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Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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INDEX
TOPIC Welcome Compatibility Notes Quick Installation Guide FTX Central Explained Demo Scenery Coverage Area KMZ Coverage and Features Map Seasonal Variations and Lighting Custom Landclass Quick Reference Settings PREPAR3D Complexity Settings The Autogen Density Slider Product Technical Support Evaluation License Agreement ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................ ................................................
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Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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 nonOrbx products from other vendors
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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STEP 1 2 3
INSTRUCTIONS Unzip the demo ZIP file which you downloaded from the FTX website Run P3D_FTXNAPNWDEMO200.exe 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. 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!
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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 handplaced custom autogen and library objects in every single kilometer of the region.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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 wont be under the water on your scenery, its 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.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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%
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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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 forums built-in search function located on the forum menu bar.
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.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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COPYRIGHTS
PREPAR3D is a trademark of Lockheed Martin Corporation FTX and Full Terrain Experience are brands of Orbx Simulation Systems Pty. Ltd.
Orbx FTX Pacific Northwest Demo for Lockheed Martin PREPAR3D - September 2011
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