FTX NZ South First Alpha Screenshots

[kcgb]

Here is the first alpha screenshots for Orbx/FTX New Zealand South Island.

QUOTE

FTX New Zealand South Island (NZSI) has now entered alpha development and we are enjoying our first flights in this glorious part of the world. Right now we have a sublime 10m HolgerMesh in place, all coastlines, roads, rivers, lakes, streams, transportation network including highways, roads, trails, railroads and powerlines. We also have a first-pass landclass which places all urban areas, towns, villages and all the geographical featues including glaciers and mudflats, plains and forest. The huge task of enhancing some of the 1135 airstrips and airports for Southland has also begun.

I wanted to share some very early screenshots, and please note these are placeholder textures only, and bears no resemblance to the final product which will be based on Matt's textures made from aerial photographs over NZ.

I wanted to give you all a taste for what is to come in the first part of 2011. Of course, we'll be posting more development shots as we enter the beta stages.[/quote]
http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?to...04006#msg204006

Looks amazing already.

Last edited by Nzeddy on Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[markll]

QUOTE (Nzeddy @ Jul 5 2010, 08:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here is the first alpha screenshots for Orbx/FTX New Zealand South Island.

http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?to...04006#msg204006

Looks amazing already.

Would LOVE to know where they got a 10m mesh from...!

[bluebird79]

I vote for Timmo's NZ VLC all the way and buggar those damn Aussies coming to New Zealand !!!

[kcgb]

I had a look at those pics and VLC is looking alot better

[Ian Warren]

These screen really show nothing compared to VLC , they are using the different times off day to make it , the word 'moody' and not really showing anything new and in a way hiding , a 10 meter mesh will difficult to compare to a 20 .

[creator2003]

Do i hear VLC aussie? Tim ,after you are done with NZ i would love you to do Ozzy and show them really that cutting corners at the beginning will bite them in the A_ss , anyone that buys this FTX Addon ,NZ airports and addons coming from NZ designers will not support ORBX/FTX addons in the future ,the textures that they make are too dark and wont blend with airports already out and ones very soon to come. you have been warned !!
good luck john V

[AndrewJamez]

What go you mean by "cutting corners"?

[creator2003]

Texture flow is a good exsample and the tons of reading material from unhappy customers ether removed from the FTX/Orbx or glamed up for future customers ,the way the airports are built ,over dramatic detail in some cases have been rushed ,like a trailer ford wheel on a airport truck axel? "Brisbane " the list does go on ..
NZ will be done the right way, by us KIWI,s cheers ...

[toprob]

Orbx have made it clear that this is an alpha build, topo only, so they are unlikely to show it too clearly with stand-in textures. No doubt we'll have a better idea six months down the track, and I suspect that it'll look a lot better by then:)

I was 80% certain they'd release the first screenshots this week, as a couple of things on the web gave the impression that Vector Land Class is close to release. As I said in an earlier post, VLC isn't designed to compete with Orbx, but Orbx will certainly have to compete with VLC.

This is a situation which hasn't cropped up before -- two major developments for NZ -- so it'll be interesting to see how it works out. No doubt we'll be spoilt for choice in a year or two.

Orbx do some fantastic work, and what they do has certainly given a lot of simmers what they wanted. The two different projects do a different job, or at least a similar job in a different way, though, and really have a very different 'philosophy'. Orbx took a good look at where FSX didn't perform well, visually, and addressed those limitations. The result is a stunning looking sim. Tim's project is based in realism -- incorporating real topo data to a much greater degree than the default. He is not swayed by any need to 'pretty up' the sim, believe me, I've tried to get him to tweak a few things away from reality, and towards pretty, but it's like talking to a brick wall:)

So the choice -- eventually -- will be between real and beautiful. It'll be somewhat clouded by the fact that Orbx has a lot of real detail, with an emphasis on local library objects and interspersed with photo scenery, and VLC actually gives us something beautiful once the real data is in place, plus it offers a great base to build onto. So now it is up to us local developers to actually build onto this base. Hopefully VLC will take off to the extent that within a few months we'll have our own local autogen objects and textures, and enough freeware and payware airports in development to justify the choice of VLC.

In a couple of years, when Orbx release the North Island, hopefully there'll be a whole new bunch of simmers looking for a great NZ to fly in, and it'll come down to a choice then -- I envy them:) In the meantime, we can get a couple of year's use out of VLC before having to make up our minds to go a different way.

[Bushmaster]

EEESSHH, i can surely see the difference between VLC and FTX's NZSI. Better get advertising soon, more customers, more money!
And on that link scroll down and look at the comments heres one i picked out 'Looking good mate our brothers from across the pond must be chuffed.........' hehe not with that quality.

[AndrewJamez]

There's no way I am waiting untill 2012 for a completed FTX NZ, bring on VLC, I am starving for a new NZ base scenery package.

[Timmo]

At the end of the day I think you guys will benefit: Competition is always good

I think a few things indicate that they have rushed these alpha shots to try and grab peoples attention even though their release may be a little while away (the pot calling the kettle black? haha)

Mis-spelling on their banners (i.e. Southland vs South Island) show that we (VLC + the NZ flightsim community) have a distinct advantage: We are New Zealanders. We know the land and what it actually looks like in real life (which isn't always what it looks like in tourist brochures)

Up untill now we haven't pushed this project to audiences wider than NZ so in some respects I worry that the posters on the Orbx forum don't even know about VLC...but then again, VLC has always been about serving Kiwis first and foremost and keeping the NZ simming community strong.

[Bazza]

I have a slight worry that our forum is becoming a "barrow" to be pushed by vested commercial interests....given the last few months is this a realistic point of view....?

devils advocate....

