ORBX World is here!

[OmniAtlas 93]

 

You will need an internet-connected PC to use FTX Global.

 

DRM always on connection?

[B777ER 2,642]

Hallo Jeroen,

 

You are correct. You can 'opt in' anytime with the Plus and you will get all historical DLC content via the FTXG front end app. The base pack will be locked at version 1.x (it will have .x incremental patches to fix obvious bugs found only).

 

The front end app for the Plus Pack will automatically notify of any new DLC and/or patches and will download and patch them automatically once you choose to do so.

 

You will need an internet-connected PC to use FTX Global.

 

The Plus Pack will be released some months behind the Base Pack, still in 2013.

 

The Base Pack may contain a base LC for the world; we have not yet decided on this.

 

The download will be ~5-6GB and expands to ~8-10GB depending on the final content. Since we backup whatever textures you are using in FSX/P3D at installation time you will need at least 12GB free to run FTX Global.

 

I do hope Orbx takes a few minutes and includes some documentation with the Plus pack on how to integrate their LC with the LC from FS Genesis and the urban LC from UTX areas. Many of us have both the FSG & UTX LC files in our FSX install and the last thing we need to do is mess it up trying to integrate another LC. I have a feeling that the FSG and UTX land class may need to be disabled.

 

 

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

 

 

 

It was end of June, but it could be sooner or later, of course. I'm warming up to this possibility. At first I thought, no, I don't want world scenery that looks like PNW and Australia, particular in the parts of the world that don't look like PNW and Australia in real life. But to have a global texture replacement set that gets tweaked from time to time to add textures more faithful to the world seems like it may not be a bad idea. Sure Afghanistan won't look at ALL like Afghanistan, but then, when am I EVER going to fly in Afghanistan anyway?! It may be worth it to me just to have the rest of NA look more like Orbx than default.

 

So has Orbx stated that all their scenery files are going to look like Australia and PNW? I find that hard to believe that say the Phoenix area will look lush abd green....

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

 

 

[B777ER 2,642]

Hope Orbx takes a few minutes to include some documentation on how to integrate their LC that will be included with the Plus Pack if a user has FS Genesis landclass and the UTX urban city landclass already installed on their FSX install. Last thing anyone wants to do is dork their install up or scenery.cfg file. I am thinking that the FSG and UTX landclass will need to be disabled.

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

 

 

[Griphos 138]

 

It was end of June, but it could be sooner or later, of course. I'm warming up to this possibility. At first I thought, no, I don't want world scenery that looks like PNW and Australia, particular in the parts of the world that don't look like PNW and Australia in real life. But to have a global texture replacement set that gets tweaked from time to time to add textures more faithful to the world seems like it may not be a bad idea. Sure Afghanistan won't look at ALL like Afghanistan, but then, when am I EVER going to fly in Afghanistan anyway?! It may be worth it to me just to have the rest of NA look more like Orbx than default.

 

So has Orbx stated that all their scenery files are going to look like Australia and PNW? I find that hard to believe that say the Phoenix area will look lush abd green....

 

No, of course not. Not all of NA or Australia looks "lush and green." But look at the pictures they have posted. They have stated that they are using the textures they have developed so far, which means textures for NA, Australia, NZ and England/Wales. That's a good bit of textures to choose from, but hardly enough to faithfully model the widely varied terrain and fauna from around the world. Will it be better than default. Undoubtedly. But the world is a very big place, and I'm not at all sure that they will be hand selecting textures to match terrain and fauna for each unique biome within each country of the world. I'm not sure even $200 a pop would cover the time cost for that kind of project

 

And, like I clearly said, I suspect I won't be flying much in areas where the textures they have would fit most poorly. I certainly don't now. And the textures they have should be able to fit a great deal of the US, for instance. I'll be interested to see how much of the US, which is a big place, after all, and has widely varied scenery. I can see Australian Outback textures working for, say, Utah, but I wonder how they'll model the gulf forests, for instance, or New England.

 

I'm sure as they make more regions, more textures sets will be available and they will be better able to tailor the global set for each area. That does make something like a subscription quite appealing.

