FlightSim.Com Reviews: Scenery! USA's Scenery

Peter McLean's Seattle for FLY!

A "must have" for FLY!ers

By FlightSim.Com Staff (4 September 2000)

View only in a dark room at night! 737-500 climbs away from the SEA region.

NOTE: I took screenshots in a variety of quality levels. Please note actual product may look far better than in these screenshots. Some pictures are lower quality to save loading time. If your monitor is not running in 32-bit resolution, you will not see the actual great quality that FLY! runs at.

INTRODUCTION

All FLY!ers; grab your wallets. Recently, I reviewed Wilco's 737-500 Collection for FLY! using Peter McLean's Seattle Scenery for FLY!. Peter is taking USGS data that's available to the public, and turning it into superb scenery sets for FLY!.

Until now, the only areas in FLY! that were detailed enough to offer some excitement similar to what you might get in FS2000, are the SFO, LAX, DFW and NY areas. Now, Peter has undertaken a great job of covering the entire USA for us. I really appreciate him doing this, as most people seem to make sceneries in other parts of the world, first. Yet, Peter lives in Australia!

Looking north, towards downtown and waterfront. As the sun sets, you'll see the lights bring the scenery to life.
The day I test flew the 737-500s, I did many landings and touch and go operations in and around the big airports in the Seattle area. Being familiar with USGS terrain, from my days as lead designer of Flight Unlimited III, I figured it would look quite familiar. It sure does! In fact, while not at the same resolution you'd get in FUIII, you'll see the same things out the windows! Complete with terrain and accuracies the default Seattle area doesn't have.

View only in a really dark room! Fantastic shot of flying over the Everett area after dark. Note the glow in the sky and the lights below. Do not even try to view this picture during the day!

All the scenery I flew in had the traditional "sharp" FLY!-like appearance I am used to. It's gorgeous. There are great varying textures below, in multiple colors of farm and grasslands, forest and more. It's almost photoreal. I was flying up along the shore near where Seattle should be, and was stunned at the accuracy of the port and docks near downtown. Since it was just after sundown, everything was lit up so nicely. I was searching for the downtown skyline, and imagined it to be there since there are no 3D models in these sceneries. I am very happy that night lighting is included in the package. Even better while flying, is that there is no frame rate loss over the default as far as my eyes could tell. With that in mind, you cannot lose. Better scenery with no frame rate loss. We could all use that now and then!

The scenery I received on CD was easy to install. Some simple copying is all that's required. Within minutes, I was off and running down the runway to check out the new region. After some testing around the area, I was off in a hazy night, climbing over the Cascades, on the way eastbound. I got glimpses of snowy, mammoth peaks, hiding in the early evening haze. Someday, I'll come back, and fly around in a Cessna, just to get the entire feel.

CONCLUSION

With Peter making more and more sceneries weekly it seems, we're going to get the entire country before long. He announced he's doing Boston shortly, and I will be waiting for the mailman to come, with that one. The default Boston is a travesty of justice, having the harbor filled in 10 miles out from Logan.... maybe someday, all the dirt from the "big dig" will do that, but today, Logan is still an airport surrounded by the harbor on most sides! Currently, he has available the LA, SFO and ORD areas. They might be slightly more confusing to install, as Peter has instructions on how to keep the default 3D models over his scenery. Personally, I'd rather he'd do the cities TRI did not do in FLY!, because for default cities, they were not bad at all (very nice, in case you didn't know). The cost of each region if about $14 USD. Well worth every penny, and a good cause to support. Your home town will be in FLY!, in the very near future!

The Scenery! USA Seattle for FLY! gets a 95 out of a possible 100 points.

Mount Rainier region - it's gotta be the most photographed place in all of "flightsimland" next to Meigs!

Visit Peter McLean's USA Scenery for FLY! Website for more details: Click Here

Visit Wilco Publishing for the 737-500 for FLY!: Click Here

Visit Terminal Reality for FLY!2K: Click Here

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