Stephen Posted April 22, 2014 Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 Developer Update : Final Frontier version 10.2 by Tom Curtis Three sceneries that have had the most impact on the X-Plane simulator are all by one person... Tom Curtis. They are in no order, Inside Passage, Canadian Rockies and Final Frontier. Between them they cover most of the Western Northern American seaboard from the Canadian Border by Seattle, USA to Juneau Alaska. For the very best of simulation flying then these areas are simply the best in the world. As they cover almost most areas of low Regional/GA flying and the perfect Seaplane bases. Navigation and the sheer fun of flying from island to island with the Southern Alaskan Coast Mountains (Highest point: Kate's Needle, 10,023 feet (3,055 meters)) back-dropping this awesome scenery cannot be bettered. Tom Curtis has created the ultimate packages to cover these significant areas. Each one of the packages has not only just the major ports (some international), but also the hundreds of small inlet and community airports that dot around the lakes and shorelines. Over the years all these packages have been always at the top of the best sellers lists of scenery in X-Plane, and deservedly so. Now Tom Curtis is overhauling these significant sceneries to update them more towards the current X-Plane10 versions (X-Plane9 is still available on request) and not just giving them a quick touch-up job but is completely redoing all the major sections (Airports) from scratch. Also added is animation by Marginal's "GroundTraffic" plugin and the correct ATC X-plane flow plans at the airports... This is the upgrade release for "Final Frontier" to version 10.2. Final Frontier v10.2. Final Frontier covers the South East Panhandle of Alaska - From Misty Fjords National Park in the south, to Skagway in the north. More than 120 airports and seaplane bases have been modeled including the 5 major airports served by Alaska Airlines mainline jet service. The airports covered here are: PAJN - Juneau International PAKT - Ketchikan International PASI - Sitka Rocky Guiterrez Airport PAPG - Petersburg Airport PAWG - Wrangell Airport All airports have animations (groundtraffic and seabourne traffic) and Autogates at Juneau, with Safedock auto park systems at Sitka and Ketchikan. You may also note some ferry services in the images because I am running the "SeaTraffic" plugin as well. Installation: The scenery download is quite small at 86.6mg, but it is expanded to a 208.6mg installation size. Inside the "Final Frontier' folder is not only the actual "Final_Frontier_10" scenery but also Ground traffic plugins for Juneau and Sitka. There is a FF_ROADS_Master that connects up the custom scenery to the default road network. All four folders go into your "Custom Scenery" Folder. Which is a bit messy in the cus folder as you won't know what they are for as they will be all spread out? The "PLUGINS" folder includes folders for the "AutoGate" and "CustomSBDatarefs004" animation (moving flags!) plugins, and they go in your Resources/Plugin's folder. Noted: is that the scenery requires your "Runways" to be the standard flat runways, so your "Runways follows Terrain contours" on the menu "Rendering Options" Settings menu page must be off. The install package also comes with a "read me" but it is a graphic in a .pdf format and is hard (small) to read. Overview There is so much included in "Final Frontier it would be impossible to cover everything, So we will just focus here on the main 5 updated major airports (a full list of every scenery item is included at the bottom of the update). All airports have othophotographic underlays, to which are very good here (although I am not a fan) they do tend to take out the colour and make the sceneries a little bland on the ground. and all sceneries have built in great animations of trucks, baggage carts, tankers and seabourne trawlers, ferries and ships. These are very active sceneries and the animations are very well done. All runway and taxiway signage throughout all the airports are first rate and as perfect as the real markings and signs on the ground. Textures are a bagged mix throughout all the sceneries, mostly through their resolution. Some like the static aircraft, building signage and animation vehicles have very poor resolution, so only the "extreme" setting will get them to perform, anything else is blurry. on "Too High" you can get away with most quite well, but "high" is poor. but the problem is that even on the setting "Too High" at PAJN - Juneau you are even above the 1gb (1084mb) limit? God help the rest of us on 512mb. If the textures where better (or more even) in their resolutions you