Tonight's the night .. TE GB!

[John Venema]

1 hour ago, Nigelhj said:

Wonder if that may-be due to some free-ware such as SimHeaven Europe as well as payware developers who may possibly see Orbx as some kind of risk to their add-ons. 

 

Regards

Nigel.

 

We have yet to take Simheaven to task for using world2xplane to create commercial software, which is against its terms of use. Since they have a Donate button on their website they are making money from it which is not allowed. You're not allowed to scrape ortho from Google/Bing and charge money for it, this has long been established in the FS community.

[Nigelhj]

Hi John, thanks for the explanation and it probably goes some way in explaining why .org is probably behaving in the manner that they are, I presume that Ortho from Google and Bing would come under the copyright act or something similar.

 

Again, many thanks your reply.

 

Regards

Nigel.

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

2 hours ago, John Venema said:

The MAC and Linux files should be ready very soon, we’re just waiting on Ben to land back in Australia after his UK trip to sort out the final technical bits, so won’t be long.

 

 

 

Hi John,

 

I myself use a Mac. Can I buy TE GB South now and download the "Mac" version when its available, or do I need to wait?

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

if you wish you can buy any product and install it any time after that.

Once you have the licence, there is no expiry date.

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

24 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

if you wish you can buy any product and install it any time after that.

Once you have the licence, there is no expiry date.

 

Thanks for the clarification Nick. I wasn't sure if there would be a restriction on having to use FTX Central for a purchase made prior to the Mac/LINUX versions release.

[Aeroflux]

No disrespect John, but M4 Severn bridge is a big point of interest and landmark.  Find it a bit strange this one is missing.  In terms of building density in VR things not looking that great even on max.. Saying that XP frames suffer there a bit anyway.  Yes, a nice product although my Orthos at 17 looked crisper somehow.  I very much look forward for FS2 version which I will stick with until hopefully Vulcan implementation in XP will better matters.  Do we have an eta for FS2 version and how much will cost for us XP takers?

[Tim/Rodeo314]

On 10/13/2018 at 11:08 PM, John Venema said:

MacOS and Linux download zips coming in next 24-36 hours, please accept our apologies, we are trying to coordinate files between two continents 

 

Looks like it worked  Since the manual download is a single 26 GB file, may I suggest a checksum so we can make sure there were no issues with the download?

 

Edit: I used the manual download, though it doesn't look like it came with any instructions. Is that supposed to be the compatible download?

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

 

On 10/17/2018 at 12:19 AM, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

if you wish you can buy any product and install it any time after that.

Once you have the licence, there is no expiry date.

 

Any update on the Mac release Nick?

[Tim/Rodeo314]

+1

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

Getting a 404 Not Found page when I click the “Cross Platform Download”.

 

Is the Mac download available yet?

[Nick Cooper]

Hello, probably the link has been added but not yet the files.

I should not be much longer.

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

1 hour ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello, probably the link has been added but not yet the files.

I should not be much longer.

 

Thanks Nick.

[chifan90]

any update?   why was it said on October 13th the files would come within 36 hrs, and then 8 days later they are still not available? 

 

also, curious to those referencing a 404 error,   I don't see any cross platform links or such at all on the website?

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

1 hour ago, chifan90 said:

any update?   why was it said on October 13th the files would come within 36 hrs, and then 8 days later they are still not available? 

 

also, curious to those referencing a 404 error,   I don't see any cross platform links or such at all on the website?

 

Go here and you should see the cross platform link at the bottom of the page... (https://orbxdirect.com/account/info/gbr-south-xp11)

 

If not, maybe try logging out of your account, then back in again. The link appears to direct to a holding page, which also ties in with the above as mentioned by Nick:

 

7 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello, probably the link has been added but not yet the files.

 

Just be patient, it'll be here soon enough 

[chifan90]

thanks -   will Manual download work?   it appears as a zip in safari downloads, 52 minutes to download

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

15 minutes ago, chifan90 said:

thanks -   will Manual download work?   it appears as a zip in safari downloads, 52 minutes to download

 

It's for use with FTX Central - which isn't available for Mac users yet.

