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Bear's Cave
The world of Flight Simulators
short reviews by Steve "Bear" Cartwright
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Due to the many tragic events in the recent weeks, I've delayed posting my usual picks every other week, as originally intended, but as everything is getting back to normal (at least as normal as we can make it) I've chosen 15 files that have been uploaded since August 26th. There have been some really terrific files uploaded, including aircraft and scenery for FS2000, as well as a really outstanding upgrade file for MSTS! Check-out my picks here:
25-Sept-2001
Falcon 50 CAEA
by Yannick Lavigne/Fred Banting/Rob Young
fal50c1.zip
uploaded 01-Sept-2001
8,910Kb
FS2000 Aircraft
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Fred Banting & Yannick Lavigne have given all of us some truly outstanding aircraft in the past (deHavilland DHC-2 and DHC-2T Beavers just to name a couple) and just when you would think they couldn't top themselves, they do exactly that! In every respect their latest upload, the Dassault Falcon 50, is simply one of the very best FS aircraft that's become available, whether you compare it to other freeware aircraft or any of the payware aircraft available out there.
This aircraft's external appearance combined with a fully rendered interior is just beyond words, plus you've got a custom designed panel with all cockpit views as well. Then to top all of this off, Rob Young (of FLY! fame for his outstanding flight dynamics modeling) has applied his magic to this beautiful aircraft's airfile! Kind of feels like we've all won the Power Ball Lotto two weeks in a row!
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The file does include two complete aircraft, the standard version, and a "lite" version that's much easier on frame rates, of which is intended for those of us still working with a smaller computer system. Very thoughtful on their part.
My "Bear Approved" stamp just didn't seem to be enough, so I have also awarded these 3 fellows (Yannick, Fred, and Rob) my "Gold Award" as well (only two aircraft have received my "Gold Award" in the past, the "Pilot In Command" 767 from Wilco and the DC-3 series of aircraft from Bob Rambow, Roy Chaffin, and Jan Visser) ...Bear!
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25-Sept-2001
PSA 737-214 (Delivery Colors)
by Kevin Trinkle/Sam Chin
ps737d21.zip uploaded 31-Aug-2001
879Kb
FS2000 Aircraft
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Neither Kevin Trinkle or Sam Chin are exactly unknown to the users of Flight Simulator and their latest and newest upload depicts one of my most favored liveries, the smiling face of the PSA 737-200 (PSA operated 12 of these aircraft when they were still in business, between 1968 and 1976).
Bill Anderson started to build this FS aircraft originally, but after he left the flight-sim community, he turned over what he had started to Kevin. Kevin finished it up after adding many very neat little details, like the clam-shell style thrust reversers and the unusual paint scheme of PSA during the sixties and seventies. This particular color of "Shocking Pink" with the smile was taken from the PSA 737-214, fleet number 301. (I read a story once that claimed that a group of PSA mechanics jokingly taped the smile on the first of the shocking pink aircraft, but when management saw it, they liked it so the smile stayed). Kevin stayed with the default FS2000 737 panel and sounds, but if those aren't sufficient for your tastes, then there are several excellent replacement choices available in the AVSIM library.
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Kevin finished up his work by installing a Sam Chin designed FDE and the end result is a very nice flying 737, with a few unique features, the most obvious being the livery paint scheme itself! ...Bear!
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There have been several design groups, mostly payware, that have been offering some outstanding examples of the latest Boeing jetliners, but there is a two-man team, working together, that have thrown their work onto the heap of Boeing jetliners and frankly the combined work by these two are very very good. Lee Rosairo & Michael Verlin have put together one of the very finest examples of the Boeing 757 that I've run across recently and they have offered up several versions of Boeing 757 (both 200 and 300 series) in Condor, Aero Mexico, and Delta liveries. Lee's 757 features fully animated parts (gear, gear doors, 3D gear bays, 3D fan blades, slotted flaps, slats, spoilers, ailerons, elevators, rudder, nose gear, etc.) and very realistic appearing night-lighting as well. These aircraft all use the default 777 panel & sounds, but a search through the FS libraries should reveal you something that would be quite adequate for the 757.
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On top of all this, MIchael Verlin seems to have hit the sweet-spot on the airfile as well. You just might want to give one of these aircraft a spin as you'll probably find Lee and Michael's aircraft to be very enjoyable to fly, as I did! ...Bear!
