Introduction
The second in my series of FTX US Airfields is
1S2 Darrington Muni. This airfield and scenery package continues
the roll out of high resolution airfields in the US Pacific
North West region. It was created by the same lead
developers who gave us
Hervey Bay for FTX AU Gold, so with this sort of pedigree
expectations are high for a real quality product.
Darrington and it's environs consist of a simple municipal airfield and a township situated at the intersection of
three valleys and the confluence of two rivers. Darrington Muni
1S2 serves Snohomish County in the eastern side of Washington
State. It has a single 2450ft runway running roughly east/west
(10/28) with edge lighting and REIL lights.
It has a helipad, designated 1 on the airfield and a second
helipad designated 2, which is in fact situated in the town at a
medical facility and is just a short hop from the airfield.
Helipad 2 is very distinctive and has pad lighting so you can
practice your night landings as well.
Local attractions include a pretty village with plenty to
discover using Bob, Orbx's 1st person "aircraft", a busy timber
mill, a mighty river, power station, custom buildings and
detailed airfield.
Further afield is some excellent bush flying country, especially
if you have the region pack installed too that will give you
accurate landclass and mesh. This is mainly a mountainous
region, to the north are the Cascade mountains, to the east is
Mount Baker National Forest and to the south the Boulder River
Wilderness.
Like Starks Twin Oaks,this scenery
is FTX Aero and TextureFlow compatible but additionally this
product also benefits from local soundscapes in various
locations around the airport and scenery.
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Availability, download and
installation.
By now, especially if you have read the previous Orbx reviews we
have published, you will know that this product should be
available by download or by limited edition dvd of the software. My copy came from the
FlightSimStore.com
although it is also available from
PC Aviator
SimWare and
FSPilotshop.com
Such is the popularity of the FTX brand, new distributors are
appearing all the time.
As with most highly detailed scenery, expect a large download,
fortunately the FlightSim Store server has always been pretty
fast outside peak times but you will still need to allow plenty
of time for it to complete. My advice would be to download
the manual available separately and read it whilst waiting for
the download to complete so setup should be
quick and easy.
| The manual offers plenty of setup advice and tips on what will
affect or FPS the most, as with all these tips, trial and error
will always be required to get the best. If you find the sweet-spot and have the FSX Go program (Also available from Orbx) you can save the
FSX config as a custom file to use next time.Every time I install a new program from Orbx I always check to see that my copy of the Orbx Libraries is the most recent. This is available free from Orbx's home page and is date stamped for easy identification. |
 Overhead view - Click to enlarge |
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FTX Central, Aero and Control Panel For owners of the PNW region pack you are already going to have FTX Central, if you do, you will have access to the Aero tool which sets the bump mapping for the runways, taxiway markings, 3D lights etc. For Darrington Muni, it is worth noting that it comes with it's own custom Gmax polygon surface. However, the ubiquitous 3D grass and other ground areas do use the Aero bump mapping. |
| The 1S2 control panel focuses on the individual features of this package. You can use the control panels to reduce autogen, AI movements and sound areas. Each selectable option also has a hint as to what performance gain may be achieved. | |
| The Product
Although this is a very comprehensive package and works in stand-alone mode, to get the best from Darrington Muni you should really have the PNW region pack as well. When you consider that the airport is modelled at 15cm per pixel and the surrounds at 60cm the transition to default FSX scenery will seem like a bad dream! The region pack will also give you 3D street lighting and moving traffic on all roads, custom houses, trees and other objects. Extent Of The Scenery This is quite a large area and will take hours to discover in detail, as with other airfield/scenery combinations you will keep finding new features you have never seen before, all in excellent quality thanks to the detail of the ORBX library objects as well as the custom objects for this scenery. |
 Click for larger image, courtesy of Orbx Systems |
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Seasons
Hard Winter - Darrington looks really beautiful in the hard
winter (January) with snow falling. The ground textures change
dramatically to give that freezing feel. The smoke from the
chimneys is more apparent as are the 3d lights. In the
distance the mountains are covered in snow and it is almost a
complete white-out!
