Introduction

Welcome to Antarctica, and to be moreprecise, Antarctica Volume 1 - British Rothera and Beyond by AerosoftGmbH. Antarctica is the earth's southernmost continent and home to thefamous South Pole. It is a vast area covering more than 5 millionsquare miles or 14,000 square kilometres, with over 98% of the landmass being covered by ice. However, if you are looking for somewhereto just get away from it all, this may be the place for you, as thepopulation only gets up to about 5,000 in the summermonths. Considering the continent is twice the size of Australia, itgives you plenty of space to spread out and take in the stunningscenery. But do not be fooled by the remoteness and the lack ofvegetation or people, as this part of the world has some of the moststunning scenery imaginable, and I can safely say that after spendingseveral hours here, I have totally fallen in love with the place.

The scenery being reviewed comes from the folks over at AerosoftGmbH, and it focuses on three specific field locations run by theBritish Antarctic Survey, namely Rothera Base, Fossil Bluff Skiway andthe very remote Sky Blu with its blue ice runway. The two laterlocations function as fuel stops for the Twin Otters and Dash 7 thatfrequent the area in the summer months, when they regularly ferrypassengers and freight from Stanley in the Falklands, some 1,800kilometres or 1,150 miles away.

The base at Rothera fulfills its role as the primary researchstation for the area, as well as the capital of the British AntarcticTerritory, a British Overseas Territory. It is situated at RotheraPoint on Adelaide Island to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula, wherethere has been a settlement since the 1960's, with the currentfacility being established in the mid 1970's.

It really is a stunning part of the world with its high mountainpeaks, expansive glaciers, beautiful crystal-clear waters and vastopen spaces, not to mention the vibrant and diverse wildlifepopulations, so if you would like to know more about what is on offer,then please read on.

Purchase, Download, Documentation And Installation

I obtained my copy at the FlightSim.Com Store, where it retails ata very reasonable $14.99. As it is published by Aerosoft, you willneed to sign up to their Aerosoft One platform to download and installthe scenery. I found it a little bit fiddly at first, but like allthings, once you learn how, it is not that difficult. The installerdoes everything for you, and you will be set up in no time with anadditional 290 MB of scenery on your hard drive. Within Aerosoft One,you can access the manual that comes with the scenery, get thetechnical overview of the scenery from the developer, as well asaccess their support network. From here you can also uninstall thescenery if you wish.

As I mentioned, the scenery comes with a nicely laid out 39-pagemanual, which in addition to providing all the information you needregarding the scenery features, it also references real lifeexperiences of pilots who regularly fly in this region. There areseveral pages dedicated to this, and these cover things like theadditional skills required to fly in this region, weather challenges,radio and communication protocols, ferry flights and further readingif interested. This is a nice touch and really allows you to immerseyour self in the experience. The manual is also peppered with numerousphotographs of some of the best features, as well as a couple ofairfield charts for basic reference purposes. An explanation of theflight plans that are included with the scenery is also provided.

One of the most useful features of the manual in my opinion, is theFAQ section, and I highly recommend that anyone buying the sceneryreads this carefully, as it explains a few things that you really needto be aware of, both in terms of some known limitations within MSFSitself, but also because of the location of Antarctica and how thateffects day light, ice formation, etc.

System Performance

My review was using the Premium Deluxe version of MSFS, and as I donot own a Twin Otter or Dash 7 as described in the manual, I used thefabulous Airbus H135 helicopter from Hype Performance Group during myreview. Helicopters give you more freedom and the best opportunity toreally explore all the nooks and crannies that you just can't in afixed wing aircraft, and I really wanted to experience as much as Icould.

My current simulator consists of an Intel i9 9900K 3.6 GHz CPU,GTX2080Ti 11 GB GPU and 64 GB of DDR4 Kingston RAM at its core. Mysystem settings are at ULTRA, and I had no issues at all, with smoothflying throughout the numerous flights I took. Frame rates for me werein the mid-40s to mid-50s, and although there was the occasional microstutter, my flying experience was extremely enjoyable. I experimentedwith various weather patterns, from clear skies through to snowstormsand white outs, and I had no performance issues at all which was verypleasing. I should mention that I also have SoFly's Weather Pre-set Proinstalled and used it extensively through the tests, as I really enjoythe additional effects it brings at the click of a button.

I should also mention that I have several Saitek panels hooked up,along with my MaxFlightStick cyclic and collective, as well as a setof VKB pedals. I use Axis and Ohs to connect the panels to MSFS, andthey all work well. For head tracking I use the SmoothTrack app on myiPhone, and again it works well, giving an all-round viewingexperience. No need for headsets or other gadgets, and this reallyadds to the immersion when flying over scenery such as this.

