krigl Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I was just thinking about the slow pace of Orbx development of regions due to the myriad issues, complexity, expense etc vs the desire of most simmers to see the world covered by glorious FTX. How about textures-only regions? The texture wizards would develop a proper texture set for a region, say Indonesia or South Africa and do their magic to create a region specific set (so on a smaller and higher-quality scale than the one size fits all GEX approach). No landclass work and certainly no hand-placing of autogen, though a new set of autogen that is specific to the region would be a must I guess. Then you sell it for a lower price than you'd ask for the full monty, making it clear it's textures only and that investment in a landclass product, or perhaps freeware landclass will be needed for the textures to look their best under the circumstances. Your customers would be able to cover their world in lovely FTX textures more quickly and you would have, besides some income, an indication via sales + freeware which springs up which areas are most popular and suitable for the very involved landclass and autogen development that will turn it into a full-blooded Orbx product. Just throwing an idea in the ring, sometime one hits sometimes one misses, you know Cheers Krigl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J van E Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Bad idea. First of all, I think Orbx is one of the most productive companies out there! I do not recognize the slow pace you are talking about at all. i don't want to name specific developers/companies, but some of them promised us stuff (talking about single addons here!) way before FTX Blue was released and they still haven't delivered the goods... while Orbx certainly has. Secondly I don't think this would work for Orbx. What you are asking is in fact if they would be so kind to split their FTX projects into smaller projects (textures only, landclass only, autogen only, etc.), make installers for all of them, selling them all seperately, while in the end we want it ALL...! This would very probably mean an FTX region (with all seperate texture-packages, landclass packages, etc.) would cost twice as much or even more (wild guess). It's far from efficient: it would cost them more to make it all, it would cost us more to get it all and in the end I don't think anyone will be very happy. The big advantage of FTX is that you get it ALL (and I mean ALL!) in one package! Apart from this all, as far as I can see, I think all textures and landclass etc. etc. are made in coherence (if that's the right English word), as one project. I don't think Orbx simply makes textures and after that starts to think how they could fit it in with some landclass. Well, maybe I am wrong but I do think that textures alone would be worthless if they had to be used with default FSX landclass... Anyway, I (clearly ) don't know anything about how this all work, but I do know one thing: this is a miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenicoll Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 These guys at Orbx have got the balance just right... They produce amazing work and if i'm honest considering the quality churn them out quite frequently to constantly keep us interested... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan2 Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Brainf4rt - sorry. I understand the where the idea is coming from though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krigl Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 Brainfart it is then.... Thanks for the input guys. Interesting idea J van E on how they have to develop textures hand in hand with landclass, maybe you're right about that. I disagree about the pace though, it took 2.5 years from announcement of Voz pro to completion of Red, and PNW+Alaska is taking one year. I can imagine the time is necessary to do vast areas in vast detail, and I'm not impatient, just accepting the fact that FTX simply can't be everywhere in FSX...and looking for a way in which it could be everywhere, at least partly. I'd pay for some decent properly region-specific textures for many regions of the world, I already have the Scenery Tech landclass for most of the world, it's quite cheap. Given that for most of them Orbx wouldn't follow up with a full product I can't see how it would cost us more, and if it did, so what? Full region releases are so rare it's hard not to find money for them even for me... That Orbx's work with FTX is magnificent isn't in question...and I know why it takes so long - and I know the wait is worth it - but to properly 'do' the world in intense well-crafted detail will just take them too long, and since 'a certain person' joined the Ground Env. team the GEX pace of their 'blanket coverage' work has totally nosedived - still waiting for Europe due to the 'enhanced detail' they are trying to implement, and Asia, Africa, South America, Russia are still all with crummy default textures. I don't think you can find decent alternatives pay or free - and GEX is definitely not even ankle high to FTX quality-wise. I'd imagine there was a market for a quality textures only product. And I don't think for example Nepal with FTX pay textures and free photoreal from Holger (ported from FS9) and some nice Nepal addon airports would look worse than it does with default desert textures. In fact I'd venture to say it would look a lot better... and I'd pay money for an area enhancement, whereas I can't justify on my budget buying airport after airport. I wouldn't want Orbx to change the way they work, but it could be a 'sideline' product range alongside their 'flagship' one. Like I said, just throwing an idea into the ring, who knows... one day I might actually have a good one Cheers all Krigl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper31 Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Why mess with a good thing? I think that the way Orbx does things is exactly what makes thier products so unique and special. Nothing looks like FTX, so again, why would we want to take away from that? It seems counter to what FTX is all about. And if the development cycle seems too long, well, try looking at the situation from a more positive perspective. Very few companies give the customer's the kind of progress feedback that Orbx provides on the products it is developing. While you are waiting for an upcoming release, enjoy the wide array of scenery now available in Australia thanks to Orbx and the OZx teams, not to mention all the airports. Most flight sim fans, myself included, never flew very much in Australia thanks to the lackluster default FSX scenery and the fact that its a part of the world that seems off the beaten flight simming path, so to speak. Thankfully now, its a whole new exciting land to explore, with a little something of everything! So, sit back, take a good long look at how FTX has shaped up the 'Land Down Under', jump in your favorite aircraft and take to the skies! There is MUCH to see.....enjoy it and appreciate how Orbx has achieved a finely tuned balance of flight simming scenery harmony... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 appreciate how Orbx has achieved a finely tuned balance of flight simming scenery harmony... Sniper, you took the words right of my mouth, well said mate ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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