[markll]

Robin, Timmo, let me say that I for one really appreciate your comments here, especially given their even-tempered approach. Thanks guys - you do yourselves and your product immense credit through your welcoming approach to the competition that the FTX product will no doubt bring.

Some of the other comments, on the other hand, are not so helpful.

My opinion is that VLC is clearly going to set the bar very high for NZ scenery. It's up to the FTX guys to either take up the challenge or to give up. As Timmo said, competition can only be good, and as consumers of these products, it's US that will benefit in the long run.

[Naki]

QUOTE (Bazza @ Jul 6 2010, 07:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have a slight worry that our forum is becoming a "barrow" to be pushed by vested commercial interests....given the last few months is this a realistic point of view....?

devils advocate....

VLC deserves major coverage here as its a major piece of scenery for NZ in FSX (the foundations really for ongoing scenery projects) as was RBE topo/mesh was for FS9 (IIRC correctly this had a lot of posts etc when it was first released) and any major RealNZ release for NZ.

...I am starting to weaken and I think I might get ORBX PNW with an airport or two (boo hiss). I have always been a fan of the PNW area and I had a lot scenery for the area in FS9 including Emma and Orca Island and I love VFR GA flying which this would suit nicely. PNW will be my bolt hole when I get tired of flying in NZ and will make an interesting comparison with VLC...and no that dosen't mean I will get ORBX NZ. BTW never been interested in ORBX Australia..too vast and flat ..and expensive if you want the whole of Aussie.

[toprob]

QUOTE

Some of the other comments, on the other hand, are not so helpful.[/quote]
Yeah i get mouthy sometimes ,when i know this could dent my living or lack off ,should i say cool thats great and promote Australian made products ,or support NZ made whole heartedly ? can you really blame me for it ,i do wish i could hold back and roll over ,thats just not me though and i do find ORBX intrusive..

[toprob]

QUOTE (Bazza @ Jul 6 2010, 07:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have a slight worry that our forum is becoming a "barrow" to be pushed by vested commercial interests....given the last few months is this a realistic point of view....?

devils advocate....

Certainly a fair point, and one which deserves some discussion. There are some 'special circumstances' here at NZFF, which I do worry about occasionally. NZFF was originally started by Trolly, helped a lot by Alex. When the forum was first opened, Trolly asked me to get onboard as an administrator, considering me the 'grandfather' of NZ flightsim... Kids can be so cruel...

Since then both Trolly and Alex have quit their involvement in administering NZFF, due to time constraints. At that time Naki was brought in as an administrator, but in some ways I have 'inherited' the running of forum.

Tim has been a forum moderator for some time, and in that time has begun his Vector Land Class project, but until then he was a typical freeware developer. So over time we have ended up with one out of two administrators and one moderator with a vested commercial interest. The original plan was to restrict payware developers to their own support sub-forums, plus allow them to display a signature within the normal forum rules, to promote their business. To comply with this, I've this week created a Vector Land Class support forum, and moved most VLC-specific posts into it. However in circumstances like this, where a particular product is up for discussion, the developer really needs the right to take part in the discussion.

If anyone has any issues with the way that things have turned out, then please join the discussion. If you are concerned that any forum rules have been breached, then let us know. If you have suggestions to deal with this better then speak up.

[markll]

QUOTE (creator2003 @ Jul 6 2010, 08:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah i get mouthy sometimes ,when i know this could dent my living or lack off ,should i say cool thats great and promote Australian made products ,or support NZ made whole heartedly ? can you really blame me for it ,i do wish i could hold back and roll over ,thats just not me though and i do find ORBX intrusive..

Hmm...wasn't meaning to have a go at you. I guess there's two ways to look at a situation like this. One way is to see it as a threat, and I guess you need to make a call as to how to proceed for yourself. The other viewpoint, and I tend to look to this myself when faced with similar situations in my own line of work, is to try to look for the possible opportunities involved.

Is there an opportunity for your work to integrate nicely with FTX as well as VLC, for example? If not, then presumably you're faced with making a call as to which way to go - integrate better with VLC or with FTX?

Under the current circumstances, I dare say I'd back VLC too. Its likely to be available sooner, since it's further along in the production process, and with Timmo and the guys doing the work being readily available and to hand hereabouts, the opportunities to do early pre-release integration testing with their product is something I doubt you'd get with FTX.

I guess all I'm saying is that it's not necessarily bad that FTX is doing NZ...and whatever you might think of their work, they do certainly have a fairly large (and diverse) fan/customer base...

[creator2003]

Cool as dude ,you know i think its all just a bit of a laugh now when i look at the other posts ,if i was just a simmer id be over the moon to have so many choices on good scenery for NZ future ,though like Robin and yourself said im looking at it from a work related view/opinion and a old user of Orbx scenerys ..

as for the support of my future airports/addons ,i really cant say they would look/or work the same with FTX installed ,plus the objects i use are and would be custom to NZ to work in with Timmos VLC ,i guess ive made my decision ,be it make or break..

[pilotgallagher01]

I've been reading the previous comments and it's good to have discussions like this, we just can't take it too personal..
From a pilot's point of view, I want a product that represents NZ of how it looks like, VLC has proven to offer this.. sure orbx is f*** sweet but it dosen't look like that when I'm flying around the country!

Plus I want something to fit in with my current sceneries, like the Godzone sceneries plus all the freeware airports, I don't think Orbx with be making airports such as Whakatane or Galatea do you? I don't want to loose all these or make them not blend in at all..

I'm in a mutual situation here, all I'm saying is what I'm looking for in a product that I'm going to spend money on. At this stage from what information and pictures that have been shown, VLC seems to take the lead in terms of realism