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ORBX region plans in Europe


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I haven't been able to find anything in the forums....apologies if it is covered.

 

I am wondering, can we expect more full fat regions in Europe, I am thinking of  Austria and Switzerland in particular, in the foreseeable future.

There are of course somewhat expensive products available already from a competitor.

Is ORBX leaving those areas alone because of their availability? Of course we already have Innsbruck which suggests Austria, at least, may be forthcoming.

Given the choice I (and I imagine others) would prefer to stick with ORBX which would avoid worries about the complications that can arise when different scenery types meet.

 

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Hear Hear !!!!!

 

Seems OrbX have sold out to the Americans - nothing racist and I mean no offense..... but I know that your major benefactors are American and thus it seems 90% of Airports now are in the U.S.

 

In the UK we have half a dozen minor airports..... a couple of regionals (Southampton and Cardiff).... no internationals;  no "London cityscape". We have Stockholm International, but that is about it.

 

Australia was OrbX's first project, with a mix of VFR and international airports, but it quickly travelled over the water, and now pretty much everything is American.

 

Shame.

 

And I am pretty sure you have chosen Netherlands as a photoscenery area, as it will be 'kind to framerates' - i.e. zero mesh effectively ! But heh..... maybe it's just me being sceptical....?

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As far as I know EGFF, EGHI, ESSA, LOWI, LDPU, LDPL, and LEBB are *all* airliner capable international airports we have released in Europe, and in fact we give EGFF away for free with Wales when we could easily have split it off into its own release.

 

So seven international airports in Europe is hardly “selling out to the Americans” who have only been provided six of them.

 

The UK TrueEarth series will have hundreds of CityScenes added as part of the cost, including major centres such as London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, York and much more.

 

Perhaps do some research first before making passive aggressive statements which may offend other forum members? Posts of this nature also won’t endear you to the dev team and won’t make us rush out to appease your needs.

 

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4 hours ago, Haydon the Womble said:

I haven't been able to find anything in the forums....apologies if it is covered.

 

I am wondering, can we expect more full fat regions in Europe, I am thinking of  Austria and Switzerland in particular, in the foreseeable future.

There are of course somewhat expensive products available already from a competitor.

Is ORBX leaving those areas alone because of their availability? Of course we already have Innsbruck which suggests Austria, at least, may be forthcoming.

Given the choice I (and I imagine others) would prefer to stick with ORBX which would avoid worries about the complications that can arise when different scenery types meet.

 

 

Holger and the regions team are currently working on Australia V2 as the next landclass based full-fat region. It will be a substantial upgrade and include CityScene Melbourne as a bonus as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Following that we are looking at another Alaska LC region or New England Martimes, not decided on that yet.

 

There are already payware products covering Switzerland and Austria; we would likely do Italy or France as TrueEarth regions if we can license source imagery. We will be making a lot of TrueEarth regions in the USA as well.

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2 hours ago, John Venema said:

The UK TrueEarth series will have hundreds of CityScenes added as part of the cost, including major centres such as London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, York and much more.


Impressive!

I would really, really like to see a detailed and up-to-date replacement of Horizon's VFR London as an ORBX CityScene and I'm sure many other simmers would too.
Since that release, several new tall buildings have gone up (with more very close to completion), two major railway stations have been completely rebuilt and neither the new Wembley nor Twickenham stadiums, which are visible on the approach to Heathrow, have ever been modelled. The original footprint of the coverage area did not extend far enough in all directions to cover a few important landmarks, which I hope could be dealt with in ORBX's version.

For the other major UK cities, about 25 or so landmarks / iconic buildings in each city would give a real feeling of overflying it and increase the feeling of immersion.

I had my doubts initially, but am now excited by the scope of the TrueEarth series. All of the potential regions mentioned by John are of interest to me.
Looking forward to the release of the Netherlands!

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3 hours ago, John Venema said:

 

Holger and the regions team are currently working on Australia V2 as the next landclass based full-fat region. It will be a substantial upgrade and include CityScene Melbourne as a bonus as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Following that we are looking at another Alaska LC region or New England Martimes, not decided on that yet.

 

There are already payware products covering Switzerland and Austria; we would likely do Italy or France as TrueEarth regions if we can license source imagery. We will be making a lot of TrueEarth regions in the USA as well.

 

France and the remainder of the Low Countries (plus Denmark?) would be a logical extension to tie the extant European offerings together nicely.

