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Scenery Preview - EDLW - Dortmund XP by Aerosoft


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EDLW - Header.jpg

 

Scenery Preview - EDLW - Dortmund XP by Aerosoft

 

Set in the center of the Ruhr region in Germany is Dortmund and Aerosoft has released a scenery for the city's airport EDLW for X-Plane11. It is a companion airport for EDDL - Düsseldorf Flughafen which is only 70 km (43 mi) to the southwest, which also a very good Aerosoft scenery and a highly favored airport that I use in reviews. So certainly EDLW is an overflow airport for EDDL.

 

This scenery is an update of Aerosoft's FlightSim version included in their German Airports 2 package, but converted and enhanced for the X-Plane11 platform. The main addition includes 280 km2 of surrounding orthoscenery at a DOP60 / 60 cm resolution and intergrated into the native X-Plane (German) autogen. Closer airport detail includes DOP30 / 30 cm resolution at both the main EDLW and the added on grass runway airport of Hengsen-Opherdicke to the south. A city skyline and Dortmund iconic buildings are also included

 

EDLW - Dortmund Airport

 

Dortmund Airport
Flughafen Dortmund

IATA: DTM - ICAO: EDLW

 

06/24 - 2,000m (6,562ft) Asphalt

Elevation AMSL130 m / 427 ft

 

 

First view of EDLW is that it is a fair way from the city centre of Dortmund at 10 km (6.2 mi) to the southeasst, so it is very countryside bound, but there is a huge amount of X-Plane autogen surrounding the airport and as this is Germany then the German (European) housing style fits right in. A side note is that as we are now using X-Plane v11.25 with the autogen upgrade noted in the Expo 2018, then the added urban (factory) autogen is now highly newly visible here as well and very good it is.

 

EDLW - Head 1.jpgEDLW - Head 2.jpgEDLW - Head 3.jpgEDLW - Head 4.jpg

 

EDLW - Head 5 OV.jpg

 

So the combination of the extensive surrounding orthoscenery and a high object setting creates a very good and if extensive visual panorama of this Ruhr area.

 

EDLW - Airport 1.jpgEDLW - Airport 2.jpgEDLW - Airport 3.jpgEDLW - Airport 4.jpg

 

The buildings are of course the direct same versions and textures as the FlightSim version, and that scenery was created in 2013, so they look a little outdated and noticeable in quality...

 

EDLW - Terminal 1.jpgEDLW - Terminal 2.jpgEDLW - Terminal 3.jpgEDLW - Terminal 4.jpg

 

...  unless you have to have your texture quality setting at "maximum" (no compression) were as I prefer to keep the setting at "high" for maximum object (autogen) performance, and with that lower texture setting it shows here in that the textures are noticeably more blurry. If you can get away with the standard "maximum" setting it is not too bad, as overall the modeling is quite good.

 

Your eyes certainly can't ignore the large flat empty expanse of landside behind the main airport buildings, it awful, flat and isolates the modeling.

 

EDLW - Terminal 5.jpgEDLW - Terminal 6.jpg

EDLW - Terminal 9.jpg

 

This is highlighted more by the Global airport version of EDLW (below left). This landside area is automatically filled in and feels more realistic even if the terminals are not?

 

EDLW - Terminal 12.jpgEDLW - Terminal 13.jpg

 

No fencing between the landside and airside just also highlight's the issues even more with the Global version above and the Aerosoft version below, so the all important intimate clutter detailing is missing....

 

EDLW - Terminal 7.jpgEDLW - Terminal 8.jpg

 

...   The airbridges are solid, and are not active? and the difference to the latest X-Plane native airbridges are now also highly noticeable in detail, but you do have marshals to guide you in.

 

EDLW - Terminal 10.jpgEDLW - Terminal 11.jpg

 

Elevation changes to the southwest are very well done, and on the elevated area is the GAT or General Aviation Terminal. There is a catering company here and also a large maintenance hangar...  far west is the airport administration building and Star Wing's hangar.

 

EDLW - Old Terminal.jpgEDLW - Old Terminal 3.jpgEDLW - Old Terminal 4.jpgEDLW - Old Terminal 1.jpg

 

Highlight here is the well done and detailed engine test bay.

 

EDLW - Old Terminal 5 LG.jpg

 

Ground textures are very good as well as the around runway detail, Linage and surfaces are varied and well done. Highlight is again the Aerosoft grass, here the textures come in the various different types and feel.

 

EDLW - Field 2.jpgEDLW - Field 3.jpgEDLW - Field 1.jpgEDLW - Field 4.jpg

 

There is animated ground traffic, but they have a habit of queuing up and not moving at all and are usually queued around your aircraft, no matter where you park the aircraft.

