Introduction Today we are going to be taking a look at one of the newest offerings from Commercial Level Simulations titled “Environment Boost”. This FS9 and FSX compatible scenery enhancement package is designed to alter, and hopefully improve, the realism of many different day and night ground and building textures, runways, taxiways, parking ramps, and more in Flight Simulator. Possibly improving the performance depending on your current system, settings, tweaks, and other factors. With Environment Boost, CLS provides over 300 replacement textures, often resized, that will dramatically change the appearance of runways, taxiways, buildings, lighting, and much more. Environment Boost comes with a set of replacement base textures for concrete, asphalt, grass, and gravel runways and taxiways; runway lighting; small, medium, and large airport textures, including terminal textures and lighting; resized building textures; and resized clouds. Textures for the parking ramps, aprons, runway and taxiway details, and other paved areas are also included, plus to three alternative sets of textures that will change the appearance of the textures to resemble a light, or heavy overcast, and taxiways that appear wet. In this review we are going to traverse the virtual world to determine what kind of impact Environment Boost can have in FS9 and FSX. First we will run through purchasing and installation, and then check out the textures individually. Later on you can join me for a virtual flight around the world, and I will close out this review with my thoughts towards this product. With any luck, I might even be able to report an improvement in performance as CLS claims to be a possibility…let’s go find out. Purchase and Installation Installing Environment Boost on your system all begins with a trip over to the CLS website. After checking out the screenshots and product information you will need to remove 15.00 EUR (Approx 19.50 USD) from your monthly sim allowance for the 36.3 MB download. Once the download is complete you will need to extract the auto-installer and follow the onscreen instructions, which includes entering the key code you received during purchase. You will then be prompted to choose whether you would like to install the textures in FS9 or FSX. Make your selection and then... wait a minute... don’t make your selection just yet. There is one very, very important thing that you should do before letting the auto-installer get underway – BACK UP YOUR TEXTURE FOLDER. There is a chance that you will not find favor with this product, and backing up your texture folder will make it easy to revert back if need be. The folder is located in the FS9 main directory, and can be copied to anywhere you like for safe keeping. Once that’s done we can get back to installing the product. So now you will choose which sim you want the textures in and let the auto-installer do all the dirty work, which is just copying and overwriting the applicable existing textures. Once that is complete, you may want to run the installer again. This time choosing to install the alternative texture files and documentation, which I will cover shortly. After everything is installed you are ready to go and try out your new textures, or you might want to glance through the manual first. Actually, there is not much in the manual that can’t be found on the CLS website when you purchase the product; it basically just tells you what you are getting. But I’m going to do that right now anyway…let’s go. Runways and Taxiways The realism and improvements, or lack thereof, is for you to decide, but it is undeniable that from the moment you load up Flight Simulator you will notice a major difference in the airport concrete, asphalt, grass, and gravel runway and taxiway textures. In all cases, the new textures are bolder, usually due to the fact that they are darker and have more defined markings, or in some instances, because they stand out from there surroundings so much. For example, at the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, Florida (FA08), there are two grass strips that run perpendicular to each other. By default, the runway grass blends in with the grass on either side of the runway, making the faded grass in the center of the strip standout. With Environment Boost these grass strips are now a much bolder shade of green, and separate the runway from the surrounding grass with distinction.
The above is one example where I am torn both ways. On one hand, the new textures are certainly noticeable and makes it a lot easier to see the runway from a distance. On the other hand, they are not authentic and do not represent this airfield very well at all. I have flown into Kermit Weeks Museum on many occasions and have taken the bi-plane rides there countless times, and I can tell you from experience that his grass strips do not stand out like these do. In my opinion, the default textures are more accurate, but the new textures are much more identifiable especially when trying to find the place flying VFR. This same dilemma applies all over the globe, at least as far as the grass runways and taxiways are concerned. It is notable, however, that grass runway textures are included for all four seasons, in addition to two winter textures, one with snow and one without. The same theory applies to the concrete and asphalt runway textures in some places, whereas in others, I find the new textures to be more authentic. Concrete and asphalt runways at one airport may vary from another in appearance in the real world, but in Flight Simulator we are stuck with using the same few textures for all airfields of the same runway type, except when an airport has been given special attention such as in add-ons. With CLS Environment Boost you will notice that the concrete and asphalt runways are darker and show less indication of wear markings from afar, but show more markings when up close than their default counterparts. An example of this would be the touchdown marks that stick out more on the lighter default runways, which are actually more detailed up close in the new textures.