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25-Sept-2001
Helio Super Courier 295 wheeled/float
by Steven Grant & Fred Choate
helio295.zip
heliofloat.zip
uploaded 7th & 16th -Sept-2001
1,620Kb/1,970Kb
FS2000 Aircraft
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Steven Grant & Fred Choate have been uploading several excellent FS aircraft (most often aircraft intended for bush flying) over the last few months and they continue their tradition of high quality FS aircraft with their latest aircraft, the Helio Super Courier 295, in both wheeled and float versions. It was Steven that designed the aircraft, did the paint work, and provided the airfile, with Fred again working up another one of his excellent panels.
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The Helio Courier 295 is noted for its STOL capability, but it's the ability to fly at extremely slow speeds (25 to 35 mph) that also makes it a very good spotter aircraft. A few years ago, my two brothers and myself, after hiking a few miles up the Anchor River on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), came upon a Helio Float plane, sitting in the middle of the river, with two fellows fly-fishing off from the floats. They were as surprised to us as we were of them, because it's not recommended that you walk around too much in that area due to the high Grizzly Bear count (we didn't see any Bear, but we did have a Moose chase us into the brush at one point).
Overall, these are another "must have" pair of aircraft from Steven & Fred and I can't thank them enough for continuing with their freeware uploads! Great work as usual guys! ...Bear!
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25-Sept-2001
Cessna C-177RG Cardinal
by Mikko Maliniemi
c177rg_cardinal.zip
uploaded 14-Sept-2001
2,550Kb
FS2000 Aircraft
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Being a real fan of small-light aircraft, I found the latest from Mikko Maliniemi to be a real gem. Cessna originally designed the Cessna Cardinal from the 172/182 platform, but the Cessna Cardinal (177) is easily spotted by its unbraced cantilever wing (no strut in other words). Mikko has designed his model of the Cardinal in the RG version and frankly, I kind of like it. A number of excellent small freeware Cessnas have become available lately and Mikko's Cessna Cardinal retract is most certainly one of those, and it's very welcome on my harddrive.
Mikko also has included a custom panel, 360º cockpit bitmaps, and a virtual cockpit as well, plus Mikko even got the gear to retract in that multi-directional animation that is so destinctive of the high-wing single-engined Cessnas. Overall, a nice package that I'm sure many of you may have missed, so go back into the AVSIM library and check this one out! ...Bear!
Since posting my picks last month, Naji has been very busy uploading 6 new bush sceneries for all of us backwoods flyers to take advantage of, and I must say that Naji is very quickly establishing himself as one of the best of the best when it comes to bush scenery design. His use of hand painted lake textures combined with the Garish Gray 3D trees, Naji's sceneries are just plain beautiful!
The installation of Naji's sceneries is very straightforward and apparently he has included any flatten switches needed into the bgl files, so his sceneries work very well in either default or highly detailed mesh, it just doesn't seem to make any difference.
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Each of these sceneries are a real joy too, with scattered mountain cabins, campers with pitched tents, even an occasional flickering campfire, very enjoyable for the pioneer in many of us! Great work Naji, keep them coming!
(If you check out my screenshots, I've provided shots with these sceneries installed into 30m mesh with custom textures – and into the default version of FS2000.) ...Bear!
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26-Sept-2001
Brethren/BCRiver/James Inlet, BC
by Jim Faircloth
brethren.zip
bcriver.zip
uploaded 4 & 13 -Sept-2001
1,610Kb/1,650Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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Over the last several months, Jim Faircloth has been uploading a series (9 individual sceneries up through August this year) of excellent add-on bush sceneries for British Columbia, Canada and here he's now offered up numbers 10 & 11. Although most of Jim's sceneries can be used by just about any small aircraft (including even the smaller twins), they are mostly intended for either a float or a bush aircraft. There is kind of a bonus with the BCRiver upload, as it also includes an additional location on the James Inlet as well as with the BCRiver (fictitious) locations.
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Jim has also joined the ranks of all the other active bush scenery designers by his now hand-painting the lake and lake shoreline textures. This seems to be the way the majority of designers are now doing it, though I'm sure the time spent rendering these sceneries has greatly increased. In general, Jim's sceneries are mostly designed around the user having stuck with the default world scenery/textures (no custom ground textures or mesh), which is probably the best way, as there are undoubtedly far fewer individuals with the Canadian mesh installed than there are those running with the default scenery files.
