Just a heads up. For those like me that use ORBX FTX Global for textures (in Europe) they have released the accompanying landclass product FTX Open LC Europe. More details can be found here.
http://fullterrain.com/product_ftxgopenlcEU.html (http://fullterrain.com/product_ftxgopenlcEU.html)
I've just finished downloading & installing and am looking forward to checking it out with an ICX flight.
Regards,
Serge
Good spot, Serge. Will you be kind enough to let me know the following:
1. What hit, if any on frame rates? England LC can be tough around London.
2. I don't really want to buy Vector. Does it run OK without Vector? (Not sure if you have Vector)
3. Does it affect payware scenery at all.
4. Most importantly, if it is better than Global, FTX, how much better?
Thanks,
Keith
FTX Global and Open LC complement each other, they do different things. Global replaces default land textures (same as Ground Environment Pro), and Open LC is land class that tells the sim where autogen buildings and trees should be and what type of land is there (same as Ultimate Terrain).
IIRC vector is roads, railways and rivers (UT covers that too)
G'day Keith,
I flew ICX772 from Dussledorf to Bologna last night as my first experience with FTX Open LC Europe. For reference I have FTX Global (this is a prerequisite to use Open LC Europe) however I don't have FTX Vector as yet. I've been on the fence regarding Vector as there seem to be a lot of issues reported by users however I'm pretty sure I'll get it next month when ORBX release an update (version 1.2). Now to your questions.....
1. I did not notice any hit on frame rates using Open LC Europe however I didn't fly over scenery intensive areas like London. I'm pretty sure it won't make any significant difference though.
2. As I mentioned above I don't have FTX Vector either however if you use UTX you can disable the UTX landclass and use it's vector data in lieu of FTX Vector. I think the best solution however would be to eventually get FTX Vector (perhaps once it matures a bit).
3. I wouldn't say it affects payware scenery (I assume you are referring to airports) although you will still see the usual border between the airport and scenery. I guess developers could specifically design their airports to blend in with FTX Global & Open LC to minimize this.
4. Chris has already answered this one and I touched on it above. You will need FTX Global to use Open LC Europe as Open LC Europe calls textures from Global (along with providing a lot of extra textures itself).
Overall I am really happy with Open LC Europe. The improvement in the scenery over mainland Europe (along my flown route anyway) was quite noticeable particularly with that horrible texture repetition you expereince at higher altitudes now mostly eliminated. I say mostly as I did encounter a small patch of texture repetition along my route however it was relatively small and not as noticeable as without Open LC (I read on the ORBX forums that while texture repetition wasn't completely eliminated they will look at improving areas that have it if users provide them with coordinates). Also, if you haven't already, check out the preview screenshots over at the ORBX forums (sorry, I didn't take any screenshots of my own).
I hope this is useful. I can definitely recommend FTX Open LC Europe if you already have FTX Global and you do a lot of flying on mainland Europe.
Regards,
Serge
Most helpful, thanks to you both. I have FTX Global (together with England and. Scotland). Looks like I will be getting another member of the family!
Keith.
A friend of mine posted many comparison photos and I will try to link you to them later (I'm away in Edinburgh at the moment)
Thanks for the information Sergio!
On a winter trip into France, I remember it being particularly bad at altitude.
This was with Global.
If they reduced the texture repetition then I will buy buy buy!
Bill
Okay, here are those comparison shots (you can click them to enlarge them)
(http://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10467017_10154422884380192_4377140250985215318_o.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10431251_10154422884770192_6689254765992921879_o.jpg)
(http://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10478417_10154422884640192_282753996617741198_o.jpg)
(http://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10557012_10154422884495192_5936647195800065851_o.jpg)(http://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10549187_10154422534560192_1300471555949711285_o.jpg)(http://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/10540383_10154422534510192_3887889772428175973_o.jpg)
Thanks Chris!
That is a BIG difference!
B.
WOW!
The difference is astonishing. Only thing that stops me getting this is my PC suffers from blurries a lot with ground textures so it would probably be wasted :(
I've got a new CPU, MOBO and RAM coming this week, so hopefully I can finally get some nice scenery.
Yeah, but then you'll be fighting OOMs (Out of Memory errors) instead ::) They're the bane of my FSX existence, I have to dial the settings back in FSX to stop my sim from filling the memory and then crashing (coming in to London City in weather in the J41 is particularly bad for doing this)! Hopefully FTX OpenLC isn't too taxing, but I know FTX ENG can cause OOMs, especially in conjunction with detailed airport sceneries and complex third party aircraft.
Blurries can also be caused by having incorrect settings, so make sure your Global Max Texture size is set to Massive and you have Anisotropic filtering enabled. Oh and Highmemfix, don't forget that!
Unfortunately, FSX is a cruel and unpredictable mistress at the best of times.
