Good news from south east Asia

After the last focus on Shanghai Pudong, i did not want to forget the southern countries, especially Thailand and Malaysia. There are so many bubbles and buds in this region that we will hear about a lot of projects in the coming weeks. The first one is the main airport of Ko Samui island in Thailand and the second one is the Wattai airport in Vientiane (Laos). These projects are for FS9 (the first one) and FSX and will be usefull connections to Bangkok or Singapour in south east asia. By the way, there is a good website (malaysianwings) where some sceneries and tips can be found. For example, i found a Kuala Lampu Intl airport ("KLIA"), made by local designers for FS 2004. This airport is partly working in FSX, despite 2 graphics bugs. It is a pity nobody can rework this scenery. May be if we offer some donation ?

Mountain air : a zest of disappointment

Dangerous airport vol.1 just released, i wanted to test one of the most famous american airfield : 2NC0, Mountain air in North Carolina.

The private airfield has been kindly reproduced with the sloped runway, the golf and the home blocks overhanging the runway. Okay, it's nice, it's Aerosoft quality garanteed but we would have like something more here.

First, if there are cars and people, there is no traffic at all in the surroundings ways, unlike in Saint-Martin scenery from Fly Tampa where motorcycles are driving around. Second, when taking-off or landing, there is a light blurry effect on the runway despite all the configurations i tried. Third, there is no rain effect on the ground texture of the runway.

Despite this zest of disappointment, Mountain air VFR is a perfect complement to Ingalls field in Virginia (Pacific Island Simulation) and it will be 220 nm from the upcoming VFR Appalachia.
I will talk later on of Barra in Scotland but i think that to reunite in the same package airfields from Scotland, USA and Lesotho is a bit odd.

Step a foot in Asia : Pudong ZSPD

Ok stop dreaming. This FSX Pudong airport is dedicated to powerfull machines with I5 or I7 Intel Core range. With minimum settings on my Quadcore 2,33 Ghz & Nvidia GTS250 & 8 mg RAM, i barely touched 7 fps.
Never mind, i cannot ignore this product as more people are coming on the I7 nowadays. Shanghai Pudong is an enormous airport and there are opportunity - if you are not accustomed to fly in Asia - to start from this point and fly to Seoul Incheon, Honk Kong Chek Lap Kok, TaoYuan Taipei, japan airports etc. (more resources at the end of this article).

Elite-Air Studios did a good job in redefining the coastline, adding up accurate ground textures on 100 squares miles. They put all the cargo areas, jetways, and a lof of headquarters buildings and hotels. I would have add cars traffic but they were certainly fighting with the framerate already. This airport is also a paradise for the heavies and a lot of B-747, B-777 and MD-11 were showing up with My Traffic.
2 files of about 850 mb are to be downloaded prior to install the scenery. It is also recommanded to put these files in a folder because the installation will request files. It is weird but you will not find Pudong in China folder. In FSX, ZSPD is stored in P.R. China (people's republic of China) and i did not find any explanation.










Quality 8/10 FPS 5/10 Interest 8/10 Package 6/10

More resources ;
* From Pudong, it is possible to fly to Japan (Osaka is just 720 nm away). There is an interesting website ( http://www.aerosim.co.jp/ ) who is announcing a Kobe and Fukuoka airports. There is also a Kansai airport but its expensive and i would rather like find it on a regular webshop.
* To fly to Seoul Incheon, there is still a http://www.overland.co.jp/ where we can download patches.
* To Beijing airport, will have to wait the Beijing 2008 project for FSX. It is still under contruction but nearely finished.

A bad habit

I am really found of Imagine simulation sceneries and sorry if they get the "Worst website" award from AirdailyX. I am not worried for them, they have good competitors on this matter.

What is worrying me, is this new habit, which consists to deliver a small upgrade just to update the official release date (or maybe is it just the webshop's mistake ?).

