Scenery question about Orbx specifically

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Chunk
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by Chunk »

Hey Dudley, just to add to this already excellent topic...

Besides ORBX Global, Vector, and OpenLC software, they also offer regions. The Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, etc. Global/Vector/Open LC covers the entire earth, but the regions, IMHO, is where ORBX stuff really shines. The PNW, for instance, is just jaw-droppingly beautiful! Once you start adding on with some of the airports they make, it becomes a very rich simming experience.

Much like Paughco, I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and have had my fair share of breakfasts at the 3-Zero Cafe at KHAF. I also now live in the PNW, and the rendition in the sim of both areas is very immersive.

Here are some screenshots of a flight from Redding (KRDD) to Blue Canyon (KBLU). Both airports are payware add-ons from ORBX, and the base scenery is the ORBX Northern California region. This was flown with ActiveSky P3D, and REX 4 Texture Direct w/Soft Clouds. And of course, the flight was completed in my favorite A2A bird, the V-Tail!

Please let me know if you have any other questions, screenshot requests of certain areas, etc. Good luck Dudley, your wallet is about to take a pounding. :lol:

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Medtner
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by Medtner »

Gorgeous pics, Chunk! I'll get some pics from my trip across the continental US the last few months - all Orbx Global, Vector, Landclass material - not regions, as this is more applicable to Dudley.
Erik Haugan Aasland,

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(Homebase: Kristiansand Lufthavn, Kjevik (ENCN)

All the Accusim-planes are in my hangar, but they aren't sitting long enough for their engines to cool much before next flight!

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Medtner
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by Medtner »

I leave the images in fullsize, so that you can get a close look at the details...

This is a picture from Denver. Just having departed Centennial, looking south west toward Chatfield Lake just by Wolhurst. Check via Google Maps to see the similarity. Particularly the roads, the edges of water/lakes/rivers, and also the difference between the marches/wetlands and the congested areas. This shows off Vector and Open LandClass very well.
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A shot from the Rocky Mountains, on my way from Centennial to Eagle County.
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This is a picture from 3 mile final to runway 25 into Farmington, Four Corners (KFMN). It's a bit dark, but notice the rovers and the change from rural to congested.
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A shot at night over Long Island towards NYC.
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Just west of Wilkes Barre. The plant is marked on the sectional, and all the river detail is true - small islands, bridges...
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Various shots:
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Erik Haugan Aasland,

Arendal, Norway
(Homebase: Kristiansand Lufthavn, Kjevik (ENCN)

All the Accusim-planes are in my hangar, but they aren't sitting long enough for their engines to cool much before next flight!

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Chunk
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by Chunk »

Those are some great shots Erik, and now that I re-read Dudley's original post, I see that he doesn't fly in regions that ORBX currently offers. :D
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DHenriques_
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by DHenriques_ »

Chunk wrote:Those are some great shots Erik, and now that I re-read Dudley's original post, I see that he doesn't fly in regions that ORBX currently offers. :D
Yes. I'm discovering that. Actually I didn't realize that GEX and UT are available for P3D. I'm giving serious consideration to installing these two extras when I go over to P3D eventually. They seem to be error free in FSX and I've been happy with the two programs.
D

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Medtner
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by Medtner »

DHenriquesA2A wrote:
Chunk wrote:Those are some great shots Erik, and now that I re-read Dudley's original post, I see that he doesn't fly in regions that ORBX currently offers. :D
Yes. I'm discovering that. Actually I didn't realize that GEX and UT are available for P3D. I'm giving serious consideration to installing these two extras when I go over to P3D eventually. They seem to be error free in FSX and I've been happy with the two programs.
D
Just be aware that when people are talking about "regions" they mean the specific all-inclusive packages from Orbx. They include SoCal, NorCal, Pacific North West, Rockies, and so forth. They are masterpieces, with all that the Global-products give but with even more detail.

The Global Products that I was talking about, and from which my screenshots are, covers the whole earth (apart from the Landclass, which is only the Americas and Europe for now, but that should do the trick for you, Dudley.
Erik Haugan Aasland,

Arendal, Norway
(Homebase: Kristiansand Lufthavn, Kjevik (ENCN)

All the Accusim-planes are in my hangar, but they aren't sitting long enough for their engines to cool much before next flight!

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DHenriques_
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by DHenriques_ »

Medtner wrote:
DHenriquesA2A wrote:
Chunk wrote:Those are some great shots Erik, and now that I re-read Dudley's original post, I see that he doesn't fly in regions that ORBX currently offers. :D
Yes. I'm discovering that. Actually I didn't realize that GEX and UT are available for P3D. I'm giving serious consideration to installing these two extras when I go over to P3D eventually. They seem to be error free in FSX and I've been happy with the two programs.
D
Just be aware that when people are talking about "regions" they mean the specific all-inclusive packages from Orbx. They include SoCal, NorCal, Pacific North West, Rockies, and so forth. They are masterpieces, with all that the Global-products give but with even more detail.

The Global Products that I was talking about, and from which my screenshots are, covers the whole earth (apart from the Landclass, which is only the Americas and Europe for now, but that should do the trick for you, Dudley.
Thanks Erik. I'm studying the situation from all angles closely.
D

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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by AviationAtWar »

I took a bit of video at KPHL tonight. This is FSX with Orbx global base, HD trees, Vector, and OpenLC. I'm on a laptop that's almost four years old with the sliders in their default positions and as you can see my frame rates are a little low and it loads a little slow in dense cities, but I'm sure you'll be fine on a Jetline with P3D. It would also look better if I was able to max out the sliders.


