Poll: An OpenLC solution for Asia

[Captain Lars]

Multiple Choice Poll

 

Given the desolate situation of Asia, landclass-wise, and the cost for Orbx to obtain the necessary raw data to specify which type of terrain belongs where for about 42 million square kilometers, we need an alternative solution for Asia. Let's show Orbx that we care a lot.

 

I give four options for the poll. Support any option that you would possibly like to buy from Orbx (multiple choice).

 

• OpenLC Light (no new textures unique to Asia, just a re-allocation / recycling of existing textures for a better landscape
• Mini OpenLCs complementary to OpenLC Light (analogous to regions, e. g. Japan, Thailand)
• Multiple OpenLCs (splitting Asia into a few smaller areas approx. the size of Europe, e. g. Middle East, China)
• OpenLC Asia (monolithic product, practically ruled out - show your support nevertheless)

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Captain Lars
added the word "Poll" for being clearer

[wolfko]

Hallo Lars, hervorragend!

ich würde noch das Wort "Poll' in den Titel dieses Beiteags stellen, falls du ihn noch editieren kannst. 

PS: ich kann ja leider nicht mitmachen, weil ich nur mehr X-Plane verwende.

Edited April 20, 2020 by wolfko

[Captain Lars]

Guys, remember it's multiple choice. Click on any option acceptable for you!

[Stillwater]

This is a great initiative, Lars. And I, personally, think you have given 4 good alternatives.

[Juanvito]

Splitting Asia into multiple bits was the original plan, so I support that. If the full treatment cannot be done, I'd prefer to recycle the existing textures all over the continent.

 

PS: Don't forget the Pacific islands.

[dave302]

I think we could get away with simply making LC for Siberia, as the textures for Northern Canada would likely suffice.

 

Then Orbx could make openLC with special textures for the Far East and Middle East.

 

Dave

[Stillwater]

25 minutes ago, dave302 said:

I think we could get away with simply making LC for Siberia, as the textures for Northern Canada would likely suffice.

Then Orbx could make openLC with special textures for the Far East and Middle East.

Dave

That sounds like a plan, Dave. A good plan, in my eyes...

[wolfko]

I think it is not

8 hours ago, dave302 said:

I think we could get away with simply making LC for Siberia, as the textures for Northern Canada would likely suffice.

 

Dave

 

I think it is not so much about the textures, it is about the correct placement of the landclasses.

And AFAIK the large parts of the Sibirian consist of larches which are changing their colour into a bright yellow in autumn and then leave their needles in winter. You won't find many larches in Canada. 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by wolfko

[Hauer]

A nice initiative, Lars.  I personally am very interested in the Middle East as I've restricted my FS activities to N.America, Europe & Africa /M.E.

 

Herman

[Aussie123]

Personally, I would prefer the Multiple option. I believe development would more manageable than the 'Asia LC' that people have been requesting over the years.

It could involve more developers working in their particular area of interest and geographic speciality.

It could then involve a staggered release, occurring when they are ready and not waiting for a complete continent, of such varying LC and climate, to be tested and released.

My 2c worth.

Aussie 

[Stillwater]

Our goal of voters is just 1919 simmers away, we´re on the fly!

[mburkhard]

In short, I would buy anything that will enhance the LC situation in Asia, and I would be willing to pay a higher price too if that is what it takes to make this happen. 

Default LC data is so bad, anything that Orbx can do will be helpful, even if it is simply a OpenLC Asia light with no dedicated textures. 

 

I would also suggest that whatever the product will be in the end, Australia would not need to be covered. Anyone who wants proper LC data there can simply buy the beautiful FTX Australia v2 product.

 

With P3D v5 on DX12, the platform was given an all new lease of life, which hopefully makes it feasible for Orbx to complete its old promise to have the whole globe covered with good LC data. Hope it can happen, in one form or another! 

[Captain Lars]

6 hours ago, Stillwater said:

Our goal of voters is just 1919 simmers away, we´re on the fly!

I'd say we have casted 126 votes so far! 126 products bought!

 

I have just found this LC for Russia and Kazakhstan. It's currently on sale. When you own OpenLC Europe, you'll need Ural, Kazakhstan, Siberia and Far East. That's 47,84 € in my part of the world for 17 million square kilometers. That's 2,81 € per Mkm2. I just looked it up; I paid 37,38 € for South America, which is the same size (2,20 €/Mkm2). Of course, Africa was 0,87 €/Mkm2, which is amazing.

