Jump to content

Scenery Review : Eiger Park 3D by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini


Recommended Posts

Eiger Park 3D_Header.jpg

 

Scenery Review : Eiger Park 3D by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini

 

It was only a few months ago that X-PlaneReviews was soaring over Patagonia in South America and admiring the excellent Cerro Torre 3D "Los Glaciares" by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini. But here we are suddenly with another extreme landscape from these talented landscape artists. To a point we are back on familiar territory or the European Alps, after the Everest and the Patagonia scenerios. This is their third Alp scenery after Matterhorn Park 3D and Dolomiti 3D and the scenery covers the northern Bernese mountain Alps chain and the...  The Eiger.

 

The Eiger is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, and just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft). The Eiger is not the largest of the biggest mountain in the Alps, as it is listed as low as 33 in height, but the most notable feature of the Eiger is its 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eiger-Nordwand, Eigerwand or just Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps and hence it's attraction to climbers. The name is German as Eiger is the standard German word for ogre.

 

This scenery is in a way a mirror of the earlier Matterhorn Park 3D scenery, that in the earlier rendition effectively covered the southern area of Valais, were as this Eiger scenery is on the northern chain of the Bernese Alps that is centered around Interlaken. Two main valleys are used for access into the area from Interlaken and these are the Lauterbrunnen valley and Grindelwald valley, but there is a back door way in as well.

 

Alps outer.jpgAlps inner.jpg

 

Helicopters are all the go around here....  even then it can be tight flying through some of the areas. However Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini have also added in a few fictional grass strips if you want to give them a try, a ride on say the default Aerolite 103 is highly recommended.

 

But I needed to cover more distance and the higher extreme altitudes, so I need power and speed, so the newly updated AB412 from X-Trident was the best option...  I started from LSZH Zurich, which is yes a fair way away from the scenery, but I wanted to get a feel for the AB412 before hand as you know it will be needed as these sceneries always come with some tricky pad landings. My first section flying was to Meiringen LSMM for a refuel, the town is situated up the valley from Brienzersee  the eastern of the two lakes surrounding Interlaken... (this route was covered in the AB412 update review)

 

Eiger 3D AB412 1.jpgEiger 3D AB412 3.jpg

 

The approach was via Lungernersee where you can slip through a tight valley (you do that a lot here) and then drop down sharply into the Brünig Pass.

 

Eiger 3D AB412 5.jpgEiger 3D AB412 4.jpg

 

Before we go in too deep, then the area around Meiringen LSMM has issues? this is not the custom Eiger 3D scenery issue, but an X-Plane default mesh issue....  worse it cuts directly through the Eiger's north rock face....  it is important to know what you're actually looking at and if you have the Eiger 3D scenery correctly installed? (There is an .INI scenery order that is provided) If you don't, then what you will get is a very messy mesh, with both Brienzersee and Thunersee lakes filled in as there is a line of the edge of the mesh set across the lake (magenta arrows shows line above right). On this default mesh however you do get a very nice global airport scenery of LSMM (above left).

 

Eiger 3D AB412 6.jpgEiger 3D AB412 7.jpg

 

If you get both the lakes of Brienzersee and Thunersee (above) then your scenery is correctly installed, however it kills the nice Global Airport LSMM scenery as it does also at LSMI - Interlaken WED airports? but a fix has fixed the autogen...  to note again this is an underlying mesh issue, not a custom scenery issue. We tried simHeaven's X-EUROPE2 but that didn't work as it just brought back in that nasty default mesh, so anything or everything always brought you back that nasty mesh when you put in any of the areas normal dsf co-ordinates.....   painful.

 

The Lauterbrunnen valley directly in front of Interlaken is the most obvious way into the Eiger 3D scenery...  but there is another gap into the Grindelwald valley if you fly east from Meiringen. Already you notice the very highly detailed scenery quality, as it is now far better in high extreme def detail than the older default textures... These older default textures were extremely poor anyway with bad stretch marks and weird textures.

 

Eiger 3D AB412 8.jpg

 

The gap I was looking for is the Reichenbach Falls, and I flew straight on past the pass, as it is extremely easy to miss...

