Orbx products and P3D 2.0 compatibility

[Josh4forest1]

HiHave you an idea when P3Dv2 Migrator Tool from FSX to P3D v2 will be available ?

+1 I want to fly in ORBX EU (England/Wales)

[vtracy]

Thank you all for your kind answers! It is gratifying to know that there are co-sufferers out there.

Thank you for the advice(s), too. Meanwhile, I have:

a. added, changed hardware in my FS PC, i.e. additional SSDs, a SSHD ( for the sceneries ), new graphic cards ( 2 X ATI Radeon 7990 with 2 GB memory, each );

b. therefore: installed new OS: Win 8.1 ( simmershome said that Win 8.1 is more parsimonious with memory fetches );

c. installed P3D V2.1 but noct activated yet as activation failed, waiting forLM to help me with that.

So the situation is that I can now decide both what to install and in what sequence.

Any suggestions? I have downloaded: FTX Global Base, FTX Global Vector; am waiting for Open LC Europe.

What can/shoud I install on top of that? Which airports? I only fly in Central Europe ( Germany, Austria, Switzerland ) and southern England. Aircraft: A2A P-51, Spitfire, Cessna C172, with AccuSim, Carenado C340HD, Beechcraft B58, Classics Hangar Focke Wulf 190D/Ta 152, A2A Me 109, and Me 262 ( not as good as the other ones but fun ).

Vora, you could come and help as I am near Munich ;-)

Thank you all for any help you can give, in advance!

[pmb]

Hi,

 

VFR flying in Germany is not much fun in P3D2.1 yet. As we are on the FTX Forum, I'd suggest installing Global +  Global Vector + Pilot's Mesh (I use Ultimate), which improves situation - a little. The yet to released OpenLC Europe supposedly will add further, but it's not yet what i want to see in VFR flying. Point is the characteristic landmarks are missing. When I fly though Berlin - which even got a detailed rendition in Prepar3D - buildings are in a state 10 years or longer ago (probably FSX build time). This catches the eye, as Berlin has been developing rapidly, including changes of the Skyline. My home town has streets, rivers and landclass more or less properly, but misses all the characteristic landmarks I've been used to from FSX/Preapr3d1.4 with Aerosoft VFR Germany. There are poles apart, if you compare this to the recently released rendition of NCA San Francisco, even before City Scape will appear, but of course this is a Region Scenery and thus unfair to compare

 

You can try to install Aerosoft VFR Germany into Prear3d2 or even include it from your present FSX/Preapr3d1.4 Installation, if you have one (I made a separate scenery.cfg only for this purpose, not to mess up the normal one) and it sort of works. However, even that VFR Germany is dated now, has questionable coloring and has been a performance hog at least with high settings over big cities, e.g. Munich Downtown, which it remains in P3D2. Concerning the German Airports series, Aeorosft made no statement when or even if they are kindly inclined to make them P3D2 compatible.

 

As I said: VFR flying in Germany is not much fun in P3D2.1 yet

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Vora]

As Michael already pointed out there is not much explicitly for P3D2. I only install stuff that is for P3D2 to avoid any problems. Actually in P3D2 I fly mostly in Asia and Africa now (with Global, Vector and Pilots mesh).

 

I still have FSX which I use as a flight preparation tool when RL flying out of EDMK. For that I have VFR Germany 3 Süd, Austria Professional and Switzerland Professional. Also VFR Airports 9 and 11 (Nord- und Südbayern), several "German Airports" Friedrichshafen, Stuttgart, München etc.pp. You get all at Aerosoft. Also, there is this fine rendition of Memmingen Allgäu Airport (EDJA). I guess you can use most of them in P3D2 via migration tool, but there is always the danger of artifacts and low FPS.

[AviatorMan]

Any chance of an update for the release date of OpenLC Europe?  I am eager for this one and suspect many other ORBX users are also.  Thanks in advance

[DocBird]

Any chance of an update for the release date of OpenLC Europe?  I am eager for this one and suspect many other ORBX users are also.  Thanks in advance

JV stated that it will be in Beta-testing at the middle of March.

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/73184-openlc-eu-20-new-pre-beta-shots/page-3#entry687392

[vtracy]

Thank you all, again, people for the many good hints.

Imam now in my second 'installment' of P3DV2.1. I had tried Win 8.1 because of its less voracious appetite for RAM fetches. But the rest that I got with the installation was too much for me. All that popping up of apps, gadgets; the desktop - although I installed StartIsBack - sort of wriggles töhrough every now and then.

