Dominic Smith Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Scenery Review: KBOI - Boise Air Terminal XP12 by Verticalsim By Dennis Powell Introduction Idaho, long known as the Gem State, boasts scenery that truly lives up to its name. With rugged, majestic mountains, rivers with challenging rapids, and lakes that are a fisherman’s dream, the landscape is the real gem of the state. Boise, the capital, is in the southern part of Idaho, where agriculture plays a key role, and is served by the airport we’ll be exploring today. This joint-use civilian and military facility also serves the Idaho Air and Army National Guard. KBOI is Idaho's largest and busiest airport, serving just over 2 million passengers in 2022, more than all other airports in the state combined. Verticalsim includes not only Boise Air Terminal but also the detailed representation of the National Guard side of the field. The civilian side features the airport terminal and the headquarters of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), while Gowen Field is home to the 124th Fighter Wing, flying the A-10 Thunderbolt II, commonly known as the Warthog. The airport features two runways: 10L/28R, which is 10,000 feet long, and 10R/28L, just shy of that at 9,763 feet. Runway 10R/28L is equipped with ILS/DME, while both have VASI systems to aid in landings. There’s also a helipad, H1, which measures 50 by 50 feet, perfect for rotor heads like me. Verticalsim has recreated many of the airport’s unique features with impressive detail on both the civilian and military sides, using a variety of custom buildings and objects. You can even spot the area where firefighting aircraft load up, with fire retardant spills replicated on the ramp. Installation Process The package is quite large at 1.8 GB, but once downloaded and extracted, it was a simple drag-and-drop into my custom scenery folder. Although the scenery requires the SAM 3 suite to animate the jetways, the airport will still load and function without it. No online activation was required for installation. Documentation Verticalsim provides an 8-page PDF that explains the installation process and outlines the key features of the airport. It also covers known issues with the scenery, along with contact and licensing information. This PDF is the only documentation included with the package; no charts or navigation aid information are provided. Exploration Walkthrough For this review, I’m using Ortho4XP and X-World America. These addons help show both the surrounding area and how the supplied ortho at the airport blends in. That said, the colouring of the supplied ortho is a bit different from the wider area, and it only extends to the airport perimeter. Keep in mind, the quality of the ortho can vary depending on the source used. When I mention the quality of the orthos here, I’ll be referring specifically to those included with the scenery package. At high altitude, the view of the airport closely resembles what you’d see on Google Earth. This is largely due to Verticalsim’s use of ortho photos for the ground cover. While I appreciate the accuracy these photos bring to textures and ground markings, they often come with a drawback, and this scenery is no exception. As you get closer to the ground, you’ll notice that the ortho photos haven’t been adjusted to remove time-sensitive elements like shadows, parked vehicles, or other temporary objects. Some of these vehicles, especially parked cars, are covered with 3D models, but others, particularly cars that were moving when the photo was taken, are not. This has been a common issue with Verticalsim sceneries, and it applies to Boise here too. Runway & Taxiways For the runways, taxiways, and ramps, it seems Verticalsim used ortho photos as a guide, placing polygons over the top to replicate surface textures. As with their previous airports, all the surfaces where aircraft move are given a transparent texture with a polygon overlay. This was common practice before X-Plane 12, when different textures were required for runways. One unique feature is on the ramp near the NIFC, where fire retardant spills are replicated both through the ortho photo and a custom polygon. By using ortho photos as a guide, the custom markings align well with those at the real airport. However, one small detail I noticed during taxi testing is that not all the taxi lines match up perfectly. It’s a minor detail and easy to overlook at an airport of this size. Another observation is that some of the runway edge lights are placed right in the middle of the taxiway leading off the runway. Ground Textures & Foliage Ortho photos cover the entire airport, not just the runways, taxiways, and ramps. The ground cover, along with trees, bushes, and other plant life, is also part of the ortho photos, with 3D trees placed in the appropriate spots. The ground cover looks accurate and blends well with the surrounding autogen just outside the airport, unless you notice the 2D trees beneath the 3D ones, which usually only becomes an issue for helicopter pilots flying very low. As for the 3D trees, they are custom objects that appear to move with the wind and change with the seasons. After checking the overview in WED, it seems the trees are placed as individual points, not as area forests. I have to give Verticalsim credit here: the trees on the airport don’t include the random palm trees often seen in X-Plane’s autogen foliage. Kudos for that. Signage & Navigation Aids As is the norm for an airport of this size, it has plenty of signage for both the runways and taxiways. The taxi and runway signs are clearly visible and accurately marked. Some are even enhanced with painted markings on the taxiways directing you to the runways and parking areas. The airport has a tower frequency, so AI planes would be able to use the airport if it weren’t for the use of transparent textures for the runways and taxiways. Boise features a VOR station on the eastern edge of the field, and while flying my Cessna 172, I was able to tune into the signal, which it tracked very accurately. The airport is also equipped with ILS, but I didn’t test that feature, as I was flying VFR for much of this review. Main Airport Buildings Starting with