 

  Eiger 3D AB412 9.jpg Eiger 3D AB412 10.jpg

 

...  so I did a complete 360º turn and this time made the AB412 point correctly this time go up the pass... and it is that tight, but still easily flyable and a scenic way into the scenery as the route goes into and takes you straight into the Grindelwald valley.

 

But first to get into the valley you have to climb and climb to over 7500ft to clear a ridge directly in front of you....

 

Eiger 3D AB412 11.jpgEiger 3D AB412 12.jpg

Eiger 3D AB412 Eiger 5.jpgEiger 3D AB412 Eiger 4.jpg

 

...  but it is worth the effort, because once over the ridge then Grindelwald one of the main resorts in the area is then set directly below...

 

Eiger 3D AB412 Eiger 3.jpgEiger 3D AB412 Eiger 2.jpg

 

....   and directly to your left is the Eiger and that famous north face!

 

Eiger 3D AB412 Eiger 1.jpg

 

 We will get closer to the mountain later...

 

Grindelwald

First impressions of the mountain range is excellent as the detail is of very high minute quality, this is always what you get with Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini's sceneries, extreme mountain detailing and your not disappointed here. Other points are the custom tree lines are a bit sharp, and not very natural and the lower valley floor grass is a bit plain...  I do accept that in Alpine areas that you get these human cleared areas around the sides of mountain ranges, but the long valley lines are usually more blended in as the tree lines filter out as you go higher...

 

Eiger 3D AB412 Eiger 6.jpgEiger 3D AB412 Eiger 7.jpg

 

There is also a fictional grass runway airport Grindelwald (LSGW) with a single H helipad and it works in here very well...

 

Eiger 3D AB412 Eiger 8.jpgEiger 3D AB412 Eiger 9.jpgEiger 3D AB412 Eiger 10.jpg

 

....  views of the Alps are magnificent from here, with all the 4,000m peaks that surround you.

 

Grindelwald

The township of Grindelwald is very well done, note the extreme elevations that are required to place the custom objects, it is hard to do so many and get them correct....  Town centre detail is excellent, you do however need your "Texture" quality set as high as you can go. I am using "Maximum" here and just get away with the detail, anything less though does suffer blurring.

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 1.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 2.jpg

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 6.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 7.jpg

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 5 LG.jpg

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 3.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 4.jpg

 

The authentic "Swiss" feel is here, and although all the sceneries textures not extremely detailed in object or ground textures, you can definitely get that totally realistic visual ground aspect of the town and the views of the mountains... in other words "It works". Railway (Tram) station is the visual highlight.

 

Grindelwald valley

Grindelwald is the largest township in the scenery, so any departure has a lot of interesting points, the town centre and bus park station are standouts...

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 8.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 9.jpg

 

Once past the township you head straight down the tight valley...  lets look at where we are going.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Grindelwald Valley.jpg

 

Basically it a wishbone layout, with Interlaken at the top, the Grindelwald Valley the right bone and the Lauterbrunnen Valley the left bone and the Eiger is centre south. The Grindelwald Valley villages of Burglauenen, Lütschental and Gündlischwand are all represented...

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 10.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 11.jpg

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 12 LG.jpg

 

....  mountain texture detail is excellent, again I will note I am set on the "Max" texture quality and not the "No Compression" setting, but it is still very good detail...  I do find the valley floor a bit just a matt texture and not photographic and it does seem slightly odd against the high quality mountain textures, its okay, but it is noticeable as well, even the default X-Plane textures have a more sporadic mottling effect than this plain feel and look you have here. You are finding that you are rolling the aircraft side to side down the passage with no straight line flying, but it is exhilarating flying as well.

 

At Gündlischwand it is the corner point of the wishbone and the mountain face and the scale of Männlichen is excellent...

 

Eiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 14.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 13.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 15.jpgEiger 3D AB412  Grindelwald 16.jpg

 

...  Interlaken is to your right. Now you are in the Lauterbrunnen valley of which you could say is the main street in the scenery. To note that in reality the scenery here is classed as higher and lower, as Villages and Townships are not all positioned on the Valley floor, so if you come in low and down in the Lauterbrunnen valley you can actually fly right past all the settlements set up high on top of the ridges and plateaus above you.

 

Lauterbrunnen

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 1.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 1.jpg

 

Flying into Lauterbrunnen and the extreme Staubbachfall Wasserfall (waterfall) is to your right and modelled in the scenery (there are several famous waterfalls in here).

