Since it was announced that the planned intention of releasing TrueEarth Great Britain on Prepar3D without seasons, there has been a lot of community feedback regarding that decision. Because of the amount of data that would have to be distributed, it would’ve cost Orbx far more than the cost to the consumer to distribute such a large portion of data amongst the community. Understandably, this wouldn’t have been good business sense from the developer.
However, John V took to the forums today to give a more detailed explanation into why this was the case and that the team has been discussing various options to both deliver for the community and also the business needs.
The first thing John did was break down what comparing 5 regions would look like if they had all 5 seasons in the current LOD15 quality.
| TE Region | Size in Sq Miles | Size on Disk |
| Netherlands | 16040 | 72GB |
| Great Britain | 80823 | 360GB |
| Washington | 71362 | 320GB |
| Oregon | 98466 | 440GB |
| California | 163696 | 730GB |
| TOTAL | 2TB |
John said that by delivering 2TB of data to thousands of customers would “pretty much bankrupt Orbx” – nothing any of us would want to happen. It’s also worth remembering that Orbx allows for free, unlimited downloads for life, which again would add to the data distribution costs.
As a result of wanting to listen to the community, but also protect the business, John put on the table a couple of options and want the community to comment on them (with constructive thoughts).
Option 1 – Simply, to release TrueEarth Great Britain as it was intended. So with LOD15 (LOD15 is 1.2m per pixel*) resolution and summer seasons only. Orbx Trees will also work with TrueEarth, so seasonal trees will appear throughout depending on the time of year. Some previews of that are below.
Option 2 – Option 2 will compromise on some of the quality, but allow the team to create a seasonal texture package, and still be within reasonable file limits.
Instead of LOD15 detail, Orbx would reduce to LOD14, but will include 5 seasons into the texture set. This would make it the same size as a LOD15 set overall. This is thanks to how P3D can compress BGL images.
Below, you can see the difference between LOD15 vs LOD14. John said in his post that the differences are discernible at 500ft, but at a usual VFR altitude of 2,500ft, it’s hard to tell.
As of right now, the plan Orbx are considering is to release 2 different versions of the product:
- TrueEarth GB South LOD15 Summer Edition
- TrueEarth GB South LOD14 Seasons Edition
Both will be the same price, but Orbx will offer the 40% cross-grade discount between the two. The plan is people can decide which is more important to them as a simmer, and either choose to install one or both – switching them on/off as required.
As mentioned at the beginning, Orbx are keen to get your feedback on this, so please head to the forums and give them your constructive thoughts.