In Jim's readme file for his latest upload (BCRiver), he indicated that these may well be his last B.C., Canadian bush sceneries, which I hope is not the case. ...Bear!
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26-Sept-2001
Snowshoe, AK / Davy Outpost, Canada
by Don Moser (Alaska by Don)
snowshoe.zip
davyfix.zip
davy.zip
uploaded 8 & 21 - Sept, 2001
1,200Kb/6Kb/2,603Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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If you've had even a minimum of interest in bush flying with Flight Simulator, then Don Moser is most certainly no stranger to you, of that I'm sure. Alaska by Don is now also a partner-site of AVSIM, so you may also wish to visit his home website after you've downloaded his latest sceneries.
Snowshoe, AK is Don's first attempt at hand painting the textures and frankly his first renderings appear as if he's been doing this all along. Both of these sceneries (Davy Outpost & Snowshoe) feature 4 season textures, greatly improved animal macros, and dynamic country flags, waving in the wind at the top of each location's flagpole.
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Don has also designed these sceneries so that they will show up on your default GPS/Map, which is really handy when you're trying to locate them when approaching from another departure point. As with the majority of Don's bush sceneries, they work the best with the default FS2000 textures & scenery.
Another set of excellent bush sceneries to add to your list! ...Bear!
26-Sept-2001
Hellas 2001 Scenery Thessaloniki-
Makedonia Airport ver 1.0
by Bangelis Vasilias
makedonia10.zip
uploaded 21-Sept-2001
27,000Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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At 27MBs, this is a monster file, but even with a 56K modem it's well worth the wait for it to download, as this is a truly outstanding airport scenery add-on. Thessaloniki is the Capital of Northern Greece and of course the Makedonia Airport (LGTS) is quite important to the area.
This scenery (part of the Hellas 2001 Scenery Project) covers all of the airport and much of the ground texturing in the neighboring area. According to the readme file, the entire city is being worked on as a future release and if this file an example of what's to come, I for one can't wait.
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The ground textures are just extraordinary, as you can see from my screenshots, and the custom night-lighting is equally as good. I truly recommend this scenery download, even if flying in Greece is not your normal venue, it just might be after installing this scenery package.
The only items missing are the inclusion of any static aircraft, but if you have FSTraffic, than this can be corrected quite easily by recording static aircraft at the gates and or by the generation of some traffic tracks.
As a last note, regardless of the file size, this scenery appears to be very easy on frame rates, as I encountered nothing out of the ordinary. So, what are you waiting for? Go get this scenery and then check it out, both the airport and the surrounding areas! Nice work fellows! ...Bear!
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26-Sept-2001
Alaska Commuter 5, 6, and 7
by Dave Erickson
akcm5.zip
akcm6.zip
akcm7.zip
uploaded 23-Sept-2001
4,270Kb/3,280Kb/4,780Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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Although Dave calls his series of updated default add-on sceneries the "Alaska Commuter" files, the 3rd of this 3-part add-on includes airport upgrades for mostly British Columbia, Canada. Of the total of 45 default airports redone or upgraded with this 3-part file, 21 are located in BC!
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Dave's stated reason for including British Columbia in a Alaska Scenery Package, is so that one can fly from the lower 48 all the way to Alaska, with only 100 to 150 miles between stops (or between airports that have been upgraded). These 3-part files include two separate routes to Alaska, either along the inland waterway (Seattle - Ketchikan - to other points in Alaska) or you can begin your trip in Montana and fly the route right up the Canadian Rockies, all the way to Anchorage and beyond.
Dave has applied a simple, but very tasteful addition to each airport, with items like: static aircraft, new buildings & hangers, and a scattering of native trees surrounding each location. Unlike the majority of scenery (bush) add-ons, this scenery was designed with "Terrain Mesh" installed—though I checked it out and every scenery I inspected works great with the default package as well.
If flying in the last frontier is your desire, then Dave's Alaska Commuter scenery series is a must have! ...Bear!
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27-Sept-2001
Sky! Conductor v2.0
by How in the World, Inc
skycond2.zip
uploaded 3-Sept-2001
22,560Kb
MSTS Scenery
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The fellows at How in the World, Inc released their first version of the Sky! Conductor some months ago, right after Microsoft released Train Simulator, but now they've had some time to refine it plus add a number of new features.
