Stephen Posted January 24, 2020 Report Share Posted January 24, 2020 Quick Impression : EGCN - Doncaster/Sheffield by FlyX Simulations Think of Doncaster UK and you think of Jeremy Clarkson, not known outside of the UK, but inside our fair country he is close to a naughty national treasure. But they didn't name the local South Yorkshire airport after him, no they choose "Robin Hood" even though the infamous robber is associated with Nottingham 50 miles to the south, and even the airport's official name is now Doncaster/Sheffield Airport minus the Robin Hood. The airport itself is the old RAF Finningley of when it was used as a base for Cold War nuclear-armed Vulcan bombers until the military airport was decommissioned in 1995, and hence the very long 10,000ft runway 02/20. A former Nuclear bomber an Avro Vulcan XH558 (G-VLCN) The Spirit Of Great Britain is now based at the airport waiting for a museum to be created for the aircraft to go on permanent display. This EGCN scenery is created by a new developer in the name of FlyX, so without much further ado, let us look at EGCN-Doncaster. Doncaster Sheffield Airport IATA: DSA - ICAO: EGCN 02/20 - 2,893m (9,491ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 56 ft /17 m First impressions are very favorable, the airport looks good, with good intergration into the surrounding Yorkshire countryside, the texture joins are not perfect, but obviously the developer has tried very hard to make a scenery to fit in as best as it can be, and in that aspect they have been very successful. Terminal I am not a big fan of this sort of modeling style, it looks and is... well modeled, but not very real, real if you know what I mean.... .... but close up it is very good with great textures and design. The wavy metal roof is exceptional and very good, with Air-Con detailing well done in the roof's centre section. As is the external concrete wall panels, again great detail... if there is an issue it could be the glass, but the Doncaster/Sheffield logo looks more computer modeled than real and it is really blue and not white. There is internal detail as well and again that roof detail is excellent internally. Runway Textures Again initially the ground textures look shiny and smooth, but the detailed asphalt textures are in there and are very good, the concrete taxiway textures are also excellent as are all the textures on the large apron. Notably they are all PBR wet and reflective, so overall they are excellent. Clutter and detail Carpark detailing and clutter is excellent, with full carparks, associated fauna and lots of vehicle placement which is also very good.... .... airport service clutter is also very good with a holding yard and plenty of detail on the apron, branding is not local however but "Laminar". Airport signage is all mostly TUIfly Airline branded with a few WIZZ adverts, but it is well done. The Ramada Encore chain hotel is well represented as are all the required (mostly ex-military) administration and airport maintenance buildings. RAF Finningley Five massive Cold War hangars are all that is left of RAF Finningley, but there are all well represented here. No.3 Hangar is presently occupied by 2Excel Aviation providing design, production and maintenance services. Defence company BAE Systems was in No.3 Hangar at the airport that is now occupied by 2Excel, before they moved on to Humberside Airport. Other companies that operate within the hangars include Bespoke Training Systems Limited, a Cessna Citation service center, and Anglo European Express (Doncaster) Ltd (onsite regulated agents for air freight and cargo operations). The Cessna servicing is represented by some static Cessna aircraft, and a lone Piper Cub... but a modeled Vulcan would have been a nice addition to represent the XH558 The Spirit Of Great Britain. The old RAF control tower and radar are both positioned across the field. Radar is animated and looks great. 3D Grass is set out and fills in all over the scenery and fulfills its purpose with making the textures look realistic from the ground level. Lighting Lighting is okay-ish... layout and runway/taxiway lighting and apron lighting is very good.... .... but again that terminal building just doesn't look authentic in the dark, especially with the glass and looks completely see through. Considering how great it looks in the daylight, then the carparks all feel under done in the dark. Building lighting is average, and all the same colour and tone, and would the Cold War hangars have the same window lighting as a modern hotel... I don't think so. Feature list is very good, with a lot of dynamic X-Plane11 features provided. Ultra high-resolution PBR textures for all buildings and ground textures Highly detailed Terminal Interior Highly detailed, 3D Custom buildings Up to date apron layout 3D grass WT3 and TG: There are no ground routes available for WorldTraffic3, and a generation did create the routes, but with absolutely no traffic action. Traffic Global was far better in creating a realistic traffic feel at EGCN, and that is what is shown here in this review. First Impressions For a brand new developer to X-Plane then this rendition of EGCN - Doncaster is a brilliant debut and FlyX should be applauded for the work done here, because the detail, ground textures and clutter and the use of X-Plane's active features are really well done and it is available at a great value price, so EGCN should have been easily a four or even five star quality rating... But the use of a certain style of modeling, makes not only the terminal but many of the buildings not have any of that realism feel but just a model instead, the glass? maybe but it just doesn't feel as authentic as it should do and is the central piece to the scenery, and close up it does have really great detail, lighting is in the same category in being mostly all the same design. So everything is right here, but having that right look and realism feel where it counts visually makes it all a bit hit and miss, a bit like Jeremy Clarkson really Three out of Five stars ☀️☀️☀️⭐⭐ EGCN - Doncaster/Sheffield by FlyX is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore here: EGCN - Doncaster Sheffield Price is US$17.99 Requirements are: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 366 MB Current and Impression version : 1.0 (January 21st 2020) ________________________________________ Quick Impression by Stephen Dutton 24th January 2020 Copyright©2012: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobdeVries Posted February 5, 2020 Report Share Posted February 5, 2020 Thanks for the honest review! Love to read them!! How is the integration into OrBX True Earth Great Britain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted February 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2020 I don't have TrueEarth (SSD space considerations) but my gut says it would be pretty good as the boundaries are very tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobdeVries Posted February 6, 2020 Report Share Posted February 6, 2020 ¡Gracias, señor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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