 

Needless to say I'm not advocating to buy a 3rd party product here; it's overpriced as you can see. Everyone should rather wait this out and buy OpenLC Siberia. In 2025 we're going to pay just 2.999 rubles for Siberia! 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Captain Lars
corrected prices

[Captain Lars]

I took a closer look at the area covered by OpenLC Europe, you'd actually need ALL of them except the Central District to have nothing left out. Which makes it pretty expensive imho.

[Stillwater]

20 hours ago, Captain Lars said:

Everyone should rather wait this out and buy OpenLC

Given the quality of product and support it is a no-brainer for me: Landclasses are from Orbx. Nothing else. So we need strong voices for the continuation into Asia here...

[Mickel]

89 is a bit short of 2,000...   

 

Not that forum polls tend to influence much in any case.  I would be a day one buyer though.

[John Heaton]

Took a flight yesterday from Singapore to Penang via KL

It looked almost Identical to a flight across P3D France with

Global installed.

[carlosqr]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:24 PM, Captain Lars said:

Guys, remember it's multiple choice. Click on any option acceptable for you!

Ooops just voted one but I like these too

• Multiple OpenLCs: splitting Asia into a few bigger OpenLC areas (e. g. Middle East, Far East, Central Asia)
   
   
• OpenLC Asia: a landclass product for the whole continent

[Captain Lars]

22 hours ago, carlosqr said:

Ooops just voted one but I like these too

• Multiple OpenLCs: splitting Asia into a few bigger OpenLC areas (e. g. Middle East, Far East, Central Asia)
   
   
• OpenLC Asia: a landclass product for the whole continent

Thank you, Carlos. I should have written "support every option that you would like to buy", not "any" option... The perils of a foreign language.

[Captain Lars]

OK, 105 people so far left 163 votes. Can we get more, please? The landclass-situation is not very nice in most parts of Asia. I actually bought a very old LC addon just for the sake of it, and it's not very good. Not at all.

 

The LC addon mentioned above is not an LC addon at all, it's more like a vector data layover which adds forests and so on.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Captain Lars

[Stillwater]

17 hours ago, Captain Lars said:

OK, 105 people so far left 163 votes.

A slow increase, but an increase. And, as we see the amazing quality of OpenLC Africa, we know that P3D would take an enormous profit from another OLC (sub-)region...

[Captain Lars]

A few more! The landclass situation in Asia needs it! Don't count on FS2020!

[Enrico&1970]

Further down in english:

 

Ich nutze alle verfügbaren Orbx Produkte in P3D V4.5. Letzte Woche bin ich über Indien geflogen und ohne Wolken sah es aus 30000 ft Höhe ziemlich „schrecklich" aus, weil die Landschaft aus sich wiederholenden Mustern von Dörfern und Hügeln bestand. 

Ich würde es begrüßen, wenn Orbx  in der Global Produktreihe einen Zufallsalgorithmus intigriert, der für mehr „grobe" Zufälligkeit sorgt. Es muss nicht die reale Landschaft sein, es sollte nur aus 30000 ft „natürlich" aussehen. 

 

Ich könnte mir auch Vorstellen, das Orbx ein Tool entwickelt, mitdem wir die User dabei helfen die Landclass zuerstellen, mit Hilfe von Google Maps, Google Earth, Bing etc.  Asien hat 45.000.000 km2 Fläche.  Wenn z.B. von 45.000 User jeder jeweils 100 km2 (10x 10 km) bearbeitet, könnte das in kurzer Zeit erledigt sein. 
Das müßte ein Tool sein, wo man auf dem Satellitenfoto die Bereiche markiert, die Wald, Wiese, Felder, Wasserflächen, Dörfer, Städte, Strassen, Eisenbahnen etc sind.  und entsprechende Texturen zuordne. Das könnte so ein Projekt werden wie Wikipedia, wo ja auch viele mitschreiben. Orbx müsste dann nur das ganze verpacken. 

 

Oder Orbx vergibt "Lizenzen" für die Erstellung von LC einzelner asiatischer Länder an bestimmte Entwickler oder Enthusiasten, das man zum Beispiel dann Indien LC  oder Japan LC für  für 3,99 Dollar nachkauft, wenn man gerade da fliegen will. Ich weiß aber nicht ob sich das rechnet? 

 

Here in english translated with Deepl:

I'm using all available Orbx products in P3D V4.5. Last week I flew over India and without clouds it looked pretty "awful" from 30000 ft altitude because the landscape consisted of repeating patterns of villages and hills. 
I would like Orbx to incorporate a random algorithm in the Global product line that provides more "rough" randomness. It doesn't have to be the real landscape, it should only look "natural" from 30000 ft. 

