New download released today - Skysoft Simulation Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. Their work is payware quality - not to be missed so if you like it as much as I think you will, check out their previous offering as well.

 

If you're like me, I have become so accustomed to the high standards of recent payware airports that very few freeware ones hold my interest anymore and I rarely bother to download them these days. But Skysoft Simulation is up there with some of the best

Cheers

Ian

My sentiments exactly.. we're spoiled, and delighted by it all!

 

Thanks for the pointer, I have their other sceneries and all are excellent.

Yes, we really are spoiled. What would once have made my jaw drop in amazement now seems cartoonish. The bar just keeps getting higher and it must be very difficult for designers to keep up unless it's their job and they have the time and resources to keep improving.

 

But then along comes a freeware addon like this and once again the "magic" is there and you find yourself flying in a scene where the distinction between "real" and "virtual" is easy to ignore. And there's that sense of awe that there are people out there with that kind of talent and commitment who are willing to donate their work free of charge to a community of people they will probably never meet. Amazing and very, very cool!

 

BTW folks - not only is their previous airport also of outstanding quality, it can pose a real challenge for your flying skills, as it is one of the highest elevation airports in the world. If you want to know what "density altitude" is all about, try a take off in your favorite Cessna. (Unless it's the Caravan, but that's cheating! LOL)

(AVSIM library - ZUJZ_2011)

Nice scenery. I don't fly much in China, but I have all of the other freeware Skysoft Simulation scenery. So I will be installing this scenery tomorrow.

Looks really good. I never really fly this part of the world, but I might give it a whirl soon. Thanks for the heads up - I've never even heard of this developer before.

Thanks Ian :-)

Much as I enjoy your comments, I find it rather sad that you somewhat decry the enormous contributions of freeware scenery made by enthusiasts. Without it FS9 would be a more barren place, of course if you fly way up in the clouds you will miss the goodies we VFR guys enjoy, but then again you know all this. Just now going to download your recommendation ! Keep writing Ian, I do read all your mails.

Slainte

Echofox.

Like many, I expect, am awaiting SkySoft's forthcoming (payware?} ZBAA. Their jewel in the crown.

I find it rather sad that you somewhat decry the enormous contributions of freeware scenery made by enthusiasts

It does sound snooty, but I don't think it's meant that way... most of the bases are covered (for me anyway) in FS9, so these days I look out for sceneries that would draw me, beyond what I'd normally look for.

 

This goes for content as well as modelling excellence - I love finding amazing bits of architecture in good sceneries!

The Skysoft guys (among a select few others) hit that spot exactly, and if it's freeware it's a bonus.

 

In no way does this detract from the "second-tier" freeware sceneries - it's part of the strength of the hobby that if you for some reason want to go bush flying in the Wop Wops, some enthusiast will have stitched something together to improve the experience!

I definitely didn't mean to belittle the contributions of any freeware producers and still use a number of older sceneries that are maybe not "state of the art" but cover a place that I want to fly to. But I'm sure that many of those freeware artists (and payware producers) would admit that some of their earlier work is not to the standard they would achieve if they did that same scenery today. Its not a criticism - just an observation of reality that there are techniques and tools available now that were not there previously.

 

I was really reflecting on how much the art of FS9 scenery has dramatically improved in the past year or so - what was exciting and cutting edge not long ago is now "the norm" and what was the "norm" is now dated and just isn't as convincing as it first seemed. One example is the use of photorealistic terrain backgrounds. A scenery using the old standard textures used to be fine, but now when I look at one, it seems somewhat "cartoonish" compared to what we have become accustomed to. That's not a criticism - just an observation of the way it is...

Cheers

Ian

Thanks for the heads up Ian. I looked at the screenshots earlier and downloaded it with no intentions of installing it in the near future, but based on your thoughts I may just bump it to the top of my things to do with / for FS9 list. Thanks again!

 

Mel

Nice one !

 

 

This is great ))

Finally got round to this one... I have a few really blue roofs, and random blue bits of photoreal.

I suspect there's a texture mismatch, or some missing textures.

Is it just in my sim?

No, you are not alone. Maybe they had a surplus of blue paint!