ACTIVE EU England...wish list...ongoing

[Capt Pugwash]

Guys, I like the feel of this package and the "3D effect" and wonderful seasons, Autumn looks grand.

As I fly GA VFR for real in and around the Midlands and Yorkshire mainly, I always look for major landmarks to keep me on track and entertained...My wish list for a future service pack is as follows:

1/ More Football Stadiums (very important for us English residents!)

2/ Major shopping Centres, ie: Meadowhall - Sheffield & Westfield - Derby etc etc...

3/ The main dams in detail ie "The Dambuster" practice dam...The Derwent Dam & LadyBower

http://www.blueeyeaviation.co.uk/. grab the freeware Moth and try this, even better take the real flight!

4/ The power stations need a good base image with coal and more pylons etc.

5/ Motorways - blue roadsigns to add some realism to the rather bland looking grey motorways and

carraigeways (just the odd big blue sign spanning a section every so often, don't go mad)

6/ More & detailed national trust buildings (famous Halls and Rediences)

This is not critism, but a hint at what I feel alot of us English know we are missing & wanting to see built into this great package as we all make an input to make it our perfect place...

I hope others will add to this list...to help steer the developers down the right path for future service updates.

Keep up the sterling work chaps!

[hughesj2]

Good shouts here Shaun in terms of polishing ENG. I'm being confident on this one given ORBX's track record for improving their payware offerings post launch.

My expectation (FWIW) is that as the ENG airports come out then we will get the same as we have with CRM/AUS etc where you don't just get a superbly detailed strip but a good few hundred square miles of improved surrounding area. KJAC/PAKT are stunning examples of this.

Be nice to buy EGCB for example and have it include a nice depiction of Barton Bridge to avoid and Trafford Centre (again to avoid ), Chill FactorE, Salford City Reds stadium and the stinky sewage works lol

I guess for those living close to/operating from Goodwood will be able to give their views soon enough on the enhanced strips for ENG.

I think though as a first project from what I think I remember reading in one of the posts somewhere, JV said was a new team, this is a cracking start

[Ian Routley]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I'll move these to the Payware support section .... so the team can note them, and reply as needed.

[Capt Pugwash]

Thanks James, I think you are bang on regarding future addon Airport/fields adding additional features to some areas, just like PAKT with its ships and additional object scenery...it brings "a lot to the table" whilst immersing you in what you know or have seen in images/film of that region.

It really ticks the boxes when you fly detail to detail rather than the standard scenery and this is what people have to remember, even my PNW looks tame when I am out of the wonderful addons like Cushman, Concrete, KORS etc.

I really would like to open up the whole motorway subject with Orbx and get them to consider adding more "clutter" in the way of wide spanning motorway gantries and digital signs, plus the red 50mph speed restriction signs that are getting more common over the M1, M25 and M42 on these huge digital overheads.... these really would add to the realism, at some point , we all use motorways to navigate by!!! be it in real life or the sim.

We all know whats to come and it will be awesome, but getting some more bespoke English objects throughtout the scenery will go a long way to filling the gaps between these future addons when they start to open the floodgates on locale airstrips...

[Capt Pugwash]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I'll move these to the Payware support section .... so the team can note them, and reply as needed.

Thanks Ian, good to know you guys are listening to our feedback...

[hughesj2]

Shaun, agreed and I'm sure more "global" clutter will be added appropriately as well. Knowing the ORBX approach I bet they are already on to it.

I also think that lists like this are a great articulation of feedback to the Devs in terms of what makes their scenery really immersive from a customer perspective and then they can balance/prioritise that within the technical limitations they'll have in order to maintain product performance.

Here's hoping for plenty more constructive contributions from the rest of the community.

[Grumpyrocker]

More beaches would be great. Would love to see more sand at places like Weymouth, Westbay, Burton Bradstock, Seaton, Blackpool and Morecambe.

Morecambe bay at high tide has been very well represented actually, with the shallow waters and sand of the bay.

I must go look at Southport in FSX, as that has miles of sand that the sea rarely reaches.

[Capt Pugwash]

Nyxx suggestion of Race Tracks is a great one (I missed seeing the detail of the Donnington Circuit on approach to RW 09, goes in at No/7 on the wish list

I guess No/8 should be Race Courses (for horses!!!) ie : Lingfield (you fly straight over the race course and Marriott Hotel on finals to Gatwick...I stay here often on business and they come over real low!) also Aintree and some of the others would be great.

Adding these major points of interest will bring greater immersion for us, and keep it sensible guys (nobody asking for their local CO OP) )

Edit: Actually Ikea is a good one, only a few in the UK, also did I see a guy add these and a few hundred Mc Donalds to his AUS scenery?

[StormVR6]

Now I'm flying over areas that I know, I have to ask this question: should I expect to see massive hospitals and commercial/business areas within the FTX scenery? Or is that expecting too much? If not, then I have a long list of barren areas that need addressing.

