Monterey Regional Airport: A Californian Classic Brought to Aerofly FS2!

[Jarrad Marshall]

 

G'day everyone,

 

I'm delighted announce our latest airport for IPACS Aerofly FS2: Montery Regional Airport!

 

Whilst everyone has been enjoying both Meigs Field and Innsbruck for Aerofly FS2, ORBX and IPACS have been continuing our close relationship with ongoing development behind the scenes. A classic ORBX destination that was originally released for FSX and P3Dv4, Monterey Regional Airport has been brought to life for the new simulator. Depicted as it was in 2014-2015, the airport surely ranks as one of the most scenic in California, and for good measure is located smack dab in the heart of the default IPACS scenery area. Because of this central location, Monterey is perfect for exploring the rugged coastal ranges of Big Sur, the famous beaches of Carmel and Pebble Beach, and flights into the dry valleys of central California. Better yet, Monterey is the ideal home base for short regional flights in the exceptional new freeware Q400 to San Francisco, Los Angeles or Palm Springs. 

 

For those not yet to experience high-fidelity scenery in Aerofly FS2, expect to find extremely dense building and vegetation cultivation, incredible crisp terrain textures (all the way to the horizon!) and effortlessly smooth performance. For the first time in AFS2, we also introduce ultra-high-res 5m digital elevation mesh (DEM), which will ensure an even higher level of immersion. All this provides the perfect groundwork for Monterey's famous sloped runway - there is over 30m in elevation drop from east to west! 

 

Monterey is a beautifully scenic city located a short distance south of San Francisco, along the Central Pacific Coast. With a strong Spanish heritage (note the influence in some aspects of the airport architecture), Monterey is also home to a varied calendar of well-known events and locations; the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, PGA Pro-Am Golf and several championships at Laguna Seca Raceway ensure an interesting mix of aircraft at KMRY, whilst Cannery Row, Fisherman’s Wharf and the myriad of golf courses are just some of the interesting POI's to explore within the coverage area. 

 

With an exciting approach over Cannery Row and downtown Monterey (not to mention the steeply sloped short finals over the Navy Golf Course), the airport is home to a wide variety of airliner and GA traffic, being served by American Eagle, United Express, Alaskan (Horizon) and Allegiant Air to destinations around the Western US. The majority of the airport, however, is devoted to several large corporate FBOs - there is clearly a huge amount of wealth attracted to the area, as there is no limit to the busy business jet traffic at KMRY. The airport is carved into the side of a hill, so you will note that the terrain drops away quickly at each end of the runway; this also provides for some interesting airside architecture, with the multi-level terminal and control tower set at different elevations to the apron.

 

This is the first of a few ORBX Aerofly airport projects currently in the works; I chose Monterey to start with given it's central location within the Aerofly world, the beautiful location (which makes the most of the advantages of the new AFS2 terrain engine), and it's size - the perfect airport to explore using any aircraft in the AFS2 fleet. 

 

FTX MONTEREY REGIONAL AIRPORT for AEROFLY FS2 FEATURES:

 

- Highly-detailed rendition of KMRY airport

- Incredible ground textures at 30/60cm

- Ultra HD mesh at 5m resolution

- Amazing sloped runway – 30m difference!

- Ultra-crisp terrain textures. Defined mountains, roads and rivers all the way to the horizon, no more blurries.

- Entire city of Monterey and surrounds 

- Incredible performance on even mid-range systems - far superior to FSX/P3D

- Amazing Virtual Reality integration: optimised for performance and smoothness, best-in-class.

- Extreme high-density vegetation and building cultivation

- Animated PeopleFlow2 technology

- Volumetric grass 

- 3D night lighting for the entire city

- Unique static aircraft and vehicles created specifically for Monterey

- Over 20 custom POI around the city

- Well-known icons such as Cannery Row,  Fisherman’s Wharf, Laguna Seca and more!

 

COVERAGE AREA & SLOPED RUNWAY

 

 

 

Lastly, it is important to note that these screenshots are work in progress, and there may be minor changes before the final version, though they should convey a good idea of where the development cycle is at. Also, this is exactly how the sim looks out-of-the-box! No tweaks, no edits, no display cfg changes, the only third-party addon is the Learjet 35 repaint (yes, those beautiful aircraft are default) - just FTX Monterey and AeroFly FS2, that's it!

