Ftx Pnw Demo User Guide p3d

Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D® - September 2011

Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for PREPAR3D®

With KHQM Bowerman Airport

User Guide September 2011


INDEX

TOPIC PAGE

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Compatibility Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Quick Installation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

FTX Central Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Demo Scenery Coverage Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

KMZ Coverage and Features Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Seasonal Variations and Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Custom Landclass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Quick Reference Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

PREPAR3D® Complexity Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The Autogen Density Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Product Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Evaluation License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17


Welcome

Orbx would like to thank you for trying out this free demo of the Orbx Pacific Northwest for PREPAR3D®

(we'll call it PNW for short). FTX PNW was initially released in early 2010 and took over fourteen months to

produce, and was the culmination of nearly five years of research and development.

The Beautiful Pacific Northwest

We chose to begin our North American series of regions in the Pacific Northwest simply because it offers

some of the most diverse and beautiful areas in the entire planet to explore in PREPAR3D®. It's a VFR

paradise and for good reason, with spectacular geographical features.

The full commercial PNW product for PREPAR3D® covers about 156,000 square miles of western North

America comprised of large parts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. It reaches from north of

Vancouver Island to southern Oregon and inland to just east of the crest of the Cascade mountains. Major

cities in the region are Vancouver (BC), Seattle (WA), and Portland (OR).

Demo Limitations

This demo is restricted to the Olympic Peninsula, and will only display the Spring season no matter what

time of year you select. The following pages will provide more detail of the actual coverage area. The good

news is that apart from it being springtime all year round, there is no other limitations - you are free to use

and enjoy this demo area and KHQM for as long as you want without any obligation to purchase a

commercial licensed version at all.

Note you may not use this demo version for any commercial application or training whatsoever, as it is

purely designed to give you a feel for the Orbx FTX region terrain. Please refer to the ELA at end of this

user guide for the specific terms of use of this evaluation software.

BONUS AIRPORT - Orbx has included a high-definition payware quality KHQM Bowerman Airport, and the

photoreal terrain surrounding the airport supports all seasons, including hard winter snow. However, please

ensure you set your season to Spring when using KHQM to ensure the terrain matches the spring coloring. If

you upgrade to the full commercial FTX Pacific Northwest region for PREPAR3D®, KHQM will support all

seasons.

Geography

Dominated by the towering volcanoes and sharp ridges of the Cascade Ranges and Coast Mountains the

Pacific Northwest of North America also features large metropolitan areas, flat valley bottoms with extensive

farmland, hundreds of coastal islands of all sizes, and endless forested mountains with a long history of

forestry operations. More than 450 airfields, from large international airports to tiny airstrips, are spread

throughout the region, each of which have been enhanced over the default with corrections to runway

position, elevations and many additional buildings and objects placed by hand.

Climate

This region is the home of the temperate rainforests of North America along its rain soaked outer coast. At

the same time the wide range of elevations (sea level to >13,000ft) and the rain shadow effect of mountain

ridges running parallel to the coast strongly influence the local climate and its seasonal variations.


Compatibility Notes

FTX PNW has been compatibility tested with PREPAR3D® Version 1.1 and 1.2

There are no prerequisites prior to installing this demo.

NOTE: When flying outside Orbx FTX regions, please select the "Default" region in FTX Central to

ensure maximum compatibility. Please also set FTX Central to "Default" BEFORE installing any non-

Orbx products from other vendors

Lana's Cafe and the apron at KHQM Bowerman Airport


Quick Installation Guide

Installing the PNW Demo is very straight forward. In a nutshell, just unzip the demo file and run the installer

executable. Here's the step by step instructions below:

STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1 Unzip the demo ZIP file which you downloaded from the FTX website

2 Run P3D_FTXNAPNWDEMO200.exe

3 Once the Orbx installer has completed, and you exit, FTX Central will be run for the first time.

FTX Central then runs its PNW file management routines, which can take a little time.

4 When the main FTX Central user interface is shown (see image below), simply click the

(1) North America region and click the (2) Apply button.

You will hear a confirmation 'ding' and you are ready to fly!


