We’re listening - Central v4.0.6 released

[Ben McClintock]

Hi all,

 

Since releasing Orbx Central just under two weeks ago, we have been receiving valuable feedback for Central - both positive and negative. 

 

We are committed to listening to this feedback from you, our customers. We have not slowed down our development speed since releasing Orbx Central. In fact, we are adding more members to our team to ensure we build an incredibly stable and robust platform for installing Orbx products.

 

We have been carefully reading every post in the Orbx Central Support Forum. Even if we don’t directly address your post, please be assured that we have read it and are listening to your feedback. We are striking a balance between identifying the issues that are high priority (and fixing them!), versus responding to feedback on the forum.

 

We have seen some great performance improvements with Orbx Central compared to FTX Central 3. For example, the average time to download and install Innsbruck for X-Plane in FTX Central 3 is 45 minutes and the average time in Orbx Central is 27 minutes. That’s an average time saving of 18 minutes. Similarly, FTX Central 3 can install TrueEarth US Washington in 5.5 hours and Orbx Central in 3.5 hours, saving an average of two hours.

 

Due to the vast differences in everyone’s simulation environment, the release was not as smooth as we had hoped for. There were some issues that did not arise during our extensive beta testing, which was conducted internally and externally.

 

There are some issues we are still aware of and are working to fix. If you do experience an issue, please post a new topic in our Orbx Central Support Forum with the appropriate log file. Including the log file in your support post allows us to diagnose the issue and therefore ensure we can quickly fix the issue.

 

 

Current known issues

Vector Control Panel & AEC tool

Unfortunately some issues with the Vector Control Panel slipped through the cracks during our testing process. However, we are making changes to this tool that will not only make it faster, but will resolve issues that have existed since the release of Prepar3D v3.

 

We are currently going through our internal beta testing process for a new version of Vector that will resolve issues that have been identified.

 

The main issue was that in some cases, the Vector Control Panel could not detect the simulator correctly. This has been resolved and will be available in the upcoming Vector update.

 

Another issue is that the version of MakeRunways which is bundled with Vector could not read scenery installed using the add-on package method. We have resolved this by writing our own tool that can read both scenery installed as an add-on package, and a traditional install in the scenery.cfg. Please note that this has been the case since the add-on package was introduced with Prepar3D v3.

 

Furthermore, we have improved the performance of the Vector AEC tool. In some of our tests, we’ve seen an 80% decrease in the time to scan a simulator with a mix of scenery.cfg, and add-on.xml scenery.

 

 

Global openLC fallback texture location

The other primary issue that will be remaining after this update is Prepar3D uses an incorrect fallback texture location for our openLC products. We will be working with Lockheed Martin to resolve this. 

 

When experiencing this issue, you will see autogen misplaced on top of default textures. We have identified that Prepar3D is actually locating the correct autogen files from Orbx Global BASE, but it is for some reason is reading textures from the base simulator. Here’s an example of what you might see if you are experiencing this issue where default textures are incorrectly showing with the correct openLC autogen locations.

 

Until we have found a permanent solution, the workaround is simple. If you have installed Orbx Global BASE using the add-on package method (i.e., installed it into a library in Orbx Central), then you will need to install it into the simulator directory as well and therefore overwriting the default textures. This can either be done by installing Global BASE in FTX Central v3, or by clicking uninstall in Orbx Central, then installing it again in Orbx Central using v4.0.6 or above.

 

 

More insertion point / layering choice

Currently, if you have many packages installed using the Prepar3D add-on package system, it can be difficult to layer those packages among each other. In Central, you can choose a scenery insertion point relative to scenery.cfg entries. Future improvements will allow users to select more granular insertion points amongst add-on packages as well.

 

 

What we have changed

Installing into the simulator directory (all simulators)

One of the most common requests since we released Orbx Central, is giving users the ability to install scenery into their root simulator directory as it was in FTX Central v3.

 

With clicking the “install” button with Orbx Central 4.0.6, you will be given the option to install directly into the simulator directory or into an Orbx Central library. This applies to all of the simulators we support and across supported operating systems.

 

 

There are some exceptions where you cannot choose between a library or an in-simulator install:

• Orbx Global BASE must be installed into the simulator until we resolve the above mentioned issue with Prepar3D loading the incorrect texture.
• Orbx KSUN Sun Valley must be installed into a library. It makes heavy use of the add-on packaging system to provide extra features.
• Orbx ObjectFlow 2 must be installed into a library. This is installed automatically if you install a product that requires ObjectFlow.

