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Orbx SCA question

Just checking back in on the thread to wrap it up. The big sale was too much for me. I got SCA, KPSP and L70 (plus the two NZ airports I've been eyeing a while).

I'm very glad I got it. Performance is fine. I'm flying around the NE LA urban area now (near Van Nuys) from L70 and FPS is just fine, and the scenery is fantastic. L70 is probably my favorite Orbx airport. Misha's work on those rock textures is amazing. Most realistic scenery in FSX for me so far.

Thanks for all the feedback and help. I'm happy with this purchase and look forward to exploring quite a lot of scenic territory.
 
Actually being from SoCal, I just couldn't stand SCA. In particular, flying around areas that aren't major cities, not seeing real stuff where it should be is a deal killer. I guess I've been spoiled by Megascenery -- I expect to see things where they should be.

Maybe if I didn't know the area, I'd be ok suspending belief and just enjoying the falsified view ;) But when I fly over my house and see no homes and a bunch of pine trees, I just can't enjoy that. In MSE, I see my house and the entire neighborhood around it. I see my grocery store, instead of a generic industrial building.
 
airattackimages said:
Actually being from SoCal, I just couldn't stand SCA. In particular, flying around areas that aren't major cities, not seeing real stuff where it should be is a deal killer. I guess I've been spoiled by Megascenery -- I expect to see things where they should be.

Maybe if I didn't know the area, I'd be ok suspending belief and just enjoying the falsified view ;) But when I fly over my house and see no homes and a bunch of pine trees, I just can't enjoy that. In MSE, I see my house and the entire neighborhood around it. I see my grocery store, instead of a generic industrial building.
Click to expand...


I have Orbx SCA and it's great. But I'm also very impressed with MegasceneryEarth's new extremely-high-resolution "4x" scenery for southern California. I've done a lot of comparing between Orbx and MSE and in many cases the 4x MSE scenery is not only much more accurate, it also looks better. And the MSE gives higher frame rates and smoother operation. But, of course, with photoreal scenery you lose the seasons, 3D at ground level, etc. Too bad we can't have it all in one package.
 
OrbX SCA

MY experience with OrbX SCA has been a mixed bag. I have flown from San Diego up the
coast into the NCA area (Moffett Field) and all along the way I was getting 4-5 second freezes.

Additionally I found a number of airports with elevation issues (sunked runways and taxiways)
and only a couple were able to be corrected with the Global Vector configuration tool.

I've also flown from Boeing Field down to Moffett Field, pretty much following the coast and
did not experience any stutters or freezes.

I was flying mostly at 3K to 6K to enjoy the scenery in my A2A P-51D (civ). I have pretty much
all of the FTX regions installed except Norway and Wales, along with Gloabal and Global Vector,
Pilot's 2010 mesh and OLC Europe and OLC North America.

I run with FTX Central set to 'Hybrid' mode.

Paul
 
When I want to see reality around where I live, I fly in real life. In the sim, I want convincing terrain. PR scenery like Megascenery doesn't even come close to that for me anywhere but desert areas. I have MegaScenery for southern California (bought it when I was doing Pilot's edge, 'cause I couldn't stand default), but I didn't like it. To each his own, I suppose. But 2-D just doesn't look at all real to me at the heights I typically fly.

I only fly Orbx regions and airports. I have no interest in Global or Vector or any of those, so I don't have to worry about the integration problems. So far, the region by itself has been great. As I approached LA, there is some slow down at my settings, but I can live with it, particularly as I don't really like flying around LA. :)
 
airattackimages said:
Actually being from SoCal, I just couldn't stand SCA. In particular, flying around areas that aren't major cities, not seeing real stuff where it should be is a deal killer. I guess I've been spoiled by Megascenery -- I expect to see things where they should be.

Maybe if I didn't know the area, I'd be ok suspending belief and just enjoying the falsified view ;) But when I fly over my house and see no homes and a bunch of pine trees, I just can't enjoy that. In MSE, I see my house and the entire neighborhood around it. I see my grocery store, instead of a generic industrial building.
Click to expand...

Air Attack has a good point here. I had been running BlueSky for my SoCal scenery. I'm a financially grounded aviator with a lot of VFR SoCal experience so the accuracy of BlueSky was amazing. I even created a nearby STOL airport about a 1/2 mile from my house in a vacant lot that the FD uses as a helispot. The catch is (as previously mentioned) if you're a low and slow flyer like I am, the lack of 3D autogen is a bummer.

The ORBX SCA has the roads, terrain contours, golf courses, and railroads accurately placed so you can IFR* for pilotage. The broad strokes are there it's just the specific details are missing. It is nice seeing the 3D houses and trees from the air.

In a final analysis, it boils down to what kind of FS flyer you are. For the time being, I think I'll enjoy the SCA just as it is. If I get ambitious, I may experiment with a hybrid system but then again maybe not. I'm at the point where I've slimmed down my hangar and addon scenery file and want to fly more than tweak. I now have ORBX scenery from the Western USA contiguous from the Mexican to the Canadian border. I think I'll concentrate on that with the notable exception of a little Air America flying (when the Aerosoft PC-6 is released!) in Laos and Vietnam.

Oh BTW isn't the cafe at Agua Dulce located on a slight hill? When I made my own L70 from stock objects, I didn't have the skill to put it on a hill but I was hoping Misha Cajic would. Maybe he was working from photos and couldn't see the elevation?

Obie

*I Follow Roads
 
I live about 9 miles east of heywooood so hi sort of neighbor. As stated before I've also spent a number of hours flying in and out of KSEE Gillespie Field and I like to see the area I live in look like the place I live in so I overlay MSE over Orbx, though the lack of 3d objects is sometimes a little disappointing when flying low and slow, it is not a deal breaker. Also, I will sometimes try out a real flight to a new location to get a feel of what to expect and maybe pick out the VFR waypoints or other VFR points.

One other point I also stated before was that both stock and Orbx versions of KSEE are not that great so I made my own. (Self serving available at Avsim). I agree it's not up to payware standards, but it is a bit more accurate than the others.
 
hello johann - bienvenidos

I like what you did with the PR scenery bash..interesting.
I only fly low and slow in FSX so the ORBX scenery for me is a plus, even if it is somewhat inaccurate - as long as the area is unfamiliar.
I have the NorCal, Northern Rockies and all right up into Alaska for that reason.
But San Diego is familiar - and so far disappointing in FSX no matter what 3rd party payware or freeware I have tried.
I don't like the PR because of the crap appearance at low altitude. Its just a non-starter for me.

I don't think it will gert any better in the near future either, but maybe in my lifetime. I switched to kale and am laying off the pizza just to hedge my bet. lol
 
I agree, at 500 ft PR isn't very good. At 3000 - 4000+ ft it's okay and in unfamiliar or unpopulated places Orbx and others work fine most of the time.

I hope the kale thing works for you though, so you can see FS12 (Steam or P3D), 3d VR goggles, and 6+Ghz processors, but I'm nearing the third half of life and pizza and Hodad's are still on my list;-)
 
For me the ultimate is MSE 4x, which is good down to about 1,000' AGL, combined with an ORBX airport (e.g. Palm Springs) which includes a very large 3D scenery area surrounding the airport.
 
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