FTX Central Explained

FTX Central is the one-stop application which controls all aspects of Orbx's FTX regions and airports as you

purchase and install them for PREPAR3D®. It's an easy to use tool that provides convenient access to the user

manuals and any Control Panels that come with FTX airports, plus other utilities in the Tools menu.

After running the FTX PNW Demo installer, there will be a shortcut to the FTX Central application in your

Windows Start Menu under the Orbx program group, or on your desktop.

When FTX Central is first run after the installer has completed, simply select North America and then Apply.

From the main screen you can also view any PDF user guide document of Orbx products that are installed or

that you may purchase and install at a later time.

TIPS ON USING 'DEFAULT'

• To restore PREPAR3D® to how it was before you installed FTX, simply select the Default region.

• We recommend to always select Default when installing non-Orbx addons

• If you are not sure about FTX working with another addon, simply select Default before installing


FTX Aero

The FTX Aero Tools menu item will only be displayed if you have purchased a commercial license for an Orbx

FTX airport for PREPAR3D® which came bundled with the FTX Aero tool, a unique addon which adds custom

textures to an airport's environment for added realism. For more information about FTX Aero and how to use

it, please consult the User Guide which comes with the Orbx FTX Airports for PREPAR3D® which have Aero

bundled.


Demo Scenery Coverage Area

The diagram below shows the extent of the PNW the demo area (The Olympic Peninsula) outlined in red. The

demo area offers a good representation of the PNW terrain. Note the location of KHQM Bowerman Airport

near the very bottom center of the coverage area (indicated by the large yellow dot), which will make a

perfect FBO as you discover the many airports in the demo area which have been upgraded from PREPAR3D®

default.


KMZ Coverage and Features Map in Google Earth

You can view the demo coverage and features map interactively in Google Earth by loading the FTX FTX

PNW Demo V2 Coverage and Features Map.kmz which you'll find in your ORBX\User Documents folder in

your PREPAR3D® root folder, and also in the demo ZIP file.

Once loaded into Google Earth, you can select all or some of the features included in the scenery, and the

corresponding icons will appear inside the map boundary. You can click on each item on the map for a popup

balloon which provides details for a particular airport or POI.

This is a useful tool to begin to explore the features and points of interest included in this FTX PNW Demo,

and also the extended features available in the full retail version.


Seasonal Variations and Lighting

With FTX, we don't just do an area once, we do it eight times, with unique texture coloring across five seasons

and distinct unique FTX lighting which comes into its own at dawn, dusk and night. Here's an example of one

scene across these variations.


Very few scenery products go to this level of depth in a small area, let alone 156,000 square miles. We are

confident you will be absolutely thrilled with the diversity and depth of FTX PNW across all seasons and times

of day. Please note that the seasonal variations shown above are only available in the full commercially

licensed version of the PNW region.


Custom Landclass

Landclass are special files which reside in the scenery layer “pie”, and their role is to tell PREPAR3D® what

type of ground texture to place in any given square kilometer cell. In other words, landclass files tell the

simulator to place a field here, a township there, forest here, and a railway yard there, and so on.

As far as we are aware, FTX is the first flight simulation product to feature totally hand-crafted landclass on

such a large scale. Many global or country-specific addon landclass products for PREPAR3D® are created

using various data sources and compiled using automated scripts and then manually rectified for obvious

errors.

Not so with FTX. The diagram below gives you an idea of the custom landclass which is shipped with the full

FTX PNW commercially licensed version. Every single square mile in the green highlighted areas was hand

placed by expert landclass developers, using a combination of many sources, including street maps, aerial

photos, and topography charts to name a few.

The result is nothing like you have ever experienced before, with an almost photoreal feel to all areas which

have been edited, but with the added benefit of faster loading times, full five seasons’ support and hand-

placed custom autogen and library objects in every single kilometer of the region.


PREPAR3D® Quick Reference Settings

If you use the settings below you will enjoy a balance between high fidelity and good performance.

