ORBX 2019 ROADMAP (231 SCREENSHOTS!)

[pmb]

2 hours ago, david broome said:

I'd like to make a wish and plant the seed here, that the ORBX developers produce a higher definition mesh for those regions already available. 

 

While this sounds like a good idea, it's not without issues. I often see "textures snapping into place" under Prepar3d when using one of Pilot's high definition meshs. As a result, I also deactivated them and only use the ORBX suggested 2010 mesh which rarely shows these artifacts.

 

This seems to be a Prepar3d specific issue which I doubt can be ameliorated by ORBX. I've never seen it in X-Plane so far. I think it's high time LM devoting to this, but based on their forum I am not under the impression it's high on their priority list.

 

Another one is the cliff issue. Look, e.g., upon the Norwegian fjords where some steep gradients look like chewing gum. It's certainly the base engine being in fault here.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[BobT]

17 hours ago, John Venema said:

Yes, that should be your expectation. TE USA Washington is about 45% complete for XP11 and you will soon be given preview shots of what this remarkable part of the world looks like with hundreds of POI models all with PBR enabled. If you thought TE GB was a game changer, this is a whole new level again.

To that I say OMG I will have to wear a drool bib until that baby is released!!

[Kilstorm]

You guys have done a great job over the past few months bringing the England airports to XP11. What I am most looking forward to buying and for why is:
TE PNW and all the airports in that cover area for Aerofly FS2. Reason why is I look forward to doing xc flights to all those non controlled fields using VFR and no GPS. A smooth VFR xc flight in that area would be a great use of AFS2. Basically I' looking to trade my PNW P3D flying in for AFS2 to really enjoy the smooth flying and true VFR navigation flights. Other AFS2 airports would be KBID, KACK and KTEX.

 

Being a loyal member of PilotEdge, I'm looking to buy all PE ATC Towered cover airports on the west coast. Mostly in the SoCal area. P3D has all the planes I like to fly but XP and AFS2 have the core sim features I like the most so thats where I am finding I like to fly more while I use all the platforms and lease 90% of the Orbx products for P3D.

[tdavart]

I'm really curious why P3D production seems to have bottled-necked, while XP stuff keeps flooding in. Now it seems TE PNW for XP is almost halfway done, all of England is complete and we are just now getting TE England South for P3D, and the rest sounds like a long way off. Yes, we have TE NL, and a long-awaited update, for which we are grateful. But as a paying customer of FSX and P3D Orbx products for years, I'm very curious what's up.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

as a paying customer you should be aware that the current FSX/P3D projects are huge.

To a paying customer, I feel sure that OLC Africa and Australia v2 will be highly satifactory.

They do not compare to the conversion of airports from P3D to X Plane 11 which appears to

have distorted your view of what is actually happening.

[tdavart]

Thank you Nick...I wouldn't classify all of England and now PNW as simple conversions, but no worries. I'm sure Africa and Au will be more than satisfactory for those interested, just like all of Orbx products. Just thought you might like some honest perceptions of a "paying customer", or "avid collector" if that is more acceptable. Btw, not trying to diss X-Plane at all. I may get it at some point, just not right now.

[Nick Cooper]

I wrote that the conversion and release of a number of existing airports from P3D to X Plane11

could have served to  give the appearance that the focus had shifted, when in fact it has not.

These are relatively simple tasks, not to be belittled at all but far less than vast areas

consisting of entire continents.

My point being that there is nothing up, as you asked and there will in due course be plenty of

new products that work in P3D and FSX for that matter.

[NestoChe]

Wow!.....Really looking forward to the New Australia-Version2 and Africa OpenLC…looking good!

[Manuel Bigot]

It would be nice for the page "Preview Screenshots and Video" to separate in dissociate page Xplane and P3D ...!
Me too, when I open this page, I have the impression that Orbx is diverting from P3D and only makes conversions for Xplane for 1 year ...

[John Venema]

We have 180 FSX/P3D products, most of which will be ported to other platforms. It is reasonable therefore that we preview those ports to users of those platforms.

 

We don’t see the need to split preview screenshots by simulator.

[olderndirt]

Preaching to the choir is usually wasted energy but your TE GB ventures into XP have shown that this platform does wonders with your scenery.  The others are 'close but no cigar' - your cadre of preview shooters should agree.  It'd be interesting to know just how many have purchased XP since the intro of your series. 

[macca22au]

JV:  I have already commented but taking another look at your previews of AUv2,  I don't expect to get the upgrade free,  My card is ready.

[ErichB]

One of the  long awaited packages for me is Africa LC.  The Roadmap originally said Q1.  Is this still going to happen?

