In previous generation sims I was using Flightbeam, FSDT, LatinVFR, Flytampa, ORBX Justsim etc...

I see there are additional 3PDs like MXI Design, Amsim, M'M Simulations, Verticalsim, Feelthere developing many new airports for MSFS.

Do you recommend getting these when on sale? Are they an improvement over the default ones? I've encountered several threads in which people are very pleased with the default airports.

Flightbeam is having a 35% off and so are MXI Design and M'M Simulations on some airports

 

Edited May 26, 20224 yr by Shomron

14 minutes ago, Shomron said:

In previous generation sims I was using Flightbeam, FSDT, LatinVFR, Flytampa, ORBX Justsim etc...

I see there are additional 3PDs like MXI Design, Amsim, M'M Simulations, Verticalsim, Feelthere developing many new airports for MSFS.

Do you recommend getting these when on sale? Are they an improvement over the default ones? I've encountered several threads in which people are very pleased with the default airports.

Flightbeam is having a 35% off and so are MXI Design and M'M Simulations on some airports

 

From those you mentioned I'd say M&M and Verticalsim are worth it on sale, the rest only when you really want that location/airport. MXI is the worst, Feelthere's KLGA/KRDU/KLAX are alright, OMDB and the new EDDF are awful.

Also I generally recommend Pyreguee's Airports, they are top notch up there with Flightbeam and Flytampa.

I think your best bet is to go on Youtube where people do airport reviews, and compare the airport to the default airport.

For the airports that I fly in, they make a huge difference.  I own CYVR from FSimStudio and VHHH from WFScenery. Both these airports are much better than the default airport.

But like I said, spend a few minutes on Youtube to check out the custom handcrafted airports and you can quickly decide for yourself.

Edited May 26, 20224 yr by abrams_tank

I see Flightbeam have several airports which are also handcrafted by Asobo...dilemma....

Edited May 26, 20224 yr by Shomron

Which kind of airports ?
Big ones for airliner oprations or regional ones and bushstrips for VFR ?

Which regions do you fly ?
And yes, wait for Sales if you wanna save some money. They happen in the Marketplace several times a year...Easter, Black Friday, X-Mas....
Or just look at the weekely sales that happen for various reasons or sales at other vendors or developers directly.

Personally I do not buy airports that exist as handcrafted airports from World Updates by MS/Asobo. They are usually good enough for me.

Also definititely check freeware first. There is crazy good freeware out there at flightsim.to 

From the top of my head, my favourite airport scenery designers in MSFS are TDM, Pyreegue, Sierrasim...I mostly fly in South America nd Europe (and bushflying in Africa).

For some cheap German Airports with good quality check https://freds-airports.sellfy.store/ (I have no affiliation)

 

 

Edited May 26, 20224 yr by darshonaut

6 minutes ago, darshonaut said:

Which kind of airports ?
Big ones for airliner oprations or regional ones and bushstrips for VFR ?

Which regions do you fly ?
And yes, wait for Sales if you wanna save some money. They happen in the Marketplace several times a year...Easter, Black Friday, X-Mas....
Or just look at the weekely sales that happen for various reasons or sales at other vendors or developers directly.

Personally I do not buy airports that exist as handcrafted airports from World Updates by MS/Asobo. They are usually good enough for me.

Also definititely check freeware first. There is crazy good freeware out there at flightsim.to 

From the top of my head, my favourite airport scenery designers in MSFS are TDM, Pyreegue, Sierrasim...I mostly fly in South America nd Europe (and bushflying in Africa).

For some cheap German Airports with good quality check https://freds-airports.sellfy.store/ (I have no affiliation)

 

 

Airports serving airliners mostly in US and Europe. Also central and South America

45 minutes ago, Shomron said:

I see Flightbeam have several airports which are also handcrafted by Asobo...dilemma....

The handcrafted airports by Asobo, IMO, are generally pretty good.

When you said "default" airports, I thought you meant the airports that were generated by AI in MSFS, rather than the actual handcrafted airports.  For the handcrafted airports, you should double check if the ones sold by other 3rd parties are that much better than the Asobo handcrafted ones.

If it's a default airport that was generated by AI (so it's non-handcrafted), the 3rd party handcrafted one will almost always be much better.  If it's a handcrafted airport by Asobo, I'm not so sure if a 3rd party airport is that much better than the Asobo one (the 3rd party one is still probably better than the Asobo handcrafted one, but it's probably not miles and miles better than the AI generated ones).

Also know that some of the handcrafted airports in MSFS in World Updates were  actually contracted to 3rd party developers to complete - I believe Gaya and OrbX were contracted by Microsoft to do some handcrafted airports in some of the World Updates.

So for Flightbeam, I would compare a Youtube video of their airports to the handcrafted one that you already get in MSFS.

Edited May 26, 20224 yr by abrams_tank

11 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

The handcrafted airports by Asobo, IMO, are generally pretty good.

When you said "default" airports, I thought you meant the airports that were generated by AI in MSFS, rather than the actual handcrafted airports.  For the handcrafted airports, you should double check if the ones sold by other 3rd parties are that much better than the Asobo handcrafted ones.

If it's a default airport that was generated by AI (so it's non-handcrafted), the 3rd party handcrafted one will almost always be much better.  If it's a handcrafted airport by Asobo, I'm not so sure if a 3rd party airport is that much better than the Asobo one (the 3rd party one is still probably better than the Asobo handcrafted one, but it's probably not miles and miles better than the AI generated ones).

Also know that some of the handcrafted airports in MSFS in World Updates were  actually contracted to 3rd party developers to complete - I believe Gaya and OrbX were contracted by Microsoft to do some handcrafted airports in some of the World Updates.

So for Flightbeam, I would compare a Youtube video of their airports to the handcrafted one that you already get in MSFS.

Thanks what do you mean by an AI generated airports? You mean the jetways / colors and all airport objects are also driven by satellite maps? 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

13 minutes ago, Shomron said:

Thanks what do you mean by an AI generated airports? You mean the jetways / colors and all airport objects are also driven by satellite maps? 

The AI generated airports have generic buildings, that don't exactly look like the buildings at the airport in real life, like the beginning of this video:

The handcrafted airports have buildings that match the airport in real life, because a human went through and created a custom building that matches the building in real life, including the windows, the colors, the shape, etc.  

Most of the airports in MSFS are AI generated airports because there are over 37000 airports in the world in MSFS and it's practically impossible to handcraft that many airports. So for the AI generated airports, buying a 3rd party handcrafted airport will usually be much better than the AI generated airport.

1 hour ago, Shomron said:

Airports serving airliners mostly in US and Europe. Also central and South America

For Europe definitely look at the Pyreegue Airports.

And, as mentioned, before shelling out hard earned money, the Int. Airports category at flightsim.to, sorted by 'moste liked'.

https://flightsim.to/c/scenery/airports/most-liked

Some of them are outstanding.