Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Patco Lch

Are default airports really so bad?

Recommended Posts

After spending hundreds on 25-30 pay ware airports around the USA, and just beginning intercontinental flight after purchase of T7 I have been looking at overseas airports I've been flying to. Before stroking the credit card for anymore eye candy I ask myself is it worth it. A lot of these airports I haven't used more then once or twice. Some have bought install issues, missing areas, using default buildings, even performance drag downs. Please don't  think I'm slamming developers as some of the recent ones are great works of art and deserve admiration as such. I'm just asking myself are defaults that bad. As a tube flyer how much attention am I paying anyway to the outside during any other time then taxi out and in. With a little search there is some interesting freeware to be had. I know it is a question of preference and $$$ but I wonder if I am alone in this pondering.


Vic green

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I only have a few and do well with freeware alternatives. Ray Smith's default airport upgrades from the AVSIM library are highly recommended.


Simmerhead - Making the virtual skies unsafe since 1987! 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There's so many decent and better freeware airports out there.  Unless you need to see blades of grass blowing in the wind at every airport, try the free ones and just go for payware if you are really going to spend significant time there.

 

scott s.

.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've installed dozens of freeware and payware airports (if not hundreds).  There are many good ones and many bad ones.  Also some which are OK.

 

With freeware, I'm just happy to try them and trash them if I don't like them. With payware I read the designers site and check for reviews on them.

 

I must say that I can't think off the top of my head that I've purchased any payware airports I don't like at all - that's because there are no surprises if you do your research.

 

What I would say is that many are way to expensive, unless you are using them regularly. The problem for the developers is that the market for each airport is so small, that they need to charge these high prices to justify the time and cost of the work involved.

 

Hopefully, one day flight simulation will be popular enough for fs elated sales to become more economical, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Always check here for freeware before buying any payware though.

 

http://walhalla.mine.nu/fsx.php

 

Some of the best payware airports I've come across are from ORBX, Aerosoft and UK2000.  Most of my flying is in Europe though other than spending some time in Australia as ORBX started there.

 

For the UK UK2000 offer free cut down versions of there extreme airports to give you a taste of what to expect and free trials of their best stuff with banners that are removed with registration - I think this is a really good business model.

 

Hunting around, I've also found one or two old payware airports that have been released free as they are quite old - there was one in the Canary Islands I think I used for a while that I may still have installed.

 

You can also brighten up a default airport by using an object placement program of which there are several, though I use the free RWY12 program myself.

 

IAN


Ryzen 5800X3D, Nvidia 3080 - 32 Gig DDR4 RAM, 1TB & 2 TB NVME drives - Windows 11 64 bit MSFS 2020 Premium Deluxe Edition Resolution 2560 x 1440 (32 inch curved monitor)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ORBX have around 50 (or more) free airports designed for their Global product for a seamless fit however they can be used with default fsx as well, just not as nice a fit but certainly better than a lot of freeware out there


ZORAN

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have bought all of UK2000' s airports since the UK is my home base, but overseas I pick up freeware, some of it is fantastic....

 

Although, I have built up the eastern Caribbean with payware as a special region to fly my BN-2 Islander in, but otherwise, freeware rules....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think default are decent. (In XP10 there's typically no buildings).

 

The problem is taxiways and runways change so at the very least it's nice to update your ADEX files.


| FAA ZMP |
| PPL ASEL |
| Windows 11 | MSI Z690 Tomahawk | 12700K 4.7GHz | MSI RTX 4080 | 32GB 5600 MHz DDR5 | 500GB Samsung 860 Evo SSD | 2x 2TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2 | EVGA 850W Gold | Corsair 5000X | HP G2 (VR) / LG 27" 1440p |

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And you can't beat the flexibility arising from the use of default files and editing them with free tools. Changing layouts, adding rwys or elevations or removing those dreaded fuel boxes literally takes place within minutes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As a tube flyer how much attention am I paying anyway to the outside during any other time then taxi out and in. 

 

I was thinking of the same thing... I am now flying tubes more and more... If I have night Environment and land at night... Default is just fine.

 

And it helps with OOM issues a lot.


Manny

Beta tester for SIMStarter 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It all depends on how comprehensive or immersive one wants to make the simulation.  We like the more complete payware jetliners over the FSX defaults because we feel they're closer to the real thing.  We can say the same with ATC and the overall simulated environment (weather, clouds, sky, water, etc.).  For me operating in and out of airport that looks like the it's real counterpart, with taxiways and gates that match the charts, famous landmarks nearby, etc., rounds up the simulation quite well.  

 

The cool thing about this little hobby of ours is that everyone can tailor it to their preferences, simulating as much or as little as they like.  


dv

Win 10 Pro || i7-8700K ||  32GB || ASUS Z370-P MB || NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11Gb || 2 960 PRO 1TB, 840 EVO

My Files in the AVSIM Library

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The majority of money I've spent for FSX is for payware airports and some small photoscenery areas. I own very few planes, maybe 10 at the most but the only ones I currently have installed are the NGX and T7, the rest I never moved over to my newest rig. Figured there was no point since those 2 PMDG planes are flown 99% of the time.

 

I've never liked the default airports since they use so many shared textures, they all pretty much look the same. In fact, when I first moved to FSX from FS9 the thing I hated more then anything was the lack of payware airports.

 

Years later I've amassed a great enough library of airports that I can pretty much fly where I want without ever having to takeoff or land at a stock airport.

 

Another problem for me was that I would get really dismal performance at stock airports like KDFW, KJFK, and KLAX. It wasn't until FSDT developed these airports that I could finally fly into them with great FPS and high levels of detail.

 

I am pretty selective about freeware airports but do have a lot of Shez'es airports, SunskyJet, and a few other well done works.

 

I've been lucky that the few bad apple airports I've bought that performed horribly, I've been able to fix myself by doing simple things like resizing textures, adding mips, and in some extreme cases, decompiling the bgls, removing certain FPS hogging models/items then recompiling them.

 

Having said that, since performance is not of any concern, I appreciate a well done airport to fly into other take off from. That coupled with my PMDG a/c provides everything I need for an enjoyable flight.


Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

To answer the original question, yes, I think they are.  Other than perhaps a vague resemblance to the real world layout, I find the vast majority of the default airports to be completely horrible.

 

However, I'm not a fan of fully done payware airports either, at least not when the level of eye-candy affects performance.  This holds true for both small and large airports.

 

The middle ground for me is the vast number of freeware airports available.  Even when they are simply an updated AFCAD with buildings and hangers added to represent the proper locations of their real world counterparts, it adds so much to the sim, with often no hit to performance whatsoever.


Jim Stewart

Milviz Person.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you use realistic AI like World of AI or something, you will find that the default airports aren't really adequate in regards to gate space for large airports like JFK or LAX. Those airports have at least 100 gates in real life. In the simulator, you'll be lucky if there's 20 gates at the default airports.


Captain Kevin

nGsKmfi.jpg

Air Kevin 124 heavy, wind calm, runway 4 left, cleared for take-off.

Live streams of my flights here.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Quality of the default airports only is a concern if you frequent them.

 

I Hub out of DFW, so the default configuration is very noticeably lacking, I rarely go to O'Hare so the default presentation doesn't bother me.

 

Going payware only makes sense for your base of hub airport, you spend most of your time there and would want it to have high fidelity to your real life experiences.

 

The only other justification for replacing an airport would be the default terminals being completely off (like default Dubai) but unless it's your hub check freeware options before splurging on the payware.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...