Popular Post Orbx Posted January 2, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 2, 2021 We are thrilled to announce our newest Partner - FlyTampa! FlyTampa needs no introduction and are legends in the flightsim development world. We at Orbx have been huge fans and admirers of their work which for us has always served as a benchmark. We will soon be publishing their upcoming YSSY Sydney Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator and the recently updated Version 2 of Sydney for P3Dv4 & v5. Keep an eye out here for the announcement of their availability of OrbxDirect. YSSY Sydney Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator blends in seamlessly with our Cityscape Sydney product and the two make for an incredible airport/city pair in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Being Australian based, this could not make us any happier. 16 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfahey Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 WOW!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDRustyfan Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Will you have FlyTamp Vegas for MSFS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosqr Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Holy Molly!!!! Good for both Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvdboomen Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 That's a nice partner to have. Congratulations Orbx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenriz Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) Will you have Copenhagen and Vegas with possibility of transfer serial number? Edited January 2, 2021 by fenriz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Myers Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 One of the best scenery developers around. Consistently great products blending visuals with performance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Er!k Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 This is indeed great news! Combine the quality of FlyTampa with the ease of use of Orbx Central and you have a winning team! Hope the other MSFS sceneries (Copenhagen, Las Vegas) will become available as well! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1252 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 At the risk of making myself unpopular here, I do have a couple of thoughts about this and other recent partnerships. It does feel like Orbx is perhaps focussing more on acquiring new partners than producing or updating their own software. Given that names like FlyTampa, Gaya etc are unlikely to be completely unknown to the existing Orbx customer base, I have to ask what is the benefit to the customers (rather than the benefit to Orbx, which I assume is a cut of the partner sales revenue)? I can see that it's nice to have access to updates via Orbx Central, but the partner products don't seem to be any cheaper via Orbx than via their own outlets, and don't seem to participate in the old fogey discount scheme (and presumably I'm not the only one here who appreciates that bit of Orbx magnanimosity). And being able to buy from Orbx Direct is no great benefit over and above being able to buy from any other online outlet. So that leads me to think that the only ones to benefit from this are Orbx. Which is absolutely fine, if for example it makes the difference between survival of Orbx or not. But is not so wonderful if it means that management is wholly focussed on such matters rather than planning and producing actual product. And before anybody reels off a list of new or announced products - yes, I realise new products have been arriving, but it doesn't feel like many of them are actually Orbx products. There are a lot of Orbx products that have not even made it to P3D5 yet, let alone MSFS. I'm not a developer, and freely admit that I have no idea of what's really involved in migrating existing products to the newer environments, but there must be some significant benefit in having a base product to work from, rather than starting from scratch. And please don't think this is some kind of attack on Orbx, it isn't. I've bought almost everything you've produced, and have been a huge fan of your products. But I have to say it feels like you might be losing your way a little bit and that saddens me. It feels that since JV has taken a back seat (and nobody, least of all me - a happily retired guy, would deny him that right) things have gone off the boil a bit, not least in the area of keeping the customer base informed of future plans. Product announcements are one thing, but we haven't had any kind of detailed mission statement for a long while now. This would most definitely be a good time for a "plans for 2021" announcement to let us know what's ahead. Anyway, I thought this should be said. I don't believe I'm the only one having these sort of thoughts. As for this actual announcement, yes, it's great to see FlyTampa here. I already have much of their stuff, as I do of DD and several of the other partners, and so one last thing I would add is that it would really enhance the Central experience if it were possible to transfer ALL existing licences, regardless of where the products were originally purchased. It does rather negate the benefits of having everything under the one roof otherwise. 