Introduction When you consider all the many FS add-ons that are being released, it is noteworthy that the vast majority are add-on aircraft. This is a real testimony to the maturity of the FS scenery world; it certainly was not always that way. When I look in the cardboard box in my basement, where all the retired software packages have ended up, I find that in the early days of Flight Simulator, I spent most of my add on dollars on scenery, starting with scenery area packages like “Sublogic Florida” and “San Francisco” and later progressing to more exotic scenery like “MS Caribbean”, “Southern California”, and “Alting’s Holland”. Back then, that was the only way to get to fly outside the default FS world which was limited to a handful of cities and their surroundings. Nowadays, the FS world encompasses all continents and thousands of airports right “out of the box”, and it is with this in mind, that I have approached the task of reviewing three recent FS scenery add-ons, trying to answer the question: “How do these packages add to the flying experience”? The three packages could not be more different: - A replacement package for the Southern Caribbean, using all new topology and textures - An enhancement package for the Toronto area, using aerial photography and custom buildings and objects - An air show detail package, re-creating an event, complete with aircraft, exhibits, and crowds While I will try to stay away from comparing these packages to one another in head-to–head mode, having the three sceneries side by side adds some perspective to what is currently possible and what may yet come in the future. Rating these sceneries with the Avsim 1-5 star system proved difficult and I have attempted to instead provide my personal experience with each of the sceneries and focus on a qualitative rather than quantitative assessment. Hopefully, this gives you enough information to decide whether to pursue any of these packages further! So here we go… first to the sunny part of the world… Flight1: Islands of the West Indies, Jewels of the Caribbean 3. This $19.95 package can be downloaded from the Flight1 website as a 145 MB download. It comes with an installer program that automates the installation for either FS2004 or FS2002 and quickly gets you up and running. I found no easy way to switch between the FS default scenery and this new scenery, other than to run the un-install application and re-install, but although it is a bit intimidating to watch hundreds of files being created and deleted, it does work and caused no ill effects on my system. The package comes with professional looking documentation that supports the airports included in the package. So, how does the scenery look? Well, the first impression is that you’ve installed a different version of FS… this scenery has a unique feel to it, that takes a bit of getting used to. The scenery textures have a “hand coloured” appearance that is very different from the default FS “photo realistic” look. After a while, the charm of this scenery begins to do its thing, and I must admit that over the time I spent with this scenery package, I got pulled into the “magical world” of the Southern Caribbean, not unlike when I visited the Grenadines a few years ago on a sailing vessel, and fell in love with the islands and their relaxed life style. The islands are covered with vivid greens and contrasting red and white buildings, all of which plays off the various shades of blue in the surrounding water. The topology of the islands provides for pleasing rolling hills and valleys with paths, connecting the towns. I’ve attached a few screenshots below, mainly from the Island of Grenada, but many more pictures are available on the Flight1 website.
The airports are quite detailed and nicely finished with buildings, parked aircraft, and surrounding fences etc. It is immediately clear that a lot of time and attention was invested in making this scenery. Not only is each airport unique, but custom aircraft, appropriate to the area are included as well.
One trade-off that you have to make, is giving up the default scenery for the area… depending on your point of view, that may not be a big loss, since Microsoft did not do a great job of presenting this part of the world, other than the one (showcase) island of St. Maarten further north. On the other hand, not everyone may like the new look of this scenery. I would expect this to be quite a personal decision: either you like it or you do not… and the Flight1 policy of refunding your money if you are not satisfied with the purchase, is certainly reassuring. I did not notice any performance impact on my system, which sets this scenery apart from the other two packages reviewed here, and once installed, you can fly the area like any other without slowdowns near the detailed areas. Since the area consists entirely of small, widely spaced islands, there is no noticeable boundary between the default and custom areas, and if you want to expand the look and feel, you can order additional “Islands of..” packages to provide you with further sections of the Caribbean… Before departing, two more screenshots.
Now, for a change of pace, here is some scenery closer to my home… Flight Ontario: “Greater Toronto Area 2”. This package has a unique value proposition in that it is released as freeware, downloadable as a two part (65 MB & 99 MB) download from the Avsim library. It must be manually installed, but it has the advantage of allowing the scenery to be enabled and disabled in the FS scenery manager. Toronto is one of the many cities in FS that comes with a few distinctive buildings and an airport in the middle of generic fields. The only photo realistic scenery that MS provided is across Lake Ontario, around the Niagara Falls area. Given that I live just north of Toronto, I have always hoped for some good scenery that would allow me to fly VFR over the area and enjoy the view, much as the default scenery provides for the cities of San Francisco or New York. Team Ontario had previously released photo realistic scenery for the Fly! simulation package which was spectacular, but pushed the envelope on what computer systems of the day were able to handle. The new scenery is a much more ambitious effort, providing a combination of photo realistic scenery, based on aerial photography for the city of Toronto, and improved topography, coast line detail, and land class definition for the entire area, seamlessly linking up with the Niagara scenery, 100 miles away. Luckily, computer horsepower has improved in the meantime and performance on my test system was not a major issue.
