Review: Daytona Beach International X by Aerosoft

Daytona Beach International X

A review by Mike Cameron

Introduction

   I always like to provide a brief history of the scenery area and the airport as an introduction before starting the formal review.  I will also list the Aerosoft scenery features at the end of this section.  Information for the introduction was gathered from the following websites, www.daytonabeach.com , www.codb.us (official city website), www.flydaytonafirst.com , www.airnav.com and the Aerosoft product page.  Influential people have been arriving to the greater Daytona Beach area for centuries and contributions made by them continue to live on today for all to enjoy.  The explorer Ponce de Leon, during his 1513 search for the Fountain of Youth, discovered the now popular Deleon Springs located just west of Daytona Beach.  Dr. Andrew Turnbull homesteaded 101,000 acres of land as the New Smyrna Colony (now called New Smyrna Beach), just south of Daytona Beach.  Mathias Day, a wealthy Northern tycoon, was so completely enamored with the area that he became the founding father of Daytona, (now called Daytona Beach). He purchased 3200 acres in the fall of 1870 for a total cost of $1200.00 and built the very first hotel in 1874.  Daytona officially became a city when it was incorporated in 1876.  In 1926, the three separate towns of Daytona, Daytona Beach and Seabreeze merged as Daytona Beach.  Other famous people that are involved with the history of the Daytona Beach area include Henry Deland for whom the City of Deland was named, founded Stetson University in 1883; John D Rockefeller discovered Ormond Beach’s immaculate golf courses, made his winter home in the area.  Civil rights leader & educator Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune founded Bethune – Cookman College (now called Bethune – Cookman University since 1904), to educate daughters of African American workers on the railroads and Bill France founded NASCAR in 1948 and built the World Center of Racing, Daytona International Speedway in 1959.  Auto racing was popular before this when auto racing became a regular pastime along the hard packed beaches at the turn of the 20th Century.  Ormond Beach became known as the “birthplace of speed” do to the various land speed records set there.  By the 1920’s, Daytona Beach was dubbed the “World’s Most Famous Beach.”  Today, the hard-packed beach sand and the alluring Atlantic Ocean attract millions of tourists annually.  The Daytona Beach area boasts one of only a few beaches where driving and parking are allowed but is also perfect for other popular outdoor activities including bike riding, jogging, swimming, fishing or just relaxing.  The City of Daytona Beach is home to a university that is familiar to many aviation and flight simulator enthusiasts, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.  Besides the famous beach and raceway, other landmarks of the area include The Clock Tower & Band shell, Daytona Beach Pier, Halifax Harbor Marina, Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Municipal Stadium, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Ocean Center, Peabody Auditorium and the Tarragona Arch.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Daytona Beach in 2013 was estimated at 62,316 people.  

Daytona International Airport History

   In the early days of aviation the white sands of Daytona Beach served as the only runway for daredevil pilots who were hired as guest entertainment for the upscale hotels of the area.  This entertainment source made the beach itself Volusia County’s first airport.  Soon entertainment shifted to service aviation when Pitcairn Airways began making regular airmail deliveries on the beach.  Also, the very first ever flight of a twin engine aircraft left the ground from Daytona Beach.  In 1928, the City of Daytona Beach moved this beach airport to scenic Bethune Point along the Halifax River and in 1930 the city moved the airport from Bethune Point to its present day location.  The rough construction included signage made from an old wooden surfboard planted firmly in the ground and the runways were made from coquina rock.  Today the surfboard sign is located in the airport terminal on the second floor.  In 1940, the city hired a zookeeper to run the airport but the zookeeper also brought the animals with him.  The US Navy took control of the airport during World War II for pilot training and the city regained ownership of the airport in 1946.  At this time air travel was replacing rail travel as the favored mode of transportation.  The first terminals and hangars were constructed starting in 1952 and throughout the decade passenger and cargo service grew to 6000 aircraft per week, including Eastern, National and governmental airlines.  In 1958, a federal aid program provided funding for construction of a new modernized terminal with many amenities and the terminal design promoted Daytona Airport to one of most modern and safest airports in the State of Florida.  Volusia County took over management & operational control of the airport in 1961 and was renamed Daytona Beach Regional Airport and in 1992 it was transformed into Daytona Beach International Airport.  This new 46 million dollar expansion surpassed the design of the former airport adding an international terminal and a newly extended 10,500 foot runway to accommodate larger aircraft.  Today Daytona Beach International Airport provides carrier service from Delta and US Airways.