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 3.jpg

 

Like at Grindelwald there is another (identical) fictional grass runway airport Lauterbrunnen (LSLB)...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 4.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 5.jpg

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 6.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 7.jpg

 

....   and sitting low here on the valley floor at Lauterbrunnen the views are amazing. There is one H pad by the tennis court but it is not registered, and there is also a company Heli pad station called "Air Glaciares" (LSXL) that is positioned more closer to the township...  and there are two H pads set here, but only the one in LSXL that is registered and noted, but the outer other H pad is more accessible for approaches.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 10.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 11.jpg

 

In reality Lauterbrunnen is a servicing town for the area and the higher up resorts, so the main highlight is the rail station and huge servicing carpark.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 8.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen 9.jpg

 

Wengen, Murren and Gimmelwald

Higher second tier towns are positioned above Lauterbrunnen, and directly above and slightly to the east is Wengen...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 1.jpg

 

Wengen's beautiful township is very well done, lovely rack rail station is very authentic...both churches in the unorthodox Wengen church and the famous British St Bernards are also represented....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 4.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 7.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 6.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 8.jpg

 

The helipad (HEWE) is very hard to find as it is set behind the cable car station and surrounded by hotels, hard too approach into as well... so you will earn your salary flying into Wengen. oh.. and watch out for those cable car wires from the cable station as they are lethal?

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 5.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 9 LG.jpg

 

The other end of those cable car wires go high up to the station at Männlichen... there is a H helipad up here as well (HEMN) and a great view of the Eiger.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 10.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Wengen 11.jpg

 

Directly but further down and across the Lauterbrunnen valley is Murren, which is a very tricky one. For one I flew past Murren three times as couldn't find it? It is there but higher still and directly up above Lauterbrunnen...   so you fly almost and straight up a cliff wall for 5, 600 ft to the elevation.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 8.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 9.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Murren 2.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 3 LG.jpg

 

The landing pad (HEMR) is right and almost on the cliff edge...  great!     well not so great.  Coming over the edge the wind gusts were horrible, full left rudder was required and that was just to stop myself twirling into oblivion, the AB412 shook with the strain, the gusts came ,then went, came again and you are seriously fighting the machine...  the wind sock was simply twirling uselessly on it's base!

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 4.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Murren 5.jpg

 

...  and you will find this a lot up here, as seemingly easy pad approaches are suddenly turned into a survival fights to survive or to not mangle yourself into either the ground or the side of the mountain.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 10.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 6.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Murren 7.jpg

 

I gave myself a lap around the village for that precise landing... okay my living room, but it was a very well earned "yahoo". It is very easy to get Murren mixed up with Gimmelwald which a bit further down the valley but set far lower than Murren...  I eyeballed Gimmelwald several times, but there is no landing pad.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 13 LG.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Murren 11.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Murren 12.jpg

 

There is another H pad (HESC) on the Valley floor at Stechelberg, before the Lauterbrunnen valley starts to run out...  Stechelberg is just really a cable car site with a coach park.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Stechelberg 1.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Stechelberg 2.jpg

 

Kander Neve

Following up the inner reaches of the Lauterbrunnen valley it is a visual wonderland...  but it is also a sort of a dead end, unless you climb up and over to...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 4.jpg

 

...   the Kander Neve Glacier, and it is an excellent visual and well done reproduction of the glacier. You can also seriously get lost up here as there are loads of nooks and crannys that will attract your attention, and before you know it it, it is very easy to get lost, in fact any exploring of these excellent valleys and peaks requires careful navigation so you know where you are and more importantly how to get back, and more so important is that if you don't run out of fuel...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 5.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 6.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 7.jpg

 

But to alight and take it all in is well worth the effort...  What I think that is outstanding is that you have these excellent Hi-Def textures of the custom scenery, but they still fit in very well with the standard surrounding mesh, so there are no nasty boundaries or standout blocks of either separate areas....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Lauterbrunnen Valley 8 LG.jpg

 

Schilthorn and Brig

If you were born of a certain inclination and saw the Moon Landing live, in my case I was 13 years old, then something else significant happened in 1969... You went and saw a new James Bond movie....  in this case it was the excellent (still my all time favorite even without Mr Connery) that was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

 

