Will the juggernaut that is Orbx ever slow down?
It seems hardly a week goes by without something new coming out
and raising the bar again. Orbx have kindly donated a copy of one
of their latest add-ons, Stewart Airport, to Mutley's Hangar for a
review, let's see how it stacks up.
Stewart Airport is approximately 100 miles northeast of Ketchikan
and has a 3,900 x 75ft runway. Other than that there is very
little information about this airport anywhere on the internet,
which goes to show how small and remote it is. Don't let that put
you off though, this is one of the best Orbx add-on airports that
I have used, the level of detail is stunning.
Stewart Airport can be purchased from the Flightsimstore
(www.flightsimstore.com)
for £21.75 as a 1.05gb download, a fast
and reliable internet connection is a must. The installation
process, as with most add-ons, is very straight forward and it's a
matter of waiting for the product to install before you can take
to the skies.
What's Included
As we are frequently told, there is a theoretical ground
resolution limit with FSX, but Russ White (developer) has managed
to introduce a new method of building airport terrain (more on
that later) which gives you an unbelievable ground resolution of
2cm per pixel without any real performance penalty. During testing
I didn't noticed any problems with my frame rates.
● FSX 3DS poly runway, aprons and more
● The most scenic location in all Pacific Fjords
● Includes Orbx "Flow" technologies
● A large photoreal area including mountains
● Town of Stewart and other POI buildings
● TextureFlow optimised and excellent FPS
● Unique new sharp edged burnt shadows
● Unbelievable level of object detail!
● Expert 5 seasons color matched imagery
Due to the lack of information about Stewart Airport in terms of
ground photography all the airport and building textures had to be
created by hand and the results are stunning, as I hope the
screenshots show.
Manual
As with most of the Orbx manuals the majority of it is dedicated
to setting up FSX to get the most from the add-on. Quite simply,
if you follow the instructions you can't get it wrong. I used the
suggested settings as a base line and was able to increase the
scenery settings to experience even more stunning visuals.
There are a few drawbacks to Stewart Airport, all of which are
listed in the manual, along with how they will be corrected
(patch) or how to work around them. The major disappointment for
me was the lack of AI traffic at the airport, which is due to the
location of CZST between two steep sided mountains. During
development Orbx found that the AI crashed into the side of the
mountains during circuits. The airport doesn't feel totally
deserted as there are some static aircraft on the aprons. Turning
off your AI also helps increase frame rates.
There are also some mismatched shortlines, traffic, street lamps
and 'creeping water' in the river system on approach to Stewart.
Orbx are well aware of these problems and are looking to fix them
with an upcoming patch.
Exploring
The best way to explore this little airfield is by using Orbx Bob,
which is a freeware utility available from
http://fullterrain.com/freeware.html
. This allows you to get
really close to the scenery and take great screenshots without
having an aircraft in the way.
When I loaded up Stewart Airport for the first time my jaw hit the
floor, the level of detail is on another planet. The runway looks
almost real as do the buildings, even the insides of the hangars
have been given the treatment. Moving around the airport is one
surprise after another and you may even forget that you are in a
flight simulator. When you move away from the central part of the
airport the level of detail doesn't drop, the airport also blends
seamlessly into the PFJ scenery.
One thing that I did find annoying is that when you move the view
point (in spot view) down to eye level the scenery appears to be
floating above the airport. Once you move the view point back up
slightly everything returns to normal. I asked Orbx about this and
they advised that this happens due to the way that the scenery is
designed and there wasn't a way around it. A small price to pay
for the level of detail in my opinion.
Flight
Realistically you'll struggle to get anything bigger than a Cessna
Caravan in or out of Stewart, but you'll never be short of places
to fly to as there are lots of airports/airfields in the region
within an hour's flight time. If you fancy going for a trip around
the area this little adventure I made is a lot of fun
http://forum.mutleyshangar.com/index.php/files/file/1376-orbx-pacific-fjords-trip/
On approach the airport is very easy to pick out as it is at the
end (or start depending which way you're flying) of the Portland
Canal. It's very easy to get the approach right as you can see the
runway from a long way off, just don't come in too low or you'll
get your feet wet. The scenery in the area is so good that quite
often I found myself flying around the local area and returning to
Stewart.
Flows
Included within this add-on are the flows; Snow, Nature, Object,
Texture and People.
People Flow is people (or zombies) moving around the airport on
pre-determined paths.
Nature Flow is the trees, grass and leaves moving in the breeze,
although the strength/direction of the wind has no bearing on the
movements of the trees. But that's being REALLY picky.
Texture Flow is a technique used by Orbx to process hi-resolution
textures.
Object Flow is a technique used to replace objects without having
to re-load FSX.
Snow Flow during the winter all buildings will display icy snowy
roofs.
After a while you wont notice these individual flows working and
will come to accept it as the norm when a man/zombie meanders
around the side of a building or a tree begins to sway as you wait
to take off. You'll really appreciate how well all of these work
when you go back to a default airport.
Verdict
This is yet another fantastic release from the team at Orbx and
is well worth the investment for a GA flyer. There are a few
niggles and drawbacks but most of these will be solved soon with
an upcoming patch. The level of detail is stunning and the
airport location and surroundings perfect. There are lots of
airports within the local area and some fantastic scenery near
the airport, you'll never be short of places to fly or things to
see.
I'm happy to award Orbx Stewart Airport a Mutley's
Hangar Score of 9/10
Rob Scott
Review machine Spec: Intel i7 2600k @3.40GHz | 8GB DDR3 RAM 1600MHz |NVidia GTX570 1280MB GFX Card |Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
System Requirements
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