 

 

More details provided when migrating a product

When we provided the “migrate to library” functionality, we did not expect people to migrate all of their products. We only provided this as a stop-gap to prevent people unnecessarily re-downloading all of their scenery when they already had it installed.

 

Our stance has remained unchanged: if your scenery is working fine now, do not migrate. There are not many benefits to migrating your scenery to a library when you already have everything working. You do not have to migrate all of your products to use Orbx Central.

 

As the core of this issue is miscommunication, we now show a dialog when a user clicks “migrate to library”:

 

 

More details provided regarding scenery ordering

As the Prepar3D add-on packaging system is new to many of our users, so is the way to order certain types of entry in the scenery library. You can still choose your library insertion points (as before in FTX Central v3) by going to Settings -> Insertion Point. Central will then place the Orbx scenery at your assigned position (in both scenery.cfg, and with add-on packages).

 

We have added an extra step to the onboarding flow explaining this.

 

 

Unicode issues with scenery.cfg

Some users who had non-English characters in their scenery or their PC username would experience strange issues with their scenery.cfg. We have resolved this by supporting Unicode in Orbx Central.

 

 

Stability improvements

There are many other bug fixes and performance improvements that we’ve made to Orbx Central since release. If you have experienced issues in the past, I’d encourage you to install Orbx Central again.

 

For a full list of the changes we’ve made, please see the changelog that you can find at Settings -> Changelog.

 

--------------

 

Finally, we would like to stress that if your scenery is working fine now, there is no need to migrate it to a library. Orbx Central will continue to read scenery that you have installed into the simulator.

[dominique]

A professional approach.

[Dreamsofwings1]

Thanks for going into detail on this Ben.

Just a quick (and probably stupid question) but for those of us that have migrated is there an easy way to reverse this migration? 

[Peter Webber]

9 minutes ago, Dreamsofwings1 said:

Thanks for going into detail on this Ben.

Just a quick (and probably stupid question) but for those of us that have migrated is there an easy way to reverse this migration? 

Hi, I simply re-installed FTX Central 3 and re-downloaded and re-installed my products which I had earlier migrated. Unfortunately this was the only method I could find from the forums. Regards.

[edpatino]

1 hour ago, Ben McClintock said:

or by clicking uninstall in Orbx Central, then installing it again in Orbx Central using v4.0.6 or above.

 

For Global BASE I cannot click uninstall in ORBX Central because the option doesn't exist. Using v4.0.6. Could you explain how to do it then?.

Ed

[Dreamsofwings1]

15 minutes ago, Peter Webber said:

Hi, I simply re-installed FTX Central 3 and re-downloaded and re-installed my products which I had earlier migrated. Unfortunately this was the only method I could find from the forums. Regards.

Cheers Peter....I think you are right...this is what I am trying to avoid having to do though.

[edpatino]

1 hour ago, Ben McClintock said:

More details provided when migrating a product

When we provided the “migrate to library” functionality, we did not expect people to migrate all of their products. We only provided this as a stop-gap to prevent people unnecessarily re-downloading all of their scenery when they already had it installed.

 

Our stance has remained unchanged: if your scenery is working fine now, do not migrate. There are not many benefits to migrating your scenery to a library when you already have everything working. You do not have to migrate all of your products to use Orbx Central.

 

As the core of this issue is miscommunication, we now show a dialog when a user clicks “migrate to library”:

 

That's a big change in gear.

As far as I know, one of the benefits or main features of ORBX Central was to provide a solution to an old requirement to ORBX to avoid installing add-on files inside the main simulator folder, and now you're recommending not doing so.

Anyway, on my setup I didn't do any migration waiting to the dust to clear out.

Ed

 

[Nick Cooper]

49 minutes ago, edpatino said:

 

For Global BASE I cannot click uninstall in ORBX Central because the option doesn't exist. Using v4.0.6. Could you explain how to do it then?.

Ed

 

Hello,

I am guessing it is a typo.

This is how it can be uninstalled or installed.

 

 

Uninstalling in FTX Central does not in fact remove the files but it does tell FTX Central and Orbx Central

that it is not installed and so allows a new installation.

