Hi Chaps,
Dying as I was to finish work tonight and have another play with FTX England.. I'm glad I did but am also disappointed. There was always going to be an element of 'if it's not real, how good is it' and I've found this out tonight/this morning. Flying around somewhere like Bowerman or Tasmania, the scenery looks good and works a treat but unless you actually know the place.. it doesn't really matter. I've managed to get FTX England running well tonight.. don't ask me how because I don't really know but it does run well, despite me getting a couple of runtime errors in the process.
To put it all into perspective, I've been back to the default UK tonight too.. not something you'd want to do if you didn't have to but it was worth the effort. For one, there are a lot more red brick houses so the FTX houses are obviously not default but their own. I set myself up in this fashion.. first GenX(v2).. then default FSX.. and finally ORBX. To be honest, the difference between default and ORBX is not as great as I'd thought. Don't get me wrong.. there IS a difference and a big one but still, it wasn't quite as big as the screenshots show IN SIM.
First, I flew around Marham.. a place I've got to know very well since beta testing the Mosquito. FR's now up (ORBX trees are the culprit.. why they work in PNW but don't in England is a mystery perhaps only Sam can shed light on).. and all was running smoothly. OK.. let's look at Birmingham. Immediately, I realised all my UK2K scenery's are below ORBX so all get suitably modified.. better by far than the default but out of recognition with UK2K. No problem. Fly toward Birmingham city centre in the default Bell206 and notice a LOT of floating houses (yes white ones at that).
OK.. next to move to another area.. a flight I'd saved in the Bell behind my house in the W Midlands. Runtime error! Sim restarted and the W Midlands flight chosen. When the flight started, my Bell was half into a house that shouldn't be there but I made allowances for that. The scenery ran very well.. in excess of 50fps and as smooth as silk. However.. it bore little or no resemblance to where I live. There were trees and fields but lakes and industrial buildings
Next.. to Portsmouth.. runtime error
Sim restarted and Portsmouth selected. Again.. all was running pretty well but I can't say I recognised the area. You know where you are because of the Spinnaker Tower but other than that.. the similarities were few. Remember me commenting on checking No.1 dry dock to see if USS Enterprise had replaced HMS Victory.. well, no.1 dock isn't there and to be fair, this isn't photo scenery (even though HMS Victory is a national treasure). I did see this though...
Ask me why USS Theodore Roosevelt is in 3 basin and I think you'll have to ask John or PeteP who live there cause I don't know. Look at the texture along the jetty.. AND trees
I did say there was always going to be a risk that going to something NOT REAL albeit bedecked with copious trees, houses and stuff in favour of something completely real but bereft of 3D could be a problem.. especially if you KNOW the areas concerned. For me.. it's too much of a problem. The places I've checked, I know and the differences are too great for me to brush off.
This said.. for anyone who has NOT been spoilt by GenX photoscenery and wants rather more than the default offers, I can recommend ORBX FTXEU England. It is head and shoulders better than the default (even with the proliferation of white houses). There's some nice detail built into the areas of interest (the Bull Ring Centre in Brum for example.. Brum FC's ground - though why anyone would want to duplicate that is beyond me!) and a whole pile more but.. if you are used to looking down and seeing the row of houses at the bottom of your street, the canal across the common, the corner shop.. from say a thousand feet and you like seeing it, then I can't recommend spending your money on FTX England. The additional 3D objects you get.. the trees which seem to work in one part of the world but not here, the modified default airports (which are great if all you have are default but a pain in the butt to move either ORBX below all your installed airports or move all of them above it to stop the modification) but most of all, the fact that what is under you is no longer real.. the 3D attraction goes. I got it to run well.. I got it to run very well (without the ORBX trees).. I couldn't and can't explain the runtime errors but it does run well.. as well as the default AND looks better.
You get a lot with this package.. variations on lighting for day and night, a host of texture changes you can make and I'm sure the package will be updated to make it better. If you're currently a default FSX user who wants as much extra as can be got for as little spend.. take a look at this scenery because I doubt very much you'll be disappointed. The disappointment only comes when moving from photoreal scenery you've been used to seeing for years and knowing it's real.. well.. as real as it gets
Now.. back to that Mosquito I've spurned today!
ATB
DaveB