the terminal, it’s well-rendered with 3D detail and really does resemble the main terminal at KBOI. There’s no visible interior, even when flying “dangerously” through the building. Other notable structures on the civilian side include the National Interagency Fire Center, cargo terminals, hotels, restaurants, hangars for various tenants, and a large multilevel parking garage. All are rendered in 3D and look sharp and highly detailed. On the military side, the Air National Guard hangars really stand out. The entire National Guard base is represented, not just the hangars. Even the Army National Guard buildings are included, along with some of the old World War II temporary barracks that somehow became permanent fixtures on many U.S. bases. However, the use of orthos does bring a few drawbacks. A few of the buildings, particularly on the military side, are only partially 3D, with sections left as 2D ortho photos. In some cases, buildings are just 2D photo representations with no 3D models over them at all. This isn’t noticeable if you’re flying a fixed-wing aircraft and sticking to the runways and taxiways. But for rotor heads like me, it’s a glaring issue that sticks out like a sore thumb. Ground Clutter Ground clutter, both 3D and 2D, is abundant at Boise. On the civilian side, you’ll find plenty of vehicles, including baggage carriers, cars, trucks, and the usual assortment of cones, barriers, dumpsters, and waste cans. Over on the military side, the clutter takes on a more tactical feel, with tanks, A-10 Warthogs, and other military hardware scattered around. Despite all this, not a single person is visible anywhere in the scenery. It feels like everyone took a lunch break and left the airport at the same time, giving the place an eerie vibe, like the lights are on, but no one’s home. Having an airport of this size completely to yourself feels a bit unsettling. Surrounding Area Depending on your scenery source, both default and custom, the package blends quite well with the surrounding area, although there is a noticeable boundary where the airport ends. This isn’t unique to Verticalsim; all X-Plane custom airports have this issue, so it’s not a major concern. Even when using X-World America and an ortho tile of the area, there aren’t any custom features that are specific to Boise. For example, I couldn’t find the Capitol Building, even though Boise is the state capital. Anything unique to Boise can only be found within the airport itself. Night Lighting When I first started making airports, the temptation to make them stand out like neon signs was hard to resist. But after watching tutorial videos by Jan Vogel, I learned that airports are almost like black holes in their surrounding areas. Verticalsim nailed this part! The airport doesn’t stand out at night, except for a few features like the runway, approach, and taxi lights. They’re all visible, but not overdone. The same goes for the ramp lighting, it’s subtle and effective. Many buildings, along with the hotels and restaurants, have lit signs, which add a nice touch. One standout detail is the use of yellow lights for the parking lots, representing the sodium vapor lights that I remember Idaho using in the 1970s. The airport beacon sits atop the tower and can be seen for miles, but the tower itself lacks any noticeable night lighting. Overall, the night lighting is well done and successfully captures the feel of a midsized airport. Performance Impact In the past, a scenery package from Verticalsim would really put a strain on my computer. However, after upgrading my motherboard, processor, and RAM, I was able to achieve respectable frame rates with this scenery. On the military side of the field, I was getting frame rates in the high 30s, though they dropped to the high 20s on the civilian side. I’m not sure what caused the difference, as both sides contain a lot of detail to render. I’m running an NVidia RTX graphics card with 12 GB of video RAM and 32 GB of system RAM, so I’d consider my machine to be pretty robust. For anyone using an older machine with less RAM or a weaker graphics card, Boise might significantly impact your performance. To enjoy the scenery, I’d recommend at least 16 GB of RAM and a graphics card with 8 GB of VRAM. Conclusion Overall, I’d say this is a fantastic airport. It’s not too big, not too small, about the same size as my home airport, KBTV, and similar in that both are joint civil and military airports. There are so many extras, like military vehicles and aircraft, and the fact that the entire airport is represented makes it well worth the price of just under $15 USD. The use of ortho photos has its pros and cons, but overall, especially for fixed-wing pilots, it’s not a deal breaker. There are a few small tweaks that could make this airport truly shine, and luckily, it’s accessible in WED for anyone wanting to fix the minor issues or add some people. Even though it’s a bit outside my usual flying area, I might just add a cat and duck for personal use later. If you’re really into bush flying, this airport is a perfect gateway to Idaho’s backcountry, where you can regroup and enjoy a bit of civilization before heading out into the wild of Idaho. ________________________ KBOI - Boise Air Terminal XP12 by Verticalsim is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here: KBOI - Boise Air Terminal XP12 Priced at $14.99 Features 2021 Airport layout PBR Ground Textures Sam Custom Highly detailed jetways Animated Vehicle traffic 4K HD Textures Highly Optimized Accurate 3D models of terminals, hangars Commercial Grade 0.5ft resolution Aerial Imagery HDR night Lighting Requirements X-Plane 12 (not for XP11) Windows, Mac, or Linux 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 1.8 GB Current version: 1.0 (September 9th, 2024) Review System Specifications AMD Ryzen 5 7600X – 32GB RAM - Nvidia RTX 2060 12GB – Windows 11 __________________________________ Scenery Review by Dennis Powell 27th September 2024 Copyright©2024: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copying of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions). Kiwiflyer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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.