Remember I am 13 years old, and the film had a Aston Martin's DBS (the original), that bobsled action, nice title music, lots of gorgeous women doing lovely things and killing the masses at the same time for the evil Blofield, a love scene, baddies, more baddies, and Diana Rigg....  did I mention Diana Rigg!.  Of the other main action pieces was of a helicopter attack on the evil Blofield's liar up on a mountain side somewhere in the Alps? That mountain was the Schilthorn 2970m and the lair was situated at Piz Gloria....  Now I was going there.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 1.jpg

 

Murren is a good staging point to Piz Gloria, as it is just west and just above Gimmelwald and Murren at 9,700 ft...  look to the right and slightly up and there is the 007 liar, the baddies liar!  It is a real restaurant, it was before the film, but certainly more famous now for the exposure of fame, the bathrooms here are 007 themed and are supposed to be the best bathrooms in the world, shaken and not stirred...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 3.jpg

 

The modeling certainly lives up the expectations, obviously there is already a Piz Gloria model in X-Plane, but not with the Hi-Def surrounding textures for better authenticity...  There is a heli H pad (HERG) and it can again be very gusty up here.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 4.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 5.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 6.jpg

 

At least there is no one shooting at me... so Blofield and cat must be away!

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 7.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 8.jpg

 

Brig is a staging post for the chairlifts to the peak of Brig and for the next stage up to Piz Gloria.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 9.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Piz Gloria_Brig 10.jpg

 

You have to careful on the landing pad H (HEBG) as you are close to the building with the blades... 

 

Klein-Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch

The highlight of the scenery is the important mountain pass settlement of Klein-Scheidegg (Little Scheidegg) 2,061 m (6,762 ft). In reality Klein-Scheidegg is a transfer station for both cable car and twin rack railways including the Wengernalp Railway that meet here at the elaborate railway station. The Iconic historic Hotel Bellevue des Alpes that dates back to 1840 is also positioned here.... It is the most celebrated mountain passe in the Swiss Alps because of its position just north of the point where the Bernese Alps makes a salient angle, whose apex is the Eiger, and the climax of the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau mountain chain that forms a massive wall called the Jungfrau Region. All the mountains in the region are represented in the scenery with in line the Wetterhorn (Mittelhorn) 3704m, Schreckhorn 4,078 m, Eiger 3,967m, Mönch 4107m and Junfrau 4158m.... The Breithorn, Tschingelhorn and Gspaltenhorn are also represented.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Eiger Main.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 1.jpg

 

Klein-Scheidegg is directly above and to the right of Grindelwald, but you can also come up and over from the Lauterbrunnen valley....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 5.jpg

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 7.jpg

 

It is an incredible alpine setting and extremely well done here. The rack railway station is lovely and authentic, but again you need the full texture setting to get the very most out of the excellent detail.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 4.jpg

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 6.jpg

 

In the earn your paypacket theory then Klein-Scheidegg is another really tricky one. So again you will usually eyeball the best approach in, because the H Pad is buried in and besides the railway station...  in reality there is only one way in and that is from the east, as the elevations ruin any other approach...

 

It looks actually easy, but again the high winds create chaos, get close to the edge and your wobbling and fighting the rudder pedals, my aim was a straight in nose approach, what I could only achieve was a sideways blustery approach, but it worked....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 9.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 10.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 11.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 12.jpg

 

....  then dropping closer to the ground you have to be highly aware of the rail station on your left....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 13.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 16.jpg

 

...  and you then needed a white stick to see the pad itself as you can't really manoeuvre into another approach angle.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 14.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 17.jpg

 

But you make it work....  and let out that held in too long breath, yes I am breathing again. Part of the trick is to using the station as your visual guide in, the microwave antenna tower is also a good angle visual point.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 15.jpg

 

The view however is worth the effort as you get the classic images of the Eiger from the Hotel Bellevue des Alpes. The hotel is a movie star as well with the Clint Eastward "Eiger Sanction" (1975) and the highly recommended 2008 film "North Face", about Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser's 1936 attempt to climb the Eiger's north face...   and so also look for the two climbers on the Eiger's north face....  yes it is the intrepid developers of Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini climbing their own creation (they are real life climbers as well).

