VFR Germany 3: South

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AVSIM Commercial Scenery Review VFR Germany 3: South Publishers: Aerosoft Product Information Description: Photoscenery with custom autogen and VFR objects.

1 AVSIM Commercial Scenery Review VFR Germany 3: South Publishers: Aerosoft Product Information Description: Photoscenery with custom autogen and VFR objects. Download Size: 14 GB Format: Download and DVD Simulation Type: FSX SP1 / SP2 / Acceleration Pack Reviewed by: David Wilson-Okamura AVSIM Senior Staff Reviewer - May 4, 2009 Introduction This is the third volume in Aerosoft s series of German photo sceneries for FSX. I file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (1 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

reviewed the first volume, which covers the west of Germany, just before Christmas in 2007.

Volume three, under review here, is for the south of Germany and includes Baden- Württemberg and most of Bavaria, including the Bavarian Alps.

If you re new to this product line, and haven t read the reviews of volumes one and two, I recommend that you do so now. What will you learn from them that won t be covered here?

2 reviewed the first volume, which covers the west of Germany, just before Christmas in The second volume, for the north of Germany, was reviewed by Allen Lavigne in August 2008 and received AVSIM s Gold Star Award. Volume three, under review here, is for the south of Germany and includes Baden- Württemberg and most of Bavaria, including the Bavarian Alps. The final product in the series, for eastern Germany, will cover the regions around Berlin. If you re new to this product line, and haven t read the reviews of volumes one and two, I recommend that you do so now. What will you learn from them that won t be covered here? From my review of volume one, you ll find out what the products in this series include (photo scenery with autogen) and, equally important, what the products do not include (detailed airports, night textures, snow textures). Lavigne s review picks up where mine leaves off and shows, with screenshots, how the products in this series interact with other, overlapping products for the same region; the effect of water settings; the effect of autogen; the effect of LOD_RADIUS settings; the absence of night lighting; the effect of forest enhancements; the results of flying at high altitude; and the results of flying at very high speed. Installation and Documentation I reviewed the download version, which takes awhile to assemble. First you download about 14 gigabytes of data. When you re done, you ll want to save them to DVD; it will take four single-layer disks. Then you ll need to unpack the zip archives; that will take some time as well. Then you ll run the installer; more waiting. On the bright side, this is an Aerosoft product, so you don t need to get online authorization; that s helpful if, for some reason, you need to reinstall this title later. With a very fast internet connection, all of this will probably take at least two hours, more if you defrag your hard disk when everything s loaded (which I recommend you do). Moral of the story? Compare the download price with that of the boxed version, and see if you can t rationalize a few extra shekels for the boxed version. Urban scenery Rural scenery Documentation is minimal but adequate. It explains how this series fits with Aerosoft s other scenery products for file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (2 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

Germany, gives recommendations for how to set your scenery sliders, and suggests about fifteen different starting points for various types of flying; I found these very helpful.

I noted this in my review of volume one, and Allen Lavigne commented on it again in his review of volume two. The charts in volume three are no worse in this regard, but they re still not usable.

Aerial photos are taken at lower altitude than satellite photos, and therefore have more detail.

If you look at them long enough, you ll notice that the default tiles are crisper-looking, because each of them has been worked over in Photoshop so that it looks as good as possible.

But for an add-on product where each tile is unique, and will only be used in one location, that level of personal attention isn t practical. (I.e., it would make the product too expensive.