I know how you feel :(
I've been tweaking and messing with my FSX.cfg for months trying to get rid of the blurries. I have the usual fixes in there. I've even run without a tweaked cfg but makes very little difference.
Over on AVSIM I've been following that new fibre frame accelerator program thread. A lot of people are claiming it helps with the OOM issue because it will automatically dial back certain settings when the machine starts to get bogged down. I'll see what my new parts perform like first. I just get so envious when watching youtube videos of people flying with orbx, looks so gorgeous and that night lighting is awesome.
I've heard good things about fibre frame accelerator as regards FPS, but I've not read so much regarding prevention of OOMs. A variety of so-called accelerators have been released in the past but this seems to be the first one that makes a significant impact. I'm considering purchasing it myself.
Just going back to FTX Global for a second, a lot of folks are saying that UTX Europe (Ultimate Terrain X) has superior accuracy to Vector and OpenLC. Although you miss out on the new textures and classes that OpenLC brings if you go that route, and obviously less coverage.
I don't think it intentionally tries to stop OOM errors but people have been using a program with FSX that monitors the memory its using for scenery etc, I can't remember what it's called, but a side effect of Fibre Frame Accelerator is that when it adjusts settings to keep the frame rate up it also helps with the memory usages within FSX.
Again this info is just from what I've read I have no personal experience with the program. If I end up purchasing it I would be happy to do a review on our VA forums :)
We're always happy for our pilots to submit reviews of products they've used :) We all have a budget for FS addons and any information to assist us in maximizing enjoyment/utility from that is welcome.
Without wanting to sound arrogant; our pilots are typically more experienced and skillful than the average sim pilot, so I place more value on opinions expressed here than those on the internet in general.
Good thread here.
I bought the Orbyx Europe last night and installed it this morning. I used the Orbx forums to ensure I had the scenery in the right order in FSX scenery base. Indeed, I think you must change the LC entries to be lower than the FTX entries as my loaded with the LCs above by default.
I also noted that I need to ensure the FTX Global was checked and not Europe. I found with Europe ticked, the scenery was not good. At my home Island of Jersey, for example, there were pools of water where're there shouldn't be!! The FTX general change solved that. Looking forward to seeing an improvement in Europe.
If anyone gets any config errors when launching the FTX manager, search the Orbx forums as there is a fis by removing certain files. Incan post a link if needed.
Keith
As a native of Jersey, it may interest you that Aerosoft are apparently working on a scenery for it, see http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/79515-jersey-x-project-announced/ (http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/79515-jersey-x-project-announced/)
And also Earth Simulations do a superb rendition of Guernsey at https://earthsimulations.com/product/guernsey-3/ (https://earthsimulations.com/product/guernsey-3/)
Thanks CHRIS.
I saw this post but decided to buy Gary's work as they are good on frame rates and well detailed. More importantly he offers us 20% discount so only right to support him on behalf of the VA!! What I find amazing is that as a kid, Jersey was the third busiest airport in the UK with a mass of movements especially in the summer. Great for me and my planespotting pals.
The introduction of all inclusive holidays and extended cheaper travel brought the then massive tourist industry to a halt by today's standards. And now, scenery markers are fighting to produce a version of the island!!
It's great scenery as Michael noted.
Keith
By the way there is a new ORBXLIBS version available for download from their site.
Keith.
Keith,
QuoteI used the Orbx forums to ensure I had the scenery in the right order in FSX scenery base. Indeed, I think you must change the LC entries to be lower than the FTX entries as my loaded with the LCs above by default.
normally the Orbx installer will place the scenery entries in the right order and takes care of the dependencies of the different Orbx products. Any manual update could lead to a lot of conflicts. If anything is not as expected run the installer again and give it adminstrator rights (as always).
QuoteI also noted that I need to ensure the FTX Global was checked and not Europe. I found with Europe ticked, the scenery was not good. At my home Island of Jersey, for example, there were pools of water where're there shouldn't be!! The FTX general change solved that. Looking forward to seeing an improvement in Europe.
The FTX Central switch for EUROPE only enables the dedicated regions like England, Scotland, Ireland etc. If you want to use the Global scenery, like for Jersey you have to switch to the Global settings. In the case you want to fly from an Orbx region like England to Jersey or vice versa , than you can switch to Global and tick the "Hybrid" mode. You will notice a slight impact to the FPS in hybrid mode but that is a known issue and cannot be resolved due to the different approaches of Orbx regions and Orbx Global.
Thanks, Michael, very helpful and happy to know I have set it up correctly! When I installed Open LC it did not place the scenery correctly in the library, ie it was above the FTX scenery. Fortunately, using the positioning tool and a good thread on the ORBX Forum I sorted the order out. As you correctly say, ticking Europe for Jersey leads to water ways on the island that I never saw as a child!!! FTX Hybrid checked works beautifully.
Regards,
Keith