Introduction TropicalSim are an enthusiastic group of two Brazilian scenery designers who are responsible for several Brazilian, Caribbean and North America airport sceneries. Their goal statement is “the sceneries must be extremely detailed and similar to the real thing, may not have impact on frame rates, must bring an enjoyable atmosphere when in use, and our support service has to be fast, effective and transparent for our customers. We do not reproduce adjacent and nearby areas, nor hotels, restaurants, resorts, cities and things like that. The target is just the airport!” Rio de Janeiro, "River of January" (English) is a major city in southeastern Brazil and the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The city was once the capital of Brazil (1763–1960) and of the Portuguese Empire (1808–1821). Commonly known as just Rio, the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa or the "The Marvelous City". Some of the most famous details of this city are; its spectacular natural setting, its Carnival celebrations, samba and other music, the beaches and the giant statue of Jesus atop Corcovado Mountain. Since August 2004, with the transfer of many flights from Santos-Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro International Airport has returned to being the main doorway to Brazil.
The airport complex also has Brazil’s longest runway at 4,240 meters, and one of South America’s largest and best equipped cargo logistics terminals. Besides linking Rio to the rest of Brazil with domestic flights, Galeão has connections to more than 18 countries. It can handle up to 15 million users a year in two passenger terminals. Ok, that sounds not too bad and gives us a lot of hope, since some sceneries from others have a huge negative impact on our FS frame rates (FPS). While the TropicalSim designers are saying about themselves that hotels, restaurant etc. are not simulated, that’s up to the individual to like or dislike it. For me personally, FPS are little more important then having too many things available around the airport. What is frustrating is approaching an airport and FPS start dropping with the result a slide show during your final approach and landing. Installation After downloading either the FS9 or FSX product and having the registration in your hands, it’s a simple and straightforward installation process. Once finished, a window pops up with the last and important relevant information. It also includes how to manually activate the airport scenery. That sounds a little odd and strange to me, since adding a new scenery to the FS library could also be done automatically. For some, this procedure could only lead to misunderstanding and disappointment. Unfortunately it isn’t automatic , so we have to live with it. How the installation process really looks like can be seen and followed by the different screenshots. For additional software updates/patches, I would like to bring the following to your attention. There are a few issues which are not working yet.
After e-mail contact with TropicalSim support, they promised me that the issue of the movable jetways in FSX and disappearing airport buildings in both FS9 and FSX while flying over the airport or approaching it, will be patched and will be available ASAP on their website. In other words, keep watching the site for this upcoming patch and future updates. Documentation This will be a very short story! There is no documentation at all except for the FS9/FSX pop-up windows, as can be seen above. Now, everybody worldwide starts to compare documentation or manuals with other scenery providers; what they offer and what they don’t offer. Generally speaking, a scenery can and will do it by itself. An introduction is not really needed, but probably some background information. Again, that’s up to the individual. Personally, I think for sceneries like these, there’s really not a need for documentation as nobody will look at it. Although a possible manual is missing, what I really miss are airport, approach-, SID and STAR- and other related charts. Since it only covers one airport – SBGL – it couldn’t be that hard to collect some charts and add them to the download package. Since the airport is mainly for IFR flights, those charts are, in my opinion, a minimum requirement to have, or at least a link to where you can get those charts for free. A Quick Look A first impression under FSX shows me frame rates that really disappoint me, especially when I compare this scenery with FS9 FPS values, but is this a TropicalSim problem or just a problem of FSX itself?
To find out, I checked the three default FSX large worldwide airports that have more or less the same complexity as Rio de Janeiro. I went to KJFK (New York John F. Kennedy), which produces, depending on the airport location, an average of 9 to 13 FPS. Then I moved to LFPG (Charles de Gaulle Paris), which also had an average FPS of 9 to 13 and even Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (EHAM) was not impressive, more or less between 10 to 15 FPS. Conclusion, the frame rate impact of this TropicalSim scenery of SBGL (Rio de Janeiro), is kept to a minimum! In other words, the FPS reduction due to this add-on scenery is more or less the same as the default airport sceneries from FSX itself, so that’s ok! Since we are busy checking FPS, let’s have a quick what the impact is in Flight Simulator 9. It’s amazing! With a default FS9 airplane standing on several locations at the airport, an average of 20 FPS is reached and that’s good, especially when you compare this, for example, with Aerosoft’s LFPG Charles de Gaulle airport scenery. I want to add that this is with all my sliders in FS9 set to the maximum and all boxes are activated. All those frame rates do depend of course on your system, but with the tested system specifications you could at least have an idea what you can expect yourself. But there is something else, which could improved the reality of the airport without frame rate reduction. Comparing the TropicalSim airport overview with Google Earth pictures, shows me that the TropicalSim scenery simulates a brand new airport. What do I mean by brand new? On the runways, taxiways, platforms and other locations there is no sign of used spots like touchdown stripes, no dirty spots on the taxiways and parking locations etc. Unfortunately this is not real. An international airport of this size and used daily should have those dirty spots and stripes. I hope that the TropicalSim designers will see this as a challenge to provide the user with an update to add this feature.
