Jay Kae Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Welcome to our new world! OZx (pronounced Aussie-X) is the new collaboration of scenery designers that began life under the auspices of the FTX Freeware Development Team. The invigoration of a new name and our own dedicated site means we are able to develop and refine our skills and techniques in an environment that is removed from those intense pressures associated with commercial scenery releases. However, as a group, we still remain committed to the success of the OrbX Full Terrain eXperience ideals, and as such we will be doing our utmost to ensure the scenery we release will install without conflict and blend properly into FTX. The OZx family takes great delight in presenting the OZx Freeware Pack Version 1.0. Within this package we feature the work of many of Australia’s finest developers. Joining our family are some extremely talented newcomers, offering new insight and unique perspectives to the challenges of scenery design. OZx Freeware is a collection of over 130 texture matched airstrips and various other photo scenery objects that have been designed to blend seamlessly with the FTX_AU scenery series. The majority of strips you will find in this package are small airfields designed for general aviation (GA) flight. Some are farm strips – sharing a paddock with crops; some are mining strips – designed for twin engine turboprop fly-in, fly-out operations; some are small strips servicing rural communities or tourism operations. It is a truism that our flight sim hobby caters for many tastes. I like the simplicity of single engine, low and scenic. For me, it is the environment that counts; I like to see the rolling hills, patchworked pastures and tree-filled valleys passing under the nose of my aircraft. If you’re like me you will enjoy the challenge of navigating to an airstrip not serviced by navigation aids and the thrill of landing on rough and remote airstrips. No doubt your pulse will start to race when you attempt to land on these bumpy, unflattened strips, dodging the fences, the cattle, the ‘roos and the powerlines! Now this is what bush flying is all about. Many of these little strips do not have facility information recorded in the FSX database. You will not be able to select these fields from the GO TO AIRPORT menu. Like a real life charter pilot, you have turned up at the briefing office and you have to plan your flight to arrive in the vicinity of the airstrip. You will need to utilise the services of your Mark 1 eyeball to identify the runway. This adds a whole new dimension to your simming. No longer can you just dial up the airport in your GPS and slave the planes systems so the aircraft acts like a train on rails. Now you need to think where you point the aircrafts nose; wind will re-quire you to make heading corrections to find the appropriate track; and visibility, or the lack of it, be-comes so much more of a problem. Your eyeballs now gain a renewed focus that had slowly been lost amidst the sea of NDBs, VORs, GPSs, and DMEs. When you next visit FSX, why don’t you strap yourself into a Cessna 172 and try a low, slow scenic flight. Aviate to some little bush strips that will require you to keep a sharp lookout and utilise some very basic navigational skills. Come and step back in time with us to an era when pilots used road maps, com-passes, watches and dodgy estimates of wind to find their way from dot to dot on the map. Basic naviga-tion can provide an intellectual and stimulating challenge which will give more purpose to your simming session. Seat of the pants flying is back and it is good. Don’t stay absorbed in those instruments, look out the window and be amazed. http://aussiex.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolb Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 rrrr, it was released right after I got to work, but it will be nice to get this downloaded when I get home for the weekend. Nice job getting it put together so fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Great news! I will be downloading it right away. Thanks a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Baumanis Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 How does this affect those of us who have the ORBX freeware installed on our systems. Is it the same or does it have new scenery features? Can we just install this release with no conflicts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Congrats to Jay and the OZx team for getting the release out; well done guys! @Pauleb - I worked with Wolter on the install scripts and it automagically removes the old FTXAA_FREEWARE folder and scenery library entries for you, thus ensuring no conflicts exist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timest Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 EXCELLENT! Thanks so much you guys!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananda Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 I worked with Wolter on the install scripts and it automagically removes the old FTXAA_FREEWARE folder and scenery library entries for you, thus ensuring no conflicts exist Are you sure? I had all sorts of problems installing the Orbx scenery. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Yes we are sure, unless you have taken the stuff apart and relocated the folders to other places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananda Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Yes we are sure, unless you have taken the stuff apart and relocated the folders to other places I remember speaking with you for about 30 minutes on TeamSpeak and we couldn't solve the problem. It would be much easier if the files were made available as a normal zip then we could place them in the appropriate folders. The FSX folder structure is not the place for add-on scenery files. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwlee Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 You CAN redirect the install - but the place to discuss this is OZx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Great news Goob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Henare Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Yes we are sure, unless you have taken the stuff apart and relocated the folders to other places I remember speaking with you for about 30 minutes on TeamSpeak and we couldn't solve the problem. It would be much easier if the files were made available as a normal zip then we could place them in the appropriate folders. The FSX folder structure is not the place for add-on scenery files. George The reasons installer are used instead of just providing a zip is because first off the absolute vast majority of users want plug and play installation, its faster, easier and causes way less support problems. Now a very the simple solution is to create your own dummy folder to install to then move the files as you wish, but the risk here is that basically only limited support will be provided if any. Our experience with VOZ proved this and many of VOZ support team will atest to many many hours being spent trying to help people with 'Unique' installations, time better spent making great scenery. K.I.S.S ... Keep it simple and your lessl ikely to have any problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 The FSX folder structure is not the place for add-on scenery files. George Beg yours? Where would you suggest that FTX be placed? In a folder outside of the FSX installation? Sorry, but that would cause us far more problems than it solves. This is the first time I have ever heard someone suggest that the ORBX folder location is erroneous and non-compliant. A very large number of commercial payware addons live inside the FSX folders for the very reason that installers and scripts are much, much easier to manage and developers usually rely on and leverage the FSX installation directory entry in the Windows registry to keep thing simple. I complete understand that there are a minority of users who like to have absolute control of any addons which are installed, and prefer to have readme.txt files and ZIPs to extract and figure out where to place things. I think that was the norm back in the FS98 era, but that's not how we do things at Orbx, and after some 3-4 years experience with installers we have found that the level of support is exponentially tied to the simplicity and automation of installers. Also, please focus any support issues for OZx 1.0 and subsequent release on their support forums over at http://aussiex.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananda Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 [Also, please focus any support issues for OZx 1.0 and subsequent release on their support forums over at http://aussiex.org I'm sorry John, I was responding to a direct quote from yourself, not Ausiex. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca22au Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Thank the Lord for plug and play, self-installers and anything designed to stop me stuffing things up. The less I touch the better the system runs, and the smoother FSX plays. I support any steps to keep it simple, so thanks John, and the OZx team for this straightforward process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Baumanis Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 @Pauleb - I worked with Wolter on the install scripts and it automagically removes the old FTXAA_FREEWARE folder and scenery library entries for you, thus ensuring no conflicts exist Thanks for that John. I am a great believer in KISS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Webb Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Thank the Lord for plug and play, self-installers and anything designed to stop me stuffing things up. The less I touch the better the system runs, and the smoother FSX plays. I support any steps to keep it simple, so thanks John, and the OZx team for this straightforward process. Couldn't have said it better myself. One of the reasons I love VOZ, FTX and now OZx.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.