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Australia V2 for P3D and FSX: Official Announcement!


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G'day everyone, 

 

It is with a great deal of excitement that the team is proud to announce our latest region for FSX & Prepar3D, Orbx AU Australia V2!

 

A monumental redesign of one of our most beloved products, AUv2 brings to life the entirety of the Australian continent with the latest region-based technology. Clocking in at a staggering 8 million square kilometres, AUv2 incorporates an enormous diversity of topography and geography. From the tropical rain forests of far-north Queensland to the wind-swept coastline of south-west Tasmania; from the temperate urban metropolises of the east coast to the desolate beauty of the red centre, explore a variety of stunning landscapes not seen anywhere else in the Orbx world. 

 

AUv2 is a landclass-style region that brings together everything on a massive scale. Almost 700 airports have been upgraded or created from scratch, giving you the perfect opportunity to criss-cross the country in true VFR style. Coastlines, waterbodies, road, rail and powerline networks have been recreated from scratch, using the latest high-fidelity data to vastly improve accuracy and detail across the continent. Towns, urban centres and other settlements have been reworked too; diversity, realism and accuracy greatly improve the immersion, whether that be flying cross-country long-haul or local VFR hops. Terrain elevation mesh has been brought to the next level; incorporating the latest data from the Australian Government, the new HD mesh makes a huge difference on both a small and large scale. In addition to these major re-workings, over 50 large-scale photoreal points of interest have been created from scratch to represent well-known geographical and man-made features. Mine sites, dry lakes, tidal water bodies, unusual geographical formations and more have been expertly edited, colourised and blended to the surrounding terrain. The largest of these features is the Great Barrier Reef; recreated in complete photoreal quality, this feature alone is larger than many of our existing regions! 

 

The centrepiece of AUv2 is undoubtedly our high-definition Melbourne Cityscape. The inner suburbs of Melbourne have been lovingly brought to life in full photoreal detail. 30cm ground textures, complete custom modelling for CBD blocks, high-detail POI, beautifully hand-placed autogen vegetation, and stunning night lighting combine bring to life the city that is, in many ways, the spiritual home for Orbx. We will go into much further detail on this exciting component of AUv2 in coming weeks. 

 

We have all been very much looking forward to showing this latest work off to you; for a long time we have been listening to your requests for more P3D projects, and more Australian projects - we have been listening! We also hope you enjoy exploring just a small taste of what this huge scenery has in store for you.

 

FEATURES
 

Melbourne, Victoria

 

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

 

Adelaide, South Australia

 

Great Barrier Reef, Queensland

 

AUv2 FEATURE LIST

  • Our largest and most popular region; 8 million sq km in full Orbx region quality
  • Ultra-HD Melbourne Cityscape
  • 370+ upgraded and 280+ all-new airports
  • Over 50+ large-scale photoreal areas of interest such as salt lakes, mine sites, tidal areas and many more
  • High-quality mesh, with high-resolution LIDAR data for the majority of the eastern/southern seaboard, major cities and Tasmania
  • Completely new lakes, rivers and shorelines - much improved quality and accuracy
  • Entire Great Barrier Reef in photoreal
  • Completely new road and rail networks
  • Improved and new landclass types
  • Hundreds of thousands of new geographical features; dry lakes, parks, railyards, industrial areas etc
  • Much-improved populated area shape accuracy
  • Completely new powerline networks, windfarms and other man-made features
  • Improved and updated bridges, harbour objects and marinas
  • Complete seasonal variations
  • Airports optimised for use with AI traffic, particularly our enormously-popular AI Traffic for Australia
  • Designed to work seamlessly with all 32 Australian HD airports and Cityscapes (on sale until the end of May!)
  • Completely compatible with FSX, FSX:SE and P3Dv1-v4

 

COVERAGE MAP

Note: this map represents the current development version of AUv2, with more features likely to be added for release.

 

THE TEAM

As to be expected from such a monumental project, many developers have been working tirelessly to get AUv2 prepared for you all. First and foremost, Holger Sandmann is the Project Manager and Lead Developer for the project; as our resident GIS guru, he has undertaken all major vector, raster, elevation editing and processing. Frank Schnibben has been in charge of the Melbourne Cityscene component, many of the exciting new features seen in this part of the product are his handy work. Contributing several of the ultra-HD landmarks located within Melbourne, including the beautiful MCG, is Jordan Gough. Chris Clack, alongside Graham Eccleston and Ken Hall, have been looking after the upgrades to all the airports included in the project. Mark Halliwell has cast his eye towards colourising, editing and blending the large photoreal points of interest. 

 

Lastly, it is very important to acknowledge the work of our good friend and colleague, Neil Hill. Before Neil passed away last year, one of his last projects was laying the groundwork for the complete AUv2 airport database. We'd like to recognise the huge contribution Neil made to this project. 

 

FAQ

Q. I own FTX AU (v1), am I eligible for some kind of discount? A. As long as you have a copy of FTX AU v1 in your OrbxDirect account, a discount of 40% will be automatically applied at check-out. 

Q. How much disk space will AUv2 take up? A. Current installed size is approx 21GB, though this is subject to change for final release

Q. Will all my Orbx payware Australian airports work with AUv2? A. Yes. Graham is currently working through all HD airports to correct any compatibility issues. 