 

EDLW - Traffic 5.jpg

 

There is a little ramp clutter, and branding in areas, but it would be in the minimum 3 setting more than the 10 mister6X maximum zone

 

Hengsen-Opherdicke

The grass strips of Hengsen-Opherdicke is a lovely place. A glider's heaven and earth, there is not much here, but it is very authentic and visually very good. The airfield is run by the Air Sports Club Unna-Schwerte eV

 

Gliding area Hengsen-Opherdicke

7.25 850 m × 60 m grass

7.25 580 m × 30 m grass

Elev 125 m (410 ft) Above MSL

 

H-O 1.jpgH-O 2.jpgH-O 3.jpgH-O 4.jpg

 

H-O 5 LG.jpg

 

H-O 6.jpgH-O 7.jpg

 

Great small detail and every area covered, you sort of scratch your head to wonder "is this the same scenery package"?

 

Dortmund

The city of Dortmund has recreated buildings to reflect the city centre and the city's skyline and in a visual aspect in arrival or departure from RWY 06 or from the airport itself.

All the main buildings and Churches are covered in the package including: ADAC, Altes Hafenamt, Alte Post, Big Tipi, Brackel Kirche, Continen- tale, DOGEWO21 skyscraper, Dortmunder U, Dreier Werk, Ellipson, radio tower Florian, Gasometer Hoesch, Portal cranes at the harbour, Raiffeisen, Rhenus Logistics, Harenberg City Center, main station, Helmut-Körning-Halle, Hörder Castle, Stadt. Immobilienwirtschaft, coal- red power station Kneppler, Kronenburg (prev. Kronenbrauerei), Stadt- und Landesbibliothek, NH Hotel, Petri church, Probsteihof, town hall, Reinoldi church, RWE of ce building, RWE Tower, Siemens of ce building, Hauptsparkasse, Stadtgarten subway, Stadthaus & Berswordthalle, Südbad, Telekom building, City theatre, Deutsche Bahn-Verwaltungsgebäude, old water tower „Lanstroper Ei“, old water tower at Southern Station, old water tower at the Deutschen Bahn factory garage, 6 wayposts, Westfalen halls 1-8, Westfalen stadium, Westfalentower, wind farms, Zeche Gnei- senau, Zeche Minister Stein, DFB Museum, Volkswohlbund of ce building

 

Dortmund 4.jpgDortmund 2.jpg

Dortmund 1.jpgDortmund 3.jpgDortmund 5.jpgDortmund 6.jpg

 

The Hospital Dortmund North (clinic centre Nord) has a Helipad for use (XEDZ1) and the wind-turbines are well done but don't actually work? they are noted as animated, but mine were always static? and as there is a lot of wind-turbines this static element is noticeable?

 

Overall for VFR flying this Dortmund scenery is very good to excellent, with the right visual elements all in place to navigate your way around the area, or if you are passing over the area, say i.e. from the EDDL - Düsseldorf Flughafen

 

Interesting for this package and any other X-Plane scenery is the new commercial autogen released in v11.25...  with the more high-definition orthoscenery and your object count set high the new urban commercial building really fill out the area, the buildings are a very high quality and gives you an excellent surrounding clutter fill bar none.

 

Dortmund Autogen 1.jpgDortmund Autogen 2.jpg

 

The effect is more pronounced here as the Euro style buildings fit in extremely well with this Germanic scenery. But to note they work better with custom ortho textures than the standard X-Plane mesh, but a nice if unexpected bonus with this scenery for Aerosoft.

 

lighting

Runway lighting is first rate here at Dortmund, it is custom for the airport and very authentic, so all the runway and taxiway lighting is as per spec at EDLW.

 

Dortmund Lighting 1.jpgDortmund Lighting 2.jpg

 

The airside areas in lighting are a real mixed bag? It is well lit...

 

Dortmund Lighting 3.jpgDortmund Lighting 4.jpg

 

...  but the Brackel hangar's roof is a distracting bright white and not very realistic, and in other areas in the cargo and on the engine test bay apron the lighting is also over bright.

 

Dortmund Lighting 8.jpgDortmund Lighting 9.jpg

 

The Terminal lighting is not tooo bad, but the night textures are certainly showing their age here.

 

Dortmund Lighting 5.jpgDortmund Lighting 6.jpg

 

Dortmund Lighting 7 LG.jpg

 

Dortmund city lighting is pure FlightSim, but it is better than he usual bland greys and blues, although there is still a lot of that in here.

 

Dortmund Lighting 10.jpgDortmund Lighting 11.jpg

Dortmund Lighting 12.jpgDortmund Lighting 13.jpg

 

Again the city vistas are enhanced immensely by the new commercial native autogen, of which the night textures are extraordinarily good. A night view in a city sense is now excellent, when you combine the custom buildings with the autogen correctly, Dortmund is this context is simply brilliant.