 

 

[Juanvito]

4 hours ago, orbxflyer said:

One of the  long awaited packages for me is Africa LC.  The Roadmap originally said Q1.  Is this still going to happen?

 

 

 

It doesn't look likely. I remember OpenLC South America had about two months between the first few beta preview pics and release.

[John Venema]

OLC Africa is now being worked on again, we should have preview shots in April.

[GSalden]

@John

 

Any ideas about TE Germany or TE Switserland ?

 

Thanks 

[John Venema]

Not this year. This is the year of TE USA.

[xianghengyi1995@163.com]

14 hours ago, John Venema said:

Not this year. This is the year of TE USA.

Is there any other projects besides TE USA this year? Is there a hope for KPSP, KJAC and so on?

In December. KEGE seems to be almost finished.

I have purchased KACK and KVUO, as always, high quality

But I hope there are some places to let me take off and land 737 and other commercial aviation.

[John Venema]

In 2019 we will release over 10 NGX/A3x ready airports for XP11, and at least 6+ for P3D. Some of these will be ports including many of our popular P3D larger airports.

 

We are only at the beginning or March, and whilst it seems quiet there is a lot of activity at Orbx HQ.

[Badl4ndz]

49 minutes ago, John Venema said:

In 2019 we will release over 10 NGX/A3x ready airports for XP11, and at least 6+ for P3D. Some of these will be ports including many of our popular P3D larger airports.

 

We are only at the beginning or March, and whilst it seems quiet there is a lot of activity at Orbx HQ.

May I ask what NGX/A3x airports are? Is it National Gateways and airfields such as more of the recently released airfield conversions for TE GB  South XP?

[hal9000]

18 minutes ago, Badl4ndz said:

NGX/A3x airports are?

 

Airports for Big-Birds from Boeing and Airbus

[Badl4ndz]

4 hours ago, hal9000 said:

 

Airports for Big-Birds from Boeing and Airbus

Many thanks 

[Peter Webber]

On 3/7/2019 at 9:21 PM, John Venema said:

OLC Africa is now being worked on again, we should have preview shots in April.

OLC Africa was pushed from last year, to February, to Q1, now preview shots "should" be out April. It seems every time I search in the forums it keeps getting pushed out. Hopefully now that it is  "being worked on" we should receive more positive news soon.

[Jocko Flocko]

Excellent outlook, glad to see Earth Simulations projects being "revived" and are now in the pipe as well as TE Pacific Northwest, it will be incredible having small bush dirt strips represented by photo-real texture sets. Was really hoping to see those Alaska airports, hopefully they will get done some time in the future.

-Andrew

[pvupilot]

I’m just crossing my fingers and checking back daily for something on TE GB North for P3D. Also, maybe I missed it, but are there any plans for Ireland? And definitely looking forward to “the year of TE USA”!

[Longranger241]

41 minutes ago, pvupilot said:

 Also, maybe I missed it, but are there any plans for Ireland?

Yes, later. There are currently no useable photo textures available.

[Jocko Flocko]

Would *LOVE* to see another Scottish Aerodrome and one in Ireland hopefully. Sumburgh is incredibly challenging in bad weather in the Majestic Q400!

[YAMBA1]

Very impressive. A lot took for in the coming years. When I saw the picture of the Cote d'Azur  I felt  straight back at home.  and then to discover that  Shark Bay is on the map  for Australia . This was my first job  when I migrated to Australia . A lonely  place   with a unique charm of unequaled beauty..  That was long ago!

Can  wait  to update 

[Christopher Low]

Quote

I’m just crossing my fingers and checking back daily for something on TE GB North for P3D.

 

TrueEarth GB Central will be before North.

[Peter Lenting]

Dear JV,

 

Is there any news about TE the Netherlands (North) for XPlane  ?

There was a poll and you stated, if over 200 votes, ORBX might release this.

Did the poll reached the number 200 ?

Any update is verry welcome.

 

Thank you in advantage

Regards Peter

[John Venema]

Only 123 votes for the positive so far, and 63 prefer to wait:

 

 

That is not compelling enough for us to justify the development time.

[Peter Lenting]

Thank you  John for your answer.

It's pitty, but i can understand in bussines point of view.

 

Regards Peter

[kevinfirth]

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

 

TrueEarth GB Central will be before North.

The year 2020 will probably be before that :p

[Christopher Low]

Why release GB South, and then wait over a year before releasing Central? I was really hoping to be able to ditch all three volumes of my current England and Wales photoscenery in the near future

[kevinfirth]

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

Why release GB South, and then wait over a year before releasing Central? I was really hoping to be able to ditch all three volumes of my current England and Wales photoscenery in the near future

JV explained in another thread Chris. In a nutshell, the first P3D part was a proof of concept, they can use freely available government imagery in the US so are concentrating there this year to make TE profitable before coming back to europe.

