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Review: Realworld Scenery - Nome Alaska PAOM for MSFS 2020
Nels_Anderson posted an article in Featured
Nome Alaska PAOMPublisher: Realworld SceneryReview Author: Joshua MooreSuggested Price: $14.00/images/fsc/wbicons/store-buy-now-button.pngIntroductionI have wanted to review an Alaskanairport for a long time, as I remember a book I once read during mychildhood, about Balto, the lead sled dog that helped carry medicinefrom Nenana to Nome during the winter of 1925. Seeing Nome airportavailable on the FlightSim.Com Store immediately brought back pastmemories of this story and as such I was intrigued with what Nomewould offer. This scenery of Nome Airport is from Realworld Scenery, the samedeveloper who created St. Louis International Airport, a scenery Ihavepreviously reviewed. Nome Airport today serves the city of Nome and has multiple dailyservices with Alaska Airlines connecting it to Anchorage, as well asthe headquarters of Bering Air, who operate 18 scheduled routes fromNome. With that out of the way, let's hop into the sim and check thisairport out! /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-1.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-2.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-3.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-4.jpgFirst ImpressionsInstalling the scenery into the sim was both simple andstraightforward. Upon first loading into MSFS, I was greeted with anice presentation of Nome. Coming from KSTL, it was a pleasantexperience, and I had no issues with performance at all. The airportblends in very well with its surroundings, and my initial impressionsof the buildings, textures, and modeling of the airport were quitepositive (more on all these later). /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-5.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-6.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-7.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-8.jpgExploring The AirportNome is quite small, having two runways, a small terminal building,and multiple hangars on both sides of the airport. The terminal isused solely by Alaska Airlines and has the airline name both airsideand on the front of the building. Bering Air has a large hangaradjacent to the terminal and is modeled quite well, with the BeringAir logo on the hangar door being modeled in 3D, something which hasbecome a standard feature with modern scenery packages. The oppositeside of the airport includes many smaller hangars, presumably for GAaircraft, and looks quite nice. Multiple objects are spread across theapron, and these include pallets, crates, plus boxes stacked upwaiting to be loaded and shipped. The whole experience feels veryauthentic, and as such, I enjoyed it a lot. I do wish that there werea few more static aircraft around to give it a slightly livelierappearance, but this is a small complaint. /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-9.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-10.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-11.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-12.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-13.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-14.jpgTexturesThe textures were an area I was quite eager to see, as those usedin St. Louis, were disappointing. However, this was not the case withNome, as I am happy to report that the texture quality in almost everysense is quite acceptable and representative of what I would expect tosee. There are plenty of weathering effects applied to the textures,plus many other small details which only add to the plausibility ofthe scenery, and I love the overall effect it provides. The runway and taxiway textures are custom made and are moreweathered than the standard MSFS versions. Due to their design, theyadd a degree of realism which would not have been possible had thedeveloper used the default textures. There could be more variation,but what you get is still quite acceptable for the airport's size. Ireally appreciate the upgrade in quality that is presented here overSt. Louis. The effects of snow on the airport is quite interesting, and yourresults will vary on whether or not you are using a third party runwayand taxiway texture add-on. I had REX textures installed and notedsnow to be lacking a lot more than with the default MSFStextures. This is most likely not a scenery issue but rather the wayREX treats snow on surfaces vs Asobo's method. As such, the screenshots showing snow are those with default textures and not REX, as noteveryone will have add-on textures installed. Window textures are still flat shapes, and no terminal interior isincluded, but that is the only downside for me in this area. I dothink that MSFS's parallax technology could greatly enhance theexperience of the terminal and other buildings, but that will be leftto the developer to implement. /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-15.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-16.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-17.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-18.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-19.