Another release from the (Horizon Simulation) Playsims
Publishing stable, is the long awaited Orkney & Shetland Isles,
which makes it the 5th volume in the ‘VFR Photographic Scenery:
Generation X’ series to date.
Since the release of Vol.4: The Western Isles, flight simmers in
Scotland and around the world have waited with baited breath for
another area of Scotland to be released. Using the best aerial
photographic imagery and terrain data available, Vol.5 promises
to give us unparalleled, detailed scenery quality, which will
allow us to fly around and explore the myriad of islands that
make up the two huge archipelagos of the Orkney Isles and the
Shetland Isles.
Flying around these islands is best done in either, a single or
twin engine prop’ aircraft, as there are some very small
airfields dotted around these islands. Low and slow is the order
of the day.
Installation
Cautionary Advice
VFR Generation X, like most large coverage scenery packages,
needs quite a substantial amount of hard drive space to install.
Horizon Simulations suggest that you undertake a complete
defragmentation of your hard drive before installing this
scenery package. This will ensure that the scenery files are
placed on the hard drive in the most efficient manner during
installation. This may also significantly improve the
performance of this software during flight.
VFR Generation X, has been designed to give you various options
for installation, but this depends on your individual system
specifications and how much hard drive space you have available
to use for this package. I must admit that I have a 1.5Tb hard
drive so I went for the complete install.
The following components are what you have available to install:
0.60m Photographic Scenery
Since the area covered by the Orkney and Shetland Isles is much
smaller that that of other VFR Generation X volumes, disk space
savings have allowed the developers to generate this scenery at
0.60m/pixel, as opposed to the 1.2m/pixel (max) resolution of
that covered in the England and Wales series. This results in a
much more detailed scenery experience for you to enjoy during
flights over the islands. Also, unlike other volumes in this
series, the Orkney and Shetland Isles volume is provided at a
single level of detail (as opposed to multiple files of the same
area at different levels of detail). As a result, the 0.60m
photographic scenery is part of the default installation
process.
5m Terrain Mesh
The terrain mesh provided with VFR Generation X uses the most
detailed and accurate data available – 5m/pixel. The terrain
mesh, provided at this level of detail, adds significantly to
the realism of the scenery however, file sizes are relatively
small, when compared with the photographic scenery. For these
reasons, the 5m terrain mesh is also a default installation
option with this package.
Night Lighting
The night lighting scenery does what it says on the tin – it
installs the night time scenery textures that are darker than
those for the daytime and includes lights along roads and on
buildings.
Again, given the relative size of the coverage area in respect
of other volumes in this series and the subsequent disk space
savings, the night-lighting scenery in the Orkney & Shetland
Isles volume is also provided at 0.60m/pixel.
Note:
You cannot install the night-lighting scenery independently of
the photographic scenery and terrain (unless you are adding it
to (modifying) an existing installation of this package). The
daytime photographic scenery must therefore be installed first
in order for the night time scenery to be added.
KIRKWALL
VFR Photographic Scenery
Generation X Vol.5 Scotland – Orkney & Shetland Isles comes on 2
DVDs
Insert disk 1, go and make a cup of coffee/tea, as this scenery
does take quite a while to install.
On my system (Specs’ at the end), it took between 15 – 20
minutes for both disks.
On inserting disk 1, auto-run should start the process unless
you have this option inactivated on your system. If this is the
case just browse the disk and double click on setup.exe.
Alternatively, right click on it and select ‘Run as
Administrator’.
Follow the usual on-screen advice for installation, and select
which options you wish to install. If, like me you wish to go
for a complete install, then grab a few biscuits as well as your cuppa. You are in for a wait. That said, the wait was definitely
worth it for me.
If the complete installation takes up too much of your precious
disk space, there is the option to modify your installation. To
add/remove the Night Lighting separately from the photographic
scenery, simply insert disk1, choose Modify and follow the
on-screen instructions presented by the installer.
Horizon Simulations, suggest the following settings for FSX.
‘Contrary to popular belief, it is not possible to set all
sliders and settings within FSX to the highest/maximum level and
still expect to get silky smooth frame rates with currently
available hardware. There will be some compromises for you to
make so that you can enjoy the features that are most important
to you. For example, some users may want lots of AI traffic,
others may wish to have better weather visuals and scenery
complexity.’- (Taken from the manual)
Suggested Display Settings
It is suggested that you use a Cessna
172SP Skyhawk for flying around the islands and at an
altitude between 1000ft – 6000ft. Flying low and slow will
give you chance to see the scenery in all its glory. And I
mean ‘glory’ as the detail in this scenery is really
something special. You could also fly around this area in a
Heli’ as there are numerous helipads here too. In my
opinion, if you fly fast jets or jets in general you will
cover too much of the area in too short a time therefore you
will not benefit from the very detailed scenery on offer.