 

More details to come, in the meantime, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Oldar]

Just take my money. I want it. Now!

[Benny]

Just now, Oldar said:

Just take my money. I want it. Now!

 

No mine!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't even read all, I went to look if it was out

 

Ben

[Captain Lars]

I'm not the "Oh my God" type of guy, but... OMG OMG OMG.

[Raspou]

Great news. Of course Meigs and LOWI are beautiful scenery but really happy you choose now airport which will be great with the IPACS scenery. Hope we will see more north california airport (and block island too will be great ). Thanks for your work on Aerofly FS 2.

[Red bull 18]

Excellente nouvelle merci continuez de développer sur aerofly FS 2 :))

[pmb]

Cannery Row - an excellent choice of an iconic place. Will fit nicely into what we already have in AeroflyFS2.

 

I love to fly this in Prepar3d4 already, but in AeroflyFS2 it will shine even more. Your pix look splendid.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[BradB]

I'm ready , when you are .

 

Cheers

 

John

[wake]

You just made my day. Talk about the exact right combination of designer, airport and flight sim. 

[cabnz]

Looking forward to this 

[Haleymon]

When is this available 

[Steve Colbert]

This is FANTASTIC news!!!

 

And I was just flying the "default" KMRY with the free upgraded textures tonight and wishing I could be enjoying this airport with Orbx quality!

 

I was sort of a "Aerofly FS2" skeptic preferring to stick to P3Dv4 and XP11 but if you're a curious sort, try picking up AFS2 and the (now sale priced!) Meigs Chicago and Innsbruck and flying them in the (free) add on Q400 like I did.

 

I've been sim flying for 20 years and have never had an experience like Innsbruck in AFS2...siiiiilky smooth FPS and colours and sharpness...it blew me away and even my (no interest in sims at ALL) spouse looked out into the living room and said "wait a minute...what is THAT!?!" 

 

So I'm VERY excited about this!

 

Hate to be greedy as we await the new PNW photoreal region for AFS2, but dare I hope that we get a NCA and SCA region to go with this as well?

 

Back to KMRY...Day 1 purchase for me!

 

Gosh this is exciting.... Now I'm dreaming of all of the San Juan Islands beautiful add on airports available for purchase when we get PNW in AFS2.  And KSTS!  And KSQL! And......  

 

Steve

[Kilstorm]

Congrats on getting KMRY AFS2 ready! I like what you were able to do with the photoreal water shoreline. If that is any clue as to what to expect for future water areas, its all coming along nicely.

[Blackrat]

I’m in.

Looking excellent.

[Rodeo]

Oh I love it Jarrad.

 

Love your detailed description, love your fine preview shots.

After Innsbruck and Meigs another must have for me.

Looking forward to release date and thanks for your great work!

 

[yanlaoge]

I will buy every Orbx DLC for Aerofly FS2, period.

[Mikael Cedergren]

Looks awesome Jarrad as usual with your projects!  now if only we could have some updates to Aerofly itself bringing it up from game to simulator standard with some goodies like Saitek FIP support, real weather, water, AI, ATC, more dynamic cockpits supporting cold & dark and perhaps a save and start from last position feature. Would make me happy

[pmb]

29 minutes ago, mikced76 said:

Looks awesome Jarrad as usual with your projects!  now if only we could have some updates to Aerofly itself bringing it up from game to simulator standard with some goodies like Saitek FIP support, real weather, water, AI, ATC, more dynamic cockpits supporting cold & dark and perhaps a save and start from last position feature. Would make me happy

You name it. Scenery looks stunning as such, but the features you touch upon are badly missing.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Jarrad Marshall]

Thanks very much guys We'll have more info regarding pricing and availability hopefully in the next few days. 