Airport & Runway Information

ICAO Code: KDAB

Elevation: 34.1 feet

Location: 3 miles SW of the City of Daytona Beach

Control Tower: Yes

Pattern Altitude: 965 Feet (light aircraft) and 1365 Feet (high performance)

Nearest Navigation Aids:

Ormond Beach VOR (OMN) 112.60

New Smyrna Beach EVB (EVB) 417

Sanford NDB (SFB) 408

Aircraft Based on Field: 235

Single Engine: 173

Multiengine: 40

Jet Aircraft: 21

Helicopter: 1

Aircraft Operations: Average 800 per day with 67% transient general aviation, 28% local general aviation, 3% air taxi, 2% commercial and

Additional Note: Heavy migratory bird activity on or around the airport

Runway 7L/25R

10,500 x 150 Feet, Asphalt/concrete grooved in good position, High intensity edge lighting

Runway 16/34

6001x150 Feet, Asphalt/grooved in fair condition, Medium intensity edge lighting

7R/25L

3195 x 100 Feet, Asphalt in poor condition with uneven pavement on the outside edges, Medium intensity edge lighting

Aerosoft Scenery Features

Installation

   Aerosoft products are very easy to install.  I received the review copy directly from Aerosoft so your install process may be different.  After purchase you will receive an email with a link to your Aerosoft account.  Log in and select the order number for this scenery.  A new window will open with the download link, your purchase email and a very long Serial number.  First I recommend some form of download manager because the download size is very large, 3.36 GB.  Also, unless you are an excellent typist (I am not), I recommend copying the Serial Number to the Windows Clipboard and paste during the installation process.  I actually go one step further and create an email to myself with this information so that I do not have to log into my account if I need to Install Daytona Beach again at a later time.  The current full version is 1.10 so as with all software occasionally check to see if there are updates or full versions available to download.  Before starting the install process and if you own any Orbx scenery products, Open FTX Central and activate the Global or Default Region because the Daytona Beach International Airport scenery is located outside of the Orbx regions.  Unpack and start the setup program, select the install language, accept the license Agreement, read the message on the next screen, enter your Customer Email & Serial Number, click “Next” and if everything is entered correctly you will receive the wonderful “Success” message.  Next is the simulator selection screen and Aerosoft provides a triple installer for FSX, P3Dv2 and FSX: Steam Edition.  I will be reviewing the FSX: Steam version of the scenery.  Unfortunately, Prepar3D Version 1 is not supported and this is the first product that I am aware of that does not support both versions of Prepar3D.  The installer should automatically find your simulator location but if it does not click on the “Browse” button to manually locate.  I like that Aerosoft provides an information page before installing the files so if you made a mistake, you can go back and correct it.  This is a very large scenery file so it may take some time to install the files to your hard drive.  If you have your simulator on a traditional (non SSD) hard drive, I recommend defragging after installation.  After the files are copied you will be given the option to run the Aerosoft Launcher Setup now.  I already have this program installed but still perform this step just in case is has been updated.  The program responds that I already have the latest version so I select “Cancel” to close this program.  The Aerosoft Launcher is a wonderful utility that allows you to update your Aerosoft products, read the documentation and more.  For now I just want to open the Daytona Beach X documents and two are included, a 16 page charts document and a 13 page manual.  The first half of the manual is in English and the second half is in German.  Aerosoft has also included a wonderful Scenery Configurator tool for customizing your scenery experience depending on your system resources.  I enabled all of these options because I now have a moderately powerful computer system.  Press “Install Selected” to install the selected features.  All of my review screen grabs will be with all of these features enabled because there will be a lot to cover and comparisons of all of the various scenery features would be a review in itself.  I did not see an option for compatibility with other scenery products so I hope Daytona Beach X will be compatible with my Orbx Global and Vector products.  For some reason I had to manually add this scenery to my FSX: SE Scenery Library but once I did this, the airport looked like it should in the simulator.