I am now installing good ol' trusted Win 7 Prof 64bit.

Will install FTX Global Base, FTX Global Vector; will wait for FTX EU LC, then install all. Hopefullly, that will give me good fps.

Thank you ORBX people. i have found your 'FTX Definitive Guide'. There are answers to many of my questions.

Apparently, we will have to wait another few weeks before EU LC will be available. After all the bad experience - and the many suggestions as to what sceneries to avoid - I shall wait until EU LC.

I will try out the quality and performance ( fps ) of that combination and report here, then try several VFR sceneries and airports that i bought for FSX ( Innsbruck! Munich, the small Bavarian airports incl. Memmingen and Kempten... ) then just fly around in that sky in my Spitfire, P-51, Me 109, FW 190D,... and C172 Trainer.

As my brother resides in berlin, I will be flying in multiplayer mode. We tried it with 1.4 and it worked.

Volker

[Jack the Swede in Spain]

Sound great, BUT all of us that have unistalled FSX with ALL the ORBX add-ons.................   I´m getting a little bit frustrated about the fact  that ORBX is using a lot of time to migrate/produce sceneries for FSX/P3D 1.4 instead of using the time to develop/adjust their products to P3D v.2.1. What´s the point  releasing NEW sceneries instead of using the time/strength to release the regions, allready released but NOT useful to P3D v2.1?

 

Just my 2 cents of thoughts.

 

Jack

the Swede in Spain

[pmb]

Jack, it's that simple: ORBX earns money via new releases which they don't with P3D2 updates. As a business, they have to.

 

Like you, I am eagerly waiting for P3D2 updates. I am sure, things will speed up now, after John is looking into an alternative approach to the Object Flow issues, after that lazy developer guy dropped out.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Spirit Flyer]

I apologize for saying earlier that someone had a lousy attitude. I had no right, nor is it my business. 

 

In fact, as a P3D 2.1 user only, and an owner of some 70 ORBX related products, I too have a first rate vested interest in being able to use the software I bought, knowing in advance that (the ones I bought in the past couple of years) would be enjoyed in P3D.

 

After spending a few thousand on this hobby in software, with much of it going to ORBX, I feel victimized too. The question is, who did the victimizing, and whom should I blame and flame, vs. how to solve the problem?

 

Is Lougheed Martin Corporation to blame? If so, I double dare you to say so on their forums. Did ORBX know they were going to be in trouble over this when the nature of P3D 2.0 was revealed? No doubt. Did ORBX purposely make negligent decisions and deceitful misleading advertising to sneak a few sales through before the curtain closes? I doubt it even more!

 

So many of the above posts reflect negatively on the honor and integrity of those in command here. I can go along with admitting that all people make mistakes, wrong decisions, and sometimes act in bad form, but to insinuate that some cynical plot to make sales was afoot, instead of having those resources applied to fixing this problem is something else.

 

It is what it is, whatever it is. Creating an atmosphere of bitter accusation that leads to hostile reaction, that further leads to confrontation and frustration is a forum capital offense as far as I am concerned. I have had enough of that over there, which is why I left and came over here.

 

Instead, as valued customers, lets co-operate with ORBX, encourage, assist, support, and work to become a part of the solution instead of being part of the greater problem. In fact there is no them/us, just everyone here that is ORBX centric. Maybe I am nuts, that's OK though, as I am not nuts alone.

 

Some may think because I take this line I want everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbyah. Not at all. I am as disgruntled as anyone else who is ticked off by what happened. However, I can not blame ORBX for what they could not control, nor LM from making such advances in v 2.0 and 2.1.

 

Give them both a chance to fix this first. So cool it!

 

Kind regards,

[Matthijs]

Jack, it's that simple: ORBX earns money via new releases which they don't with P3D2 updates. As a business, they have to.

Like you, I am eagerly waiting for P3D2 updates. I am sure, things will speed up now, after John is looking into an alternative approach to the Object Flow issues, after that lazy developer guy dropped out.

Kind regards, Michael

Of course it's ORBX business model, but i'm afraid that people will walk away when this goes on. P3D V2 was recommended by ORBX as the 'next sim' but till now the support is minimal.

I hope they will speed it up and give it some priority.

[Graham Eccleston]

Of course it's ORBX business model, but i'm afraid that people will walk away when this goes on. P3D V2 was recommended by ORBX as the 'next sim' but till now the support is minimal.

