Ground Environment X compatibility

[krigl]

Hi, I've just noticed that, completely without warning, Ground Environment X has suddenly been released for N.America. I'm aware that it's not the successor to Ground Environment Pro - FTX is. So,I wanted to ask:

What will the compatibility be like? First and only rumour I have is that they won't be compatible, which is not good news at all...Given that FTX will only be covering selected regions, people will probably want to run both.

I fly everywhere... the choice between quite cheaply covering the whole world almost immediately with quality textures from GEX, and running even better, locally perfect FTX textures in a few locations, released gradually every few months each at a 'certain' price which is low for one region, but adds up if you want everything (and who won't... ) and seeing the FSX default textures in the rest of the world is not one I want to make....

Having seen the cost of lifetime membership it's all clear to me now - FTX is going to be massive - but as a non-golf playing, non-company executive average guy (English teacher) with limited pocket money for sim add-ons FTX everywhere possible is just going to be out of my league, much as I'd like to purchase everything you pump out.

I do hope they will play nice together...!! Keep it up guys, looking amazing...as you know. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with other areas of the world...

Cheers

Krigl

[}SkOrPn--7]

I understand your concerns completely and from my reading it looks like ruffly $90 USD will cover a great deal of the world when it's rolled out. Nothing against the GEX crowd who made the addon but in my opinion GEX isn't even in the same league as FTX. I too would like the whole world covered in a short amount of time because like you I enjoy flying all over but there is no way I would lay down money on GEX or there is something wrong with my monitor looking at there screenshots. They look plastic and looking at some of the night ones just doesn't do it justice where there are street lights. Also some of those screenshots look like the scenery was built using modeling clay with a lick of paint so GEX in my opinion doesn't even cut the mustard. I would prefer to remain flying in one location until the next region is released from FTX.

GEX too me is just a budget roll out the door temp fix for those that want better quality than default which is good I don't have a problem with that but there is no way to compare or place in the same shopping basket as FTX I'm sorry to say. These are just my personal opinions and are taken from what I have looked at and read but having said that I do understand your concern with budgets when deciding of payware oddons and if there will be compatibility issues.

[John Venema]

FTX works seamlessly with GEX. Essentially, Anthony's product simply overwrites the default FSX textures of your installation into the Scenery\World\Texture folder. We don't do that.

One of the most important design criterea for FTX was that it would be a complete unintrusive installation, i.e. we don't overwrite any default files at all, and FTX lives outside the base FSX texture folders, in its own ORBX folder. So far, we're been able to achieve 90% of that goal and hopefully 99.9% by release time. We are working with ACES to overcome some minor annoyances to achieve that goal.

Why are we so anal about ensuring FTX is a clean install and does not trample on default? Simple. We are using a regional approach, and when you cross into FTX regions you'll see FTX, and when you depart them you'll see default. We call this a "user friendly experience". There's no need to fiddle with switchers and manage the FTX installation. Just install and then go fly in the region you've purchased. In the long term, our users will love Orbx for the simplicity and zero maintenance approach we've taken.

What this means, in a nutshell, is that because we built FTX the right way, using 100% SDK functionality, FTX does not "clobber" any default or replacement textures and when you load our Pacific NorthWest region next year for instance, you'll see FTX inside the PNW region, and the moment you leave the region boundary you'll see default FSX textures (or GEX if you've installed that).

Bottom line: the two *will* work seamlessly together - giving you GEX as a base pack and FTX for the immersive experience on a regional basis.

[krigl]

Koorby - thanks very much for the comprehensive answer. Especially as it's good news!! I'll be able to fly everywhere I want with better - than - default textures, and in some special regions I can use the awesomeness that is FTX. Thanks a lot for setting up your product in such a compatible way!! It would have been great if you guys could have co-operated instead of split...with GEX as a 'base pack' and all the functionality of the GEPro interface....but people are people, and you are offering different things anyway, so if they work together they are complementary and not really competing products. Much. 

I will post about it in the Simviation forums in response to the initial announcement, which may have left some people wondering there. Perhaps somewhere in your product description on the site you might like to mention that FTX will work with other ground texture add-ons...

Skor..

That's what I'm saying, looks like a (kind-of) "budget" alternative to default, and not bad to me. I was more impressed by the change Ground Environment makes for FS9, as default FSX textures seem quite nice to me as they are...just the landclass is bad - but the GEX team is smaller now I suppose.

Cheers!!

Krigl

[}SkOrPn--7]

Gotta second that I enjoyed reading the lengths your going too in making this thing run as a completely separate program.