3 Germany, gives recommendations for how to set your scenery sliders, and suggests about fifteen different starting points for various types of flying; I found these very helpful. The product also comes with a scanned pair of ICAO charts, for Munich and Stuttgart. These are the equivalent of VFR sectionals that pilots use in the U.S. The problem is that the scans are too small. I noted this in my review of volume one, and Allen Lavigne commented on it again in his review of volume two. The charts in volume three are no worse in this regard, but they re still not usable. Photographic Ground Textures The basis of the VFR Germany product line is aerial photography, licensed from GeoContent. Aerial photos are taken at lower altitude than satellite photos, and therefore have more detail. After processing, these photos have the same resolution, 1 meter per pixel, as the default scenery tiles. If you look at them long enough, you ll notice that the default tiles are crisper-looking, because each of them has been worked over in Photoshop so that it looks as good as possible. That makes sense for generic tiles that are going to be reused multiple times, and that users are going to see again and again for several years. But for an add-on product where each tile is unique, and will only be used in one location, that level of personal attention isn t practical. (I.e., it would make the product too expensive.) What we have instead is a workable compromise: no one tile is perfect, but each tile is unique, and all of the tiles look pretty good. What tends to differentiate products in the current generation of photo scenery isn t resolution so much as color. In both of the volumes that I have reviewed, the colors look slightly muted compared with Switzerland Pro X and VFR Real Scenery for England. Which is more realistic? I still don t know, and the difference isn t a big one. file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (3 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

Banding, which results when photos from two different days (or just different film stocks) are seen next to each other, is minimal.

This is true of the whole VFR Germany series, not just this volume.

The absence of snow textures is not surprising; only a few products that I know of include them. (Switzerland Professional X is one, but it s more than twice the price.

4 Banding, which results when photos from two different days (or just different film stocks) are seen next to each other, is minimal. A rare example of color banding While we are on the subject of ground textures, two other points are worth mentioning. There are no night textures and no snow textures. This is true of the whole VFR Germany series, not just this volume. At night, you won t see lighted roads and, no matter what season you fly in, the ground cover will always look like spring, even in the mountains. The absence of snow textures is not surprising; only a few products that I know of include them. (Switzerland Professional X is one, but it s more than twice the price.) Most comparable products do include night textures, so it s a little unusual not to find them here. Detail at low altitude What s good about the textures is how good they look up close. I ve written about this in my other reviews already, but the point is worth repeating. In FS2004, photo-based scenery only looked good from an altitude of about 3,000 feet or higher; below that, it turned blotchy. With the current generation of scenery products, it s possible to fly much lower and still get the same effect, because you re starting with about five times more detail. Autogen According to the manual, Autogen is what this product is really about. That s an exaggeration: in my view, it s still about the photographs. But Aerosoft is justly proud. One of the hardest parts of making realistic photo scenery is placing the autogen buildings and trees. Each tile is file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (4 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

different so, until recently, it had to be done by hand.

Or, if they do include it, they charge an extra fee. Autogen buildings are customized for Germany That s not how it s done here.

the right spot on the photographic ground texture. There is no comparable data for individual trees, but for forested areas of 12 m2 or larger, autogen trees have been inserted to suggest woodlands.

But if you re the kind of pilot who wants photo-based scenery in the first place, you want to fly low, and when you do that, autogen matters.

5 different so, until recently, it had to be done by hand. It s so labor-intensive that a lot of commercial developers (and all of the freeware developers that I can think of) either give up or just do autogen for selected areas. Or, if they do include it, they charge an extra fee. Autogen buildings are customized for Germany That s not how it s done here. As I explained in my review of volume one, there is now a database of real-world structures, with their precise locations, and this has been used to place the generic objects, so that they appear in the right spot on the photographic ground texture. There is no comparable data for individual trees, but for forested areas of 12 m2 or larger, autogen trees have been inserted to suggest woodlands. For some people, this doesn t matter; they never fly low enough to notice 3D structures on the ground. But if you re the kind of pilot who wants photo-based scenery in the first place, you want to fly low, and when you do that, autogen matters. Generally speaking, the database approach to inserting autogen is very effective. Switzerland Professional X, which I have also reviewed, uses a different method, and that works too; either way, autogen everywhere is the new gold standard for photo-based scenery. There are a few problems, which it is a reviewer s duty to point out; but they don t, in my view, count as failures so much as flaws. First, the trees in winter have snow on them; this would be fine if the background textures had snow too, but since they don t, the trees look out of place. Second, frame rates drop off noticeably in the larger cities. The manual admits that the database system of placing autogen buildings is less effective in cities than in small towns, but doesn t say anything about performance. In Munich, though, my frame rates fell by about 25%, with fair weather and zero AI traffic. You can chalk some of that down to file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (5 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

custom landmarks (which are part of the default scenery), but when I tested Zurich and

(Again, this was using Switzerland Professional X.

strange against spring ground textures A third problem, which I commented on in my first

In volume one, I noticed several runways that were obstructed by buildings or trees.

