Many people who don't have, don't use, or don't like FS2000 are still using FS98. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that—in fact, I still have FS98 installed. There has been concern that add-on developers would stop producing things for FS98, choosing instead to design exclusively for FS2000. Barry Perfect has come to the rescue of FS98 users, with his collection of English Airports. Maybe you remember Barry's nicely done London Gatwick freeware scenery; what he has done is to expand upon that fine scenery, and the result is a nice set of the busiest airports in England.
Overview
This scenery is available as trialware, which lets you preview Gatwick and Stansted, then you can register it for just $19.95 which allows you to download the set of six airports. Barry is already hard at work revamping the scenery for FS2000. He promises that when the new version has been completed (with London City Airport included!) registered users will get a "significant discount." This current version is not compatible with FS2000, according to the documentation, but you could always try it and see if it makes your computer blow up or not. (I take no responsibility for explosions.)
Installation
Since the scenery comes as a .zip file, installation is manual. The .bgls come in one .zip inside that, and the textures are in another. Unzip those in the usual manner, add the scenery to the scenery library, and off you go. A nice touch is the inclusion of several starting positions for each airport, which comes in handy at Heathrow, for example, with its four terminals. I flew around England in two different planes, an Air France Airbus 318, and a British Airways 737, both of which were good for lots of takeoffs and landings. All the taxiways and runways are clearly marked, so it's no problem finding your way around at any of the airports. One thing I noticed was how easy it was to taxi around at these airports. I don't know if the taxiways were wider than normal, or if the signage was just that good, but I didn't find myself cramming on the brakes and careening off into the grass very much. (Not that I do that very often anyway...)
The scenery consists of the following six airports:
I've flown out of all four of the London Airports in this scenery, and they are modeled exactly like their real life counterparts. Every building is in the right place, and each airport has the right look and feel. For example, at Luton you have to walk out the terminal building and across the ramp to your plane, with enormous hangars close by. Those features are well represented. The monorail is there at Gatwick (the "transit" as it's called there—"No luggage trolleys allowed on the transit!"), as is that funny circular lounge/ticket hall/??? thing at Heathrow. Stansted's wonderful architecture is nicely done, too, making it my favorite terminal in this scenery. I've never flown from Birmingham or Manchester, but they seem to be nicely done and well detailed. [Editor's note: I have flown from Birmingham, and yes, he's got it right!] A minor complaint would be that the textures used at Heathrow, Birmingham, and Manchester just don't seem sharp or crisp enough. Maybe I'm getting spoiled by FS2000?
I was pleasantly surprised how high my frame rates stayed with this scenery. Even on approaches, my frame rates stayed in the 20s. Flying around near the airports, they would go as high as 50 fps. It sure makes me want to fly FS98 for a while longer before going back to FS2000, but that's another story. There are some interesting subtle features built in to the scenery, such as radio controlled refueling. When you pull up to a gate, you just tune your radio to a certain frequency, and refueling takes place. Also, many gates have guidance systems of varying types. Some have graphical signs that tell you to go left, right, forward, or stop. Others just have marshallers that wave you in. The documentation points you to a page on the website where you can get maps that show you where the gate guidance systems are. The areas around the gates are lighted at night, which is a nice touch, too. All in all, this scenery shows that if you take a lot of simple features, and pay attention to detail, you can make some wonderful scenery.
Conclusion
This is a great add-on for anyone who likes bigger airports. Sure, there are freeware versions of most of these airports available, but this package offers a higher level of detail, and more accurate building types and placement. There are some things that could use some work, like perhaps putting trees or some kind of border barriers around the perimeter of each airport so you don't have to see the ugly, blotchy 'defauly' scenery textures. Granted, this scenery is not earth-shattering in its innovations, but it's well-done, it's inexpensive, and it's easy to install and use. One would expect the FS2000 version to be even more impressive if Barry is able to make use of the added possibilities of FS2000 scenery design. If you'd like to find out more about this product from its publisher, click here. You can see more screenshots, and even purchase the scenery online from their website.
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What I Like About English Airports |
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| What I Don't Like About English Airports |
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The review above is a subjective assessment of the product by the author. There is no connection between the producer and the reviewer, and we feel this review is unbiased and truly reflects the performance of the product in the simming environment. This disclaimer is posted here in order provide you with background information on the reviewer and connections that may exist between him/her and the contributing party. |
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