 

As for the US, I'd love to see all of Maine get the KBHB treatment, and of course I'd also be partial to something in the Great Lakes.  And of course an FTX Caribbean (Leeward Islands at least) on par with Pago Pago would be my ultimate wish.

 

Either way, I promise to be happy with what I'm given!

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Right from the beginning, like others, if it's not Orbx you won't find it on my computer.  So if Orbx sells it I buy it, as Haydon posted.

 

I must agree though, like Don above, please do Alaska again.  There are so many reasons why far too many to mention here If  Orbx chooses somewhere else then I've got to go with it.

 

Regards,

Jim.

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Having read John V's thorough reply I would just note.

 

I have been looking and the competitors products appear to be dubious at best.

 

Switzerland is for FSX only. Now it would probably squeeze into earlier versions of P3D but I can only forsee disaster if I was stupid enough to try to put it in P3D v4! Whilst it was probably superb when it came out I gather it is now rather dated.

 

There is also a more up to date Swiss Scenery by a US company even that is only up to P3D v3 at present. Moreover I have read that whilst some areas are very good many are not. There seem to be issues, possibly due to poor weather when photos were being taken.

 

Austria is similar. A reasonably up to date version is for only the Eastern part at present.

 

I would have thought the Alpine area would have enormous appeal to most appeal to most Flight Simmers. I gather the data is expensive, and of course can see that make it a riskier venture. I remember paying a bomb for a glass of whisky in the 70s. It hasn't been cheap for a long time!

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3 minutes ago, Haydon the Womble said:

I have been looking and the competitors products appear to be dubious at best.

 

Switzerland is for FSX only. Now it would probably squeeze into earlier versions of P3D but I can only forsee disaster if I was stupid enough to try to put it in P3D v4! Whilst it was probably superb when it came out I gather it is now rather dated.

 

Austria is similar. A reasonably up to date version is for only the Eastern part at present.

 

 

- There is an official installer available from the maker to install "that" Switzerland scenery into Prepar3d4. I have done it, look up their homepage.

 

- Austria has both versions, Eastern and Western, available for quite some time now. I own both of them, too.

 

Switzerland, while working, shows its age. Austria is better, but both are not of the TrueEarth level. More important, they are not consistent with the ORBX-style and coloring.

 

Kind regards, Michael

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Bringing this back on topic regarding Europe. (Yes, Alaska would be great).

I would also really like to see France receive the ORBX treatment. I feel that this would be a vast improvement on a competitor's product offering. 

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On ‎04‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 1:40 PM, John Venema said:

lAs far as I know EGFF, EGHI, ESSA, LOWI, LDPU, LDPL, and LEBB are *all* airliner capable international airports we have released in Europe, and in fact we give EGFF away for free with Wales when we could easily have split it off into its own release.

 

So seven international airports in Europe is hardly “selling out to the Americans” who have only been provided six of them.

 

The UK TrueEarth series will have hundreds of CityScenes added as part of the cost, including major centres such as London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, York and much more.

 

Perhaps do some research first before making passive aggressive statements which may offend other forum members? Posts of this nature also won’t endear you to the dev team and won’t make us rush out to appease your needs.

 

Yeah, you may have a point, but I am not being aggressive. Maybe the term "selling out" was alittle extreme - for that I apologise.

 

Also, only Stockholm is really a full blown "International" airport, as the others can manage up to a 737 only. And if there a 6 in the UK and 4 in Norway - how many are in the US - 50 ?

 

Moreover, having spent 600 bucks over the last few months, my opinion is worth some respect do you not feel ? 

 

However, it is good news that more is on the way for Europe, and hopefully some well rendered regional / international airports in the UK - like Leeds, Edinburgh and Gatwick will follow, as other developers, do not really seem to be bothered blending them in with FTX.... for some reason ! ? ! ? 

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Do you really think spending $600 on Orbx scenery entitles you to post demands for international airports in your local area or automatically earn you respect? If you post in the manner that you did of course we will bristle. You made some sweeping statements about everything from Orbx being American when nothing could be further from the truth and in fact we have a balanced approached to releases around the world. If anything we are favouring Europe more than any other region at present.

 

Respect is earned;  not demanded by flinging insults, making incorrect generalisations or pounding the table, wallet in hand.

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1 hour ago, Gabe777 said:

Yeah, you may have a point, but I am not being aggressive. Maybe the term "selling out" was alittle extreme - for that I apologise.

Seems to me that you're not winning the "argument". Maybe it's time to back off a little and smell the roses..........Doug

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On 05/04/2018 at 8:53 PM, pmb said:

- There is an official installer available from the maker to install "that" Switzerland scenery into Prepar3d4. I have done it, look up their homepage.

 

- Austria has both versions, Eastern and Western, available for quite some time now. I own both of them, too.

 

Switzerland, while working, shows its age. Austria is better, but both are not of the TrueEarth level. More important, they are not consistent with the ORBX-style and coloring.

 

Kind regards, Michael

Funny when I looked I could only find Austria 'East'. I look again and West is suddenly available. I shall stick to Flight Simulation....as against the real thing.

You would have thought the said competitor would make a point of saying that their Swiss product can be made to work in P3Dv4.

Whilst I am chipping in....I wouldn't presume to tell ORBX where they should go next....I wouldn't wish to be responsible! My preference would undoubtedly to await an ORBX product. At least I know that is not imminent.

Suffice to say I would have thought, shall we say the Alpine area would be as popular the other side of the pond as it would in Europe. Bottom line I am sure market research will help decide the future....the world is a big place.

 

Oddly enough ORBX regions used to be PNW or PF etc...not necessarily defined by any existing border. That can be confusing. Ironically here I am advocating 'an Alpine region'!

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On 4/4/2018 at 8:55 AM, John Venema said:

 

Holger and the regions team are currently working on Australia V2 as the next landclass based full-fat region. It will be a substantial upgrade and include CityScene Melbourne as a bonus as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Following that we are looking at another Alaska LC region or New England Martimes, not decided on that yet.

 

There are already payware products covering Switzerland and Austria; we would likely do Italy or France as TrueEarth regions if we can license source imagery. We will be making a lot of TrueEarth regions in the USA as well.

 

This sounds great, JV! Thanks for the sneak peek into your future plans! It's great to see where Orbx is headed, particularly with the new TrueEarth regions, which look just stunning! I've been excited to see the places you're planning to produce as TrueEarth regions (especially Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the PNW, as these are particularly interesting and beautiful places to me that would have been among my top picks for a scenery of this nature).

 

Among the potential scenery projects you've mentioned above, New England Maritimes, a France TrueEarth region, and the many TrueEarth regions you're planning for the USA sound particularly exciting to me! Would New England Maritimes be a landclass or TrueEarth region (if you're able to say at this time)? Is there any chance we could see a TrueEarth (or landclass) region covering North Carolina? As I pointed out in this post (with some admitted bias ;)), I think North Carolina would make an excellent Orbx region. Virginia and other East Coast states also would be great to see.

 

Thanks again for the brief update on the future of Orbx regions! Things are looking great in Orbxland! B)

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I truly hope that for Switzerland the existing payware products are not considered competition to ORBX going into the future. Those products are so old, it's not even funny any more. I'm flying in Switzerland using OpenLC EU, as I consider this as being the best option as long as there is no better product around.

 

Doing a full-fat landclass FTX region of Switzerland wouldn't even require new textures to be made, you can just use those of FTX GES. 

A TrueEarth rendition of Switzerland I would buy instantly of course, there's nothing available on the market that comes even close to TrueEarth in quality and features. France however is the country where there are indeed some fine looking products already available. 

 

I realise though, Switzerland is just too small to ever have enough people requesting it. I guess we'll always have to make due with just OpenLC EU. Which is of course perfectly fine for IFR flying. But for VFR I would have loved for FTX Switzerland to follow Germany South.

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23 hours ago, John Venema said:

Do you really think spending $600 on Orbx scenery entitles you to post demands for international airports in your local area or automatically earn you respect? If you post in the manner that you did of course we will bristle. You made some sweeping statements about everything from Orbx being American when nothing could be further from the truth and in fact we have a balanced approached to releases around the world. If anything we are favouring Europe more than any other region at present.

 

Respect is earned;  not demanded by flinging insults, making incorrect generalisations or pounding the table, wallet in hand.

 

@John Venema

Dear John

Maybe it was just a way to express and a way of perception. Written languagge is tricky, traidor. I doubt the intension was to insult.  At the beginning I felt "aside" for not even seeing my region (Latin America) among the others, one feel like we don't exist or matter, and wonder why.. because this part of the world has great beauties to replicate. At a certain point seeing so nice products here and there one start to feel certain frustation for not seeing anything for "us" and also become anxious :) and may not express in a nice mood,  but it is just due to that. I think is a very human reaction when you feel your are not getting attention... and yes, this is a very personal thing.

