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Screen shots by FTS |
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France Touristique Scenery (FTS) has released a scenery enhancement for FSX covering the Loire Valley — a large portion of central France. The Loire River flows from the French Alps to the Atlantic Ocean and is world renowned for its splendid castles and architecture. The coverage area is shown in the map below, and the main areas are:
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Scenery Coverage
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Developer Laurent Waché of France Touristique Scenery said this package was made to highlight world-famous castles of the Loire Valley using the French Geological Institute database.
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St Nazaire Airport |
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FTS |
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St Nazaire Airport |
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FTS |
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St Nazaire Harbor |
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FTS |
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St Nazaire Refinery |
Comparison of FTS and FSX Sceneries |
An installation program installs files in correct folders. When you start FSX, the sceneries and flights are readily available for use.
An end user license agreement (EULA) must be accepted.
French and English versions are available.
Water effects and night shading are included
The advertised "high-resolution mesh from the ordnance survey database," is the French Geological Institute's database, Mr. Waché explains.
Mr. Waché said all the boats, ships, vehicles (except fire airport vehicles), cranes, storage tanks, the power plants, the refinery, and the smoke stacks were made by him.
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Point St Gildas |
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Tours Airport |
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Comparison of FTS and FSX Sceneries |
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Many sites are enhanced over a large area, and some of those sites have numerous specially made objects. This contrasts with some sceneries that cover a small area and/or include a few objects.
Terrain and water are enhanced throughout. Some add-on sceneries simply place objects on FSX terrains, while others enhance terrains without adding objects. This package includes numerous relevant objects atop enhanced scenery. Even farms, forests, and water bodies are better than in FSX.
The castles, nuclear plants, and other architectural sites are impressively realistic compared to real photos I found on the internet.
Animated objects can be found throughout. There are moving land and water vehicles, flames and smoke at oil the refinery, and even sound effects when you get close to the flames. Flying that close to those flames would be folly in the real world, and I did it just to test the frame rates. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the flames roaring and crackling louder and louder as I neared them. Of course, if you're simulating realistically, you won't hear any of it!
St Nazaire appears to be the most enhanced area considering the number of objects and the area they cover. The harbor is adorned with tankers, cranes, storage tanks on land, an oil refinery, and a detailed bridge.
One of the advertised features is "transparency of all scenery," which Mr. Waché explains is "the transparency of water making it possible to see sea-beds in coastal overflight and overflight of the Loire."
Night lighting is realistic, as shown in the screen shots.
Frame rates are in the 20s and 30s while FTS's objects are displayed and in the 40s when FTS's objects are not visible. Rates in the 50s are possible when no instrument panel is displayed, and in the teens when the 3D panel is displayed. These rates are remarkable when so many still and animated objects are being displayed.
Fifty flights are installed that start you in various places in the scenery with various aircraft.
An e-mail address for FTS is available on the Flight Sim Pilot Shop's web page about this product. Mr. Waché responded quickly, which bodes well for users who need help.
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Forests of Amboise and Chissay in Touraine |
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Nuclear Plant at Chinon-Avoine |
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Views of FTS Sceneries |
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My comparison screen shots were made as follows: While the FTS scenery was active, I slewed to a site and snapped a shot. Then I switched from FTS to FSX and snapped a second shot from the same point, altitude, and heading. Thus, all comparative shots are taken from the exactly the same vantage point, even when they don't appear to be. My precision is verified by the location data at the top of each shot.
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FTS Night Lighting is Realistic |
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The package is not available for instant downloading because of its huge size. It must be mailed on a compact disk.
The file is so huge that a long time is required to install it in the first place, then to load it and change it. That's to be expected, however, for a package offering so much.
Although auto-generated trees are included near airports, auto-gen trees that are visible in FSX disappear in other areas of the FTS scenery.
Some aircraft contained in the flights are not available in basic FSX. Users without those aircraft must bypass an "aircraft initialization failure" warning message, after which their FSX will load their default aircraft.
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Details do not affect frame rates
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This package is remarkable for its wide area, number of objects, and realistic details. It enhances terrain, airports, and surrounding areas with unique buildings and objects, and it does so without harming frame rates. Renditions of buildings, bridges, vehicles, and other objects are remarkably realistic. This package is ideal for flight simmers who want to go "touristing," such as flying VFR from point to point and around the sites. The installation program and the assortment of flights make everything easy for users. A great deal of precise work obviously went into making this package. Although it costs more than other add-on sceneries, it is well worth its price when all is considered. When you spend money on add-ons, this is the sort of package you expect to get.
Learn More About France Touristique Sceneries
Bill Stack is author of several books about flight simulation, a regular author in flight-sim magazines, and a contributor to Flight Sim Com. His website is www.topskills.com
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