 

 

[JPL19]

21 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

 

Hello,

I am guessing it is a typo.

This is how it can be uninstalled or installed.

 

.... (Pic removed in quote)

 

Uninstalling in FTX Central does not in fact remove the files but it does tell FTX Central and Orbx Central

that it is not installed and so allows a new installation.

 

 

To be clear - to "uninstall" as recommended above we must install FTX Central just for that one task?  Also, it it just Global BASE Pack, or, to Buildings , Trees (others) have to also be moved?

 

Thank you.

 

 

Thank you.

[Doc_Z]

My scenery is working fine without migrating to a library (main ORBX folder in root connected to another drive via a link).  Ben says above that ORBX Sun Valley and Object Flow 2 should be in a library. So I should migrate at least those two?

[jlsaghaa]

Ben, Nick, thank you for hearing and understanding us

[edpatino]

3 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

I am guessing it is a typo.

This is how it can be uninstalled or installed.

 

It's not a typo. I clearly mentioned I'm using ORBX Central, and you apparently are suggesting to use another app, your old FTX Central to uninstall Global BASE.

If that is the case, please remember that your utillity (your new utility ORBX Central when it was installed) recommended to uninstall FTX Central, so I don't have it installed now.

Now, specifically, what you're saying is that we should re-install FTX Central to be able to uninstall Global BASE?. And another question: can we re-install FTX Central again without messing up anything, having ORBX Central installed too?.

Ed

 

 

[edpatino]

@Ben McClintock

Hi Ben, in your statement of today, you mentioned a workaround for solving the problem related to the Global openLC fallback texture location. I haven't migrated anything after I've installed the new ORBX Central, but I'm still getting terrain display issues in some areas like North and South America. So reading up your suggested workaround, I tried to uninstall my Global BASE using the new ORBX Central and it was not possible, because the option to uninstall is not appearing in its corresponding menu. So, please explain how to uninstall Global BASE in this case.

In case a re-install of the old utility FTX Central is necessary to uninstall Global BASE (or any other Global product as well), please confirm the steps to avoid trouble, if any, for having it installed in parallel with ORBX Central.

Thanks so much.

Cheers, Ed

[Nick Cooper]

Hello Ed,

 

the possible typo I refer to is  "by clicking uninstall in Orbx Central".

I think it is highly unlikely that the head of the development team does not

know that that tab is not there.

 

If you really changed nothing in your installation but only installed and ran Orbx Central

then any problems that you now find will very likely have been there before.

If no migration is made, Orbx Central works correctly and in exactly the same way as FTX Central.

 

You might wish to confirm your Insertion Point settings.

[JPL19]

OK, but what about those of us that DID migrate?

 

To repeat my so far unanswered question - To be clear - to "uninstall" as recommended above we must install FTX Central just for that one task?  Also, it it just Global BASE Pack, or, to Buildings , Trees (others) have to also be moved?

[ralfy124]

4 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

 

Hello,

I am guessing it is a typo.

This is how it can be uninstalled or installed.

 

 

Uninstalling in FTX Central does not in fact remove the files but it does tell FTX Central and Orbx Central

that it is not installed and so allows a new installation.

 

 

 

Nick, I am confused. In ORBX Central V4.0.6 I have no "Uninstall" in GLOBAL BASE Pack. Puzzled.

[edpatino]

@Ben McClintock

Hi Ben:

Please look at the attached picture that clearly shows a black texture and a another "bad" texture located right up in the picture. This is in P3Dv4.5-hf1 near KVPS airport, but happens also everywhere. This is happening after installation of the new ORBX Central.

I can confirm that:

1. I have ORBX Central installed (v4.0.6, latest).

2. I have not FTX Central installed.

3. I have not made any scenery migration, and all ORBX files should be (or "are", actually I'm not so sure what exactly ORBX Central would be doing) in its original folder within the main P3D directory.

4. I suspect I'm suffering from the "Global openLC fallback texture location" syndrome, even without (intentional) migration of any ORBX files. In any case, if this is not that syndrome, at least I'm suffering from something created after installation of ORBX Central.

So, what do you recommend?.

Following your advise in your OP, tried to uninstall Global BASE and install it again, but ORBX Central don't allow me to uninstall it (see other posts here in this same thread), so I'm stuck and don't want to venture into installing FTX Central again and have another potential source of problems by having two installs in paralell, one for ORBX Central and one for FTX Central.

