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/images/notams/notams21/komo1021.jpgAerosoft Komodo Labuan Bajo Airport, located in the north-westernpart of the Indonesian island Flores, was created utilising the latesttechnologies of the Microsoft Flight Simulator platform. It includes ahighly detailed airport with its modern terminal facilities and asurrounding autogen-style scenery for custom local-style buildings. Itis just a short hop away from the islands of Bali and Lombok, twoother popular holiday destinations in Indonesia. The airport has undergone several transformations during the pastyears, including the all-new modern terminal facilities and a newsouthern taxiway. The location and the approach offer a very scenicand beautiful setting hard to find in most other places of theworld. Komodo is a growing tourist destination with new hotels and resortspopping up constantly. It is probably most famous for being thenatural habitat of the world's largest lizard: the Komodo dragon. FeaturesDetailed airport area and buildings based on an aerial image from mid-2019Detailed ground pavements/markingsHigh-resolution PBR materials and texturesDynamic night-lightingCustom local-style surrounding buildingsAnimated passengers in the terminalOptimized for performancePurchase Aerosoft - Airport Komodo for MSFS
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Review: Aerosoft Mega Airport HelsinkiBy Michael Hayward /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222002_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222012_1.jpgIn October 2012, developers A-Flightreleased their Mega Airport Helsinki package published underAerosoft. At the time of release, this was their first mainstreamscenery released for sale for FSX and P3D. In mid-July, I went on a week-long holiday to Finland, flying intoHelsinki Vantaa before taking a train to the city and onwards toLappeenranta. Losing my passport days before flying however meant thatI was stuck in the city and the airport for a few extra days beforemaking my way back to the UK. In the light of my recent trip to Finland, I thought that now wouldbe a perfect opportunity to review this airport, comparing it to thereal world and seeing how true-to-life Mega Airport Helsinki is. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222044_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222119_1.jpgWhat/Where Is It?Mega Airport Helsinki includes Helsinki Airport and some borderingbuildings. Constructed and opening in 1952, it was made for the SummerOlympics that year in order to lessen the traffic flying toHelsinki-Malmi Airport which was struggling to cope with the suddenincrease in traffic. The airport itself is situated in the town of Vantaa, which is 10miles north of Helsinki city center, and only 3 miles west ofTikkurila. It was built on the Mottisuo, a large flat boggy marshlandthat once stretched out for miles north from the capital before beingdeveloped on. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222138_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222150_1.jpgInstallationInstalling the Mega Airport Helsinki scenery was simple, as withany other Aerosoft install. Once you have downloaded the installer, run the program and selectyour chosen simulator. You then input your activation key and theinstaller does the rest. When running the simulator, it's good practice to also check if thescenery has been activated in your scenery library, as on someoccasions it will not do this automatically. Once the airport isadded, you are ready to go. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222238_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222258_1.jpgYou get three documents with this add-on. A 16-page manual inGerman and English explaining the add-on and the features it includes,as well as a 51-page color charts book showing all of the approachesand departures from Vantaa (in-date to when this scenery wasreleased). You also get a tweaking tool that lets you adjust the airportscenery depending on what visuals you want to see within the airportand surrounding areas, as well as texture resolutions depending onyour system. The tweaking tool also lets you toggle winter and summertrees and snowbanks - meaning this does not appear to be automatedwhich is a shame, but fair for the time that this scenery wasreleased. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222316_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222332_1.jpg Structures And FacilitiesThe scenery at Helsinki Airport is absolutely beautiful. Theterminal and hangar buildings look utterly stunning and are topped offwith full 4K textures, bringing them to life. There are two terminals at Helsinki Vantaa - Terminal 1 is used forthe majority of domestic and some smaller/Scandic routes, while mostwill go through the International Terminal 2. Both have been very well recreated by A-Flight and look very goodwhen compared to their real-world counterparts. Textures are in full4K resolution and weathered to give the airport a sense of age when upclose to the building. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222424_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222442_1.jpgBest of all, the terminal interior is also visible! The exteriorwindows are semi-transparent which lets you look inside the departurelounge of the airport! This can be a risky move that not manydevelopers do, mainly due to how hard this can be to optimise, as wellas look good, but this has been very well well and gives you a reallygood sense of depth when parked. Each stand also has a Visual Docking Guidance Systems (VDGS)modelled into them, each being functional as well. This works reallywell in guiding your aircraft to the gate and stopping it on thecenterline at the correct position. Something that I think we also need to give a mention to are thejet bridges. They look phenomenal. The level of detailing on them(including the structures that hold them up) are VERY high in qualityand look almost real. It's something I have never seen a developerfocus so much on, despite (in real-life) being something that directlyinteracts with the aircraft, making them well worth a look - If youown Aerosoft's Airport Enhancement Services add-on (remember that?)these jetways are also functional within FSX at no additionalcost! /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222516_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222534_1.jpgThere is though the odd hiccup where the staircase leads to arandom wall - obviously, something has been missed...whoops! Taxiways And RunwayThe airport layout matches that of the real-world Vantaa airport in2012, when this scenery was first released, and continued to do sountil 2015 when major work started on a new terminal for the airportand the iconic Finnair Arches hangar was sold to Finavia anddemolished. Textures for the taxiways and also runway are highly detailed, andincludes weathering. This provides an aged feel to them, as much ofthis airport was built in the 1970s, with a further runway extensionmade in the early 2000s. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224001_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224019_1.jpgThe ground surrounding the terminal has also been detailed withground service vehicles placed around each stand, along with liquidspills and wet patches on the ground. This all combines to give you avery high-quality ground environment to explore. Ground markings are also accurate and positioned in theirreal-world locations. These include runway markers, taxiwaydesignations and holding points in various locations. Airport service roads also snake their way around the airport,including a few roads in Mottisuo and leading to the cargoterminal. While these weren't added to the main airport layout, theydo appear on the satellite imagery that surrounds the airport whichbeing of the quality it is, lets them fit in with the ground scenerywhile still looking in place. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222739_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222825_1.jpgNight EffectsNight lighting in this scenery has also been well recreated in thesimulator. The different lighting types you see on approach as well ason the ground, give you a good overall feeling of nightlife at theairport, and compared to the real thing (my arriving flight landed at11:30 pm local time), I have no complaints. One thing I do like about the lighting, is that A-Flight doesn'toverdo the effects. While most scenery developers will go for massivebright lights all packed close together, A-Flight has instead usednormal sized lights at realistic intervals. All taxiway signs areilluminated and the terminal buildings look fantastic from afar. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222844_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823223857_1.jpgLighting colors and variations are also accurate. Light greenlights mark the taxiways, blue lights mark the taxiway edges and whitelights mark the runway area, with dark green where the runway startsand ends. When on final at night, thanks to the very dark surroundings of theairport, spotting Vantaa is an easy feat, meaning you won't have anyissue in getting your aircraft down at night. Other Structures And The Surrounding AreaThe marshland of Mottisuo sits in the very middle of the airport,and is generally left untouched. While monitored and kept by theairport from disrupting the airport and any services, the bog is stillevident in the space between runways 04L/22R and 04R/22L, where theland is still green and overgrown. This has been 3D modelled byA-Flight to match the real-world scenery, which adds to the level ofdetail that this package provides. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823223825_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823223757_1.jpgWhile we still have the usual flat runways and taxiways (a pitfallof FSX and P3D), the land that surrounds this is complex and looksreally good, giving the airport a new level of depth, which you don'tnormally see in these simulators. To save on frame rates, the further out you are from the mainairport area, the fewer visible polygons there are on buildings andobjects. The delivery trucks near the cargo terminal suffer from thisthe most (big blocks that sit on slightly smaller blocks). From adistance however, this doesn't look bad at all, which most of the timewill be a couple of hundred feet in the air after departure (if youeven notice them at all). /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823223925_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222542_1.jpgThere is a satellite image also placed into the ground of Vantaaairport. This is an extremely high-quality image and brings togetherwhat is a fantastic product. The level of quality goes down to thepatterns in the grass in open areas and also to a number of airportfacilities both airside and landside. Other than the immediate area surrounding the airport and maybe afew forests to the north and southwest, you don't get anything elseaway from Vantaa or Tikkurila itself. Seasonal TexturesSouthern Finland has four much defined seasons, all of which havebeen recreated in this add-on. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823222648_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224035_1.jpgBeing Finland, we definitely have to cover winter first. Snowtextures have been created and placed all around the airport,including the 3D marshland and airport roof. Unfortunately though, not everything has been given a wintertexture, and this is a drawback to a very good scenery. What good is aFinnish winter if not everything has been snow covered? Fortunately,only a small number of buildings suffer from this issue, but it'senough to be noticed when up close. Trees also suffer from thistexture issue too, but this can be changed thanks to the built-intweaking tool that this add-on comes with. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224107_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224139_1.jpgSummer and other seasons, on the other hand, have been verywell-made. They are both bright and vibrant, and really brings to lifewhat Finland is like in the short summer it has. This is very muchseen in Mottisuo where the land changes the most from season toseason. In winter its pure white with lumps of snow on top, and in thesummer, it's green and full of life! Opinion And Closing RemarksOverall, it has been a pleasure to fly in and out of Mega AirportHelsinki. The scenery itself looks fab and if you can get past thewinter textures, A-Flight has done a solid job in recreating HelsinkiVantaa. If you can't however get past those winter textures, then thatunfortunately is a slight letdown on what is otherwise, a fantasticproduct. Winter in Finland is like marmite on toast, whether you likeit or not (sub-zero temperatures anyone?) they go hand in hand. Usingthe tweaker tool does subdue some of the issues, but it's just notquite there yet. /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224149_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224309_1.jpgHaving flown to Vantaa only a few months ago during the summer, Ican look at this scenery and confidently say that the ground scenery,airport layout and everything else has been very well recreated togive you a highly realistic feel to the airport. I must also mention that despite the high levels of detailing ineach part of the airport, this scenery does not kill your frame rates,which shows how well optimised the scenery is. A good balance betweendetailing and optimisation is always appreciated, especially on theFSX platform, which A-Flight have excelled in. Now if anyone spots a red British passport with an EHIC slippedinside, please do let me know... /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224328_1.jpg /images/reviews/megahels/t/20180823224347_1.jpgThe Technical BitMinimum RequirementsMicrosoft Flight Simulator X (SP2, Acceleration Pack or Gold Edition) or Lockheed Martin Prepar3DOperating system: Windows XP(SP2)/Vista/7Processor: min. 3 GHz (Dual Core Processor recommended)Graphics card: min. 512 MB (DirectX9)RAM: 2 GBDownload Size: 440 MBInstallation Size: 1 GBReview PC SpecMicrosoft Flight Simulator X: Steam EditionWindows 10 Professional6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 6700K Processor16 GB RAMNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 745/images/reviews/megahels/mega-airport-helsinki.jpg Michael Hayward Purchase Aerosoft - Mega Airport Helsinki
