StormVR6 Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 FTX Global, the Orbx product that allows you to fly anywhere in the FTX world at such high quality, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were flying in an Orbx full fat region. There is plenty of discussion on the three parts of Global in these forums, but for those of you completely green to the Global package and wanting a crash course in the basics, here's a brief guide. Global Base: If you want entrance into the world of Global then Base is a necessity. It replaces the default textures of your sim and is basically a layer of colour and objects. Global Vector: The least immediately impacting visual element of the Global package. However, Vector is as important to Global's culmination as the other parts. It's the better roads and definition your new glossy map has over the old torn paperback shoved in the glove box. Don't like square lakes and unnatural straight lines everywhere? Yep, Vector sorts that, too. Global openLC: This is where Global really steps up in terms of visual splendour and realism. In laymans terms, it puts things where they should be. Without it, Global can, in some areas, look a bit of a mess; with it, Global looks anything but. openLC is variety, beauty and smack-you-in-the-face apparent. Pilot's FS Global 2010 Mesh: Not an Orbx product, however Pilot's worked with Orbx on Vector and it's also the recommended mesh for Global. In my opinion, a massively underestimated upgrade and one that is essential to fully actualise the Global product, especially openLC Europe. For those of you not understanding, or indeed not convinced of, the significance of a good mesh, then hear this: most of the European stock mesh is awful, it's that simple. See the kerbstone you're flying alongside? Well that's actually a huge mountain, but you didn't know that, because you ain't gotta mesh! That's about as good as my written description gets, but I can give you a far better idea with pictures. Below are three groups of four pictures taken in Europe - Spain, Italy and France to be precise. I didn't bother (to tell the truth, I couldn't be bothered) to include stock images, besides, those of you flying around a default Europe know how drab it looks! To really get the full impact of each significant change, save to file each group and play a slideshow on your PC, then you'll get the full picture! I hope this helps anyone who wasn't sure about Global and what it actually does as a whole. After seeing these, you'll want all four portions, I did. Each P3Dv2.2 group consists of: A: Global Base B: Global Base & Vector C: Global Base & Vector & openLC D: The bloody lot, including Pilot's mesh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripcord Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Interesting to compare and contrast. Looks like you put some time to this - hope somebody new pops in and notices it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venturi Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 excellent work. You can really see the difference especially when adding mesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasi31 Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Great comparison! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Thank you for doing this post, It sure does compare how things look with different things installed well done. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amord Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Great comparisons storm, I'm looking forward to downloading OpenLC Eu this evening ! I have the other layers ready and waiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimo Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Nice comparison, looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruudmeij Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Great shots from the ORBX FTX product line. Cheers, Ruud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Abdey Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Excellent comparisons... great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toby23 Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Great comparisons, would be great to see some OpenLC vs FTX Europe comparisons too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taph Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Grand set thanks for posting, nice to have a set that shows what each addition adds to the mix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormVR6 Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 Thank you for your appreciation, guys. I enjoyed doing this and while doing so was amazed myself at the massive change Global has on a stock FSX/P3D once all parts of it are running together. I wanted to show newcomers to the Global range that the expense for Base, Vector, openLC and Pilot's mesh is extremely worthwhile. And as is abundantly clear, a good mesh is a must for anyone, especially those who prefer VFR, like myself. Sometimes (as seen in parts of Switzerland, for example) the default hills and mountains are not so bad, but you'll still see streams running uphill and around cambered verges and a huge amount of smaller definition is lost even in the best parts of the default mesh. Vector is the other part that some may overlook, believing it to be an insignificant upgrade. But again, the added detail (roads, streams, contours, etc) is essential in making the entire Global package really shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockStarofRust Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Don't know why my wife hid my wallet? Appreciate the work put into this wonderfully informative set! Happy skies and ground! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Blue Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Sold!!!! It's amazing the difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Before anyone starts to cry murder, I have taken the liberty to "hide" a number of posts that have no particular relation to this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Abernathy Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Thanks for posting this great looking comparison and how each FTX product builds on the other. It's been a fun journey to see it all come together and the trips not over by a long shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaronKen Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Nice job with the comparison shots; the addition of mesh for EU is quite noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Before anyone starts to cry murder, I have taken the liberty to "hide" a number of posts that have no particular relation to this thread. I think that includes me! :lol: Maybe a warning next time? - so we're aware that we're straying "out of bounds"? I think - among my light hearted miscalculation of the costs involved - there was a genuine query, which was "does a full FTX product always look better or have better mesh etc. than the equivalent with all those packages"? I ask, because my FTX ENG and poor little NZNI/NZSI (great as they are) look pretty dated compared to what I've seen lately with all this EU stuff. Adam. P.S. I hope I've not mixing this topic up with another one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jocko Flocko Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Fantastic comparisons. It's like a whole new simulator when everything is updated, great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hwh86 Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 How did we manage before Orbx/FTX? In those days I was always restricting my flying to circuits at Oskosh or Budapest, not venturing out of the circuit area because the scenery was drab, uninteresting and unreal. Now, it is indeed a rich world inside FSX, Orbx/FTX makes my flying just as exciting as it used to be in the real world, in fact more so because I can fly a lot of the aeroplanes I could just dream about flying in the real world, surrounded by a scenic vista which is real, rich in texture and colour and so precise that, in many cases, I can even navigate visually using landmarks alone. Who could have done that with the default FSX scenery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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