 

Eiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 18.jpgEiger 3D_Map_ Klein-Scheidegg 19.jpg

 

Jungfraujoch

Set up on the ridge or as it's called a "Saddle" between the peaks of the Mönch and Junfrau is an amazing location... it is the Jungfraujoch or the "Top of Europe"....   this time you have to climb (almost straight up) a whopping 11,800ft (offically 3,454 metres (11,332 ft)) to get an eye level of the structure...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 1.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 4.jpg

 

There are several panoramic restaurants and a post office. Several tunnels lead outside, where secured hiking trails on the crevassed glacier can be followed, in particular to the Mönchsjoch Hut. Also part of the complex is the The Sphinx Observatory, which is one of the highest astronomical observatories in the world, provides an additional viewing platform at a height of 3,572 metres (11,719 ft). The Jungfraujoch radio relay station, which is not accessible to the public, is installed just west of the Jungfraujoch on the Jungfrau ridge. It is Europe's highest radio relay station.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 5.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 6.jpg

 

 Jungfraujoch is accessible to tourists by the rack rail Jungfrau line, a railway from Interlaken and Kleine Scheidegg and it took 16 years to build it. And yes you guessed right, landing here on the H Pad (HEJF) is again not easy, but the views of the Aletsch glacier is certainly worth the effort.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 7.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 8.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Jungfraujoch 9 LG.jpg

 

The Eiger mountain itself is highly impressive in detail... DEM data is used, and further corrected with 3D graphics programs. Subsequently the textures were applied, even in part in 4K, that were taken from high definition photos. The positioning on the modified meshes is extremely accurate, respecting the dimensions and the main morphological characteristics of the terrain.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Eiger 1.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Eiger 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Eiger 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Eiger 4.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Eiger 5 LG.jpg

 

The only aspect is that the mountain is of course north faced, so it it hard to get the sunlight directly on the face, it gives the Eiger character but also a lot of shadow.... but the full Jungfrau Region is certainly spectacular in it's overall complete design here.

 

Time to move away from the central core of the Eiger 3D scenery...  hopping off the Jungfraujoch H pad is damn dangerous as the blustery winds can catch you and throw you easily into the mountain side.....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 1.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 4.jpg

 

....  there is a trick in going into the wind's direction and not fighting it, and then loop around to your wanted course. You can then actually freeball directly down to Interlaken, but if you don't control the 10,000ft fall you will simply fly right over the township and bucket the elevation on the other side... 

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 5.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 6.jpg

 

...   this is harder to to than it looks and requires great helicopter control, but the elevator car ride is worth it....  once down to 3000 ft you loop backwards and head back up the Lauterbrunnen valley. Note the missing default scenery of Interlaken Airport (ICAO: LSMI) which was a former military airbase...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 7.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 8.jpg

 

.... X-Plane's Global airports does have a very nice LSMI (as it does the noted Meiringen LSMM), but you can't insert it without the WED airport messing up the custom mesh...  that is a shame because it looks excellent (can anyone fix this - hint!)...  You are now going back up the Lauterbrunnen valley to a "Swiss Helicopters" Heliport located in Gsteigwiler H (ICAO: LSXG) that is located just inside the valley's entrance (arrowed below right)...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 12.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 9.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 13 LG.jpg

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 10.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 11.jpg

 

... although quite a large heilcopter facility it can be easily missed, and it is tricky to approach with the high trees set out out around it, the best approach is from the west...  There are four H pads here with only one registered (LSXG) but the other three are highly usable and accessable.

This helibase is certainly a very nice and highly authentic Swiss style base to work directly the all mountains pads and the passenger services from. This is the last of the Eiger 3D scenery's custom H Pads... but what a way to end the selections.

 

Nightlighting

If you already use anyone of Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini's sceneries you will know what you are going to feel at night....  most sceneries are villages with village lighting, and as most flying is not done at night, and certainly not here in the Bernese Alps, as the canyon valleys will always get you. So mostly then this lighting is just for looking at than actually using and it is very nice...

 

Grindelwald

In Grindelwald you have the most lighting because it is the largest town. Custom buildings window lighting is very good and nicely varied...  don't expect a huge amount of lighting detail however, but overall it works fine in reflecting a Swiss town or village at night...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting 1.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 2.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 3.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 4.jpg

 

....   the town squares are lovely and it all feels very authentic.