2 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sante Sottile Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 14 minutes ago, andy1252 said: At the risk of making myself unpopular here, I do have a couple of thoughts about this and other recent partnerships. It does feel like Orbx is perhaps focussing more on acquiring new partners than producing or updating their own software. Given that names like FlyTampa, Gaya etc are unlikely to be completely unknown to the existing Orbx customer base, I have to ask what is the benefit to the customers (rather than the benefit to Orbx, which I assume is a cut of the partner sales revenue)? I can see that it's nice to have access to updates via Orbx Central, but the partner products don't seem to be any cheaper via Orbx than via their own outlets, and don't seem to participate in the old fogey discount scheme (and presumably I'm not the only one here who appreciates that bit of Orbx magnanimosity). And being able to buy from Orbx Direct is no great benefit over and above being able to buy from any other online outlet. So that leads me to think that the only ones to benefit from this are Orbx. Which is absolutely fine, if for example it makes the difference between survival of Orbx or not. But is not so wonderful if it means that management is wholly focussed on such matters rather than planning and producing actual product. And before anybody reels off a list of new or announced products - yes, I realise new products have been arriving, but it doesn't feel like many of them are actually Orbx products. There are a lot of Orbx products that have not even made it to P3D5 yet, let alone MSFS. I'm not a developer, and freely admit that I have no idea of what's really involved in migrating existing products to the newer environments, but there must be some significant benefit in having a base product to work from, rather than starting from scratch. And please don't think this is some kind of attack on Orbx, it isn't. I've bought almost everything you've produced, and have been a huge fan of your products. But I have to say it feels like you might be losing your way a little bit and that saddens me. It feels that since JV has taken a back seat (and nobody, least of all me - a happily retired guy, would deny him that right) things have gone off the boil a bit, not least in the area of keeping the customer base informed of future plans. Product announcements are one thing, but we haven't had any kind of detailed mission statement for a long while now. This would most definitely be a good time for a "plans for 2021" announcement to let us know what's ahead. Anyway, I thought this should be said. I don't believe I'm the only one having these sort of thoughts. As for this actual announcement, yes, it's great to see FlyTampa here. I already have much of their stuff, as I do of DD and several of the other partners, and so one last thing I would add is that it would really enhance the Central experience if it were possible to transfer ALL existing licences, regardless of where the products were originally purchased. It does rather negate the benefits of having everything under the one roof otherwise. So, you recommended trying to find all my installers on each individual site, individual updates etc rather than a simple "one click" install? Because I only see good things with this announcement. The more dev's that jump onboard, the better. I really don't get this mentality... Think of this as a "publisher" or "provider". Orbx has no control over other dev's projects. As for other internal Orbx projects, I agree on some points you made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Er!k Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Only thing that concerns me is support... All third party support is handled in a different way. But how does a customer know? It buys product a b and c, and goes to Orbx Support. Support then says, go to the dev. Case a means sending a mail case b is opening a topic on a forum and case c is contact via Facebook.... Confusing and not really customer friendly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farman Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I can partially agree on the side of lots of Orbx airports not yet upgraded so far to MSFS, while I'm seeing them sold by other developers (Dubrovnik, Rijeka, San Diego, Kenai, Ketchikan etc etc). For the restr, I can find much more useful to get any update from a single click at Orbx Direct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sante Sottile Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 15 minutes ago, Er!k said: Only thing that concerns me is support... All third party support is handled in a different way. But how does a customer know? It buys product a b and c, and goes to Orbx Support. Support then says, go to the dev. Case a means sending a mail case b is opening a topic on a forum and case c is contact via Facebook.... Confusing and not really customer friendly. If you are buying a product under "Partners", it's safe to assume support is offered from said "Partner". Nothing difficult about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Er!k Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 2 minutes ago, Tino said: If you are buying a product under "Partners", it's safe to assume support is offered from said "Partner". Nothing difficult about that. I understand, but if you look at the Orbx forum you will notice a lot of people don't 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1252 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Tino said: So, you recommended trying to find all my installers on each individual site, individual updates etc rather than a simple "one click" install? 