Airport Ground Tour

   I always like to walk or jog around new airport scenery to look at the quality and features of the airport.  I use the free Orbx Bob first person simulator to perform this task and am going to start at Runway 16, walk in a clockwise direction and return to where I started.  There are some major scenery features just outside of the airport boundary so I will occasionally leave the airport to visit these locations.  The first screen grab provides a view of the nice looking runway textures, runway/ramp signage and the ground vegetation is also impressive.  I like the textures of the well-used taxiway, there are not any cracks but there are ramp textures that indicate that different sized aircraft have operated at this airport.  This is also a good place to review the airport signage night lighting effects which look great.  I am happy that there are not any extreme halo effects.  From this view I can also see the lighting inside of the distant buildings and this to looks realistic.  I have the Orbx HD Trees installed and the trees on and around the airport looks like they belong in Florida.  The first group of static general aviation aircraft that I come across is on the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University ramp.  I like the consistent look of these aircraft which is what I would expect at an aviation university.  I also like that the exterior textures indicate that these are training aircraft but I am not wild about the opaque windshields.  I would rather like to see clear windshields or window shades.  The Emery Riddle University buildings also look very nice.  The airport lights have a very nice effect, I like how these lights are aimed at the ground which is how it should be and it is nice to see some light displayed on the ramp.  I like the real world objects that are included with the scenery, the only thing missing are some students walking around the area.  They do not need to be animated but it would have been nice to have some people at the airport to complete the experience.  Walking around the campus, I feel that I am actually there which is great.  The windows and doors are two dimensional so I cannot have everything and it would also be nice if there was some building signage.  The small ground objects are just as impressive looking as large objects which is another feature I look for with quality scenery products.  At the area where there is a small building there are also some ramp lights placed here so I capture a screen grab of the lighting effect which is very impressive without a large halo effect which for me ruins the atmosphere.  Next I come across some more general aviation aircraft for the ATP Jet Center and continuing south I get a look at the first building with some signage, the ATP Jet Center.  I like the radio frequency and phone number placed clearly on the outside of the hangar building.  Airport vehicles also look great with some angular features but at least the vehicle signage is readable which is nice.  Both the small and large hangars have great looking textures I just wish some of them were open as well as have some static aircraft parked outside.  The Southeast ramp provides plenty of parking for simulated aircraft but again no static aircraft are included as part of the scenery which is too bad.  I am now going to walk west to explore the other side of Daytona International Airport.