More beaches would be great. Would love to see more sand at places like Weymouth.......

I love Weymouth, is it still lovely or have pubs and night clubs ruined that place too?

Thank you and God bless you.

[Capt Pugwash]

Now I'm flying over areas that I know, I have to ask this question: should I expect to see massive hospitals and commercial/business areas within the FTX scenery? Or is that expecting too much? If not, then I have a long list of barren areas that need addressing.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Mr Storm, indeed you are right in many respects! I have noticed our "green & pleasant land" appears devoid of colour...by this I mean Mc D,s and Ikea and yes even my new local hospital lit up in three different colours ( don't ask!!!!)

So how to proceed?

Maybe we can extract "our England" from this base scenery as it develops, but only if we make our Anglo Saxon feelings known...grrrr

Seriously...the base is there, lets show the rest of the world how we have topped it off! with the skills of Orbx devlopment team UK.

By jove pass me another Sherry Jeeves....

I love Weymouth, is it still lovely or have pubs and night clubs ruined that place too?

Thank you and God bless you.

[Alex Goff]

Now I'm flying over areas that I know, I have to ask this question: should I expect to see massive hospitals and commercial/business areas within the FTX scenery? Or is that expecting too much? If not, then I have a long list of barren areas that need addressing.

I am not a part of the UK team but speaking from past regions experience, it depends on the prominence of the building in regards to aviation. One important factor to remember is that if every custom building possible were included there would be a sharp performance hit. Autogen is miles more efficient than custom buildings based on how FSX loads it. For example in a commercial area without many tall or unique buildings it is more efficient to use a landclass tile (1x1km sq) or draw a small polygon and fill it with landclass textures. The LC and poly method allows for display of areas similarly to how they would be in real life and aids in regards to performance.

But by all means a thorough list of landmarks and navigation aids is great to have and I am positive that the team will appreciate contributions through support threads!

[Capt Pugwash]

I have just flown over Sellafield - Nuclear Power and it looks incredible!

I compared it to the wiki aerial image and it is "bang on the numbers"

It appears to have a higher res photo image base...Please Devs, more of this where/if you are able would be grand (ie: power stations)

[Holy Cheese]

The only thing I would like to see added (apart from Old Trafford, that is!) are churches in the villages. Now I realize it would be a mammoth task to add churches to every village, but given that these are a major part of rural life in UK, it would indeed be nice to see some more.

Cheers

Jack

[Capt Pugwash]

The only thing I would like to see added (apart from Old Trafford, that is!) are churches in the villages. Now I realize it would be a mammoth task to add churches to every village, but given that these are a major part of rural life in UK, it would indeed be nice to see some more.

Cheers

Jack

Good point Jack, Churches and Cathedrals would be nice, where there would be no/little impact on frame rates...

[StormVR6]

Good suggestion, Jack, that would be nice.

I am not a part of the UK team but speaking from past regions experience, it depends on the prominence of the building in regards to aviation. One important factor to remember is that if every custom building possible were included there would be a sharp performance hit. Autogen is miles more efficient than custom buildings based on how FSX loads it. For example in a commercial area without many tall or unique buildings it is more efficient to use a landclass tile (1x1km sq) or draw a small polygon and fill it with landclass textures. The LC and poly method allows for display of areas similarly to how they would be in real life and aids in regards to performance.

But by all means a thorough list of landmarks and navigation aids is great to have and I am positive that the team will appreciate contributions through support threads!

Thanks for the reply. I'll make a note of the more prominent omissions during my flight time.

[deetee]

I had a great first flight from Manchester to Heathrow with FTX ENG (Airbus X) , and my approach to 27R allowed me to over-fly the capital and admire the great work done by Orbx. Frames were pretty reasonable considering my sliders were full-right, so nice job guys!

After that I had a quick spin over my home town Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but was a little dismayed not to see the prominent Tyne Bridge (originally modelled on Sydney Harbour Bridge), although the new pedestrian bridge was present. In fact none of the other bridges were there, but it's early days yet.

Thanks

Dave

[Capt Pugwash]

Last night, I flew from EGNX East Mids over the High Peak, then over Manchester and then up the Mersey past the Scousers & up to Sellafield & hung a right into the Lake Distrct, I really enjoyed what I saw with the changes in terrain, I then pointed my RAF themed Legacy at Leeds/ Bradford and then headed back down the thick grey line (M1).

The whole journey was flown at approx 8000ft and apart from me "dive bombing" the Sellafield Reactor Plant! I maintained a standard cruise height to enable me to enjoy the new REX + realtime weather with EU England whilst making some more observations.

Firstly, the frame rates are superb, even in "The big smoke" I can now negate the Thames without a BSOD.

