Anyone tried the new KCRW airport on MarketPlace?

[David Mills 4,774]

I'm wondering whether anyone here has purchased the just-released KCRW (Charleston, West Virginia) airport? The screenshots look good, but I've been burned the last couple of times I purchased anything from the Marketplace (from other vendors). I wish someone would do my hometown airport of KHTS in Huntington, West Virginia. It's pretty much the worst-looking airport in the entire sim. There are jungle airfields in the middle of Africa that look better. 90% of the airport buildings are completely absent at KHTS. This was the site of the 1970 plane crash that killed the entire Marshall University football team and staff (72 total).

Edited June 12, 2022 by David Mills

[Fiorentoni 4,420]

1 minute ago, David Mills said:

I'm wondering whether anyone here has purchased the just-released KCRW (Charleston, West Virginia) airport? The screenshots look good, but I've been burned the last couple of times I purchased anything from the Marketplace (from other vendors). I wish someone would do my hometown airport of KHTS. It's pretty much the worst-looking airport in the entire sim. There are jungle airfields in the middle of Africa that look better. 90% of the airport buildings are completely absent at KHTS. This was the site of the 1970 plane crash that killed the entire Marshall University football team and staff (72 total).

What's the name of the developer?

[ryanbatc 13,057]

It appears to be Orbx's CRW I presume.  The Orbx version got good reviews.  I saw it in a Fabio stream and it looked impressive - plus has some unique terrain on and in the vicinity of.

[PilotPete99 915]

Isn’t this available at Orbx as well?
 

Cheers, Pete

[CFIJose 5,485]

I highly recommend it.

[David Mills 4,774]

You guys make a good case. I'm going to purchase it. I'll report back here later with my impressions. I've been to KCRW many times.

[CFIJose 5,485]

5 minutes ago, David Mills said:

You guys make a good case. I'm going to purchase it. I'll report back here later with my impressions. I've been to KCRW many times.

ORBX has a sale every couple of weeks. I would not be surprised if there's a 40% off for July the 4th holiday.

[CFIJose 5,485]

21 minutes ago, PilotPete99 said:

Isn’t this available at Orbx as well?
 

Cheers, Pete

This is the only one I know:

https://orbxdirect.com/product/kcrw-msfs

[David Mills 4,774]

1 hour ago, David Mills said:

You guys make a good case. I'm going to purchase it. I'll report back here later with my impressions. I've been to KCRW many times.

Well, I purchased KCRW from the in-sim Marketplace and downloaded it with no problems. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. The airport looks exceptionally good and realistic, and the FPS is excellent as well. All the airport buildings are accurate, including the adjacent Air National Guard base and aircraft and the new civilian aviation school of Marshall University. The parking garages are modelled to perfection. The out-of-place downhill creek near the runway that plagued the default KCRW has been replaced with pristine, accurate landscaping. The runway is completely new and more realistic than the default. You can go inside the tower and see all the computer and radar monitors. The inside of the terminal building has been beautifully modelled on one floor, where the snack bar and gift shops are. I've been there many times, and that's exactly how it looks. Great job! The main floor where you enter the building, however -- with the airline check-ins and so forth -- is totally vacant. That was my only disappointment. There were also additions made to the city of Charleston itself, such as a more accurate depiction of the I64 bridge over the Kanawha River. That was an unexpected delight. The Elk River topography also appears to have been improved substantially over the default scenery. I do wish the nearby Capitol Building had been given a bit of attention since there is no dome whatever on the building (in the default scenery or in this add-on). Overall, I'd rate this KCRW add-on to be 9 out of 10 stars. It was far better than I expected, so I am pleasantly surprised.

Let me say one more thing -- something that applies to this add-on and to many others as well. You need to state clearly in the promotional material that you must reboot the sim for the add-on to become available (at least on my system). After installing KCRW, I immediately spawned a flight from there, only to observe the old airport with no improvements at all. After shutting down the sim and rebooting, the new KCRW became available and was highly impressive.

I would definitely recommend this product.