   The first building that I come across is the fire station and the tower.  The textures of these structures are very good looking and I love the hedge around the parking area but it would have been nice to have a static fire vehicle parked here.  Maybe I will see them elsewhere on the airport.  I do like that the garage for the fire vehicles is open and that there is some detail inside.  Next I walk by another general aviation parking area and the Yelvington Jet Aviation facility, and again there are plenty of open parking spots but no static aircraft.  It would have been nice to see some static business jets parked here.  I decide to exit the simulator and verify that I have the Maximum Static Aircraft option enabled in the Scenery Configurator tool and I have this setting set to “Dense” for both static aircraft and airport equipment.  I wonder what a “Lite” setting would be like and I cannot believe having more static aircraft would affect performance that much.  I continue my tour and next up is the Daytona International Speedway scenery objects.  The speedway stadium and racetrack are very detailed so I am going to leave the airport and explore inside this facility.  The scenery details inside of the entrance are just as impressive as the exterior textures.  Besides the animated race cars that you can hear around the airport and get louder when you are near, there is also an animated Ferris wheel.  I did not have a performance drop with these animations enabled which is wonderful.  I normally do not post frame rate information because everyone’s system is different but I am going to make an exception for this scenery because I have my frame rate locked at 30 frames per second and I consistently received this performance wherever I was at the airport with all of the scenery features enabled.  The only thing missing from the racetrack is spectators but this was probably done for performance reasons and I do not have an issue with this.  I just wish Aerosoft would have included some static people at other areas of the airport.  The air carrier ramp includes everything that you would expect, high detailed jetways, airport equipment & vehicles and ramp markings.  I also like how you see inside the Terminal from the ramp which adds to the realism.  Oddly, there is no building signage, aircraft or airline workers as part of this scenery which would have greatly added to the overall experience.  I tried adjusting the time of day and increasing the amount of AI Airline traffic but unfortunately the results were the same, so airline jets.  I consider this a serious omission and do not know why the developer decided to do this but even if they just included one static real world airline would have greatly added to the experience and realism level.  What I also do not understand is why my Ultimate Traffic 2 aircraft did not display in the scenery, maybe I did not have the time of day set correctly.  I am now going to walk around to look at the entrance of the Terminal to see the features included at this area of this scenery.  Before entering the Terminal I want to say that the exterior textures of this building are great looking and there is signage on this side of the Terminal.  Even the small no parking (Loading & Unloading Only) signs have some detail.  The roadway signs are also very good looking.  Walking a little further away it is nice to see that the nearby hotels have some detail from a ground level perspective.  Now I am going to walk back and enter the Daytona Beach International Terminal.  The interior is an optional feature so if you don’t like it or will ever go back inside; it can be disabled with the Scenery Configurator.  The interior is very detailed with three dimensional features, clear signage but no people.  I cannot believe that having some static passengers and workers would have that much of a performance impact.  Also missing are airline ticket counter signage but at least this is a start, for many years all that was modeled with airport scenery products were exterior features of airport buildings.  I am not able to walk to the second level but as you can see from my screen grab there are plenty of features on that level.  Walking back outside, I was able to find one of the airport fire vehicles passing by and they became visible and are moving when I increased the Airport Vehicle Traffic slider to 100 percent.  At the Shelt Air and Phoenix East general aviation ramp, it is nice to see another type of static aircraft included with the scenery besides the Cessna’s.  This is one of the minor nitpicks that I have with the Aerosoft Daytona Beach X scenery, the lack of variety of static aircraft.  It is nice to see that there is some real world signage on the doors of the Phoenix East building.  It is also nice that Aerosoft included a large open hangar here and love the amount of detail included inside.  I have now completed my ground tour and overall I am very impressed with the Aerosoft Daytona Beach X scenery product.  They have included many high quality textures and features without a performance penalty.  It is now time to explore the area from the air.

Daytona Beach Aerial Tour

   I like to explore the scenery area with the default Trike Ultralight.  Next I find a website that lists the major point of interest locations for the scenery area and preferably one that includes maps.  I am going to use the Trip Advisor and will also use a moving map on my iPad that includes a Google or some form of street map for reference.  Let’s get started and I do not have to travel far to see the first major landmark, The Daytona International Speedway.  I depart the active runway and flyover Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.  The airport, Embry Riddle and the racetrack all look just as impressive from the air as they did from the ground.  The other buildings associated with the racetrack are also included with this scenery and look just like the real world buildings.  Aerosoft has even included shopping malls near the airport and you can even read some of the store names which is very impressive.  I now want to quickly comment about photoreal textures included with this scenery.  As with all photoreal textures, everything is placed in their real world locations but these textures are not designed to be viewed from low altitudes.  So parking lots, parked cars, streets and other features may be blurry looking when viewed from low altitudes.  I do not have an issue with this as long as there are enough three dimensional objects placed there also.  Personally, I found that with this scenery that when viewed from 1500 feet or above resulted in clearer ground textures and I am still low enough to see what I am looking at.  After the racetrack flyover, I notice that a landmark that I mentioned in the introduction, Bethune- Cookman University is northeast of the airport so I am going to fly over it before heading east to the famous beach.  As I am flying around I notice another benefit of photo scenery, is that every park, athletic field, golf course and other features are placed in their real world locations.  As mentioned earlier, depending on your altitude, look very nice from the air.  The next landmark travelling east is the Jackie Robinson Ballpark and even though this is a photo real textured landmark it still looks good.  The marina photo textures look less impressive from lower altitudes with two dimensional boats but again when I fly at higher altitudes this is not an issue for me because of the large scenery area included.   The bridges of the area are three dimensional and look very nice.  Obviously, a scenery product titled Daytona Beach had better have a great looking beach and Aerosoft does not disappoint.  The ocean textures are also excellent, though my Real Environment Extreme textures may have something to do with the water textures.  The area of Daytona Beach that I captured a screen grab of is also the site of the Daytona Beach Pier and Boardwalk.  The Boardwalk includes an animated Ferris wheel and another thrill seeking amusement ride.  I decided to land on the beach so that I could capture some ground level photos of this area.  I also captured a screen grab of the amusement area at dusk and the lighting effects are subtle but it would have been nice if the nearby buildings could also have been lighted.  At least these buildings and the other major buildings along the beach are very detailed and I could even read a hotel name when I flew over them.  I am now going to travel south and fly over the number one thing to see when visiting Daytona Beach according to Trip Advisor, the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse.  Before reaching the lighthouse location, according to the map is a Manatee Protection Zone and there is a maximum 30 mile per hour speed limit.  I am sure this only applies to boat traffic.  I continue to enjoy the beach scenery as I travel to the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse and am very happy to report that this point of interest location is modeled in 3D along with the nearby park which is wonderful.  Also, the simulated lighthouse looks similar to the real world one which is a nice bonus.  Besides the beach the other natural scenery features look nice especially when flying at a higher altitude.  Some may complain about photoreal textures but again I do not have a problem with this scenery’s textures because of the large area included and amount of 3D objects that are included.  I have now reached the southern boundary of the scenery which is just south of Massey Ranch (X50) which is 14NM south of KDAB.  I will visit the other airports included with this scenery in the next section.  The northern boundary of the scenery is just north of Flagler County (KFIN) 19NM north and the western boundary of this scenery extends from Lafayette Landing (FD90) 11NM west.  For this scenic flight I have only traveled over a small area of the Aerosoft Daytona Beach scenery but I would be remiss if I did not pass over one of the major attractions of this area, golf courses.  There is one located northeast of Daytona International Airport so I will fly over it before landing.  I decided to capture my final approach to Runway 7L both during the day and at dusk to see the approach lighting effects and the approach lighting is very impressive. 

