Daddy Bear Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Hello folks. After discovering the delights of FTX for South Island New Zealand, Australia and parts of the USA NWP area I have to admit that although it may not be true to life I certainly see the point of it. Up to a point I am a convert; It suspends disbelief sometimes. It is more often than not totally convincing. Now the thing is I have invested a lot in Horizon VFR for the UK along with Earthsim products for the Channel Islands, the IoS, Treescape etc and I am looking forward very much to the up coming IoM scenery but I am intrigued by FTX England. Just what has it got that Horizon VFR hasn't. Can you persuade me to buy a copy? Cheers Phil F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Pugwash Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 The choice is yours Phil, The guys on this forum are already converts (Orbx Addicts!) I binned all my Horizon photo scenery and have not looked back...Orbx is the future and creating a growing "global Package" that will imho be our sim scenery platform for many many years to come...probably with Pr3d once they do 64bit version. I swallowed hard when I removed all my old UK scenery, but with Wales due out this weekend with the high detail Cardiff airport, I feel my decision to run EU Eng was more than justified....I get better frame rates and a more immersive 3D environment rather than blurred one season VFR photo scenery... The choice can only be yours mate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregJ Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 If England is as good as any of the North American areas - Buy it. Investments in a hobby are almost always rewarding and if as these have proven to be, nearly zero troubles to boot. I just bought another ORBX title (Skagit) last night and am pleased. I will wait to see what global adds to the overall scenery complexity before buying anymore titles... I hope that those titles previously purchased will complement more richly the effect of global based on mesh complexity. As always the choice to open the wallet is yours, but if you feel you will get some gratification out of it then do it.....in marketing thats called purchase satisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grajay Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I too have all of the Horizon/Playsim stuff together with the Earth SImulatons treescapes - Shawbury, Scilly Isles yada yada yada. I abandonned them all late last year and cannot say that I miss them one little bit. The FTX stuff is just the best and once you've abandonned the idea of photo-scenery (after all - do you REALLY know every inch photo scenery you fly over?) then you too will become a convert. The other real plus is that the folks on this forum don't mess you around - when stuff is coming through they tell you about it and give realistic estimates of what's coming and when - something that Horizon/Playsim singlularly fail to do on a consistent basis. If you want my advice then embrace FTX - you'll not regret it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holy Cheese Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I think you can't beat any of the ORBX regions, and England together with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be a great addition to your sim. As mentioned above, I find that the fact that you have all the seasons as well as night textures makes a huge difference for me when it comes to immersion rather than the single season nightless effect of photoreal scenery. Normally when I fly, I leave the date in the sim as it is and fly with real weather from OpusFSX, and for me this brings with it some spectacular moments, which I'm sure I would not have with photoreal. ORBX England also blends very well together with the UK2000 airports (at least the majors and regionals - can't say for the VFR airfields, don't have those) and makes for a very good experience for me. A major plus is the fact that you know that the ORBX teams are always working on updates and improvements, so you know if there are any glitches, if it is humanly possible, they will fix it for you. For me ORBX is the best value for money out there - buy England, you won't regret it! Cheers Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Bear Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thanks folks. I will let you know what I decide. Cheers Phil F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Bear Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 I too have all of the Horizon/Playsim stuff together with the Earth SImulatons treescapes - Shawbury, Scilly Isles yada yada yada. I abandonned them all late last year and cannot say that I miss them one little bit. The FTX stuff is just the best and once you've abandonned the idea of photo-scenery (after all - do you REALLY know every inch photo scenery you fly over?) then you too will become a convert. The other real plus is that the folks on this forum don't mess you around - when stuff is coming through they tell you about it and give realistic estimates of what's coming and when - something that Horizon/Playsim singlularly fail to do on a consistent basis. If you want my advice then embrace FTX - you'll not regret it! Grajay. Can I bother you for some screenshots of the South Shropshire/Shobdon area in FTX please? It is kind of my neck of the woods being within a hours drive. I know it pretty well, Prolly Moor, Wentnor, Bishops Castle, Ludlow etc and have spent many a day up on the Long Mynd, I even did my DofE up there. I know what it looks like in VFR and it might be informative if I could see some FTX shots of the area. No worries if you can't, just wondering if it is doable. Cheers either way. Phil F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griphos Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I don't think you can expect Orbx scenery to look like what you're familiar with in RL. I think it's about whether you want photorealism or realistic textures. For me, I want believable textures whether or not they are the same as what I'd get with photoreal scenery. I'm very happy with Oz and the NA scenery for that reason. There may not actually be tundra or mud flats precisely where I am seeing them in the PNW scenery for instance, but they are believable tundra and mud flat textures. That's what I want. That said, England is done by a new team and there are signs of that. I'm much less happy with this region. There are just more aspects of the scenery that pull me out of immersion and remind me I'm looking at scenery. With the other regions (I don't have NI, but do have all the rest), I rarely get that. I mostly can maintain that I'm looking at a world. That's quite impressive to me. Perhaps the new Europe scenery with be improved to that level eventually. As it stands, I wouldn't buy it again. But then I don't really need to fly in that area. It's kind of exotic for me, as is Oz and the SI. What gets me to fly in those is the incredible scenery, not any personal connection. So for those connected to the area, the new scenery is probably tons better than default. Is it better than all the stuff you have? Don't know. I don't have those. You might want to ask over at some of the other forums if you're looking for a more objective answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lincoln Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I can't vouch for England but I refuse to drop in quality,Orbx all the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Wroblewski Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 You might want to ask over at some of the other forums if you're looking for a more objective answer. +1 No offense to people here, but this is probably the wrong place to ask for advise on whether it is worth buying. I have the UK scenery and I prefer it more than photo scenery for the UK, just because it looks so much better at lower altitudes. I've never been much into flying in winter and night, so seasons and night textures don't bother me too much. But photo scenery is a real let down at lower altitudes, but this package does give a great feeling of depth. I do avoid flying in my home town though, as I just know it isn't correct, and I find some areas look nothing like the real thing, but it's still a huge improvement over the default, and for the price, you can't complain. For the rest of Europe, I have mostly photo scenery with autogen, which can look really good in places, and really crappy in others. Depends on what type of flying you do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Bear Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 okay I have got it. took a quick flight out of EDGD, RAF St Mawgan/New Quay Airport in an R22. First impressions? Very convincing and I this is my default airport so I know the VFR really well. Cheers Phil F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkH Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Just what has it got that Horizon VFR hasn't FTX is designed to look good at zero to 500 feet. Horizon looks terrible in that range and arguably not all that good higher up. It's also resolutely 2D at any altitude, give or take the odd bridge or landmark. The Treescapes addons help but tree placement is based on relatively low-res data and so doesn't show small wooded areas. (P.S. I don't have EU England, so caveat emptor!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I beg to differ about the 500 foot ceiling for FTX. Because we hand-craft the landclass it looks equally as good at 10,000+ ft as it does at 500ft. FTX does not suffer from the texture repetition of default FSX and we also created custom m-tiles to merge disparate texture sets along logical seams (default FSX uses FS2004 m-tiles which don't even match the imagery). Anyway it looks as though the OP ended up purchasing ENG and is happy with his local. Good result then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkH Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I beg to differ about the 500 foot ceiling for FTX Hello John. I think it looks good at any altitude but I was quoting you there, so you're differing with yourself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griphos Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I will say that the lack of repetition of texture is the main thing that impresses me about FTX scenery. I do not know how they do that, but I've yet to come across a texture where I say to myself, "Oh, yeah, that texture pattern...I've seen that one before." Of course, I rarely fly above 5000 ft, but even on the NGX flights I've done, it's pretty convincing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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