Comparing Tongass and Orbx

[dswo]

"Comparisons are odious." --John Donne

"Literary criticism...is an instinctive activity of the civilized mind." --T. S. Eliot

Some things I notice after spending a lot of time with the new Tongass Fjords and then going back to Orbx (specifically, AU:Blue):



Tongass has more detailed shorelines.
Orbx has amazing textures. I think the default textures are pretty good, but the Orbx texs are richer and subtler.

[Nick C]

Now then David, you've spent a long time with both and this is all you can find to compare?!

:d

[bushpilot]

Just splitting hairs, but isn't ORBX a company and not an addon.... You should compare ORBX to FSAddon LOL:wavey:.

[Oli-TUB]

Well we know he FTX is meant don't we? About the comparison, I prefer Tongass ... or in other words like it better. Why? Because it looks real. In FTX I can spot hard edges of textures not fitting each other or roads going through houses etc - the typical landclass issues.

Tongass uses this tech too but hand tweaking avoided that as it seems. I haven't come across a spot in Tongass that would take me out of the immersion. FTX has the better textures but from an overall look Tongass is better. On the other hand FTX covers a much much larger area so you can't really compare the two addons anyway.

Tongass is handcrafted to perfection, FTX covers how many times the area of Tongass on the other hand?

[spotlope]

It's even more interesting when you consider that a lot of what you're comparing in both products is the work of Holger Sandmann. Many others are also responsible for the FTX series, of course, but Holger's work is all over both FTX and TFX.

[bushpilot]

Well, it isn't exactly fair to compare them, because FTX has to cover all sorts of textures (urban, rural, forrests etc) but Tongass is mainly on the wilderness side. But I can tell you this much; the best mesh I've ever seen comes with Tongass.

Here's true story: I had the FTX SP2 DVD once, but threw it in the garbage bin:ernae:.

[Oli-TUB]

Nah, that's not doing FTX justice. FTX is the next best thing besides handcrafted masterpieces like Tongass. It's quite a bit better than UTX/GEX in my eyes. That a continental expansion cannot compete with 80.000 square kilometers of handcrated detail is pretty obvious.

The Tongass mesh it bloody brilliant thought, that's for sure.

[Henry]

personally doesnt it depend where you prefer to fly?
H

[bushpilot]

Yes I agree, quality wise FTX was ass spanking great. If they ever find a way to create sceneries without messing my FSX setup they would be the best:applause:

[Oli-TUB]

Supposedly they have since SP3.

[spotlope]

Pekka, have you tried FTX SP3 yet? The new FTX Central app that replaces the old FTX mode does a bang-up job of maintaining the scenery priorities in my library. The addition of the insertion point tool (where you can specify the point at which the FTX sceneries are inserted into the library) is worth the download alone. It seems they've solve most if not all of the problems people were having with previous iterations conflicting with other installed sceneries.

[dswo]

Now then David, you've spent a long time with both and this is all you can find to compare?!:d

Last week I submitted the AVSIM review of Tongass Fjords X for editing; I have more to say there, but not about this. This week I'm flying whatever and whereever I feel like!

Some people just don't like comparisons, which is why I started with the quotation from Donne. (My real job, for those who don't know, is teaching and writing about Renaissance poetry.) I guess I should have countered it with another quote from Eliot, which is one of the first things that my late teacher Michael Gearin-Tosh taught me, that comparison is the essential tool of the critic.

I don't assume that all products are equal -- the world I know is almost never like that. But if I had to rank these two particular products, I would have a tough time. I like Bill's settlements. I like Holger's shorelines. I also like Koorby's textures and lights. If I were handing out grades (something I will start doing again in a few weeks, when classes begin), they would both get As, but they would get there by different means.

[bushpilot]

personally doesnt it depend where you prefer to fly?
H

Yes, that's probably the biggest factor when choosing favorite sceneries.

I've been recently flying in Africa region without any scenery enhancements and it's still beautiful:engel016:

[spotlope]

Last week I submitted the AVSIM review of Tongass Fjords X for editing; I have more to say there, but not about this. This week I'm flying whatever and whereever I feel like!

I'm tickled to hear that you're the one who wrote the review, David. And doubly so that it's been turned in! :ernae: Looking forward to it.

[dswo]

Aircraft carriers are a parallel case. The Nimitz, for me, was transformational; it dragged me into something that I hadn't bothered with before. Then, a few days ago, I started playing with the Clemenceau. There's a lot of overlap in these two models, but it's not total. I'm also not sure that a composite model -- one that combined all of the features of each model -- would get decent FPS.

[bushpilot]

Pekka, have you tried FTX SP3 yet? The new FTX Central app that replaces the old FTX mode does a bang-up job of maintaining the scenery priorities in my library. The addition of the insertion point tool (where you can specify the point at which the FTX sceneries are inserted into the library) is worth the download alone. It seems they've solve most if not all of the problems people were having with previous iterations conflicting with other installed sceneries.

If that Central thingy works as they state, I'm probably gonna wait and buy their PNW package when it comes out. It's just that the specific area the PNW package covers is much more appealing to me than Aussie. Although I'm still operating in OZx freeware strips a lot.

[dswo]

personally doesnt it depend where you prefer to fly?

It can. What I've noticed, though, is that a great scenery can generate interest in areas that I wasn't interested in before. For me, the big example is Australia. Prior to getting AU:Blue, I thought the whole continent was like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I grew up in southern California, so I thought I'd seen that already, thank you. Well, obviously I was wrong. Now, in my opinion, most of the United States is pretty well done in the default scenery of FSX. And if all FTX did was to bring Australia up to U.S. standard, I wouldn't have bothered (because I was ignorant). FTX was so good, though, that it "made" me fly in Australia.

[Henry]

It can. What I've noticed, though, is that a great scenery can generate interest in areas that I wasn't interested in before. For me, the big example is Australia. Prior to getting AU:Blue, I thought the whole continent was like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I grew up in southern California, so I thought I'd seen that already, thank you. Well, obviously I was wrong. Now, in my opinion, most of the United States is pretty well done in the default scenery of FSX. And if all FTX did was to bring Australia up to U.S. standard, I wouldn't have bothered (because I was ignorant). FTX was so good, though, that it "made" me fly in Australia.
yes and i do now fly in Austrailia
where i never would before
H

[JayKae]

Bushpilot, you should really try it once PNW comes out, the FTX Central works as promised mate. Issues of the past have been fixed and there is a lot of customisation you can do to even the insert points etc in the library. Give it another go mate, I promise you will not regret it... tell you what mate... IF you buy PNW and you do not like it, I will personally refund you the money out of my own pocket, there, how's that ?

[bushpilot]

Bushpilot, you should really try it once PNW comes out, the FTX Central works as promised mate. Issues of the past have been fixed and there is a lot of customisation you can do to even the insert points etc in the library. Give it another go mate, I promise you will not regret it... tell you what mate... IF you buy PNW and you do not like it, I will personally refund you the money out of my own pocket, there, how's that ?

Hehe I'll take your word for it Jay:jump:http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/icons/icon10.gif.

I've seen some jaw dropping previews of PNW and know that Holger is doing his mesh magic for it, so there's hardly any way I could resist it:medals:.