Newport Scenery's Minneapolis Saint Paul Area for FSX

By Bill Stack
7 September 2009

Screen shots by Newport Scenery

Minneapolis and Saint Paul are cities on the Mississippi River in the state of Minnesota, which is in north central United States. Minneapolis is Minnesota's largest city, and Saint Paul is Minnesota's capital. Known as the "Twin Cities," the population of this metro area is 3.5 million, making it the 16th largest metro area in the United States. In addition to the Mississippi River, the area has numerous lakes.

Both cities are served by one commercial airport, Minneapolis Saint Paul (KMSP) and several general-aviation airports, the largest of which is Saint Paul (KSTP). KMSP is the 16th busiest airport in the United States.

The Mall of America, just outside KMSP's perimeter to the south and visible from that airport, is the largest enclosed shopping mall in the United States.

A scenery enhancement of this area for FSX has been released by Newport Scenery, which is a small business operated by developer Tyler Newport. "I like to create scenery for Flight Simulator X where no other scenery company has created any add-ons for," he says. "Almost all of my photo real sceneries have been the first add on scenery to that area or city."

He made this scenery of Minneapolis Saint Paul because he couldn't find any scenery enhancement packages for the area. "Since KMSP is a large airport that many simmers fly to," he said, "I figured they would enjoy some realistic views of the ground while flying in that area."

Location	Scenery Area
Minneapolis Saint Paul Area Screen shots by Bill Stack

Major Features

This scenery package is conveniently available for instant downloading from the Flight Sim Pilot Shop.

Installation is easy. The installation program installs all needed files into the correct folders and activates the scenery.

Features of this scenery include:

• Ground and water in a 1,000-square-mile area are enhanced.
  
  
• Enhancements are based on photo-real satellite images.
  
  
• Satellite images include dawn, day, dusk, and night effects.
  
  
• Several airports are within the coverage area.
  
  
• Simulation pilots should be at least 2,000 feet above terrain for best viewing, Tyler Newport advises. "Like every photo real scenery, do not expect to be amazed while sitting on the ground," he said. "You've got to gain some altitude."

No license key is required to install or register the scenery. An End User License Agreement must be accepted during installation.

Newport	FSX
Newport	FSX
Newport	FSX
Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport (KMSP)
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Nice Features

Ground features are very realistic compared to real-world photos I found on the Internet. As examples:

• The baseball fields and golf course outside the KMSP airport grounds to the east and the cemetery outside the airport to the southwest appear in the scenery as they do in real aerial photos.
  
  
• The Minnesota capital and grounds in Saint Paul are true to the real-world photos.
  
  
• Waters in rivers and lakes appear more realistic. Compared to Newport's waters, FSX's waters look ridiculous.
  
  

Frame rates are about the same as in FSX because the developer removed autogenerated objects.

Tyler Newport, the developer, responded quickly to my email inquiry, which bodes well for buyers who need technical support. "I offer all of my support through email, and I will gladly help any customer with any issue they're having, as it is their right," he said in his email response.

Newport	FSX
Newport	FSX
Newport	FSX
Minneapolis Downtown Area
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Comparative Screen Shots

My comparative screen shots were made as follows:

• With Newport's KMSP scenery activated, I slewed to suitable "photo spots" and snapped various screen shots.
  
  
• Activating and deactivating add-on scenery in FSX is time consuming, so I made all the Newport shots first, showing the position data shown at the top.
  
  
• With Newport's KMSP scenery deactivated, I slewed to the same "photo spots," using the same position data shown at the top of the corresponding set of screen shots, and snapped screen shots with the default FSX scenery.

As a result of this process, each pair of screen shots is made from exactly the same position, altitude, and heading. Apparent differences in viewpoints result from differences in the sceneries themselves.

Newport	FSX
Saint Paul Downtown Airport (KSTP)
Newport	FSX
Saint Paul Downtown
Newport	FSX
Saint Paul Downtown and Airport
Newport	FSX
Mississippi River Near Saint Paul
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Newport	FSX
Minneapolis Downtown
Newport	FSX
Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport (KMSP)
Newport	FSX
Saint Paul Downtown and Airport
Night Effects Screen shots by Bill Stack

Issues

This scenery is limited to terrain enhancements. There are no enhancements to any airports or objects such as buildings and signs, and no runways, taxiways, or ramps are enhanced. I point out these conditions not to criticize but to inform potential buyers of what they will and will not get from this scenery.

"Like the description for the scenery says, it is a ground texture replacement package that adds photo real textures to the area, as well as photo real water masks," Tyler Newport explained. "I am very straight forward when I create the scenery description to sell. The description always tells exactly what you are getting, and a customer shouldn't expect more or less."

I'm not sure about the urban night lighting effects. Sodium street lights that are most commonly used today give a yellow glow instead of the white glow from old mercury lights that are apparent in Newport's urban areas. In response to my question, Tyler Newport said: "The reason that my night textures are more white than orange is because when I create the night texture, the style I use seems to bring out all the roads much more efficiently than having to go into Photoshop and outline every road that needs to be an orange tint. This cuts my labor time in half by almost 75%, which means I have more time to create new scenery in different areas. Some very picky simmers might not like the fact that the lights are more white than orange, but most hardly even think about it, unless of course they are reading this." In view of his explanation, I will leave the conclusion about realistic night lighting to buyers.

As a result of eliminating auto-generated objects "to ensure no impact on frame rates," the scenery lacks buildings and other objects that add to the sense of realism in our simulations. Tyler Newport explains as follows: "There are two kinds of simmers, ones who like to have their autogen on top of photo real scenery, and the other who does not like the autogen so they can clearly see the satellite images. This scenery is not fully flat though, the default custom FSX buildings native to Minneapolis and St Paul are still there."

Summary

Newport's scenery is very good for what it is — terrain enhancement. Everything on the ground appears more realistic: waters, terrain contours, blocks of streets, expressways with interchanges, and daytime colors. Frame rates are unaffected. But it doesn't have enhancements beyond terrain and waters. Each buyer will have to decide whether having more realistic terrain is worth losing autogenerated objects. As Tyler Newport points out, some flight simmers prefer realistic terrain over autogenerated objects, and vice versa.

Bill Stack

Learn More About Newport's Scenery for Minneapolis Saint Paul Area FSX

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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

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