Your Thoughts On Flightbeam

[NilsUnger]

Hi fellow sim captains,

I love flying in the US, because as a European it enables me to fly in daylight more often when using real time.

Flightbeam offer very interesting 40% off summer sales. I know they are highly respected in the community but I want to ask anyway.

What is your opinion on Flightbeam KDEN and KSFO? Do you recommend them to be used together with the FSLabs Software? Are they up to date in terms of layout and technology used? I think they both are not very new releases. What is performance like, both are huge hubs?

Are there any quirks when using the FSLabs Airbus series? Like nose gear lifting or such things?

Thanks for your input.

[Rafal Haczek]

Nils,

As a European too, I can't tell you how accurate these airports are in terms of layout. Knowing the developer's dedication, I believe they are 100%.
But I can definitely tell you Flightbeam is, in my humble opinion, the number one scenery developer around. I was so disappointed when Mir dropped the EDDF project!

Even though I do 90% of my flying in Europe, I have almost all Mir's US sceneries (except for KMSP) and I love them.
I bought them purely for the sake of experiencing FS design aesthetics and the immersion they offer. My favourites are KSFO and KDEN, though KIAD is also awesome.

What's more, they not only look amazing, but also perform very well. Also in FSL A320, which for some time has been my only P3D aircraft flown.
I haven't noticed any interaction problems between Flightbeam scenery and FSLabs Airbus.

[NilsUnger]

Thanks Rafal,

just what I wanted to hear. 

[Ryan Briggs]

Having lived in Colorado and flown from Denver multiple times, and having been through SFO a few too. They're both excellent. I wouldn't hesitate to buy anything under the Flightbeam banner. I have MSP, PDX is next on the list.

[Robert Sutherland]

San Francisco is outstanding. 

[Eduardo Vallim]

As Robert said, San Francisco is outstanding, probably my favorite US scenery for P3D, Denver got an update not so long ago, and they are releasing an update to Dulles too.

Their Portland scenery is awesome too, especially combined with free ORBX Portland Cityscape.

[NilsUnger]

Okay thanks gentlemen. I will buy KSFO and KDEN. 

[Phil Tereny]

IMHO Flightbeam scenerys are not just eyecandy, they are also very FPS-friendly (unlike the ones from FlyTampa unfortunately...), so 10/10 recommends! Too bad Flightbeam wasn't able to develope EDDF:/

I use the FSLabs Airbus very often at KDEN, KSFO, KPHX and KIAD, no issues at all.

[Markus Burkhard]

For what it's worth, I agree that Mir is a very talented developer, and his airports are all amazing. He's also updating sceneries regularly, which is fantastic.

BUT; He's a bit slow in fixing obvious bugs: For years, KDEN has had an issue with autogen loss when used together with ORBX FTX Global and OpenLC NA. Not fixed up to this day. And also for years KSFO has had an issue with the biggest hangar flickering while approaching the airport and viewed from a distance. I mean it's the biggest wall that flickers but nobody seems to care. Not fixed up to this day.

I love Flightbeam and can recommend their work very highly, I just wish that the most visible bugs would get fixed after being reported. Doesn't have to be an instant fix, but these two have been out there for years now.

In terms of North America: KDEN, KMSP, KSFO and KPDX I can recommend. KIAD has always had an issue with the ground photo not blending in well with FTX Global. So if that is important to you, avoid KIAD for the time being. And KPHX is quite old and not up to the same standards as the later releases IMHO.

[Peter Pukhnoy]

3 hours ago, Markus Burkhard said:

He's a bit slow in fixing obvious bugs

This seems to be a common thread among FS developers 

[Gerard Beekmans]

I will echo everything that has been said above. I experience the same few gotchas when combining with Orbx and here's how I've worked around some of them.

For KDEN, I had to turn off Airport Elevation Correction in Orbx's FTX Central config program.

For KPHX, I ran the Flightbeam Manager's troubleshooter function to disable Orbx's ADE_FTX_PNW_KPDX_elevation_adjustment.bgl file. The airport didn't show up in Orbx's elevation correction list of available airports so I just had the BGL turned off instead. Perhaps there is a more elegant way to accomplish this.

The other ones I have, KIAD, KMSP, KSFO and KPDX appear to blend ok with Orbx without obvious showstoppers. Admittedly I only purchased KPDX, KPHX and KSFO a few days ago so haven't put them through all their paces yet. 

The Flightbeam Manager's troubleshooter suggests turning disabling a number of additional Orbx files if there are display issues so a close examination may show more issues. It will depend on what else you have installed scenery wise.

