I'm a long time FSX and P3D user who may be switching to XP.  I tried XP10, but it didn't do it for me for a number of reasons.  However, I'm quite impressed with the beta version of XP11.

 

One question that I have is using the Scenery Gateway to add airports to X-Plane.  How does one keep up with changes or updates that are made to all of those airports?  It would seem to be a major task to keep up with changes and airports with perhaps tens of thousand airports.  Thanks, Rick

It's pretty simple, when a new airport is added to the scenery gateway and then eventually "approved", it's automatically included in one of the next releases of X-Plane. So you'll get all the new airports when you update X-Plane.

 

If an airport you're interested in has already been approved, but you don't want to wait for the next release of X-Plane, you can download it from the gateway and install it manually.

That is simple!  Thanks for the information!

It's pretty simple, when a new airport is added to the scenery gateway and then eventually "approved", it's automatically included in one of the next releases of X-Plane. So you'll get all the new airports when you update X-Plane.

 

If an airport you're interested in has already been approved, but you don't want to wait for the next release of X-Plane, you can download it from the gateway and install it manually.

Er... do you mean to say all those airports will be added automatically to XP...? So I don't have to search for and download any of them unless I want a new one NOW? Will 3D airports always be prioritized? I saw there is a 3D version of EHAM online but in my sim EHAM is still flat. So I could manually download this one (it's not approved yet) or I could just wait for approval and it will show up in my sim automatically in time?

Er... do you mean to say all those airports will be added automatically to XP...? So I don't have to search for and download any of them unless I want a new one NOW? Will 3D airports always be prioritized? I saw there is a 3D version of EHAM online but in my sim EHAM is still flat. So I could manually download this one (it's not approved yet) or I could just wait for approval and it will show up in my sim automatically in time?

 

Correct.

 

However, in this specific case of EHAM, I installed it and noticed that it only contains some houses around the airports, and not the airport buildings themselves! Very strange... If you check its status though, you'll notice it's listed as merely "accepted", and not "approved", meaning it's not been evaluated yet. Probably it will not be approved since it's lacking airport buildings!

 

For the rest, yes, all the airports listed as "Recommended" get added automatically in future X-Plane updates.

 

http://developer.x-plane.com/?article=airport-scenery-gateway

It's also worth noting that the approval process is very slow at the moment - there's a significant amount of airports that have been recently updated due to some of the new features that have been introduced. So if you don't see it in the next update or so, be patient, it'll get there.

 

It's also worth noting that just because an airport is 'flat', doesn't mean that it won't get included in a future version of XP; it simply needs to be an improvement over what was existing to get 'recommended' status. So, if the airport was purely default, then even a submission with a corrected location, or an updated taxiway layout but no buildings, will still likely be approved and marked as 'recommended'. As such, an airport with an accurate layout + 3D buildings will then get recommended over one without any buildings.

 

The system works pretty good, and generally ensures that eventually you'll always see the best available airport for your chosen location.

Ok, cool. Or well, cool... I was hoping to download some airports with buildings there but apparently I have to look elsewhere (?). But well, it's nice that everything will be added to XP automatically.

So, if I manually add an airport that is currently not yet approved and it becomes approved later or a "new and approved" version comes along does the next update add the newest approved version to my installation?

If you have one installed, generally it will use that one until you either remove it or update it. The ones that ship with X-Plane should have a lower priority. There have been instances when an update hasn't improved an airport and people have downloaded and kept the older one (but improvements are subjective and what one sees as an improvement another person doesn't).

 

I like airports with the correct layout (who wouldn't?), but I'm not a big fan of the generic buildings (It gets a little repetitive seeing the same blue hangar everywhere). 

That makes sense - thanks!

Also worth mentioning that the XP11 beta does not yet include some of the newer 'reviewed & approved' Gateway submissions.