would certainly get a lot more out of the sceneries. (loaded with the Carenado Caravan 208B) PAJN - Juneau Runway: 08/26 8428ft - ILS : 08 (freq 109.90) There are a few decent PAJN - Juneau sceneries available, but this version is by far the best, even excellent. Flying in from PANC - Anchorage it is one of the best approaches on the calender, If a little tough in coming in from the south. Tom Curtis has done a brilliant job here with this airport, The terminal is very well presented with working gates and great animations. Detailing is excellent with the Alaskan Airlines hangar, great (okay huge amount of) GA parking and hangarage. The seaplane base is on the waterside on the other side of the 08/26 runway. There is a hovering helicopter (it goes slightly up and down), not too crazy about that?... and there is a Alaska B737 situated at the turn onto RWY 26, why I don't know? Juneau itself fills the background nicely and there is a well done port area a little way to the south of the airport that is very well done. Overall Juneau is great visual filling scenery and well worth the purchase alone. Night-lighting All the night-lighting with the HDR setting "On" is very good right through all the sceneries presented here. Terminal areas are very well lit and the all the airport buildings have either drop lighting or lit windows. from the air the whole area is very realistic. Again the poorer textures show up unless you can seriously powerup the texture resolution (extreme), which is a shame at close up positions. PAKT - Ketchikan International Runway: 11/29 7484ft - ILS : 11 (freq 109.30) There have been very few if any PAKT - Ketchikan International airport's in X-Plane, not even in the previous "Final Frontier" packages. The reason is the very odd runway (11/29) layout. PAKT is really a stepped level airport with the lower portion, then the Airport buildings and ramps about halfway up and the runway itself another step higher, access to the runway is by graded taxiways at both ends. This all makes Ketchikan a very interesting destination, But as International goes... It may receive aircraft from overseas, but as an International hub it is not. You are not going to land your A380 here anytime soon! Tom Curtis had to create a false stepped level as the layout is unique in that the runway elevation is nearly 70 feet higher than the airline ramp. the taxiways climb a fairly steep grade from the ramp elevation to the runway. Additionally, the general Aviation ramp is about 15 feet lower than the airline ramp. So the land mesh has been created to accurately depict the 3 separate levels of the airport. Ketchikan is in a steep channel area and both sides of the water is depicted. The work is again excellent, and Ketchikan is very good scenery. The terminal area and the building is simply first rate and with a working radar, ramps are full and you have working "auto" park systems. GA areas are full and a great start place to head to CZST - Stewart if you have the Beti-x scenery installed... If you have always wanted a great Ketchikan, then worry no more. The seaplane base is down on the shore under the terminal and is connected by walkways. Across the water Ketchikan is made up of placed buildings set out on a bland base which is a wharf area, but overall the view of the place works. There is a ferry that goes back and too between both shores and a trawlers moving upstream. Like at Juneau. Going south there is a port area with liners in port. Night-lighting The lighting with HDR on is very good, because PAKT is a newer scenery in the package the textures are just slightly better on the terminal areas and the airport buildings. All buildings on both shores are well lit and flying into PAKT at night is a great experience... Just don't fly into a hill! PASI - Sitka Rocky Guiterrez Airport Runway: 11/29 6483ft - ILS : 11 (freq 108.90) Sitka is an airport that has been missing from my collection and it was a hard hole to fill. Most available Sitka's simply were awful except for Royaloak's version and that is basic. But here Tom Curtis has created a full scenery to really bring Sitka alive and now a really desirable destination. To fly from Juneau to Sitka is quite a long way at around 260nm, but one of the most memorable I have done in X-Plane in the Carenado 208B. To arrive finally then at a crappy airport was a bit of a downer, and that now I can do the same route and enjoy the whole flight as one long simulation of perfection is one I will enjoy many times over. The airport is situated on an Island connected to the (far) bigger Island (Baranof Island). This is the perfect Sitka and it is very well completed. Again the "Final Frontier" package is worth