ORBX

[DaveB]

Hi Mike

Sadly, no.. I don't have any of the 'new' wave of Oz scenery. I used to have a pile of the stuff from terrain upwards in my old FS9 install but it never migrated to this pc and I've only recently started using FSX more and can't afford to populate it to the same degree as FS9. Post your shots though by all means. Always interested in this sort of stuff

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

I've been following Mike's thread on the ORBX/FTX forum. Yesterday, one of the developers posted a link to another thread from one of the NZ members. In it, the member has posted a series of photos that he's taken of various RW sites in NZ with a comparison of the same site in FTX NZ. Whilst they are not perfect (although some are very good indeed) the overall impression is excellent.

If you are a registered forum member you can see the shots here: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/ ... ntry439821

And if you're thinking about FTX at some time, you can register for free. Also, please don't forget that they offer free downloads of Tasmania and the Olympic peninsula in the US so you can try out the scenery on your own machine at no cost and at no risk. So there's no need to buy it if you suspect that it doesn't match your requirements. You could download those vast areas and check them against Google Earth for accuracy and make your final judgement before parting with your dosh. I wouldn't recommend checking them against Apple Maps, though

Ian

[DaveB]

Thanks Ian (if that was directed at me)

The price is right (free) but I don't think an 'absolute' degree of accuracy would bother me one way or the other for somewhere I'm never going to see in RL.

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

Thanks Ian (if that was directed at me)

Oh no, just general comments aimed at anyone who's interested. I realise that Oz and US scenery areas aren't of great concern here (unless you live there!) but with the England scenery coming out soon I'm guessing there might be a flurry of interest. So I thought I'd flag up those free demos again in case anybody wanted to get a position on it before it hits the shops.

Personally, I'm not sure that I'll get the England scenery At least not initially. The scenery I'm using over in the Pacific North West is so spectacular and exciting that I feel that thousands of square miles of green fields and hedgerows might seem a bit of an anticlimax - until Wales and Scotland are done

Especially as I spend so much time out and about in the real thing anyway

I've still got to save my money to expand the PNW with the Central Rocky Mountains and the forthcoming Southern Alaska and Northern California regions

Ian

[emfrat]

OK, those elusive pics...
Back in May 2007, George Davison was playing with TileProxy, and I asked him in the Visual Flight Forum what my location looked like. I posted a screenie from my FS9.1 VOZ to show the coordinates.
A year later, FTX AU Gold had appeared, and since George was using it I reminded him of my earlier request, and he very kindly put up another pic, from his FSX setup.

This link will take you to slide show I set up, by way of a reply to George. There are notes with each pic. Just click the first thumbnail, and from there you can click 'next' or 'prev':

http://www.mykward.com/AroundFH.html

This link will take you to a gallery I uploaded to PostImage:

http://postimage.org/gallery/c6x08feo/

On Postimage, click the thumbnail, and you get a medium sized shot in a new tab, and at the bottom on that screen there is a link for 'full size' which for me is a 54cm Samsung 1920 x 1080.
It would be nice if Postimage had a slideshow thing, but each pic will stay open in its own browser tab, if you want to switch images quickly.

It contains my original FS9.1 VOX pic, and what I see now in my FSX FTX_AU. There are also some shots of a very ropey landing, by me, at the Gatton College strip, from OZx, and some pics I took of the real thing before it closed a couple of years back. It is very nicely modelled - humps, dips, cross-fall, and all.

Lastly there are a couple of screens I took from Google Earth today, one from about the height I was flying in the sim, and the other much higher up, to give an overview.

The road/rail crossing is the pinpoint. As you can see, in FTX the 'township' is placed N-E of the crossing. In reality, it lies S-W of it, with a small part including the sports oval on the N side of the railway.
If I didn't live here I would never have noticed. It really is very good scenery. The pic of the Rapide on short final gives an excellent impression of what this part of the Lockyer Valley is like.

Thanks for looking.

MikeW

[GHD]

That was a long time ago Mike

I had all sorts of problems with the original Orbx Australia that I removed it. Since I have Gen-X and custom autogen for the UK I won't be investing in Orbx UK.

I now make my own photo scenery for places of interest using FSEarthTiles.

[emfrat]

It seems longer, George...the old VF/GM photoscenery I bought in 2005 spoiled me for anything but accurate coastlines. I'll need to look at this FS EarthTiles . In my FS9 world, I can fly from Reykjavik to Cairo, seeing only good coastlines and mesh, and it is pretty good right into SE Asia and beyond - VFR pilotage at FL350, with 'The Times' Atlas. In FSX, at least I have the FS Global 2010 mesh, but those default coastlines!

Mike

[Airspeed]

Despite my complaints about the advertising angle, the general "feel" of ORBX is A1.
For instance, the road traffic drives on the left, and varies fairly realistically between busy and remote areas.
The real icing on the cake is the bunch of freeware FTX airports with the famous animated people and animals/birds.
Today I actually spent dollars on the official payware FTX Moorabbin, close to where we lived for 25 years, and where I
spent many happy hours. It was also where I flew part of the private pilot course, so I couldn't resist it! Oh joy!

[speedbird591]

Today I actually spent dollars on the official payware FTX Moorabbin, close to where we lived for 25 years, and where I spent many happy hours. It was also where I flew part of the private pilot course, so I couldn't resist it! Oh joy!

That's wonderful, Mike. To have a re-creation of somewhere that you're so familiar with. It'll be interesting to hear if you think they've captured the feel of the place authentically. Obviously, there'll be differences but only you can say if it feels like the same place.

Perhaps in the future, ORBX will be able to offer a customised animated-customer add-on. An animated you walking about the airfield in your own clothes and doing what you do, swigging from a tinnie - or whatever It would fit in nicely with the creature flow objects, which I assume comprise wallabies, galahs, dingoes, possums, swagmen and flies

Ian

[Airspeed]

... It'll be interesting to hear if you think they've captured the feel of the place authentically. Obviously, there'll be differences but only you can say if it feels like the same place. Ian

Ian,
I am very pleased to report that it definitely has that feel. I've seen many recognisable features, including Moorabbin Air Museum, for which I hold an un-financial membership card, and the Aero Club, in which one or two MAM meetings were held, and an ale or two consumed. Professional Helicopter Services were where I expected them, with a correctly painted helicopter parked outside. A couple of shops appeared to be accurate, but so far I didn't venture into the flying schools area. The refuelling bay gets the thumbs up from me.
I noticed a spinning wind monitor and a limp wind sock. Customised the wid speed and direction - the wind sock became erect and changed to the correct direction.
There were relevant AIs landing, including an air ambulance. I will try increasing ORBX default AI(16%), as I didn't see the expected flying schools T&Gs.
Surrounding features like the golf corse to the North, and nearby industrial estate looked good.
What ORBX are you running? PNW I guess?

One little point I noted about the freeware Port Augusta, was that all the parked vehicles (which are many and varied) have their headlights on after dark.(many flat batteries to come )