I do feel quite strongly though about the bland villages and towns I witnessed on this Northerly flight and feel a blast of colour and historic buildings would finish off the experience for me.

Churches, Retails parks, Red Post Boxes or the odd old style phone box in a village, Mc Donalds are Great VFR points due to being on nearly every primary junction and road in the UK now!

I am well aware of too much "clutter" slowing down the FPS, but...the UK is cluttered!...with non uniformed towns & Cities, it's impossible to have it as accurate as the VFR photos, but some very English 3D objects placed in the outer villages/towns will polish this product.

No need for too many extra bespoke frame killing buildings, but surely repeating Churches, Mc D's, BP/SHELL Petrol Stations and little red post boxes is achievable? due to them being identical objects that are strewn/repeated throughout England...

[FieryBiscuits]

I live outside of Cambridge, in the Fens, and lord knows there ain't much out here - it's all fields and flat flat flat - however the one big obvious sticky up thing we do have is Ely Cathedral (aka The Ship of the Fens) which is currently absent. It'd be great if it could be added at some point in the future.

[Capt Pugwash]

Mr Biscuits, exactly what we mean, the perfect observation indeed!, Ely & indeed lots of other major VFR reference points would be a huge bonus in place of the random grey topped autogen we currently observe in areas other than London, Manchester & other major Cities...Devs please, more Churches, Cathedrals and typical "English clutter" will be enough to give us the VFR references we indeed need for our ultimate EU England VFR flight experience! (if you are able to balance additional objects against the great frame rates you have achieved)

Please remember this is feedback and most certainly not criticism, if you mamage to add only a small percentage of what we all crave for, it would be a huge bonus!

Yet again Also I ask you to consider sprucing up our major arteries (M1, M6, M25, M5, M62, M42 etc...) these are the "back bone" of England, and our most referred to nav points when not using GPS , surely having motorway services and signage every so often is a viable option for us, considering that most pilots use our Motorways to negate Eng...er...land!

[philmurfin]

I'd like to see Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall in place. They've both been used lots for TV and many films and they're both in the Peak Park, the 2nd. most visited national park in the world. Oh yes, they're also near to were I live!

[rockliffe]

I think the main thing that may be missing (apart from a load of bridges ) are, as has been said, GA landmarks. I went for my first proper GA flight the other evening and was surprised that nothing extra had been done to Cheddar Gorge. As I flew WSW I was aiming for Westbury white horse, an absolute definite for a landmark and was surprised at it's complete absence. I was pleased to see the cement works tower out in front so that was good, but sadly it was just a tower standing in the middle of a field. I was also aware of some of our local villages that were simply missing. I know, I know, we could continue for ages on this topic. At the end of the day it's a great bit of work, but as with so many other new releases, it's only natural that improvements can be made.

[anfield ace]

Hi Guys,

First of all may I congratulate the development team on a brilliant job with EU England!

As a scouser living in Liverpool for over 62 years (now in Lincolnshire) the two things I would like to see in the Merseyside area would be the Liver buildings, the Runcorn bridge (a real landmark for local flying in this area) and also Lincoln Cathedral which was really important for local flying in Lincoln, especially in Bomber County!

Thanks again,

Mal...

[John Lovell]

I think the main thing that may be missing (apart from a load of bridges ) are, as has been said, GA landmarks. I went for my first proper GA flight the other evening and was surprised that nothing extra had been done to Cheddar Gorge. As I flew WSW I was aiming for Westbury white horse, an absolute definite for a landmark and was surprised at it's complete absence. I was pleased to see the cement works tower out in front so that was good, but sadly it was just a tower standing in the middle of a field. I was also aware of some of our local villages that were simply missing. I know, I know, we could continue for ages on this topic. At the end of the day it's a great bit of work, but as with so many other new releases, it's only natural that improvements can be made.

I'll 2nd you that on Chedder Gorge. Went looking for the Gorge the other day after looking for the Clifton Suspension Bridge... It's kinda there but can do with a little facelift

[rockliffe]

I'll 2nd you that on Chedder Gorge. Went looking for the Gorge the other day after looking for the Clifton Suspension Bridge... It's kinda there but can do with a little facelift

Actually John, I forgot to mention about the suspension bridge... mmm...you're right, it's just a normal bridge and not a suspension bridge, not so good for one of the most iconic bridges in the world!

[John Lovell]

... and The Tyne Bridge in Newcastle.. would be easy for Orbx to put this one in... just shrink The Sydney Harbour bridge down and plonk it in there

[tdavart]

I'm seeing red shadows in some of the forested areas. Color correction?

[David Rogers]

......After that I had a quick spin over my home town Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but was a little dismayed not to see the prominent Tyne Bridge (originally modelled on Sydney Harbour Bridge), although the new pedestrian bridge was present. In fact none of the other bridges were there, but it's early days yet.

