Welcome to Barksdale Air Force Base Very rarely will I spend money for a scenery add-on that only covers a small area, such as a single airport, especially with the availability of terrain mesh enhancements that cover an entire state, country, continent, and even span the entire globe. But thanks to the team at AlphaSim, I might just change my mind…maybe. That is all thanks to the release of their Barksdale Air Force Base scenery add-on that replicates the base in a 1950's theme with AI B-47’s and static B-45’s and F-100’s. Barksdale Air Force Base is more than just a place for planes to land, it’s a real piece of history dating back to 1933 when it was officially opened as Barksdale Field, also called Barksdale Army Air Field. The name was officially changed to Barksdale Air Force Base on January 13th, 1948, and has since become the home of the U.S. Air Force 2nd Bomb Wing, Air Force Reserve 917th Wing, and the Headquarters of the 8th Air Force. Currently, Barksdale houses B-52’s and A-10’s, and is often frequented by scores of transient aircraft from all over the country. In the 1950’s Barksdale was no less important as it maintained the B-47’s and F-100’s. In addition to possessing some of the most impressive aircraft in the world, Barksdale has also been host to the Space Shuttle Columbia twice, once in 1982, and again in 1990 as the shuttle was being transferred back to Cape Kennedy. It has also welcomed Air Force One on a few occasions and is host to an annual air show of stellar caliber, and home to the 8th Air Force Museum with an exceptional display of aircraft. Of course the B-52’s, and A-10’s don’t have anything to do with the Barksdale that we will be looking at today. Instead, we are going to take a trip back to the 1950’s when the B-47’s ruled the sky and Barksdale was in many ways not quite as developed as it is today. Will I actually get the feeling of simming in 1950’s Louisiana? Let’s get this base installed and go find out. Installation Barksdale AFB does not come with an auto-installer, but this installation process is just as easy. Simply extract the download to the FS9 root folder and all of the files will be placed in there proper location. However, there are a lot of simmers, myself included, who prefer to place the files where they belong manually just to be sure everything is how it should be. If you prefer that method, then you simply need to go into the “Add-on Scenery” folder and move the folder titled “Barksdale AFB” to the “Addon Scenery” folder in the FS9 directory. Included in this folder will be two sub-folders titled “Scenery” and “Texture”, as well as a read-me file. Then you will need to open the “Aircraft” folder and move the folder titled “#AI ALPHA B-47 Stratojet” into your main FS9 “Aircraft” folder. Included in this folder will be the model and texture sub-folders as well as the B-47 cfg and airfile. Finally, you need to open the “Flights” folder and move the folder titled “Alphasim” to the “Flights” folder in the FS9 main directory. This folder will contain two additional files titled “Barksdale AFB AI” and “Barksdale AFB AI.wx”. Once your done doing all of that you are now ready to go activate the scenery in FS9. NOTE: I have personally installed this program by extracting the download to the FS9 root folder on several occasions and can assure you that it is perfectly safe and will not overwrite any files. Even if you happened to have a folder of the same name in the same directory (which would be extremely rare) you would be prompted to choose whether or not to overwrite that file. The only possibility of having a file of the same name in this case would be if you happened to already have a scenery add-on titled “Barksdale AFB”. Once everything is where it belongs you will need to start FS9 and then click on “Settings” on the lower left side of the screen. Then you will need to click on “Scenery Library”, followed by “Add Area”, then “Addon Scenery”. Once there, you need to locate the folder titled “Barksdale AFB”, making sure to highlight the folder, but DO NOT open it. Now you can click “OK” and exit Flight Simulator. The next time you load the Sim it will take a brief moment to add the scenery and it is now ready for use. There is not much in the way of documentation included with this add-on, but you may want to explore the read-me file located in the “Barksdale AFB” folder in your addon scenery. This file discusses the installation procedure and will help you to set your scenery settings appropriately to fully appreciate this enhancement, or to ease the hit on the frame rates if need be. Now let’s go take a look at Barksdale. Exploring Barksdale The first time I saw my new Barksdale scenery was during a fly over after a long trip in my Pilatus PC-12 from Daytona. From 3,000 feet I was very pleased with how well the base blended in with the surrounding ground textures. Though the base grass was much brighter and practically noticeable from space, scores of buildings, landmarks, and other ground features worked there way from Bossier City right on to the base property, blending Barksdale right into the rest of Louisiana quite well.