purchasing just for this one airport. On the ground the scenery is just perfect, with all the realistic terminal buildings and a large US Coast Guard Station (with another hovering helicopter). GA areas abound and you have parking and fuel supplies to continue on with your flight south or to head back home to Juneau. There are authentic Sitka buildings on the main Island (connected by a large bridge) and the large harbour in between with watercraft and a marina. The seaplane base is huge and a bit on the open side, but the seaplane base buildings are very well done. Night-Lighting PASI - Sitka is the best lit of all the airports in this package, not only on the ramp areas but also with the large carpark. Textures are again very good, with excellent dropdown lighting and signage on the hangars and outer buildings... Sitka is just overall very good. PAPG - Petersburg Airport (James A Johnson) Runway: 04/22 5981ft - ILS : 22 (freq 110.50) Petersburg Airport sits almost halfway due south between Juneau and Ketchikan. This makes it an ideal stopover for fuel or for just a stretch of the legs. The airport is sits East-West on the northern peninsula of Mitkof Island. The port Town of Petersburg sits just slightly north and lower than the airport. Petersberg has an assortment of frontier buildings and hangars and all are expertly created by Tom Curtis. Besides the excellent airport buildings, there is a wharf area set out in Petersburg as well. There is no othro underlay here (if there is it is discreet) and PAPG looks far better for the omission. Petersburg has around 36 movements a day, but only 10% of those is Alaska Airlines flights to Juneau and Wrangell (B737Combi). The majority of traffic here is Air-Taxi work with 74% and GA movements at 15%. The interesting thing is that these small airports have very big runways with even expensive ILS systems to cater for the larger sized aircraft like the B737, so you are not restricted just to feeder, regional or GA aircraft. Night-Lighting The airport is quite small so there is not a lot of lighting here. The ramps is well covered and the buildings have nice dropdown lighting effects. The town is well lit as well and is very good from the air in low lighting conditions. PAWG - Wrangell Airport Runway: 10/28 5981ft - ILS : 10 (freq 108.50) Wrangell is very similar in size to Petersberg and the layout is very much the same, except that the runway is North-South and stuck right out on the tip of the northern point of Wrangell Island. The Town of Wrangell is also a port area like Petersberg but far smaller with the similar wharf style buildings. Tom has created a base to align the runway correctly at PAWG, which is also interesting on the angle of the ILS with an approach course of 089º to RWY10, you are on your own for the final 2.2NM visual. Miss and bugger the approach and you have to climb hard to 6000ft and 239º to SQM NDB/LVD VORDME and remember you are in a Boeing 737 and not a throw-around GA. Add in a dark cold misty winter and it gets to be a lot of fun. From the outset the airport's frontier buildings look the same as PAPG, but they are not. Most would cheat and to use the same buildings, but Tom Curtis has kept to the original buildings at the airport. In fact Tom has visited every airport listed here and noted the building and layouts and then transferred the layouts to this comprehensive package. Night-Lighting PAWG has excellent lighting. Not only the buildings and the ramp areas, but here you have a differently lit carpark as well. The town wharf area however sticks out a little against the darker default sparse lights as do the floating ships and trawlers. But overall it is very good. Summery Tom Curtis was very clever in not only to update this very comprehensive scenery by adding in the new X-Plane10 elements, but to redesign the main buildings as well. This not only brings the package right up to date, but gives the whole scenery a whole new feeling of quality. I'm not crazy about the orthophotographic underlays, but then again I never am. Here they do slightly bland out the areas around the main airports, but they are better than most. The textures range from very good to poor, and power is needed to get the very best from them all when quality is needed across the board. But overall they are again acceptable. Quality is excellent in every area across the package, and the new addition of PAKT - Ketchikan International is worth the investment alone. In fact any one of these airports are worth adding to any collection, but to have them all together in one package is simply brilliant value. Add in the animations and the sheer amount of off airport extra features in port/wharf areas and