FSDG Pilots of the Caribbean - - - PIREP ?

[CFIJose 5,485]

37 minutes ago, sbague1 said:

Take a look at RICHER SIMULATIONS - CARIBSKY - ANTIGUA 2018 FSX P3D, coupled with Tropical sims TAPA and it's pretty amazing in V4.4. Another which isn't new but still good and a short hop from there is Latin VFR's TJSJ. And off course their is Fly Tampa's TNCM.

Scott mentioned that he had those airports.

I have all the Richer Simulations Island scneries and my favorite from best to worst are:

1) St. Kitts paired with T2G TKPK (They work great!)

2) Antigua paired with TAPA.

3) Grenada X

4) Barbados paired with the freeware TBPB

Tropicalsim titles are all good to very good, especially the titles that were updated to P3D v4.

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by DJJose

[CFIJose 5,485]

3 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Folks,

OK - so the consensus is that "Richer Simulations" provides far superior work than "FSDG" in the Caribbean... I took a look at their products and I guess I would be interested in their three latest ones - Barbados, St Kitts, and Antigua - for V4 compatibility...

It looks like they don't do the airports on the island they model though - right ? Just the satellite terrain, autogen, mesh, and night lighting ?

So Antigua I'm assuming could use TropSim's TAPA ?

What do we use for Barbados and St Kitts ? I have T2G St Kitts but I thought it had issues in V4 and I don't want to start loading only marginally working scenery...

I'm also not a fan of harsh demarcation lines between airport and surrounding scenery - it doesn't have to be perfect but it can't be a glaring deficiency...

Thanks - appreciate all the input on this topic...

Regards,
Scott

See my previous post.

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Jose,

Gotcha - thanks...

Perfect...

Regards,
Scott

[CFIJose 5,485]

1 minute ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Jose,

Gotcha - thanks...

Perfect...

Regards,
Scott

Let me know if you want me to post pics of all the RS tittles with the addon airports. They look very good together. My only gripe about the RS tittles is that at night there are issues with the light poles. They look great, but you need to lower the AG to dense or less to attain good performance. If you have a good computer, this might not be an issue.

[fppilot 4,355]

You might try out freeware Emerald Mesh 10M Terrain Mesh for Puerto Rico. It also includes the US Virgin Islands.

I completed an extensive "Caribbean Trek" last February and March, albeit with FSX.  I chronicled much of it in the screen shots forum here.  You can do an advanced search here on Avsim with the two words "Carribean Trek" and click the search option to search for only all words in the search box. Not sure how often I remarked which scenery I used.  Each day was a different post.

I looked at a wide variety of scenery options as I planned the trek, but sorry that I failed to take notes.  I have some Latin VFR for the Cozumel, Cayman Islands, and Montego Bay, and Blueprint's San Juan (TJSJ).  

For some of my destinations there was only one option, and if it was freeware I used it.  Some of those covered multiple islands/airports.  I was more interested in getting airports upgraded from default rather than past that being particular picky about items like saturation.  Of note here. I seemed to see the blue Caribbean waters as over done in the scenery's. But recently I have viewed recently posted Youtube real life videos of a Caribbean trek by "C310 Pilot" and have changed my mind.  Might look at some of those for points of reference.  That trek was to the Bahama's.

The multiple selection of commercial payware I found was typically for airports with more known excitement, like St Marteen and St. Barts.  I viewed Youtube videos to make my decisions. 

Enjoy your trek!  I plan another one this coming winter.  I like to infuse some local photos and stories into my screen shot posts.

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Frank,

Yep - I caught parts of your tour - very nice how you included some of the local flavor - certainly added interest...

Yeah - at this point - I have enough really good airports to keep me busy - I'd prefer not to visit ones that aren't so great... I'm including all the ORBX Freeware airports in the good mix - because they're good enough for me and there's literally hundreds of those... I spend a great deal of time visiting them...

I think I'll try the popular choice here and pick up Richer Sims - St Kitts and Antigua - since I already have the airports associated with the islands... Hopefully T2G St. Kitts doesn't give me an issue - I could swear I saw a post where someone was having issues with it in v4... I remember one of the gripes about T2G St Kitts was the limited satellite coverage on the island - now - I should get the best of both worlds...

Regards,
Scott 

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by scottb613

[jon b 2,041]

I used to fly the 747 into Saint Lucia quite a lot, we used to do Barbados to St Lucia and back sometimes as a shuttle flight on long layovers in Barbados, of course to 747 was the perfect aircraft for such a route ! really good fun though !

