very
so often an add-on for Flight Simulator comes along that makes you
think what the people designing scenery at Microsoft were thinking.
Grand Canyon from Wilco Publishing is such an add on.
The default Grand Canyon area is anything but grand. Thankfully, the
designers at Wilco have gone in the opposite direction and created
something that will take your breath away. This isn't the first time
Wilco has done this. Remember
Tahiti
and
Airport 2000?
The "Goodies"
In my opinion, all commercial scenery packages should come with a few
required extras: a fairly comprehensive manual describing the area,
Shadows and colors. Just as wonderful as the real thing at dusk.
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charts for the area covered by the scenery and a well protected CD
(not just a CD in a paper slip cover). I was very pleased that upon
opening the box, I was greeted by all of the above. While the manual
is short, it does give directions on installation (all automatic),
descriptive photos of the panels that come with the included aircraft
(Cessna 206, de Havilland Twin Otter, Spitfire, and Bell 430), flying
tips for all of the aircraft, a little tourist info about the Grand
Canyon and airport charts of the area's airports: Grand Canyon
National Park Airport, Flagstaff-Pullman, Page Muni, Marble Canyon,
Williams Clark Memorial, Seligman Airport and Tuba City. Filling
out the requirement for charts of the area is a very nice reprint of
the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) Sectional
Chart. A nice touch is that this Sectional is printed on heavy
weight paper to ensure long life. Trust me, you will use this chart
many times!
The first time I saw the Grand Canyon was from a Southwest B737-200
bound for Las Vegas. This screen shots show what I saw that day which
is pretty close to what I remember, except for the clouds!
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Installation
As with most commercial add-ons, installation is purely automatic.
Just a couple of clicks and all you have to do is sit back and relax.
While you wait, you are treated to random ATC chatter with soft music
playing in the background. Wilco has made the most boring part of
installations a pleasant experience. Nice job guys! I personally
would like to have had options regarding what I wanted installed.
Instead everything (aircraft, adventures, and the scenery) is
installed. This option was available during installation of Tahiti
Scenery and should have been available with Grand Canyon.
All the included airports, like Flagstaff here, are very lifelike.
Just wished the surrounding cities where as pretty.
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Flying Over The Grand Canyon
I first tested Grand Canyon on a Cyrix MII 300MHz MMX system with
32MB of RAM. Frame rates in all areas never rose above 10 fps.
Textures in the distance took a while to load as well. When my new
PII 400MHz MMX with 64MB of RAM was up and running, I tested it once
again. Frame rates improved to "flyable" levels of around 15-20 fps.
Some textures still loaded slowly but not enough to worry too much
about. From the looks of things, Wilco used satellite photos to
create a photo realistic look. Having had the great pleasure of
being at the real Grand Canyon myself, the FS version is as close as
you will ever come to experiencing one of the most beautiful natural
wonders of world.
No default buildings here! The trees look so good you can almost
smell the pine scent.
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Frame rates while flying down in the canyon didn't drop any
noticeable amount from those at "legal" altitudes. Flying over the
area in the Flight Levels (FL180 and above) is also a non-event for
those of you who, like me, spend most of your FS flying hours in
jets. Just be sure to have some fun and visit once and a while!
To create various lighting affects, Grand Canyon uses a different set
of textures for different times of the day. As any visitor to the
canyon can tell you, the colors and the beauty of the canyon change
throughout the day, with the evening hours being the most
spectacular. Wilco now gives us this in Flight Simulator. The
colors of the rock and placement of shadows are truly lifelike. A+
A high altitude shot of Flagstaff, Arizona. Looks as if Wilco went
all out and used satellite photos to create truely realistic textures
of the entire area.
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The desktop pilot needs an airport to call home. As stated earlier,
there are many airports to choose from. All are done in high quality
detail. On higher scenery density settings, you will even be able to
see cars in parking lots. These cars are so well done that you may be
able to determine if it is a Ford or Dodge! People can be seen
leaning up against some of the fences watching the airplanes!
Even from high altitudes, the Grand Canyon is breathtaking! I had
the most fun down low in the canyon, however!
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While Grand Canyon comes with aircraft and panels, I really didn't
care for them. The only exception is the Bell 430. The Bell looks
very well done and it does fly like a helicopter (which means it's
very difficult to fly!). If you must, there is an alternate flight
model for the Bell included. The manual tells you how to install it,
simple really. Flying the helicopter with the simple flight model is
not a problem and hovering can be done with a very little practice.
If nothing else, this model makes a great sight seeing platform,
which is why you go the Grand Canyon in the first place.
Although my system is equiped with 64MB RAM, the textures in the
distance (the default scenery) took some time to load. Once loaded,
everything was fine.
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Disappointments?
Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. The same is true for Grand
Canyon. The good news is that they are few so as not to make a real
difference. Like I said before, the aircraft should be ignored.
I've said this before and I'll say it again: freeware aircraft are
better! More area should have been covered. I'm still exploring
what was covered, but there is still more of the canyon that was left
out. The majority of the canyon is there, though.
The Final Verdict
If you a looking for an excuse to spend some time flying the skies of
FS98, Grand Canyon is for you! When you are not breaking all the
rules and playing daredevil flying deep down in the canyon, take some
time for a flight at higher altitudes, maybe around 9,500 to 10,000
feet just to soak in the majestic views that are offered by this
wonderful scenery. I can almost smell the pine now...
Phillip M. Overgaard
overgard@7cities.net