Washington Dulles KIAD was not released on 12/13 december 2010. Sorry. I bought my copy in august 2010 and it was definitely not even a "fresh" fruit at that time. And about this 1 megabytes upgrade, there is strictly no information on what have been improved. Imagine Sim team have top priority to answer this post. Mistakes happen.

flightbeam KSFO V.1 for FSX (almost) ready

Flightbeam Studios homepage has been updated and announce the FSX scenery. The product will be downloadable from the website very soon now. Includes, PDF guide, charts and features (AES option etc.). Flightbeam Studios promises effective framerates. (And what about an effective price too ? )
A fs9 version is at a drawing stage.

Ariane Design FMC : some clues

While we are waiting for the promised navdata (more than a year ago), i tried to re-use this aircraft. Despite its "black sheep" reputation, the Ariane B737 has some major qualities ; high-fidelity overhead and IRS, full hydraulic, electric managment, very good lights, extra views and a good framerate.
I checked the FMC and remind myself of the REF NAV DATA PAGE (via Init ref, Index nav data). Here you can create a missing waypoint or navaid which will help you (finally!) to draw a flight plan.

Example : i want to add the waypoint ALARO. I enter ALARO in key left_One (5 digits) and as the FMC cannot find it, a new page Ref Nav Data offers you to enter geographic coordinates in key left_3 and right_3. Here is the tricky part but its the same with many FMC : for 47°29'30N, you must enter N4729.3 and for 003°03'50E, it is E00303.5 and it works. The dot is figured by a button. Press Exec and that's it.
Try first with a fake waypoint (TEST1 here) beacause i did not find the way yet to delete the coordinates once written. It is registered in your navdata.dat in FSX&9\Ariane\Navdata\ (if you find the solution; indulge me). The good thing is that created waypoints will stay in the database.
In the legs, you can of course enter all relative waypoints needed in the usual way, by defining the navaid + heading / distance (example in San Jose CA : SJC130/15 put a point from VOR SJC at 130° heading and 15 nm). But that's common knowledge.

This article can be questioned/completed. it will be lately store in tips & tricks page.

Akesoft Valencia LEVC : quality freeware

You might have heard about this spanish Valencia freeware already. Here is a short focus. Distributed by Akesoft (http://www.ake-airlines.es/akesoft/LEVC-X/, the file is 65 mb heavy, is for FSX and FS 2004 and has an automated installation. On FSX, the folder can be transfer from Programfiles to your FSX scenery\addon scenery\ folder. We don't know much things about the team behind this project although it is supported by the spanish (IVAO) VA airlines Ake-Airlines.

The photo-like ground textures equals good paywares and the airport is fully depicted with its main terminal, gates, jetways and cargos aeras, plus the Air Nostrum hangar. Are still missing though, some industrial plateforms and surrounding houses but the project is maybe unfinished. I have just one regret about the FSX defaut roads traffic that has not been removed or adapted to the airport. A few textures are flikering but once again, this might be my own settings (i am using Nvidia inspector now). Akesoft works with 3DS MAX and Photoshop. This promising team already announced new projects : Vitoria LEVT, San Sebastian LESO (oh yeah! ), Reus LERS, Girona LEGE and Pamplona LEPP.

UK2000 Gatwick V3 : effective effects

The last product from UK 2000 is not just a good polishing and updating. Gary Summons knows he has to surpass FSX possibilities to stay amongst the best. Gatwick V3, a 80 mb file,changes completely the ground (adding 50 cm images), the buildings textures and a accurate AFD file. But it also adds stunning textures and lights effects. New runway lights are very effective under the londonian fog (i can even see them at 1/4 mile visibility) and the rain effect is totally home-made. Gary also found a trick to apply snow ground on the airport and reduced some blurry effects encontered with some configurations. Despite the size of this airport, the second largest in UK, the FPS are quite smooth ; around 12 frames/second wih a Airbus X at gate, with dusk and 50 % Ai traffics. (my computer is quadcore 2,33ghz+nvidia GTS250).