Once I landed, I took the opportunity to taxi around the base for a while to get an upclose and personal look. The first thing I noticed was that the ramp was full of static aircraft. Both B-45’s and F-100’s, which I had seen while airborne but could not identify, were scattered throughout the ramp from one end to the other. In addition to the B-45’s and F-100’s there are numerous static B-47’s on the main ramp and on the north side of the base. After pulling up to get a good look at one of them, I found out quickly that they are not all static aircraft as one of them started pulling away from me. As I panned around to watch the AI B-47 taxi towards the runway I caught a glimpse of another following the traffic pattern at about 3,000 feet or so. Then, while panning back to see the taxiing B-47, I notice another that was on approach to land. But this aircraft wasn’t landing, instead it was performing one of the many touch-and-go’s that happen here on a regular basis. Not knowing which of the aircraft were for scenic purposes and which could start to taxi at any time, I decided to pull out of the way and see what else the base has to offer. As I was pulling off the ramp I noted that all of the aircraft were of fairly decent quality for static and AI purposes. To keep the frame rates reasonable they are not the level of quality that you would find in AlphaSim’s flyable collection, but they look pretty good nonetheless.
Taxiing around the rest of the base I came across a few other nice features of Barksdale as well. Ground vehicles, including 2 ½ ton trucks, fire trucks, and forklifts, were scattered around the hangars and other buildings. In addition to the ground vehicles I also stumbled across power carts, fuel tanks, 55 gallon drums, and a number of fenced in areas housing trucks and power facilities. One fence that houses a series of above ground bunkers is animated when you pull up to it. To get there you will need to exit the runway from the north end heading southeast where you will pass a line of military vehicles (static). In this area you will see rows of bunkers guarded by a few decently detailed watchtowers.
There are a few things missing from Barksdale, but not much. First you will notice that the runway does not have much in the way of touchdown marks. I have yet to see a runway on an Air Force base that was not covered with black marks, especially when they only have one runway. I am also a little disappointed that there are no fuel trucks, mobile or static, and I would have also liked to have seen other military equipment, such as a 10K forklift, bomb loader, conveyer, and other types of equipment that are common to Air Force installations. With that said, I am otherwise very pleased with this rendition of Barksdale AFB. Join me later in this review when I take a flight around this area of Louisiana and we will see what else we can find out about Barksdale. But for now let’s go explore this package from a different angle.
Select A Flight Menu In the “Select a Flight” menu in FS9 you will see a category titled “AlphaSim” that includes a flight which is subsequently called “Barksdale AFB AI”. By choosing this flight you will be positioned in a zoomed out spot view that will give you a great panoramic view of the base. The sim will load with the radios tuned into the Barksdale control tower, and you can use the “ctrl” key in combination with the “W” key to get a close look at each of the AI B-47’s. From this view you can pan around and watch the aircraft taxi, take off, follow the traffic pattern, perform touch-and-go’s, and land. Performance If you happen to be running a modest system that does not take well to high scenery settings there are some options to help you get the most out of this scenery enhancement without putting a big drain on your frame rates. Unfortunately, this scenery enhancement is best viewed with the scenery sliders all the way up, but if you are willing to sacrifice the static aircraft, AI traffic, or both, then you can still enjoy the detailed ground scenery without your screen stuttering while you’re trying to land. Since the base does become a little bare without the static aircraft, you may wish to simply disable the AI traffic. While this will eliminate the B-47’s from getting airborne, there will still be a few left on the ramp for your viewing pleasure. You can also flop this idea and reduce the scenery settings to eliminate the static aircraft and keep the AI B-47’s around if you wish. Either way will help to increase the FPS, but will also inhibit this product from reaching its full potential. After testing these frame rate improving options I have come to the conclusion that those of you with modest systems are not likely to enjoy this product as much as others. After removing the AI traffic and static aircraft separately and than together, I found that the majority of what this base has to offer without the presence of the aircraft is not as eventful. Therefore, if your computer can handle scenery settings of “High” or above, then you will be fine; otherwise, you may want to search for alternative scenery enhancements. Let's Get A Better Look For today’s flight I am going to set aside the rules of aviation and have a little fun exploring Barksdale and the surrounding area, including Shreveport and Bossier City. I would like to give a special thank you to Kirk Olsson for the use of his superb F-16, which I deem to be one of the finest aircraft available for Flight Simulator. To begin this adventure let’s start on the ramp and grab a few screenshots of the AI and static traffic. Even though Barksdale has more to offer than just aircraft, I think that the B-47’s, B-45’s, and F-100’s are the highlight of this add-on. While I’m still on the ground, I’ll take a few minutes to work my way around the base for some nice close-up shots of other enhancements to this facility.