Cross Country Destinations

   Having a detailed premium airport is great as a home base but it is also nice to have some airports within a short to medium cross country flight for a famous hundred dollar hamburger or to just visit a new airport.  Luckily, Daytona International Airport is located in Florida and there are plenty of airports to choose from.  Included with this scenery are an additional six airports located in the Daytona Beach Area.  I have already mentioned Massey Ranch, Flagler and Lafayette, the other three are Ormond Beach (KOMN) 8NM north, Spruce Creek (7FL6) 6NM south, and New Smyrna (KEVB) which is 9NM to the south of Daytona Beach International Airport.  These airports are not as detailed as Daytona Beach International but all of them include airport adjustments and all except Lafayette Landing include custom taxiway and runways.  For longer flights there are several premium airports available from other developers as well as some quality free upgraded airports.  I do not own the other Florida premium airport products but I do have the Orbx Global & Vector products installed and there are three free Global upgraded airports located in Florida for longer cross country flights.  These are Winter Haven Municipal (KGIF) 76NM southwest, Venice Municipal (KVNC) 146NM southwest and William P Gwinn Airport (06FA) 141NM south of Daytona International. 

   I just purchased a restored 1959 Piper Comanche 250 and for a check ride I am going to fly to all of the Aerosoft upgraded airports travelling north and flying to each of these airports in a counterclockwise direction.  The first stop will be KOMN followed by KFIN, FD90, X50, KEVB and 7FL6 before returning to KDAB.  Before starting this flight I want to first load a helicopter and capture a screen grab of the Halifax Medical Center helipad which is also included as part of this package.  As you can see from my screen grab the helipad and the roof of the hospital is very detailed and looks nice.  I forgot to include the hospital in my aerial tour so I going to go the street level and capture a picture of what the rest of the buildings look like.  The buildings look lice but for some reason they are all elevated in my simulator.  Also if you are going to start a flight from this location, remember to select “Active Runway” or you will be placed on one of the ground level helipads and if you have the same issue that I have, you will have all of the elevated buildings around you which does not look good. 