I hope they will speed it up and give it some priority.

I find posts like this most offensive. From my part, I have spent literally hundreds of hours trying to convert our airports to P3D V2 and while I have made progress, there are still many issues to be resolved by Lockheed Martin for developers like us to produce P3D V2 native content. I know many of my colleagues are also working through the issues but I don't see any significant progress possible until V2.2 or even V2.3 of P3D is released.

What seems to be overlooked is the fact that P3D V2 IS NOT AN UPDATED VERSION OF FSX AS P3D V1.4 WAS - IT IS A NEW FLIGHT SIM AND NEEDS TO BE VIEWED AS SUCH. It has taken 8 years for FSX to reach the state of development it is now but there seems to be an expectation that P3D V2 should be the same after only 3 months. If the conversion process was easy, there would be a plethora of products out by now, the fact there isn't speaks volumes. Yes we were blindsided by the backwards compatibility issues, but that just provided us with more challenges, it did not dampen our interest or enthusiasm in P3D V2.

As for new products being released for FSX only, be aware that these airport projects can take anything from six months to a year to produce and P3D V2 was only a possibility as Microsoft Flight was when these projects were started.

 

A little bit of confidence in the Orbx team to not only work through the issues with Lockheed Martin but to continue to produce quality products for this new sim would be welcome.

[Matthijs]

It's not my intention to be offensive, sorry for that. it is only my view on the story. I know it is a lot of work to cover all released products. But keep customers informed why it takes so long. It is the first time I read that it will takes till P3D V 2.2/2.3 until all things are fixed. Communication is all.

[Ian Routley]

Of course it's ORBX business model, but i'm afraid that people will walk away when this goes on. P3D V2 was recommended by ORBX as the 'next sim' but till now the support is minimal.

I hope they will speed it up and give it some priority.

Matthijs, if your intention is to troll on these forums, you have our attention.

 

Having quoted your post, hopefully I have yours.

 

EDIT: Given the purpose of this thread,  and the communication offered throughout, it is disingenuous to suggest that 'support is minimal'.  The issue is being given 'some priority' as has been expressed here and elsewhere.

[Matthijs]

I'am perplexed. Because of 1 post with my own opinion am I a troll in case of an customer? I said sorry for that in the post above when my post was to offensive. That was not my intention.

So again: i'm very sorry when my post was to offensive. It was only my personal feeling.

[Adam Howarth]

From my part, I have spent literally hundreds of hours trying to convert our airports to P3D V2 and while I have made progress, there are still many issues to be resolved by Lockheed Martin for developers like us to produce P3D V2 native content. I know many of my colleagues are also working through the issues but I don't see any significant progress possible until V2.2 or even V2.3 of P3D is released.

Hi Graham. Ive been deeply thankful for the updates youve released for p3dv2 so far and I await future goodies from your work as well as other Orbx people. Im just beginning to understand how airports are developed, the tools like ADE and so on. I work in IT but this is a new platform for me, well apart from xml. Anyway, is there a list of known dev issues in v2.1 I could learn of, so as to save pain when it wont compile or whatever? I just want to teach myself how to do native p3d dirt bush strips. In your judgement are the dev/sdk blocker bugs so bad I should wait for the future p3d versions to develop simple airports?

[Graham Eccleston]

I work in IT but this is a new platform for me, well apart from xml. Anyway, is there a list of known dev issues in v2.1 I could learn of, so as to save pain when it wont compile or whatever? I just want to teach myself how to do native p3d dirt bush strips. In your judgement are the dev/sdk blocker bugs so bad I should wait for the future p3d versions to develop simple airports?

Simple dirt strips should not be a problem, it is mainly those airports with a ground poly which pose the greatest challenge as they have many issues in P3D V2. I know LM are working on these issues but they have not given a timeline on when they will be resolved.

The main issue for smaller non ground poly airports will be with the placement of scenery items. There are no simple object placement tools like Instant Scenery available for P3D V2 yet so the placement of scenery items is a slow and difficult manual process at the moment. You should also note that objects placed in FSX will have shifted when viewed in P3D V2 as P3D has a different reference point logic. This shift will be minimal at sea level but will become greater the higher the airport is located.

[Tim Harris]

 

What´s the point  releasing NEW sceneries instead of using the time/strength to release the regions, allready released but NOT useful to P3D v2.1?

 

 

Food on the table, bills need to be paid, simple. I wont even touch the 'minimal support' comment.

