FTX Global - What is it all about?

[Rob Newman]

That is correct...

FTX Global does nothing at all to the region pack textures. It simply replaces the default FSX textures, so the world outside the full regions looks much better and also makes it so you can easily fly into or out of a full region and not notice the switch.

Being a Orbx product, the installer will do what it needs to do to ensure a smooth installation along side other Orbx products.

Its worth noting however, if you spend all your time in full regions, you really won't notice any benefit with FTX Global installed... The full regions use their own custom textures already and FTX Global does not add anything to full regions... But a good example of why it's still a good thing to install would be when flying from Seattle to Denver in the US... You leave the full regions and with FTX Global, you'll hardly notice

[PhillyPennPilot]

I'm sure this has been answered somewhere in this thread and elsewhere, but my head is spinning right now as I'm new to all of this.  (Newbie alert!)  So here's another scenery library order question:

 

I just bought a couple of SceneryTech landclass layers.  (Sorry Orbx, but I know it's gonna be a long while before the complete openLC series is complete and I don't feel like waiting!)  I have FTX Global Base, FTX Vector, & a few airports; I'm only using the default mesh at the moment; I don't have UTX; the last Orbx-related install I did was to update the core Object Libraries from the support page.  Happily they all seem to work fine.

 

Not surprisingly though, after installing the SceneryTech landclass, it just put it up on top of the list ... which I believe isn't right.  But where should the ST layers go?  I'm guessing just under the FTX Global Airports but above the various Orbx openLC files?  Here's what I have.  Is this correct?

 

[Rob Newman]

I'm sure this has been answered somewhere in this thread and elsewhere, but my head is spinning right now as I'm new to all of this.  (Newbie alert!)  So here's another scenery library order question:

 

I just bought a couple of SceneryTech landclass layers.  (Sorry Orbx, but I know it's gonna be a long while before the complete openLC series is complete and I don't feel like waiting!)  I have FTX Global Base, FTX Vector, & a few airports; I'm only using the default mesh at the moment; I don't have UTX; the last Orbx-related install I did was to update the core Object Libraries from the support page.  Happily they all seem to work fine.

 

Not surprisingly though, after installing the SceneryTech landclass, it just put it up on top of the list ... which I believe isn't right.  But where should the ST layers go?  I'm guessing just under the FTX Global Airports but above the various Orbx openLC files?  Here's what I have.  Is this correct?

 

 

I would place the Scenery Tech entries below the OpenLC entries. That way Orbx has priority. That being said, while you wait for OpenLC USA, your scenery library should be just fine for now. Once OpenLC USA is released, that's when you would want to be certain that those entries are ABOVE the Scenery Tech, or delete/deactivate the Scenery Tech entries all together.

[PhillyPennPilot]

I would place the Scenery Tech entries below the OpenLC entries. That way Orbx has priority.

 

That being said, while you wait for OpenLC USA, your scenery library should be just fine for now. Once OpenLC USA is released, that's when you would want to be certain that those entries are ABOVE the Scenery Tech, or delete/deactivate the Scenery Tech entries all together.

 

Ok, but since (so I thought) there really isn't an OpenLC for North America yet, I'd want Scenery Tech to override any/all other LC layers.  Or are you saying this "Orbx!OpenLC_NAmerica1 entry (#5 in my screenshot above) is an active landclass layer?  I guess I thought until the official OpenLC's started rolling out, FTX was ust rendering based on default landclass.

[Rob Newman]

Ok, but since (so I thought) there really isn't an OpenLC for North America yet, I'd want Scenery Tech to override any/all other LC layers.  Or are you saying this "Orbx!OpenLC_NAmerica1 entry (#5 in my screenshot above) is an active landclass layer?  I guess I thought until the official OpenLC's started rolling out, FTX was ust rendering based on default landclass.

 

FTX Global did make some very limited changes to the default landclass to correct some glaringly obvious omissions by Microsoft, and that's what you're seeing with the current OpenLC entries.