The taxiways are also retextured with this add-on, though they are not quite as radically different as the runways. Basically, the taxiways at grass, asphalt, concrete, and gravel airstrips are more than a touch darker than by default, and they are perhaps more defined because of their distinction from the runways than from the retexturing. The taxiway markings are also bolder and a darker yellow than by default, as are the markings on the runways. I think that they stand out more and have a cleaner look to them, though that is just one opinion among many. The centerlines, edge markings, threshold stripes, touchdown zone marks, aiming point bars, STOL, and closed runways markings do seem to appear clearer and more noticeable from a distance than by default, as do all of the applicable taxiway hold short markings. The taxiways, and to a lesser extent the runways, all have a lot of texturing to indicate cracks and other impurities in the concrete. These features are much more noticeable on the lighter taxiways, and not quite as much on the dark runways. The 1024 X 1024 images used for the runways and taxiways are designed in a manner that makes the repeating patterns less noticeable, with a few exceptions however. The most obvious being the dark rain pattern in one of the alternative texture sets to be discussed shortly.
Alternate Runways and Taxiway Textures Perhaps these new runway and taxiway textures do not suit your taste. If not, you might want to take a look at the three alternative texture sets available in this package. The first gives the runways and taxiways an even darker appearance, known as cloud textures, which resemble light or choppy cloud coverage. There is not a massive difference between the textures described above and the ones in the cloud textures set, just enough to give you the feeling of the sun not quite penetrating the clouds as much.
The second set of textures, called overcast textures, can be used to give the indication of a heavy overcast. Which in turn will make the runways and taxiways much darker, an almost pitch black appearance from some angles. The third and final alternative includes textures to make the taxiways appear wet. These textures are darker than the original set and have signs of puddles of water and a thin film of water throughout. This alternative texture only covers the concrete taxiways, whereas the other two additional texture sets include concrete and asphalt runways and taxiways. Other Airport Ground Textures Pull up to the aprons and parking areas at many airports in FS9 and FSX with Environment Boost installed and you will notice a big change from the default ramps. Shades of brown now replace the default grey textures at many airports and the detail is more defined. Although it makes the taxiway lines more difficult to see from afar in some cases. From a distance the repeating pattern is noticeable, and not very attractive in my opinion, but on the ground you will not likely notice this as much since the textures consists of overlapping squares that flow rather smoothly when taxiing. At other airports you will not notice as much of a difference because shades of grey similar to the default textures are used. While you may notice that the markings are bolder, some are now outlined in black. The pattern is similar to the above textures, but with much more suitable colors for some of the airports than the brown used at others. And there is yet another texture that really darkens up the ramps and is much bolder than any of the default ramps. Just as with the runways and taxiways, each airport parking area will be altered to use the same brownish or grey textures as all other facilities with the same type of parking ramps. At many facilities, such as Vancouver, multiple apron and ramp textures are used, which really stand out.
All of the new apron and ramp textures have a variety of cracks every so often. The textures are made up of multiple shades of colors that blend well together so as not to stick out like they don’t belong, and they show a mild amount of weathering and normal wear. Compared to the default textures, I would say that they are much more detailed, but I suspect that some simmers will not care for the darker ramps at some locations, and the brown aprons might also be a hard sell to some. Others will certainly appreciate how well they stand out from the surrounding ground environment, which, in conjunction with the darker runways, helps the VFR fans to locate airports much easier. In some cases, the new apron and ramp textures reflect their real-world counterparts fairly well; whereas in other cases, they just don’t look that authentic to me. At my home airport, St. John’s County (KSGJ), the aprons and ramps take on a light grey appearance with a darker ramp by the hangars on the east side of the airport. This is a little off from the darker ramps that actually exist. Other facilities, like my old home airport, Jacksonville Intl. (KJAX), seem right on the money to me. Of course, it would be difficult to make each of the 24,000 + airports an exact representation of the real thing, and with that said, I am fairly pleased with most of the few hundred that I visited for this review. Buildings and Rooftops There are a variety of replacement textures for the buildings in FS9, some of which are an aged green look, others with a cleaner grey appearance, and some that just clean up or dull down the default building textures. While the new building textures are a nice change at some places, I have found them to be undesirable at others, but that usually only applies when I am familiar with the real airports. Not all of the building textures have been altered, but you should be able to find at least one building at most airports that look different than what you’re used to. In addition to the outside walls of the buildings, Environment Boost also includes new rooftop textures. Many have more detail to indicate items that might be found on the roof of a building, such as stairwells, heating and cooling systems, or normal wear from weathering. The new rooftop textures do stick out more than the default rooftops and, from my perspective, seem to add a little more authenticity to the general appearance of an airport and surrounding area on approach.
