Which European scenery packages are currently the best?

[mark22 2]

Hi. I have been using FS2004 for quite some time now and recently decided to try upgrading to FSX but like a lot of people it is way too powerful for my PC. It runs OK, but only just, with a lot of stuttering and freezing which is a shame as I was hoping to get some decent add-ons but I don't think my computer will cope with the strain. It's quite a new PC as well but it's just not powerful enough, so I have decided to stick with FS9 and try and make it as close to FSX as possible, so this is where my question comes in...I was wondeing which scenery packages for Europe are currently the must have's at this moment in time and which will work well with each other without causing any conflicts? From what I have seen I think a good start is Ultimate Terrain Europe but which others are the best to use with it?There are a lot of different scenery packages out which makes it confusing which to get, like FS Global 2010, Ground Environment, Real Environment, FS Terrain, FScene X (works with FS9 as well as FSX I believe) plus some products from Zinertek like Night Environment 2010 which has good reviews.I just do not know which of the above or any other I have not mentioned are the BEST to get my scenery as high as possible and to work well with each other. Any suggestions would be kindly welcome, thank you.

[Hoang 108]

This is just my point of view!For the ground,the combination of FSGlobal (for the mesh) + Ultimate Terrain + Ground Environment Pro (for the texture) would be very very nice!For the airport,well,aerosoft has lots of high-quality airports that you might wanna check it out. Their mega sceneries are awesome. Check also UK2000 Xtreme sceneries as they are high-quality too and IMO more easier on frames than aerosoft.I wouldn't recommend Zinertek though,since you already have ultimate terrain,you don't really need this. Try to look over REX (Real Environment),"huge" amount of texture for the water,sky,ground(runway) and has lots of features.

[mark22 2]

OK thanks for your opinion, I would be interested to know if others share the same opinions too. I agree though that I don't think I would need Zinertek's Night Environment as the description in Ultimate Terrain says that it has night textures so I would just be doubling up. Incidentally, I have been trying to purchase a boxed version of Ultimate Terrain Europe on the internet through any UK/European websites but cannot find anywhere that sells it, only from the USA or just the download version. Is there anywhere that sells it boxed?Yes, UK 2000 Extreme is excellent; I have UK2000 Extreme Manchester already installed which is brilliant.Before I give up the ghost completely on FSX, does anyone know if FSX Booster actually works and will it give me good results? My desktop PC is a Packard Bell A2620 Win 7, AMD Athlon II X 3 425 Processor 2.7 GHz 64 bit 3MB RAM DirectX 11 Nvidia Geforce 9200 integrated RAMDAC 1392MB.... As I said, FSX will run, but no way as smoothly as it does with FS9 and I would really like all the settings to be as high as possible but I don't think my PC will take it. I would just like to know really before I start purchasing more add-ons for FS9 or do I give FSX one last go. Or I could just go out and buy a state of the art gaming PC which will run FSX easily but unfortunately I don't have that kind of money at the moment!Your comments are all welcome! Thanks again

[kiwiflyer45 123]

OK thanks for your opinion, I would be interested to know if others share the same opinions too. I agree though that I don't think I would need Zinertek's Night Environment as the description in Ultimate Terrain says that it has night textures so I would just be doubling up. Incidentally, I have been trying to purchase a boxed version of Ultimate Terrain Europe on the internet through any UK/European websites but cannot find anywhere that sells it, only from the USA or just the download version. Is there anywhere that sells it boxed?Yes, UK 2000 Extreme is excellent; I have UK2000 Extreme Manchester already installed which is brilliant.Before I give up the ghost completely on FSX, does anyone know if FSX Booster actually works and will it give me good results? My desktop PC is a Packard Bell A2620 Win 7, AMD Athlon II X 3 425 Processor 2.7 GHz 64 bit 3MB RAM DirectX 11 Nvidia Geforce 9200 integrated RAMDAC 1392MB.... As I said, FSX will run, but no way as smoothly as it does with FS9 and I would really like all the settings to be as high as possible but I don't think my PC will take it. I would just like to know really before I start purchasing more add-ons for FS9 or do I give FSX one last go. Or I could just go out and buy a state of the art gaming PC which will run FSX easily but unfortunately I don't have that kind of money at the moment!Your comments are all welcome! Thanks again