Thanks

Dave

Another Geordie here, who would love to see the Tyne Bridge ha ha.... But the Millenium Bridge looks great doesn't it... and did you see the Cruise Ships docked down at North Shields? ..... Was very impressed to see those.

[John Lovell]

Why aye man!

I saw those... looks great. Is the angel of the north there?... will have to look next time I make a visit

[Capt Pugwash]

I did a short flight in my Eastern Airlines PMDG J41 from East Mids up to the Humber and then along the coast down to "The Wash" and the superb colours of the sand banks & off shore wind farms was a treat to see.

With Rex + the whole feeling was extremely imersive whilst up around 8000ft skimming in and out of cloud layers, even my frame rates were awesome!

But if I was to take this "round robin" flight in a little cessna at lower altitudes I would love to pick out more vfr points of interest rather than a stack of random-ish placed autogen....daft question I am sure, but will less general autogen allow for more bespoke "real life" vfr items to be placed without a hit on the great frame rates the devs have achieved?

[John Lovell]

Why aye man!

I saw those... looks great. Is the angel of the north there?... will have to look next time I make a visit

[Capt Pugwash]

Chatsworth house and the major bridges were available on the gex x update disk I purchased, I might try to pull some of these across to my EUEng and see what occurs!

More autogen for Tyne and Wear, MIdlands and South etc at this link...http://www.shepsshed.com/autogentrees.htm

Playing around introducing other autogen is obviuosly just a "sticky plaster" until Orbx sift through all our feedback and patch as they feel fit. Then I remove it for the Orbx updated objects

[Capt Pugwash]

Castles...England is peppered with them, Anybody seen any Castles yet?

[fltsimguy]

I would like to add my interest in seeing "many" more bridges over fairly major rivers. You may have this identified already to look at some improvements.

Example just north of East Midlands Intl....several crossings without bridges, road drops down into river than back up the other side. Looks weird. I think that this is all along the Trent River that runs thru Nottingham as well.

[bruce e]

..several crossings without bridges, road drops down into river than back up the other side. Looks weird. I think that this is all along the Trent River that runs thru Nottingham as well.

I think JV has acknowledged that the bridge issue is an easy fix for the first patch. Bridge "extrusions" [i think] were left out------something like that.

[fltsimguy]

I think JV has acknowledged that the bridge issue is an easy fix for the first patch. Bridge "extrusions" [i think] were left out------something like that.

That would be good for sure. I know that these folks really work hard to adjust and improve their product when they get constructive comments about various scenery issues.

[sketchy]

Great thread, I will echo that I love the England scenery, I have up until last week put up with "default" FSX UK inbetween a few ACG, ES, and UK2000 airports, it's great to fly over a "Green and Pleasant" land finally!

To add to all the suggestions for Bridges / Castles and Churches can I make the suggestion of the Abbey on top of St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, as Cornish Kid Now living in Los Angeles it would be nice to make a flight out of Culdrose over that some time.

Anyhow back to it and I look forward to all future England and UK offerings, especially with the excellent help I received from the ORBX staff on having problems installing at first.

Cheers,

Fraser

[Capt Pugwash]

"quote"

Michael's Mount in Cornwall, as Cornish Kid Now living in Los Angeles it would be nice to make a flight out of Culdrose over that some time.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Fraser, thanks for your feedback on the thread, I hope to add all the comments everybody has made to the initial list soon, so we can all get a global over view of our feedback/ suggestions for the devs to consider...

On the whole, it looks like most people want less random autogen and some more area specific objects accurately placed, plus clearer base images where required...

EU Eng has awesome looking fields and wooded areas, they just need to "populate" it with some more "area specific objects" and that would do most folk I feel.

I am really looking forwards to purchasing their first EU Eng airfield

By the way...can you get a decent Cornish Pasty in L.A. or do you have them flown in???

[John Lovell]

Yeah, St Michael's Mount pleeease

[Capt Pugwash]

I guess some people want to see more popular 3D Objects/ Landmarks in their region?

Some want VFR / Recognisable Sight-Seeing objects in the North, others the Midlands and others the South...Plus Wales, Scotland, N.I & Eire when they arrive!

You could almost generate a range of 3D VFR Objects "bolt on" products for these regions!!!

The biggest concern for me is the effect any more "bespoke" objects would have on the great frame rates..!

Plus I am waiting to see what the FPS impact on EU ENG will be with the EU ENG new addon airfields like Goodwood...

[alehead]

One of the problems for FSX with Britain is its lack of uniformity... all the castles look different, all the cathedrals/churches look different and so on. I think that populating the UK with this could cause a major performance hit, as much as I would like to see an increase in the number of VRPs like castles, bridges, cathedrals and so on. Alnwick, Bamburgh, Warwick, Leeds (in Kent) Castle... There are many...

Looking forward to seeing what the team comes up with in terms of additional scenery...

A