Besides the addition of several new skies, they have also included a self-installer that works great. How in the World, Inc has also overcome the problem before where you couldn't add the Sky! Conductor options to any route, other than the default—which was a problem as new routes have become available. Now it's just a matter of a few clicks of your mouse and wa-la, you've got a broad choice of new skies for your add-on routes as well. Even though it's a rather large download at just over 27MB, it's well worth it to all the Train Simulator fans out there. ...Bear!
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27-Sept-2001
Toussus-le-Noble LFPN (France)
by S. Michaux
lfpn2k_2.zip
lfpn2kup.zip
uploaded 14-Sept-2001
1,880Kb/155Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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S. Michaux's latest scenery package, the Toussus-le-Noble airport, is really quite unique and does contain some really original ideas that I really have enjoyed viewing. The Toussus-le-Noble airport is located just few kilometers West/Northwest of Orly in Paris, France and there are a couple of rather famous castles located nearby. Mr. Michaux has also included these castles (Dampierre and the Breteuil castles) with this scenery package, using very realistic phototextures.
S. Michaux's depiction of the Toussus-le-Noble airport is very realistic, as compared to real photographs that I've seen of this airport, and he has also gone on to include some very unique and very realistic macros, with the most obvious being his use of "people" macros to populate the scenery. During my ground exploration of this scenery, I even spotted one "people" macro checking the oil on their little Piper (I noticed that the bonnet was raised on this aircraft as well), very neat indeed!
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Using the default Bell helicopter, I did a little exploring in the area, primarily to take a gander at the castles that Mr. Michaux has also included with this scenery package and I found them to be quite well presented. These (the castles) are developed using photorealistic textures, the same as with the airport buildings back at Toussus-le-Noble.
Even if flying in France is not your thing, I would suggest you download and install this package to just take a look at this fine work of S. Michaux; it is worth the effort! ...Bear!
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27-Sept-2001
Glasgow Prestwick Airport
by Iain Gallacher
pikver1.zip
uploaded 31-Aug-2001
5,730Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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The Preswick Airport (as the locals prefer to call it) is located roughly 45 kilometers south of the Glasgow City Center (and about an equal distance from the Glasgow Airport) and this airport is also home to the BAe Systems operations.
Iain Gallacher received considerable help from both the BAe Systems company and from the Prestwick Airport Management personnel with rendering this highly detailed version of this airport. I found that exploring this scenery to be a great deal of fun and I'm sure that Iain worked long and hard at getting it as detailed as he did. Iain has included many unique and unusually realistic features, buildings, and static objects and he has included all the necessary textures in the download file, including all of the required textures for his custom designed items.
The only things missing are the night textures, but maybe in the future Iain will upload those as well. ...Bear!
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27-Sept-2001
Airport Luxemburg (ELLX)
Patch for Airport Luxemburg (ELLX)
by CR-Software (Christopher Rieger)
ellx.zip
p_ellx.zip
uploaded 16 & 23-Sept-2001
8,400Kb/24Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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Christopher Rieger (CR-Software) has put together a highly detailed version of Airport Luxemburg, which just happens to be one of the biggest cargo centers in all of Europe. Christopher has rendered this important airport to include many new and/or unique objects as well as complete night-texturing.
A few days after Christopher uploaded his original file, he uploaded a patch, which was to correct a problem that many had concerning all ground textures turning black when the ground scenery shadows were activated in the FS2000 display screen. The patch corrected this one minor problem and after installation, your ground shadows should work normally.
With many static cargo jets about, perimeter trees, highly realistic airport grass, among many other scenery features, Christopher Rieger has rendered a pretty decent little airport package (well maybe at 8.4MBs, I wouldn't exactly call it little I suppose) that all of you European flight simmers may wish to take a look at. ...Bear!
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27-Sept-2001
Project BNE v2.00
by Damien Moriarty
bris200.zip
uploaded 15-Sept-2001
2,780Kb
FS2000 Scenery
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Brisbane is the Capital of the State of Queensland, Australia and I have, on a couple of occasions, been at the airport there. Damien Moriarty has done a truly outstanding job at rendering this most important, international airport; and it does include very unique night-lighting, bitmap texturing, and plenty of appropriate static aircraft. Damien has even included container ships in the local harbor as well as the ship off-loading towers.
I love this airport scenery and even though I rarely fly (FS) to or in Australia, this scenery is going to stay put on my harddrive. Beautifully done and presented, even considering its realitive small file size (under 3MB).
Nice work Damien, keep it up! ...Bear!
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