Your advise is needed.

Thanks in advance, Ed

 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

you cannot suffer from the "Global openLC fallback texture location" syndrome

unless you migrate your products out of P3D.

[edpatino]

30 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

you cannot suffer from the "Global openLC fallback texture location" syndrome

unless you migrate your products out of P3D.

 

This doesn't help much, I have to say. If nothing was happening here, I wouldn't have the strange look shown in my picture posted before and I wouldn't be writing here looking for guidance to solve the issue.

I was about to uninstall Global BASE and install it again, but similarly as other users that have the same questions, I'm reluctant to go ahead and install FTX Central just for doing that task alone, without further instructions, as we all read the recommendations from ORBX for not having both running in parallel (I mean the new ORBX Central and the old FTX Central). Would it be possible that someone from ORBX could address the questions posted before in this thread by myself,  @ralfy124 and @JPL19 in that regard?. Probably if we have those answers and clarifications we will be able to do some progress in solving the issues (that, I can assure 100% in my case, and I repeat, are only happening after installation of ORBX Central).

Ed

 

 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

 

I would ask you now to create another topic in the Orbx Central support forum for your particular problem.

What is happening on your PC needs to be investigated and this is not a support topic.

 

The question from Ralfy124 will not help you because of course you did not migrate anything.

The answer to the question from JPL19 is that of course there is no uninstall option in

Orbx Central, as clearly illustrated.

Advice given already by the developers is that the only successful way to remove Global Base from P3D v4 is to

make a fresh installation of P3D and then install Global base with Orbx Central.

there is more detail to be given in this answer but the topic is derailed enough already.

if you would be kind enough to create the new topic in the Orbx Central forum and you wish to know more, it can be covered there.

 

Thanks.

[JPL19]

You did not answer my questions fully - I am just a paying customer asking for help - especially since this topic says you are listening.

 

Also, it it just Global BASE Pack, or, to Buildings , Trees (others) have to also be moved?

 

These things may be clear to you, but, that does not mean they are clear to your customers.

 

 

[Greg073]

Can someone please help me?  I am able to install everything just fine but none of my airports have ObjectFlow working.  I have attempted to uninstall ObjectFlow and reinstall it again many times.  I did not migrate, this is a fresh install into P3D with ORBX Central.

[edpatino]

27 minutes ago, JPL19 said:

You did not answer my questions fully - I am just a paying customer asking for help - especially since this topic says you are listening.

 

Also, it it just Global BASE Pack, or, to Buildings , Trees (others) have to also be moved?

 

These things may be clear to you, but, that does not mean they are clear to your customers.

 

 

 

I'm also interested to hear an answer to all of these questions!.

Cheers, Ed

[edpatino]

1 hour ago, Nick Cooper said:

I would ask you now to create another topic in the Orbx Central support forum for your particular problem

 

New topic created.

Ed

[Nick Cooper]

Hello Greg073 and to JPL19, of course we are listening but we do have an Orbx Central support forum

where your questions will be answered by an Orbx Central developer.

Please post your support questions there.

Please note also that it is now the weekend and they deserve days off too.

I am sure your topics will be attended to as soon as possible.

Thanks.

 

[JPL19]

39 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello Greg073 and to JPL19, of course we are listening but we do have an Orbx Central support forum

where your questions will be answered by an Orbx Central developer.

Please post your support questions there.

Please note also that it is now the weekend and they deserve days off too.

I am sure your topics will be attended to as soon as possible.

Thanks.

 

OK - thank you for the direction.

[carlosqr]

Thank you Ben for such a derail report and for keeping us in he loop

Cheers

Carlos

[Jock7]

Good Morning,

Thanks Ben for your very informative update. But at the moment I will not be moving over until Central is 100% and I can wait. I need AEC to be 100% working as I have 3rd party sceneries which need it. With FTX3 I have it working 100% and no problems so at the moment I am happy. I will changeover in fact I'm looking forward to doing so but not now. 

[Taph]

Thanks Ben, update much appreciated, I have one question based on what you have shown, what is the purpose of the primary and secondary library's

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

 

once you have used Orbx Central and read and implement the User Guide, you will have set up Orbx Libraries for your simulators.