In my case I understood there are many other prodcuts with priority but I hope to see some day a scenery for this area like Cancun, Mexico City, Buenos Aires city, Ushuaia, Flores in Guatemala,  Rio in Brazil, my country maybe (Costa Rica) the Panama Canal, Canaima National Park in Venezuela etc. Your products are so nice that create anxiety for seeing how great you would reproduce something around here.

Everybody reacts or expresses differently,  but we all are customers at the end, please understand that we all die for seeing our regions developed due to the quality of your products.

I hope you don't take my message as disrespectful, my intention is just to point out how fan we are of your products and how we wish to see products in areas "we feel" were left a little behind.

I think we all have huge expectations from Orbx, you are becoming essential.

 

There is just one thing I would like to express if you don't mind my doing so, because I think it is important in terms of the community. Despite your comment was not for me, saying " Do you really think spending $600 on Orbx scenery entitles you to post demands for international airports in your local area or automatically earn you respect? " This made me feel weird. I felt it kind of hurting.  For some people $600 may represent more than the salary of month depending on the country, the age of the person etc...I'm sure many of us make efforts to get as many products as possible. (Actually I just got apart the money for the Netherlands :D can't wait to get it)  

I am sure Orbx is worldwide so this is read by many people and of many ages, cultures, people in love with Orbx, and this comment, at least to me, made me feel like our money has no value, that one may have every single product made that it doesn't matter or count if one is interested in requesting an specifc product. Our money values and it is for you. You know, one feel certain kind of admiration for a CEO that has achieved so much and is impacting the sim world as you're doing that a comment like this left me with a cold sensation, not expected, but as I said written luggage is tricky and I might have wrongly understood it. I hope so.

 

Wishing you and your team a great weekend down under

 

Cheers

 

Carlos

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It's not about the money. We appreciate every single customer and know that this is a very expensive hobby for many people who sometimes struggle to put food on the table for their families. Orbx's success is due mainly to its loyal customers who buy our products and I would never treat that loyalty lightly.

 

My point was more about the expectation that because somebody spends a lot of money with Orbx that they can be allowed to make demands of us and at the same time offend other customers in they way they post (in this case, Americans) by making incorrect comments about Orbx's product focus.

 

One analogy could be me writing to Hilton Hotels to ask for a hotel in my home town because I spent thousands of dollars per year staying at Hiltons. Business does not work that way and customer expectations should be realistic.

 

We allow a lot of freedom in these forums and our moderators generally are not too strict with freedom of expression, but sometimes particular comments do offend me and the team and I reserve the right to respond accordingly.

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On 04/04/2018 at 8:55 PM, John Venema said:

 

Holger and the regions team are currently working on Australia V2 as the next landclass based full-fat region. It will be a substantial upgrade and include CityScene Melbourne as a bonus as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Following that we are looking at another Alaska LC region or New England Martimes, not decided on that yet.

 

There are already payware products covering Switzerland and Austria; we would likely do Italy or France as TrueEarth regions if we can license source imagery. We will be making a lot of TrueEarth regions in the USA as well.

 

Great news on Australia V2 John...... personally I've been waiting for this one for a long time as I'm sure many others have too.

 

I know you don't give release dates, but how about a hint......are we talking 1st half of the year or the latter half, and when can we see some sample screenshots :)

 

Terry

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On ‎06‎.‎04‎.‎2018 at 3:58 PM, Gabe777 said:

Also, only Stockholm is really a full blown "International" airport, as the others can manage up to a 737 only. And if there a 6 in the UK and 4 in Norway - how many are in the US - 50 ?

 

 

Not correct, at least not for LOWI, which has regular traffic by A321s, B757s and B767s. Even Austrían Airlines' first A330 was presented there: http://www.airliners.net/photo/Austrian-Airlines/Airbus-A330-223/209017

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On 04/04/2018 at 10:55 PM, John Venema said:

 

Holger and the regions team are currently working on Australia V2 as the next landclass based full-fat region. It will be a substantial upgrade and include CityScene Melbourne as a bonus as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

 

 

:):):)

 

Great to hear - pretty excited about this!

 

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23 hours ago, John Venema said:

It's not about the money. We appreciate every single customer and know that this is a very expensive hobby for many people who sometimes struggle to put food on the table for their families. Orbx's success is due mainly to its loyal customers who buy our products and I would never treat that loyalty lightly.

