VFR Real Scenery Volume 3 review

by mark.avey on October 24, 2007

This is a review of Just Flight’s VFR Real Scenery Volume 3 - Wales & South-West England by Paul Webster.

Introduction

Before we get stuck into the review proper I think its important to confirm that readers realise what exactly is meant by Visual Flight Rules, the prominent VFR in the name of this product.

These are the regulations that govern the majority of private pilots, unless they have instrument ratings and their aircraft has the necessary equipment fitted to fly Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). VFR flights can only take place when weather conditions allow sufficient visibility for the pilot to visually control the aircrafts attitude, navigate by landmarks, and avoid collisions with obstacles both ground and air based. These flights will generally be recreational in light single engined propeller driven aircraft, involve an average cruising altitude of around 3,000ft and will always take place in daytime.

Understanding these basic facts should establish exactly what VFR Real Scenery aims to achieve and why the most common gripes about this type of scenery it doesn’t work well with night-time flights or it doesn’t look right after having achieved flight level 240 in my 737 aren’t really legitimate complaints at all.

The Scenery

Just Flights VFR Real Scenery for England & Wales comes in 4 volumes, I was pleased to be asked to review volume 3 which covers Wales & South West England as not only does this area contain some very beautiful and distinct landscapes, but also covers the area that I live. The product comes on 2 DVDs, one of which is double sided, and takes up 12Gb of disk space for a complete install. Included with the photographic scenery is 9.6m terrain mesh data for the area covered, which offers a significantly improved level of detail for the hills and valleys than the default 76m mesh. Also included in the box is a printed manual containing detailed installation instructions, a guide to the best FSX scenery settings to use with the product, and a section of Frequently Asked Questions regarding the scenery, mesh and their usage. Installation is as expected automated and straightforward. You are given the option to install the high detail 1 metre per pixel photographic data or the less detailed 2 metre per pixel data. You can also choose not to install the high detail terrain mesh. When using the product you will notice a longer initial load time for your flights but the manual states that in-flight frame rates will actually increase.

As usual, I started my flight from my local airfield (EGTE) and immediately noticed two things. Most obviously the auto generated airport buildings I’m used to seeing were no longer present. When using the VFR scenery all autogen buildings and trees are disabled which is pretty logical as you wouldn’t want to fly over your house or favourite landmark to find it replaced with a Swiss chalet complex or a forest of giant redwoods. Initially,I did miss the presence of the 3D objects, having got used to the look and feel of the default landscapes, but I soon got used to their absence and started admiring the genuine articles. I was pleased to see that the road traffic was still present, thanks to the fact that road placement within FSX is spot on. This feature does not have to be disabled, unlike autogen scenery. The other change to my regular view of the airfield was that I had a much more accurate representation of the local landscape. The rounded hills that were present before are now much more accurately portrayed with more defined peaks and troughs. The upgraded terrain mesh included with the photographic scenery should not be overlooked. As we shall see, it is a real bonus in terms of realism.

Climbing out of the airfield and heading up towards the North Devon coast I noticed that the scenery has a definite green tinge to it, washing out the contrast between objects, tinting roads, rivers and buildings. The manual indicates that there has been some post processing of the data - The colours of the scenery in VFR Real Scenery have been carefully corrected to avoid garish hues and ensure that the countryside looks realistic and I wandered if this was the cause of the problem. To try to see if there was a problem with the photographic data I took an in-flight shot of the Taw estuary at Barnstaple running down to Braunton sands. The sand in the shot should be a light golden brown.

I then compared this with an overhead Google Maps shot of the estuary with surprising results:

Im willing to bet that both products use the same photographic data (for this area at least), probably because it is the best available, but, as demonstrated in these shots, its not without its problems. The good news is that the green wash effect does not affect the entire area covered by the product and generally it doesn’t detract too greatly from the enhanced realism that you experience.

Flying NE from Barnstaple, our next flying visit is to the towns of Lynton & Lynmouth, situated on the cliff lined North Devon coast and the edge of picturesque Exmoor. Two rivers make their way through individual steep valley gorges to converge at Lynmouth, so I thought it would be a good place to compare the default FSX scenery with the VFR Real Scenery pack, especially the terrain mesh.

The difference in terrain mesh is really noticeable here. The standard mesh is not detailed enough to pick out the river valleys or the valley floor where Lynmouth is situated. Neither town nor the extensive beach is present. The contrast on the VFR scenery is getting better with the beach and built up areas having less of the green wash effect. In terms of realism, there is no contest but in terms of pure eye candy the default scenery with autogen would probably sell more postcards.

Our final comparison shots are taken over the boarder in Wales and if from the previous shots you’re sold on the terrain mesh but not on the photographic scenery then these should convert you.

No real problems choosing the better of these two shots from any perspective. The terrain detail is much improved and the photographic scenery is vastly superior to the totally unrealistic all over covering of trees. You’ll also notice that the contrast on the photographic scenery has improved a great deal from what we had in Devon.

Conclusion

Having looked at what VFR Real Scenery is designed to do, how it sets about doing it and having a look at the hard evidence in terms of before and after screenshots, its time to conclude this review. VFR Real Scenery is not without its problems, chief of which is the overall green tinge resulting in a lack of contrast. This is worse in some areas than others, though in areas such as North Wales its hardly evident at all. However, for VFR flying (and all that entails) VFR Real Scenery does prove to be a very worthwhile add-on. Its got to be invaluable for trainee pilots who want to practice visual navigation within FSX and for the rest of us it certainly adds interest and a greater degree of realism to low level cross country flights. Like the majority of its users, I’m sure that once you try VFR Scenery you’ll not want to fly without it.

Tags: vfr real scenery review