 

If this tact/attitude continues, the thread will close.

[macca22au]

Go Tim:  Orbx is not a charitable or volunteer organisation.  It needs to earn enough to pay its staff, pay for its outgoings, develop new product, and hopefully give some return on investment.

 

ps:  all Obx scenery designed for FSX installs fine through the Balkans migrator.  Triple J, use some nous.

[Graham Eccleston]

ps:  all Obx scenery designed for FSX installs fine through the Balkans migrator.  Triple J, use some nous.

Technically it installs ok but looks and performs well below our standards. If you like floating and misplaced objects, wheels sunk in the ground and all the other issues mentioned here and in other forums, then that is fine but that is not the Orbx way and I believe our customers deserve a better outcome.

[jpreou]

What seems to be overlooked is the fact that P3D V2 IS NOT AN UPDATED VERSION OF FSX AS P3D V1.4 WAS - IT IS A NEW FLIGHT SIM AND NEEDS TO BE VIEWED AS SUCH.

Graham, this is exactly the point that is being missed by the vast majority. I too would be frustrated to have to re-purchase everything, so ORBX providing updates to what is essentially a new sim for free is pretty cool. You would see that with the vast, vast majority of other vendors in other genres. Kudos. I have already stated openly in these forums that I'd be prepared to pay a nominal 'upgrade fee', if that were the policy. To my benefit, ORBX have decided not to take that approach. Kudos, again.

Appreciate your work and look forward to the future.

Blue skies and tail winds.

[spirit_66]

.....

ps:  all Obx scenery designed for FSX installs fine through the Balkans migrator.  Triple J, use some nous.

If you talk about Estonia - it's not what people call Balkan.

Spirit

[macca22au]

Oh Graham:  we all make-do when there is nothing else.   Yes it is sub-perfect, but I am easily placated.  And I will buy the download afresh when the installer released, so Orbx will miss nothing.

 

I think however I mixed the Baltic with the Balkans - only a thousand clicks different.  Thank you Spirit.

[spirit_66]

.....

I think however I mixed the Baltic with the Balkans - only a thousand clicks different.  Thank you Spirit.

Hi Ian,

you very welcome - for sure you mixed that up.

Enjoy

Spirit

[davenicoll]

One thing that does worry me is I'm sure Graham mentioned that each time LM releases an update it breaks all the dlls again which is another headache for ORBX.

[peppy197]

Me and my colleagues, back in the mid-eighties (not my age, the decade), were fascinated by MS-FS4 or whatever version that grid game was.

 

And they had outside contracts with NASA  (not me), interpolating and analyzing data from Voyager 2 as it passed by Saturn. (PhD candidates / students)

 

Never would we have imagined in our wildest dreams, back then, that FTX and P3DV22 would have come this far in home flight sim immersion.

 

 

[Jetstream1]

John, I know you mentioned that the UK airports would take a little while longer for P3D V2, but are you able to give a rough idea on when Shoreham and Goodwood will be available?

 

All the best

[John Lovell]

John, I know you mentioned that the UK airports would take a little while longer for P3D V2, but are you able to give a rough idea on when Shoreham and Goodwood will be available?

 

All the best

 

+1

 

Also, what about the airports where the devs are no longer producing airports for Orbx; Russ, Bill etc?

 

Many thanks

 

John 

[John Venema]

Bill is porting his airports across as we speak, Russ and Sim720 have handed us their source files and we need to find a Dev to do the work for us.

[Penzoil3]

 Thanks to all the hard working ORBX staff. The free upgrades are worth waiting for, and greatly appreciated.  I'm just starting to collect (download that is ) FTX for V.2.  When I get a full set, I'll buy V.2 and install everything.

 Thanks!

 Sue

[techguymaxc]

I very much look forward to the release of all ORBX products in P3Dv2 comaptible format and thank everyone involved for their hard work.  I am curious, is there a "master list" somewhere of currently compatible airports?  I've only purchased PAKT which unfortunately is not yet compatible.  

[Vora]

I very much look forward to the release of all ORBX products in P3Dv2 comaptible format and thank everyone involved for their hard work.  I am curious, is there a "master list" somewhere of currently compatible airports?  I've only purchased PAKT which unfortunately is not yet compatible.  

 

The master list is here: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/68566-master-list-of-all-p3d2-ready-orbx-products/

[techguymaxc]

The master list is here: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/68566-master-list-of-all-p3d2-ready-orbx-products/

 

Excellent!  Thank you.