 

Dortmund Lighting 14.jpg

 

WT3: No WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are provided, but the airport will generate GroundRoutes. Overall the airport functions fine, but with EDDL not that far away then most traffic is attracted to that larger airport than coming to EDLW, so mostly the traffic is here of the LCC catergory. Parking here is split between nose in at the airbridge gates and nose out on the main apron...

 

EDLW - WT3 2.jpgEDLW - WT3 1.jpg

 

...  as the aircraft arrive they turn into the right parking position, but stop more parked forward? so a bit of editing is really required here to fine tune the ground routes. But overall WT3 works fine.

 

Preview Notes

When I started in X-Plane and the simulator was void of any real decent scenery, and back then Aerosoft was the benchmark of what X-Plane wanted to give it the credibility and also the visual sense of realism. Even now years after Aerosoft has released their products in X-plane they still sort of blow hot or cold. The good ones even if (still) lacking many X-Plane features are still very good and even excellent as is the local here EDDL - Düsseldorf or LSZH - Zurich v2 which are both favorites that I use mostly for German and Swiss operations.

 

So the events of releasing the so called "Back Catalogue" of Aerosoft sceneries you would think then it would be a major addition to the X-Plane simulator environment, but it is not actually turning out that way? There is for one that very varied quality in that many are being excellent and too many being in being just passable, and sadly this EDLW - Dortmund is way into the latter category.

 

I really don't think you can now take older (or old) sceneries and just simply put them into another simulator and even with more updated and better ortho set out underneath the objects, and at least do not do something to up date the textures or to use clutter to make the scenery at least workable, and again sadly both or any ideas have not been implemented here... and it shows. Global (meaning free) airports are leaving scenery like this way behind in quality clutter, this is 2018 and not 2013 when this scenery original was released. So if you want a Dortmund airport and the surrounding VFR scenery then it is available here and in many areas better than the free version in more authentic buildings, but overall EDLW - Dortmund and X-Plane needed the better of this scenery makeover that it deserves.

 

Features:
  • Detailed rendition of the airport and its surroundings, incl. landmark objects
  • Photo realistic ground textures based on aerial images (50cm/px)
  • All airport buildings and facilities
  • True-to-original navigation aids (ILS, VOR/DME, NDB, ATIS)
  • Excellent night effects
  • True-to-original runway and taxiway lighting
  • Detailed 3D city model of Dortmund incl. colour-corrected 60cm/px aerial image covering the entire city area
  • Authentic rendition of the airfield Hengsen-Opherdicke incl. colour-corrected 30cm/px aerial image
  • The aerial images for Hengsen-Opherdicke can be turned off
  • Autogen covering the area of the aerial image, corrected by hand
  • Animated wind objects: wind turbines and windsocks specific to Hengsen-Opherdicke as well as the helipad the Hospital Centre North
  • Ship traffic at the Dortmund-Ems Canal when using the Seatraffic plug-in by Marginal/Jonathan Harris
  • Volumetric grass, toggleable
  • PBR-based reflecting water surfaces
  • Backup library – runs without add-ons

 

Positives: Large area and high quality ortho textures, and good airport ground textures, Nice grass, many varied and authentic city objects with VFR references, Hengsen-Opherdicke glider field is excellent.

Negatives: Poor old texture quality and requires a "Maximum" setting, poor detailing landside and clutter detail is very poor in minute areas like fences, gates, signage and road detail, scenery relies heavily on autogen to create fill and atmosphere. Animations don't work correctly and lighting is below average, heavy install and download with a messy folder installation...   ouch!

 

____________________________________________________________________

 

X-Plane Store logo sm.jpg

 

Yes!...  EDLW - Dortmund XP by Aerosoft is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :

 

Dortmund XP

 

Price is US$22.95

 

Requirements :

X-Plane 11
Windows, Mac or Linux
2Gb VRAM Minimum - 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended
Download Size: 2.2gb : Install Size 6.33gb
 
Installation is messy, with one major airport folder and six minor folders that should have been grouped together.
 
  • Aerosoft - EDLW Dortmund (196.40mb)
  • Bahrometrix_Dortmund_v100_99_Extras (247.50mb)
  • Bahrometrix_Dortmund_v100_05_Ortho (6.04gb)
  • Bahrometrix_Dortmund_v100_04_Scenery (228.90mb)
  • Bahrometrix_Dortmund_v100_03_Autogen_Fixes (26mb)
  • Bahrometrix_Dortmund_v100_02_Forests (47.30mb)
  • Bahrometrix_Dortmund_v100_01_Vegetation (8.5mb)
 
Extras and Documents:
Manual in German and English (24 pages)
- Manual_Dortmund_XP11_de-en_web

______________________________________________________________________

 

Preview by Stephen Dutton

31st July 2018

Copyright©2018 : 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)

 

Review System Specifications:

Computer System: Windows  - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD 

Software:   - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.25r2

Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose  Soundlink Mini

Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free

Scenery or Aircraft

- ToLiSS319 (A319) by ToLiSS (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$69.00
 

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