Thunder Bay 2 / Toronto

By Chip Barber (1 April 2005)

STOP! Read NO further!

No, really. Why, you ask. Well, we’ll get to that. Let me just start by saying I am the LAST person qualified to be reviewing anything, scenery or otherwise, that is not one button auto install.

See, I was asked to review these two sceneries. Being the good little soldier that I am (no offense meant to the men and women serving in the Armed Forces, to whom I offer a tremendous THANKS!), I set about this task. With pen in hand and no small amount of trepidation in my heart, I began downloading these wonderful pieces of scenery. You should know that I like to fly the heavy iron. I have recently gotten up the nerve to learn this 737 add-on, and haven’t taken a look outside of the cockpit since. So, it came as quite a shock when I was forced by circumstance to once again try flying low and slow in a bug-masher.

OK, now here’s the rub. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to installing software (yes, I’ve heard “Hey, your village just called, their idiot is missing…), unless of course it says “Click Here To Install.” Whenever I download a piece of software, and there is a ReadMe that is attached to Word, I know I’m in trouble. Big Trouble.

What happened is this. I’ve got two monitors. Don’t be impressed, my Brother-In-Law gave me a 15 inch flat screen, old but usable. This, I have found, is invaluable when it comes to placing instructions on one monitor, while I toil at my ham-fisted approach to installation on the other. OK, so far, so good. I got the instructions opened… Alright, the instructions are all of 8 steps. There is some scary stuff, such as “Do a computer file search for AF2_CYQT.bgl and remove any found.” I found three, but it seemed that they were all related to the TB2, so I left them alone. The sheen on my forehead was developing into a trickle.

Skipping on down (#7, for those retentives out there), it says “…remove or better yet, backup and remove dem75m_usgle.bgl and or dem38m_usgp_lakenipigon.bgl…” You get the picture. I’m wiping the sweat from the keyboard at this point.

Finally, a part that says “For Newbies…” I laughed in disdain, and then read that part too. And, amazingly enough, it all worked. How ‘bout that! Here’s what I found.

Thunder Bay 2 is a small slice of heaven located in hockey country (said with reverence, I adore hockey). Northwest Ontario to be as precise as one who is geographically challenged can be. There are over 1,200 square miles of custom, all season land and water class, custom digital elevation, custom AI traffic package for CYQT reflecting real-time airline scheduling (I’ll take their word on that), random AI traffic for CKG8, custom coastlines and upgraded modeling of the urban area of the City of Thunder Bay. Can’t ask for more from payware, let alone freeware!

As is said, a picture is worth a thousand words. Screenshots are no different. I’ve taken the liberty of capturing a couple that I thought you might like to see. Here they come now:

Wish you could see the animated stacks. There is other animation, too.

I’ll let you discover the animation in this shot for yourself.

I hope you can see the powerline towers.

It’s the little things that create the big picture.

‘Nuf said….

What do you think? Personally, I think the scenery is terrific. Definitely worth putting aside the autothrottle and climbing back into the puddle-hopper. It seemed as though everywhere I looked, there was some piece of detail that, had it not been there would not have been missed, but being there was really special. I just put on the autopilot, grabbed an outside view and sat back and enjoyed!

There is a list of recommendations which are worth a read, as they should help out with a slower system. Jim Kanold and his Flight Ontario Team ought to be mighty proud of this piece of artwork. Can’t say “Thanks!” often enough to you all for providing this quality work to our flightsim community.

While I’m on the subject of the Flight Ontario Team, there is another offering that I downloaded, and then looked at one of those instructions to be opened with Word (cue the eerie music, please). This scenery takes us again up North (for me, anyway) to Toronto.

You’re gonna laugh. I installed all of the scenery. I think. Hey, I’ve never even been to Toronto (but I do like the Maple Leafs and Molson, so that oughta count for something, ey?). So what I’ve done is create 3 screenshots: #1 is the default FS2004 scenery of downtown Toronto; #2 is the real McCoy (shamelessly pilfered from some obscure site); #3 is the scenery package after what I assume was a successful installation. Can you figure out which one is which? Wait… spoiled that one.

Default FS2004.

The real deal.

Toronto by Team Flight Ontario.

I swear I can hear Gordon Lightfoot doing “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” at the stadium…

Just two more screenshots:

Default.

The Good Stuff, with animated exhaust from the stacks!

It would appear that I managed the installation. In retrospect, the ordeal was not terrible. It takes only a couple of minutes, and a step-by-step approach to the directions (Molson, don’t forget the Molson). But once again, if I can do it, anyone can.

I think the screenshots speak for themselves. This is only a limited demonstration of what these guys have managed to put together, but it is miles ahead of default, don’t you think?

I’ve only scratched the surface of these terrific sceneries. The authors have added three Easter Eggs to Thunder Bay 2, none of which I have found, but in the interests of getting this review to you, my search is temporarily suspended.

I am using NuRoads by Frank Bergson, and Canada Roads by Joel Gill, both freeware and rather outstanding.

One thing of which you must be aware. Here is a direct cut/paste job from the Team Flight Ontario site:

Once again, as with all our sceneries, please be aware that this scenery is designed for "High End" computer Systems.

They’re not kidding. I splurged and got myself one of the “High End” systems, and it runs smooooth. But, if you are under the specs, I suspect you will be treated to a slide show. Mighty attractive slides, but it does make for some interesting landings, particularly with a crosswind.

I could go on and on about this scenery. To again quote their site: “This scenery is designed for the GA VFR flight enthusiast…simmers who like short flights of half-an-hour to 1 hour in length, and who fly low and slow.” So true. Well done, Team!

Chip Barber
rfbarber@optonline.net

Download the Thunder Bay scenery
Download the Toronto scenery

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