Landmarks and Water Features The third component of this scenery is landmarks.

6 custom landmarks (which are part of the default scenery), but when I tested Zurich and Geneva under the same conditions, I didn t have any problems. (Again, this was using Switzerland Professional X.) No snow in winter, compared with default scenery on the right Snow-covered trees look strange against spring ground textures A third problem, which I commented on in my first review, seems to have been fixed here. In volume one, I noticed several runways that were obstructed by buildings or trees. So far, I haven t seen any of that with volume three. Landmarks and Water Features The third component of this scenery is landmarks. Some of these are distinctive: churches, observation saucers, nuclear reactors (with animated steam), and Schlossen. Others landmarks are more generic, but still useful for navigation, such as radio towers, wind generators, and bridges. There are lots of bridges. This brings us to the last major component of VFR Germany, water features. As in volume one, the developers do a good file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (6 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

job of carving rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds out of the land, and then filling them with simulated water.

Some customers will like this, because the photographs show things like wakes and rapids; you don t get that from regular sim water. The trade-off is that the water is less reflective.

Performance Photo-based scenery loads slower than scenery based on generic tiles.

It used to be that once the scenery loaded, photo scenery would give you smoother frame rates than the default scenery because there was no autogen, and things like roads were prerendered in the

7 job of carving rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds out of the land, and then filling them with simulated water. But then, on top of the water, they leave a photographic film of whatever happened to be on the water when the picture was taken. Some customers will like this, because the photographs show things like wakes and rapids; you don t get that from regular sim water. The trade-off is that the water is less reflective. Is this a big deal? Not at all. The main thing is, there s water and it s well done just not the way I happen to like it. Performance Photo-based scenery loads slower than scenery based on generic tiles. Multiple cores can speed things up, but in this regard, the VFR Germany products are no better and no worse than other products based on photographs. It will depend on your hardware. It used to be that once the scenery loaded, photo scenery would give you smoother frame rates than the default scenery because there was no autogen, and things like roads were prerendered in the photograph. That s still true of the roads, but when you put autogen back in the picture as this product does then most of the frame rate advantage is negated. Ninety percent of the time, I didn t have any problems; my frame rates stayed locked at or about 20 fps. Where I did notice a drop was in major cities, such as Munich, and larger towns, such as Freiberg and Nuremberg. Munich didn t surprise me, but Freiburg did. I d flown there quite a bit with the default scenery and, while this version looks better, it also has lower frame rates. file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (7 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

Freiburg My last comment on this subject isn t particular to VFR Germany, but to all products in this category.

This isn t the developers fault; it s a function of what the sim s rendering engine is and is not optimized for.

Since doing that this summer, my clock speed has stayed the same -- as have my frame rates -- but ground textures come into focus now much faster.

two Aerosoft products that just don t mix. But prop fighters, like the P-47 Thunderbolt that is shown in most of my screenshots, do just fine.

8 Freiburg My last comment on this subject isn t particular to VFR Germany, but to all products in this category. Photo-based scenery is a great concept, especially when you add back autogen. But it s always been prone to blurries. This isn t the developers fault; it s a function of what the sim s rendering engine is and is not optimized for. What s helped me more than anything adding memory, getting a better video card, putting the scenery on a separate hard drive is upgrading my CPU from two cores to four. Since doing that this summer, my clock speed has stayed the same -- as have my frame rates -- but ground textures come into focus now much faster. If I put my mind to it, I can still outrun the scenery, so when I m flying here I don t use the F-16 that I reviewed here this fall -- on my hardware, at least, these are two Aerosoft products that just don t mix. But prop fighters, like the P-47 Thunderbolt that is shown in most of my screenshots, do just fine. My advice, if you want to enjoy scenery based on photographs, is get a quad. Conclusion Each product in the VFR Germany series retails for about fifty Euros. For most of us, that s not an impulse purchase, which is why AVSIM has reviews: so that hobbyists can make informed choices about how they spend their money. Rural Scenery file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (8 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

Mountain Scenery This is my favorite volume in the VFR Germany series so far, for two reasons. First, it seems to have fixed the problem with autogen sometimes obstructing runways.

