clmisiu Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I got the dates wrong so it's not for a contest but I thought I will publish it as I planned On 24th June 2009 John Venema announced ORBX’s 11th scenery project covering another Australian General Aviation airfield – YCNK Cessnock. Previous products released by ORBX have been known for beautifully modelled buildings, unique autogen, accurate terrain representation, high-resolution textures/aerial photography and many more. Has YCNK Cessnock maintained ORBX’s high standards? Let’s take a closer look at this product. Usually when I think about purchasing a scenery, first of all, I would like to know something about area covered by the product. Let’s start off with some information about the region. Cessnock is located in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales approximately 150 km from Sydney. The area is well known for being the oldest wine region in Australia, first vines were planted here in 1820s. Nowadays, there are approximately 140 wineries in the region. You will see some of them while flying around the scenery. Hunter Valley also has a well-developed olive industry. Purchasing and Installation In the next step, final decision has to be made: buy or not. Well, Hunter Valley seems to be quite an interesting region, ORBX is famous for producing excellent products, screenshots are really encouraging, price is standard so we have no argument against buying Cessnock. The scenery can be purchased from the FlightSim Store for 39.95 Australian Dollars as an instant download or a download with a CD-ROM copy (the price increases due to the shipping costs). The whole process is very easy. You will have an opportunity to download a scenery after the payment (accepted methods: credit/debit card, bank transfer and PayPal) has been finalized. The file itself is a .zip and has 508 MB. The most painful part (for your wallet) has just been completed. Now it is time to get rid of the last thing that stands between you and exploration of your newest scenery. Installation is automatic and very straight forward. You will be asked to enter your order number, purchase date and registration code. These details can be found in either confirmation e-mail or order information at FlightSim Store. This is a good moment to mention that Cessnock requires FTX AU GOLD or FTX Australia SP3 to work. Manual So far we have purchased, downloaded and installed Cessnock scenery and we are standing on the fork of the road. We can either go for a quick flight or read a manual to get FSX set for the new scenery. Although at this stage the curiosity level is extremely high and the manual will not run away, I read documentation provided with the product. ORBX’s manuals are always relatively short and all important information are included. Every aspect of Cessnock Airport scenery (especially new features i. e. FTX Aero and Audio Enhancements) has been described in great detail. The manual contains 24 pages. It can be downloaded for free from here. Scenery We have finally reached the most important bit - a scenery itself. I have decided to describe YCNK Cessnock in an unusual way. Guys from ORBX have listed many features of this scenery and by verifying some of them one by one, I will present this product to you. I think that it will give a very balanced review of YCNK Cessnock. “Full Four Seasons Photoreal Colouring†To start with, YCNK Cessnock covers FTX AU Gold 1m/pixel textures with 80 km2 of licensed 60cm/pixel and 15 cm/pixel imagery. It basically means that the textures are replaced by the photographs taken from the air. 60 cm or 15 cm in real life are represented by 1 pixel in Cessnock scenery. Pretty amazing for a PC Flight Simulator, isn’t it? There are four colourings of the ground representing every season. Let’s see this in practice. Here are four screenshots, each taken in a different time of the year. Spring Summer Autumn Winter “3D night lighting for very atmospheric dusk/dawn flights†In my opinion, 3D lighting is a huge advantage of all ORBX products. It should be noted here that you can choose style and seize of lights via FTX 3D Lights Tweaker, small application located in ORBX folder in your Start menu. There are six styles and nine sizes to choose from. Although I am not a fan of night VFR flying, I must admit Cessnock after sunset is really enjoyable and brings you closer to reality. Just take a look at some screenshots. “Full integration with FTX AU GOLD or FTX Australia SP3†I don’t know how much time ORBX spent on integrating YCNK Cessnock with FTX AU GOLD (or FTX Australia SP3) but the outcome is pretty accurate. Flying out of YCNK Cessnock scenery is hardly noticeable. Here is an example of a boundary: “Modelled wineries close to the airport†ORBX modelled vines growing along Cessnock’s runway very accurately. Winery by the airport is not usual so personally I enjoy this view every time I enter runway 35. “ Beautifully modelled airport buildings†These are simply extraordinary. Every airport building model is extremely detailed. Instead of textures, real life photographs have been used. The outcome of this combination brings your experience much closer to reality. Another element that ORBX should be really proud of. “Every farm, house, winery, school, golf course, resort and university is accurate represented across the entire area†I have been comparing YCNK Cessnock scenery with Google Maps satellite image for a long time and so far I have found only one building that ORBX has not modelled (Cessnock District Hospital, View Street). I think it is not a big number for 80 km2 area. All other buildings are located correctly. Here are some examples. One of many farms in a region Golf Course by the airport Cessnock Shopping Centres Turner Park Cessnock Showground “GA AI Traffic movement†With “GA Aircraft AI Traffic†setting set to 50% (value suggested by YCNK Cessnock Manual), this airport gets pretty busy. You have to be aware of many GA aircrafts around. Another well-done feature of this scenery. Example of an