Many of the terminals have also been redone with this package, some of which have cleaner lines and others that appear more worn. The colors will vary depending on where you go, but all of the unique facilities remain unchanged. By that I mean that the terminals and other buildings that are not used at a variety of airports and those specific to just one facility have not been altered. From a distance most of the terminals looked good to me, but I have started a few flights from right in front of a terminal that looked a little distorted up close. But from my examination of nearly 300 different airports in FS9 and FSX, I have found most of them to appear more authentic than the default terminal textures. I believe that the terminal, building, and rooftop textures in Environment Boost are a nice change from the default FS9 textures in many places, but not everywhere. One of the benefits of using these textures is that they seem to give airports and other affected areas a more aged look at some locations, more modern at others, and a mix of both at some places. When added with the runway, taxiway, apron, and ramp textures we discussed above, I think that they really help to revive FS9 and ring a nice change to FSX. Night Textures and Halo Along with the altered building textures comes new lighting that, in my opinion, is much improved over the default lighting but not quite as eventful as some of the other add-on night lighting that I have seen. The night textures in Environment Boost are brighter and more defined than the default lighting. An example of more defined lighting would be on the buildings, which by default have dull, sometimes yellow, sometimes white lighting that is not geometrically accurate in all cases. Such as when lighting a window. The lighting in Environment Boost is much whiter; though sometimes yellow, usually brighter, and by my account, more accurate. By more accurate, I mean that at the lighting of something like a window is square, as opposed to many of the default lighting textures that don’t always take the proper shape.
The new night textures also include runway lights, halo effects, and a variety of additional ground lighting. The runway lights seemed smaller, yet clearer to me, which for the most part seemed more authentic. The halo effects were more expansive from afar, that is to say, that they seemed to have more of an outward glow than the default halo effects. But as you approach closer, the halo effect seems to minimize as the lights grow brighter. I particularly enjoyed the taxiway lights, which from my view appeared to be clearer and a touch brighter, though perhaps a bit smaller than the default taxiway lights.
Despite the improvement over the default night textures, I am not as enthused about these textures as some of the other add-ons I use, such as the FSX runway lights from Jose R. Navarro (rwylites.zip), and Night Environment Pro. However, I am very pleased that CLS added them to this package as they add a nice touch to the rest of the textures for those that would prefer to use them. On a side note, it is interesting to point out that I have still not replaced the night textures in this package with the add-ons I was using before, so maybe they are growing on me. Performance If there is any performance benefit to using Environment Boost, I never saw it. Having inspected this program on four different systems, each with varying setups and tweaks, I never encountered a single frame increase, nor did it help with any of the stuttering problems that have occurred on two of my computers. This is not in contradiction to any claims made by CLS however, since they are very clear in there disclaimer that results will vary depending on a number of parameters, such as system specs, tweaks, and FS settings, but I was hoping for a few extra FPS to help me run FSX a little better. I did speak with two of my fellow simmers who said that they enjoyed an increase in performance, not so much from more frame rates, but from a reduction in stuttering. However, these two were the only simmers I talked to that reported any improvement. Even though none of my systems were rewarded with better performance, it was nice to see that I never noticed any adverse effects either. My thought is that while I do believe that an increase in performance is possible, I highly doubt that Environment Boost will be that silver bullet that so many are looking for right now to improve there performance in FS9 or FSX, at least not significantly. Around The World In 7 Days For today’s virtual flight, I have decided to span the globe and visit a variety of airports to show you what a difference, for better or worse, that Environment Boost can make. I started in Atlanta (KATL) and worked my way east through Europe, down to Africa, on to Asia, and over the Pacific for a tour of the U.S. with the new textures. Admittedly I did not actually fly over the two oceans that got in my way, but the rest of the flight was performed in real time, and the screenshots are taken while in flight with the panel removed for a full screen shot. I will let the pictures tell the story. Here are a few shots of my trip from Atlanta up through Vancouver, and back over to Baltimore. Along the east coast of the U.S. and Canada is a variety of large facilities, many of which offer a mix of runway, taxiway, apron, and ramp types. While most of the airports I visited in this region looked good to me, this area had the most discrepancies, perhaps because I am more familiar with this area than others.