Sound This is what helps set this scenery apart from Starks Twin Oaks which doesn't have soundscapes, it might just be that dog bark, or the saw mill in full production that makes it more realistic. I like to sit and watch the world go by sometimes and sometimes I just like to leave my flight sim PC on with Bob sat on the apron and just watch and listen to the AI and the welcome birdsong in the distance. I do that in the real world too so it IS as real as it gets! If you use the microlight to fly around in you should still be able to hear these sounds as you fly by. Performance This scenery really packs a punch, Orbx realise this and give advice on how to deal with it. It is pretty future proof software that at the moment would not run smoothly on any PC at the highest settings. It might just need less traffic or one notch back on the autogen to make it acceptable. My machine is pretty up-to-date, running all traffic at 16, scenery complexity at extremely dense, autogen at dense, trees at 1800 and buildings at 2000 I was achieving a constant 25 FPS with a dip to 19 on sharp turns, that will do for me, in-fact I am really pleased as it seemed like it was faster as transitions were very smooth.
Exploring the Airfield This is probably one of the least built-up FTX airfields I have seen. All the action happens on the south side of the runway, airside, there are several anonymous hangars, the Hiline Helicopters FBO and also a finely modelled wooden building which really gives it a rural feel, there are no sides to the building so it is just like a shelter. There are many cable drums inside this shelter that act as tables, a real nice touch. Access to the airfield from the road appears to be unrestricted. There is a bus station which has it's own access road but there doesn't appear to be any fences. The bus station is full of yellow school busses parked up. In autumn and winter you will see smoke from the boiler chimneys. There is an animated windsock easily seen between the taxiway and the runway set amongst the 3d grass which is evident all over the field. The tarmac and apron areas take advantage of the bespoke Gmax textures which override the Aero bump mapping and look to be much finer in definition to me as I usually have my textures set to course. It looked good, I think I prefer the Aero version but I need to experiment more.
For visiting GA there is a reasonable sized apron but no real facilities, you will find your self visiting the shops on the main road for nourishment!
Exploring the Town Most of the highly-detailed buildings run alongside the main road which passes the airfield. Whether your needs are spiritual or physical, you will be catered for here with a church, DIY store, liquor store, eatery and Motel. at the junction is a Shell Gas station in great detail too. As mentioned earlier the bus station is situated just off the main road on a side track to the airfield. Just before this turning there looks to be, how can I say "affordable housing" with what looks to be trailers and temporary buildings, apologies to the residents if their not! Moving into the town it is mainly residential, there is the medical centre in great detail and the local school which has many custom buildings and school busses parked outside. It's great just to roam around and admire the custom buildings, at night they take on a new feel with the lighting being so brilliantly modelled.
The main business of the town appears to be the saw mill, it looks to be almost as large as the town, it is situated beside the river to the north. The timber yards are full of stacks of wood as well as sheds, buildings and machinery allied to the business. Looking at the way the lumber arrives I would say some arrives by road as I noticed trucks in the forests stacked with timber, but mostly it arrives by floating it down the river as the photoscenery textures gives it away in fine detail. Nearby, leading away from the timber yard is a distinctive bridge leading to a small quarry with heavy vehicles and machinery working away. The river is very well drawn and can be followed for miles, the water mask makes it look very clear and sparkly in the sunlight, like the timber yard it features highly in this scenery and it is easy to see why Darrington sprung up here.
When looking out from the airport, apart from the long, wide, valley that heads out west, the town is surrounded by mountain ranges dominated by the Whitehorse Mountain which overshadows the town and can be seen from most locations. Darrington almost feels to be on the edge of civilisation. It really makes you want to get out and about and explore. So it's time to stop talking and get back out there exploring. Below, I have posted some shot of some of the items mentioned above. |
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No2 Helipad at the medical facility Click image for full size view |
The School with yellow busses waiting Click image for full size view |
The gas station Click image for full size view |
Another shelter near the airport Click image for full size view |
The bus station, looks to have move than it can cope with! Click image for full size view |
The river heading in from the north towards Darrington Click image for full size view |
Verdict
This product is more about the beautiful scenery
than the airfield. Knowing Orbx I am sure the airfield is
detailed to exactly how it is in real life.
There are so many interesting features in the surrounding
scenery it deserves to be modelled in this detail and is a place
I will make sure to stop at on my future travels around this
region.
Considering this is one of the most densely autogen populated sceneries
I have seen, I think Orbx did a wonderful job in the
optimisation of the textures.
From every direction there is a vista to die for if only all
scenery was modelled like this!
Overall, I award this a
Mutley's Hangar score of 9.5/10
Well done!
//Joe Lawford
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System Requirements (Mutley's Hangar Recommendation)
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