Jump to content

The new FTX Central

Ben McClintock

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 177
  • Created
  • Last Reply
paddler Life Member

paddler

Posted
Posted

JV, this is awesome and is much appreciated, particularly by those like myself who have most of the Orbx/FTX offerings. The concepts and features described by Ben will make this very helpful and easy to use. The pain of keeping updated is soon to be gone. It sounds as if the quality, care and thoughtfulness that we have come to expect from Orbx and FTX products is alive and well in FTXC2. Your supporters are grateful. A nice touch to include non-techies in the beta testing, that will add to its value to so many users. What is easy to some remains complicated and confusing to many.


 


To JV for actioning this request for easier updating, and Ben and the development team a heartfelt Thank You!


Link to comment
Share on other sites
freddy Senior Member

freddy

Posted
Posted
Legacy: you download the update from the website somewhere and then run the installer that is in the zip. The installer will then install the update from disk.

 

So yes, you should be able to back up your updates manually.

 

Ben,

 

Thanks for the reply.  That sounds good.  Keep up the excellent work!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fltsimguy Life Member

fltsimguy

Posted
Posted

Superb!  These are all good features...I particularly like the update feature.


 


Too bad at this time there isn't some ability to link to FSS for those version updates but from what I see this upgrade to Central should be very helpful to the ever growing Orbx world.


Link to comment
Share on other sites
mamock Advanced Member

mamock

Posted
Posted

This sounds great, just what I've been waiting for, an app to update all my Orbx info, and hopefully, as someone has already suggested, the ability to purchase from also. 


 


In addition, would it be possible to link into area maps of OrbxWorld, and maybe, if I selected an airport and then another, I would be told the distance between, plus other relevant info.  For me, it would be extremely helpful and quick in planning sightseeing trips etc...


 


Or am I being unrealistic?


 


Cheers,


Mike 


Link to comment
Share on other sites
Adam Banks Life Member

Adam Banks

Posted
Posted

Another "feature request" from me. Apologies if this has already been covered:

 

FTX Central connects *online* to obtain a COMPLETE listing of *all* currently released FTX regions and airports - including ORBX produced (or certified) freeware.

 

How great it would be to have an up-to-date (and complete) catalogue of all the ORBX/FTX products!

 

Back in FTX Central, you populate a set of drop-downs that filter the [products] output (listing) - according to the selection made in the region, sub-region etc. It'd basically be a "lookup table".

 

The reason for this is that many people will be unfamiliar with certain areas of the world - and may need to know:

 

a] Which region needs to be purchased for a particular airport ... or ...

b] Which airports are supported by a particular region.

 

For instance, I know that KMRY is Monterey - but (I'm sorry to say) I don't know where that is geographically - let alone which FTX region.

 

This information is available currently in some of the KMZ Maps, but they're useless if (for instance) you simply don't know where KMRY is. You just don't know where to look.

 

An easy one to illustrate - New Zealand:

 

Dropdown1:

NA

Oceania

... more ...

 

Dropdown2 (Oceania selected in [1]):

AU

NZNI

NZSI

 

Dropdown3 (NZNI selected in [2]):

NZAA - Auckland International* (fictional!!)

 

Dropdown3 (NZSI selected in [2]):

NZMF - Milford Sound

NZQN - Queenstown

 

I used to do this sort of coding for websites - and could make them interactive with Javascript etc. It's fairly common database look-up and filter output stuff, which I would imagine you could replicate in the FTX Central application.

 

Long-winded (as ever) but I hope it makes sense!

 

Adam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
787flyer Advanced Member

787flyer

Posted
Posted

Hi Ben,

 

I'm curious what you have planned under "Settings" on your first screenshot?

A few things come to mind....

  1. I wonder if it would be possible to keep the document library in this new version of Central? This is always useful. What would be helpful is if the docs could be organized by airport or region or both. Currently it'sjust one long list of docs that you have to scroll through based on the SP documentation that continues to be added.
     