Edited June 12, 2022 by David Mills

[CFIJose 5,485]

9 minutes ago, David Mills said:

Well, I purchased KCRW from the in-sim Marketplace and downloaded it with no problems. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. The airport looks exceptionally good and realistic, and the FPS is excellent as well. All the airport buildings are accurate, including the adjacent Air National Guard base and aircraft and the new civilian aviation school of Marshall University. The parking garages are modelled to perfection. The out-of-place downhill creek near the runway that plagued the default KCRW has been replaced with pristine, accurate landscaping. The runway is completely new and more realistic than the default. You can go inside the tower and see all the computer and radar monitors. The inside of the terminal building has been beautifully modelled on one floor, where the snack bar and gift shops are. I've been there many times, and that's exactly how it looks. Great job! The main floor where you enter the building, however -- with the airline check-ins and so forth -- is totally vacant. That was my only disappointment. There were also additions made to the city of Charleston itself, such as a more accurate depiction of the I64 bridge over the Kanawha River. That was an unexpected delight. The Elk River topography also appears to have been improved substantially over the default scenery. I do wish the nearby Capitol Building had been given a bit of attention since there is no dome whatever on the building (in the default scenery or in this add-on). Overall, I'd rate this KCRW add-on to be 9 out of 10 stars. It was far better than I expected, so I am pleasantly surprised.

Let me say one more thing -- something that applies to this add-on and to many others as well. You need to state clearly in the promotional material that you must reboot the sim for the add-on to become available (at least on my system). After installing KCRW, I immediately spawned a flight from there, only to observe the old airport with no improvements at all. After shutting down the sim and rebooting, the new KCRW became available and was highly impressive.

I would definitely recommend this product.

Nice review. I'm sorry you had to learn that you had to restart the sim after an airport or scenery install in MSFS just like all of us. 😀

The only thing you forgot in your review is that the taxi signs match the real airport diagram. 😀

I hate it when taxi sign are missing or wrong at a payware airport.

[David Mills 4,774]

14 minutes ago, DJJose said:

Nice review. I'm sorry you had to learn that you had to restart the sim after an airport or scenery install in MSFS just like all of us. 😀

The only thing you forgot in your review is that the taxi signs match the real airport diagram. 😀

I hate it when taxi sign are missing or wrong at a payware airport.

The more I'm continuing to explore, the more I'm appreciating the attention to detail KCRW has been given. This is the best add-on airport I've purchased for MSFS. I would love to become a scenery designer myself. It's just the tiny fact that I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever that gives me pause. 🙂

[CFIJose 5,485]

24 minutes ago, David Mills said:

The more I'm continuing to explore, the more I'm appreciating the attention to detail KCRW has been given. This is the best add-on airport I've purchased for MSFS. I would love to become a scenery designer myself. It's just the tiny fact that I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever that gives me pause. 🙂

It's certainly a must have! But, there are some more that are outstanding. It depends on where you like to fly. A member made a list of the must have USA airports. Here's one I found, but there are other threads:

 

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by DJJose

[RLJR 14]

Add on for KCRW sounds good. Now for KHTS. I was surprised to find the original sim not giving the local airports better coverage since this is the birthplace of the first man to fly faster than sound.

[David Mills 4,774]

1 hour ago, RLJR said:

Add on for KCRW sounds good. Now for KHTS. I was surprised to find the original sim not giving the local airports better coverage since this is the birthplace of the first man to fly faster than sound.

Hey, @RLJR. I'm from Huntington too. I've lived here in the same house on Washington Avenue my entire life. I'm 63. I know what you mean about the default airports. I think Tri-State is about the worst airport in the sim. I wish whoever did KCRW would do KHTS.

[RLJR 14]

David I am 83 now. I started the EAA chapter that was at KHTW until about 1980. If you spent any time at the Chesapeake Airport around that time, we could have crossed paths.

As to KHTS they should have done a better job. Someone just slipped up and I have been hoping they would rectify it on their own. Maybe later.