky Maxx) is showing previews so may be it would be possible for ORBX as well. 

 

Thanks for the question John and for considering the XP community. Will be straight on the airports once they are released.

 

Peter

[Dadtom65]

Just to cast my vote in that any thing that Orbx would do for Xplane be it Airports or scenery, especially scenery, I would definitely buy. Derek.

[Nick Cooper]

Just a reminder to those of you who apparently cannot resist "I used to fly this sim but now only fly that sim"

that this topic is not for your opinions on the simulators.

If some or all of your post has disappeared, this is why.

Thanks.

[andy1252]

I also own everything ORBX has produced, and would be happy to pay a crossgrade fee to put it all into XP. Not sure if I'd actually want to buy them all from scratch again, but that may just be because I haven't taken much to XP as yet. And the reason for that is the lack of ORBX!

[paulb]

5 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Just a reminder to those of you who apparently cannot resist "I used to fly this sim but now only fly that sim"

that this topic is not for your opinions on the simulators.

If some or all of your post has disappeared, this is why.

Thanks.

 

I used to fly 'Solo Flight' by Microprose, but now I don't...............

 

(Apologies Nick, but I could not resist. Been selling poppies all day and just needed a break ).

[Steve Colbert]

11 hours ago, paulb said:

 

I used to fly 'Solo Flight' by Microprose, but now I don't...............

 

(Apologies Nick, but I could not resist. Been selling poppies all day and just needed a break ).

 

How did I miss this Solo Flight when growing up in the 1980s!?!

 

Looks like fun - but it, too, would be more fun with the Orbx treatment.  

 

Seriously, glad to see I'm not the only one eager to see the full compliment of Orbx products available on XP (and P3D and AF2).

 

Orbx really enhances ANY sim (IMHO) and add-on competition amongst manufacturers is great to see - they all end up making better products and we all benefit from a simulation experience that gets better and better (I've been at this 20 years - in another 20 think what Orbx will be doing with available technology - and the plane manufacturers too.)

[Rob Ainscough]

Dang, you gents/ladies are young!  I was somehow entertained with wire frame flight simulators ... what are "textures"

 

Cheers, Rob.

[john548]

ORBX regions would be good and if airports can be easily ported over...would be even better. That's my vote 

Cheers.

[Tony Wroblewski]

On 11/7/2017 at 4:45 PM, Rob Ainscough said:

OrthoXP is NOT end user friendly, not even close, requires a lot of time/effort, downloading, and massaging.  There is also the issue of color matching, optimization, elevation adjustments, etc. etc. - basically all the work Orbx does with regions and any PR you folks blend.

 

Come on Rob, saying it isn't user friendly and requires a lot of effort is an exaggeration. It's popular for a reason, and it can produce incredible results with minimal effort, and that includes beautiful automated water masking, something that even payware providers have difficulty getting correct. It would take a new user a small effort to get their first tile generated, but after that it's really so easy. I know non-technical users who have generated all of the US, Europe etc and the tool doesn't require any massaging at all.  I can choose a 1x1 degree area, click 4 buttons, come back in 20 minutes and I have a new area to explore. (You can even batch large areas by clicking on a map).

 

However there is no denying that a ready-made drag and drop payware solution is what many people crave for. As John as already mentioned, creating landclass scenery for X-Plane is very difficult because the scenery system is completely different. If ORBX are to make regions for X-Plane, they'd likely have to do the photoscenery/autogen approach or burn in the landclass as part of the mesh,  just like they need to do in AFS at the moment. Also the 1x1 tile limit for X-Plane is difficult to work around when you are working on small countries such as the Netherlands (You'd have to include parts of the neighbouring countries)

 

I'm eagerly awaiting those fantastic GA airports in X-Plane and AFS. Even the old gems such as Darrington, Orcas, etc... I personally think ORBX have the right idea in concentrating on airports, since these are so badly needed in X-Plane.

 

 

 

[Rob Ainscough]

On 11/10/2017 at 11:27 PM, tonywob said:

Come on Rob, saying it isn't user friendly and requires a lot of effort is an exaggeration.

 

I guess we disagree, if you want it to look really good (i.e. payware quality) then it'll take some work and not just 4 button clicks (that's at it's very basic).  But I do agree on the incredible results.  The reason it's popular is because it's free.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[Sims]

Former FSX customer now migrated to X-Plane.  I really miss your work.   Optimistically waiting to see what might comes out of this for X-Plane 

[Billscpap]

I too am a former FSX flyer and have migrated to X plane. I too love the work that you do for both scenery and airports and will miss that. The reasons for migrating are many and most people know why. I'm hoping to see you guys in Las Vegas in June maybe you'll have something out by then?