Left : custom-coded ground polygons
Right : new effective lightings on runway

Airsimmer has the right to exist

An IT consultant, a graduate from french Nancy science & industry school, a graduate from a University of Aerospace Instrumentation, from economics and management, from Moscow engineering physics institute, from russian academy of civil aviation, a Vatsim pro controler, a degree in electrical machines and automated design systems, sound specialists, radio technicians, programmer.. here are the Airsimmer team. And oh, i forgot, all of them are found of aviation as much as us. They certainly not desserved to be banned nor mistraited nor lynched, whatever is happening to its holding company, Oyster bay media.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Cayo Coco MUCC test

The prolific teams of taxi2gate and Intersims have just released Jardines del Rey airport in north of Cuba a couple of days ago. Screenshots don't show that but MUCC has a very long runway of 9842 feets. Heavy liners can land there without a problem. The scenery itself is just made of a few buildings. The main terminal is well depicted (especially the front side) with some photorealistic textures on windows figuring passengers. Okay its not the state of the art but the place is beautiful, with flowers and trees everywhere (at full autogen). I did not see any AFD file for Ai traffic but My traffic put 2 regional aircrafts on the parking.

The airport is a good start for a lot of destinations ; Montego and Kingston, Nassau, Caymans, Miami and Tampa and others cuban airports. The weak point : it is surrounded by a lot of fences which tend to flicker and sparkle, especially where they are side by side. It might be my settings but developers (who will possibly read this post) are totally free to comment and explain this effect.

Quality 7/10 FPS 9/10 Interest 8/10 Package 7/10

Tampa rebooted hot test

Watch out. Tampa Rebooted is likely to show us a new standard. Traffic, bridges, tunnels everywhere. Fly Tampa overtakes here Fs Dreamteam last production (KDFW). Maybe just for a couple of weeks until KLAX release. But the work is impressive. Quality is in the amount of buildings, roads, parkings but also in small details : light signs on jetways, flags, etc.
The scenery covers the airport of Tampa Intl and its surroundings until 3 km.
I give a 9/10 for interest as Tampa airport was not very often described in FS univers (i barely remember 1 or 2 sceneries).
Two minor problems noted though : once in the scenery at the airport, it takes 2-3 seconds to load everything.
There is also a slight "flickering effect" on airport ground as the aircraft leaves the area. It can be my settings or a minor conflict with Ultimate terrain USA.

Overall quality 9;5/10 Interest 9/10 FPS 9/10
Overall package 8/10
Short video test below

About AirdailyX

Here are the last set of pictures from my Geneva trip. From the blogger stats, i can just guess that new visitors came in, intrigued by last pictures. Airdailyx is not Airliners.net. I do not have a heavy images database. Airdailyx has one purpose : to give news on flight sim market. The thing is everybody is working on their projects (and i assume, taking some rest before new year). Despite Barcelona X, Stuttgart and Tampa surprises, i think it is gonna be quiet until then.
These pictures are free of right.

1) Swiss air Airbus landing in Geneva.
2) Swiss and french alps (Mont-Blanc in center, swept by heavy winds).
3) Airbus Air France A-380 taking off from Paris De Gaulle.

Drzewiecki design hits again

Polish development team Drzewiecki design just announced Vol.2 for FS 2004. They are releasing the new product on december 24th. A FSX version will be released in march/april. The volume 2 include EPSC, EPZG and EPLL.

US Cities coming back !

We thought the serie was over with New Orleans. It's not. LimeSim studios works on a US Cities Las Vegas, an extended version, including Boulder city, several airports (Nellis AFB, Henderson etc..). A total of 3 930 buildings are expected, including on the strip. The famous restricted Area 51 will also be reproduced. Us cities, as usual, comes with extended road traffic and sounds. According the screenshots disclosed on Aerosoft preview forum, the project seems well advanced. There are still questions about third parts softwares compatibilities but the scenery will be working with the remarkable FS Dreamteam KLAS (i said compatible, not framerates-high-performing).
Release date : shortly, maybe for december 31.

NB : night lights textures of buildings will be implemened this time (it's Vegas !) but this will come a bit later in a free update.

Why Aerosoft is changing its model ?

