Hey guys!
I’m looking at purchasing some Orbx scenery as it is on sale, in the marketplace, and on Orbx Central, but I wonder if buying the packs is worth it… (FPS-wise, quality wise and if they are compatible with photogrammetry cities such as London).
And if I were to buy, should I purchase on the Marketplace or through Orbx?
Cheers
I’ve been an Orbx client since they started. They have a high reputation in the Flight Sim community. I previously used FSX, P3d and Xplane11 and have purchased their scenery for all sims. One very good utility they provide is a Centralised Installation/Update management application that will cover all the sims you use. It also clearly manages what you own, which is great for discounts offered if you have other products. I have purchased some products for MSFS and have received discounts due to my other previous purchases in other sims. For this reason, I would use the Orbx installer over the Market Place.
I hope this helps in your decision making.
Thanks for the response!
I’ll take that into consideration. The only reason I would buy it from the marketplace is so that I can, if I ever, use the scenery on Xbox (or on a different computer/system etc). It would be great if I purchased it through one method and it showed up as purchased on both but life isn’t fair is it…
As an example, I live near Innsbruck and without ORBX LOWI I would not want to fly here.
Is the Orbx LOWI much better than the premium deluxe version? I understand the point you make there but just interested with the difference…
I live here. Yes, it is much better. Once I forgot to switch on ORBX LOWI in Addon Linker and thought something must be broken.
Good point. Something that should be raised with Orbx I dare say.
Was just scrolling around their forums and came across this!
I spend as little as possible on payware, but I must say what little Orbx stuff I have is usually quite good, is fixed promptly if there is a problem, and is updated from time-to-time, and prices are pretty good. All of my Orbx stuff has been OK. I would generally recommend them. They seem to be having lots more sales these days, and I usually wait for these. Their Forum is generally active, monitored, polite and useful. Cheers.
Yes but some of their products are a hit and miss.
Get their content when it’s on sale.
They’re one of the best developers in terms of quality and performance. If you see an airport or city pack that you really want, it’s definitely worth the pickup from Orbx.
Their biggest strength and (for me) weakness is that a lot of their developers are very passionate about their work. The results are very detailed and well-made products often giving a much higher value than their price compared to other developers. The down-side to this is that most of the airports are often in the UK or Australia since they have many offices and employees there. Passion projects many times are projects that won’t relate to many people since it’s something that has a personal meaning to the developer like it’s their hometown airport for example. They churn out a huge number of bespoke and unheard of airfields and small airports XD. Amazing quality it’s just that I often can’t relate to most of their products since I’m from Asia. But when I do see an airport I’m familiar with, chances are I’m buying it.
This applies mostly to FSC P3D ports. For example, most of their early NW USA stuff for MSFS. I mustvsay though they have the highest overall quality across products. I bought a few airports from Aerosoft and can’t say I‘m impressed. Ideally, I would love to have all payware on Orbxdirect. The tool is just that good.
I’ve been a vivid ORBX user on FSX but not so much now. I guess, coming over from FSX and having skipped the whole P3D thing I’m not used to much in terms of scenery (as FSX was limited to the 4 GB VRAM so you couldn’t get too crazy in terms of sticking scenery layers over each other).
For me, running MSFS on a new PC with most settings on ultra I can’t really see a scenery upgrade anymore that would justify additional expenses. At the same time tough, I guess that’s also about what type of simmer you are. For me the flying matters most so I love great add on aircrafts and that’s what keeps me going. Buying a whole lot of additional airport scenery’s doesn’t interest me so much as in my view they’re just 3D pictures of industrial terrains that in the end don’t do a whole lot extra than just sitting there as I taxi by.
I’d probably spend some money on my home field (Schiphol) as I pass by that one a bit more than others, but other than that, it really just isn’t worth it to me in a sim already looking that good, with freeware scenery in the makings and updates on the way.
Yea I do understand what you’re talking about which is why I’ve been so stingy with my money aha.
Nonetheless, I fly in and out and around London the majority of the time but there is photogrametry available.
Yes. They do make quality content which is worth it.
Marketplace or Orbx Central/External vendor?
This depends on what your priorities are.
The ONLY advantage of the marketplace is that purchases made through it will be available to Xbox.
BUT
In summary.
Buy in marketplace if you want Xbox compatibility above all else, otherwise avoid like plague.
Amazing response! Thanks for the support and advice 
Agreed to disagree.
Like I said some of their products are a hit and miss.
I own their Hollywood Burbank and it performs poorly with low poly textures.
I taught about getting Van Nuys but also heard it’s poorly textured.
Yup, most of their older US products are not great. The recent stuff though very much is.
Orbx has morphed into a curious animal. Notably, that earlier post referenced from the Orbx forums is the voice of their CEO, Anna Cicognani. She is not from the flightsim or gaming world. This is her blurb from LinkIn: “Digital native with over 20 years’ experience in technology and products, with focus on transformation and growth as an executive and advisor. Analytical, thorough and reliable leader with proven experience in turnaround situations.” Makes you wonder how Orbx is an example of a “turnaround” situation where “transformation and growth” are priorities (tho’ Volanta seems to offer a clue–if I were a scenery and/or mission developer, I’d pay good money for access to the data produced by that program).
As several voices in this thread point out, “why Orbx scenery in MSFS” is a pertinent question. I now only buy their scenery to fill gaps left over in regions that have already received the Asobo update treatment, so I don’t end up buying things I don’t need. I learned that lesson after the UK update.
Orbx product quality has been very inconsistent lately. I own 20+ of their sceneries for MSFS and while some are excellent, others have been disappointing. Many of their recent products are low quality ports of older airports and lacking in terms of textures, accuracy, and realism. Also, upgrade strategy is unclear and I see product bugs go unaddressed for months (if ever). My personal pet peeves include lousy ground textures and missing or misaligned ILS frequencies.
Their business model appears to have changed and we can no longer assume all Orbx branded products will be of high quality. My recommendation would be to look at reviews prior to purchasing. Personally, I would rather use default scenery which is quite good vs. mediocre payware.