aeroplane approaching holding point. I have covered most of the features listed by ORBX. Now, I would like to write about other important aspects of YCNK Cessnock. FTX Aero This is a completely new feature of sceneries produced by ORBX. FTX Aero tool replaces global runway, ground and taxiway textures with the new, high quality ones. Difference between FTX Aero and default is essential. More details in YCNK Cessnock Manual. Three screenshots presenting what this smart tool does to your Flight Simulator. Audio Enhancements Well, it is quite difficult to describe sounds but I will do my best. While on the ground with an engine off, you will hear beautiful sounds of Australia’s rural airports (birds, cars, other aircrafts, road traffic and working crews). When you start up your aeroplane, all sounds will be hardly heard (as it is in real life). After departure Audio Enhancements will deactivate (pilots in the air can’t hear anything apart from aircraft’s engine and what is said in their headphones). Here is an example of YCNK Cessnock Audio Enhancements recorded by John Venema. Frames Some of you might say, that such a beautiful scenery needs a very expensive PC to run it. That is not true. All ORBX products are very FPS-friendly. Everything works pretty smoothly on my outdated PC (frames remain on target FPS set to 20 nearly all the time). Still Not Convinced? You can take a 360 degree virtual tour of YCNK Cessnock on this website. It will give you an example of view you have while flying above this scenery. Furthermore, you can register on ORBX Forum (it doesn’t cost anything) to read some users’ opinions about YCNK Cessnock, take a look at more screenshots published by customers and watch videos recorded during flights above this scenery. Conclusion In introduction, I asked if YCNK Cessnock has maintained ORBX’s high standards. Yes, it undoubtedly has. For 39.95 Australian Dollars, we buy a top-quality FSX scenery. Cessnock is a General Aviation airport and I recommend this product to all VFR flyers. I would like to finish with a quote that, in my opinion, perfectly sums up this scenery: “Cessnock has not met my expectations… it has completely blown them away†– David Rogers, ORBX Customer. Advantages of YCNK Cessnock: - High resolution aerial photography representing all 4 seasons. - Beautiful airport buildings. - FTX Aero which brings taxiway, ground and runway textures to the next level. - Real-life Audio Enhancements. - Excellent frame rate. - Quick and friendly product support from ORBX team. - All important places in and outside the city accurately represented (excluding one hospital). - 3D lighting in the night, dusk and down. Disadvantages of YCNK Cessnock: - One hospital within the city not represented. My score: 10/10! Author: Michał Magdoń Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 A very nice review there matey indeed well done. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Sorry to hear about the date mixup for the review deadline. Because you've gone to such great effort, I will give you a second prize: YSTW Tamworth! Send me a PM to claim your prize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Nice one there John very spirited indeed. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Really nice review there and very well done Michal and Congratulations with the prize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Scharnowski Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Cool review, clmisiu. You thought of including things that I forgot (ordering procedure, price, installation). And congrats for winning Tamworth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Johnston Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Well done mate. I'm sure you will enjoy Tamworth just as much as Cessnock. It also makes for a great flight between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clmisiu Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 WOW! Thanks a lot! I really did not expect that so it's a great surprise. Thank you all for your comments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyxx Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 clmisiu well done in winning YSTW, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wikinick257 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 do you really need FTX AU Gold to enjoy Cessnock? or could i just purchase it without any region packs installed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 do you really need FTX AU Gold to enjoy Cessnock? or could i just purchase it without any region packs installed? You really need it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenicoll Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Yes, You can install any ORBX airport without the region packs installed. But you are missing out on something truly awesome...Install the region packs...all 4 if you can and I can assure you you will never look at FSX the same again... These guys have done wonders for our "Hobby" and deserve every accolade thrown their way. Don't forget they do quality freeware airports as well, add to that the 200-300 freeware OZx freeware airports and you have a truly amazing Sim... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Scharnowski Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 do you really need FTX AU Gold to enjoy Cessnock? or could i just purchase it without any region packs installed? Look at this thread and you'll know why you need at least AU Gold http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=13165.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wikinick257 Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 do you really need FTX AU Gold to enjoy Cessnock? or could i just purchase it without any region packs installed? Look at this thread and you'll know why you need at least AU Gold http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=13165.0 ok thanx mate, i see now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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