 

But yes... For now, I would just leave Scenery Tech as it is... It's going to give you (for now at least! ) the most comprehensive solution for the US. 

[Thomson737]

Hello all,

 

I am curious to know if FTX Global is better than the smaller packages like FTX England? My definition of 'better' may not be how it seems. What I mean is, does FTX Global improve performance all round or at least similar to the default scenery?

 

The reason I am asking this is because I'm a little hesitant to buy FTX Global or just buy FTX England. I have tried FTX England on my system (leant from a friend for a few days) and the results weren't too bad, I just felt the autogen (trees, buildings) in the distance weren't loading as close to my position as it could have been.

 

I'm not sure if my PC Specs are capable of operating FTX products in a suitable way:

 

 AMD Phenom II X4 B55 Processor 3.20 GHz

 4.00 GB RAM

 64-bit Operating System (Windows 7)

 NVIDIA GeForce GT630

 

Would my system be capable of running FTX Global?

 

I didn't want to create a new thread, but hopefully someone can help me out and point me in the right direction.

[spud]

Thomson737,

actually were speaking of two different things with Global and regions such as FTX England.  A region is a smaller area such as England or the Pacific NorthWest and Global is, as the name emplies world wide.

A region is an highly detail scenery with enhanced scenery, MESH, airports, textures etc. that vastly improves what FSX looks like.  Global is a program that replaces the FSX default scenery textures that are used throughout the world.  The new textures are much more realistic than the default like the vast open brown desert found in so much of the FSX world.  With just Global FSX is much better visually by itself.  However the scenery regions enhance the area it covers, albeit smaller, to even a much greater degree.  ORBX has worked out a method that with Global set to "Hybrid" mode you can fly into and out of the regions without having to reset the FTX Central to default or another area.  Basically Global and regions work together to ehance FSX to a degree that has not been possible before.

I would suggest that you consider having both starting with a region as they are less expensive although of a smaller area than Global.

[Rob Newman]

Hello all,

 

I am curious to know if FTX Global is better than the smaller packages like FTX England? My definition of 'better' may not be how it seems. What I mean is, does FTX Global improve performance all round or at least similar to the default scenery?

 

The reason I am asking this is because I'm a little hesitant to buy FTX Global or just buy FTX England. I have tried FTX England on my system (leant from a friend for a few days) and the results weren't too bad, I just felt the autogen (trees, buildings) in the distance weren't loading as close to my position as it could have been.

 

I'm not sure if my PC Specs are capable of operating FTX products in a suitable way:

 

 AMD Phenom II X4 B55 Processor 3.20 GHz

 4.00 GB RAM

 64-bit Operating System (Windows 7)

 NVIDIA GeForce GT630

 

Would my system be capable of running FTX Global?

 

I didn't want to create a new thread, but hopefully someone can help me out and point me in the right direction.

Hi Thomson737... Welcome to the forums!

Spud is correct with his advice, basically regions are the cream of the packages and it doesn't get any better. They're still good on performance, but because we cram in so much more detail, they do tend to be slightly less than basic FSX default. Global is actually part of a family of products designed to enhance that FSX default around the globe. It can be used on its own, or it can be used in combination with any of the other FTX global products, plus as Spud has said, it makes leaving and entering full regions much more fluid. Because it's simply replacing a default FSX scenery feature, you'll probably find you won't have much (if any) performance hit at all with FTX Global... What you currently get in default FSX is going to be pretty close to what you'll get with Global... But Global looks a whole lot better

As far as the objects appearing further away from your aircraft, that's a different thing entirely... It's not a function of, nor a feature of the full regions... It's simply a matter of finding and adjusting a small entry in one of the FSX config files and you can increase of decrease the radius at which objects will display. It does have a very large impact on performance though and increasingly so the higher you set it. Just do a search for "LOD_RADIUS".

Your system should be fairly capable... It's by no means the latest spec, but tuning your settings appropriately should give you some good results...