Now it’s time to get airborne, and for this trip I’m not going to be worrying about following the rules. Our first stop will be Bossier City, which is not quite as detailed and full of buildings as Shreveport, but scenic nonetheless. This area, though not part of the Barksdale AFB scenery add-on, is in the traffic pattern, and makes for a great visual reference when flying VFR into the base. Now we will move on to Shreveport, also the default scenery, but still a great visual reference when trying to find Barksdale without a GPS. This city is easily identified by the tall buildings, which are the only ones in a relatively close proximity to the base. While I’m here I’ll go ahead and get a few close-ups of the buildings and we’ll be on our way.
Heading back towards base I realized two things. First, I will probably no longer be welcome in Bossier City and Shreveport after my show boating, and second, there are numerous lakes, streams, and rivers all around this area that can be another great reference for those of you who like to leave the GPS at home. I have also discovered some bridges that make nice landmarks. And now back at the base I will go ahead and perform a fly over or two, and than I had better land before the B-47’s start coming home. Looking off to the north I can see one already in the traffic pattern and another not far behind. I guess I had better land before I get in the way. Once I get this bird back on the ground I will shut her down and meet you in the next section so we can wrap up this review.
Conclusion I certainly had a lot of fun exploring Barksdale Air Force Base the way it used to be, but now it’s time to consider whether or not this scenery add-on has met the requirements to remain in my virtual world. The AI B-47’s and static B-45’s and F-100’s are nice features that add life to this scenery, and the level of detail is a nice change from the default scenery. I also like the inclusion of areas that you would not normally frequent while taxiing in an aircraft, but are visibly detailed from above. Unfortunately, purchasing a scenery enhancement that only covers a small area, such as a single airport or military base, is only a drop in the bucket considering that Flight Simulator spans the entire globe. Therefore, some simmers may find the cost-value to be unreasonable, but in this case I would have to disagree. Though it is not economical to purchase scenery replacements for every airfield in FS9, I think that this particular add-on will make a nice addition to any simmers virtual world at a reasonable price. What makes this facility so much different from many of the other payware scenery enhancements is that it is focused on a military facility. This makes for a nice change from the typical large airport upgrades with commercial and GA aircraft only. Those of you who have been reading the statements released by Microsoft concerning the upcoming FSX may remember a comment made that the Flight Sim team does not focus much on the military aspect of Flight Sim, noting that they have Combat Flight Simulator’s to fill that void. But I don’t want to switch over to CFS3 every time that I want to visit a military airfield with any detail, thanks to AlphaSim and there tradition of focusing on Military related products, Flight Simulator may one day be able to replace the Combat Sims altogether…Barksdale is a good start. But on the other hand there may be some of you who will not appreciate this scenery enhancement as much as I have. While discussing this product with a few of my colleagues, I have heard a few sensible explanations why some will not be adding Barksdale to their scenery collection. The first potential problem is the frame rates, and lack of scenic detail or AI and static aircraft when compensating for low FPS. Though I did not have too much of a hit, even when using High and Ultra High scenery settings, I have seen how this package can impact other systems, and it isn’t a pretty picture. Another suggestion I heard is that with the release of user-friendly object placer programs, such as RWY 12 and EZ-Scenery, upgrading this facility yourself could be a reasonable alternative. While it is true that you can easily place your own scenery objects wherever you wish, AlphaSim has done more than just add a few buildings. Instead they include detailed, historically accurate AI and static aircraft, detailed structures, great ground textures, and an assurance that everything is where it belongs. But what about the 20 NZD ($12.64 USD) price tag? Well, personally I am somewhat indifferent on this subject. I think that it is very fair given the current trend of scenery add-ons. On the other hand, with FSX growing nearer, some may wonder whether or not this product should be reduced just a touch, after all, it is not likely to stand the test of time once publishers start pushing products for FSX. But in reality, this price is considerably less than many, possibly most of the scenery add-ons available. If I were to make any changes to Barksdale AFB that AlphaSim hasn’t, I would add more dynamic scenery than just a fence that opens and closes. I would have liked to see some moving ground vehicles, bomb loaders, and most of all, some fuel trucks. But considering what has been done when compared to the price tag, I am content with this product. So
my final analysis is this; I like AlphaSim’s version of Barksdale, I
frequent there regularly, and it will remain in my virtual world at least until
someone else can do better or until I put the first FSX disk into my DVD drive.
But don’t just take my word for it, if you have any interest in this product
whatsoever than I would recommend setting course for the AlphaSim website to
see what some of the users say about this product in there forums. You may also
want to check out some of the screenshots and list of features just to refresh
your memory. |
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