[simmerhead 885]

FTX Global will give the world a generic look. The difference will be the quality of the textures. Grass looking green instead of pale yellow for instance.

 

It is important to understand the limitations of the FSX landclass system to understand how this product works.

[Alec 370]

It will be much better than default FSX, that's for sure1

 

I'm also very very glad that FTX plans on doing Brazilian airports! That's something that will make lots of people very happy! Can't wait for that

[OmniAtlas 93]

New 3d lights -- no fps lost according to JV. 

 

[Alan_A 1,650]

This is beginning to get my attention

 

My first reaction was that it's likely to look great, but I get good performance out of the GEX/UTX combo.

 

However, I've never been thrilled by the look of GEX at low altitude. And while performance is good, GEX looks best when you fill it with autogen. My experience with the ORBX regions is that they look good with less autogen, so even if there's a performance hit, it comes out as more of a draw.

 

If, as this suggests, new technologies and new approaches mean better performance, then maybe I start to swing to FTX Global.

 

I'm still inclined to wait for first reactions from users, but I'm definitely warming to the idea.

[dave2013 1,170]

I've been enthusiastically checking the ORBX forums, and here, for news and screenshots of FTX Global since the initial announcement about it. 

 

I've spent a good deal of money on all the GEX textures over the years, but if this is better then I'll certainly switch, even at a cost of $100.00 or $200.00.

 

The only thing that concerns me right now is that the vast majority of FTX Global textures end up being recycled region textures, i.e. the ones they've already developed for their payware regions.  While these look fantastic, there's simply not enough variety of them to adequately represent much of the world.  Even given the limitations of the FSX landclass/region system, GEX has done a pretty darn good job of making textures appropriate for most areas of the world.

 

I'm sure my questions will be answered as we get closer to release time and more screenshots get released.  I'm hoping for the best, as I really like ORBX textures, not to mention their regional scenery products.

[Guest]

 

While these look fantastic, there's simply not enough variety of them to adequately represent much of the world.

 

I thought about that too but the current FTX regions have more variety then you may think. The four Australia regions alone already have 'everything' from utterly full greens to totally light browns. Add to that the NA regions and you can cover a lot of the world already with textures that may look pretty appropriate. Still, I think the initial release will leave a lot to be desired when it comes to appropriate textures but after some time (years...) the Plus Pack's DLC will take care of all that. I think that a lot of people who plan on buying the Basic version only, will get the Plus Pack anyway after some time.

[gibaba 0]

_{Well! These lights 3D  are equal to my ExperienceX product. Sold in simmarket.
This question FPS is debatable because it depends heavily on issues of climate used aircraft and scenery. Besides the hardware used.
Gibaba}

New 3d lights -- no fps lost according to JV. 

 

 

 

Well! These 3D lights are equal to my ExperienceX product. Sold in simmarket.
This question FPS is debatable because it depends heavily on issues of climate used aircraft and scenery. Besides the hardware used.
Gibaba

[Guest]

Seems the plans for FTX Global are changed a little? First there was a base pack and a subscription pack but today John posted this:

 

'Right now our primary focus is on the the base texture/autogen pack and whatever follows is open to a lot of internal discussion whether it be DLC, a subscription pack, or micro-addons.'

 

So now there are at least three possible options for the expansion of the base pack? I plan to buy the base pack and considered getting the 'all in' subscription pack if I really like the base pack, but if they are going to release seperate addons you have to purchase seperately I think I will stick with the base pack. I plan to use that one and forget about all the FTX regions I have. I sometimes like it simple. I don't feel like buying anymore scenery, really. One package to cover it all and I am done.

[MarioB 4]

Hello John,

 

I was wondering how the many add-ons will integrate with "Global" I suspect small scale products like Airdrie CEF4 will be a local enhancement but what about the NA Blue covering most of the Pacific NW?

[Guest Q_flyer]

John V isn't actually on this thread.   J van E was quoting a post on the Orbx forum.

 

Wow, every new screenie of FTXG looks better and better.

[Kimo 14]

Full world coverage orbx textures, Awesome!