REVIEW: UK2000 Glasgow

[109Sqn 1,574]

2 minutes ago, stefaandk said:

Bottom line their airports are good but not good value for money.

Exactly. If this was an FSX release, we'd be praising it almost universally.

[omarsmak30 4,068]

Thanks for the review. Indeed, I also think 19£ for this quality is too much, even I was complaining about JustSim asking for too much with underwhelming quality and it seems UK2000. I also i agree, payware and freeware devs on MSFS have pushed the bar on what is feasible in the sim, if this was for FSX and P3D (I would assume is the same 3D models that FSX, P3D and X-Plane based on), it could be fine but for MSFS nope. 

[Chock 17,769]

Oh dear. Like many people, I've been a fan of UK2000's efforts in the past because they were one of the few developers which covered the UK in depth, and their efforts tended to run well in being detailed enough without going overboard on visuals, but being accurate in what was there in terms of placement. This was important when you could conceivably have two or three of their airports being close enough to one another for them all to load into FSX or P3D when we were struggling on frame rates.

That's not really so much of an issue in MSFS now and so we're looking at products which don't really fit the bill. This is true of some other developers too who I've been a fan of when there was a sensible reason behind their ethos, for example Virtualcol, whose cheap and cheerful add-on aeroplanes were similarly justifiable for their decent frame rates. Their recent MSFS Beech 99 is decent looking on the exterior, but there's really no good reason for it to not have a visually much better effort in the cockpit with MSFS and it's only really that there aren't too many add-on aeroplanes available at the moment which gives it a reason to still be worth purchasing, although they at least have put it out there at an acceptable price given this is the case.

Unfortunately, the chronological irony of the name UK2000 is being writ large here it would seem. We can only hope that the standard improves, otherwise these developers will be consigned to the 'they were good at the time' category, and that'd be a shame, because their support was appreciated and I'd like it to be the case that it still could be.

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Chock

[cianpars 1,170]

I have always liked UK2000 scenery, but alwas felt they would sell a lot more at more realistic prices.  But you can't have your cake and eat it, as they say.  Either the prices must drop or the quality must improve. I really hope they can up their game though as it would be a shame to lose a small regional developer.

[FilbertFlies 980]

I share the general sadness at the state of this scenery. I didn't enjoy doing this review. I've been using UK2000 airports for 20+ years. For most of that time, they were among the best quality add-on airports out there. For the rest of that time, until FS2020 came along, they were perhaps not the very best but they were still very good, and they were always excellent value for money. 

I really want Gary to continue to succeed - he deserves to after his decades of devotion to our hobby. Ideally I'd like him to succeed by improving the quality of his airports but, if that isn't possible, I'd like him to succeed by dropping his prices and selling more copies. Then I could say things like 'sure, this isn't a top end airport, but it's a significant improvement on the default, it has a really nice atmosphere and, at £8, it's really good value for money". 

But at the same time, what do I know? Maybe with the increased potential customer base, he's doing as well as ever with the current pricing structure. I'm no businessman, I just know what I like and I know what I want to happen!

[Amon1973 1,421]

If Uk2000 can somehow temporarily reduce the price of their airports for MSFS ,it would be beneficial for the business in the short term while he is learning the new SDK for MSFS, as for what ever reason UK2000 seems to be struggling with the standard of airports when compared to other established devs, as his quality and reputation improves again then the prices will be able to rise.

Short term pain for long term gain, he might even find he is actually better off with a lower price, as more simmers might buy more airports, I know I would.

[hanhamreds 592]

What a crying shame, UK2000 was supposed to be my go to for UK airports, however and unfortunately it looks like EGGD will become my only purchase for the foreseeable future - and in all likeliness succeeded further down the road.

For what it’s worth I really want Gary to succeed and produce top quality add-ons! 

[henryhtc 0]

hello everyone , I recently purchased the Glasgow uk2000 scenery, on the whole I was happy with the  package , a few wee niggles aside , but having flown (as a passenger ) into Glasgow many many times its a pretty good representation of the airport and for me has improved my enjoyment of the sim , so was £18 pounds too much to pay for that I think not , but there's were costs and the comparison with free products becomes very subjective. as for the 'wee niggles that  I  had ....I decided to try to enhance the airport by adapting the approach scenery using the google photogrammetry data.I know there are issues regarding the legality of this , but its for my own enjoyment and use and I thank google for providing the data that allows this to be even possible and from those clever folk out there on the web wo discovered how to make use of it and shared their knowledge on youtube.  it took me a weekend of trial and error ..but ive now achieved what i had been wanting all along and for me the approach into rny 23 over the clydebank  area is as close as i could wish . ive attached a photo ......this is my first post on thi forum so hopefully it will work .  cheers 

 clydebank rwy 23.jpg - OneDrive (live.com)

[Christopher Low 5,359]

For the record....that large crane on approach to runway 23 is included in ORBx TrueEarth GB North for P3Dv4 (and presumably XPlane 11). This is not a dig at Microsoft Flight Simulator. Just an observation from a P3Dv4 user.

[henryhtc 0]

Hi Christopher , i take it you were able to see my photo .....ive only ever used microsoft flight sims since the early 1990s  and fell out of the way of and lost interest until it recently...  to me i think that its just such a big thing that they have taken on ..the whole world ..that they are reliant on he community to fill the gaps in. which in truth has always been the case. 

 

cheers

henry

 

[henryhtc 0]

sorry folks Im new to this dont think the picture share /uploaded correctly try this instead.

[Christopher Low 5,359]

I saw your screenshot over on the UK2000 forum, Henry. It looks good!

[omarsmak30 4,068]

Did you guys see this post?

[109Sqn 1,574]

3 minutes ago, omarsmak30 said:

Did you guys see this post?

Surely Microsoft tell devs what commission percentage they take before someone signs up to have their products appear in the Marketplace, don't they? Or have I completely misunderstood how the Marketplace is set up?

[omarsmak30 4,068]

2 minutes ago, 109Sqn said:

Surely Microsoft tell devs what commission percentage they take before someone signs up to have their products appear in the Marketplace, don't they? Or have I completely misunderstood how the Marketplace is set up?

I don't know maybe based on the amount of sale? 

But I thought almost all resellers charge, I think UK2000 never sold on a reseller website? I found simmarket with crappy website charges 30% (https://vendor.simmarket.com/register.php) so I would assume the better resellers e.g ORBX and Aerosoft would definitely charge more than 30%, I would assume no less than 40%