From the file description: “Over a year in the making, this scenery for FS 2002 and FS 2004 is bounded by Detroit in the west, Kingston in the east, Huntsville in the north and Buffalo in the south and features: * all-season scenery * custom water textures *completely modeled Toronto Airports: CYTZ (Toronto Island) and CYZD (Downsview-home to Bombardier Aerospace and the Canadair Regional Jet and Dash-8, and the Toronto Aerospace Museum) * custom autogen for the GTA * custom land class for southern Ontario * custom shorelines.” For more information, the Flight Ontario web page click here The documentation provides detailed instructions for installing in either FS2002 or FS2004. It mentions that this scenery is intended for high-end systems and suggests turning off some options such as ”aircraft shadows” to improve performance.
So how does it look? Well, stunning is one word that comes to mind! The downtown area is accurate enough that you can find your way around with a city guide in hand, and the landmarks around the Toronto Islands are all there. The overall look and feel is very similar to the default scenery so you do not have the feel of “flying in and out of the detail”. As a matter of fact, in places, it is hard to determine where the custom scenery ends and the standard autogen takes over. The way the scenery integrates is one of the very best features of this package. In spite of the warnings, I found performance to be quite reasonable, except for the one area around Toronto Island Airport where my machine decided to take a rest while the scenery loaded (this is mentioned in the documentation). Maybe additional memory would make a difference; I only had a 512 MB system available for the test. For that, the Island Airport detail is amazing and well worth the minor performance hit.
The surrounding area is also much approved through the custom land class definitions, and outside the custom airports there was no noticeable slowdown on my system. If you ever fly in the Toronto area, this is an add-on worth having! You can fly along the coast of Lake Ontario VFR all the way to the Niagara region, which blends in beautifully with this scenery. The Toronto city core is very nicely done with custom buildings and signage, right down to the Canada Customs signs at Toronto Island Airport. I may be biased because I know the area, but this package is worth a look, even if your are new to the GTA! Now for another change of pace: Third up is scenery from the “old country”… Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) Fairford.
As you can tell from the screenshots, this scenery is unlike any other. It has not only the Fairford airport, including all the buildings and the aircraft that have flown in for the show, but also crowds of people milling about and taking in the sights and the food and drink that is available from many stands on the terrain.
As you come flying in for a landing, you can see the hustle bustle and the closed down area of the airport. Midway rides alternate with jets and prop aircraft from many different countries. Using the slew function of the simulator allows you to sample the action up close and it is hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the air show that is in full swing. Big hot air balloons move and at every corner, there is more to see. The aircraft detail is good enough for casual viewing and certainly gives you the feeling of the size and variety of the exhibits. The provided crowds add to the overall action and realism and are cleverly positioned so that you see them properly proportioned to the surroundings. Very nicely done!
Amazingly, frame rates were not much of a problem on my system. Partially, I assume because you tend to traverse the scenery at a leisurely pace. There are several installation options, with more or less scenery detail, so you can experiment with what works best for you. If you want to remove the crowds for example, you un-install, and re-install with the new option. This is scenery to be enjoyed and begs to be shown to friends and family along the line of: “Who would have thought it possible?” I’m not sure that the novelty would not wear off after a few visits, but then again, a real air show is usually only visited once and probably costs more than this package, once parking and admission for a family is taken into account. Moreover, the package comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, so it is hard to see how you can go wrong. I would think that most aircraft fans would enjoy the “visit”. Summary I hope that the walkthrough of these three scenery packages has given you an incentive to investigate these “works of art” in more detail! In many ways, they are among the leading examples of what can be added to MS Flight Simulator to further enhance the flight experience. Go visit their respective websites and see if this is something that would add to your Flight Simulation enjoyment! Editors Note As you may have noticed, the rating given for this review covers all 3 products. Each of the products has merits in its own right which may differ from one of the other products. It was decided by the Editorial Staff that an "overall" award would be given instead of rating each one individually. |
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