I suppose you are not aware of this (freeware) project:
http://world2xplane.com/
IMO this is the best thing that happened to scenery.
Add some other freeware like HD mesh and custom world autogen - and you have the most realistic sim experience ever, at least in summer.
Alas, my computer can't handle XP, FSX or P3D - so I am sticking with FS9
Back to topic - from ORBX we now have:
- FTX Global
- FTX Vector
- FTX EU
- FTX PNW
- ORBX Regions
- EU Open LC
controlled through FTX Central or the various control panels.
At least that is what I understand from various posts.
But everthing only works with certain other products - no wonder there is confusion with newcomers!
Sascha,
It is true there is some confusion, especially among new simmers, but much is due to the customer's oversimplified expectations and lack of knowledge about the structure of FSX's original scenery structure as it exists out of the purchase box. One extraneous point: PNW and ORBX EU are both Orbx Regions, not separate items as you have them listed.
The original FSX has a defined multipart scenery structure constructed in layers that work together to represent what you see as scenery in the sim. These layers are textures, land class, vectors, mesh, and autogen. When you buy FSX from a store, you get all of them for the whole world but they are buried, so to speak, in FSX's one large scenery database, and you never notice the individual pieces. The scope of the data is worldwide as defined by Microsoft, but the scenery quality often suffers as a result of Microsoft having to provide the required massive quantity of data for the whole world. To keep things manageable from a software perspective, MS often used shortcuts such as using the same texture file to represent multiple places on the earth that are, in fact, quite different in real life.
Orbx's product line started out with the concept of designing replacement scenery components in very fine detail but only for smaller, very select regions of the earth. So far, they have designed detailed regions to cover Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, large parts of the northwest U.S., and Southern Alaska but more are on the drawing board as we speak. Each region includes all of the scenery components I mention above. However, because their scenery is only for specific geographic regions, there had to be some kind of control software for the end user to control the merging of Orbx's detailed scenery components with the left-over FSX scenery components. This was done using the software you mention - which Orbx calls FTX Central. It comes free with each new region a user purchases. In producing these regions,Orbx adds value by showing completely new levels of detail never before made available to the public on this scale.
Always on the lookout for ways to make simming better (and make money at the same time), Orbx also branched out into new product areas not addressed by the detailed regions. They decided to tackle the vast reqions of the earth not covered by one of their regions. The first product they released was called FTX Global. It is simply a complete replacement for the each of the many worldwide texture files in the FSX database. In so doing, Orbx added more detail into many of the scenes represented by those textures including making individual textures specific to parts of the world that never before had such representation in FSX. As the end user flies his simulator, these textures form the very foundation of what is observed on the ground.
Textures themselves, however, go only so far. There are also, terrain features represented by straight lines such as roads, railroads, rivers, and lake and river shorelines. Orbx's next venture was to provide a product that replaced all the vector scenery for the sim. This was marketed as FTX Global Vector.
Next, Orbx is tackling landclass data. Landclass files control which texture file is displayed in FSX for any particular geographic rectangle on the surface of the earth. They call these Open Landclass products and because they are so voluminous, they are being developed in pieces corresponding to geographic areas. The first separate product line of this type was just released covering Europe.
You now should be able to understand that these different scenery files all play together in the sim to make your flight sim experience more enjoyable by making the scene out of your cockpit window more representative of the real world.
Having said all of this, you as a user now have many choices and you can tailor your purchase(s) to match the areas where you like to fly. If you prefer to fly in an area represented by a only couple of Orbx regions, then you only need to purchase those regions. Nothing else is required. On the other hand, if you like to go exploring in new areas, you may want some of the other products to cover those areas not covered by a region. It's a good thing. Don't complain about having choices.
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