Q. I have a third-party mesh installed, will I need this for Australia? A. No. The mesh shipped with AUv2 is the best quality and resolution currently available on the market. 

 

COMPATIBILITY

Orbx Australia V2 has been designed to work with all versions of FSX and Prepar3D. An up-to-date installation of the OrbxLibraries is a must. 

 

AUv2 is a stand-alone product and as such absolutely no other Orbx products are required. We do recommend using AUv2 alongside our freeware Australian AI pack. All Orbx HD airports, freeware airports and CityScene products will be fully compatible with AUv2. 

 

PRICING

Orbx AUv2 will be available exclusively via OrbxDirect for AUD $54.95 (approx. USD $38.50/ €34.25 / £29.50). AUv1 customers who have a copy in their OrbxDirect account will receive a 40% discount. 

 

The team are working extremely hard in the background putting the final touches on this huge project, but in the meantime be sure to check out the following screenshots from across the country.

Cheers!

 

Use your mouse to explore this 360-degree view of Melbourne Cityscape

 

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Shark Bay, Western Australia

 

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Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

 

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Cocos (Keeling) Islands

 

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Hunter Valley, New South Wales

 

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Lake Eyre, South Australia

 

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Blue Mountains, New South Wales

 

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Great Barrier Reef, Queensland

 

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Melbourne CBD, Victoria

 

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RAAF Pearce, Western Australia. Also shown are new upcoming freeware AU AI Traffic updates (for P3Dv4 only)

 

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The Olgas, Northern Territory

 

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Adelaide northern suburbs, South Australia

 

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Victorian High Country 


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Mount Warning, New South Wales

 

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Melbourne CBD, Victoria

 

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Jervis Bay Territory

 

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Near Alice Springs, Northern Territory

 

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Adelaide Airport and CBD, South Australia

 

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Near Byron Bay, looking towards Mount Warning, New South Wales

 

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Melbourne CBD, Victoria

 

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Darwin, Northern Territory

 

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Glasshouse Mountains, Queensland

 

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Adelaide Salt Lakes, South Australia

 

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Flinders Island Airport, Tasmania

 

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Port Melbourne, Victoria

 

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Brisbane CBD, Queensland

 

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Far North Queensland

 

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Melbourne CBD, Victoria

 

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Lake Amadeus, Northern Territory


Keep an eye for more updates and info in the coming weeks!

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Looking absolutely great !
Ik have a request and a question
1. Because Australia v2 comes with mesh, could you by that time, add instructions about which files of FS Global products should be de-activated.. Just switching off Oceania, would affect other area's too.
2. How about the compatability of the OZx addons? With so many new airports, I could imagine, there is going to be some overlap.

Thanks for your replies.
Bram Stikkel
 

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Thanks guys, there are still a couple of things the guys want to tweak with Sydney before we show that off. Fear not though, these shots are only a tiny taste of what this scenery includes; we'll be posting plenty more pics over the coming weeks :)

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This looks amazing but what about Perth has it had anything done to either the airport or the city as all we currently have is jandakot unlike Melbourne which this will be the third revamp since it came out, do the developers not think it warrants a makeover?

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Thanks Jarrad, that's certainly an announcement a lot of us have been waiting for. The pix, notably the before-after-pix, prove you have done a great work.

 

Given you make this announcement, may I ask if you were involved in the project yourself?

 

Thanks and kind regards, Michael

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Hey Guys.

Congrats on such a wonderful achievement. So many of the best artists in the industry there.

 

I honestly believe the last time I was so excited over a sim release was the original Tamworth. It was ground breaking and you guys have continued to raise the bar ever since.

 

I am almost finished a very intense upgrade of my cockpit to a beautiful shiny new Boeing 737 Max 8 and this will be my pride and joy in the new cockpit!

 

Can't wait to show all of my friends this masterpiece...

 

 

Frank

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& the 40% discount for current users is truly remarkable - best in the flight sim business - thanks!

 

could you please also supply some screenshots that show seasons - a current hot topic - & huge advantage of P3D+...

 

& it seems you are actually saying installed size is around 25GB - rather than download size - amazing for 7.7 million square kilometres...

 

also, look forward to CityScenes for XP11, based on your modelling for this huge project...

 

cheers,

craig

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Guys! If you are excited, I'm almost peeing myself with eager anticipation! I think FTX AU was my first scenery addon some years back, and since P3D v4+ and XP-11 is a regular part of our lives, I have looked forward to the Aus revamp/upgrade for quite some time, - just hoping, and hoping! Cheque book is at the ready, and thank you to all in the development team. 

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Cheers.png

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Before jumping onboard, are there an update price, or is this a new full prize addon?  I only fly in Australia very seldom, in fact I don't even have it installed right now, but the new screenshots makes me wanna explore the land down under.

 

Jlund

 

Ups, looks like Craig just answered that question, with a 40% discount, I'm in :-)

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Brilliant work everybody and kudos to you all. I have purchased every iteration of Australia that you have made and this will be another one on first day of release. Just as a side note Im from Adelaide and am thrilled with the screen shots shown, also its a very rare thing indeed for Sydney not to be on the top of the list since we all know that Australia is really only Melbourne and Sydney to most of the world.

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Amazing! Not only all the texture updates, and Melbourne in its full glory, but all the airports in this vast continent have been upgraded. This will keep me busy for months, and years to come. Great work by the team, congratulations to all involved. 

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