Phenomenal work. My donation's in and I'm downloading as I write this. Can't wait. I fly from KABE to KPHL frequently, and this will be a real treat.

 

Stan

 

I'm emailing Ian now....because I'll be the first to donate toward a highly detailed KABE (my home airport).

Beautiful work Ian, very happy to donate to your hard work. Enjoy a nice lunch and a few beers on me at a local pub, if that is what they are called there.

Nice work! If I may be critical and extremely nitpicky - the color saturation on the stuff surrounding the airport is a little excessive. There's a strong green hue to the phototexture. I'd change that to a more natural level, other than that the scenery rocks!

 

It will take you a little bit of time to do it if you're so inclined, but you could open the textures for the ground into Photoshop, GMIP, or any other similar type of editor and reduce the saturation a bit then resave them. Just make sure you include the alpha texture that goes along with it. I did the same thing with FSDT's KDFW since the grass ground area surrounding the airport was a little more colorful that what I liked and didn't blend with MegaScenery Dallas very well. It took me about 30 minutes to recolor them to match up, but was worth the time spent to make them to match my specifications.

 

This is probably one of the best freeware sceneries of all time, especially considering the scope of the area covered. Will be making a donation as well!!!

I'm emailing Ian now....because I'll be the first to donate toward a highly detailed KABE (my home airport).

 

Get in line Robert! I already pinged for Easton/Newnan here in E. Maryland. Anyway, you already have a famous Billy Joel song to hang your hat on!

 

On a sadder note, I lost a good friend back about 1997 who based out of KABE. Gary Blackman, then-owner of Blackman Cycles in Emmaus. He went down in IMC on approach to Leesburg, Va. in his Piper Cheyenne. I just cannot fly MSFS into either KABE or KJYO since. Having read the FAA accident report I believe he began descending from the IAF thinking he was at the FAF.

 

You will love what Ian did not only to KPHL, but to the surrounding area. Lots of accurate and spectacular visual cues added. He went well past just the airport with this project. This should be award-winning! Just look at this!

 

Great scenery, but is there a "fix" for the massive FPS degradation when using the de-icing? I know it's not an issue with the scenery, but that specific texture - but if anyone knows a way I'd appreciate it.

Great scenery, but is there a "fix" for the massive FPS degradation when using the de-icing? I know it's not an issue with the scenery, but that specific texture - but if anyone knows a way I'd appreciate it.

 

Luke! We've just come off a spell of 100F+ days and the hottest summer on the east coast in my memory! And you are de-icing! You need to chill out some! <grin> Honestly, lets please not degrade Ian's incredible work with an issue about such a small icicle in the universe of scenery.

 

BTW. As stated in an earlier message in this thread, I flew from Easton. Md. to KPHL twice today, once with default +UTX scenery, and then following installation of the SunSkyJet scenery and I did not perceive any difference in frame rate. I mean none! My system specs are available through the now-standard Avsim link in my sidebar. My i7 processor is fast, but I understand my graphics card is mediocre.

Luke! We've just come off a spell of 100F+ days and the hottest summer on the east coast in my memory! And you are de-icing! You need to chill out some! <grin>

 

Hahaha, I wasn't sure what they were when I loaded up to see the scenery and made the mistake of flying past one of them in the ultralight. :lol:

The best so far!

Very nice...and suprised its free

 

But, anyone else having issues with having it recognising GEX? Sounds like there is something wrong with the afcad?

 

The GEX path is looking at the Afcad file (Scenery/0302/scenery/APX27170.bgl).. I have taken a look at the files so don't know what else to do...

Very nice scenery! I think he mentioned the issue with GEX. Correct me if I am wrong, he stated it will be looked at as a future fix.

 

All I have to say is thank you for a high quality freeware scenery! Hope to see more in the future freeware or pay ware!

 

Happy flying!

But, anyone else having issues with having it recognising GEX? Sounds like there is something wrong with the afcad?

 

The GEX path is looking at the Afcad file (Scenery/0302/scenery/APX27170.bgl).. I have taken a look at the files so don't know what else to do...

 

I just completed my first NGX flight from ORD to PHL and it the ADE and GSX seemed to work fine for me. Although I did 2 things before flying there.

 

1. When I was at KORD I restarted Couatl from the Addon drop down menu and let GSX rebuild its scenery cache which needs to be done anytime a new scenery is added. If the GSX scenery cache is not rebuilt then GSX wont recognize the correct AFCAD file which was probably what went wrong in your circumstance. I think GSX is supposed to rebuild its scenery cache on its own, but sometimes it doesn't so its not a bad idea to do it yourself from time to time to make sure all your airports are loaded correctly and it only takes a second to do so.

 

2. Moved the GSX .ini file from the PHL scenery folder and placed it in the appropriate hidden GSX folder where the customized airport .ini files go. BTW, I think it was the scenery folder where they placed the .ini file, it could have been the texture file though I dont really remember. But that file needs to go in the GSX customized airports folder for it to work correctly.

 

Aside from that GSX worked fine there although I was parked at A3 the marshaller was hidden behind a building so I had to customized the marchaller position at a max of 5 meters for that spot so he wont be hidden the next time I park there.