Finally, as pictures speak a thousand words, have a look at this

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/74345-the-definitive-guide-to-ftx-products-the-go-to-source-of-ftx-information/

Download the guide from here... I wrote this guide to explain the various FTX products, what they are, what they do and how they relate to one another... It's also a good primer to help you get started in the world of FTX.

[Thomson737]

Thank you for your time and leaving a reply.

 

I decided to go ahead and buy FTX Global. The autogen is showing much better than the default, or so it seems. I do usually tend to fly GA Aircraft, however, I occasionally fly the odd commercial passenger aircraft, but when going up to speed, the textures aren't loading with the speed im flying at. Coming into land, or taking off, the textures are blurry, this was an issue with default textures too. Is this a graphics card issue?

[Rob Newman]

Thank you for your time and leaving a reply.

I decided to go ahead and buy FTX Global. The autogen is showing much better than the default, or so it seems. I do usually tend to fly GA Aircraft, however, I occasionally fly the odd commercial passenger aircraft, but when going up to speed, the textures aren't loading with the speed im flying at. Coming into land, or taking off, the textures are blurry, this was an issue with default textures too. Is this a graphics card issue?

FSX does get a small boost from faster graphics cards, but to be honest, the real thing that FSX hogs is the CPU.

"the blurries" are a well known issue with FSX and usually occur when you try to push the settings too far... The harder FSX has to work rendering other things, the less time it has to dedicate to texture loading... You could try bringing your settings down a little, or do some research on the "fiber_time_fraction"... It's a setting you have to add to the config yourself, but it forces FSX to put more effort into texture loading at the expense of frame rate...

[olspsd08]

Rob,thank you for the information. I sawyour scenery list and dont see any FTX or anything in mine. How do you insert the scenery. All i have is gtx global base and tne demo iceland, some aerosoft and fsdt airports among others. Ive tried to look for a step by step full install on youtube but nada so far. Can you help please. Also the patches on the support page, do those need to be installed?

[Rob Newman]

Rob,thank you for the information. I sawyour scenery list and dont see any FTX or anything in mine. How do you insert the scenery. All i have is gtx global base and tne demo iceland, some aerosoft and fsdt airports among others. Ive tried to look for a step by step full install on youtube but nada so far. Can you help please. Also the patches on the support page, do those need to be installed?

 

Firstly, when it comes to FTX Global, there are no scenery entries in the Scenery Library. It simply swaps the textures in FSX/P3D and doesn't add anything to the scenery library. There are some limited landclass fixes that come with FTX Global, but these are fine left where they are... The installer will make sure they are in the correct location (It's hard to say "put them exactly here" as everyone has a different setup with different scenery). 

 

As for the patches, it's recommended to install them... The installer will do most of the work for you, but please read the on screen instructions carefully... This will avoid any errors in installation.

 

 

Hope this helps.

[olspsd08]

Hi Rob,another question please. There were certain files that came within the gtx global, England and Australia. Ive put those files in a folder but i wanted to know, do i transfer those files into flight sim? I dont see a difference between what i installed and what i had before i.e the area around aerosoft Heathrow airport, i dont see the city of london. I was going to try and insert those files that came with the program but wanted to hear from the forum

[Rob Newman]

Hi Rob,another question please. There were certain files that came within the gtx global, England and Australia. Ive put those files in a folder but i wanted to know, do i transfer those files into flight sim? I dont see a difference between what i installed and what i had before i.e the area around aerosoft Heathrow airport, i dont see the city of london. I was going to try and insert those files that came with the program but wanted to hear from the forum

 

If I may just clarify so I understand fully...

 

Which files are you referring to?

 

The installers for all the products you mentioned simply install the product exactly where it needs to be and shouldn't require any extra files to be transferred into FSX... 

[olspsd08]

There were files, 10 in all that came with the gtx global. I put them in a backup folder.1 file came with England and a couple came with Australia

[jfail]

I just did a complete re-install of Windows, P3D 10438 etc. on my SSD.

 

I already have Global Base 1.20, Vector 1.15 and Night Light Configurator 1.00, PNW,PFJ, waiting for update to PAKT plus the latest OrbxLibs but none of them are installed yet.

