BARGAIN? Technobrain Haneda on sale: what are current opinions?

[Benjamin J 751]

Hey all,

Ever since getting the PMDG 747 and the BS A330, I've been expanding my 'operations' away from the EU and the US to explore new 'markets'. Thus I've been solidifying a route network in the Middle East, as well as Asia. And while the former is almost complete (just need FT's Dubai, as well as hoping that Armi project will put their P3Dv4 OOMS back on sale sometime soon), Asia is far from it... I've got Hong Kong setup, as well as Taipei and some other cities sort of in-between, with my first foray in Japan coming from BDO's Kansai, which is a beautiful addon. However, I recently saw that Technobrain's Haneda came on sale at Simmarket.

What attracts me to it is that Haneda has an intriguing location, being in the harbor. I like these 'on-the-water' type airports, especially the island-type runway. I also read on their product page that they have modeled some Tokyo city landmarks, which would be nice to have, though I know that there are some other Tokyo city sceneries available. Finally, Haneda has service to essentially all Asian airports that I already have (e.g. BDO's Kansai, PS's Incheon whenever it's released, or PS's Taipei), or am planning to get when they are on sale (such as IS's ZSPD). However, what holds me back is the still-high price, even when on sale, the fact that the ground textures appear a bit simple, and the fact that the connections with other cities that do exist are typically not operated by the 747 or A330, meaning I won't really be using Haneda with the planes I'd typically want to sue it with.

With all that in mind, I wonder what you all think of this scenery? If you have it, do you think it was worth your money?

As an aside, WC's Narita is pretty much the same price as on-sale Haneda, and Narita would probably be a better fit for the flying I intend to do. I've never really considered getting it as the scenery looks technologically very outdated. But, if I;d be spending some 30$ on a scenery, Id be more inclined to get the scenery that gives me the chance to fly the connections with the aircraft I'd wanna fly them with. How do the two sceneries compare, and would you say Narita is better 'value' (whatever that means when sceneries are this expensive...)? On the downside, Narita is not actually P3Dv4 compatible it seems, and lacks P3Dv4 features, such as dynamic lighting. So, is there a preference between one or the other?

Thanks!
Benjamin

[F737MAX 5,535]

I took a chance on this scenery as it is on sale - I remain ambivalent about it.

Some aspects are nice. The modelling and texturing of main terminal buildings, towers and runway approach lighting systems are pretty good (Taxi2Gate standard). The dynamic lighting appears to have little impact on FPS, but is basic.

However, it feels like a FSX port into P3Dv4. The maintenance buildings have basic textures, ground textures are sloppy, Ctrl+J jetways instead of SODE, stand guidance systems at gates don't work, and most importantly when on runways 34L or 34R looking past the scenery and towards the the city, that hurts FPS.

It's a very mixed bag.

If you must have a Tokyo scenery, then go for this while it's on sale. But it is expensive for what it delivers.


Have some pictures to look at to help you decide:

Edited December 20, 2018 by F737NG

[Guevorkyan 69]

Ok, that ground poly turns me way way off.

 

Thanks, says my wallet.

[Benjamin J 751]

Thanks for those shots! I have to say that those ground textures are way too basic for an airport with that price tag... Pretty big turn-off for me. It's sad because the buildings themselves don't look too bad...

[LH340fan 54]

Aprons look fine. However taxiways look terrible... At least now with GSX2 jetways isn't a problem anymore...

[kdfw__ 539]

rjaa works fine with p3dv4 and it pretty good. ground texture is basic satellite img with txy/rwy layered on top.  performance is good and captures the essence of rjaa.  txy/rwy night lighting is also good.

be sure to use this to give the scenery more features:

https://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=wc_rjaa_ade_mod.zip&CatID=p3dafcd&Go=Search

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by kdfw__

[Skywolf 992]

First time hearing about this developer but what a name Techno Brain.....I bet they love techno music 😋 yay!!!

[Benjamin J 751]

On 12/21/2018 at 3:27 PM, kdfw__ said:

rjaa works fine with p3dv4 and it pretty good. ground texture is basic satellite img with txy/rwy layered on top.  performance is good and captures the essence of rjaa.  txy/rwy night lighting is also good.

be sure to use this to give the scenery more features:

https://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=wc_rjaa_ade_mod.zip&CatID=p3dafcd&Go=Search

 

Thanks for the heads-up on that enhancement! I decided not to get Haneda eventually, but then I found Narita to be off just an hour ago or so, so I picked it up. Installing soon. Looking forward to giving it a whirl.

[kdfw__ 539]

On 12/23/2018 at 8:43 PM, Benjamin J said:

Thanks for the heads-up on that enhancement! I decided not to get Haneda eventually, but then I found Narita to be off just an hour ago or so, so I picked it up. Installing soon. Looking forward to giving it a whirl.

i like the rjaa 34R short rw landing, flying over the farmhouse that the airport authority failed to buy out. 

anyhoo, since rjtt was on sale, i finally got it.  not bad--fps wise looking ok so far, decent airport scenery (textures could use more details).   also using the freeware downtown tokyo scenery that adds to the experience, esp the 34R toram departure hooking a tight right over the bay.  also, lead-in lights are dynamic lights: it's cool how the strobes illuminate the vc thru the windows as approaching the landing threshold.  

so i guess i'll be doing my quickie rjaa<>rjtt circuits on the pmdg airliners more often.  a good buy in my book.

[kdfw__ 539]

another word on this rjtt: the author didn't mip map all the textures so a hot mess of shimmering buildings...  once mip mapped, all is good.  i need to drop a note to the author about this.