Seasons
It is suggested that you start exploring this area in the
summer season and during the day to take advantage of the
detail.
Due to the constraints of flying and photographing this area
of the UK, there are no seasonal variations supplied with
VFR Generation X Vol.5, because all the photographic sorties
were flown during the best available light, in the summer
months to minimise colour variations of the vegetation and
the length of shadows cast.
Start your exploration of Shetland & Orkney around noon and
in the summer, that way you will get the best light and
detail. The rest is up to you. In my opinion the best view
point is the Spot View.
Here are the differences you will experience, between both
FSX Default scenery and that of VFR Generation X Vol.5. The
time of all these shots was around 11.00am throughout the
series of shots.
Default FSX | VFR Generation X Vol. 5 |
Spring | |
Summer | |
Autumn | |
Winter |
As you can see above (Fair Isle), the
variation is very subtle but if you use different weather
settings you may get strange colourations especially the
greens.
Having spent a good time flying during daylight hours, I
thought I must show you some of the night-time shots
including Horizon's night-time lighting effects.
The next set of night time shots show clearly the
differences between FSX Default and Generation X Vol.5. The
first set are shots using FSX Default, the second set using
Generation X Vol.5
As you will see there are marked differences with each
additional software package.
Kirkwall - Orkney
Orkney Isles | Shetland Isles | ||
In addition to these there are also quite
a few Helipads within the bounds of these islands but I will
leave them for you to find whilst you explore these
wonderful islands.
The Orkney Archipelago covers some 382 square miles and the
Shetland Isles covers some 566 square miles, so there should
be plenty for you to explore. Below you will find a
selection of daytime scenery shots from both areas, using
FSX with the settings applied that Horizon Simulation
suggest.
SCAPA FLOW & SCAPA BAY |
LAMB HOLM |
|
STROMNESS |
FLOTTA OIL TERMINAL |
Conclusion
The amount of time and effort that has gone into Generation
X Vol.5 – Orkney & Shetland Isles, is quite astounding. The
level of detail follows on in the VFR Generation X vein in
that it makes your flying experience more believable,
because of the effort the guys at Horizon have put into it.
With the amount of area covered by this volume and the fact
that there is such an abundance of airports, airfields and
helipads to land at, makes this a superb addition to your
scenery library. If you like flying GA at a low, slow pace
then this volume is definitely worth contemplating. Even if
you fly fast/airline jets I would still advise you to add
this volume to your scenery library. Every now and then just
take a look from your cockpit window and see the stunning
islands below you.
Having set my system up with the settings that Horizon
suggested above, I was impressed to see that my FPS hardly
dropped below my preset of 30 FPS. Even as I set the sliders
higher I didn’t notice any great effect on my FPS, just a
drop of around 5-7 FPS. I eventually increased my Global
Texture Resolution to Very High. On my Scenery Tab, I set
the Scenery Complexity to Sparse, Autogen Density to
Extremely Dense and Special Effects to High. These
adjustments did effect on my FPS but not to the extent of
annoying me.
As no two systems are identical I suggest you try the
suggested settings then work your way up the scale with your
sliders, until you get a good compromise between FPS and
performance that suits you personally.
I also had a drop in FPS when I increased the weather
settings. The manual mentions this and advises caution when
using intensive weather settings. Again it’s all about
finding a suitable and visually pleasing balance.
With the advent of the Millennium Map which ‘Getmapping PLC’
has compiled, access to this level of detail has now been
acquired for the use in FSX thus making your flight simming
experience more enjoyable and believable.
Fair Isle
Verdict
Pros:
Cons:
As Generation X Vol.5 – Orkney & Shetland Isles, is not a 3D
landmark add-on for FSX, I cannot find any other real faults
with this scenery. After all, it is photographic scenery.
There is a misprint (I believe), in the manual, where on page
26 it asks you to choose your airport to start your flight.
The manual suggests either (Barra, Benbecula or Stornoway);
these are all airports from Generation X Vol.4 – Scotland:
The Western Isles. To start your flight, just refer to the
airport/ fields list above.
As I have given most of the airports/airfields available in
this package above, I suggest trying either Kirkwall –EGPA,
Sumburgh – EGPB or (the most southerly Isle of this volume),
Fair Isle – EGEF.
If like me you like flying in Scotland, or you are just
passing through I would definitely recommend Generation X
Vol.5 – Orkney & Shetland Isles as an addition to your
scenery library.
My Score:
This is an excellent scenery package and a very worthy
addition to the Scotland package in my opinion, therefore I
can’t see any other Mutley’s Hangar score than 10/10
being sufficient!
Well Done to all at Horizon Simulation Ltd. A superb
addition to their scenery library.
Brian Buckley
Review machine Spec: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.15 Ghz |
4Gb 800Mhz DDR2 Ram |GTX285 Graphics |Windows 7
64bit