In PREPAR3D® Version 1.2 Lockheed Martin separated the reflection and refraction controls to sliders on the

scenery settings. This allows you more control. We recommend disabling bathymetry and the refraction

detail (as you won’t be under the water on your scenery, it’s not needed, same for water clarity)

Reflection

You will find similar performance under ‘Sky, Clouds, Sim Objects’ than you do for ‘Sky, Clouds, Sim Objects,

Terrain’ but changing it to its maximum setting of ‘Everything’ does take some frames away. So we

recommend a middle refraction setting (50%) to balance between visual quality and performance.

Bathymetry

Unless you are using submersible craft we strongly recommend that bathymetry be disabled (uncheck the

box). Bathymetry adds a refraction pass to the rendering pipeline which will certainly take some frames away.


Effects of Reflection and Refraction

This table from the PREPAR3D® Version 1.2 Learning Center clearly shows the visual differences between the

slider settings. As per the previous page, we recommend the Reflection slider be set at 50%


PREPAR3D® Complexity Settings

Firstly, like default PREPAR3D®, dragging all your complexity sliders to the right even with today’s modern

hardware, will for most people result in very poor visuals and performance. We suggest that you begin your

exploration of FTX PNW using moderate complexity settings within the PREPAR3D® configuration menu, and

then if you find performance to be acceptable, you can move certain sliders to the right, although we

recommend you only move one slider at a time to gauge the effect.

The most critical slider in PREPAR3D® is the Autogen Density slider. With the way FTX PNW has been

designed, it has the single most critical performance effect in the simulator.

The Autogen Density Slider

Because FTX uses much denser, more accurately placed autogen objects in its annotation, having it set to

Extremely Dense in a large city like Seattle will burden even very high end hardware. Orbx FTX is not designed

to give you a 60FPS experience using the highest level of complexity in the simulator. Future iterations of

PREPAR3D® will of course offer more performance efficiencies and Orbx is continually working with Lockheed

Martin to ensure all new technologies introduced will be fully taken advantage of.

The key thing to remember is that FTX PNW is designed to be used both today and in the future, meaning

that we did not limit features in our terrain product on release to cater for a broad range of PCs, but rather

created a standard which will mature as next generation hardware also matures.

Here's a simple table which should be used as a guide for the Autogen Density slider. This has been indexed

to Intel PCs as at January 2011. We expect the 'Extreme' spec PC to be the Entry Level by mid 2012

That said, if you adhere to these slider settings in FTX PNW you will get a good balance between visuals and

performance.

PC Specifications (Circa Jan 2011) City / Urban Areas KHQM and Rural Areas

Entry Level

Core2 Duo <= 2.5Ghz | < 512MB GPU

Mid Range

Core2 Duo >= 2.8Ghz | 512MB+ GPU

High End

Intel i7 9xx < 4Ghz (not OC) | 1GB GPU

Extreme

Intel i7 9xx >= 4Ghz (OC) | 1-2GB GPU

Intel i7 2XXX Sandy Bridge @ 4-6Ghz |

1-2GB GPU


Product Technical Support

Orbx has a very simple support policy: “No question unanswered”. That means, should you have any questions

about this FTX PNW demo or its use, please feel free to register on the forums at fullterrain.com and then

log a support question in the FTX PREPAR3D® Support Forum section. Orbx FTX experts will be available to

review your support questions and you will usually get a reply on the forums within 12 hours, often much

sooner than that. Just because this is a free demo, doesn't mean you won't get support. Put us to the test!

To visit the our support forums, click on the button shown above from the fullterrain.com front page

or click on Help | Orbx FTX Support Forums from FTX Central

Please do NOT email support requests

Orbx provides world-class support on our forums, and it's the only way in which you can receive support for

FTX PNW. Provided you adhere to the forum terms of use you will always be offered our support at no cost as

we work toward a problem resolution each time.

However, if you email Orbx asking for support, you will most likely not receive an answer at all, since our

policy is that all support is provided through our forums only.

Use the forum ‘Search’ function

Before you post a question, please try searching for the answer first, using the forum’s built-in search function

located on the forum menu bar.