small detailing like bridges, boats and ships and the whole scenery is very comprehensive. The best feature of Final Frontier is simply the area itself. Nowhere else do you have the combination of flying so many different types of aircraft in such a small area. And even Island hopping in Boeing 737's! Everything is catered for if you like seaplanes to GA's and regional's. Many of the approaches to the airports noted here also require very high skill sets, and you will have to be good with your navigation skills as well. So "Final Frontier" has everything... The lot. And that is why with the "Inside Passage" and "Canadian Rockies" packages, "Final Frontier" is always one of the most top sellers for scenery in X-Plane. (Note: you can buy all three packages for one special price... See below). Can you not include this package in your scenery collection? I doubt it. Yes! the "Final Frontier v10.2" scenery by Tom Curtis is now Available from the X-Plane.OrgStore : Final Frontier v10.2 The v10.2 update is free to all users that have already purchased the "Final Frontier" scenery (check-in at your account at the .OrgStore) Price is US$24.95 (Final Frontier scenery is only available for X-plane10, but Xplane9 is available on request) For US$54.95 you can purchase the best deal of 3 scenery packages from Tom Curtis of "Final Frontier","Inside Passage" and "Canadian Rockies" Developers Site : Scenery4XP Scenery4XP Support Forum : Scenery4XPSupport .ORG Review By Stephen Dutton 23rd April 2014 ©copyright 2014 : X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27” - 6 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb Software: - Mac OS Mavericks 10.9 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.25 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle Aircraft Cessna Caravan 208B - Carenado - US$29.95 (C208B Grand Caravan HD Series) Full airport list in "Final Frontier" Ketchikan Area PANT Annette Island KBE Bell Island Warm Springs CBZ Cabin Creek CIV Chomley HYL Hollis HYG Hydaburg KXA Kassan XGCI [H] Ketchikan AFS Radar GCI PAKT Ketchikan Intl 5KE Ketchikan Harbor 13Z Loring RTE Marguerite Bay ,Seaplane> MTM Metlakatla AK84 Meyers Chuck 8K9 Murphys Pullout SNEB Neets Bay ,Seaplane> 9C0 Peninsula Point Pullout POQ Polk Inlet PRF Port Johnson SCJ Smith Cove Z43 Tamgas Harbor KTB Thorne Bay AK78 Yes Bay Lodge Misty Fjords Area SMHO Howdy’ s Hideaway SGRI Grizzly Meadows River Strip SMF1 Misty Fjords National Park Service STRS Trapper’s River Strip SWAL Walker Fjord SWML Wilson Meadows Lodge Wrangell / Petersburg Area S3PL 3 Point Hunting Lodge KCC Coffman Cove GLAD Devil’ s Thumb Glacier Strip GLAG Great Glacier Strip SEND Endicott Lodge XEJ3 Ethan J’ s 3B Lodge SFOT Ford’ s Terror PAFE Kake KAE Kake SJKI Kallinen’ s Expeditions SNJT No Joe’ s Tuck’ em Inn 63A Lloyd R. Roundtree Seaplane Facility (Petersburg) GLAL LeConte Glacier Strip PAPG Petersburg James A Johnson STRE Shade Tree Fishing Lodge SWBM Wilson’ s Bare Moose Lodge PAWG Wrangell 68A Wrangell Seaport Sitka Area AGN Angoon SCRI Crawfi sh Bay SDEP Deep Inlet 2Z6 False Island SGRE Green Lake SGOC Goose Cove SAHP Hemlock Point SKBA Katlian Bay KLP Kelp Bay SKOS Krestof Sound PWR Port Alexander PWR Port Armstrong AK19 Port Protection PTL Port Walker SRDL Redoubt Lake SROD Rodman Bay SROB Rowan Bay SJBB St John Baptist Bay SSBA Shamrock Bay PASI Sitka Rocky Gutierrez AK29 Sitka SeaPlane Base SSBY Sitkoh Bay TKE Tenakee BNF Warm Springs Bay Central Area AK23 Saginaw Z71 Cape Pole 1AK0 [H] Craig CGA Craig SEDA Edna Bay Lumber ELV Elvin Cove SELH Eliza Harbor PAKW Klawock AQC Klawock AK57 New Tokeen AK62 Nichin Cove 96Z North Whale KKPB Point Baker AK16 Port Alice WSB Steamboat Bay KWF Waterfall Juneau Area SCHO Coho Bay SFOT Ford’ s Terror FNR Funter Bay HWI Hawk Inlet PAJN Juneau Intl 5Z1 Juneau Harbor MGLA Mendenhall Glacier Strip 5Z2 [H] North Douglas Heliport 7AK2 Snetisham GLAT Taku Glacier Strip AK43 Taku Harbor TKL Taku Lodge STRA Tracy’ s Arm SWIN Windfall Harbor Glacier Bay Area BQV Bartlett Cove EXI Excursion Inlet PAGS Gustavus PAOH Hoonah OOH Hoonah Seaport PEC Pelican SSTA Stag Bay Northern Area PAHN Haines 3Z9 Haines Seaport PSGY Skagway 7K2 Skagway Seaport Lighthouses and Light Stations CSP [H] Cape Spencer Coast Guard CDE [H] Cape Decision Coast Guard ERO [H] Eldred Rock Coast Guard 2AK3 [H] Five Finger Coast Guard SGUI Guard Island Light Station SGHI [H] Guard Island Light Station HeliPad SMAI Marys Island SPRT Point Retreat Light Station SRAC Race Island Light Station British Columbia Canada CBHA Brian’s Landing ZST Stewart BA3 Kincolith AN8 Fort Simpson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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