49 minutes ago, mikced76 said:

Looks awesome Jarrad as usual with your projects!  now if only we could have some updates to Aerofly itself bringing it up from game to simulator standard with some goodies like Saitek FIP support, real weather, water, AI, ATC, more dynamic cockpits supporting cold & dark and perhaps a save and start from last position feature. Would make me happy

 

18 minutes ago, pmb said:

You name it. Scenery looks stunning as such, but the features you touch upon are badly missing.

 

Yes and no, I mean certainly these things take time, and there is plenty going on behind the scenes. Even since our last releases back in June/July, you've had a major update with the Q400, which represents a massive leap forward in aircraft capabilities, with cold start-ups, true turbine modelling, far more in-depth systems and VC capability. I haven't had a chance to try it out myself yet, but I also see cold-and-dark procedures making their way into some other aircraft too, such as the C172. Save-and-start from last position is the default startup scenario for AFS2 - though I'm not 100% how this plays out with cockpit systems etc. At the end of the day, it's certainly not reached the maturity of P3D or FSX (which of course still remain the core of our work), however the biggest drawcard that keeps impressing me is just how much effort has gone into the efficiency of the engine - this really is the key strength of the IPACS development team. Every single aspect of the design is considered from a performance angle, it really is very cool to see how these guys work. 

 

Cheers,

Jarrad

[pmb]

12 minutes ago, Jarrad Marshall said:

Yes and no, I mean certainly these things take time, and there is plenty going on behind the scenes. Even since our last releases back in June/July, you've had a major update with the Q400, which represents a massive leap forward in aircraft capabilities, with cold start-ups,

Saitek FIPs support is badly needed. I have a hardware panel with the Radio etc. panels which partially work and 9 FIPs all sitting idle in AeroflyFS2. The panel is connected to a networked laptop using SPAD.neXt. Works excellently in Prepar3d4, XP11, and even FSW. Not in AeroflyFS2. I think twice before replugging the HUBs to the main machine, waiting for the Panel drivers for the Radio etc. panels to come up again and the FIPs still remaining dead as a dodo.

 

I (and others) demanded FIPs support on the IPACS forums several times (with alternative proposals how to achieve it) without even a response from the developers.

 

But that's certainly OT here and I'll will not go into it any further. Notwithstanding your work is outstanding and I will sure get it.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Mikael Cedergren]

I am sure Aerofly will be awesome in the future. For now though its resting safely on my shelf. The FPS is so much better and cant even be compared to X-plane and P3D I know. On the other hand real world weather, dynamic water and AI is naturally going to cost FPS once added, so I suppose only the future will tell the true story how well the simulators compare. Until then I will happily follow your progress and feast my eyes on these mouth watering images

[Benny]

 

5 hours ago, Jarrad Marshall said:

 

Yes and no, I mean certainly these things take time, and there is plenty going on behind the scenes

 

I simple question if I may Jarrad: Can you tell us out of curiosity compare to making a all new scenery what is the involvement adapting something to AF2? 

Let's say in %. Making a new scenery like Monterey is 100%, converting is what? 10%

 

Ben

[Todd Harrell]

Good Heavens, Jarrad. Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Those screenshots are killer. I’m going to have to start following Aerofly more closely. 

[Roger Dodger]

Stunning Jarrad! As I think back to the early 80’s, when I purchased my first flight sim programme, I am just staggered at what is now becoming the norm. Your work has always been very impressive, well received and well respected in the flight sim community. The images in this post are just incredible!

 

I think I better look a little harder at buying AFS2, because of you 

 

Regards,

Roger

[Steve Colbert]

3 hours ago, Todd Harrell said:

Good Heavens, Jarrad. Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Those screenshots are killer. I’m going to have to start following Aerofly more closely. 

 

1 hour ago, Syzygy said:

Stunning Jarrad! As I think back to the early 80’s, when I purchased my first flight sim programme, I am just staggered at what is now becoming the norm. Your work has always been very impressive, well received and well respected in the flight sim community. The images in this post are just incredible!

 

I think I better look a little harder at buying AFS2, because of you 

 

Regards,

Roger

 

Roger & Todd - for what it's worth, I debated long and hard about springing for AFS2 as I'd always been a P3D4/XP11/Orbx fan - but I'm really glad I did last weekend.