[chifan90]

Oh.   I thought it was a work around. Mac is usually zip.   PC is exe or rar

[chifan90]

Nick what’s going on?  It’s sunday night here in the US 

[chifan90]

I knew I should’ve waited to buy this.  Now I’m out $39 USD with no product and wait for another weekend to have time to download it if it even becomes available for Mac by then.    Little updates, delays.  Not impressed with orbx

[Tim/Rodeo314]

Cross-platform download seems to work now. I will complain a bit because it did take a long time to deliver, but better late than never

 

Thanks!

[Tim/Rodeo314]

28 minutes ago, Tim/Rodeo314 said:

Cross-platform download seems to work now. I will complain a bit because it did take a long time to deliver, but better late than never

 

Thanks!

 

But conversion is borked:

$ ./_mac_1_conversion 
-bash: ./_mac_1_conversion: Permission denied
$ chmod +x _mac_1_conversion
$ ./_mac_1_conversion 
Orbx Ortho Conversion starting
Converting textures/a6c0x10000x17.JPG
./_mac_1_conversion: line 17: ./nvcompress-osx: Permission denied
[…]

I know you're new to *nix, but come one, neither the _mac scripts nor nvcompress-osx have execute permissions  GG

 

I know how to fix this, but not everyone does. Hope you get it right next time

 

P.S. I use the OS-provided unzip from the command line, but with it, execute permissions come out fine for archives I've created myself, so I'm fairly certain either the permissions were wrong before zipping, or whatever you're using to create the archive borked them.

[Ben McClintock]

4 hours ago, Tim/Rodeo314 said:

I know you're new to *nix, but come one, neither the _mac scripts nor nvcompress-osx have execute permissions  GG

 

I know how to fix this, but not everyone does. Hope you get it right next time

 

P.S. I use the OS-provided unzip from the command line, but with it, execute permissions come out fine for archives I've created myself, so I'm fairly certain either the permissions were wrong before zipping, or whatever you're using to create the archive borked them.

Hi Tim,

 

This is most likely because the .zip itself was created on Windows and thus doesn't know about the original *nix file permissions.

 

As you mentioned, it's a simple fix. But we'll aim to get this issue fixed in the .zip for the future.

[chifan90]

I just downloaded both the manual version and cross platform.  Got 24GB each downloaded with 10 mins left and the servers timed out and start all over.  Such a pain.  But if the files are not correct anyway like Ben said then it wouldn’t have worked regardless. 

[chifan90]

5 minutes ago, Ben McClintock said:

Hi Tim,

 

This is most likely because the .zip itself was created on Windows and thus doesn't know about the original *nix file permissions.

 

As you mentioned, it's a simple fix. But we'll aim to get this issue fixed in the .zip for the future.

What’s the eta on this fix?   

[Ben McClintock]

@chifan90, please use a download manager for downloading large files such as that (for example: Free Download Manager). This will avoid the download failing if the connection is interrupted.

 

The fix is in the post above, just running these two commands in the folder in terminal will fix it. There is no need to wait for the fix to be uploaded (it will be at least 96 hours away)

chmod +x _mac_1_conversion
chmod +x nvcompress-osx

Also, there is no need to download the "manual" version - you only need the "cross platform" version

[chifan90]

4 minutes ago, Ben McClintock said:

@chifan90, please use a download manager for downloading large files such as that (for example: Free Download Manager). This will avoid the download failing if the connection is interrupted.

 

The fix is in the post above, just running these two commands in the folder in terminal will fix it. There is no need to wait for the fix to be uploaded (it will be at least 96 hours away)

chmod +x _mac_1_conversion
chmod +x nvcompress-osx

 

Hello Ben,

 

thanks for the downloading tip.   My comcast xfinity went out.  I want to just download in Safari and be done. So trial 2 of the cross platform is underway.

 

I don’t know how to use terminal much; I only use it to open ortho4xp.  Can you give step by step instructions please? 

 

Why 96 hours at least; this product was supposed to be released in working condition by this past Saturday if not sooner.   Now it’s days past and broken.   

[Ben McClintock]

16 minutes ago, chifan90 said:

I don’t know how to use terminal much; I only use it to open ortho4xp.  Can you give step by step instructions please? 