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-20.jpgLightingThe night lighting of the airport is for me, one of the mostimpressive parts of the scenery. Almost every light is dynamic, andwhen you add snow to the mix, it really does have a cold appearancethat screams winter, and it is something which I feel the same aboutin real life. Anyone who tried to run through a preflight checklistquickly and safely before starting an aircraft in winter, will knowexactly what I mean. The terminal windows are white squares and non-textured, so again,the parallax technology would be greatly appreciated here to improvethat look, as in wintertime you will see plenty of whitewindows. Everywhere else however, the lighting is done very well andgives the airport plenty of light to work with in the darker months. /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-21.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-22.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-23.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-24.jpgConclusionComing from St. Louis, I would be lying if I didn't have my doubtsabout this scenery. However, these were quashed on arrival as NomeAirport was highly enjoyable from the get-go. It really is a fantasticaddition for anyone trying to build up their Alaskan airport scenerynetwork in preparation for the arrival of PMDG's 737NG for MSFS. Whenyou combine these two together, it will make for some amazing Alaskanadventures. Nome Airport also makes for a great starting point in which toexplore some of the smaller Alaskan airports that Bering Air flies to,namely Unalakleet,White Mountain, etc. If you're looking to fly out of western Alaska,Realworld Scenery's Nome Airport comes highly recommended. /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-25.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-26.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-27.jpg /images/reviews/realnome/t/Realworld-Scenery-Nome-28.jpg/images/reviews/realnome/title3.jpgJoshua Moore Purchase Realworld Scenery - Nome Alaska PAOM for MSFS See other Realworld Scenery for MSFS 2020 -
Review: Realworld Scenery - St. Louis International Airport MSFS
Nels_Anderson posted an article in Featured
St. Louis Int'l AirportPublisher: Realworld SceneryReview Author: Joshua MooreSuggested Price: $18.25/images/fsc/wbicons/store-buy-now-button.pngIntroductionThe other day I was browsing theFlightSim.Com Store looking for an airport to review as I am somewhatlimited in what I can do at the moment. My main flight sim setup iscurrently a long way away from me and I'll most likely not be able tofly it again till December at the earliest. I instead have a littlejoystick and my laptop which is MSFS capable, so airport reviews itis. During my search I happened across a company called RealworldScenery, who I had never heard of. I took a quick look at what theyhad to offer and decided to take on their rendition of KSTL, anairport which I have flown out of multiple times in my FS2004days. /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-1.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-2.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-3.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-4.jpgFirst ImpressionsInstallation of the airport is very simple, akin to installing a sceneryinto X-Plane 11. There is no installer at all, meaning you download the full3.3 GB file at the start, and unzip it directly into your communityfolder. Loading into MSFS, I was greeted by an airport which seemed to be quitewell done, however I soon noticed an issue straight away. On my laptop withan RTX2070 Max Q and an i7 at 3.0 GHz, I can usually push around 35-40 fps inMSFS on high settings. With this airport though, I get the same frame rates,but then it becomes a stutter fest for a few seconds while everything loads,before returning back to normal. This might sound like a loading issue butlook away for a few seconds and then back again, and the issue returns,almost every time, without fail. I cannot vouch for desktops, including myown, which is considerably more powerful than my laptop, but this issue isslightly concerning. Perhaps it comes down to some bad optimization (or anissue at my end), but I can't say for sure. Moving along, I can see thedeveloper put quite a bit of time into creating custom textures for therunways, taxiways, and taxiway lines, and these all look quite nice. I'll gointo more detail in the next section. /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-5.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-6.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-7.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-8.jpgExploring The AirportStarting off with the main terminal, I was intrigued to see how Realworldcreated the terminal and major buildings of STL. The building itself appearsto be a somewhat high-quality model, but it is quite easy to see thepolygons, and the model itself is let down by its textures. The main terminalhas no interior modeled, and the windows are a simple black texture andnothing else. While it looks acceptable during the day, the same cannot besaid for the night. However, the concourses are modeled well enough to passas St. Louis and the overall feel is quite nice. To their credit, thedevelopers have included little details, such as baggage carts, vehicles andother small items to add to the immersion. The gates are standard MSFS gates, which is sadly becoming anall-too-common practice among most developers which I dislike. The reasonbeing, each airport has its own style, and using the same gates everywheremakes it feel generic. The buildings and ramp of the former 131st Fighter Wing are representedquite well, and I have no complaints. Moving to the cargo ramp (a place Iwill frequently visit when the TFDI MD-11 makes it to the sim), is done