magine
the excitement that you would feel as the aircraft descended
through a thin layer of clouds and the Costa del Sol unfolds in front
of you, golden and majestic. The aircraft, a 737-400 operating
Sobelair flight 2329 from Brussels, makes its final approach into
Malaga. Or picture an early morning arrival into Madrid Barajas
airport after an overnight Iberia 747 flight from Miami. You connect
flights and an hour later you are enjoying the beautiful architecture
of the houses on the island of Mallorca.
You are in Spain, one of the many countries that border the
Mediterranean, offering some of the most beautiful beaches in the
world. All of Spain's cities are rich in culture and variety, from
Madrid, to Barcelona, to Seville, to Valencia. Whether you seek quiet
beaches or the pulsating nightlife of Ibiza which has become the
clubbing center of Europe, Spain unfolds itself for you. Now, Pedro
Aviles brings to life (and Flight Simulator 98) this beautiful
country with his Spain Global Scenery.
A cloudy day in Granada. Check out the interesting texture
on the mountains. The designer uses three different mountain textures
throughout the scenery.
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Requirements
To enjoy this scenery and get reasonable frame rates, it is a good
idea to have the following:
- Flight Simulator 98 (required)
- 3D card recommended
- Europe scenery booster must be disabled
- Reasonably fast PC
Specifications
This review was done based on the scenery performance on the following PC:
- AMD-K6 233MHz
- 32MB RAM
- Flight Simulator 98 with Europe 1, 2, and 3 installed
- Diamond Viper 330 video card
Approaching Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Even some of
the smaller airports feature taxiway centerline guidance.
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Overview
The scenery includes 46 airports which are quite rich in detail. The
scenery is created using some custom and some generic textures but
the combination makes the final result look very real. The mountain
ranges are simply amazing! Fly along the Mediterranean coast and you
can enjoy them as they rise up in all their splendor! There is no
photorealistic scenery but the effects that Pedro Aviles achieved are
quite appealing. The coastlines are accurate and quite detailed with
sandy beaches added where they belong.
The Airports
All airports include night lighting, taxiways and a control tower.
The larger airports also have runway and taxiway signs and taxiway
centerline lighting as well. Many trees can be seen around the
airports as some of these photos show. Some transparent glass
buildings are also included which look quite nice. More than 30
airports have ILS frequencies for at least one runway. One thing that
is missing is the ATIS frequency at the larger airports. Real-world
navigation frequencies are used so Jeppesen charts can be used for
flight. Static and dynamic scenery is not present in this release but
the author claims that this is still a beta version.
A foggy sky over the capital. Madrid Barajas in all its glory
with the new runway 36R/18L. The mountains surrounding the city are
just visible.
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The Cities and Other Scenery
Some interesting scenery textures are used to represent cities. These
are not simply squares like the default FS98 scenery. They look more
like "European" cities, which historically have adopted a more
circular geometry. Many lit roads are included, as are prominent
bodies of water such as lakes and rivers.
Compatibility
The scenery is compatible with Europe 2 although there is a slight
misalignment of textures along the Mediterranean coast just north of
Gerona. The author warns that the default FS98 Europe scenery must be
disabled for his Spain scenery to work correctly. Two additional
files can be downloaded. One adds the new parallel runway at Madrid
Barajas as well as several smaller airports in the Madrid area. The
second file adds 100 extra navaids to the scenery.
Lining up on Malaga's runway 14 for an early morning
departure to Madrid. The detail here is in the form of a glideslope
antenna, tree line and a fort (left background).
The Airbus A320 panel was designed by William Grabowski.
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Documentation
Although quite brief, the documentation includes everything you need
to get the scenery working. Installation instructions are quite
standard. A list of airports and ILS frequencies is included but
there are no VOR or NDB frequencies. If you have Europe 2, the
Jeppesen charts that are included also cover Spain.
Conclusion
Spain Global Scenery is a quality freeware add-on for FS98. It offers
complete scenery of this beautiful country and the two island groups,
the Canaries and Baleares. If you enjoy flying in Europe, this
scenery is perfect for light aircraft and airliner flights,
especially charters from northern European cities to the sun drenched
resort cities on the Mediterranean. So get ready to experience the
varied scenery and many airports scattered across Pedro Aviles' Spain
scenery!
Philip Iplixian
iplixiap@db.erau.edu
Download
Spain Global Scenery
