Flightbeam NZWN Now Released

[BruceR]

Title says it all.

Bruce R

[jpreou]

Purchased, even though I haven't opened my sim for weeks, if not months; still supporting NZ.
Won't get a chance to install or try until the weekend though.
...be nice if I could fly Wellington to Christchurch ... ahem !!

[toprob]

Purchased, even though I haven't opened my sim for weeks, if not months; still supporting NZ.
Won't get a chance to install or try until the weekend though.
...be nice if I could fly Wellington to Christchurch ... ahem !!

Maybe take something for that cough, Jeff?

[jpreou]

I've been considering ditching all my Saitek gear and going hard out heli sim with proper heli controls (FlightPro, I think they're called); there's a 'small' (!) financial barrier though; just wondering how to re-engage ... since I no longer fly in real life due to budget issues, I find it hard to drag up the enthusiasm for sim ... most of my sim flying was 'practicing' of real flights I wanted to do, with 'proper' manual VFR and reckoning using real weather reports ... now I don't do it 'for real' I have simply lost interest ... I think the move to ChCh hasn't helped, not only from a financial perspective ... I no longer 'know' the local area like I did flying in the Waikato and surrounds. It would be easy to say ... well go find out, but if I don't know what real-life looks like then sim scenery just doesn't hold the same fascination for me.
Not sure where I'm heading to be honest... hoping new local or nearby airports like Wgt / ChCh might generate some new enthusiasm. Also keeping an eye on XP and AFS2 but don't feel the desire to learn a new sim unless there is a compelling reason (which was part of the heli thing; I've read some reasonable reports about those other sims).
Ah well .... meanwhile ARK Survival Evolved seems to be taking way more of my time than my Wife is happy about!

[scaber]

Some of my thoughts:

Pluses
- Installation was really easy
- I'm pretty impressed with the detail of the airport
- The airport traffic is good
- The installer and setup makes it very easy to find and deactivate the conflicting Orbix NZWN files - and they can be easily restored if you want them for some other reason - not sure you would want to after seeing the airport modelling though
- Effect on Frames seems minimal - I'm locked on 50 fps and this didn't seem to affect that at all

Minusus
- Far too many deciduous trees when I finally figured out how to get Autumn! The ratio of deciduous to evergreen seems almost back to front to me.
- Cost - seems a bit too much considering the relatively small area modelled in the surropundings - the counter aurgument would be that the detail is very high and very well done for the area that is shown - but then I don't usually fly that low!! To me it would be more useful to have a slightly lower level of detail over a wider area. But that's probably just my preference. If you're flying the heavy stuff you might not even notice the difference.
- I'm weirded out by the high number of deciduous trees showing - it's making me think I'm in some other country! Maybe there's some way to turn that off but it's not readily apparent to me.
[Edit]
These orange trees have only shown up the first time I flew here and Flightbeam have said they don't have seasonal changes so those autumn cooours must have been something weird on my system. All seems ok again. If it comes back maybe I will need to investigate what's going on in my system!

Overall I'm happy to have purchased it and would probably buy NZAA if they get around to it. I just have to remember to fly in Spring and Summer to get the trees looking better

[deeknow]

thanks for the quick feedback Greg, I was always gonna buy it really tho

[scaber]

No problem, when I saw this comiong up I knew I was pretty likely to get it, and the price was a bit less than I expected so it didn't take me too long to decide to get it. I thought some others might be interested in another users opinions, hence my post. I hope it was balanced so would be good to hear your thoughts if you get it in the near future.

thanks for the quick feedback Greg, I was always gonna buy it really tho

[Aharon]

Scaber,

Thank you for fantastic review and analysis of new scenery.

I am very pissed that FlightBeam does NOT offer FSX version.

Maybe clever programmers can convert it to FSX version if I buy P3D NZWN?? Maybe ToProb's Godzone company in special deal with FlightBeam converts it to FSX and offers flightsimmers license copies of NZWN for FSX version?

Regards,

Aharon

[cowpatz]

A good time to update to P3D then Aharon For a similar price to this airport you can have the academic version. You wont go back.