You can give them any name at all and hopefully, they will have been given names that make them easy to identify.

When you install a product into either X Plane 11 or into P3D v4, you are then given the choice of where you would like

the files to be placed.

You can have as many Libraries as you wish, in Ben's image, those are only his chosen names.

The new feature is that you can now install into the simulator folder, something that it was decided was not to be possible

in the development process.

 

Here is mine, so far, as another example.

This is what is seen when installing a product into X Plane 11.

 

 

 

[Ricere]

Hello,

With regards to the new Orbx's Central Configuration tool - I've run into a problem where several lines of installed information has been duplicated, and there is no scenery information as to what the item is/was????? Upon drilling down within my scenery library I discovered all of the 'Base' rows of information 0000 Base thru 1107 Base (Microsoft FSX-SE) were copied with the ability to delete them as well!!!!!!! This was during my install process as to where I wanted to insert my Orbx purchases using the insertion selection option button. The sim seems to be working fine yet I have several rows of checked scenery boxes with no detail for them unless I select 'Edit' where it then shows me a 'XXXX Base' number as mentioned earlier. Is this related in any way or something different? I also read in an earlier post today about the scenery library file being updated to eliminate this issue of rows of checked scenery boxes but no displayed detail of what's there?

 

Richard Rice

[Nick Cooper]

Hello Richard, some customers have reported this but I cannot replicate it.

If you have SCE you can quickly edit the spurious entries out.

Or I willl do it for you if you wish to add a copy to your next post.

[majorbyte]

"We’re listening - Central v4.0.6 released"

well thats a joke, I've wasted 5 days with my TE installation attempts with little of no support, then he (support) closes my thread because its too hard for him to sort out! unbelievable

[Nick Cooper]

You have several open topics that you are free to post into.

At least two of them have unanswered posts.

Support is freely available but we do not tolerate these kinds of kind of remarks.

 

Quote

don't blame me for your shit product! i have said in an earlier post i have a 2 tb hardrive and 1.2 tb free space only one drive on my pc

 

Quote

I've been trying to install this f***ing product for the last 5 days, they are probably the same software programmers that wrote the B737 MAX 8 screw up

 

This topic contains all of the solutions but we need constructive feedback from you.

 

 

[majorbyte]

how many more times do i have to tell you

 

1.i have 1.2 tb of free space

2.my internet is very fast

3. i have followed all the instructions several times in every way and combination possible

4. the 'C' orthos files are not uploading into my xplane scenery folder properly, only 338mb and i understand that it should be about 124gb

 

its pointless you keep sending me the instructions that are on your website as they do not solve my issue

 

if it's beyond your technical capabilities then just say so and i would respect that

 

 

 

[Nick Cooper]

It is beyond my technical capabilities to diagnose what is happening on your PC.

[Jack Sawyer]

Thanks Ben, your post is quite easy to understand and cogent.  I appreciate all the effort you guys have put into this.  I remember going through the same teething problems with the last FTX Central and I know it'll be sorted soon.  I haven't migrated and have no need to.

 

 

[majorbyte]

7 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

It is beyond my technical capabilities to diagnose what is happening on your PC.

 

ok i get the message, with your sarcasm, you're not interested in helping me. 

[dcongram]

Ben:

Nothing has changed in my Prepa3d v4.  .....Except it has CRASHED while loading, and while sitting on a runway.

 

My ORBX files are now ALL on TOP of the SCENERY LIBRARY   (clicking BELOW -Africa - it says "okey dokey, we've set your insertion point" - but it's not happening)

 

It's a CLEAN install of P3d V4, and Win 10 Pro.  NO add-ons.  (I'm not even typing this message from the P3d computer)

 

What do you think Ben ?  Where do we go from here ?

 

 

[Jock7]

Hello All,

I have good news this morning I moved over to Central 4.0.6 this morning and after having to revert to the old FTX3 what a difference. No doubt there is still some issues to be worked out. I tried three flights this morning Las Vegas The strip, Southampton and Prague (All have 3rd party sceneries) and they were  outstanding. I have much more to check  and it will take me forever. Glad to see the AEC tool working. When I purchase new sceneries from Orbx I will be installing them into the sims and not to another drive.  Many thanks to the team and Ben  for getting Central to where it is. If I see any problems  on my travels I will be in touch once more.