Hi chifan,

1. Open Terminal.
2. Also open the X-Plane 11/Custom Scenery/Orbx_C_GB_TrueEarth_Orthos folder.
3. Type chmod +x followed by a space. Then drag and drop the _mac_1_conversion file onto Terminal. You should then see the full path to the file. Press enter.
4. Type chmod +x followed by a space. Then drag and drop the nvcompress-osx file onto Terminal. You should then see the full path to the file. Press enter.

Here's a short video showing that process: 

 

 

 

Running the above steps will set the correct executable permissions on the file. You should now be able to double-click on the _mac_1_conversion file to begin the conversion process.

 

16 minutes ago, chifan90 said:

Why 96 hours at least; this product was supposed to be released in working condition by this past Saturday if not sooner.   Now it’s days past and broken.   

Australian internet is slow. It will take a significant amount of time to upload the file. Then we have to wait for it to propagate to all of the CDN nodes (this is the reason for the initial delay - we were having issues outside of our control with the CDN).

[chifan90]

Thanks for the step by step.  I’ll give it a try and reply back on results.  

 

I’m surprised, Australia is a modern nation. It needs fast internet like in the US

[Scott/Forbesie2k]

15 minutes ago, chifan90 said:

I’m surprised, Australia is a modern nation. It needs fast internet like in the US

 

We've got too much land, not enough inhabitants (to pay for the upgrades actually needed), and a botched plan and works in progress. I'm waiting on "super fast NBN technology" that will provide speeds that I was getting in the UK over 10+ years ago; needing to wait until July19' for it to arrive too. At least it's going to be faster than what we currently have

Micro community ISP's are popping up all over Oz, and they're providing 500mbps connections, but they're too few and far between unfortunately.

Thanks for the update and providing the download Ben. As well as the below tutorial for X-Plane Mac installation:

5 hours ago, Ben McClintock said:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Also open the X-Plane 11/Custom Scenery/Orbx_C_GB_TrueEarth_Orthos folder.
3. Type chmod +x followed by a space. Then drag and drop the _mac_1_conversion file onto Terminal. You should then see the full path to the file. Press enter.
4. Type chmod +x followed by a space. Then drag and drop the nvcompress-osx file onto Terminal. You should then see the full path to the file. Press enter.

 

[chifan90]

i am running terminal now,  it is doing something but  it keeps saying cuda disabled after each step taking 20 something seconds

 

 

time taken: 21.367 seconds

Converting textures/a6c0xfc70x17.JPG

NVIDIA Texture Tools 2.1.0 - Copyright NVIDIA Corporation 2007

 

CUDA acceleration DISABLED

 

time taken: 22.547 seconds

Converting textures/a6c0xfc80x17.JPG

NVIDIA Texture Tools 2.1.0 - Copyright NVIDIA Corporation 2007

 

CUDA acceleration DISABLED

 

time taken: 21.677 seconds

Converting textures/a6c0xfc90x17.JPG

NVIDIA Texture Tools 2.1.0 - Copyright NVIDIA Corporation 2007

 

CUDA acceleration DISABLED

 

time taken: 22.704 seconds

Converting textures/a6c0xfca0x17.JPG

NVIDIA Texture Tools 2.1.0 - Copyright NVIDIA Corporation 2007

 

CUDA acceleration DISABLED

[chifan90]

Terminal is still running-  no end in sight;  hard to gauge progress based on the current texture showing in terminal because in the textures folder the files are not sequentially in order,  theres a6xxxxxxxx  files  after the a7xxxxx's for example.     i sure hope when i come home today that it's complete & works.   if not, might just have to wait again until another weekend 96 hrs until the correct upload is given.    

 

this process is a big turn off as a new Orbx customer,   great looking products, i enjoy the meigs field scenery but that was easy install. 

[Dainius Psitulskis]

2 hours ago, chifan90 said:

Terminal is still running-  no end in sight;  hard to gauge progress based on the current texture showing in terminal because in the textures folder the files are not sequentially in order,  theres a6xxxxxxxx  files  after the a7xxxxx's for example.     i sure hope when i come home today that it's complete & works.   if not, might just have to wait again until another weekend 96 hrs until the correct upload is given.    