Look And Feel

Well, what can I really say other than stunning, stunningstunning! The combination of MSFS and the Rothera scenery providedby Aerosoft are a fantastic example of what this sim is all about. Youcannot help but be impressed at what you first encounter as you spawninto Rothera Base. The scenery is just breath-taking, from the icycold waters, the hundreds of animated icebergs (watch out for the bigone at the end of the runway ...), the majestic mountains, through tothe beautifully crafted buildings and airfield features, and did Imention penguins? The details here are just fabulous, and one of thefeatures I really enjoyed was how the look of the airfield changes sodramatically based on the weather. Using clear skies, the runways havethat dirty gravelly look when the snow melts, however this is totallytransformed to a beautiful winter wonderland when you select one ofthe snow-based weather pre-sets such as my favorite, Arctic Chill. Ishould say though, pick Blizzard and this really makes lifeinteresting, particularly for the poor old penguins.

Rothera base is wonderfully modelled and appears to be an accuraterepresentation of the real thing based on photos I found. Thebuildings and fixed structures are expertly modelled and textured, andthe area is feature rich. This is where having the H135 really comesinto its own, as you can really explore the area in detail. Inaddition to the static models, there are so many animated features,that I did not know where to first look. This really hits the spot forme, and I was not disappointed in any way shape or form. Starting withthe human side of things, there are a good smattering of people acrossthe base, from the couple up on the bench chatting and looking out tosea, to the guy throwing snowballs (cool), to the control toweroperator, the guy readying the Twin Otter for a flight and the chaptidying the shelves in the hangar. This then gets even better with thenumerous animated vehicles to be found including boats and ships,skidoos, and snow vehicles with tracks (yes animated tracks), to theexcavator doing some upgrades. And if that was not enough, well then,you have the King Penguins... there are a few groups for you toenjoy, two larger groups just basking in the summer sun, and a groupof three off for a walk. Not only are they beautifully animated butthe sound effects are just fabulous. I am sure Sir David Attenboroughwould be proud.

I have been a flight sim fan for nearly ten years now, and I canhonestly say I have never experienced anything quite like what I wasseeing here at Rothera. With all the focus on our planet now, it is agenuine privilege to be able to explore this part of our living worldall be it virtually. The work the Aerosoft team have put in, reallybring it to life, and their diligence is exceptional. The only thingthat was a slight disappointment was the fact that I was never able tofind the group of Orcas that are reported as being in the nearbywaters, but I have not given up yet. They are just as elusive as theyare in real life when humans are around. There did also appear to be aslight glitch in the animations from time to time, however I do notknow if that was a MSFS thing or related to the scenery, but eitherway it was not too much of a distraction.

Rothera is a wonderful place to start your Antarctic adventure, andwhen you are done there, you can pop over to the other two sites thatare presented, namely Fossil Bluff Skiway and Sky Blu. Although not asdetailed as Rothera, there are a few features to see, including theblue ice runway at Sky Blu, and the ice version of Stonehenge,Icehenge I can only assume. Not sure if that is a real feature or justthe developers having some fun [Editor's note:it's real],however either way it made me smile when I saw it. During most of myflights, I used the Arctic Chill weather setting from the WeatherPre-set Pro I have installed, as this really gave the feel of a cold,crisp and fresh Antarctic day. I found that using real weather meantthat the water surfaces were frozen over, which, although it stilllooked OK, did make it a little strange seeing ships and boats sailingon the ice. It is just up to personal preference and how you set theweather and time of year. Personally, I enjoyed December and themidnight sun local time, as the sun rays on the water and surroundingswere just stunning. Being from the Northern Hemisphere and being usedto cold weather and snow from time to time, I really did lose myselfon a few occasions and could easily imagine stepping out from one ofthe accommodation modules, and drawing a crisp sharp breath of cleanair... just fabulous!

Final Thoughts

I was generally impressed by the combination of the Rothera andBeyond scenery and what MSFS can do, as together the effects are juststunning. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this small corner ofAntarctica, and I believe that the Aerosoft team really have done afabulous job of bringing what appears to be a barren and emptywasteland to life. I will be honest enough to say that before I loadedup the scenery, I thought I was going to get bored quickly, however Ican safely say the opposite was more like the truth. There is just somuch to see, and even just taking in the breath-taking mountains,glaciers and oceans is enough to keep me coming back for more. Oh,that and the fact that I still have not been able to locate the Orcas,will keep me searching for a long while yet.

So, should you buy it?

In my opinion, if you are looking for something just that littlebit different from the more typical cities and large concrete jungleswe humans have created for ourselves, and you are looking to unplugyour brain for a few hours, contemplate life, and just fly simple VFR,enjoying some stunning scenery, Antarctica Volume 1 - British Rotheraand Beyond may very well be for you. It really is a beautiful andpristine part of the world, and I can see now why we all need to doour part to keep it that way. I genuinely cannot wait for volumes, 2,3and 4...

Video View

Stuart McGregor

Purchase Aerosoft - Antarctica Vol. 1 - British Rothera and Beyond

Aerosoft - Twin Otter for MSFS - an ideal plane for Antarctic flying

See other Aerosoft scenery for MSFS 2020