I agree with all the scenery enhancement suggestions made above. REX is really outstanding BTW. But there is one other product that often gets overlooked. If you really want to make FS9 as close to real as you can, buy the registered version of FSUIPC. I held off for years because I thought the freeware version did all I needed. WRONG! It makes a huge difference to the way weather is rendered and raises the realism bar by a huge amount. Especially flying in Europe, you want realistic visibility limits, realistic cloud layering etc. It isn't "scenery" per se, but it will make the visual experience far more realistic.In terms of airport sceneries, UK2000 is always a solid choice as you get good scenery with decent frame rates. But if you want outstanding European airports, go with FSDT (try before you buy) and Aerosoft, especially the GAP series. They are in a league of their ownCheersIan

[scianoir 610]

Hi. I have been using FS2004 for quite some time now and recently decided to try upgrading to FSX but like a lot of people it is way too powerful for my PC. It runs OK, but only just, with a lot of stuttering and freezing which is a shame as I was hoping to get some decent add-ons but I don't think my computer will cope with the strain. It's quite a new PC as well but it's just not powerful enough, so I have decided to stick with FS9 and try and make it as close to FSX as possible, so this is where my question comes in...I was wondeing which scenery packages for Europe are currently the must have's at this moment in time and which will work well with each other without causing any conflicts? From what I have seen I think a good start is Ultimate Terrain Europe but which others are the best to use with it?There are a lot of different scenery packages out which makes it confusing which to get, like FS Global 2010, Ground Environment, Real Environment, FS Terrain, FScene X (works with FS9 as well as FSX I believe) plus some products from Zinertek like Night Environment 2010 which has good reviews.I just do not know which of the above or any other I have not mentioned are the BEST to get my scenery as high as possible and to work well with each other. Any suggestions would be kindly welcome, thank you.

HiIf you want European scenery, the FranceVFR series of airports and regional scenery cannot be beaten. I would have to say that it is by far the best scenery available anywhere in the world for FS9 and even using high demand aircraft such as those from Carenado, it is still possible to get great frame rates. Give one of the regional sceneries a try and you will see what I mean!Bill_{Windows XP Pro SP2; Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz CPU; Arctic Cool 7Pro; ASUS P5N-E-SLI Motherboard;4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM; 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX Dual VGA Graphics card;2x 500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive; 650W (2 x 12V) PSU; 2 x 1000GB + 1 x 150GB Western Digital External Hard Drive; CH Pro Yoke and PedalsAll helping to power 284GB of fs9!}

[kiwiflyer45 123]

HiIf you want European scenery, the FranceVFR series of airports and regional scenery cannot be beaten. I would have to say that it is by far the best scenery available anywhere in the world for FS9 and even using high demand aircraft such as those from Carenado, it is still possible to get great frame rates. Give one of the regional sceneries a try and you will see what I mean!Bill_{Windows XP Pro SP2; Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz CPU; Arctic Cool 7Pro; ASUS P5N-E-SLI Motherboard;4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM; 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX Dual VGA Graphics card;2x 500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive; 650W (2 x 12V) PSU; 2 x 1000GB + 1 x 150GB Western Digital External Hard Drive; CH Pro Yoke and PedalsAll helping to power 284GB of fs9!}

I haven't tried those yet as they seem a bit on the expensive side but what you say makes sense. There are so many scenery products that look great in theory but when you spend the money and install them you find out they clash with something else - landclass or mesh or coastlines are screwed up etc. To buy an "all-in-one" product is the way to go if they are available. Some examples for me are the freeware Glacier Bay, payware Red Baron New Zealand scenery (the whole country with correct terrain, rivers, lakes, coastlines) and the wonderful FSAddon scenery for the Portland, OR area. (Not just KPDX but the region around it)...Wouldn't it be nice if we could persuade all the different producers of scenery enhancements to work together? (I just purchased and installed a set of high resolution mesh that then screwed up one of my absolutely best add-on airports! Sigh)Ian

[Guest F4PhantomRAAF2]