14 minutes ago, farman said: I can find much more useful to get any update from a single click at Orbx Direct I agree completely with this aspect, although it only applies currently to partner products bought after the partnership is established, hence my comment about transferring exiasting licences. I'm not going to go and repurchase all my DD and FlyTampa products just to get one-stop updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbluesky Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 This is excellent news. Fly Tampa are one of the best scenery developers. I just had a look at the Orbxdirect Fly Tampa page (screenshot attached) and the price of the FS 2020 YSSY Sydney version is currently AUD $1,234.00! That is a high scenery launch price so this must be amazing scenery. Hopefully this price will be reduced on launch day and also existing Fly Tampa YSSY P3Dv4/v5 customers will receive a discount? https://orbxdirect.com/partner/flytampa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1252 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I just looked at the screenshots for YSSY for MSFS and whoo-hoo - the shark has made it over to MSFS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 18 minutes ago, Er!k said: Only thing that concerns me is support... All third party support is handled in a different way. But how does a customer know? It buys product a b and c, and goes to Orbx Support. Support then says, go to the dev. Case a means sending a mail case b is opening a topic on a forum and case c is contact via Facebook.... Confusing and not really customer friendly. Hello, each Orbx Direct product page clearly states where to go for support and provides a link to that support. here is one example. In addition, each product page in Orbx Central contains a link to the same source of support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 2 hours ago, andy1252 said: I do have a couple of thoughts about this and other recent partnerships. It does feel like Orbx is perhaps focussing more on acquiring new partners than producing or updating their own software. Hello, Orbx Direct is a marketing medium, just like Steam or SimMarket are and the FlightSim Store once was. The addition of new partners has absolutely no impact on Orbx products or their development. Those who administer the Partners' products play no part in product development and there is therefore no diversion of resources. The new partners have clearly seen Orbx Direct and Orbx Central as a new and effective way to distribute their products and indeed they are. We do not provide support for the partners' products beyond our own responsibility, which is to ensure that Orbx Central has installed them as it should. We do provide links to each Partner's support system and direct those customers who have overlooked them to those links. I hope that this clarifies the position and dispels your misgivings. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sante Sottile Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 34 minutes ago, andy1252 said: I agree completely with this aspect, although it only applies currently to partner products bought after the partnership is established, hence my comment about transferring exiasting licences. I'm not going to go and repurchase all my DD and FlyTampa products just to get one-stop updates. Completely agree with you on that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1252 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 16 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said: Orbx Direct is a marketing medium, just like Steam or SimMarket are and the FlightSim Store once was. The addition of new partners has absolutely no impact on Orbx products or their development. Those who administer the Partners' products play no part in product development and there is therefore no diversion of resources. Hi Nick, thanks for your reply. I totally understand that the developers wouldn't be likely to be involved in the partnership side of things, and I do like the idea of Direct and Central becoming centralised sources for purchase and updates. I'd be even more pleased if the transfer of older licenses were in place but I know you'll say that's not Orbx's responsibility. I accept that as it stands. But that's the sort of issue I was talking about - that would be more of a benefit directly to the customer, whereas it still seems that the major benefit is to Orbx itself. Just being able to buy from a single source isn't that much of a big deal from a customer's perspective. I'm not going to make a big deal about it, I'm happy to buy DD and FlyTampa from Orbx, DD or Flytampa themselves, or any other vendor site. Given that I already buy a lot of stuff via Direct or Central I will almost certainly buy new partner products like any further DD or FT from there as well. But none of that dispels the feeling for me that Orbx management may not be as focussed on the core business as it once was. Orbx either will or won't turn out products I want to buy in the future, but I feel oddly less confident of that now than I would have previously. Orbx used to be my "go-to" source for scenery, but it has definitely become less so since MSFS arrived, and I'm surprised by that. Given that Orbx was apparently involved in the development stages of the new sim, I'm really surprised that so relatively few of the products have made it to MSFS (Australian airports spring most readily to mind). Like I said, it feels like all the emphasis has gone in to expansion via partnerships. This is not meant as a missive from "angry of Torquay", if anything it's more of a lament. I will continue to be an obsessive collector of scenery, and I'll be more than happy if the bulk of it comes via Orbx. Cheers, And that's all I have to say about that (© F Gump) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Z Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I agree to the extent that it appears P3d v5 is being left behind in the rush to get MSFS products out. Despite the "two trillion purchasers" of MSFS, I believe that a large majority of P3d v5 users may have purchased the new sim, but have left it on the shelf until more aircraft are developed for it. Many of those simmers I would think still want Orbx scenery moved to v5. I know I do. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Correia Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 A little disappointed that this exciting announcement has turned into a discussion on perceptions of what Orbx is doing. Regardless, will add some comments here but don't want it to be dragged into further debate. OrbxDirect and Orbx Central rival what other developers/resellers offer and is highly regarded. Partners value it and wish to have their products distributed via us and we field many enquiries into joining. We will continue to add new Partners based on criteria such as quality of addons and variety of their products. The majority of Partner releases are their already released content so we are in a way playing catch up. Transferring licenses is something we encourage with Partners as we do prefer customers having all their purchases in the one spot, but there are factors where this may not be feasible. We released 54 products in 2020 (53 in 2019, 33 in 2018) with 23 for MSFS, 19 for ESP and 12 for XP11. So we are still focused on the core business of creating new content. Being able to switch to MSFS quickly is hardly a sign of things "going off the boil" and we did so deliberately to support its launch as a partner of Microsoft. As things settle down, we still see strong demand for P3D (and we commenced development on openLC Asia on this basis) and the recent TrueEarth Canary Islands has had fantastic take up which was very pleasing to see. How do we support all these platforms? That's the challenge and opportunity in front of us. 6 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Correia Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Another thing...YSSY Sydney Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator is now released. https://orbxdirect.com/product/flytampa-yssy-msfs 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFWSupertrooper Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Will FlyTampa's EKCH (Copenhagen) be making it over for MSFS or should I buy from them directly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1252 Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 9 hours ago, Ed Correia said: Another thing...YSSY Sydney Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator is now released. https://orbxdirect.com/product/flytampa-yssy-msfs Just bought it. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karangi Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 On 1/2/2021 at 2:57 PM, Orbx said: We are thrilled to announce our newest Partner - FlyTampa! FlyTampa needs no introduction and are legends in the flightsim development world. We at Orbx have been huge fans and admirers of their work which for us has always served as a benchmark. We will soon be publishing their upcoming YSSY Sydney Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator and the recently updated Version 2 of Sydney for P3Dv4 & v5. Keep an eye out here for the announcement of their availability of OrbxDirect. YSSY Sydney Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator blends in seamlessly with our Cityscape Sydney product and the two make for an incredible airport/city pair in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Being Australian based, this could not make us any happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karangi Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 No doubt the p3d v4 version will match that of the MSFS version. Looking foreward to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karangi Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 16 hours ago, Ed Correia said: A little disappointed that this exciting announcement has turned into a discussion on perceptions of what Orbx is doing. Regardless, will add some comments here but don't want it to be dragged into further debate. OrbxDirect and Orbx Central rival what other developers/resellers offer and is highly regarded. Partners value it and wish to have their products distributed via us and we field many enquiries into joining. We will continue to add new Partners based on criteria such as quality of addons and variety of their products. The majority of Partner releases are their already released content so we are in a way playing catch up. Transferring licenses is something we encourage with Partners as we do prefer customers having all their purchases in the one spot, but there are factors where this may not be feasible. We released 54 products in 2020 (53 in 2019, 33 in 2018) with 23 for MSFS, 19 for ESP and 12 for XP11. So we are still focused on the core business of creating new content. Being able to switch to MSFS quickly is hardly a sign of things "going off the boil" and we did so deliberately to support its launch as a partner of Microsoft. As things settle down, we still see strong demand for P3D (and we commenced development on openLC Asia on this basis) and the recent TrueEarth Canary Islands has had fantastic take up which was very pleasing to see. How do we support all these platforms? That's the challenge and opportunity in front of us. LC Asia will definitely increase your sales volu mes. Big market for you to tap into . When is the release date for LC Asia expected? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDRustyfan Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 On 1/1/2021 at 10:11 PM, NDRustyfan said: Will you have FlyTamp Vegas for MSFS? Again I will ask, will other FlyTampa scenery be coming to Orbx? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Correia Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 3 hours ago, NDRustyfan said: Again I will ask, will other FlyTampa scenery be coming to Orbx? We hope so and are in discussions with them regarding this. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fludo94 Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 1 hour ago, Ed Correia said: We hope so and are in discussions with them regarding this. Hello Ed, The integration of new Partners can be very convenient for us users of Orbx Central, especially because how easy it is to install and update from it and also because we can centralize our purchases which are currently spread between different vendors and own developers stores (to the extent that it is hard to keep track where everything is). However, I believe it is key to this process that once a partner is on board, all their catalogue became available through Orbx Central, if that is not possible we add another element of difficulty (for ex. having purchases of FT prodcuts in their store, Simmarket and Orbx Central). Ideally, I would like to have the possibility to transfer all previous purchases of FT products to Orbx Central and continue purchasing their new releases through Orbx Central (already possible I assume), this way we go from 3 places to 1. Also, I think adding a small fee for the transfer of previous licences would be very reasonable (for download costs incurred by you for purchases made in other stores), the same would apply for all other Partners you are incorporating. Thank you for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosqr Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Hello Fludo It has already been explained that the process to move previous developed products into Central is subject to the evaluation of the quality, among others, some products can't be transferred as happened with FSimStudios I am sure Orbx will offer everything that will be possible, after all that is the business, so it is not a matter of not wanting and it takes time to do so. Having the possibility of having all the content in Central is great as it is easy but it is also good to have different sources to purchase, first because this helps others and second because when discounts happen every company applies their policies and some could be better than others, so diversity and alternatives is always positive. On the other hand, adding a fee for the transfer of licenses will totally kill the interest/wish to merge into Central. Transferring the license for free is a way to motivate the integration of all you have into central. If I had to pay any fee for that I simply won't do it, I rather use that fee to buy more. Just my opinion. Cheers Carlos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fludo94 Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Hello Carlos, Thank you for your answer and pointing out what was explained regarding this topic, I did not know about it. I also did not read the previous answers to this post regarding topic deviation before writing and after doing so, I think it is better to end the debate here. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosqr Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Fludo94 said: Hello Carlos, Thank you for your answer and pointing out what was explained regarding this topic, I did not know about it. I also did not read the previous answers to this post regarding topic deviation before writing and after doing so, I think it is better to end the debate here. Cheers Hi Fludo No problem Thank you for your reply as well, I didn't mean to cause any debate, I was just trying to clarify and pointing out that there were explanations about and also provided my point of view about the fees. So I'm sorry if how I wrote was not properly and I do hope all is clear for you. English for me is too cold. There is nothing wrong in expressing your point of view. Thanks and have a great evening Cheers Carlos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fludo94 Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 16 hours ago, carlosqr said: Hi Fludo No problem Thank you for your reply as well, I didn't mean to cause any debate, I was just trying to clarify and pointing out that there were explanations about and also provided my point of view about the fees. So I'm sorry if how I wrote was not properly and I do hope all is clear for you. English for me is too cold. There is nothing wrong in expressing your point of view. Thanks and have a great evening Cheers Carlos Hi Carlos! I didn't mean "debate" in a bad way at all, no need to apologize, I appreciated your view on the subject. Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orbx Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 FlyTampa YSSY v2 for P3Dv4 and v5 is now also available on OrbxDirect. Note that this version will use the Control Panel functionality of Orbx Central and not their configurator. Also, the FT Libraries will also be installed and for FlyTampa customers of other airports there will be a doubling up of these libraries. This does not have any impact to the sim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Ozzman Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) There is also a clash with the IKEA near 16R. Added by FlyTampa, but Orbx CityScape places a default building on top of it... Are you guys aware of this issue? Edited January 20, 2021 by Paul Ozzman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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