 

this process is a big turn off as a new Orbx customer,   great looking products, i enjoy the meigs field scenery but that was easy install. 

It  looks like that conversion process (at leat on AMD Radeon machines) will take at least 24hrs.

 

[Rich330]

Terminal has now been running for five hours with no clue of the end in site. I hope Dainius is wrong about a possible 24 hours.

 

If we were to wait the 96 hours for the new download would the process be a lot quicker? (I am a little worried about the cooling fans running for 24 hours at high speed)

 

 

[chifan90]

Yeah I too don’t want my imac running for 24 hours.  I’ll see how it is when I get home tonight.   

 

I guese if waiting till till the weekend again means a faster and less manual process than fine.    At least also FTX central is being ported to Mac for later 

[Tim/Rodeo314]

In the future, the scripts could be updated to pass the -fast switch to nvcompress -- I'm at about 3 seconds per file on my iMac. It's possible that the fast switch would reduce quality in the output DDS a bit, but whether it's actually noticeable remains to be seen.

 

For reference, Ortho4XP calls "nvcompress-osx -bc1 -fast" and most people (myself included) seem happy enough with the results

[chifan90]

my conversions just finished,  took about 15 hours. , ill try loading it up in sim in a while

[chifan90]

got it installed, so thats a huge step.   mostly looking good, have to play with texture settings as some buildings look good and others not.   however my new issue is some landmarks are not appearing, such as Tower Bridge & Parliament & London Eye.    also very poor texture quality in areas-  see 3rd image

 

Updated: tested-   increasing the world objects slider does not solve my issue

 

 

 

see images-    examples of generic block buildings in spots they shouldn't be

 

please help when you can,

 

 

 

 

[Ben McClintock]

16 hours ago, chifan90 said:

if not, might just have to wait again until another weekend 96 hrs until the correct upload is given. 

The new upload would not make the conversion process any faster - it only fixes the permissions on the scripts that are used to start the conversion process.

 

1 hour ago, chifan90 said:

got it installed, so thats a huge step.   mostly looking good, have to play with texture settings as some buildings look good and others not.   however my new issue is some landmarks are not appearing, such as Tower Bridge & Parliament & London Eye.    also very poor texture quality in areas-  see 3rd image

That is caused by a scenery ordering issue, the "X-Plane Landmarks - London" and "Global Airports" need to be above the three TrueEarth entries. For more information, you can see this topic here: 

 

[Rich330]

I sadly gave up last night after 12 hours, I'm away working for a couple of days and couldn't leave the computer on. Does this mean I will have to start again or is any of the conversion saved?

[chifan90]

8 hours ago, Ben McClintock said:

The new upload would not make the conversion process any faster - it only fixes the permissions on the scripts that are used to start the conversion process.

 

That is caused by a scenery ordering issue, the "X-Plane Landmarks - London" and "Global Airports" need to be above the three TrueEarth entries. For more information, you can see this topic here: 

 

 

 

Hey Ben & John,  thanks. But I don’t use Global Airports-  I trash that folder every time I get an update.  I hate LEGO brick generic stuff.    Also, I removed XP Landmarks London to my desktop prior to install of TEGB. 

 

also, i mean this respectfully as perhaps the install went wrong, but for such a price as this product, the visuals are sub par by far compared to drzweicki designs city projects.     the image below to me looks like just a bunch of random W2XP sim heaven like objects placed on the ground.   i still cant get tower bridge, parliament & london eye to appear ' let alone the texture quality is poor vs the youtube video of this product announcement looking nice.   i  have a higher end 2017 27" imac.

 

Increasing the object slider count does not solve the issue, it only makes the sim slower when on max objects, unusable.  also, i removed all TEGB folders to see if i had other London area sceneries appearing, - I did, a EGLC, i removed it but the only resolution was that some water dam like objects now appear correctly. 

 

I was expecting quality like oRBX Meigs Field,   i am very disappointed and somewhat want a refund if theres no way to make this better

 

what am i doing wrong?

Log.txt

scenery_packs.ini