quitewell, and I actually really like the ramp. Realworld did a pretty good jobwith the building and the ramp itself and is one of the better parts of thescenery. There are plenty of containers and other items placed on the leftside of the apron, though I would like to have seen more of them spreadbetween each of the parking spaces like in real life. Also, adding someairstairs would be helpful so as to assist aircrews upon arriving at theirparking spot. The private jet ramp, located right in front of the cargo ramp,is also done quite well, with Signature flight support being the maintenant. One thing I did notice, was that the airport lacked a boundaryfence. There was no fence anywhere to be seen and is a detail which shouldreally be present, especially in a payware scenery. /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-9.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-10.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-11.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-12.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-13.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-14.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-15.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-16.jpgTexturesThe texturing of the airport is a mixed bag in my opinion. On one handmany of the textures look quite good, yet on the other, some look very blandand low resolution. The textures of the terminal are mediocre but still havea bit of weathering, which I quite like, as this appearance adds immersionover an otherwise clean object. Non-airside, the textures are quite lowquality and could really be improved upon, but the impression is there and tobe honest, they are not seen nearly as frequently, unless with the dronecamera. The textures of the taxiways, runways, and apron are decent and arerepresentative of the real airport, however they don't hold snow, and whileeverything else is white, the taxiways and runways are just wet. There areseveral spots where an airplane can be seen showing through the groundtexture, but none of them are at the main terminal, and most are faint butstill noticeable. /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-17.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-18.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-19.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-20.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-21.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-22.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-23.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-24.jpgLightingThe night lighting of the airport is where the scenery really takes a hitfor me. While some of the airport is dynamically lit, the main terminalwindows are not. They are instead just squares that glow and really do nothelp the look of the airport at all. The private terminal is one of the worstoffenders in my opinion, with the windows being blank white textures andhurting the look of the building. I think that this issue of flat windows andlack of terminal interiors could be somewhat improved by the use of parallaxtechnology MSFS allows to give an impression of a 3D space in 2D, but thatwould be up to the developer to implement, and I really hope they do. /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-25.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-26.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-27.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-28.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-29.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-30.jpgConclusionMy thoughts are mixed on this airport. On one hand the modeling is prettygood and could be brought up to another level with better textures, but onthe other hand it is held back by the same. If the developer revamps thetextures and some of the airport models it could be greatly improved and thenbecome a good rendition of St. Louis airport. Until then, however, it will beup to the consumer to decide whether it is worth the $18.00 price tag. It ishard for me to say. Will I fly here? Yes, I will, but I really hope to seesome improvements to the textures, night lighting, and overall optimizationof this scenery by the developer. If this is their first scenery for MSFS, itis a good start, and I'll be interested in checking out some of their othersceneries. /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-31.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-32.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-33.jpg /images/reviews/rwskstl/t/RWS-St-Louis-Airport-34.jpg/images/reviews/rwskstl/title3.jpgJoshua Moore Purchase Realworld Scenery - St. Louis Lambert KSTL for MSFS See other RWS add-ons for MSFS 2020 -