[TymK]

I may be completely wrong, but I also suspect Orbx are in a bit of an awkward position with the True Earth product line for P3D. While they’ve been very committed to the platform, it is now apparent that P3D – at least in its current form – simply isn’t up to the task (and I’m saying that as a P3D-only user). Unlike XP, which is built to work with ortho and has a very advanced autogen engine, P3D can only display very simple AG, and thus requires a huge number of custom objects to work around these limitations. When you combine that with the object library lookup bug that causes unacceptable load times, and the generally inefficient texture loading, well... you get the picture.

 

A quick look at the screenshot subforum can be very telling as to the popularity of the P3D version vs XP.

 

Of course, the above is pure conjecture on my part, but that’s the kind of vibe I’m getting.

[kevinfirth]

8 minutes ago, TymK said:

I may be completely wrong, but I also suspect Orbx are in a bit of an awkward position with the True Earth product line for P3D. While they’ve been very committed to the platform, it is now apparent that P3D – at least in its current form – simply isn’t up to the task (and I’m saying that as a P3D-only user). Unlike XP, which is built to work with ortho and has a very advanced autogen engine, P3D can only display very simple AG, and thus requires a huge number of custom objects to work around these limitations. When you combine that with the object library lookup bug that causes unacceptable load times, and the generally inefficient texture loading, well... you get the picture.

 

A quick look at the screenshot subforum can be very telling as to the popularity of the P3D version vs XP.

 

Of course, the above is pure conjecture on my part, but that’s the kind of vibe I’m getting.

With good hardware its not a massive problem, but thats easy to say from my perspective.  I dont have XP so the merits of different architectures are not something I can comment on knowledgeably, but it sounds reasonable.  Perhaps upcoming P3D versions will improve on some of those aspects.

[pmb]

1 hour ago, TymK said:

I may be completely wrong, but I also suspect Orbx are in a bit of an awkward position with the True Earth product line for P3D. While they’ve been very committed to the platform, it is now apparent that P3D – at least in its current form – simply isn’t up to the task (and I’m saying that as a P3D-only user). Unlike XP, which is built to work with ortho and has a very advanced autogen engine, P3D can only display very simple AG, and thus requires a huge number of custom objects to work around these limitations. When you combine that with the object library lookup bug that causes unacceptable load times, and the generally inefficient texture loading, well... you get the picture.

 

A quick look at the screenshot subforum can be very telling as to the popularity of the P3D version vs XP.

 

Of course, the above is pure conjecture on my part, but that’s the kind of vibe I’m getting.

You may have a point here, but there is another aspect. TE GB was developed natively for X-Plane and optimally adapted to that platform from the outset. It was later transferred to Prepar3d, and there may be much room for optimisation in this process yet. Have a look at TE NL which was natively developed for Prepar3d and works pretty well, at least on my system (which is not in Kevin's leage).

 

Maybe the TE GB P3D service pack will already bring about some optimization.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[stiletto2]

2 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

JV explained in another thread Chris. In a nutshell, the first P3D part was a proof of concept, they can use freely available government imagery in the US so are concentrating there this year to make TE profitable before coming back to europe.

 

 

Hi Kevin,

 

Here is the quote that you are referencing when someone asked about TrueEarth for France:  

 

John Venema said:

 

"We have not said 'no' to France, it is entirely possible we will do this.

 

First however, let's get the TE series to be profitable for Orbx so we can afford expensive licensed imagery for parts of the EU. This is why we are focusing on the busiest FS area in the world - the USA west coast. TE GB was an experiment and proof of concept, just like Netherlands was. Now the serious investment is happening with the USA series which will feature some amazing content. That will truly be next level.

 

We wish other governments would be like the USA and make high quality imagery available for commercial use. It's a wise move by the US government because it encourages companies like us to create content for their country."

 

I have a little different set of thoughts on when the TE GB  Central and North for P3Dv4 releases might occur in light of the above quote and a few more quotes that you will find near the end of this post.   I think JV's comments above were in reference to when TE for France would happen.   Earlier in this thread there was a post by me that JV responded to which seemed to set the plan for TE GB Central and TE GB North for P3Dv4 as well as other future TE projects like TE Washington State: 

 

On 2/22/2019 at 3:44 PM, stiletto2 said:

The roadmap highlights TE PNW for P3Dv4 as one of the major release plans for this year.   TE PNW is also mentioned for XP.   I have always been a leading edge scenery user and that's why I love Orbx.  However, I also love P3D.  I have a high end system which is nicely tuned (along with selected Display profiles) to run TE GB South for P3Dv4 at an average of 30 FPS  or more everywhere.  JV has mentioned that he wants to hire enough programmers so he can ultimately release the same new scenery on P3D and XP platforms at the same time.   For me, the sooner the better.  However, until such time  as developer parity is reached on the new True Earth releases, can we pretty much expect True Earth releases (PNW for example) to always come out first on XP with several months elapsing before they come out on P3Dv4?   