When I just had Orbx's "Global Vector" things were easier. Then I added openLC North America as well as Northern Rockies, Southern California and Pacific Northwest and more issues keep cropping up with non-Orbx addon airports in those regions. Most issues I'm seeing have to do with the terrain elevation issue where you find the "sunken runway" problem occur at times. I admittedly don't pay very close attention to surrounding terrain once off taxi ways and runways. I just use the airports for the airport - accurate taxi ways, gates, etc. The rest of the time I'm paying more attention to the plane. As somebody once said in these forums; it's a plane sim, not a scenery sim.

 

[NilsUnger]

I have FTX global installed. Hope there are no bigger problems with KDEN and KSFO. Hope to install this evening. 

[Sabine Meier]

i havent seen any big problems with ftx global and the flightbeam sceneries. 

And i agree with what @Markus Burkhard has said.

[Markus Burkhard]

9 hours ago, Peter Pukhnoy said:

This seems to be a common thread among FS developers 

I knew that something like this was coming

Can we agree that developing the FMGC is a bit more complicated and resource intensive compared to fixing a flickering hangar building? And besides, I hope it is obvious that our team is constantly improving the product.

But let's keep this topic on discussing North American sceneries, thanks.

[Ryan Briggs]

Marcus,

I'd say if you're going to knock another developer you had better have your T's crossed and I's dotted. an FMGC is entirely different from a 3D model, as is different from say a piece of works done in Renderman. With regards to constantly improving the products, didnt KDEN just get a huge update? and out of line with what many other scenery developers would do except for perhaps FSDT or FT, it was free. Labs competes with PMDG. Beam competes with Tampa, FSDT, Simwings, Imaginesim, etc.,

I hope you won't take it the wrong way, but I personally haven't noticed either bug you came across, and if you cant take it don't dish it. There's a lot more bugs with my A320 than there will ever be with San Francisco.

Regards,

Ryan.

[Richard Portier]

Shame on me, I only recently discovered FlightBeam with KDEN (bought 5 days before the bargain)...
Since I just bought KMSP, I haven't stopped flying with the A319/320 KDEN-KMSP-KDEN and so...

Of course these 2 airports are SODE compatible. I like the lighting (day and night). Very friendly FPS...Great Work!

I would wait for the next bargain to buy the others without a doubt.

Richard

[Peter Pukhnoy]

5 hours ago, Markus Burkhard said:

I knew that something like this was coming

Can we agree that developing the FMGC is a bit more complicated and resource intensive compared to fixing a flickering hangar building? And besides, I hope it is obvious that our team is constantly improving the product.

But let's keep this topic on discussing North American sceneries, thanks.

I can appreciate the diffuculty of developing the FMGC as well as the fact that you are indeed constantly improving the product, but I'm very disappointed that fixing very basic functionality from the thread I linked above (it's very easy to notice virtually all of those items on every flight and some of them really impair the experience) isn't your number one priority. I was very surprised to see that functionality missing in your product in the first place given it's overall quality and how it was advertised, and I'm even more surprised to see it still missing as we are approaching the third anniversary of the A320.

[NilsUnger]

1 hour ago, Richard Portier said:

I would wait for the next bargain to buy the others without a doubt.

Richard

Richard, the sale is still ongoing. I think 40% off is hard to beat.

[Chris Frasure]

On 7/16/2019 at 10:41 AM, Eduardo Vallim said:

As Robert said, San Francisco is outstanding, probably my favorite US scenery for P3D, Denver got an update not so long ago, and they are releasing an update to Dulles too.

Their Portland scenery is awesome too, especially combined with free ORBX Portland Cityscape.

PDX is fantastic +1

[Hendrik Herryjanto]

16 hours ago, Peter Pukhnoy said:

This seems to be a common thread among FS developers 

Burned....... I dont mean to stir things up....Peace out... but that was funny.

[Christoph Sebek]

Purchased their sceneries since their original SFO scenery. Love them all. Definitely will pick up their latest releases with the sale. Thumbs up from me for Flightbeam sceneries.

[Richard Portier]

7 hours ago, NilsUnger said:

Richard, the sale is still ongoing. I think 40% off is hard to beat.

Thank you Christoph, yes you're right, I know that...

Everything is fine, no problem, I don't feel frustrated by the fact that I bought KDEN before the bargain... I am satisfied with what I currently have and then I have other addons to buy.... ;-)so...

Richard

[NilsUnger]

So, I am very happy with my purchase. All looks very good, no compatibility issues. Thanks again.