/images/notams/notams21/rws0822.jpgRealworld Scenery announces that in commemoration of the first anniversary of the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator that they are putting their St. Louis Lambert International Airport (KSTL) scenery for MSFS 2020 on sale for 30% off the regular price. Get it now at the FlightSim.Com Store. About Lambert International AirportSt. Louis Lambert International Airport (IATA: STL, ICAO: KSTL, FAALID: STL), formerly Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, is aninternational airport serving St. Louis, Missouri, UnitedStates. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it isthe largest and busiest airport in Missouri. The 2,800-acre airportsits 14 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporatedSt. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. In January 2019, itsaw more than 259 daily departures to 78 nonstop domestic andinternational locations. We are pleased to announce the release of KSTL, over one year inproduction. /images/notams/notams21/rws0721/lambert-1.jpgFeaturesHighly detailed accurate model of St. Louis Lambert International Airport for MSFSCorrect and working AFCAD - 2021 airport layout - functions for all runways for ATC direction for both user aircraft and AIPBR textures for both buildings and groundFull dynamic HDR nighttime lightingModeled from hundreds of photosGround clutter modeled after the actual photosOver 100 custom modeled buildings /images/notams/notams21/rws0721/lambert-2.jpg /images/notams/notams21/rws0721/lambert-3.jpgPurchase Realworld Scenery - St. Louis Lambert KSTL for MSFS See other scenery from RWS
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/images/notams/notams21/rws0721/kstl0721.jpgSt. Louis Lambert International Airport (IATA: STL, ICAO: KSTL, FAALID: STL), formerly Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, is aninternational airport serving St. Louis, Missouri, UnitedStates. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it isthe largest and busiest airport in Missouri. The 2,800-acre airportsits 14 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporatedSt. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. In January 2019, itsaw more than 259 daily departures to 78 nonstop domestic andinternational locations. We are pleased to announce the release of KSTL, over one year inproduction. /images/notams/notams21/rws0721/lambert-1.jpgFeaturesHighly detailed accurate model of St. Louis Lambert International Airport for MSFSCorrect and working AFCAD - 2021 airport layout - functions for all runways for ATC direction for both user aircraft and AIPBR textures for both buildings and groundFull dynamic HDR nighttime lightingModeled from hundreds of photosGround clutter modeled after the actual photosOver 100 custom modeled buildings /images/notams/notams21/rws0721/lambert-2.jpg /images/notams/notams21/rws0721/lambert-3.jpgPurchase Realworld Scenery - St. Louis Lambert KSTL for MSFS See other scenery from RWS
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/images/notams/notams20/rws1011/rws1011.jpgKodiak Airport, Alaska for MSFS. This is a beautiful and scenicgateway to the backcountry, with a highly detailed rendition of theairport, no small details overlooked. Includes the Coast Guard Baseand an accurate rendition of the town and airbase. Modeled directlyfrom pictures of the base also used for some textures. If you like tofly Alaska - this is a must have. /images/notams/notams20/rws1011/kodiak-1.jpg /images/notams/notams20/rws1011/kodiak-2.jpgAlaska airlines and Ravn Alaska Airlines are daily flights into andout of Kodiak, delivering the goods that keep this community inbusiness. Surrounded by millions of square miles of wilderness, thisis the perfect starting point to any adventure, just be careful withthe icing. /images/notams/notams20/rws1011/kodiak-3.jpg /images/notams/notams20/rws1011/kodiak-4.jpgPurchase Realworld Scenery - Kodiak Alaska PADQ for MSFS See all RWS scenery for MSFS 2020
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/images/notams/notams20/rws1001/paun.jpgTake off to the great white north with two new airport scenerypackages of Alaska from Real World Scenery for MicrosoftFlight Simulator: PAUN Unalakleet AlaskaThis airport was featured on the TV show Flying Wild Alaska. Thisairport is one of the homes to Ravn Alaska airlines, delivering muchneeded supplies to surrounding communities. This airport is missingfrom the default MSFS installation but has been meticulously remade bythe folks at Realworld Scenery. Including the satellite imagery forthe airport along with accurately detailed models made as detailed aspossible to resemble the real airport. Custom made scenery to get youas close to the real thing as possible. /images/notams/notams20/rws1001/unalakleet-1.jpgPurchase RWS - PAUN Unalakleet Alaska for MSFS /images/notams/notams20/rws1001/paom.jpgPAOM Nome AlaskaIn the far northwest of Alaska this airport offers amazing sceneryand challenging weather conditions year-round. Nome is also the finishline for the world famous Iditarod dog sled race. Nome Airport is astate-owned public-use airport which is situated at a distance of twonautical miles (3.7 km) west of the central business district of Nomecity in the Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. /images/notams/notams20/rws1001/nome-1.jpgThere are two runways at the airport which are asphalt paved whichare mainly used for general aviation purpose, however the airport isalso utilized for air-taxi, and military operations. Alaska Airlinesoffer 737 flights and Ravn Alaska Airlines operates many smalleraircraft out of Nome. Nome airport has been meticulously remade by the folks atRealworld Scenery to include accurate models made as detailed aspossible to resemble the real airport. Our custom made scenery isdesigned with one thing in mind, to get you as close to the real thingas possible. Purchase RWS - PAOM Nome Alaska for MSFS
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/images/notams/notams20/rws0530.jpgThe week of Memorial Day is coming to an end, but there are still many products on sale through Sunday, including RealWorld Scenery. Visit the FlightSim.Com Store now and check out their scenery for FSX and Prepar3D as well as hundreds of other products on sale. Shop RealWorld Scenery Memorial Day Sale
