Glacier National Park Scenery by Raimondo Taburet

By Bill Stack
26 April 2009

The Need

Default sceneries in Microsoft Flight Simulator ® fall short of the realism that some flight simmers want and would enjoy.

The Answer

Raimondo Taburet has released photorealistic scenery for the Glacier National Park in Montana, U.S.A.

Glacier National Park is in northwestern Montana, bordering the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. It contains two mountain ranges, more than 130 named lakes, over 1,100 species of plants, and hundreds of species of animals.

Taburet said he developed this scenery because "it is one area of the states we do not hear much about or see any screenshots from simmers, and my intention when I do scenery is to bring new corners of the world to life. The glacier fit well into that kind of areas. It is a very beautiful and interesting area to explore because of its high-raised terrains, rivers, and gorges."

The product description says the scenery resolution is two meters per pixel "to ensure that all users benefit from the highest frames rates as possible!" It also says the scenery is "fully compatible with FSX SP1 - SP2 - Acceleration."

Taburet	FSX
Comparison of Taburet and FSX Sceneries

Major Features

The differences between Taburet's scenery and the FSX scenery are obvious immediately. Taburet's scenery is much more colorful, the contours are more pronounced because of better shading, and rivers and gorges are more evident.

My comparison screen shots were made as follows: First I set time and season for daytime during summer. Then I slewed to an impressive area and snapped a shot. Then I switched from FSX to Taburet and snapped a shot from the same viewpoint. Then I moved to another area and repeated the procedure. As a result, both shots in each pair are from precisely the same location and altitude.

Taburet	FSX
Comparison of Taburet and FSX Sceneries

Nice Features

The rivers and waterfalls are a significant improvement over the default FSX scenery. Anybody flying over the real park would enjoy their beauty, and so will flight simmers simulating flight over the park with this scenery.

My frame rates were not affected by this scenery at any time or in any location.

I received prompt and courteous responses to my requests for tech support, which bodes well for customers.

Taburet	FSX
Comparison of Taburet and FSX Sceneries

Issues

The product is huge. It took more than 40 minutes to download, a couple of minutes to extract from the compacted file, and another several minutes to install.

No instructions are included for using the scenery. That's acceptable for simmers who know how to install and use add-on scenery, but it isn't enough for simmers who are new to add-on sceneries.

There's no flight that starts in or near Glacier National Park, and there's no guidance for how to find the park. I found it by comparing the FSX map to a Montana map. If you don't know the geography or don't have a Montana map, especially if you're not from the United States, you might never find this park so you can view this scenery.

In response to my questions about the previous two issues, Taburet said the installation instructions are included in a documentation zip file "that was provided to the distribution outlets" (i.e. the Flight Sim Pilot Shop). After downloading the file from the website he referred me to, I found it small enough to include with the scenery file. He also said that anybody with any problems or questions can always let him know and he will reply always as soon as possible, "typically within 8 hours." His responsiveness is appreciated, but instructions should be included with their products.

The scenery is available only for daytime in summer. The daytime limit makes sense because there would be little to see in the wilderness at night. The summer limit makes sense if the developer plans to release versions with other seasons. Autumns, winters, and springs in national parks such as Glacier are usually more stunning than summers.

In response to my questions about the previous two issues, Taburet said that keeping the file size to a manageable one gigabyte required sacrificing some features.

There are no trees of any kind anywhere, even though they are an important element of realistic wilderness scenery. In reponse to my question, Taburet explained the difficulty of adding autogen objects to photorealistic scenery. "I do understand that many other simmers like to see the trees - and will do my best to work out a way to produce them."

Water bodies in Taburet's scenery look flat while they look sparkling in FSX. Neither looks realistic, however. Taburet explained the difficulty of making water surfaces look realistic, that water masking small areas such as rivers and small lakes makes water look unrealistic, and that he chose the better of the two methods.

Taburet	FSX
Comparison of Taburet and FSX Sceneries

Summary

The scenery is obviously more beautiful than the default FSX scenery from aloft, but its limits to summer only and its lack of trees are two weaknesses that I hope the developer can address. It also needs instructions for installation and finding the national park. In the meantime, the summer-only scenery is stunning enough to be worth the price for those simmers who seek this sort of realism in their simulations.

Taburet	FSX
Comparison of Taburet and FSX Sceneries

Bill Stack

Learn More About Taburet's Glacier National Park scenery

Bill Stack is author of several books about flight simulation, a regular author in flight-sim magazines, and a contributor to Flight Sim Com. His website is www.topskills.com