I could also imagine Orbx developing a tool to help users create the landclass, using Google Maps, Google Earth, Bing etc.  Asia has an area of 45.000.000 km2.  If, for example, 45,000 users each edit 100 km2 (10x 10 km), this could be done in a "short" time. 
This would have to be a tool where you mark the areas on the satellite photo that are forest, meadow, fields, water areas, villages, cities, roads, railroads etc. and assign appropriate textures. This could be a project like Wikipedia, where many people are writing. Orbx would then just have to package the whole thing. 

Or Orbx could issue "licenses" to certain developers or enthusiasts for the creation of LC of individual Asian countries. For example, you could buy India LC or Japan LC for 4.99 dollars if you want to fly there. But I don't know if this is worthwhile? 

[Captain Lars]

17 hours ago, Enrico&1970 said:

Further down in english:

 

Ich nutze alle verfügbaren Orbx Produkte in P3D V4.5. Letzte Woche bin ich über Indien geflogen und ohne Wolken sah es aus 30000 ft Höhe ziemlich „schrecklich" aus, weil die Landschaft aus sich wiederholenden Mustern von Dörfern und Hügeln bestand. 

Ich würde es begrüßen, wenn Orbx  in der Global Produktreihe einen Zufallsalgorithmus intigriert, der für mehr „grobe" Zufälligkeit sorgt. Es muss nicht die reale Landschaft sein, es sollte nur aus 30000 ft „natürlich" aussehen. 

 

Ich könnte mir auch Vorstellen, das Orbx ein Tool entwickelt, mitdem wir die User dabei helfen die Landclass zuerstellen, mit Hilfe von Google Maps, Google Earth, Bing etc.  Asien hat 45.000.000 km2 Fläche.  Wenn z.B. von 45.000 User jeder jeweils 100 km2 (10x 10 km) bearbeitet, könnte das in kurzer Zeit erledigt sein. 
Das müßte ein Tool sein, wo man auf dem Satellitenfoto die Bereiche markiert, die Wald, Wiese, Felder, Wasserflächen, Dörfer, Städte, Strassen, Eisenbahnen etc sind.  und entsprechende Texturen zuordne. Das könnte so ein Projekt werden wie Wikipedia, wo ja auch viele mitschreiben. Orbx müsste dann nur das ganze verpacken. 

 

Oder Orbx vergibt "Lizenzen" für die Erstellung von LC einzelner asiatischer Länder an bestimmte Entwickler oder Enthusiasten, das man zum Beispiel dann Indien LC  oder Japan LC für  für 3,99 Dollar nachkauft, wenn man gerade da fliegen will. Ich weiß aber nicht ob sich das rechnet? 

 

Here in english translated with Deepl:

I'm using all available Orbx products in P3D V4.5. Last week I flew over India and without clouds it looked pretty "awful" from 30000 ft altitude because the landscape consisted of repeating patterns of villages and hills. 
I would like Orbx to incorporate a random algorithm in the Global product line that provides more "rough" randomness. It doesn't have to be the real landscape, it should only look "natural" from 30000 ft. 

I could also imagine Orbx developing a tool to help users create the landclass, using Google Maps, Google Earth, Bing etc.  Asia has an area of 45.000.000 km2.  If, for example, 45,000 users each edit 100 km2 (10x 10 km), this could be done in a "short" time. 
This would have to be a tool where you mark the areas on the satellite photo that are forest, meadow, fields, water areas, villages, cities, roads, railroads etc. and assign appropriate textures. This could be a project like Wikipedia, where many people are writing. Orbx would then just have to package the whole thing. 

Or Orbx could issue "licenses" to certain developers or enthusiasts for the creation of LC of individual Asian countries. For example, you could buy India LC or Japan LC for 4.99 dollars if you want to fly there. But I don't know if this is worthwhile? 

Ich finde deine Idee fantastisch!

 

Fantastic idea!

[Harrier77]

With LC Asia, whole or in parts, my sim experience in P3Dv5 will be perfect. I will buy it like a shot!

[joefremont]

My Take on these options

 

• OpenLC Light (no new textures unique to Asia, just a re-allocation / recycling of existing textures for a better landscape

I would rather not compromise on quality so this would be my least favorite choice, unless all the others take too much time.

