I'm considering buying several Aerosoft US Cities X scenery add-ons. (The discussion in a thread last summer touched on a few questions I have about the them but didn't answer the questions. http://forum.avsim.n...es#entry2420911 )

 

The sim stores description blurb for each of these scenery titles says, "It is clearly intended to fill the gap between the default scenery and very high dense city scenery such as Manhattan X, London VFR or Venice X. Because the file size is rather large due to the ground image it only includes one season (in most cases this is not a real issue) and no night textures. The VFR flights over these cities are mostly a day time affair anyway."

 

So, since the scenery only shows one season and no night textures, is there a way to turn off the Aerosoft US Cities scenery for when you want to fly, say, during winter, or at night? Maybe a simple switch that applies in setting up the scenery?

 

And supposing you are flying over downtown Chicago at night with the Aerosoft scenery installed, what textures end up being displayed? Is everything black? Or do default FSX textures become active?

You should be able to toggle the scenery on/off through the Scenery Library.

 

Without night textures the default scenery would show.

You should be able to toggle the scenery on/off through the Scenery Library.

 

Without night textures the default scenery would show.

If default night textures show, I can live with that.

They don't show, and everything looks dark. It's a big problem and why I wouldn't buy any of those products.

Las Vegas has night textures.

But to be honest, the textures are not that brilliant, the towns are usually cut into various pieces covered with custom ground textures and buildings, and the in-betweens are just default textures, which looks a bit strange, too. Furthermore, some of these sceneries don't perform as good as I expected them to do on my rig, especially Los Angeles, which is nothing more than a slideshow anywhere near KLAX.

On the other hand I get great performance with Las Vegas, FSDT's KLAS and Blue Sky Scenery coverage.

Unless you are into helicopter flying, these sceneries are of limited use and will consume your FSX resource (i.e. memory). I only had the Cleverland one, as I bought into its specialness to pilot. However, in the winter up north as it is now, the lack of appropriate texture starts to annoy me.

Unless you are into helicopter flying, these sceneries are of limited use and will consume your FSX resource (i.e. memory).

I second that. The only exception might, again, be Las Vegas, because it adds some nice features on approach to McCarran (or Nellis), just in the right distance, so the blurry textures can not be noticed. Especially a night arrival at Las Vegas can be a very cool experience with this addon, IMHO.

I second that. The only exception might, again, be Las Vegas, because it adds some nice features on approach to McCarran (or Nellis), just in the right distance, so the blurry textures can not be noticed. Especially a night arrival at Las Vegas can be a very cool experience with this addon, IMHO.

Interesting, so you are saying that performance is good for the Las Vegas one? I may have to take a second look at this one. What I am afraid of is that flying complex aircraft like the NGX will slow down to a slide show on approach and these sceneries. One other thing, FSX already has Las Vegas pretty detailed, I would be interested in knowing your comparison.

 

Thanks

Do not get Aerosofts Las Vegas... particularly if you already have Mega Scenery Vegas (city). Aerosoft's LV city sucks. The building textures are far far worse than even the default buidling textures. I realized how badly it sucked when I went flying after installing it (but before activating it) and two sets of buildings were visibile. I thought the ugly ones were the default ones and the awesome ones were from AS LV City. It turned out the other way around.

 

But the other city scenery from Aerosofts are ok//some of them even brilliant. Aerosoft's Manhattan, Venice, London VFR are absolute must have.

 

AS Chicago is ....mmm..not bad...but more than lack of night lights, I don't care for the pasty white phototextures for the city. At night, they are not black..its just that they are not lit. I don't find it distracting at all. You just can't go chopper flying to the cities.. is all. But its not intrusive to me flying into O'Hare or something... cause the city phototextures are lit up for the night.

 

AS LA City is very good too. A Must have..since it also comes with Catalina Island and its amazing airport.

What I am afraid of is that flying complex aircraft like the NGX will slow down to a slide show on approach and these sceneries.

I can't say anything about that, as I don't have the NGX. Also note, that the most complex airliner I occasionally fly into LAS is the iFly 737, but usually I use the more "lite" aircraft due to time limitation, so it's quite likely that FPS will be lower, but on the other hand your computer seems to be quite a bit better than mine.

 

Aerosoft's LV city sucks.

...

AS LA City is very good too.

Interesting, how opinions differ. I find it exactly the other way round. Maybe that's only, because my computer is too weak for LA? (I set less custom/more autogen buildings already to achieve higher FPS, but with only little effect.) But I totally agree with you on Catalina island. That one's really great, and strangely enough my FPS are OK there. Could be that Downtown LA is too far away to have an effect.

AS LA City is very good too. A Must have..since it also comes with Catalina Island and its amazing airport.

 

I'm fairly happy with LA as well, though there are some drawbacks, including some conflicts at airports if you use it with MegaSceneryX SoCal (KONT for one). Someone mentioned that these are only useful if flying helicopters up close, and I'd actually argue the opposite. Up close, the buildings really don't look that good. What they do, at least for LA, is fill in and make views from a distance look better. For example, on approach to KSNA, while the airport is the same the surrounding landmarks are all upgraded, making things look much more familiar as you fly in.

 

No, there are no night textures in most of them. No big deal, just deselect in the scenery library if you're doing a night flight.

 

BTW, most reports suggest that the buildings on the strip in Las Vegas are actually less detailed than the ones from Acceleration.

 

Scott

The San Francisco scenery is perhaps their best. I highly recommend it. The Chicago scenery is rather poor as soon as you leave the immediate center of the city. Again the US Cities X SF is really detailed and realistic and not too too bad on frames.

Try setting vehicle traffic to 0 and see if it helps. I know, I know.... What is LA without jammed freeways? But anyway you can check out some of the fine work done with downtown LA. See if you can find the San Antonio Winery near the concrete LA river. Try to find the twin towers jail facility where Paris Hilton spent a few nights. Drop in on the Hooper Heliport (home of Blue Thunder).

 

 

Slim

But, when combined these cities are sold under ten euros. Cheap...

But, when combined these cities are sold under ten euros. Cheap...

 

Hmmm. I haven't seen any bargains that good!