 

Klein-Scheidegg

At Klein-Scheidegg it was always going to be the focus point of the scenery at night, and it does not disappoint...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting 7 LG.jpg

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting 5.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 6.jpg

 

....  the railway station is lovely and nicely authentic, and a nice place to be at night with the looming Eiger out there in the dark.

 

Wengen

Over at Wengen it is very similar to Klein-Scheidegg and it has that lovely aged Swiss feel and rail station...

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting 8.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 9.jpg

 

Lauterbrunnen

The Staubbachfall Wasserfall at Lauterbrunnen is visible at night, but the effect is actually wrong because the whole cliff face and waterfall are illuminated (look's spectacular) and not just the waters streaming, so the effect here does not work and it looks just eeie or plain weird. Center terminus and carpark are well lit as is the Air Glaciares Heli base.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting 10.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 11.jpg

 

Gsteigwiler

The larger "Swiss Helicopters" Heliport at Gsteigwiler is excellent, and it is a nice place to work down on the well lit pad apron after a hard day in the mountains or a dawn readiness for the coming days work.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting 12.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Iighting 13.jpg

 

Overall the lighting very good, but you come here or any of these sceneries in the series for the views, dawn or twilight visuals of the mountains when X-Plane turns on the light show it can be stupendous....  nothing can match a few moments just watching the light rise or fade over the mountain scapes....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Iighting Final.jpg

 

Interlaken and Thun

Because there is custom mesh and as noted at the head of this review it kills the default autogen. Fabio Bellini has re-engineered the autogen to work on the custom mesh... and to be honest it is exactly the same as the built in autogen, but you certainly see the reason it had to be returned to fill in the scenery and create a seemless join between the custom and standard X-Plane mesh....  Because of copyright issues you have to download and install the autogen data separately (link below), it is very easy with just a cut and paste in the Eiger_Mesh Earth Nav Data, but essential for the scenery to work correctly.

 

Now Interlaken is a full (again) a visual feast (I saw it without the autogen and it looked awful or blank), head away up the Thunersee and Spiez is on your right and finally Thun is situated at the end of the lake.... 

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 14.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 15.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 16.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 17.jpg

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 18 LG.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 19.jpgEiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 20.jpg

 

Guess where the autogen join is...  there isn't one, and as you pull away from the Eiger 3D scenery the panorama of the Bernese Alps are still highly visible in the distance and a brilliant visual addition to X-Plane... of course you can reverse this route and see this Bernese Alps vista going in as well.

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Interlaken 21.jpg

 

And a big note here to the excellent Agusta Bell AB512 from X-Trident, this was a tough review and the machine was a worthy tool in doing some really difficult flying....

 

Eiger 3D_Map_Final.jpg

 

Summary

This is the fifth panoramic scenery from the Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini duo of specialist iconic mountain vistas, it is all about the scenery here as an addition to your X-Plane experience, but it is also has to be considered as a highly defined detailed quality to be believed and explore.

 

Is this their best scenery yet? In most cases yes, in scale no, as Everest 3D was a larger and more huge expanse of detail, but in internal detail and the sheer number of interactions you can have with this scenery it is a far more immersive simulation and certainly when twinned with the mirror Matterhorn 3D scenery you can now also cover a large expanse of the Swiss alpine region.

 

It is in the immersive factor for that you can get so much out of this scenery, as there are over there are 11 selectable H Pads and many added none registered H Pads as well and two fictional airports at Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. Obviously this all a helicopters pilot's dream simulation, but the two grass strips also allow some very light aircraft flying as well, extreme pads at Piz Gloria (Bond 007) and Jungfraujoch just add into the superlative flying you can do in this area...  but be warned it can get quite hairy with very windy conditions and in needing a lot of skill to land or takeoff at the many different locations.

 

All the mountains in the famous Jungfrau (Top of Europe) Range including the famous "North Face" of the Eiger are all very highly crafted here, so are the surrounding exceptional glaciers. All towns and villages in the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys are also fully created with custom objects and all the items create a very Swiss feel, the elevated iconic towns of Wengen, Murren, Gimmelwald and the focus terminus of Klein-Scheidegg are all well represented and well done.