I bought the FSDG St Lucia scenery as I always used to wonder what it would be like to fly out of the Castries airport on the North of the Island as the coach used to drive along its perimeter on the way to the hotel we used when staying on the Island.

The scenery package isn't bad for the price for the whole Island and two airports.If there's one word to describe St Lucia from the air it would be green, though I agree, not quite this Kermit green though, it looks better from about 5,000ft though. There's some strange autogen with buildings sticking out from the side of hills and tower blocks south of the international Airport which may be there in real life but I certainly don't remember them and they're not on current charts. A nice touch is the helicopter that shuttles between the 2 airports, that always seemed to be taking off or landing whenever I flew in there so we had to keep a look out for it,so it's nice to see it doing its own thing as usual in the sim. On the whole I'd agree with Pat the package does replicate quite nicely the feeling of going into St Lucia in real life. It's not perfect, or anything like an Orbx package, but it's far from terrible , especially for it's price.

I've got my first real world Barbados trip since spring coming up next month, really looking forward to heading down to the Caribbean again for some sun and rum, it's a great area to fly in, both real and simulated. 

[CFIJose 5,485]

Lat time I flew to St. Lucia, we stayed at the Sandals Halcyon. When I left, I took a chopper from TLPC-TLPL  and the Pilot had to make a stop at the Hilton Hotel located in between the Piton Mountains. It's an experience I still cherish to this day.

[Mace 1,902]

7 hours ago, Pat Mussotte said:

I agree for the colours "a bit" over saturated, but the airport and the surroundings are very well modeled. When I arrive with my MD11(in FSX) I step back few years ago and I recognize St Lucia no doubt. Don't know for the DC10 you are talking about but a good one is the HJG.

Regards

Pat

That's interesting (the HJG model).  I have flown various HJG aircraft in the past, but now I'm using a modded version of the CLS DC-10 HD.  I'm sure you're pretty familiar with the FE position and could compare them well.  I may have to try out the HJG model.

[SolRayz 392]

10 hours ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Jose,

Thanks - LOL - saved me a few bucks - much appreciated - and a bit disappointing - as they look like they spent some effort on it...

This is what I have now in the area (TropSim is kind of marginal quality but better than default):

• LVFR - TJSJ Puerto Rico
• FlyTampa - St. Martin, St Barts, Saba
• TropSim - St Thomas
• TropSim - Antigua
• TropSim - Guadeloupe

Had some Taxi2Gate - but I don't think they're v4 compatible - so I haven't loaded them...

I'll take a look at Richer Simulations - another I haven't heard of...

Regards,
Scott

 

 

I really wish Tropsim TIST was better. But unfortunately if you're running Orbx Vector and mesh, the hill behind the terminal is raised and I cannot fix it. I've disable all files that could conflict in vector.  Also the scenery is an unnecessary stutter fest despite decent frames. 

[CFIJose 5,485]

26 minutes ago, SolRayz said:

I really wish Tropsim TIST was better. But unfortunately if you're running Orbx Vector and mesh, the hill behind the terminal is raised and I cannot fix it. I've disable all files that could conflict in vector.  Also the scenery is an unnecessary stutter fest despite decent frames. 

I don't like the fact that Tropicalsim failed to model the entire island. A lazy developer!

[SolRayz 392]

Also I'm on the lookout for any addons that use the Scenery Configuration merger. It's a real  pain if you're an Orbx user. I end up disabling it and butchering sceneries that require it. Now i just get rid of them.  Would rather that than butchering Orbx. 

[scottb613 1,188]

1 hour ago, DJJose said:

I don't like the fact that Tropicalsim failed to model the entire island. A lazy developer!

Hi Jose,

OK - just bought St Kitts from Richer - doesn't have an option to install in v4 and if I point it to the correct directory it fails - is there a work around ?

Also my T2G St Kitts completed successfully but the autogen buildings aren't textured... Trying the install again...

Thanks...

Regards,
Scott

Edited December 22, 2018 by scottb613

[CFIJose 5,485]

5 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Jose,

OK - just bought St Kitts from Richer - doesn't have an option to install in v4 and if I point it to the correct directory it fails - is there a work around ?

Also my T2G St Kitts completed successfully but the autogen buildings aren't textured... Trying the install again...

Thanks...

Regards,
Scott

After installation, you need to download the update, and then run the update. Any issues you should contact the dev. He's very helpful.

[fefiaviationsim 3]

Scott here's a view of Tropicalsim St. Thomas: