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/images/notams/notams19/orbx1120/charleston-1.jpgAnnouncing CityScene Charleston! Developed by Allen Kriesman,CityScene Charleston follows on from his highly successful Orlando andBarcelona sceneries for Prepar3D and FSX. The city of Charleston is rich in history with well-preservedarchitecture, which makes it a very desirable city for visitors. Thenumber of tours, stunning sites and friendly locals has helped makethe city to receive numerous awards, including "World's Best City" in2016. /images/notams/notams19/orbx1120/charleston-2.jpg /images/notams/notams19/orbx1120/charleston-3.jpg /images/notams/notams19/orbx1120/charleston-4.jpgSource

/images/notams/notams19/orbx0115.jpgOrbx CityScene is a new line of scenery products that will recreateurban centers and cityscapes around the world in incredibledetail. Building upon thousands of hours of R&D over several years,Allen's ground-breaking new technology enables highly-detailedscenery, coupled with highly improved performance and optimisationcompared to default city centres. Bypassing traditional autogen methods, buildings correctlyreplicate unusual footprints, improve on building height and typeaccuracy, and even add more details for an immersiveexperience. Vegetation, lighting, terrain, traffic, are all fullyintegrated. Most importantly, CityScene technology uses next-genoptimisation techniques to ensure the very best performance. CityScene Orlando is the biggest CityScene project to date - thisscenery package covers 1,115 km2 of coverage and includes two majorairports - KMCO Orlando International Airport andA KORL OrlandoExecutive Airport. We have also included Lockheed Martin's HQ east ofthe main coverage area - see if you can find it! /images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orbx0105.jpgOrbx CityScene FeaturesHighly detailed, accurate representation of Orlando, FloridaNearly 3.9 million accurately placed regional treesOver 200k accurately sized, shaped and positioned custom buildings including high rise, commercial, and residential buildings135.7k lights, 6.3k container objects, and 3.4k individual water features40 points of interestExpertly optimised using ground-breaking techniques for best performanceWhat Does CityScene Mean?Highly detailed city and urban landscapes brought to lifeAccurate and detailed buildings that go far beyond the limitations of the P3D autogen systemRealistic photoreal/satellite orthoimagery baseDense and highly-accurate vegetation placementRoad traffic, vector, mesh (DEM) and landclass where requiredFull 5 seasons (where applicable) and complete night lightingImportant POI, landmarks and features modeledOptimized for the best balance between performance and detail /images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orlando-1.jpgMajor POIsMagic Kingdom EntranceAstro OrbiterHaunted MansionSwan and DolphinTower of TerrorMGM Giant Mickey HatDisney Contemporary ResortEpcot the LandEpcot World of EnergyMission SpaceOrlando Amway CenterOrlando Renaissance Seaworld - site of the 2019 FlightSimExpo!Purchase Orbx - CityScene Orlando for FSX/P3D

/images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orbx0105.jpgBuilding upon thousands of hours of R&D over several years, AllenKriesman's ground-breaking new technology enables highly-detailedscenery, coupled with highly improved performance and optimisationcompared to default city centers. Bypassing traditional autogen methods, buildings correctlyreplicate unusual footprints, improve on building height and typeaccuracy, and even add more details for an immersive experience. Vegetation, lighting, terrain, traffic, are all fullyintegrated. Most importantly, CityScene technology uses next-genoptimisation techniques to ensure the very best performance. /images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orlando-1.jpgCityScene Orlando - Coming Soon!CityScene Orlando is the biggest CityScene project to date - thisscenery package covers 1115 km2 and includes two major airports -KMCO Orlando International Airport and KORL Orlando ExecutiveAirport. We have also included Lockheed Martin's HQ east of the maincoverage area - see if you can find it! Please note that KMCO and KORL provide much more detail over thedefault airports without any additional frame rate loss. While theyaren't as heavily detailed as a commercial airport add-on, they areincluded in order to provide the full Orlando experience withoutcompromising performance. /images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orlando-2.jpgOrbx CityScene FeaturesHighly detailed, accurate representation of Orlando, FloridaNearly 3.9 million accurately placed regional treesOver 200k accurately sized, shaped and positioned custom buildings including high rise, commercial, and residential buildings135.7k lights, 6.3k container objects, and 3.4k individual water features40 points of interestExpertly optimised using ground-breaking techniques for best performance /images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orlando-3.jpgWhat Does CityScene Mean?Highly detailed city and urban landscapes brought to lifeAccurate and detailed buildings that go far beyond the limitations of the P3D autogen systemRealistic photoreal/satellite orthoimagery baseDense and highly-accurate vegetation placementRoad traffic, vector, mesh (DEM) and landclass where requiredFull 5 seasons (where applicable) and complete night lightingImportant POI, landmarks and features modeledOptimized for the best balance between performance and detail /images/notams/notams19/orbx0105/orlando-4.jpgMajor POIMagic Kingdom EntranceAstro OrbiterHaunted MansionSwan and DolphinTower of TerrorMGM Giant Mickey HatDisney Contemporary ResortEpcot the LandEpcot World of EnergyMission SpaceOrlando Amway CenterOrlando Renaissance Seaworld - site of the 2019 FlightSimExpo!CityScene Orlando for FSX and P3D will soon be available topurchase from OrbxDirect for $29.95 AUD (approx. USD $21.10 / €18.50/ £16.65) orbxdirect.com

Review: Orbx CityScene BarcelonaBy Michael Hayward /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025134931_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135017_1.jpgFollowing on from their hugelysuccessful CityScene Gold Coast, Orbx have now released their secondin the series of CityScene products; Barcelona, the largest city inCatalonia, Spain. Created by Allen Kriesman (Scenery Solutions andUTX fame), these incredibly detailed sceneries contain the followingfeatures: Highly detailed city and urban landscapes brought to life Accurate and detailed buildings that go far beyond the limitations of the MSFS/P3D autogen systemRealistic photoreal/satellite ortho-imagery baseDense and highly-accurate vegetation placementRoad traffic, vector, mesh (DEM) and landclass where requiredFull five seasons (where applicable) and complete night lightingImportant POI, landmarks and features modelledOptimised for the best balance between performance and detail /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135027_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135101_1.jpgWhat/Where Is It?CityScene Barcelona covers the entire city. This includes the maincity from the coast, to the Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola,and then stretches out towards some of the more rural regions of thecity to the north and south, going as far as Badalona and Castelldefels. Within this region you have Barcelona El Prat Airport (LEBL) aswell as numerous famous landmarks, including FC Barcelona's stadium,Camp Nou, and the world famous Cathedral Basilica de Barcelona. InstallationAs with all sceneries from Orbx, installing Barcelona was a breeze,with the FTX Central 3 launcher automating the entire process. /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135118_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135145_1.jpgDocumentationOnce installed, you will find a nice and healthy 12-page 'UserGuide' readily available, which contains numerous facts aboutBarcelona, setting up the scenery, and developer credits. It's aninteresting read and one that I recommend reading through on purchase. BarcelonaBarcelona is famous for its architecture, and I must say thescenery did not disappoint in this respect; far from it, as it lookedsimply fantastic! For the base layer of the scenery, Orbx employ aphotographic scenery across the entire region. This is satelliteimagery at 1 meter per pixel, spread across the entire map and isideal for VFR flying. When departing from El Prat, or even justcruising over the city at high altitude, this gives you an astonishinglevel of detail; something not seen with any other add-ons. Asmentioned above, if you're mainly a VFR flyer, you will find thislevel of detail totally amazing! /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135235_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135301_1.jpgBy using VFR Scenery, it also means that all of the road layouts,plus the building positions, are as accurate as what is currentlypossible in a simulator. Nothing looks out of place, and for thosethat live in the city, or have visited it and know it well, everythinglooks as you would expect it to. Being the perfectionists they are, Orbx have also worked on theground mesh. This includes accurate topography for the city andsurrounding mountains, as well as a reworked coastline. The El BesosRiver, which flows alongside the B-10 and C-33 motorways, has alsobeen defined through this mesh, with the ground lowered, forming theriverbank on either side. This continues right down to the sea wherethe mesh then opens up and fits around the coastline. I must point out however that some of the buildings and streets canbe repetitive - but this is no bad thing, in fact quite the opposite.In FSX and P3D, the simulator only needs to load a mesh once, to whichit can be used as many times as it needs worldwide without itaffecting performance. This is why the default simulator only usesaround 20 building models to fill autogen worldwide. In contrast,Orbx have maybe 100 building models defined, which it then uses over100,000 times across the entire Barcelona region. When combined with812 hand placed objects, the result is a fantastic looking andplausible scenery! /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135331_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135359_1.jpgFor those of you who enjoy stats, how about these: trees accountfor just under 1 million objects across the entire add-on, with themap containing over 1.2 million objects (around 10% of that beinghand-placed and the majority being based on OpenStreetMap data). Asyou can see, with Orbx, as always, level of detail is key, and is oneof the reasons why they have such an incredible reputation for qualitysceneries. Landmarks And Defining FeaturesThere are plenty of landmarks dotted around Barcelona to exploreand enjoy; too many to talk about in detail, so I will concentrate onthree I personally enjoyed. The first is Camp Nou, which has been modelled to match that of thereal stadium. Being the biggest football stadium in the world, youcan even see the detailing of the pitch and stands when flying upclose. The area surrounding the stadium has also been modelled, withthe car park containing a few vehicles, and the surrounding parkpopulated with trees. If you happen to be a flight simmer with apassion for football, this landmark is a definite go to area! /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135419_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135449_1.jpgNumber two is the Port of Barcelona, which has been modelled tomatch those of its real-world counterpart, and includes; dockingcranes, harbor roads, warehouses and container ships. The port itselfspans across the southern coast of the city and helps bring runways25L and 25R approaches to life. The harbor also includes thesheltered wall, just off the coast, enclosing the area and shieldingit from the waves. Finally, we have the Basilica de Barcelona Cathedral, and this isabsolutely stunning! This high-quality model details each spire,window and step of the cathedral, making it a wonderful landmark tospot when in the air. Note: due to the high detailing of the model and the memoryrequirements needed to view it, 32-bit simulators such as FSX and P3Dv3 are recommended to disable the cathedral from appearing. /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135551_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135611_1.jpg Barcelona El Prat AirportFor those that do not own any specialised scenery of Barcelona'smain airport, Orbx have provided a helping hand with its own modifiedversion. While not much more than a modified AFCAD, this really doesimprove on the default area, and provides it with an up-to-datetaxiway and runway layouts, as well as ensuring that everything fitsnicely with the photographic element of the scenery. The result ofthis means that when on final and on the ground at El Prat, there areno random taxiways and runways that lead away from the main airportlayout. If you do however have a modified scenery for Barcelona's airport,then in the FTX Central launcher, there is the option to disable thismodification and thereby allowing you to use your current airportadd-on without it being affected. Note: just remember to move it above your Orbx entries in theScenery Library for the best results so as to avoid clashing. /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025200612_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025200718_1.jpgNight EffectsUpon viewing the night lighting effects for the first time, I mustsay I was very impressed! As the sun started to set over theMediterranean Sea, Orbx had managed to define the 3D volumetric nightlighting across the entire landscape, and the results looked totallystunning. The dark night sky, combined with the lighting from the buildingsbelow, transformed the busy daytime rush of the streets, to a muchcalmer and relaxed scene. As the city went to sleep, lights lit upthe highways for miles on end. Highly atmospheric and incredibly welldone! /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025200512_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025200534_1.jpgBarcelona, being a coastal city, means you can see where the nightlighting ends and the Mediterranean Sea begins. The transition fromcomplete darkness to coastal gives you a completely different feel toflying, with a clear definition from flying over a very populatedarea, to the sea, with nothing but water below. The same can also besaid about the rural mountains to the north, with the odd country roadand motorway heading out of the city and into other parts of thecountry. Seasonal TexturesUnfortunately, CityScene Barcelona does not come with any seasonaltextures. The reason being, Barcelona doesn't see four highly definedseasons, it just gets reasonably warm and quite cold, with snowgenerally being quite light (if at all). Due to this relatively small change, Orbx probably decided to leaveeverything in 'summer mode' to save on file size (totallyunderstandable), but a change in the VFR underlay would still havebeen nice to see as an option. /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135657_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135739_1.jpgOpinion And Closing RemarksBarcelona is a beautiful city, and the fact that Orbx have managedto portray this beauty in this scenery, is a testament to the skill oftheir development team. Yes, there is the odd repetition of buildings, but the fact thatit's possible to run this scenery with so much detail with so littlestrain on modest hardware, is amazing to say the least. At $24.95 AUD, CityScene Barcelona is also very reasonably priced. If you enjoy flying around Europe (especially with low-costairlines that fly regularly into Barcelona El Prat, or are a Barcelonalocal who often flies in the region), then this scenery was made foryou! /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135753_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025135811_1.jpgThe Technical BitMinimum RequirementsMicrosoft Flight Simulator X/Prepar3D v1-4Windows VistaMicrosoft .NET Framework 4.5 (FTX Central V3)1.34 GB StorageReview PC SpecMicrosoft Flight Simulator X: Steam EditionWindows 10 Professional6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 6700K Processor16 GB RAMNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 745 /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025200216_1.jpg /images/reviews/barcelon/t/20181025200310_1.jpgMichael Hayward Purchase Orbx - CityScene Barcelona

From Allen Kriesman - the developer who brought you CityScene GoldCoast, we at Orbx are pleased to announce CityScene Barcelona for FSXand all versions of P3D! /images/notams/notams18/orbx0712/orbx0712.jpgOrbx CityScene is a new line of scenery products that will recreateurban centres and cityscapes around the world in incredibledetail. Building upon thousands of hours of R&D over several years,Allen's ground-breaking new technology enables highly-detailedscenery, coupled with highly improved performance and optimisationcompared to default city centres. Bypassing traditional autogenmethods, buildings correctly replicate unusual footprints, improve onbuilding height and type accuracy, and even add more details for animmersive experience. Vegetation, lighting, terrain, traffic, are allfully integrated. Most importantly, CityScene technology uses next-genoptimisation techniques to ensure the very best performance. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0712/barcelona-1.jpgBarcelona is a city in Spain and is the capital and largest city ofCatalonia. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, itsurban area extends to numerous neighbouring suburbs within theProvince of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people. Thismakes Barcelona the sixth most populous urban area in the EuropeanUnion. It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, locatedon the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besos, andbounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range. Orbx CityScene Barcelona includes seven custom point of interestlocations: Hospital de la Santa CreuWorld Trade Center Of BarcelonaBadalona Golf CenterPavello Olimpic de BadalonaParc de Recerca Biomedica de BarcelonaLa MonamentalCentral Termica de Sant Adria de Besos /images/notams/notams18/orbx0712/barcelona-2.jpgOrbx Cityscene FeaturesHighly detailed, accurate representation of Barcelona, Spain and surroundsNearly 1 million accurately placed regional treesOver 100,000 accurately sized, shaped and positioned custom buildingsOver 211,000 efficient roof objects, lighting, container and box car objects,812 hand placed library objects (including OrbxLib objects)7 point of interest buildings in addition to re-positioned core sim POI's for areaExpertly optimised using ground-breaking techniques for best performance /images/notams/notams18/orbx0712/barcelona-3.jpgIn addition to the Barcelona CityScene region, we have included abonus version of LEBL Barcelona El-Prat Airport to work with thesurrounding area. This airport is designed with the same efficienttechnology used in our Cityscene line. Our bonus LEBL provides muchmore detail over the default airport, without any additional framerate loss. While this isn't an equivalent to a heavily detailedcommercial airport add-on, it is a great way to get the full Barcelonaexperience without compromising performance. Source Purchase here

/images/notams/notams18/orbx0604/orbx0604.jpgDesigned in parallel with the recently-releasedCityScene Gold Coast,YBCG is a highly detailed and incredibly complete reproductionof the airport and surroundings area, completing the most accurate anddetailed airport-city combo currently in our catalogue. Gold Coast International Airport has been designed carefully andreflects the real-world layout of the airport; keen observers willeven notice the new apron expansion and Taxiway Charlie. The sceneryhas been optimized using our latest techniques, and has been designedto work optimally with either Orbx CityScene Gold Coast and/or OrbxAustralia. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0604/ybcg-1.jpgThe Gold Coast International Airport (formerly known as CoolangattaAirport) is an international Australian airport located at thesouthern end of the Gold Coast. The entrance to the airport issituated in the suburb of Bilinga near Coolangatta. A great piece oftrivia; runway itself straddles the state border of Queensland and NewSouth Wales, and during the summer months these states are in twodifferent time zones! The airport exceeded 6 million passengers and isthe sixth-busiest airport in Australia. The airport is frequentlyvisited by Boeing 787, 737, Airbus A330, 320/21 and Embraer jets. Theairport also has a busy general aviation apron; the airport is as hometo light single VFR weekend warriors as it is to heavy-metalcaptains. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0604/ybcg-2.jpgGold Coast Airport has two airline lounges: one operated by VirginAustralia, and the other by Qantas; both have been in operation since2012. The airlines which operate at the airport are many, for exampleyou are likely to see AirAsia X, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand,JETGO, Jetstar, Qantas, TigerAir and many more charter operations,particularly during the peak tourist season. The new apron at thesouthern end of the airfield was been opened just a few days beforethe Commonwealth Games and now is fully operative, the same for thenew taxiway Charlie. Despite an acute lack of source material andreferences, this scenery has included both components with the help oflocal staff and pilots. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0604/ybcg-3.jpgKey FeaturesHighly detailed, accurate representation of Gold Coast International Airport with new apron and taxiway charlieBeautiful ground textures in 15 cm/px7 cm ultra-HD at Southport airportBonus Southport Airport YSPT, with unique sloped taxiway and elevated parking lotsSuper level of realism in both airports and surroundings used in combination of Orbx Cityscene Gold CoastCompatible with Orbx Australia and/or Orbx CityScene Gold CoastIncludes Dynamic lights and extremely realistic specular effects over ground texturesFully optimized by using latest techniquesBy Matteo VenezianiFor Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v1-4. Purchase Orbx - YBCG Gold Coast Airport

/images/notams/notams18/orbx0224/goldcoast1.jpgCityScene Gold Coast is Allen Kriesman's first project with Orbx,and recreates the entire City of Gold Coast and surrounds. Along-awaited return to our Australian roots after a hiatus of severalyears, Goldy has been designed in parallel with Matteo's YBCG GoldCoast International Airport (more news on that soon!). The CityScenecaptures one of Australia's favourite tourist destinations in completedetail; explore 600 sq km of beautiful beaches, urban landscapes,hotels, towers and waterways. As a bonus, Allen (with the help ofJordan Gough) has included lite renditions of several helipadlocations, and Southport Flying Club (YSPT), perfect for launchinglow-and-slow flights over the coverage area. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0224/goldcoast2.jpgAs Australia's largest non-capital city, Gold Coast has long beenfamous for it's beaches, surfing and weather. After a massivedevelopment boom in the 1980s, the population of the area is now over600,000, as well as being home to dozens of skyscrapers, including Q1,the tallest building in Australia. The area straddles the New SouthWales - Queensland border; Brisbane lies 65km to the north, whilstmajor NSW regional centres such as Balina, Byron Bay, Coffs Harbourand Port Macquarie lie just to the south. One of the features of thecalendar is the Gold Coast 600 Supercar Motor Event; held in thecentre of the city, the event is a launching stage for spectacularaerial displays from the RAAF. Given it's southern Queenslandlocation, Gold Coast is the perfect centre for short airline flightsto well-loved Orbx destinations such as Brisbane, Coffs, Port Mac,Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Cairns, Tamworth and Bathurst. Talking ofairline flights, CityScene Gold Coast is prepared and ready for theupcoming Gold Coast Intl; a simple placeholder airport representationhas been included as an interim measure until the full HD airport isready as a separate product. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0224/goldcoast3.jpgAllen Kriesman is a legend of the Flightsim community; a master ofhis craft for several decades, you will know from his company ScenerySolutions, and high popular products such as Ultimate Terrain X(UTX). We are delighted to have him on the team; not only will you seenew scenery projects from Allen during 2018 and onward, but histechnology will be making it's way into many of our other productlines over the coming months. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0224/goldcoast4.jpgFeaturesHighly detailed, accurate representation of the City of Gold Coast and surroundsBeautiful ground textures at 60cm, with bonus 7cm ultra-HD at Southport Flying ClubHuge 600km2 coverage areaNext-Gen CityScene TechnologyCustom 3D lighting, road traffic, and vector componentsBonus Southport Flying Club (YSPT) lite airportBonus light helipads: Marina Helipad and Gold Coast University HospitalCustom DEM meshPOIs including Q1 (Australia's tallest building), Jupiters Casino and moreOver 69,000 custom objects!119,00 accurately-placed buildings1.12 million trees!Expertly optimised using ground-breaking techniques for best performance.Compatible with all versions of FSX and P3D, designed for use with Orbx AustraliaThe exciting first product for Allen Kriesman!Learn More Here