  2. What could make life easier is if there was a summary of the airports and regions installed (which you have planned) and what the recommended scenery settings are. They do vary and so a quick look-up table of mesh, scenery density, texture resolution etc would be really nice to have so users can optimize their settings based on what they have installed. What do you think?
     
  3. If the doc library still exists in FTX central , is it possible more than one .pdf can be opened at the same time? I just noticed that if one doc is already open from Central, you're not able to open another one.
     
  4. I wonder if there is some way to include more guidance as to which modes of Central should be used? I know there's a European  "map" that describes which mode is best suited when flying out of and into a specific region and there were 6 flight plan (A through F) examples given. That map or more guidance would be useful in FTX Central itself. Right now I have the image of the map saved to my HDD for reference.  I know this topic has been discussed many times of the forum so would be of value I think.
     
  5. Lastly, any chance of getting more guidance of scenery order based on what Orbx products (airports, regions, mesh, vector, global) are actually installed and possible recommendations (logic tool perhaps??). Again this topic tends to generate a lot of forum questions, so at some stage having this in FTX Central would be of tremendous benefit to users I think.

Thanks for any consideration on the above and hopefully this stimulates some other thoughts and ideas. I am sure the new version will create a lot more value for us. Keep up the good work.

 

Cheers,

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ben McClintock Life Member

Ben McClintock

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Mark,
 
Thanks for your feedback, some great suggestions here!
 

I wonder if it would be possible to keep the document library in this new version of Central? This is always useful. What would be helpful is if the docs could be organized by airport or region or both. Currently it'sjust one long list of docs that you have to scroll through based on the SP documentation that continues to be added.

The document library is still there, when you click on a product name it will show that product's PDF.

 

What could make life easier is if there was a summary of the airports and regions installed (which you have planned) and what the recommended scenery settings are. They do vary and so a quick look-up table of mesh, scenery density, texture resolution etc would be really nice to have so users can optimize their settings based on what they have installed. What do you think?

This is a cool idea, I'll see what I can do.

 

If the doc library still exists in FTX central , is it possible more than one .pdf can be opened at the same time? I just noticed that if one doc is already open from Central, you're not able to open another one.

Already done :)
 

I wonder if there is some way to include more guidance as to which modes of Central should be used? I know there's a European  "map" that describes which mode is best suited when flying out of and into a specific region and there were 6 flight plan (A through F) examples given. That map or more guidance would be useful in FTX Central itself. Right now I have the image of the map saved to my HDD for reference.  I know this topic has been discussed many times of the forum so would be of value I think.

I'm not sure exactly how I'd implement this without cluttering up the UI too much. Maybe in a future update.
 

Lastly, any chance of getting more guidance of scenery order based on what Orbx products (airports, regions, mesh, vector, global) are actually installed and possible recommendations (logic tool perhaps??). Again this topic tends to generate a lot of forum questions, so at some stage having this in FTX Central would be of tremendous benefit to users I think.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this, would you be able to clarify a little bit? At the moment the scenery library order is handled by FTXConfigurator.exe, so it should be all automatic.

 

Ben

Link to comment
Share on other sites
antonvs Life Member

antonvs

Posted
Posted

This sounds great, just what I've been waiting for, an app to update all my Orbx info, and hopefully, as someone has already suggested, the ability to purchase from also.

In addition, would it be possible to link into area maps of OrbxWorld, and maybe, if I selected an airport and then another, I would be told the distance between, plus other relevant info. For me, it would be extremely helpful and quick in planning sightseeing trips etc...

Or am I being unrealistic?

Cheers,

Mike

Mike, this is covered very well in Tim Arnot's supberb Plan-G - check http://www.tasoftware.co.uk
Link to comment
Share on other sites
banjoman1960 Life Member

banjoman1960

Posted
Posted

Hi Patrick,

Yes, of course. What's your suggestion?