 

Rod

 

    

 

 

 

On 2/22/2019 at 8:02 PM, John Venema said:

Yes, that should be your expectation. TE USA Washington is about 45% complete for XP11 and you will soon be given preview shots of what this remarkable part of the world looks like with hundreds of POI models all with PBR enabled. If you thought TE GB was a game changer, this is a whole new level again.

 

While a crew of XP techs are working on developing TE  USA Washington, I believe the P3Dv4 techs who are about finished with SP1 for TE GB South for P3Dv4 could then be concentrating on getting TE GB Central ported to P3Dv4 since the major investment has already been made in getting the XP versions out the door.   Also, TE GB Central for P3Dv4 would not have the big London area performance problems.  I would think Orbx would want to get that out the door within the next few months as JV seemed to indicate was the plan in his post noted above.   

 

Rod

[F737MAX]

2 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

JV explained in another thread Chris. In a nutshell, the first P3D part was a proof of concept, they can use freely available government imagery in the US so are concentrating there this year to make TE profitable before coming back to europe.

 

Leaving GB incomplete was not in the original roadmap. Completing it, moving attention to PNW, before returning to European countries was.
It would be a massive kick in the teeth for P3D users to have a country left unfinished. FTX Germany South was developed immediately after FTX Germany South and as seen above, TE NL isn't coming in parts for XP.

 

2 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

JV explained in another thread Chris. In a nutshell, the first P3D part was a proof of concept, they can use freely available government imagery in the US so are concentrating there this year to make TE profitable before coming back to europe.

The proof of concept for P3D was TE Netherlands.
As a complete guess, the lack of profitable sales numbers are a result of current poor performance in P3D - which will hopefully be rectified by SP1 and the expected improvement in load times due with the release of P3D v4.5.
 

2 hours ago, TymK said:

I may be completely wrong, but I also suspect Orbx are in a bit of an awkward position with the True Earth product line for P3D. While they’ve been very committed to the platform, it is now apparent that P3D – at least in its current form – simply isn’t up to the task (and I’m saying that as a P3D-only user). Unlike XP, which is built to work with ortho and has a very advanced autogen engine, P3D can only display very simple AG, and thus requires a huge number of custom objects to work around these limitations. When you combine that with the object library lookup bug that causes unacceptable load times, and the generally inefficient texture loading, well... you get the picture.

 

A quick look at the screenshot subforum can be very telling as to the popularity of the P3D version vs XP.

 

Of course, the above is pure conjecture on my part, but that’s the kind of vibe I’m getting.

XP is more popular on the screenshot forum because TE GB is complete. How many shots are of the, as yet unreleased in P3D, TE GB Central and North products? Therefore, I don't think that it's a balanced comparison. Also, the lighting in XP also lends to overall more impressive screenshots.

As Michael said above, TE Netherlands (the original proof of concept) works well in P3D. I have a lot of praise for that product, as I will for TE GB once it has been optimised and been given its updates.
 

22 minutes ago, stiletto2 said:

[...]

I have a little different set of thoughts on when the TE GB  Central and North for P3Dv4 releases might occur in light of the above quote and a few more quotes that you will find near the end of this post.   I think JV's comments above were in reference to when TE for France would happen.   Earlier in this thread there was a post by me that JV responded to which seemed to set the plan for TE GB Central and TE GB North for P3Dv4 as well as other future TE projects like TE Washington State: 

 

While a crew of XP techs are working on developing TE  USA Washington, I believe the P3Dv4 techs who are about finished with SP1 for TE GB South for P3Dv4 could then be concentrating on getting TE GB Central ported to P3Dv4 since the major investment has already been made in getting the XP versions out the door.   Also, TE GB Central for P3Dv4 would not have the big London area performance problems.  I would think Orbx would want to get that out the door within the next few months as JV seemed to indicate was the plan in his post noted above. 

The SP for TE Netherlands (now complete), Australia v2 and OLC Africa have been given priority of P3D development resources. They've been promised for a while and should be guaranteed smash hits, helping the Orbx bottom line.
Hopefully by that point, P3D v4.5 with its improvements, and all of the TE GB products SPs for XP, will have been released.
This may result in a shorter development period for Central and North in P3D and without the need of later SPs, allow the P3D team to move earlier onto bringing PNW from XP to P3D.