Europe is a diverse region with a multitude of airports, military installations, and other areas affected by the textures in Environment Boost. Traveling from the U.K. down through Italy, I encountered a few airports that I would have preferred unchanged, but for the most part I was pleased with what I saw.
I don’t normally spend a lot of virtual time in Africa, but after this trip, that might change. This continent offers a lot of gravel and grass runways, which really stand out from the mix of desert and dormant grass surroundings.
The most time consuming part of my trip was across Asia, which offers just about every type of environment you can imagine. I used this time to check out the new textures in desert, grassy, and snowy landscapes, and made sure I checked out the exciting approach into Beijing.
The last part of my trip was from Los Angeles back to Atlanta. This gave me the opportunity to check out a few airports that I have neglected lately, like San Diego and my new add-on of Barksdale Air Force Base, which is not heavily affected by these new textures. After getting back to Atlanta, I decided to head home to KJAX and call it a day.
My trip was a blast, thanks in large part to the fact that I got to see some places that I have never been in Flight Simulator, in addition to getting to see what a difference these textures make to my more frequented facilities. I was not 100% impressed everywhere I went, especially Vancouver, Kuwait City, and Tokyo. But other locals, such as Los Angeles, Bretagne, and Beijing really caught my attention. More times than not I was happy with what I saw, but the discriminating simmer may have a different opinion. Conclusion For 15.00 EUR I wasn’t expecting a massive alteration to my FS9 and FSX textures, but I was hoping for something that would rejuvenate my virtual world and add that extra bit of authenticity. In many ways my hopes were fulfilled, but I have found a number of areas in both sims that left me less than thrilled. Overall, I would say that I was pleased with the texture alterations at most of the facilities I visited, but a few of my favorites would have been best unchanged.
The darker runway textures have been a positive addition to my FS9 environment, and I like the option to choose which runway textures I want to use. But while going through the process of swapping out the alternative runway textures several times, I realized that an automatic installation utility would have been nice. Other add-ons that I have used and reviewed have come with this option, like the Dreamscenery Indianapolis Airport add-on for example. The same also goes for the alternative taxiway textures, which I may want to be wet for some flights, but not for others. It would have been much more convenient to have a small utility to take care of the dirty work for me. I commented on the grass runways and taxiways above, and as you may recall I was not overly enthused with them, though I can see why some simmers may be. I have seen real world grass runways that stick out like the textures in Environment Boost, but most of the grass strips I have seen look more like worn dormant grass than a bright bold strip. I would have been more satisfied had the grass runway textures been created with a more grassy look, but just like every other texture in this package, opinions will vary. It is important to note that the grass textures vary depending on the season, and often times they do look good to me, especially in fall and winter. I like the taxiway details that are included in the add-on, and in many cases I also like the runway details, although they can be hard to see on the darkest of runways. The asphalt and gravel runways met my approval and the concrete runways were hit and miss. All of the taxiways, with the exception of the grass textures, satisfied my need for airport ground texture improvement, as did most of the terminal, building, and rooftop textures. The runway and taxiway lighting, building lighting, and halo effect were also a nice addition to this package, and in fact, I have yet to replace them with my other add-on lighting. I have not heard a lot of talk about this package in the forums yet, but if you want a second opinion, I would recommend finding out what others who have this package have to say. Visit the FS9 and FSX forums here at Avsim, check out what CLS has to say about this package over at there website, look at the screenshots in this review, and then you should be able to make an educated decision. Also, keep in mind that there are a lot of add-on textures, both freeware and payware, that also deserve to be included in your decision making process. |
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