Flight Simulator X: 5 Great Scenery Expansion Packs
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator has seen drastic improvements in scenery quality over the past two decades. Even so, the basic textures can always be improved upon.
Take your gameplay to the next level with one of these top-rated scenery expansion packs for FSX.
1. Photoreal America — Sim Savvy
This is the first edition of Sim-Savvy’s “Massive Scenery Collection.” And it’s definitely massive! The program uses photo-based textures for the entire continental United States–an incredible 400 GB of data.
The photo data comes directly from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) run by the USDA. Every 2 years, the NAIP takes detailed 1 meter per pixel satellite photographs of continental U.S. The data is provided free to the public.
Is hard drive space a little tight on your computer? Fear not, a 1 Terrabyte external hard drive is included with your purchase. The program comes pre-loaded on the hard drive and can run from it directly.
Considering the scope of this project, be prepared to pay a hefty price: $199 USD. But even with the price tag, Photoreal America may still be a good investment in the long run; you are entitled to free updates whenever they become available.
2. Ground Environment X USA & Canada — Flight1
At $34.95, this expansion pack is an affordable alternative to Photoreal America. GEX replaces FSX’s default scenery with fresh 1024×1024 pixel images that have a resolution of 1 meter per pixel.
One advantage of GEX is that GEX includes night textures while Photoreal America does not.
Flight simmers report that the scenery enhancements you’ll see with GEX are subtle but noticeable. Empty white road lines are transformed into major expressways and interchanges bustling with traffic.
With GEX you also get a better “blending of seasons.” Textures for the Fall and Spring mark a much more natural transition to winter and summer.
Despite the enhanced details, simmers say that they still get great frame rates.
3. Megascenery Bundle: Hawaii, Las Vegas, Reno — PC Aviator
This $20 bundle, gives you marvelous scenery for three popular cities.
Megascenery Bundle fills the void left by Ground Environment X and Photoreal America, which do not include Hawaii. While you only get scenery for Ohau island, the photorealistic textures are amazing. View a few screenshots on the megascenery.com website and see for yourself. The ground looks exactly like what you’d see in real life–distinct neighborhoods, enclaves of homes, and major expressways with traffic.
The Las Vegas component includes 2,100+ square miles of textures. The only shortcoming with this program is that it doesn’t add any of the 3D buildings on the Vegas Strip. The buildings on the Strip are still just part of the regular FSX scenery, which are decent anyway.
4. Megascenery X: Southern California — PC Aviator
I live in Los Angeles, so I’m always eager to get my hands on the newest SoCal add-ons as soon as they hit the market. I was delighted by the scenery quality in Megascenery X. The level of detail is incredible. I was able to pick out my high school, my neighborhood, and even my house!
As with the Megascenery Bundle, this program does not add any 3D objects to are, but there are several other features that make up for this. The add-on scenery loads with better frame rates than the default scenery. Another cool feature:, night textures are included with this program. Most scenery expansion packs do not have night textures.
5. Manhattan X — Aerosoft
Putting together an intricate virtual version of Manhattan is surely a difficult endeavor. In spite of this, Aerosoft has done a wonderful job in creating Manhattan X.
All of Manhattan is completely remastered in jaw-dropping detail. There’s 3D automobile traffic with everything from limosines to public buses, there’s the Staten Island Ferry making its regularly scheduled trip across the harbor, and there’s even something else that you typically don’t see in a flight sim–people!
Manhattan X comes with a “sightseeing mission” where you tour the city in a helicopter. Beginning at the Wall Street heliport, you fly around the city with a co-pilot who doubles as a tour guide. With a heavy New Yorker accent, your co-pilot points out areas of interest and provides brief historical footnotes for many of the landmarks you encounter.
Users say they get frame rates between 15 and 35 FPS on an Intel Quad Core machine with 2 GB of RAM. In the user’s manual, Aerosoft explains exactly how you should modify the FSX display settings to help maximize performance.
If you’re looking to get the most out of Manhattan X and all the other scenery programs in this review, you will need a powerful gaming gaming computer. With 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 460M graphics card, and a quad core processor, the Asus G73JW is one of the best gaming gaming gaming computers on the market. Check out the Asus G73JW review from shopguides.net. This article, Flight Simulator X: 5 Great Scenery Expansion Packs has free reprint rights.