Hi Ben,

is there a option to hold the old central,or is this new central a must and install automatic when you update something? at moment i like the old one ::)

 

if possible it were nice if all ftx install in only one sim of your choise and can be used for p3d and fsx(only the main 150gig orbx folder,the rest i think is need in all sims).........if so,the new one is more than welcome,if not no need for me.........

at moment i run out of space,because in p3d i need to install all again,so i waste over 150gig.

and sorry for orbx and me,i can not buy more stuff.

 

thank´s

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Stan V Senior Member

Stan V

Posted
Posted

To follow through on the request in Msg #94 regarding FTX Central taking on more control of the order of entries in the scenery.cfg file:  I know that FTX Central modifies the order of entries in the scenery.cfg file based on which region is selected by the user.  However, recently I encountered a situation wherein two North America OPENLC entries from my FTX Global Vector install wound up above (higher priority than) the complete block of FTX entries for North America which in turn resulted in me having a texture problem wherein several extraneous patches of waterclass textures showed up near the Mammoth Yosemite airport (KMMH).  It was easy to manually fix once it was identified by Holger as a possibility in an answer he provided to another user but the thought occurs to me that once this situation was known, why wasn't FTX Central modified to avoid the issue automatically - or was it?


 


Stan V     


Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ben McClintock Life Member

Ben McClintock

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Ben,

is there a option to hold the old central,or is this new central a must and install automatic when you update something? at moment i like the old one ::)

 

if possible it were nice if all ftx install in only one sim of your choise and can be used for p3d and fsx(only the main 150gig orbx folder,the rest i think is need in all sims).........if so,the new one is more than welcome,if not no need for me.........

at moment i run out of space,because in p3d i need to install all again,so i waste over 150gig.

and sorry for orbx and me,i can not buy more stuff.

 

thank´s

Hi Ralf,

 

At the moment we haven't finalised the exact way that FTX Central will be distributed, but I imagine it will be through the installers and updaters for products. There are potentially a few ways that you can stop it from being installed, however I can't think of any reason that you wouldn't want the new one?

 

I'm also looking into having only one copy of all the Orbx products installed onto your computer with the files being linked as necessary, but that's a while away.

 

 

To follow through on the request in Msg #94 regarding FTX Central taking on more control of the order of entries in the scenery.cfg file:  I know that FTX Central modifies the order of entries in the scenery.cfg file based on which region is selected by the user.  However, recently I encountered a situation wherein two North America OPENLC entries from my FTX Global Vector install wound up above (higher priority than) the complete block of FTX entries for North America which in turn resulted in me having a texture problem wherein several extraneous patches of waterclass textures showed up near the Mammoth Yosemite airport (KMMH).  It was easy to manually fix once it was identified by Holger as a possibility in an answer he provided to another user but the thought occurs to me that once this situation was known, why wasn't FTX Central modified to avoid the issue automatically - or was it?

 

Stan V     

Hi Stan,

 

Close, but FTXCentral.exe doesn't actually modify scenery.cfg directly, that is handled by FTXConfigurator.exe (which I don't have access to, I only have FTX Central). I'll see what I can do though :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
banjoman1960 Life Member

banjoman1960

Posted
Posted

Hi Ralf,

 

 however I can't think of any reason that you wouldn't want the new one?

 

Hi Ben,

nothing personal ::) ,

but since i have steam........i hate programs with automatic updates, do the updates(trainsim steam),and after that some addons  does not work and all is mess up . ::)

so with the new central,can i decide if and wat i want to update,and can i switch all auto search and update off`?

because i make a complete systembackup before every manual update(also for big opdates like global) my fsx runs like a dream at moment,and i do not want to mess this up.

at moment i am at a point,were i think to stop install new stuff,and enjoy that wat i have now

 

the old central for me has all i need,only the mess with the insertpoints need to be fixed(it put every time the global lc on top or over tongas) 8)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ben McClintock Life Member

Ben McClintock

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Ben,

nothing personal ::) ,

but since i have steam........i hate programs with automatic updates, do the updates(trainsim steam),and after that some addons  does not work and all is mess up . ::)

so with the new central,can i decide if and wat i want to update,and can i switch all auto search and update off`?

