FlightSim.Com Reviews: Central Florida

Central Florida

by Lee Degenstein (30 June 1998)

ver wonder what kind of places the developers of MS Flight Simulator 98 must have grown up in? No houses to speak of, no trees, no signs. You get the idea. A little dull to say the least, to say nothing of flat. In fact, unless you are flying around a major city the scenery in most of FS 98 is rather dull, even in 3D!

Obviously, those developers scrimped on scenery to save space not only on the CD, but on your hard drive as well. Let's face it, if you wanted to see scenery, you would have gone out and bought a driving simulator not a flight simulator, but there is life below 1000 feet!

Kissimmee Municipal Airport (ISM)

OVERVIEW

Larry Kinsley's Central Florida scenery is well thought out. It covers cities and towns like Daytona, Tampa, Kissimmee, Winter Park, and Orlando, along with close to twenty others. Larry currently has four separate volumes of Central Florida scenery available, each with different airports. Most scenery designers concentrate on adding their scenery in and around airports and that is the case here as well. Kinsley has also added some buildings in some of the metropolitan centers as well.

Pilot Country Airport (X05), Brooksville Florida

There is even one airfield called Pilot Country in Brooksville. It consists of a runway with actual homes built around it. In fact, in some instances there are small Cessnas and other small general aviation aircraft parked in the driveways! I guess the kiddies have to be careful when they play in the driveway! Nice touch!

INSTALLATION

The installation aspect of adding scenery was something that kept me away from downloading it for a long time. It's not that bad if you follow the directions carefully, provided they are written clearly. In the case of the Central Florida scenery the directions were pretty simple and straightforward. However, the designer wrote in his directions something like 'well you probably already know how to add scenery - - - - '. This annoyed me to no end! While the directions that were provided were adequate, the developer could afford to lose his know-it-all attitude as he never tell when a beginner might be trying to install his scenery.

Peter O. Knight Airport (TPF), Tampa Florida

One more thing, I just don't download stuff without instructions, and that includes aircraft, panels, scenery or adventures. I really feel that if the developer can't be bothered to include them, then I will pass, and wish the next guy well. It's just not for me.

CONCLUSION

All in all, I thought the Central Florida scenery had some original thought put into it and there are several nice touches added as well. I liked the fact that the airports are close together, so you can fly some lighter aircraft between them, taking in all that there is to see. There is a lot to see here and I would recommend downloading it so you can see it too!

Lee Degenstein
Email: bizradio@worldnet.att.net

Download Larry Kinsley's Florida scenery.

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