• Mini OpenLCs complementary to OpenLC Light (analogous to regions, e. g. Japan, Thailand)

Sounds too much like the region packs, now if there were a Japan region available, I would buy it today.

• Multiple OpenLCs (splitting Asia into a few smaller areas approx. the size of Europe, e. g. Middle East, China)

This is probably most practical since its such a huge area.

• OpenLC Asia (monolithic product, practically ruled out - show your support nevertheless)

This would be best but may be too much in one package.

[Captain Lars]

Great to see that the poll is still growing, despite the fact that it is mostly hidden on page 2 and beyond... 150 members voted and 226 votes casted so far.

[Taph]

Option 3 for me. If I knew how to cast my vote this is what it would be

[Captain Lars]

3 hours ago, Taph said:

Option 3 for me. If I knew how to cast my vote this is what it would be

Just tick every option that you would like to see and there should appear a button called "vote" or "cast vote" below.

[bvdboomen]

2020-05-25 08:09 AM CET: ‭232‬ votes. That's not a number which will move Orbx. 

[Stillwater]

3 minutes ago, bvdboomen said:

2020-05-25 08:09 AM CET: ‭232‬ votes. That's not a number which will move Orbx. 

I am sure the number will grow, Ben: We all see how much OLC Africa improves a continent totally neglected by Microsofts developers, and now many of us spend time discovering it. The day will come when more customers long to see the same level of improvement in the last remaining flight sim frontier on their own computers...

[Taph]

Have tried ticking the options do not get a button called vote, it could be I voted previously, which I don't remember doing or the mechanism is not working correctly

[Captain Lars]

8 hours ago, bvdboomen said:

2020-05-25 08:09 AM CET: ‭232‬ votes. That's not a number which will move Orbx. 

8 hours later: 236 votes! We're advancing. 

 

4 hours ago, Taph said:

Have tried ticking the options do not get a button called vote, it could be I voted previously, which I don't remember doing or the mechanism is not working correctly

Unfortunately, I cannot see whether you already voted or not.

[Captain Lars]

I am seriously considering spending 20 Euros on a chinese landclass product that will almost certainly fail my expectations, just because I'm in such a dire need of a decent representation of Asian landscape.

 

Perhaps I should open another poll:

1) Go for it

2) Wait for OpenLC China

[dave302]

13 hours ago, Captain Lars said:

I am seriously considering spending 20 Euros on a chinese landclass product that will almost certainly fail my expectations, just because I'm in such a dire need of a decent representation of Asian landscape.

 

Perhaps I should open another poll:

1) Go for it

2) Wait for OpenLC China

Sorry to say, but I don't think Orbx is going to develop openLC any more.  I believe that by now JV would have at least hinted that it's in the works.

Can you tell me what Chinese landclass you're talking about?  If it's Scenery Tech then I can tell you it's a waste of money.

Thanks.

 

Dave

[Captain Lars]

34 minutes ago, dave302 said:

Can you tell me what Chinese landclass you're talking about?  If it's Scenery Tech then I can tell you it's a waste of money.

Thanks.

 

Dave

Hi Dave, it's called FS Real China Base 2017 and it's on Simmarket. Do you have experiences with this product?

 

[Sholay]

I would take whatever-Asia from Orbx (and this is what I voted for above), but I honestly doubt it's gonna happen.

 

&

 

[wolfko]

6 hours ago, dave302 said:

Sorry to say, but I don't think Orbx is going to develop openLC any more.  I believe that by now JV would have at least hinted that it's in the works.

Dave

 

Could be that they are waiting to see what MSFS 2020 will bring along, before confirming or cancelling any major project.

[dave302]

On 5/30/2020 at 8:58 AM, Captain Lars said:

Hi Dave, it's called FS Real China Base 2017 and it's on Simmarket. Do you have experiences with this product?

 

Thanks.

Checked it out.  It looks like it might be a decent offering.  The only concern I have is that it might conflict with FTX Vector unless it has its own exclude scenery for the areas it covers with vector data.

If it covered more of Asia then I might consider it, but $20 is too much just for China IMO.

Dave

[Richard100]

Just found this topic and the other one (https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/189438-please-resurrect-olc-asia/ ) looking to see if the Africa release had changed anything in terms of LC Asia. 

 

Whilst I can see that the lack of available data and the commercial considerations make this a long shot, I would be also be a Day 1 buyer and would also be happy to invest some of what I have saved in previous sales in committing pre-release to help finance it - have been hoping for Asia since first discovering Orbx products five years ago...