Scenery Review: LZIB - Bratislava International Airport by Chudoba Design

[Dominic Smith]

 

Scenery Review: LZIB - Bratislava International Airport by Chudoba Design

 

By Michael Hayward

 

Introduction

Bratislava International is Slovakia's primary airport, serving the capital alongside the surrounding regions of Ružinov, Vrakuňa, and Ivanka pri Dunaji. It also serves as a convenient alternative for Austria's Vienna Airport, which is merely a short coach ride away. Opened in 1951, it replaced the nearby Vajnory Airport, located just 3 km away. Initially, it had a quiet start due to Vienna's proximity, but it gained popularity in the 1990s with the arrival of low-cost airlines. The airport is named after Milan Rastislav Štefánik, a prominent figure in Slovakia's World War I council.

Chudoba Design, a relatively small developer focused on European scenery, creates airports with considerable care and detail. Despite their competitive pricing, which reflects the smaller scale of the airports they develop, they consistently deliver quality sceneries. 
In this review, we will examine Bratislava International Airport in detail, especially how it compares to the real thing, considering my personal experience flying through here last year.

 

 

Installation
Upon purchase, you receive a serial key and a link to the download server. To begin, select the desired scenery, in this case, Bratislava M. R. Štefánik Airport. Enter your serial key and click 'download'. The first time you install, a user license agreement will appear. It's worth giving this a quick read, and if you're satisfied, click 'continue' to start the download.

Once downloaded, simply drag and drop the scenery file into your 'Custom Scenery' folder and X-Plane’s scenery manager will handle the rest. An additional feature of this add-on is the inclusion of a scenery library, which we will explore in more detail later.

 

Taxiways and Runway
Chudoba Design has enhanced the scenery with an ortho map, adding high-quality ground textures that closely match the actual airport. The texture detail is split into two levels: high-resolution within the immediate vicinity of the airport and lower-resolution as you move closer to the main boundary. It's important to note that the included photographic tile focuses exclusively on the airport area and does not extend to the surrounding environment. As such, for the purposes of this review, I am using simHeaven’s X-World Europe along with my own Ortho4XP tile to complement the scenery.

 

Bratislava International features two intersecting runways, with taxiways leading from each to the terminal area. Despite its expansion over the years, Bratislava remains a relatively compact airport, making navigation relatively simple. 

 

 

The airport has undergone considerable growth, as evidenced by the remnants of a former taxiway that once spanned the entire airport but is now discontinued and partially removed. The predominant surface material is concrete, notable for its square grid pattern across the taxiways and runways. This concrete is typically pre-formed into slabs before installation to enhance drying and durability. Taxi and ground markings are distinctly visible and easy to interpret, aiding navigation throughout the airport

 

 

Near the gates, the concrete shows significant weathering; it is darker and marked by liquid stains and tyre tracks, bearing witness to decades of use. This distinction in wear provides visual cues to the airport's development, indicating which areas are older and which have been more recently updated, particularly towards the cargo facilities where newer, brighter, and cleaner taxiways are found.

 

 

Structures and Facilities
Bratislava boasts a single main terminal complemented by hangars and a modest DHL cargo building to its east. These structures are well designed and closely resemble their real-life counterparts within X-Plane. 

 

 

The terminal comprises of two distinct sections: the first is a newer, larger building with a curved roof; the second is the older non-Schengen area, which is positioned at a lower level and connected to the newer structure. Regrettably, the interior of the terminal is not modelled, which is disappointing, though the opportunity to view inside from airside is limited. However, this does not detract from the overall quality of the scenery. The windows feature dark, reflective glass with steel frames securing the panes. 

Bump mapping and Physically Based Rendering (PBR) techniques add reflections and shine to polished metal surfaces at the main terminal and depth to the walls and roofs of adjoining buildings. This has all been done to ensure the terminal's appearance is optimized with minimal processing power and it works well.

 

 

The main cargo area is equipped with modern facilities, including new buildings and hangars, while the majority of services outside the terminal consist of older structures dating back to the Czechoslovak era, characterised by grey concrete blocks and warehouses. This includes the original control tower, now overshadowed by a newer tower constructed in the 1990s. This contrast highlights the airport's historical evolution, with various areas developed and renovated from the Soviet era up until Slovakia joined the EU in 2004.

 

 

Around the airport, ground service and support vehicles are scattered across gates and stationed in their designated areas. Textures vary between 4K and 1K resolution and are allocated based on building size to optimize detail without going over the top. The benefit to this is that it preserves hard drive space and lowers GPU VRAM usage. Static aircraft, including a fleet of Austrian CRJs and a couple of former government TU-154s, are strategically placed around the airport, adding realism and life to the scenery. 

 

 

Other Structures and the Surrounding Area
In front of the terminal, you'll find the main car park, bus stop, and forecourt area, all interconnected by a network of roads that weave around the terminal and hangars. These roads lead to a traffic circle directing traffic towards the city centre and are lined with trees and bushes, which all look rather pretty. Having walked these roads last year, I enjoyed using the free cam feature to explore the same area, albeit virtually.

 

 

Night Lighting 
The airport is well-equipped for night operations with simple yet effective lighting. Runways and taxiways are outlined with blue edge lighting and green centrelines, while the main terminal is illuminated by spotlights. These features ensure safe and easy navigation throughout the airport during nighttime.

 

 

 

Chudoba Design Library

Chudoba Design includes a common library in all its airport sceneries. This pack contains hundreds of small buildings, vehicles, and clutter scattered around the airport, enhancing the realism and depth of the scenery. This inclusion is a trend among developers aimed at supporting their sceneries and providing additional models for users to place throughout the X-Plane world, though these are presumably not intended for use outside of their products. Similar to the terminal, these elements employ a mix of 4K and 1K texture resolutions, delivering high detail tailored to the size and scale of each model. 

 

 

Opinion and Closing Remarks
Overall, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my virtual flights to and from Bratislava International. Reflecting on my real journey through Bratislava last year, I was delighted to explore all areas of this airport in X-Plane. Chudoba Design, while not the largest developer for X-Plane, offers an impressive range of quality sceneries at competitive prices, making their products particularly appealing for those looking to enhance their Eastern European airport collection.

 

 

The use of both high and lower-resolution textures throughout the airport strikes a perfect balance, enhancing visual quality without compromising performance. Although the full terminal interior isn’t available, this doesn’t detract from the overall experience. In fact, because of the positioning of airside buildings and bridges, the interior view wouldn’t be particularly visible anyway. This careful attention to detail and performance is really impressive.

For those seeking a cost-effective hub for low-cost carriers, Chudoba Design’s Bratislava International is a strong option worth considering!

 

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LZIB - Bratislava International Airport by Chudoba Design is available from the Org store here:

 

LZIB - Bratislava International Airport
Priced at US$12.49

 

Features:

• PBR Textures
• Custom Models
• Optimized for best performance
• X-Plane 12 Ready

Requirements:

X-Plane 12 or X-Plane 11
Windows, Mac, or Linux
4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB VRAM Recommended

Reviewers System:

Windows 10 Professional
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Processor
32GB RAM

Palit GeForce RTX™ 3080 GamingPro

 

Scenery Review by Michael Hayward 

31st May 2024

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