 

I am going to purchase PILOT'S Global 2010 mesh.  Should I purchase the Global Ultimate The Americas in addition?  Does the Americas improve over 2010.  Pretty significant investment to buy both of them.

 

I know this has been asked before and I have read the Ultimate Guide but I am still not real clear (I'm 75 now) on the install order.

 

Thanks for any guidance.

 

John

[Rob Newman]

I just did a complete re-install of Windows, P3D 10438 etc. on my SSD.

 

I already have Global Base 1.20, Vector 1.15 and Night Light Configurator 1.00, PNW,PFJ, waiting for update to PAKT plus the latest OrbxLibs but none of them are installed yet.

 

I am going to purchase PILOT'S Global 2010 mesh.  Should I purchase the Global Ultimate The Americas in addition?  Does the Americas improve over 2010.  Pretty significant investment to buy both of them.

 

I know this has been asked before and I have read the Ultimate Guide but I am still not real clear (I'm 75 now) on the install order.

 

Thanks for any guidance.

 

John

 

Hi John,

 

To answer your first query, yes... Global Ultimate is a big leap in terms of mesh resolution so you will get a higher detailed product... That being said, FS Global 2010 is certainly no slouch. As for whether its worth getting both, there are two things to consider... First, do you like what you see with just FS Global 2010? If so, then there may be little point to Global Ultimate. Secondly, Where do you mostly fly? If you tend to fly around the world in different locations, then FS Global is a great value package as it covers the globe. However, if you only fly in the americas and want to improve the americas only, then you might be better off with just Ultimate.

 

One more thing to bear in mind with all the meshes out there, FS Global 2010 FTX Edition is what all the developers and testers here at ORBX use, so all our other products are designed to match up with the FS Global 2010 mesh. There may be some small, minor mis-matches with other meshes.

 

 

And as for install order, here is my prefered order, which takes a "biggest to smallest" approach:

 

FTX Global (often refered to as the "base pack")

    (followed by FTX Global service packs, if and when available)

 

FTX Global Lighting Configurator

 

FTX Vector

    (followed by FTX Vector service packs, if and when available)

 

FTX Open LC (if you have it)

    (followed by OpenLC service packs, if and when available)

 

FTX Regions

    (followed by Region patches or service packs, if and when available)

 

FTX Global Airports

    (followed by Global Airport patches or service packs, if and when available)

 

FTX Region Airports

    (followed by Region Airport patches or service packs, if and when available)

 

In reality, it does not matter what order you use, other than Vector and OpenLC should always come AFTER Global, purely because FTX Global is required to be installed for these packages to function correctly. All FTX product installers will install the packages correctly and "self order" the scenery library once installed to ensure they are in the correct library position. If you use other 3rd party addons, like airports etc, you may need to use FTX Central to set the "insertion point" of your FTX entries below the 3rd party airports, but this is very simple and is done using a simple interface from within FTX Central itself.

 

The only caveat to this is to make sure you use FTX Central to set the appropriate geographic area before installing a patch or service pack to that area.

 

 

Hope this all helps, 

[jfail]

Hi Rob,

 

Thanks for the guidance.  It is a huge help in furthering my understanding.  Great info.

[onlyforbrian]

If regional sceneries have everything and you install something like FTX global and Genesis mesh... I'm assuming Genesis is only compatible with FTX Global, and wouldn't it interfere with regional (PNW eg) scenery mesh?

[Rob Newman]

If regional sceneries have everything and you install something like FTX global and Genesis mesh... I'm assuming Genesis is only compatible with FTX Global, and wouldn't it interfere with regional (PNW eg) scenery mesh?

Correct... provided the Genesis mesh is either lower in the scenery library, and/or lower resolution than the regional mesh.

The way the Sim decides which installed mesh to use is primarily based on resolution... it will always display the highest resolution mesh that it has available to it, no matter where it is placed in the scenery library. If however you have more than one mesh installed at the same higher resolution, then it will look at which one is higher placed in the library.

Hope that helps...