[deeknow]

Yeah go P3D Aharon, I still have FSX installed but barely touch it these days.

[Splitpin]

Same here deeknow, I sometimes wander back to play with some old non compatible P3D models , but it wears off fast.
Having said that , I've made some (in my opinion) some really nice screens in FSX, but only with help from some major addons like REX, ORBX, etc to boost it.

And having said all that I can recall resisting FSX when it first came out in favor of FS9 .....i guess its what your comfortable with.

Aharon ...with your obvious love of f/s , take the advise from the prior posters and give P3D a chance ...I think you will shine in that format.

[Aharon]

LOL LOL LOL

For me it is still FSX for many more years but...................... I am afraid I might have to switch to P3D v4.4 or even VERSION FIVE due to three reasons: people say it has better sky graphics, the night lights of cities are amazing, and too many scenery software companies are stopping production and support of FSX sceneries.

Good thing clever flight simmers are working to make all FSX and FS9 add on freeware planes compatible with P3D v4.4

I am just happy with FSX but I am afraid that I might be forced to switch to P3D V4.4 once all scenery and plane add on software companies stop FSX. I will move to P3D V4.4 when ALL freeware add on planes are compatible with the new flight sim software. That includes all CalClassics, HJG, POSKY, Project Airbus, Vistaliners, SGA, Dreamwings, TDS, Skyspirit, KBT, Jahn, Shurpe, JetCity, TinMouse, and any freeware add on plane software company. I am NOT NOT giving up those freeware add on planes along with tons of amazing liveries.

But I am NOT giving up all sceneries by famous ToProb's Godzone too!!!! Especially his coming brand new NZCH scenery for FSX!!

Regards,

Aharon

[MichaelBasler]

LOL LOL LOL

I am just happy with FSX but I am afraid that I might be forced to switch to P3D V4.4 once all scenery and plane add on software companies stop FSX.

This may happen, but at this point Prepar3D5.0 will see the light with a super-performant DX12-based display engine, updateable database, autogen loading smoothly, and more. And compatibility will be back at a restart. And FB will develop for 5.0+ only.

That's the destiny of an evolving platform. But didn't we experience this with the MSFS series as long as it was under active development as well?

As a side note: I switched to Prepar3D1.2 in 2012 and never returned to FSX since. I had to kiss good-bye a few darlings, but made new friends. I am still able to use John Patch's outstanding Vancouver.

Kind regards, Michael

[cowpatz]

LOL LOL LOL
I will move to P3D V4.4 when ALL freeware add on planes are compatible with the new flight sim software. That includes all CalClassics, HJG, POSKY, Project Airbus, Vistaliners, SGA, Dreamwings, TDS, Skyspirit, KBT, Jahn, Shurpe, JetCity, TinMouse, and any freeware add on plane software company. I am NOT NOT giving up those freeware add on planes along with tons of amazing liveries.
Aharon

I think you will be waiting a very long time and I doubt that any of these will ever make it into the 64 bit platform.
There will be some initial pain but the move is worth it. However given your fondness for FSX and the great freeware you might want to hold off to P3DV5 which will hopefully have a new graphics engine.

[chopper_nut]

If you want lovely night lighting and shaders, go to XP. Beats P3D hands down I say.

[jpreou]

...... aaaaaaaaand, they're off .... !!

[toprob]

For a real close-up look at Flightbeam Wellington, check out D'Andre's livestream from this morning, now on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH-wkS15aY4

I was surprised to see the first 20 minutes showcasing the Godzone Sub Wellington phhotoscenery:) Still, quite a lot devoted to Flightbeam's airport, which just blew me away.

[Agent X20]

FSElite review:

https://fselite.net/reviews/flightbeam- ... ce=twitter

They also remarked on the weak surrounding scenery and coverage, but the airport itself is superbly detailed having just been through NZWN (my home airport) on a trip to the gold coast.

Note: I had some crashes with NZWN on P3DV3 (as I'm sadly stuck on V3), but Flightbeam found and sorted the problem within a week on their forum.

[toprob]

Flightbeam is having a sale at the moment, with NZWN down to US$15.99. I said I wouldn't buy it until I released NZCH, but now is the time!