FlightSim.Com Reviews: Tahiti Scenery

Tahiti Scenery

Adventures Over French Polynesia

by Mark Stewart (4 Feb 1998)

Photo 1: Tahiti

Gin clear water. Turquoise lagoons & jagged towering peaks. The 81 islands that cover French Polynesia span across 1.5 million square kilometers. In TAHITI by Wilco Publishing 74,000 square kilometers of the most spectacular part of French Polynesia is recreated. Wilco has achieved many things with the release of this scenery, but one thing in particular is the raising of the bar for others to live up to. TAHITI by Wilco has propelled us further into the realm of high quality, well thought out scenery.

Having been a big fan of Microsoft Hawaii, I was very intrigued with this scenery package and was anxious to buy a copy. Microsoft Hawaii is great but lacks one true element, P'zazz.

TAHITI by Wilco Publishing has P'zazz!

Let's take a moment before we talk about all the visuals to break down what is included in the package and review content.

THE PACKAGE

Photo 2: Island of Moorea

Wilco provides a 109 page manual that covers installation/troubleshooting, descriptions of the 12 major islands with landing facilities, detailed descriptions of the 4 adventures, and finally 32 pages of maps, approach & departure charts. 48 pages are in English and the rest of the manual is in German and Spanish. The scenery is contained on one CD and must be installed completely onto your hard drive. The scenery in total take up a staggering 140 megabytes, which might make some people cringe.

The official maps and plates included with the software are very detailed and some of the best I have seen with a software add-on. The only small negative is that they are reproductions and have been reduced in size. This reduction makes some of the maps a little hard to read.

The adventures that are included feature multiple voices and real recorded ATC. On one particular adventure you are touring a honeymoon couple around the islands. You hear the couple and your tour guide approach the aircraft, get seated and briefed. It is quite original! Four adventures are included, one being of TOP SECRET nature. Be prepared to be on the ball.

THE SCENERY

Photo 3: Terminal With People

TAHITI by Wilco is very detailed and represents the islands in vivid, rich color and complex textures. The scenery brings forth a number of original visuals that bring a sense of realism. Here are a couple of examples:

SIM PEOPLE, the first to appear in our simulated world. See them around terminals, boarding aircraft and generally milling about. They are static but help to make the airports not look like ghost towns. The people are even seen inside the terminal on the island of Tahiti. (See Photo 3)
REFLECTIONS of mountains seen in crystal clear lagoons brings a new level of realism and depth. (See Photo 4)
ORIGINAL STRUCTURES & 3D OBJECTS, add a 'WOW' quality to the aiports and islands. Not just the usual 3D objects seen so often, but goodies including luggage carts, interesting towers, hangars, thatched buildings, boarding stairs, hotels and some of the best palm trees I have seen. Tahiti also features a number of DYNAMIC objects such as planes and even water-skiers!
TEXTURES and texture mapping is where Tahiti really shines. The scenery is so lush and the reefs and coastlines so stunning that you think you are really there. The towns and communities scattered around the islands look very tropical and stretch along coastlines and around lagoons. Runways and taxi-ways are textured according to what type of runway. Some runways appear to be made of crushed coral as are some other island airports in different parts of the world. The scenery is displayed at resolutions up to 7 meters per pixel and it seems to adjust the level of detail according to distance from the islands to improve frame rates.

HOW'S IT DONE

Photo 4: Tahiti Lagoons

TAHITI was developed using the highest of standards to virtually eliminate visual errors found in some other sceneries. These visual errors such as open lines, open mountains, runways showing through solid scenery etc. All landscape elevations in Tahiti are true to geological data and possess a real 3-D quality.

One of the most amazing aspects in the creation of Tahiti is in the design technique common to the creation of murals and domed ceilings. The "Trompe-l'oeil" technique which is used in paintings to bring a scene or landscape to life was used in the making of Tahiti. The textured landscapes were actually created by using photos and paintings that were re-worked by hand and implemented into the scenery. (WOW!) This is how the scenery possess that almost painted true to life quality.

THE AIRCRAFT

Photo 5: ATR 42 at Terminal

The package also includes 4 aircraft to cover just about all your needs when flying in and around Tahiti.

DC-10 in AIR OUTRE-MER livery. Use this aircraft for your long hauls from the rest of the world.
ATR 42 in AIR TAHITI livery is a great aircraft and perfect size for those inter-island flights (see Photo 5).
Concorde in AIR FRANCE livery. Well this one speaks for itself. I'm not sure if the Concorde has ever been to Tahiti but this sure makes those long trans-pacific flights a little easier.
Cessna 182 Seaplane in Wilco livery. Picnic in those secluded lagoons, resort to resort hops. The 182 on floats is your bird.

JUST A THOUGHT

Before closing this review with the raw stats and a final thought I wanted to cover two things that you should keep in mind. Although the scenery does not require a super processor, I tested it on a Pentium 75 and it doesn't give the frame rates that I would consider acceptable for smooth landings, taxing and take-offs. Although the box does state P75 and higher, I feel you would enjoy it much more in the P120-150 range. Secondly, the software has been optimized for Flight Simulator 98. When you install the scenery, it asks you which version you wish to install. The options are Flight Sim 5.1, FSFW95 and FS98. When you look at the screen shots (FS5.1), keep in mind that the graphics will be even sharper and more spectacular in FS98.

THE RAW STATS

Photo 6: Bora Bora From 35000 Feet

Islands with Airports Covered:

Tahiti - Moorea - Tetiaroa - Maiao - Huahine - Tahaa/Raiatea Bora Bora - Maupiti - Mehetia - Makatea - Rangiroa - Mataiva

18 - ADF/Radio Beacons
7 - VOR's

3 Inter-Island Sectional & Regional arrival routing charts
1 Full French Polynesia chart
13 Instrument approach plates
12 Visual approach plates
2 STARS for island of Tahiti

4 Adventures
All the adventures are quite in depth and well written up.

#1 IFR - Tahiti to Rangiroa
#2 VISUAL - Sightseeing around French Polynesia
#3 Search for the Adventurers
#4 Top Secret

THE BOTTOM LINE

Well, if you aren't intrigued so far you are not much into scenery. Tahiti is a FULL package with all the bells and whistles to keep you exploring and flying for months if not years. The scenery itself is filled with innovation and features many never before seen goodies.

I am thrilled to add TAHITI to my scenery collection and will be flying many hours over the rugged peaks and the crystal waters of this great scenery package.

By Mark Stewart
mcsvls@earthlink.net

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