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Abacus USA Extreme Landscapes
By John J. Thuot II (21 April 2004)
ello fellow flight
simmers! You may have seen some of my other reviews here on
FlightSim.Com for freeware aircraft, and I am here this time for a
review on Abacus's Extreme Landscapes USA.To start it off, I had wanted to do flights across all five sections of the United States that this great CD package covered. This proved very difficult to be able to recreate exact screen shots with the aircraft, so I am going to do the best that I can here to help convince you in my opinion, to purchase this great product.
What's Included?
To start off, the package comes shipped in a DVD-style case with three discs. The discs contain five areas of the United States: Appalachian Mountains, Great Plains, Rockies, The West Coast and the Southeast. It also includes a new aircraft for our hangars, the Piper Dakota from Carenado. You also have three installation options to choose from: Full, Minimal and Custom. What does that mean?
Minimal: Will install only the Piper Dakota from Carenado, the pre-saved flights and the documentation.
Custom: Allows you to choose the regions to install.
Let's Get Started!
I have been intrigued by Carenado's aircraft that I have seen over the past years off of their website. The details are truly incredible and the Piper Dakota stands up to those high standards that Carenado is known to deliver. The aircraft interior is greatly modeled as well as the exterior with its dynamic shine on the fuselage. The flight dynamics are really good as well (although I have never actually flown a Piper Dakota in the real world, but have flown the Piper Tomahawk) they handle nice and smooth on the controls, and no squirelly actions from the aircraft. I have noticed other designers do have a tendancy to be a little sensitive on their trim and rudder controls, but these seem just right.I have taken some screen shots to show you the detail of the Piper Dakota in different settings. They also use the Abacus USA Extreme Landscapes terrain for the terrain mesh.
 Taking off from Grand Rapids South Dakota. Notice the detail in the fuselage with panel lines and landing gear struts. |
 Shuttle Mountain and Mount Coolidge. Notice the dynamic shine on the fuselage? |
 Mount Rushmore with the terrain mesh. |
Also another favorite area of the world for me to fly has always been the Grand Canyon and desert regions. We always see screen shots of military aircraft flying over the desert, which is what I'm going to include here. I know that it is not the Piper Dakota that was chosen for this flight, for the purposes of bringing a sense of the vast open spaces and having the ability to travel great distances, I am using Jeff Dobbing's F-14 Tomcat. One thing that I must say that this program has helped me do is break my boundaries of my home airport, KSFZ - North Central State in Rhode Island. I have always flown mostly in my own region, and it is good now to be able to get out and "explore" the United States - Even though I'm doing it in the comfort of my own bedroom.
Starting off the Grand Canyon flight - taking off from Grand Canyon west I headed off towards Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The terrain is breathtaking, and I am very impressed with the way the terrain's detail adds for some challenging flight experiences with approaches over the mountain areas near Nellis. Hoover Dam especially looks tremendous with the Detail offered in USA Extreme Landscapes.
 Hoover Dam. Now this really looks great with all the detail! |
 Approaches also become much more involved now with the detail of the terrain, you actually have to find yourself scanning the area. As Goose exclaimed in Top Gun, "Watch the mountains!" |
 Another view of the terrain around Nellis. Simply spectacular. |
 Coming in for an approach at Nellis Air Force Base. Notice the mountains in back? You really have to be alert on final! |
Since I've started exploring other regions of the US, an area to fly that has become one of my favorites is the state of California, including the Los Angeles area and also San Francisco. The terrain enhancements are incredible. You will see from the following shots what I'm talking about.
San Francisco is also a truly remarkable scenic area to fly around in. I enjoyed this aspect of the review greatly, for there was no interference with any of the default landmarks from what I could tell with USA Extreme Landscapes. The Golden Gate Bridge blended in nicely at both ends of the bridge as well as the Alcatraz Island, which really appeared enhanced from the default terrain. The prison now looks like it would be a real challenge for anyone who would ever try to escape from Alcatraz.
 The Golden Gate Bridge with USA Extreme Landscapes. Both ends meet nicely with nothing chopped off from the detailed Mesh.
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 Sutro Tower in San Francisco. Spectacular scenery around it with the new terrain mesh. |
 The city of San Francisco looks lovely with the new Mesh. Alcatraz Island. |
The Los Angeles Area In USA Extreme Landscapes
Los Angeles comes to life with USA Extreme Landscapes. Flying with Fair Weather theme, it is a treat to see mountains climbing above the clouds. The only thing that is disappointing is that the Hollywood sign is kind of buried into the mountain; you see the sign but the ending is kind of chopped off. (Note, though, that there is a freeware fix to this problem, available for download from the file library.)
 Turning over the outskirts of L.A. Notice the detail even in the low level mountains? |
 The disappointing Hollywood Sign. See the ending chopped off a bit? |
 Another view from Los Angeles with the mountains in the back ground. |
Now For Carenado's Piper Dakota
I have flown many aircraft in Flight Simulator. I am greatly impressed with the Piper Dakota. The controls are nice and smooth, and the aircraft is wonderfully modeled. The virtual cockpit shows all gauges and lighting is accurate. I am always a little bit timid in trying new aircraft, for some designers don't seem to take the time to fine tune the flight dynamics, but Carenado seemed to hit them right on with this little plane. It is a pleasure to fly and is easy on the frame rates, for in the cockpit I get frames of 25 fps and in spot view I get in the low 20s to upper teens.I'm sure you will be thrilled to see the detail of the aircraft as well, with its reflective shine and detailed textures, you will want to fly her over and over again. I have done many flights with the Dakota, except of course the Grand Canyon flight which was done with the before mentioned F-14B Tomcat.
 Virtual cockpit detail. Notice how nice and clear gauges are. |
 Over San Francisco. Nothing like a new aircraft in your hangar to explore new regions up close and personal. Jetliners are nice, but can you fly them this low? I think not! |
 My system settings for Flight Simulator 2004. |
The system running this software for the review is a Dell Dimension 4600 2.66 GHz model. I do get excellent performance on the scenery in spot plane mode and cockpit mode. I have included a screen shot (above) of my scenery settings so that those of you with similar systems may have the same level of detail.
 
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Test System:
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John J. Thuot II
ragtopjohnny01@aol.com