HiIf you want European scenery, the FranceVFR series of airports and regional scenery cannot be beaten. I would have to say that it is by far the best scenery available anywhere in the world for FS9 and even using high demand aircraft such as those from Carenado, it is still possible to get great frame rates. Give one of the regional sceneries a try and you will see what I mean!Bill_{Windows XP Pro SP2; Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz CPU; Arctic Cool 7Pro; ASUS P5N-E-SLI Motherboard;4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM; 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX Dual VGA Graphics card;2x 500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive; 650W (2 x 12V) PSU; 2 x 1000GB + 1 x 150GB Western Digital External Hard Drive; CH Pro Yoke and PedalsAll helping to power 284GB of fs9!}

FranceVFR beats Megascenery. But I haven't got the new megascenery yet.I would suggest airport. Frankfurt and Paris. Zurich is free. Holland is a total free photoreal download! There is also Milan and Rome as freebies too, awesome scenery!!!!!!When I fly into Zurich it looks as if I am really there even though I haven't got photoreal pack for Switzerland. FS9 default is quite good (better than FSX in my opinion).Daniel

[mark22 2]

Thanks for all your input so far, I think I have a better idea of which scenery packages to go for now. I agree with the comment made regarding it would be nice if all the scenery producers could get together and launch an ultimate package for the whole of the world which combines everything in one then all you need to do is download updates every so often! That would be fantastic, but can you imagine the size of the programme and the cost to buy it? I am sure if it was the 'best of the best' then people would buy it no matter how much it would be, within reason of course!By the way, I did ask earlier if anyone has used FSX Booster and does it work and where can I buy a boxed version of Ultimate Terrain Europe in the UK or Europe? Any ideas please?

[Gavin 99]

FranceVFR beats Megascenery. But I haven't got the new megascenery yet.I would suggest airport. Frankfurt and Paris. Zurich is free. Holland is a total free photoreal download! There is also Milan and Rome as freebies too, awesome scenery!!!!!!When I fly into Zurich it looks as if I am really there even though I haven't got photoreal pack for Switzerland. FS9 default is quite good (better than FSX in my opinion).Daniel

Which Zurich is that please Daniel?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

Gavin,The FS DreamTeam Zurich available here. Mark22, I would also recommend FSDT's software as it allows you to trial it for 5 minutes before it disables; you get 2 versions for your money - FS9 and FSX and it is compatible with AES for maximum realism.Gary Summons' UK2000 Xtreme range of airports is superb. We in Europe are very well served. Long may it continue.

[7107delicious 0]

The Mega Airport series by Aerosoft are excellent choices for their extreme attention to detail through everything photoreal. Would normally tend to favour the FS2004 simmer as there are numerous FSX versions that do not have AES support, as well as features not supported with FSX but supported with FS2004.Dave.

[7107delicious 0]

Gavin,The FS DreamTeam Zurich available here. Mark22, I would also recommend FSDT's software as it allows you to trial it for 5 minutes before it disables; you get 2 versions for your money - FS9 and FSX and it is compatible with AES for maximum realism.Gary Summons' UK2000 Xtreme range of airports is superb. We in Europe are very well served. Long may it continue.

Make a mention of the UK Airfields Collection too!

[Guest F4PhantomRAAF2]

Which Zurich is that please Daniel?

FreeZ. http://www.flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=118909The file is 70+mb. It is an excellent addon.Daniel

[mark22 2]

Thanks Ray, I will look into that as well although I was after more in the way of mesh and scenery for Europe rather than just certain places. I have AES installed which I use with Manchester Extreme, that's my only UK2000 product as I used to live in Cheshire (Stockport) and worked at Manchester Airport as a baggage handler, so like you, I wasn't very far from the airport! Unfortunately I moved just before Emirates A380 began it's service so as you can imagine I am gutted about that! I bet it makes the houses shake when they take off over Stockport don't they?!

Gavin,The FS DreamTeam Zurich available here. Mark22, I would also recommend FSDT's software as it allows you to trial it for 5 minutes before it disables; you get 2 versions for your money - FS9 and FSX and it is compatible with AES for maximum realism.Gary Summons' UK2000 Xtreme range of airports is superb. We in Europe are very well served. Long may it continue.

[jetlag 65]

FreeZ. http://www.flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=118909The file is 70+mb. It is an excellent addon.Daniel

Version 9 is available free on the authors' site: http://lszh.aviation-art.ch/Ph