Top-Rated Scenery Expansion Packs for Flight Simulator X
There have been drastic improvements in scenery quality for Microsoft’s Flight Simulator over its 25 year history. Even so, the default textures can always be cranked up a notch with an extra ounce of photorealism.
Take your flight simming experience to the next level with one of these top-rated scenery expansion packs for FSX.
1. Photoreal America — Sim Savvy
This is the first edition of Sim-Savvy’s “Massive Scenery Collection.” And it’s definitely massive! The program uses photo-based textures for the entire continental United States–an incredible 400 GB of data.
The photo data comes directly from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) run by the USDA. Every 2 years, the NAIP takes detailed 1 meter/pixel aerial pictures of continental U.S. The data is provided free to the public.
Is hard drive space a little tight on your computer? Fear not, your purchase of Photoreal America includes a 1 TB external hard drive. The program comes pre-loaded on the hard drive and can run from it directly.
Considering the scope of this project, be prepared to pay a hefty price: $199 USD. But even with the price tag, Photoreal America may still be a worthwhile investment in the long run; you will receive free updates whenever they become available.
2. Ground Environment X USA & Canada — Flight1
At $34.95, this add-on is an affordable alternative to Photoreal America. GEX replaces the default FSX scenery with highly detailed 1024×1024 pixel images with a 1 meter/pixel resolution.
Unlike Photoreal America, the GEX program includes night textures.
Customers say that the scenery enhancements you’ll see with GEX are subtle but noticeable. GEX takes desolate white road lines and transforms them into major roads and expressways bustling with traffic.
With GEX you also get a better “blending of seasons.” Textures for the Fall and Spring mark a much more natural transition to winter and summer.
In spite of all the scenery enhancements, gamers say that they still get great frame rates.
3. Megascenery Bundle: Hawaii, Las Vegas, Reno — PC Aviator
This $20 bundle, gives you great scenery for 3 popular flight sim cities.
Megascenery Bundle fills the void left by Ground Environment X and Photoreal America, which do not include Hawaii. While you only get scenery for Ohau island, the photorealistic textures are amazing. View a few screenshots on the megascenery.com website and see for yourself. The ground looks exactly like what you’d see in real life–distinct neighborhoods, enclaves of homes, and major expressways with traffic.
The same is true with the Las Vegas and Reno scenery. The Las Vegas component provides over 2,100 square miles of high-resolution textures, and includes the surrounding rocky mountains and hilltops. The only shortcoming with this program is that it doesn’t enhance any of the 3D buildings in the Vegas Strip. The buildings on the Strip are still just part of the regular FSX scenery.
4. Megascenery X: Southern California — PC Aviator
I live in Los Angeles, so I’m always excited to get my hands on the newest SoCal add-ons as soon as they hit the market. I was delighted by the scenery quality in Megascenery X. The program has an incredible level of detail. I was able to pick out my high school, my neighborhood, and even my house!
Like the Megascenery Bundle, this program doesn’t add any 3D objects to SoCal landscape, but several other features make up for it. For one, the frame rates are actually better than with the default scenery. For another, night textures are included with this program. Most scenery add-ons do not have night textures.
5. Manhattan X — Aerosoft
Creating an elaborate virtual Manhattan is a daunting task. Even so, Aerosoft did a great job with this product.
The entire Manhattan Island is completely remastered in jaw-dropping detail. Not only is there tons of 3D automobile traffic, you’ll also see the regularly scheduled Staten Island Ferry and something else that’s typically absent from most flight sims–people!
Manhattan X comes with a “sightseeing mission” where you tour the city in a helicopter. Beginning at the Wall Street heliport, you fly around the city with a co-pilot who doubles as a tour guide. With a heavy New Yorker accent, your co-pilot points out areas of interest and provides brief historical footnotes for many of the landmarks you encounter.
Gamers say they get average frame rates between 15 and 35 FPS on an Intel Quad Core machine with 2 GB of RAM. Aerosoft explains (in the user manual) exactly how to tweak the FSX display settings to maximize performance.
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