because i make a complete systembackup before every manual update(also for big opdates like global) my fsx runs like a dream at moment,and i do not want to mess this up.

at moment i am at a point,were i think to stop install new stuff,and enjoy that wat i have now

 

the old central for me has all i need,only the mess with the insertpoints need to be fixed(it put every time the global lc on top or over tongas) 8)

The updates only install themselves if you click the "update" button (so you don't have to worry about FTXC installing things you don't want). But yes, you can also disable update checking completely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mjrhealth Life Member

mjrhealth

Posted
Posted

I always disable anything that auto updates, especially these days when so many update add nothing but adds and spam. Try stopping skype from auto updating its a challenge, but it will be nice to be able to click a button that shows you a list of available updates than maybe has a tic box so you can do one at a time. ORBX only getting better.


 


Thanks


Link to comment
Share on other sites
Andrew 737 Life Member

Andrew 737

Posted
Posted

Sometimes I think the old adage.If it aint broke don't fix it. just my thought.

That's a good saying and I often remind myself of this before a pointless tinker of the sim!!

However, they are not fixing anything here, they are improving and evolving their products ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Andrew 737 Life Member

Andrew 737

Posted
Posted

Thanks Andrew. I agree but I just had so many problems with

the latest version and could not get rid of it,that I felt like trashing

the sim and giving up. Thankfully I had a backup FSX on my old machine

and that saved me. Now my water textures are great.

Anthin. :wacko:

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that, but I am pleased your sorted.

I'm sure the new version will be fine. Once it's done I am sure we will wonder how we ever managed without it :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
HiFlyer Life Member

HiFlyer

Posted
Posted

Thank you for this, the current update process is very cumbersome and keeps me from purchasing most of your sceneries. Guess more more from me to you in this upcoming year! 

 

Same. I stopped purchasing quite a while ago. It was just too cumbersome keeping track of updates, patches etc, when you have/had a lot of purchases. I essentially gave up, but this is exactly what I've been hoping for for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sid Life Member

Sid

Posted
Posted

This will certainly be one very welcome utility and make life a lot easier! Looking forward to being able to manage my Orbx products so much more easily and speedily...Great stuff! :smile:


Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
Rhett Senior Member

Rhett

Posted
Posted

Wonderful wonderful news. Keeping the incredible ORBX products up to date is the biggest challenge and time (and bandwidth) consumer - so the news is excellent.


 


Another few suggestions if possible:


 


1. When listing the installed airports (e.g. for airport manuals & configuration tools), will it be possible to include both the airport ICAO's/codes AND the airport names together. It becomes quite confusing when, for example you have airports 1S2 and 2S1 without any names . . . sometimes I have no idea which airport the code refers to.


 


2. Will it be possible to select whether a particular airport is activated in the FS scenery or not (similar to which region is selected). For OOM / VAS management, it would be nice to be able to select which ORBX airports are selected to be activated or, more importantly, de-activated. 


 


Thanks in advance,

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ben McClintock Life Member

Ben McClintock

Posted
  • Author
Posted

any new news on this?

Not at the moment, we'll probably have something to share within the next month.

 

1. When listing the installed airports (e.g. for airport manuals & configuration tools), will it be possible to include both the airport ICAO's/codes AND the airport names together. It becomes quite confusing when, for example you have airports 1S2 and 2S1 without any names . . . sometimes I have no idea which airport the code refers to.

Yup! FTX Central shows the ICAO code + common name for each airport (see the first post in this thread for some pictures of it).

 

2. Will it be possible to select whether a particular airport is activated in the FS scenery or not (similar to which region is selected). For OOM / VAS management, it would be nice to be able to select which ORBX airports are selected to be activated or, more importantly, de-activated.

At the moment everything to do with the scenery.cfg file is handled by FTXConfigurator.exe. I currently don't have access to the source to that, but sometime in the future I'll look into this feature when I embed FTXConfigurator.exe inside FTX Central.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...