mutley 4,488 Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 Just published is Mikael Stockfors' review of AST Tech's Photo Real Stockholm,Micke, being our Scandinavian member of the team was born near by this area so knows what to expect.Does AST Tech deliver? Read on... Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 Micke, I'm unlikely to purchase this add-on, as I don't often get up to your neck of the woods, but I'd like to ask a couple of questions: 1. Did you compare the photo-scenery interface with FSX default, or just OrbX Global? 2. What did you think of the scenery objects included wth the photo-scenery. Your screenshots show a considerable number of hand placed objects, placed fairly accurately, from what I can see. 3. Did the add-on replace any mesh or coasline/lakes/islands? 4. Was framerate affected at all by changing autogen complexity? If it were freeware, then I wouldn't make any comparison, but do you think the price tag merits such a high score? I am sorry to sound critical - maybe it's the grumpy old git in me - please don't take offence. Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Dai Don't worry, I'll try to counter your grumpy old git with some youthful (I wish) enthusiasm Regarding your questions. 1. When I actually did the review I had already installed FTX Global, and thus it is very hard to go back and compare to anything else. Thus my comparison was made with that product. Although, this product was installed prior to FTX Global on my machine, so in order to give you part of an answer to your question I went back through my screenshots and found a few showing the border prior to FTX Global. It was still not a comparison with default, but with FScene (as that product was out of the box in 2009). Looking at this I would say that my comments on under saturation still stands, although the difference isn't as big and "in you face" as it is with FTX Global. 2. There are no scenery objects included in this scenery. All of the hand placed objects in my shots are FSX default (yep, Stockholm have lots of default objects, much to my surprise.) 3. No mesh or vector based coastal added by the scenery, but given that photo base it will of course enhance the coastlines, lakes etc to a much more lifelike version than default. Also, present in my shots is FS Global 2010 mesh, a fact that I usually include in my reviews, but I must have forgotten this time.. 4. Since the covered area of the scenery is void of autogen I did not try this (and I do have a fairly high setting for Autogen to start with). I would assume that there is a small effect given the fairly small area covered, so unless the user have a very small LOD-radius set it's very likely that parts of scenery outside of the photo-real area would get an increased amount of autogen, but that has nothing to do with the scenery up for review. Regarding the price tag, yes I do think it is worth the high mark. It's on par with the smaller Mega Scenery Earth regions (Rhode Island for example). And while MSE RI are 600 square miles larger it doesn't include files to make sure the airports line up with the photo-background. In this case I guess one part of the Value for me is that the developer have put out a product that is close to home for me.Although in my book, if a developer provides an add-on for around £10 without any apparent flaws of bugs, it's very hard to complain about the value of money of the product.. Cheers Micke Link to post Share on other sites
Kasper 14 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Good review Micke. As I am not a great fan of photo real scenery I am unlikely to buy this (although it would be a nice addition to ESSA) but I enjoyed the read. Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Thanks very much for addressing my points in such detail, Micke - I'll re-read the Review with that info in mind. Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I am not a fan of PScenery either but do enjoying reading reviews for the learning experience. Thanks for the fine job you did of covering what one would need to know about this product. Nice work Micke. I was going to comment that a better installation program for adding the airport files would help those that are not tech savvy but I think anyone involved in FSX already is or needs to be. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thanks everybody. @Kasper: If your flying in the Stockholm area is limited to ESSA (and I presume airliners) this will add very little to your experience in any case. Once again presuming you fly there from EHAM you will most likely be heading in to ESSA via a STAR originating at the ELTOK intersection north-west of the airport, and even using runway 01L or 01R you will only just about reach the northern parts of the covered area as you turn to finals. Same thing on departure. Heading to EHAM the most logical departure will be via a SID terminating at the ARS VOR, due west from ESSA, following a route that will never reach far south enough to be over the scenery.. However, if Pioneer Airlines were to establish a hub at Stockholm-Bromma (ESSB) using regional airliners that would be a totally different story since that airport is located within the boundaries of the scenery. @Brett: Well, to start off with you do get instructions on how to add a scenery layer with the base product since that is not done by the installer.. also, the download with the corrected AFCADs come with a readme-file that will cover the installation for most users, the only time you need to do it differently is if you have another add-on for any of the four covered airports in your scenery library already, that is located above the Addon Scenery layer.. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I did forget to mention that you live in a very interesting geographical looking area. I think I need to make a point to check it out. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Actually, for flying it is rather dull since it is very flat... But I guess it's true what I've heard, that it's more difficult to appreciate the beauty of your home area since you are so used to it If you want to check out some stunning scenery in Scandinavia I would rather suggest the coastal areas of Norway, preferably the northern parts. I can understand why some say it's the European equivalent to the PNW region in the US... But the archipelago east of Stockholm is beautiful... some day I must get my self on one of the real life tour flights they do in Amphibious equipped C206s to see what it's like in real life.. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,286 Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Will do, thanks for the travel tips. Link to post Share on other sites
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