   Now let’s begin the check ride in my wonderful Piper Comanche 250.  I have completed the preflight inspection have started the engine and am now ready to taxi on this beautiful June Summer day.  The weather should be favorable to be able to see the scenery from an aircraft larger than the Trike Ultralight.  As you can see from the following screen grabs that even though these airports are not of the level of an ultra-premium airport, the runways, taxiways and even the buildings look very nice.  I like that the buildings have multiple textures (not just a single color for all buildings) and have three dimensional doors which adds to the quality of the scenery.  The downside of these airports besides have the same buildings repeated for all of the airports are that there are not any static aircraft which I miss.  The exception is Lafayette Landing which is a private airstrip with a grass runway with a couple of houses and the building has some environmental textures which is great.  I have now completed this nice flight and besides taking a look at these airports, I also became more familiar with my wonderful new aircraft.  Oh by the way if you have not already guessed it, is the outstanding A2A Piper Comanche 250 and this is the perfect aircraft for exploring the flight simulator world.

Conclusion

Accessibility

  The Aerosoft Daytona Beach International X is very accessible because it is available from multiple flight simulator web stores in many different countries.  Also it can be installed to FSX, P3DV2 and FSX – Steam edition without an additional purchase which is great.  If you are still using Prepar3D Version 1 series, it is time to upgrade because that simulator is not supported.  An X-Plane version is also not available at this time.

Affordability

    This scenery package is 24.95 U.S. which I consider very affordable considering the size of the included scenery area and the amount of included features.  I also like that Aerosoft provides a triple installer for FSX, P3Dv2 and FSX-SE without having to purchase additional licenses if you own multiple simulators.

Ease of Installation

  Aerosoft products are very easy to install though I recommend copying & pasting the long Serial Number to avoid typing mistakes.  Also this is a very large file so I recommend defragging if installed on a traditional hard drive.

Features & System Performance

   Just about everything that you would want in premium airport scenery is included (ultra-detailed airport with Terminal interior, local points of interest, large photo scenery area as well as some extra airports).  System performance is outstanding and I do not think anyone with a computer purchased in the last several years should have an issue with all of the scenery features activated.  Aerosoft includes the wonderful Scenery Configurator that allows you enable/disable features to improve performance, personal preference or for other software compatibility.

Final Thoughts

   I am very impressed with the Aerosoft Daytona Beach International X premium scenery product.  If this is your first premium airport for the State of Florida, Daytona Beach is a nice central location for exploring this state and the Southern part of the United States.  I did not mention this in the previous conclusion sections but the included photo textures are pretty good and I think is best viewed from a 1500 foot altitude or above.  This is low enough to be able to see the various points of interest land marks but high enough for a minimum amount of blurry textures.  As with all photo textures there are some blurry textures (parking lots, marinas with 2D boats) but there are enough three dimensional objects plus the large scenery area for me to overlook these shortcomings.  Also, as far as I can tell or I just did not notice it, the scenery blending with my Orbx Global textures was very good.  I did have a couple of minor issues with this scenery, the static aircraft are great looking but I wish there was some variety.  The two general aviation aircraft were Cessna’s and a Diamond DA-42.  It would have been nice to see other types of aircraft included both small and large.  I also would have preferred clear windshields instead of the opaque ones that are modeled.  Lastly, I would like to see some people at the airport; they do not need to be animated but having some workers or students near the Embry Riddle aircraft would have greatly added to the experience.  I want to thank Aerosoft for providing this wonderful scenery for me to review.  For information and to purchase Dayton Beach International X from Aerosoft, please visit the product page located here: http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/iboshop.cgi?showd,,D13192 .

Test System

Hardware:

Computer Specs:

• Software:

  • Intel Desktop Computer
  • Intel i5 4670K 3.4Ghz Non OC Processor
  • 8GB DDR3 1833 Memory
  • 2TB SATA HD (7200 RPM)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX970 Video Card with 4GB GDDR5 Memory
  • Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick

  • Flight Test Time:

    • FSX: Steam Edition, Windows 7 – 64 Bit
    • REX 4 Texture Direct with Soft Clouds
    • Orbx HD Trees, Global, Vector, Europe Landclass & Multiple Regions
    • FS Global 2010 FTX Compatible
    • DX10 Scenery Fixer
    • FSX Fair Weather Theme

    •  

      • 15 hours