What aspects of addon airports annoy you the most? These are mine....

• Misalignment of runway markings (particularly the centreline) - I have seen this in far too many MSFS addon airports. Hopefully, me banging on about it whenever I can is helping to reduce the likelihood of it happening in the future. Proper beta testing would solve the vast majority of cases. As i have mentioned many times before, it is the very first thing that I check when I am beta testing UK2000 airports. It is that important to me. I do not want to see ruinway centreline markings looking like they have been painted by Michael Jackson rehearsing a dance routine. They should be perfectly straight and aligned. Always.
• Lack of proper interior modelling/poor quality parallax textures - just about everyone on this forum knows how much I like detailed internal modelling in addon airports. It makes a massive difference to immersion for me, so it is frustrating when it is not provided (or it is lacking in detail). In addition, good quality parallax textures can be really nice and convincing. On the other hand, poor quality parallax textures can look absolutely horrible and unrealistic.
• Static aircraft/museum exhibits - if an airport has certain static aircraft that are permanent fixtures and easily visible, then they should be modelled properly. I really hate it when default assets are used to represent these aircraft (and this includes museum exhibits; generally outdoor ones). There are plenty of addon airports (even freeware ones) that include beautifully modelled static aircraft that are true to life replicas of the real ones. This should be a standard feature in airport addons developed for a next generation flight simulator in 2026.

I agree re the runway markings and museum pieces, but could not disagree more on interiors. It's a flight simulator, not 'take a walk to the lounge, food court, and sit at your gate' simulator. I can do that in real life. To me the interiors just waste resources and inflate the size of scenery packages with textures that are not necessary.

Interiors are a wast of resources for me as well, but my bigest bugbear is the size of some of the files, which are absolutely enormous.  I do like the designers who allow us to disable the interiors but it would be nice if we could delete all of the related textures as well.

Another is the developers who take your money for an airport but don't update them when needed leaving you with an airport you are maybe unable to use properly (e.g after a world update).

I would never buy an airport addon unless there was an option to disable the interior, if it had one.  Utterly pointless in a flight simulator. I'm also not bothered about complete accuracy. As long as it is a close proximation, that is good enough for me. I do like to listen to the sounds with my door open when I'm done and parked up but that's pretty good in default airports anyway. 

1 hour ago, Nandengo12 said:

It's a flight simulator, not 'take a walk to the lounge, food court, and sit at your gate' simulator.

I don't walk through terminals either, but I still like interiors.  Windows and all that, y'know.   Do some developers get carried away sometimes?  In my opinion yes, but I've never found it impacting my experience in a negative way so, to each their own. 

And with all due respect, the "It's a flight simulator" canard has been used for years as an argument for and against all kinds of things.  We can all agree it's a flight simulator, but there are a great many differing opinions out there as to exactly what is and isn't a necessary or desired part of our flight sims.  In fact, many used  it for years to argue that scenery/airport enhancements in general were just unnecessary fluff and "eye candy"  - another phrase generally used in a dismissive manner that I would retire if I ruled the world 😁.

 

Scott

Definately need more animated folks inside and outside the terminal to kill off the biggest immersion killer for me - the Twilight Zone effect.

Like wise for ambient sounds.

Also when I make the ATC call to start boarding the shuttle should not be sitting on my plane and folks should move in and out.

Edited March 28Mar 28 by Sky_Pilot071

36 minutes ago, tttocs said:

I don't walk through terminals either, but I still like interiors.  Windows and all that, y'know.   Do some developers get carried away sometimes?  In my opinion yes, but I've never found it impacting my experience in a negative way so, to each their own. 

And with all due respect, the "It's a flight simulator" canard has been used for years as an argument for and against all kinds of things.  We can all agree it's a flight simulator, but there are a great many differing opinions out there as to exactly what is and isn't a necessary or desired part of our flight sims.  In fact, many used  it for years to argue that scenery/airport enhancements in general were just unnecessary fluff and "eye candy"  - another phrase generally used in a dismissive manner that I would retire if I ruled the world 😁.

 

Scott

With respect to what people used to say, not sure that is really relevant, since those arguments were in a time where resources were limited and scenery tended to gum up the sim. Now most people have the hardware to run their sim decently and scenery capability is far beyond what it once was. The baseline already moved and isn't going back. Remember when default FS98 scenery was 2-3 white box buildings with gray lines for windows??

I was just speaking to my preferences in the sim and what I enjoy using it for. I am not dictating how others enjoy it, for the record...

The only thing that annoys me is the price of them all.

 

😁

2 minutes ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

The only thing that annoys me is the price of them all 😁

This is why I try to be patient, and get a lot of addon airports when sales are on. I picked up quite a few airports recently that were discounted 30 to 50 per cent, and saved quite a bit of money in the process. For the record, a little dicky bird has informed me that MK Studios may be offering discounts on some of their airports in an Easter sale......

Other than the obvious higher level issues, my big gripe is usually not putting much effort into the general aviation area (if appropriate for the airport).  The main terminals and jetways have details down to things on the computer screens at the counter, but then you taxi to GA (and/or cargo) and it is a couple buildings and a fence.  Maybe the majority of simmers are flying the heavy iron, but I think there's at least a decent amount of GA flyers.  I remember buying one airport that didn't even have GA parking spots assigned (it was eventually fixed).  I get that won't be the primary focus, but just don't ignore that side of the airport.  

I absolutely agree, Craig. When I buy an addon airport, I want everything to be modelled to the same level. Even the old dilapidated shed that is partly hidden by trees next to the furthest boundary of the airport 

Edited March 28Mar 28 by Christopher Low

Elevation problems. Easy choice. 

38 minutes ago, Nandengo12 said:

With respect to what people used to say, not sure that is really relevant, since those arguments were in a time where resources were limited and scenery tended to gum up the sim. Now most people have the hardware to run their sim decently and scenery capability is far beyond what it once was. The baseline already moved and isn't going back. Remember when default FS98 scenery was 2-3 white box buildings with gray lines for windows??

Indeed, and yet that's still part of the argument people make against interiors.  Size and performance.  The more things change...

At any rate, my point had less to do with the historical reasons for peoples' objections and more to do with the fact that we all perceive what we want in a sim differently.  "It's a flight sim" really does mean something a bit different to each of us, then and now. 

 

39 minutes ago, Nandengo12 said:

I was just speaking to my preferences in the sim and what I enjoy using it for. I am not dictating how others enjoy it, for the record...

Understood.  No worries!

 

Scott

I can't resist buying them! I've spent more on airports than aircraft and all the other add-ons put together...

My 3 biggest issues are elevation issues, a very common lack of adequate apron lighting and static aircraft unless the statics are permanent fixtures to the field and NEVER move.