ampharoah Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Hello, Having discovered ftx products through a recommendation from Angle of Attack, I would appreciate some advice as to which of my current scenery products ftx will potentially replace. I have a top spec PC running Windows 7 and FSX inc Acceleration packs. I currently have the following addon scenery: FS Global Ultimate Terrain X Ground Environment X Europe, USA/Canada & Africa Horizon Photo Scenery for whole UK All uk2000 Airports, some European Airports Ground Services X I also have REX weather, Track IR, PMDG aircraft, Ultimate Traffic2, Radar Contact, Multi Crew Experience, EZDoc and a number of other small addons inc weather radar, 3D lights, Trees etc which further enhance the aircraft, airports and scenery. If I purchase ftx Base/Global/Vector plus Terrain regions, please advise if: 1. there are any known compatibility issues with any of the above, 2. which of my existing scenery programs will be replaced and 3. which can remain to compliment ftx. Obviously, I'm looking to improve on what I currently have, not take a step backward or sideways Your advice would be much appreciated Thanks in anticipation Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Newman Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 You can find more information about most of these add-ons and their compatibility by doing a search of the forums... The compatibility threads have a lot of good info, plus first hand accounts and tips from users who use them. In an effort to summarise things though, here's a basic list: FS Global: compatible (and recommended) UTX: compatible, but does the same thing as Vector (some prefer to use UTX where it covers and let Vector take care of the rest of the world, others replace UTX with Vector) GEX: incompatible with FTX Global Horizon UK Photo Scenery: Compatible, but if you use FTX ENG or FTX WLS regions, it's not needed as it covers the same area. UK2000 Airports (and other 3rd party airports): Compatible (the colour palette used for UK2000 is slightly more muted than the FTX colour palette, bit it fits in nicely... FTX Regions however include upgraded airports so it will be up to you if you want to keep them) Ground Services X: don't know about this one. REX: compatible (recommended) All your other add-ons: compatible (although FTX region packs include their own custom trees) I might also add the following to your list if you're wanting something more out of FSX; Shade by Mogwaisoft (adjusts the ambient lighting and shadow strengths to better replicate the real world), and either Opus or Active Sky Next for weather... REX textures are the best, but I find these engines do a better job at generating actual weather. Hope this helps get you pointed in the right direction... Have a search of the forums for details if you need them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lincoln Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Thanks for the info Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampharoah Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Thanks for that comprehensive reply Rob. Do you have a view on "will I see a noticeable improvement if i replace GEX with ftx Global" - Its difficult to understand what benefit I will get if I change? If I decide to change, am I correct in assuming that I need to buy the ftx Global Base Pack and then individual ftx terrain regions to replace GEX? Where then does OpenLC fit in when its released? Apologies for these idiot questions. I appreciate your kind help and forbearance! Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Newman Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Thanks for that comprehensive reply Rob. Do you have a view on "will I see a noticeable improvement if i replace GEX with ftx Global" - Its difficult to understand what benefit I will get if I change? If I decide to change, am I correct in assuming that I need to buy the ftx Global Base Pack and then individual ftx terrain regions to replace GEX? Where then does OpenLC fit in when its released? Apologies for these idiot questions. I appreciate your kind help and forbearance! Andrew Not a problem... Happy to help a potential convert As far as any noticeable improvement over GET, I would say FTX Global vs GEX is a somewhat subjective thing... They both do exactly the same thing by replacing default ground textures with better versions. Personally, and of course I am biased here, the FTX Global textures have a more "photographic" quality to them... They are indeed based on aerial imagery. Also, even though they are the same resolution, FTX Global appears (to my eyes) to have an edge in overall sharpness. The colour palette is also more vibrant and natural. Let also not forget the autogen placement is entirely custom and highly efficient with Global and then there's the 3D night lighting... A feature GEX doesn't have at all. PLUS Global is just as the name suggests... Planetary coverage, not just regions. With all that in mind, to me, and to many others, FTX Global has many advantages over GEX, but ultimately that's a judgement you'd have to make. As far as the region packs though, if you did decide to replace your GEX world, all you would need would be FTX Global... The region packs are separate entities entirely. Basically, what the combination of FTX Global, Vector, FSGlobal 2010, and the upcoming OpenLC packages (the FTX Global family) does for the whole world, the region packs do as a single package for their areas of coverage... But they are hand crafted and increase the fidelity of that region to a level far beyond that of the FTX Global packages... You don't need the FTX Global Base pack to use the region packs. Hope this all helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt McGee Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Thanks for that comprehensive reply Rob. Do you have a view on "will I see a noticeable improvement if i replace GEX with ftx Global" - Its difficult to understand what benefit I will get if I change? If I decide to change, am I correct in assuming that I need to buy the ftx Global Base Pack and then individual ftx terrain regions to replace GEX? Where then does OpenLC fit in when its released? Apologies for these idiot questions. I appreciate your kind help and forbearance! Andrew There are no stupid questions This Orbx thread has a great graphic on the FSX scenery layers and which products correspond to which layer/layers. http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/61929-ftx-global-what-is-it-all-about/ openLC is mostly the Land Class layer. It will be released in 7 regions. http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/61436-ftx-global-openlc-worldwide-areas-rollout-plan-details/?hl=openlc The big picture is that the FTX Global products basically replace different FSX scenery layers for the entire globe. FTX Global Base Pack = the texture layer FTX Global Vector = the vector layer FTX Global openLC = the land class layer (released in 7 parts) The "FTX terrain regions" are stand alone regions and do NOT require any of the Global products. They improve all the scenery layers (texture, vector, land class, & mesh) within their coverage area. They also have additional hand crafted details (like specific landmarks/buildings/castles) that make them even more accurate than the combination of all the Global products. They also blend seamlessly with the Global products. Orbx payware airports are designed to go on top of "FTX terrain regions". They are not optimized to go on top of just Global. Hope that's not too much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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