 

Considering the sheer amount of experience and the detail of the mountain mesh and textures, it felt odd the valley floor textures were just simple green matts, fine close up but a bit false and conflicting with the high detail surrounding in textures, the custom tree lines are also too blocky and you can see where they have been applied, yes Swiss land areas do have clean cleared blocks of land and trees, but in areas the boundary lines here are just too obvious...  no notes in if or when winter textures would be added.

 

These 3D scenery packs or parks are an excellent addition to your X-Plane experience, but this Eiger 3D is certainly the best package yet from Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini, because it is the most accessible and more immersive, yes helicopter flying is a requirement here to get the best total return from the scenery, but it also brings out the very best in what simulation flying can bring to your total experience and at great value as well, overall it is a majestic area to fly around and savour, seriously challenging flying as well and for any well invested X-Plane pilot, you can't ask for any more than that....  Highly Recommended.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

X-Plane Store logo sm.jpg

 

Yes! Eiger Park 3D by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini is now Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :

 

Eiger Park 3D

 

Price Is US$24.95

 

Features:
  •  about 500 square kilometers of territory covered in this package
  • Airports and Heliports
  • Two virtual airports are included with a grass runway: in Grindelwald (about 800 meters long) and  Lauterbrunnen (700 meters)
  • 10 heliports located in areas of naturalistic and tourist interest.
  • All the villages in the area have been reconstructed in 3D with about 70 types of buildings typical of  area, as well as many buildings
  • reproduced from real (hotels, stations, churches ...)
  • All the ski lifts have also been rebuilt (16). 
  • The railway stations in the area are very detailed (Kleine-Scheidegg, grindelwald, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen)
  • The Eiger reproduced in 3D with 4K texture of the North Face. 
  • For the Monch and the Jungfrau, polygons / textures have been positioned that reproduce the real color (summer season).
  • The whole area is covered by polygons / HD textures for a very sharp and accurate view. 
  • The whole residential area has night textures.
  • Scenery summer season

 

WT3: Your joking of course! no, you are on your own here, but it works out at Zurich LSZH.

 

Requirements

X-Plane 11 

Windows, Mac or Linux
4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended
Download Size: 395Mb
Release and Review version 1.0 (17th May 2019)
 
Installation
Download scenery file size is download 390.50mb and with the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as there are seven install folders in order below (INI File included): 
 
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/3D_Eiger/ (26.90mb)
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/CablewayEiger/ (12.10mb)
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Grindelwald/ (297.00mb)
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/K_Scheidegg/ (256.20mb)
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Lauterbrunnen_Wengen/ (377.50mb)
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Mesh_Eiger/ (130.10mb)
  • SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/trees_lib/ (34.20mb)

 

Total scenery installation : 1.13gb

 

The developers note you need to adjust the X-Plane "scenery_packs.INI" so the loading order is correct and the Mesh_Eiger must be above the Global Airport folder.

 

Autogen has to be inserted manually...  you download the .dsf file here:

 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av9rxLyBi20agRRXHhZqI12nYt7S

 

You replace the "Mesh_Eiger" Earth Nav Data with the above download... instructions are included.

 

If you already have the Matterhorn Prk 3D scenery then you will also require a patch to run these two sceneries together to avoid conflict, that patch is available here:

 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av9rxLyBi20agRUuFAuV7Qu44d8k

 

Documents

One manual with notes

______________________________________________________________________

  

Review by Stephen Dutton

17th May  2019

Copyright©2019 : X-Plane Reviews 

 

(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

 

Review System Specifications:

Computer System: Windows  - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD 

Software:   - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.31

Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose  Soundlink Mini 

Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : US$19.95

Scenery or Aircraft

- Agusta Bell AB512 by X-Trident (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$35.95

- LSZH - Airport Zürich v2 by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$27.99

 

Logo Header X-PlaneReviews 200px.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great job !

An enormous thank you for your explanations about the installation... not very easy.

I allready had the Matterhorn scenery and installing both of them is not really simple.

You gave us a patch to correct a problem of empty scenery in Interlaken and Sion valleys. It works perfectly... but the Aosta valley (south of Matterhorn scenery) is allways completely empty : no houses, no roads, no life. Even the airport has dissapeared an I had to reinstall it manualy but it is lost in this completely empty valley Yet this valley was perfect when I only had the Matterhorn scenery.

Do you know if another patch is existing to solve this problem for the Aosta valley ?

Thanks for answering !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...