Another thing which is missing in FS9, are static baggage cars and buses. Personally I don’t miss those static objects and in most of the cases those objects are located on places where you don’t want them. For FSX the story is different, since here we are able to control a lot of stuff on the airport. Our quick look finally ends with very good frame rates in both FS9 and FSX, although both depend on your PC. On the previous screenshots we can see that due to lack of details of dirty spots and missing touchdown stripes on the runways, the average of the scenery is pretty satisfactory. After consulting TropicalSim support they will look into it to add a more realistic look by adding dirty spots on those places where needed. Also for this item, keep tracking there updates! A typical flight around the airport …. To get a good impression of the airport, you can slew on the ground from East to West and from North to South, but I want to see it when really flying over the airport.
When flying back to LFML, the same as I did here, the terminal and other buildings where still there and didn’t disappear. I consulted TropicalSim about this problem and they are aware of it and within days a patch will be available on their website, otherwise you'll have to continue and close your eyes. TropicalSim is working on it! Let’s go for an FS9 walk Although in real life walking and crossing the apron is not allowed. However, within the flight sim world everything is possible. Apart from the missing dirty spots on the aprons and the missing carts, belts and others vehicles, I have the feeling that this Flight Simulator 9 airport scenery is a good detailed representation of SBGL.
That was a long walk and there is still so much more to see. The TropicalSim website shows lots of screenshots of this airport, so we will limit this a little bit. Our goal is to give an objective impression of this double scenery. In the mean time, we have reached the other side of the apron, where terminal 1 and 2 are located. Those are huge buildings with lots of jetways or gates if you like.
Ok, we always want more but since these buildings are straightforward without complicated structures, we cannot do any more with it. The only thing what really disappoints me, and this is especially for the FS9 users, is the lack of anything driving around on the apron or lots of baggage carts standing in and around the airplane's area. Looking at those screenshots, it’s so empty except for airplanes! With permission granted to AVSIM, we are able to enter the control tower, which is more or less standing in the middle of terminal 1. The advantage of the control tower is that we have a clear view of the whole airport.
Since the simulated view is equal to the real view, we have to accept this limited view but it was sure a nice moment. Most simmers will probably stay in their aircraft or just do a walk-around-check. Our last visit is located on each other side of the airport, the cargo terminal and the VEM maintenance area.
I think 80-90% will go directly to terminals, to find his/her parking place. They have an average to good realism but more important, here we do find a lot of cars, buses and other vehicles. Those cars, buses and others is what is missing, in my opinion, around the terminals in FS9/FSX.
On purpose I made all the screenshots without the air traffic option activated. That means no additional AI aircraft are available. This option depends of course on what you want, flying online with IVAO, VATSIM or FPI or just standalone. Let’s go for an FSX walk To convince you that the FSX TropicalSim scenery is more or less the same as the FS9 version, you will find a small collection of screenshots below.
The
airport scenery doesn’t look different in FSX. That means that
all previous FS9 screenshots are also applicable for FSX, so that’s
a quick conclusion. One
thing that FSX offers is the creation of extra cars, baggage carts, belts
etc. apart from the aircraft. As mentioned earlier, the upcoming free patch not only solves the disappearance of buildings at the airport, but it also makes movable jetways possible, so keep looking on their website. Night view? Daytime gives a very good idea what this airport scenery has got and what it doesn’t have. During sunset, night and sunrise, we face a completely different airport. The buildings, aprons, andrunway details are no longer directly visible but instead we get an ocean of lights shining on airplanes, the apron and so on. Looking at both FS versions, there is no difference in light effects, so there is no visible difference. With these screenshots I want to give you an idea of what you can expect during those dark hours. There are, of course, many other locations at the airport with their own lighting effects but generally this should give you a good idea.
Summary / Closing Remarks Yyou can download both Flight Simulator versions of the Rio de Janeiro International Airport, or also know as ICAO code SBGL, while using the same registration key. We cannot complain about the fact that it’s only the airport scenery itself and nothing around it. TropicalSim informs you on their website what this scenery is really covering. I don’t know the airport personally since I’ve never been there, but these days Google Earth and other pictures will help you to get a realistic impression of what this airport scenery is offering. The only thing that is left are the unfinished dirty spots, runways touchdown stripes, and the fact that when flying at an altitude of 2200-2300 feet, the airport partly disappears and there are some missing static aircraft in front of the VARIG (VEM) hangar. After consulting the TropicalSim e-mail support, it seems that this group of people are open to any suggestions or improvements of their product. They will release a patch ASAP or have already done it, which solves the disappearing buildings as well as solving the movable FSX jetways problem. Making the airport aprons and runways look more realistic by introducing more dirty spots and touchdown stripes on the runways is in progress. Hopefully many more patches or updates are coming. Reviewer's Comment: Via the following link - http://www.flyvba.com.br/fp/cartas/SBGL/ - you can download the necessary airport diagrams, SID, STAR etc. There are more available via IVAO and/or VATSIM, but at least this is something to start with. |
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