 

My point was more about the expectation that because somebody spends a lot of money with Orbx that they can be allowed to make demands of us and at the same time offend other customers in they way they post (in this case, Americans) by making incorrect comments about Orbx's product focus.

 

One analogy could be me writing to Hilton Hotels to ask for a hotel in my home town because I spent thousands of dollars per year staying at Hiltons. Business does not work that way and customer expectations should be realistic.

 

We allow a lot of freedom in these forums and our moderators generally are not too strict with freedom of expression, but sometimes particular comments do offend me and the team and I reserve the right to respond accordingly.

 

True on that...well you get some free upgrade at least if you always book Hilton :P

 

Besides I see the latest regions all being in EU and finally you decided to re-do England which was horribly made (to be honest I'd remove that altogether from the store...).

 

Opinions are opinions however ORBX still a corporate and needs to develop where the demand is!

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Yes opinions are indeed opinions and despite your view that FTX England was “horribly made” it still remains one of our top selling regions of all time, so I guess tens of thousands of people are quite happy with it.

 

If you don’t understand how landclass based scenery works and the limitations of vector on top of landclass textures in the simulator, then there is no point in convincing you that it  is a very accurate representation suitable for VFR flying with charts and is actually used in quite a few real-world flying schools and commercial simulators.

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@JohnVenema

"the limitations of vector on top of landclass textures in the simulator"

 

Interesing to know! I was not aware of such thing, so it's helpfull as it explains few things, thanks for the good job within the limitations.

 

Cheers

 

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ell I like FTX England. Wales and Scotland - do not currently have Ireland, and I also have Vectors and OpenLC EU.

 

I like that I can choose which, if any, I use.

 

So, with demanding aircraft, I will usually fly with OpenLC and Vectors - maybe set quite low - and with easier aircraft, I go Full Fat all the way.

 

With Norway and Alaska, I use Full Fat for everything, as the terrain and urban areas are so less dense and frequent.

 

However, I think for any photoscenery you may do, I am guessing it will be like "Full Fat on Steroids" ..... so to this end, it may be wise to allow a degree of scaling, as you already do with the Global Vectors. This would make it useable by everyone, in every situation, as the scaling could be modified as required.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Personally, I love FTX UK, but (and at the risk of repeating myself), would really like a few more larger airports eventually, as other developers for UK airports, just cannot seem (or refuse to) to blend them in properly. Here's hoping !

 

 

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On 4/4/2018 at 2:55 PM, John Venema said:

 

Holger and the regions team are currently working on Australia V2 as the next landclass based full-fat region. It will be a substantial upgrade and include CityScene Melbourne as a bonus as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Following that we are looking at another Alaska LC region or New England Martimes, not decided on that yet.

 

There are already payware products covering Switzerland and Austria; we would likely do Italy or France as TrueEarth regions if we can license source imagery. We will be making a lot of TrueEarth regions in the USA as well.

 

Those are wonderful news, JV!

 

I, for one, would absolutely love to see a new Switzerland scenery! LOWI Innsbruck is not far, LSGK Saanen is there as well... Not to mention Frank Dainese's wonderful mountain peaks in the region. Especially if you're planning to do Italy: it would be a pity to have a gap between Germany and the Mediterranean. :)

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  • 5 months later...

"Only Finland-superb, nay, sublime-in the jaws of peril-Finland shows what free men can do. The service rendered by Finland to mankind is magnificent. They have exposed, for all the world to see, the military incapacity of the Red Army and of the Red Air Force. Many illusions about Soviet Russia have been dispelled in these few fierce weeks of fighting in the Arctic Circle. Everyone can see how Communism rots the soul of a nation; how it makes it abject and hungry in peace, and proves it base and abominable in war.

We cannot tell what the fate of Finland may be, but no more mournful spectacle could be presented to what is left to civilized mankind than that this splendid Northern race should be at last worn down and reduced to servitude worse than death by the dull brutish force of overwhelming numbers. If the light of freedom which still burns so brightly in the frozen North should be finally quenched, it might well herald a return to the Dark Ages, when every vestige of human progress during two thousand years would be engulfed."

- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill

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On ‎4‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 8:47 AM, John Venema said:

One analogy could be me writing to Hilton Hotels to ask for a hotel in my home town because I spent thousands of dollars per year staying at Hiltons. Business does not work that way and customer expectations should be realistic.

 

I loved this analogy (just noticed this).

 

Hey some great info came out of this thread, actually.  Looking forward to many great offerings, in Europe, in North America and elsewhere.  Just keep it coming!

 

 

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