Dominic Smith Posted November 22 Report Posted November 22 Scenery Review: VSKYLABS Airbases: Base-8 By Dennis Powell Introduction Alaska, the Last Frontier, the 49th state, a land of untamed wilderness, rugged mountains, wild rivers, glaciers, and the Northern Lights. Located on the Knik Glacier, roughly fifty miles northwest of Anchorage, Base-8 is VSKYLABS' in-house testing area for VTOL airplanes, bush planes, helicopters, autogyros, LSAs, and ATVs. VSKYLABS Base-8, located on the Knik Glacier near where it empties into the Knik River, is divided into seven distinct areas. Each offers different challenges, unique surfaces, and their own tower viewpoints. It’s a place where bush and helicopter pilots can let their imaginations run wild. There’s a massive 2400-metre runway for larger GA aircraft, a turf runway, broken concrete strips, a roadway section, and even a covered runway with a twist. There are plenty of helicopter landing spots, along with challenges designed for those who enjoy driving ATVs. Installation Process The installation process is straightforward. Simply download the 71 MB file and paste it into the custom scenery folder of your X-Plane 12 installation. For those less familiar with the process, the documentation provides a detailed explanation to guide you. Updates are managed through the SkunkCrafts AutoUpdater, which will automatically check for new updates as they become available. In its current form, the base doesn’t support AI aircraft. However, with the SkunkCrafts AutoUpdater, future updates will include AI support, making the process seamless. Documentation The package includes three PDF documents, separate from the file loaded into the custom scenery package, with an additional PDF located within the scenery folder itself. The three PDFs are: a “How to Install” guide, a VSKYLABS brochure, and a document marked “Important,” which explains the SkunkCrafts AutoUpdater process and provides links to the updater. The PDF within the scenery folder is a copyright file outlining the end-user agreements. This level of thoroughness isn’t something I usually see in addon scenery, so credit to VSKYLABS for their attention to detail. As for charts, there’s only one image showing the base’s location, but no navigation charts are included, as this is a fictional base. Exploration Walkthrough Approaching the base, you’re immediately greeted by the towering Chugach Mountains. The Chugach Mountains are part of a state park and a national forest, protecting this wilderness and making it a popular destination for hikers, campers, and nature lovers of all kinds. I flew in at 7,500 feet and still found mountain peaks rising high above me. Fortunately, the Knik River offers a mountain-free approach from the west. The Knik Glacier, cutting through the mountains, is beautifully rendered, with its cracks, crevasses, and ridges all well represented. The base sits directly on the glacier, though it looks a bit out of place, it’s the only spot on the ice with trees. Once at the base, you’ll find seven distinct areas, each with its own runway or landing zone, complete with individual tower viewpoints. The 2400-metre runway: This is the largest and widest runway, ideal for larger twin-engine aircraft. Vast parking ramps flank both sides. The 500-metre paved runway: While not as wide, this area includes several helicopter landing spots. The 350-metre unpaved runway: A bit more challenging, this strip features two massive radio telescopes that block a direct approach from the east, requiring some careful dodging to land safely. Next, we have the ramp yard, road section, and general playground: The ramp yard adds an exciting twist with its ski-jump-style ramp that launches you over a pile of wrecked cars. It also has several helicopter landing challenges, including metal shapes with very limited surface area. The general playground features a log pile and a dump truck with a levelled bed. The bed is a tight, confined space that’s easy to crash into. Lastly, there are the indoor runways: Marked Indoor A and Indoor B, these runways are wide enough to hover-taxi a Bell Jet Ranger. Indoor A even has a dogleg turn inside for an added challenge. Helicopter landing spots are scattered across the scenery, some of which are quite demanding. The dump truck beds are incredibly tight spaces, and the small metal pyramids require precise landing, as the helicopter will tilt if the skids aren’t perfectly centred. Other landing zones include log piles, large stone pads, and select shipping containers (though not all containers can be used for landings). There’s also a rooftop-style helipad, oddly not attached to any roof. None of the buildings are landable, and many objects that resemble helicopter landing pads are actually just cargo-handling equipment. If in doubt, you can always land your helicopter on the ground as the base is relatively flat and free of obstacles that would hinder a safe touchdown. The ground textures seem to utilise X-Plane 12’s newest features, showing mowing tracks and paths. The base itself is surrounded by trees on three sides, with two additional tree-covered areas in the centre. It’s an unusual sight on a glacier, but since the base is fictional, VSKYLABS could design it however they wanted. The base’s location offers some truly stunning surrounding scenery, with more to admire than just the glacier and mountains. The glacier carves a dramatic path through the rugged peaks before emptying into the Knik River, which winds its way through a wide valley. This valley not only provides breathtaking views but also serves as the best approach to the base. The river eventually leads to the nearest airports, the closest