BTW. As stated in an earlier message in this thread, I flew from Easton. Md. to KPHL twice today, once with default +UTX scenery, and then following installation of the SunSkyJet scenery and I did not perceive any difference in frame rate. I mean none! My system specs are available through the now-standard Avsim link in my sidebar. My i7 processor is fast, but I understand my graphics card is mediocre.

 

I wasn't referring to the FPS impact of the scenery, just the impact of when you activate the de-icing (i.e. taxi next to them). It probably has something to do with AA/AF on the texture which is continually emitted.

I have found that stadium to be right at 6 miles from the tdz on KPHL 09R and almost 7 miles from 09L. That is an incredible distance from a freeware airport for such a notable visual approach cue. That is a most significant observation about this project and its results! Visual cues like that are sadly still missing from many payware airports, instead usually only being found in payware city projects.

 

 

I was a beta tester for this scenery, and was pleasantly surprised to see Ian take my suggestion to add the PPL soccer stadium to the scenery, when it was already crowded with more than enough extra landmarks at the airport's periphery. If memory serves me correct, he went ahead and created the stadium, and even the photo-scenery ground polygon, within 3 days of my request. I was stunned to say the least. He is truly gifted when it comes to 3d modeling.

 

This project is arguably one of the finest airport sceneries EVER for flight simulator. I may be slightly biased, because I live in the Philadelphia suburbs and have spent the better part of my life spotting at the real airport or watching the departing and arrival traffic from my home, and with the advent of flight simulator, using KPHL as my simulator's home base, from the days of Fly! to FSX today. I was always wishing for a high quality payware rendition, which never came to be, apart from a basic rendition from a now defunct FS9 developer called Simflyers. But my prayers were eventually answered thanks to Shez and Ian at Sunskyjet back in late 2010, but alas, it was a FS9 only product. Nonetheless, I figured out how to make it work in FSX and was able to enjoy the FS9 iteration for some time, even offering my conversion to others so that they too could share in the enjoyment of this fine work. But it was incomplete, since it had some glitches that could not be worked out because of some FSX limitations, namely, FS9 had a flat earth model whereas FSX doesn't, so there were some minor issues with the excellent FS9 ground polygon scenery resulting in some bleedthrough, or bumps on the runways/taxiways. I was relieved to hear that Shez and Ian would embark on a FSX version. And, this was not just a quick port over, it is largely built from scratch to be FSX native, including new models and ground details, and includes new landmarks not present (at least not yet) in the FS9 file.

 

And those landmarks, I must say, are a big reason why this is IMHO the best of the best. Seldom do you see an airport scenery pay attention to one of the most crucial details that add to the sense of being there, the immersion factor, that is so necessary to truly suspend disbelief and make yourself feel like you there for real. Who doesn't wish that FSX or FS9 included more landmarks scattered about the virtual world, not just a part of the immediate airport grounds but of the surrounding territory, to act as a visual aid during approach? I cannot name many, if any, payware airports that include these kinds of scenery apart from the separate "city" sceneries like those offered by Aerosoft. Seeing the PPL park stadium AND the Commodore Barry bridge is a cue for me that I'm approaching the FAF for the visual and instrument approaches into runway 9R, and that it is time for me to drop the gear, as I have seen IRL both on the ground and in the air.

 

I am really mostly a "heads down" guy when I'm in the NGX, following ILS cues all the way even during visual approaches, but I do enjoy watching replays recorded with FSrecorder, and the first thing I will do is go to the wingview. It really is something to see the little gems Sunskyjet has added, like the obvious landmarks such as the stadiums and bridges east of the airport or the Boeing factory seen during climbout from the 27L, and the less noticeable ones like the new Comcast tower gracing the city skyline, the Cira center west of the city, and the Ikea store near the waterfront. As many a real life KPHL traveler will tell you, these are the things you will lookout for to remind you are coming home to Philly, and it's a blessing to see Shez and Ian go to the effort to model them in this scenery.

 

I apologize for the length of this message, but this airport has been the love of my life and a big reason why I enjoy flight simulator, and to see it in all it's splendid glory and faithfully recreated down to the smallest detail still amazes me. What really astounds me the most is that this is freeware. I have seen plenty of payware projects that aren't half as detailed or accurate as this airport is. I have been awaiting this day when my fellow KPHL fanatics, as well as folks who are not frequent flyers of the area, could finally share in the excitement I have witnessed as a follower of this project for the past 2 or so years.

 

Please enjoy, and make a donation if you can as a sign of gratitude. We need more developers, freeware of payware, of the oft-neglected airports of flight simulator.

Very Impressive! Thank you!

Altantic and Terminal F are the only issues I have (I do agree about the grass saturation but it's minor)

 

Atlantic and Terminal F definitely need some AI assignment tweaking.. My Atlantic is a jet parking lot and Terminal F turned into a partial GA terminal. In real life Atlantic will have a random RJ or two sometimes but it's pretty rare and it's usually parked up against the perimeter out of the way. The rest is usually GA and business jets.

 

Terminal F filled with GA

 

 

It looks like this thread over at their forums explains what's going on...

http://www.sunskyjet.com/forums/index.php?topic=832.0

 

And it may be just an issue with MTX...