Airport Enhancer HDX By Cielosim
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Published on 09-15-2010 09:00 AM
Number of Views: 11858
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<h1>Review: Airport Enhancer HDX By Cielosim</h1>
<h3>By Bill Stack (15 September 2010)</h3>
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<div class="c1"><a href="/images/reviews/cieloapt/AEHDX9.jpg"
title="Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/AEHDX9.jpg" width="350" height="219"
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<td width="260" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/AEHDX4.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/AEHDX4.jpg" width="250" height="156"
hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a></td>
<td width="238" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/AEHDX3.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/AEHDX3.jpg" width="228" height="156"
hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a></td>
<td width="260" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/AEHDX6.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/AEHDX6.jpg" width="250" height="156"
hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle" alt=
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<p><small class="c2">Screen shots by Cielosim</small></p>
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<p><span class="dropcap">D</span>efault ground surfaces at airports
in Microsoft Flight Simulator® look the same regardless of age and
usage. Concrete, asphalt, grass, and pavement markings are the same
everywhere. <i>Cielosim</i> addresses this shortcoming with its
Airport Enhancer HDX program, which is abbreviates "AEHDX."</p>
<p>Cielosim touts these features among many other features of its
program:</p>
<ul>
<li>The most detailed runways ever seen in FSX</li>
<li>A wide variety of detailed concrete and asphalt textures</li>
<li>Extremely detailed airport parking spaces</li>
<li>State of the art, photoreal, perfectly tiled grass texture</li>
<li>Remade airport signs that match those found in airports around
the world</li>
</ul>
<p>Cielosim is a company founded by Alex Ranc in 2006. Originally
he had created a freeware texture package that became fairly
popular. "Due to its wide success, I decided to create a more
complete addon and <a href="/vbfs/content.php?741">Flight
Enhancer</a> was born," he explained. "Since then, I've been
creating new products whenever I get new ideas or whenever I get
the time. In the meantime, I'm a full time university student."</p>
<p>Airport Enhancer HDX was created because the developer was tired
with the quality of both the default FSX textures and the ones
already available through addons. "I'm real picky with how my
simulator looks, and thus I decided to give a shot at creating some
HD textures for my own use," he said. "I started experimenting with
new texturing techniques and some newly acquired DSLR photos. I was
impressed with the results and decided I could create an addon out
of this."<br>
<br>
<br>
<!-- PRODUCT FEATURES TABLE --></p>
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"3" border="1">
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<p class="c3">PURCHASE FEATURES</p>
</td>
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<p>Instant download from the Pilot Shop</p>
</td>
<td align="center" width="100">
<p>YES</p>
</td>
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<td align="left" width="300">
<p>Installation program</p>
</td>
<td align="center" width="100">
<p>YES</p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td align="left" width="300">
<p>License key required</p>
</td>
<td align="center" width="100">
<p>YES</p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td align="left" width="300">
<p>Copyright acknowledgment required</p>
</td>
<td align="center" width="100">
<p>YES</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" width="300">
<p>Manual included</p>
</td>
<td align="center" width="100">
<p>YES</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" width="300">
<p>Uninstall program included</p>
</td>
<td align="center" width="100">
<p>YES</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<h3>Major Features</h3>
<p>Three overall features stand out above all the rest:</p>
<ul>
<li>The variety of textures that can be applied to runways,
taxiways, and parking areas:
<ul>
<li>Five textures for concrete runways and taxiways such as
"classic," "roughness," and "tiled look"</li>
<li>Five textures for asphalt runways and taxiways such as
"radiant," "shaded," and "compressed"</li>
<li>Three textures for parking areas, such as "medium," "filthy,"
and "Mr. Clean"</li>
<li>Two textures for surface markings</li>
<li>Two appearances for jetways</li>
</ul>
<br>
<br></li>
<li>The easy-to-use menu-driven program:
<ul>
<li>All textures are selected with simple button clicks</li>
<li>Texture options are shown in a window within the menu,</li>
<li>The program installs the changes with a single button
click</li>
<li>The whole menu is self-explanatory</li>
<li>The included manual is very helpful</li>
</ul>
<br>
<br></li>
<li>The ability to backup and restore the current FSX textures
configuration file.</li>
</ul>
<!-- IMAGES -->
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<td colspan="2" align="center"><br>
<p class="c6">TEXTURE COMPARISONS</p>
<p>These comparative screen shots show<br>
only a few examples of all the available textures.<br>
<br></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="300" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/KATL_Gate01_AE.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/KATL_Gate01_AE.jpg" width="250" height=
"200" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a><br>
Airport Enhancer</td>
<td width="300" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/KATL_Gate01_FSX.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/KATL_Gate01_FSX.jpg" width="250"
height="200" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle"
alt=""></a><br>
FSX Default</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="300" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/KATL_Ramp01_AE.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/KATL_Ramp01_AE.jpg" width="250" height=
"200" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a><br>
Airport Enhancer</td>
<td width="300" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/KATL_Ramp01_FSX.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/KATL_Ramp01_FSX.jpg" width="250"
height="200" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle"
alt=""></a><br>
FSX Default</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="300" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/KPDK_Ramp02_AE.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/KPDK_Ramp02_AE.jpg" width="250" height=
"200" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a><br>
Airport Enhancer</td>
<td width="300" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/KPDK_Ramp02_FSX.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/KPDK_Ramp02_FSX.jpg" width="250"
height="200" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="0" align="absmiddle"
alt=""></a><br>
FSX Default</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center"><br>
<small class="c2">Screen shots by Bill Stack</small></td>
</tr>
</table>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<h3>The Manual</h3>
<p>A five-page manual in Adobe format (*.PDF) explains how to use
the program. An annotated image of the menu shows what the program
does, but the program is easy to figure out because all the buttons
are labeled and results are shown on a window in the lower right. A
little experimentation is all that's needed. The manual also
provides important information about files needed by Windows and
changes that are made to FSX configuration file.<br>
<br>
<br>
<!-- MANUAL IMAGES --></p>
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<p class="c6">PAGES FROM THE MANUAL</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="200" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/ManualPage1.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/ManualPage1.jpg" width="200" height=
"260" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="1" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a><br>
Table of Contents</td>
<td width="200" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/ManualPage3.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/ManualPage3.jpg" width="200" height=
"260" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="1" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a><br>
Main Menu</td>
<td width="200" align="center" valign="top"><a href=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/ManualPage4.jpg" title=
"Click for larger image"><img src=
"/images/reviews/cieloapt/t/ManualPage4.jpg" width="200" height=
"260" hspace="5" vspace="10" border="1" align="absmiddle" alt=
""></a><br>
Backup Option</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center"><small class="c2">Screen shots by
Bill Stack</small></td>
</tr>
</table>
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