What to Include in Your Support Forum Requests

If at all possible, this is what we’d like to see provided for each request you log:

• A separate post on the FTX support forums for each issue (don't tag new issue reports onto others)

• A screenshot to highlight what you are talking about

• A descriptive post title which clearly states what the issue is

• Detailed comments in your post about what you are reporting on

The Orbx support team is always on standby to assist you with any problems you may have, or will comment

on your issue reports. Please remember, our priority is fixing any urgent issues first, and addressing bug

reports second. Clearly though, any “show stopper” bugs will be given top priority though.


EVALUATION LICENSE AGREEMENT (ELA) EVALUATION LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR Orbx Simulation Systems Full Terrain Experience (FTX) Scenery Addon For Lockheed Martin

PREPAR3D®

IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: This Evaluation License Agreement (“ELA”) is a legal agreement between you (either an

individual, company, corporation, government agency, educational institution, school or a single entity) and Orbx Simulation Systems Pty.

Ltd. ("ORBX") for the ORBX software product identified above, which includes computer software and includes associated media and

“online” or electronic documentation (“SOFTWARE PRODUCT”). The SOFTWARE PRODUCT also includes any updates and supplements to

the original SOFTWARE PRODUCT which may be provided to you by ORBX. By accessing or otherwise using the SOFTWARE PRODUCT,

you agree to be bound by the terms of this ELA. If you do not agree to the terms of this ELA, do not use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

SOFTWARE PRODUCT LICENSE

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The

SOFTWARE PRODUCT is provided for evaluation only and no ownership is transferred, only the right to use the licensed software. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT

may not be re-distributed, sold for non-profit or profit or subscription fees, repackaged, delivered on CD or DVD media or any other form of electronic media

by any other persons or party, website, organization or entity, other than official organizations as authorized by ORBX.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. This ELA grants you the following rights:

a. You may install, access, and run a SINGLE copy of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a SINGLE personal computer or simulator device for personal, non-

commercial, non-profit use, for the purposes of evaluating the SOFTWARE PRODUCT only. Any party or organization seeking to use the SOFTWARE

PRODUCT under license for commercial use should contact ORBX at [email protected] or visit fullterrain.com to purchase a commercial license.

b. This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is for EVALUATION purposes only and may not be used for any commercial or flight training purposes. This SOFTWARE

PRODUCT is not part of an approved training program under the standards of any aviation regulatory agency or body worldwide, whether private or

government.

c. Separation of Components. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed as a single evaluation product only. Its original component parts including all libraries,

files, textures, objects, landclass, or any files contained within the ORBX folder or created by ORBX may not be separated for use for any other software or

projects, either personal, commercial, government or education.

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e. Rental. You may not rent, lease, or lend the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. You may not charge admission or fees for any simulator, entertainment or training

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installation or remedy of issues arising to the use of the SOFTWARE at its official support website at www.orbxsystems.com, however Orbx reserves the right

to refuse support to any customer who violates the Support Forums Terms of Use or who can be shown to have an illegal copy of the SOFTWARE in their

possession.

g. Termination. Without prejudice to any other rights, ORBX may terminate this EULA if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. In

such event, you must destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT and all of its component parts.

2. COPYRIGHT. All title and copyrights in and to the original created components of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (including but not limited to any images,

photographs, animations, video, audio, music, and text incorporated into the SOFTWARE PRODUCT), the accompanying online documentation materials, and

any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT are owned by ORBX or its suppliers. All title and intellectual property rights in and to additional third party libraries

and content (which are used under the terms of those components' distribution) which may be accessed through use of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is the

property of the respective content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other intellectual property laws and treaties. This EULA grants you

no rights to use such content. This SOFTWARE PRODUCT contains documentation which is provided only in electronic form, and you may print multiple

copies of such electronic documentation.

3. LEGAL JURISDICTION. This EULA is governed by the laws of the State of Victoria, Australia.

4. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL ORBX BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL,

INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS,

BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE

SOFTWARE PRODUCT OR THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT SERVICES, EVEN IF ORBX HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF

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FTX and Full Terrain Experience are brands of Orbx Simulation Systems Pty. Ltd.

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