 

You can download the Q400 and Utah/Colorado/High Def Southwest off of Steam to enhance your experience, and if you buy the Chicago and Innsbruck Orbx sceneries before year end direct from Orbx they're at a huge discount and install easily right off of FTX central...no effort...then be prepared to be amazed at how SMOOTH and bright and sharp AFS2 can be when Orbx is added (it's ok otherwise too but when you give it's graphics engine Orbx to render...WOW).

 

Can't wait for this OR the upcoming PNW region (sans Canada) for AFS2!

 

Steve

[yanlaoge]

6 hours ago, Benny said:

 

 

I simple question if I may Jarrad: Can you tell us out of curiosity compare to making a all new scenery what is the involvement adapting something to AF2? 

Let's say in %. Making a new scenery like Monterey is 100%, converting is what? 10%

 

Ben

Exactly what I'd like to know.

[boetie]

Gee - they like their golf in Montery

[Jarrad Marshall]

Thanks again guys

 

15 hours ago, Benny said:

I simple question if I may Jarrad: Can you tell us out of curiosity compare to making a all new scenery what is the involvement adapting something to AF2? 

Let's say in %. Making a new scenery like Monterey is 100%, converting is what? 10%

 

 

8 hours ago, yanlaoge said:

Exactly what I'd like to know.

 

G'day Ben, Innsbruck took ~15% of the development time, Monterey ~40%, and my current (unannounced) project has taken ~12%. This also factors in time spent isolating issues with the conversion process, working with IPACS on new/improved features etc. I feel like we're pretty close to locking down the workflow that works best for existing airports, however this will always be in a state of flux as IPACS create new content/features for us to work with. 

 

Cheers,

Jarrad

[Benny]

3 hours ago, Jarrad Marshall said:

and my current (unannounced) project has taken ~12%.

 

Hey hey, I like that....

 

Be careful about what you say I'm like a wikileak on the IPACS forum

 

Ben

[Steve Colbert]

12 hours ago, Jarrad Marshall said:

Thanks again guys

 

 

 

G'day Ben, Innsbruck took ~15% of the development time, Monterey ~40%, and my current (unannounced) project has taken ~12%. This also factors in time spent isolating issues with the conversion process, working with IPACS on new/improved features etc. I feel like we're pretty close to locking down the workflow that works best for existing airports, however this will always be in a state of flux as IPACS create new content/features for us to work with. 

 

Cheers,

Jarrad

 

Very interesting Jarrad!

 

I look forward to enjoying ALL of your work in the silky smooth AFS2 environment.

 

Especially Palm Springs.  And Anacortes for the new PNW region! And Redding (including your awesome forget the name of it smaller airport to the Northwest, O-something, so fun to fly betwixt the two)!  And Telluride and Eagle/Vail as the IPACS Colorado scenery looks pretty good!

 

Can't wait!

 

Steve

[Rodeo]

21 hours ago, Jarrad Marshall said:

... and my current (unannounced) project has taken ~12%. ...

Cheers,

Jarrad

 

very promising. It's a hard job to restrain curiosity? 

[Jarrad Marshall]

1 hour ago, Rodeo said:

 

very promising. It's a hard job to restrain curiosity? 

 

Probably as hard as it is for me to not reveal anything just yet  I'll keep the focus on Monterey for the moment, but do have more news incoming in the not-too-distant future. 

 

Cheers,

Jarrad

[raymar99]

That beautiful red Lear might be a Learjet 40 or 45, but it is not a Lear 35 as stated on your front end description.  Ha.  Looking forward to seeing  this is AF2.

 

Regards,

Ray

[kerrygipe]

Ray,

   You are correct, the Lear is a 45XR not a 35. The repaint is available from the Aerofly web site. 

[Bermuda425]

Gee whittakers!

[WingZ]

Bull's Eye... wonderful addition to this most promising sim!

Thanks for sharing the pre-release screens, can't wait to Feel the Experience

[Eivind Eikli]

Will there be an upgrade path for those who own Monterey inP3D? Very excited about experiencing this in all the VR glory that Aerofly FS2 can muster!!