being Butte Airstrip, about ten miles from the glacier. Other nearby airports include Palmer Municipal, twelve miles to the west; Merrill Field, around forty-five miles southwest; and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, approximately fifty miles to the southeast. Also in Anchorage is the Lake Hood Seaplane Base, offering a unique perspective for seaplane simmers. Alaska wouldn’t be Alaska without a bit of snow, and when it sets in, the base feels even more remote and isolated. The surrounding wilderness becomes less inviting, making you appreciate the rugged conditions pilots face in real life. It’s also a great showcase for X-Plane 12’s weather engine, which does a fantastic job of creating a realistic and immersive environment when the snow starts to fall. Night Lighting Here’s where things get interesting. At night, it’s impossible to miss this base as it’s lit up like a Christmas display put together by that neighbour with far too much time on their hands. Anything taller than thirty feet seems to have an anti-collision light, and ramp lights are everywhere. The runways are well-lit, and even the indoor runways have centre lights. With no other lights for miles, the base is the only illuminated spot in the area. Surrounded by ice and water, the light reflects brilliantly, creating a glare that spreads across the landscape. At one point, a stretch of the river was so well lit that I thought there was something of interest in that direction. Since this is Alaska, I had to adjust the time of year to experience proper darkness. During summer, the sun barely sets, so total darkness is only achievable later in the year. Performance One of VSKYLABS’ stated goals for this scenery package was minimal impact on lower-end computers, and I can confirm it delivers. I didn’t experience any issues with frame rates at all. Any problems I encountered were down to my own aircraft handling skills, not the computer struggling to process data. VSKYLABS recommends a graphics card with at least 8 GB of video RAM, and my card, with 12 GB, handled everything flawlessly. Performance was smooth and seamless, running without a hitch on my setup. My landings, particularly with taildragger aircraft, were less seamless, but that’s another story. Conclusion All in all, I found this to be a fantastic little base for testing my skills with both helicopters and STOL planes. There are plenty of challenges to keep you busy, and I could easily spend hours here practicing landings, whether it’s trying to bring down a taildragger without ground looping or perfecting confined landings with a helicopter. The surrounding scenery adds to the appeal, making sightseeing trips well worth your time. Being situated inside a state park, the base offers some of the most breathtaking mountains I’ve ever seen. As mentioned earlier, the scenery package doesn’t support AI aircraft just yet, so for now, you’ll have the place to yourself. VSKYLABS has indicated that future updates will include AI support, and thanks to the SkunkCrafts AutoUpdater, those updates should be seamless. If you’re into helicopters, STOL planes, off-airport adventures, or even just exploring Alaska, this scenery is well worth the price. ________________________ VSKYLABS Airbases: Base-8 is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here: VSKYLABS Airbases: Base-8 Priced at $16.00 Features A dedicated testing ground in the rugged Alaskan wilderness, purpose-built for VSKYLABS’ aircraft development needs. Note: If you own any VSKYLABS Aircraft, you will receive an Automatic 25% discount at checkout. VSKYLABS Airbases: Base-8 is an actual development tool developed by VSKYLABS for its own in-house testing and needs. It is specifically designed and optimized for X-Plane 12, with the purpose of hassle-free, zero third-party plugins/add-ons dependencies. It is a 'plug-and-play' scenery that is easy to install and low on PC resources. It is designed around X-Plane 12 default resources, combined with optimized VSKYLABS assets and additions. This configuration ensures high performance and maximum long-term compatibility alongside X-Plane 12’s ongoing evolution. VSKYLABS Base-8 makes use of the Skunkcrafts Autoupdater. This feature is a groundbreaking element in terms of product updates and future growth! VSKYLABS Base-8 is one of several in-house testing facilities, designed for the rigorous evaluation of the VSKYLABS STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft, Bush-Planes, LSA, Gyroplanes, and general-purpose vehicles development. Base-8 includes 7 different testing perimeters (airfields). The airfields are varied in runway characteristics, providing ad-hoc testing conditions mainly focused on General-Aviation, Bush-planes, Gyroplanes and helicopter operations. From 2,400 meters paved runway to confined airstrips and playgrounds. Each perimeter is defined as a separate airport, having its own ramp-starts, tower view and runway/helipad selection. This configuration provides easy orientation and selection in X-Plane 12 menu. Base-8 is situated in the Knik Glacier in Alaska. Knik Glacier is a stunning, massive glacier located about 50 miles (~80 km) northeast of Anchorage, Alaska, in the Chugach Mountains. Requirements X-Plane 12 (not for XP11) Windows, Mac, and Linux- 8 GB+ VRAM Recommended Note: If you own any VSKYLABS Aircraft, you will receive an Automatic 25% discount at checkout. Review System Specifications AMD Ryzen 5 7600X – 32GB RAM - Nvidia RTX 2060 12GB – Windows 11 __________________________________ Scenery Review by Dennis Powell 22nd November 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
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