I realize that not everyone grew up with the same optical advantage (or visual prejudice) as I did, and maybe Berlin (as rendered in volume four) will change my mind; Aerosoft s version of it for

9 Mountain Scenery This is my favorite volume in the VFR Germany series so far, for two reasons. First, it seems to have fixed the problem with autogen sometimes obstructing runways. Second, southern Germany is more mountainous and therefore -- to my California-trained eyes -- intrinsically more scenic. I realize that not everyone grew up with the same optical advantage (or visual prejudice) as I did, and maybe Berlin (as rendered in volume four) will change my mind; Aerosoft s version of it for FS2004 was one of my favorites. But this series, so far, isn t about the really big cities: they re here, but to do them well, you need a library of custom 3D objects. This series does better with towns the size of Heidelberg. There may be one or two custom buildings, like the castle, that organize what the eye sees. But what generates and sustains our interest is relationships: between rivers and valleys, villages and streams, hills and castles, the edge of a town and the edge of a forest. Test System Core2Quad 2.4 GHz 4 gigabytes RAM Nvidia 8800 GT (512 Mb) Samsung 20 widescreen LCD (1680 x 1050) Windows XP Pro SP2 TrackIR 3 with Vector Expansion CH pedals, yoke Saitek X45 throttle Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick Buttkicker Gamer Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card Logitech X speaker system Flying Time: 15 hours What I Like About VFR Germany 3: South file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (9 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

10 High-resolution ground textures using aerial instead of satellite photography, so that you can enjoy the scenery at much lower altitudes than was possible with FS2004. Autogen buildings and trees for the whole coverage area. What I Don't Like About VFR Germany 3: South No night textures. In winter, snow-covered trees clash with spring-colored ground textures Printing If you wish to print this review or read it offline at your leisure, right click on the link below, and select "save as" VFR Germany 3: South (adobe acrobat required) Comments? Standard Disclaimer The review above is a subjective assessment of the product by the author. There is no connection between the product producer and the reviewer, and we feel this review is unbiased and truly reflects the performance of the product in the simming environment as experienced by the reviewer. This disclaimer is posted here in order to provide you with background information on the reviewer and any presumed connections that may exist between him/her and the contributing party. Tell A Friend About this Review! AVSIM Online All Rights Reserved Powered by AVSIM SimWords Become a SimWord Publisher! Flight Simulator Links Discover the world wide Flight Simulator Community. Enter your FS related website in the largest links database online. AVSIM Reviews Want to stay on top of the most recent ad ons? See our Reviews! Plane Mad Aviation photos, blogs, airport guides, airport weather, plus your own personalised aviation page. Advertise Here! Want your advertising to count? Advertise in this slot for pennies a day! VRS F/A-18E NOW SHIPPING! The first military true fly-by-wire add-on with the sophistication and realism of a high-end transport! NOW SHIPPING FOR FS9! Vertical Reality Simulations file:///e /AVSIM/Reviews/VFR%20Germany%20S/GE3.htm (10 of 11)04/05/2009 6:10:21 PM

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VFR Germany 1: West. AVSIM Commercial Scenery Review. Product Information. Publisher: Aerosoft

VFR Germany 1: West. AVSIM Commercial Scenery Review. Product Information. Publisher: Aerosoft AVSIM Commercial Scenery Review VFR Germany 1: West Publisher: Aerosoft Product Information Description: Photoscenery with custom autogen and VFR objects. Download Size: 14 GB Format: Download & DVD-ROM