Last year, the german designer Aerosoft had a portfolio of about 20 FS9/FSX projects mainly focused on sceneries. Twelve months later, there are more aircrafts projects (seven) than sceneries (six or less). Here is the fact : Aerosoft is changing its model.
The first reason is that the designer might need to secure its activity in the new Microsoft "FLIGHT" environment. According to persistant rumors, FLIGHT will not be sold as a stand-alone but as a licence granted to access the network service providing the environment and maybe sceneries, aircrafts etc. As other competitors, Aerosoft must be recognized as a top-level company with blockbusters products. This is why the company has invested in some heavy projects like Airbus X. There is another reason to develop aircrafts. Margins perspectives are certainly better on these products than on sceneries, more subject to piracy. A good aircraft is sold 40 to 60 dollars and at that price, this worth developing an anti-thief protection. Last but not least, Aerosoft is eager to design its own flight simulator. In order to do so, he needs to master aircrafts design.

This article is a B2B essay. Its only purpose is to give some clues to understand the flight sim market.

Montego bay under a microscope

Don't be misguided by the title. Latin Vfr's Montego Bay scenery is a pretty large area in a 20 x 10 km square, from the Montego bay itself to the Rose hall resort along the coastline 15 km east of the airport. This time, the designer added a lot of resorts hotels along the hills, giving a pleasant place to land (in a larger airport than Norman Manley).
Considering the work done, the price is decent. Considering quality, i would say that next time, Latin VFR might try to raise its standards. Just to point out my idea, i put a picture to be compared with the real one. I would say that some time, textures color choices seem unfortunate but one possibility is that developers did not get all photo materials, except for this one. Anyway a lot of us were waiting for this MKJS airport. It is winter, enough of icelands (hmm..) and let's go look for the sun.
Overall quality 7,5 FPS 7,5 Interest 9 Package 9,5

Color of these bricks don't match with real ones.

Left : very nice details of grounds

Right : a lof of resorts added everywhere.

! These pictures are not the best (see Latin VFR forum) but these ones are there to point out relevant details.

Get a building and a runway for 18 bucks

What is the commun point between Leida, Cayo Coco and Weeze airports, recently launched by Tropical Sim, Taxi2gate and Aerosoft ? These sceneries just contain a main building, one runway and a bunch of trees and cars to coat the package. The price ? 18 bucks (15 euros) and a maximum of profitability as these products are often developed on the run. Of course, in most cases, you will not get any charts.
Junior Puente from Intersims studios openly talked about its scenery Cayo Coco because he was wondering if its product had to be droped as a freeware. Considering small companies need to growth, it is okay, i rather like to pay for the work, let's say at least 10 or 12 euros. But misters ! At 18 bucks, this is a very lucrative business. Just to compare these products value with Dallas KDFW (FS Dreamteam) sold at around 30 bucks...

Pacific Islands Simulation announces VFR Appalachia

I told you about Pacific Islands Simulation (PIS) a couple of weeks ago. It was to give some news about their Eastern West Virginia airport (KMRB). Well, it appears the team got a hole new idea in the interval. They are going to launch a VFR Appalachia, including KMRB of course, plus at least (updated today 12/13) five more airports in the vicinity. Unfortunately, i cannot insert any of their screenshots as they locked and protected them like gold or somethin'.
The thing is they work nice and i might compare their work with Drzewiecki design team. Graphics are all polished and neat. The only difference comes from their immovable routine consisting of adding horses and cowboys everywhere. So let's say they are the cow boys of the international Flight sim market. hip hip ! (and by the way, I would like a release date this time).

Zoom on Polish airports vol.1

Screenshots were not lying. The three polish airports compiled by Drzewiecki designers almost reach perfection. All textures plates on buildings are made of high resolution, grounds, grass and runways rendition is neat and spotless. The airports, international class (Katowice, Gdansk and Jasionka RzesZow) are all completed by large photo-based textured areas and specific autogen. I was astonished by seasonal textures. At Katowice, one can literaly think that the snow invaded the runway but was sweeped away.

We, foreigners, do not know these places but they have been well chosen for limitless flights possibilities. Gdansk can be our departure point to Sweden, Germany and baltic countries. Katowice is not too far from Czech republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The real Jasionka airport has summer connections to Turkey.

The file has its weight (about .97 gigabit) but the installation is perfect and the framerate is very smooth. One regret : there is no charts nor explanations on approachs patterns.

Overall quality : 9/10 FPS: 9/10 Interest : 7,5/10 Overall package : 7/10