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Chunk
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by Chunk »

Dudley, are there any particular spots you want to see with Global, Vector, and OpenLC installed? I have them, but when I fly in areas with ORBX "regions," that scenery overrides the other three. Please let me know.
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DHenriques_
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by DHenriques_ »

AviationAtWar wrote:I took a bit of video at KPHL tonight. This is FSX with Orbx global base, HD trees, Vector, and OpenLC. I'm on a laptop that's almost four years old with the sliders in their default positions and as you can see my frame rates are a little low and it loads a little slow in dense cities, but I'm sure you'll be fine on a Jetline with P3D. It would also look better if I was able to max out the sliders.

Looks fairly accurate to me. Thanks for posting it.
I fly out of KILG (New Castle Delaware..............down the river just past the twin bridges.
DH

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AKar
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by AKar »

I've always found Orbx Global + Vector + OpenLC be accurate enough to allow for proper navigation using map and the view out of the window. This applies also to relatively sparsely populated corner of the world where I live and have flown in reality (covered by OpenLC Europe in my case). The resolution of the Vector and OpenLC combined does not quite provide directly identifiable local details, that is intersections, precise residential areas, railyards or that kind of stuff, but for VFR navigational purposes the detail level is very adequate, and when you know what you're supposed to be looking at, you can make out basic local features without excessive use of imagination.

Enabling all the stuff in Vector appears to have an effect to the loading times (I use HDD for P3D and sceneries), but contrary of what I've been warned, I see little impact on performance if outside very largest cities.

In your case Dudley, I'd recommend you also check out the freeware mesh product by Nine Two Productions. The "open beta" mesh covers the continental US in 9.5 meter resolution...I must say the effects of this mesh are staggering in how little details in elevation pop out in many areas.

-Esa

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DHenriques_
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by DHenriques_ »

AKar wrote:I've always found Orbx Global + Vector + OpenLC be accurate enough to allow for proper navigation using map and the view out of the window. This applies also to relatively sparsely populated corner of the world where I live and have flown in reality (covered by OpenLC Europe in my case). The resolution of the Vector and OpenLC combined does not quite provide directly identifiable local details, that is intersections, precise residential areas, railyards or that kind of stuff, but for VFR navigational purposes the detail level is very adequate, and when you know what you're supposed to be looking at, you can make out basic local features without excessive use of imagination.

Enabling all the stuff in Vector appears to have an effect to the loading times (I use HDD for P3D and sceneries), but contrary of what I've been warned, I see little impact on performance if outside very largest cities.

In your case Dudley, I'd recommend you also check out the freeware mesh product by Nine Two Productions. The "open beta" mesh covers the continental US in 9.5 meter resolution...I must say the effects of this mesh are staggering in how little details in elevation pop out in many areas.

-Esa

Thanks Esa. I'll be doing a lot of thinking and research before I make the switch to P3D. I'm sort of caught between a rock and a hard place where scenery is concerned. I'd like to have the sim all nice and accurate for enjoyment yet I need to keep things fairly clean and bug free for testing (when that begins again :-).
I'll check everything out carefully.
DH

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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by WB_FlashOver »

I would like to build on what has been said about ORBX Global products.

I have made many flights where my flight plan consisted of nothing more than making a path from A-B-C-etc in Google Earth running on my second computer. I then fly completely visual looking out the window, reference Google Earth, watch for the next landmark, and so on from landmark to landmark. These landmarks might be a simple correctly sized and shaped 1-2 acre pond or a stream with specific lines or a small patch of forest land. I was really impressed at the detail. These flights were in areas that are NOT ORBX Regions. Areas where ORBX Regions are installed it is just truly amazing. The new ORBX True Earth looks to be particularly impressive but I do not own any yet.

As far as a 3rd party mesh I am using FreeMeshX. It adds so much to the shape of the terrain in areas other than the Continental US areas. The simulators have very detailed mesh by default here but fail miserably in other areas.

Here are some comparison pictures.

FSX-SE Stock Scenery over the Himalayan Mountains.

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FSX-SE ORBX Global (All) and FreeMeshX at same longs/lats. Notice that now the mountains are pronounced and the river does not flow up the hillside.

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P3Dv4.x with ORBX Global (All) and FreeMeshX at same longs/lats. It's like a whole new simulator, eh? Looks really nice.

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Cheers
Roger
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FAC257
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by FAC257 »

Roger, I like that sort of direct comparison between different options that folks have to choose from.
I have both the Orbx Global + Global Ultimate Mesh, and the GEX/UTX + GLobal Ultimate Mesh sets to work with.

Just to throw in another apples to apples picture, this is the same shot and location as your shots, but using UTXv2 (all) + GEX World Edtion + Global Ultimate Mesh.
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Forest
FAC257
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Re: Scenery question about Orbx specifically

Post by WB_FlashOver »

FAC257 wrote:Roger, I like that sort of direct comparison between different options that folks have to choose from.
I have both the Orbx Global + Global Ultimate Mesh, and the GEX/UTX + GLobal Ultimate Mesh sets to work with.

Just to throw in another apples to apples picture, this is the same shot and location as your shots, but using UTXv2 (all) + GEX World Edtion + Global Ultimate Mesh.
Forest
Hello Forest,
Thanks for the photo. I too appreciate comparisons. I looked at purchasing a mesh but was not sure it was going to be worth the expense so I opted for the donate version. I have to say that after seeing (comparing) the photos I don't think the freeware version was a bad choice. Now that I have a 3rd party mesh I will always fly with one. As stated above the U.S. stock mesh is quite good but other parts of the globe definitely need some assistance.

Cheers
Roger
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