ORBX Photo Scenery for UK and More

[ChrisHunt]

I thought this might interest a few people here... Announced by John Venema on 14th March. Personally I'm very much looking forward to this.

"Normally Orbx does not announce projects until they are at least in alpha or beta stage and we have something to show. However in the case of this announcement, a lot of exploratory pre-alpha work has already been done and indeed I've shown some sneak preview shots already. Moving forward I think in the current climate of multiple sim platforms we will likely be giving more advanced notice of future projects.

What I can announce today is that we have secured pristine aerial photography for all of the UK and Ireland and this now paves the way for projects to commence in earnest. Jarrad Marshall will be announcing the name of these series of addons this weekend so I won't reveal the Orbx product series name yet, but they will be made entire from aerial photography orthoimagery and not landclass based.

In addition to the Netherlands for FSX/P3D coming in a matter of weeks, we will be releasing photoreal regions for England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Pacific Northwest USA and Germany in 2018/19. These will be released as a region each, allowing you to pick and choose which ones you want and also manage the footprint sizes on your drives. We may split Germany into halves to contain the installation size. The prospect of flying from Ireland to the eastern part of Germany in a contiguous photo based scenery is now very real.

The first sim platforms these UK/Ireland regions are to be released on will be X-Plane 11, followed by Aerofly FS2. This is because the pre-work has already been done and they will be summer season only. FSX/P3D will follow but there is a lot of work to produce 5 seasonal variations of each regions therefore extra development time will be required.

We will be producing a test compile somewhere in the Midlands soon, and we can then share a few further sneak preview shots.

These regions will be "install-and-fly". Everything will be managed by OrbxDirect and FTX Central so you can focus on just enjoying the regions themselves. We plan to include every house, building, tree and structure in all of the UK/Ireland and the regions will also include (based on each sim's functionality) night lighting, traffic, power lines, water masking, light houses, cityscapes, POIs, marinas, ships and thousands more 3D objects. Airports will be upgraded in the FSX/P3D version but we are not 100% decided on XP/AFS2 for airports at this stage. Those may follow in a service pack or we take a different approach (more details TBC)."

[Paul K]

It certainly is interesting, Chris. Their preview shots of photo-real Netherlands are quite impressive. I already own Orbx UK, but that's not to say I wouldn't be willing to shell out for something new. If it succesfully combines all the advantages of photo-real with those of landclass and autogen, as seems so from the Netherlands preview, I shall be more than interested.

Thanks for the heads-up.

[ChrisHunt]

I also have ORBX England but uninstalled it in favour of Horizon stuff. Neither is great but at least the Horizon scenery is more faithful. Seems that ORBX are putting a lot of effort into scenery for XP11. If it pans out like they plan that may well be the tipping point for me to switch from P3D to XP.

[DaveG]

Looks interesting. I've managed to avoid ORBX stuff so far but this just may sway me.

[Nigel H-J]

This sounds really good though wonder if it will be frame rate intensive. Anyway, I have England Scotland and Wales but would be more than willing to shell out some serious money when it is released.

One question if anyone can answer, all buildings structures and trees are going to be shown however, will it be 3D quality or will the buildings flatten out as you get lower? Not knowing what it entails just wondering!

As I enjoy visual navigation and do so with Orbx Sceneries, this is definitely interesting me.

Regards
Nigel.

[Airspeed]

Hi Nige!
Quoting John V, I think that most buildings will be flat photos:
"We plan to include every house, building, tree and structure in all of the UK/Ireland and the regions will also include (based on each sim's functionality) night lighting, traffic, power lines, water masking, light houses, cityscapes, POIs, marinas, ships and thousands more 3D objects.

As we've discussed recently "A new era", nobody has the computing power to have 3D correctly rendered objects across the board.

[blanston12]

Having spent more than I care to admit on ORBX scenery, I wonder and am fearful what the upgrade cost will be.

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Nige!
Quoting John V, I think that most buildings will be flat photos:
"We plan to include every house, building, tree and structure in all of the UK/Ireland and the regions will also include (based on each sim's functionality) night lighting, traffic, power lines, water masking, light houses, cityscapes, POIs, marinas, ships and thousands more 3D objects.

As we've discussed recently "A new era", nobody has the computing power to have 3D correctly rendered objects across the board.

If that is going to be the case and if flying down really low everything becomes flattened i.e. approach to landing or even a low level flight overhead buildings, then this will not interest me at all. Nothing worse in my mind that the lower you get the flatter the scenery. Not good.

Regards
Nigel.

[Paul K]

Hi Nige!
Quoting John V, I think that most buildings will be flat photos:
"We plan to include every house, building, tree and structure in all of the UK/Ireland and the regions will also include (based on each sim's functionality) night lighting, traffic, power lines, water masking, light houses, cityscapes, POIs, marinas, ships and thousands more 3D objects.

As we've discussed recently "A new era", nobody has the computing power to have 3D correctly rendered objects across the board.

If that is going to be the case and if flying down really low everything becomes flattened i.e. approach to landing or even a low level flight overhead buildings, then this will not interest me at all. Nothing worse in my mind that the lower you get the flatter the scenery. Not good.

Regards
Nigel.

I don't think that's the case at all, though I stand to be corrected. This is one of the preview shots of their photo-real Netherlands. As far as I can see, its very dense autogen on top of a photo-real surface. Look at the amount to buildings there - barely a hint of billiard ball in sight.



If this is indicative of what we'll get with the UK, then I'll be buying it without a doubt. If they can also make their existing UK airfields compatible, then so much the better

[Nigel H-J]

Thanks for the picture Paul, now if it ends up like that I will definitely be buying.

Thanks again.

Regards
Nigel.