I thought besides reviews and heads-up on airport add-ons that don’t work or cause CTD and BS on Xbox it would be interesting to hear what are the 3 best airports add-ons you have on your console and why. To make it useful I suppose it is good to mention what aircraft you have tested the airport with and what are the main settings you use on XBOX.
I don’t have a huge amount but I do find it hard to choose 3, but let me start!
I fly PMDG 737 most of the times with Live Weather ON, Traffic OFF, Multiplayer OFF. Start cold and dark and apart from the odd exterior view for a change I mostly ‘sit’ in the cockpit…I never use drones to view airports as that is not what interest me.
EGLL (Inibuilds) Partial as I live in the UK and work for an airline that regularly flies out of Heathrow. I have waited a good year to get it on reports that it was not working as it should. Well at least for me it now performs well and looks stunning.
RJAA (Drzewiecki Design) Similar to above. It used to crash the console up to a year ago which shows how they have improved things. This is a stunning airport with amazing details and for me completely free of stutters, BS or CTD.
EGPH (Pyregue) We know this developer has mastered the creation of detailed airports on XBOX. I also own Belfast which is as good.
It’s a tough call, naming a top three, because there are so many factors to consider. If I were to offer my top three, it would have to be based on detail, performance and stability. Pyreegue’s EGNX is stable, considering the level of detail, but I think there are more stable airports that somehow or other offer a similar level of complexity.
My number one is pretty easy: MK’s Malaga LEMG. If you’re on Xbox and don’t yet have it, it’s an absolute must, if only to boost your confidence in what can be achieved on console.
Number two is a little more difficult. There are some great airports that are 2-3 years old now, that were outstanding for their time. There are also those that sacrifice detail for performance/stability (typically larger airports which can’t be intricately detailed without causing mayhem on Xbox — e.g. Ini’s KLAX and KDTW).
If I were forced to pick two and three, I think I’d offer the positions to Ini’s Southampton and Pyreegue’s Edinburgh respectively. As for fourth and fifth position, probably Flightbeam’s Minneapolis and FSimStudios’ Winnipeg, but these are all just off the top of my head. I can think of around 30 other airports that are 100% stable on Xbox, while packing in some pretty impressive detail.
Pyreegue’s EGAA and EGPF are very nice indeed but the lack of accurate terrain modelling in either means I can’t consider them top three. I think we often overlook the benefits of decent terraforming.
If we are only going to pick 3, I will agree with all of the above that I own (which is not all of them) and will offer my picks from the other side of the pond to represent regional differences, as it’s hard to pick just 3! Also, there are some recent releases which are top, but I haven’t picked them up yet so my list is a bit dated.
Ok, from the US of A, from East to West:
KEWR (Drzewiecki)
KORD (Fsdreamteam)
KMSP (Flightbeam)
Runners up: some of these may actually be better (or not)!
KOKC (IniBuilds)
KDEN (Flightbeam)
KLAX (Feelthere) ok this one is lesser, but it looks nice and runs great, always!
No doubt this list will change over time, but these are reliable favorites on Series X for the Asobo 787-10, PMDG 737/738, and the SimBrief/SimLink enabled GA aircraft: FSR500, G2 Vision Jet and the HA420 HondaJet. Like many of you, live weather is on, traffic and multiplayer is off. Cheers!
No 1: FlyTampa - EKCH Copenhagen - It works so, so well on xbox.
No 2: Pyreegue Dev. - EGPH Edinburgh - beautiful everywhere.
No 3: Orbx - EGPB Sumburgh - just love the rocks.
I could have given Pyreegue my top 3 with no problmes but I wanted others to know there are many good working scenery add ons that work well with xbox and these 3 for me are the best.
EKCH has impressive stability for the size of the airport but it’s one of their lesser-detailed sceneries. I’d place KBOS above it (that deserves a spot in the top 10). But if that’s how your top three list looks, who’s to tell you otherwise?
Thinking about older airports, Just Flight’s GCRR, JSPCO’s LEPA and Macco’s EGCC all deserve a mention. Rock solid and some nice detail in parts.
I’m just waiting for the ‘worst airport on Xbox’ list. I can imagine which devs would populate it (without naming and shaming)…
I don’t own it yet but everybody says how stunning MK Malaga LEMG is. I was looking at it in the Marketplace and it is short of 1GB which is a very small size for what sounds like a very detailed airport. I wish all developers learnt how to optimise their work this way as it would definitely make us all console simmers happy and we wouldn’t have to complain about wasting money for add-ons that should not even make it to the Marketplace.
East Midlands and all British Pyreegue airports
(Interiors are important to me. Or at least I love exploring the many details. I have great respect for the attention to detail with which Pyreegue creates his airports. He is is second to none here. And the stability is also almost perfect.)
Malaga
(runs well, looks great, beautiful surroundings, detailed interior, airside and landside at a high level, perhaps the best package)
Minneapolis
(from a cockpit view, perhaps the most beautiful airport for me. The weathered textures and the oil stains on the apron are simply beautiful)
Because it’s so much fun, here are my places 4-15.
Copenhagen
Provo
Ibiza (Inibuilds)
Denver
Boston
Hamilton Island
Victoria, BC
Trondheim
Athens
Nuremberg
Rio de Janeiro
Newark
Before version 2, KLAS would definitely have been in my top 10. Until then it ran without any problems. Then unfortunately came the update and SU14… But KLAS is in good company. KSAT, KJFK, EHAM, NZCH, PAJN. They would all have ended up in my top 15 if only they were running on Xbox. Whereby PAJN is still the most stable.
And unfortunately KEWR has also been stuttering for me since SU14. That’s why only 15th place.
Provo is right up there with Pyreegue but it does struggle with stability at times. Not as much as it perhaps ought to, though, given its complexity. I’d say it actually has a nicer interior than any Pyreegue airport.
Can’t fault a lot on your list there. Ini’s Ibiza isn’t 100% stable for me and is beginning to show its age a bit now, I think. Hamilton Island is impressive, given the detail and coverage area. Definitely belongs in anyone’s top 15. Roman’s Victoria is really beautiful in parts (interior, terminal landside) but the detail definitely drops the further out onto the field you go. Some of the ground textures are really quite bad.
The only one that surprises me is Trondheim. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not one I think of when considering a top 15 (or even 20).
Having used SLH’s Caribbean airports extensively now, I think they definitely deserve a place at the table. Unfortunately they’re in a part of the world where they escape mainstream attention. The only thing that lets them down slightly is the lack of modelling surrounding the airfields.
Another that’s so close yet so far is Northern Sky, as you mention. Some of the finest looking airports ever created but their stability is poor. Kenai and Sitka are the two that have given me the least trouble but that’s not to say they’re great. If we were to compile a top 10-20 based solely on detail/aesthetics, most of them would feature.
It’s good to see the consistency with which Malaga, Minneapolis and anything Pyreegue are appearing in this thread EGNX is still a little contentious for me, however, due to its not quite perfect stability.
It’s certainly interesting how we all perceive quality, either similarly or differently.
For me, when evaluating airports, things play a role that the developers have no control over, namely the architecture and surroundings of an airport. The simple but elegant architecture of Trondheim and the fantastic location in Norway therefore contribute to the fact that Trondheim is so high up on my list. But I also think it’s really well made and runs smoothly. And in the end, I just love flying there.
The Northern Sky airports also really impressed me. Even if the stability is not optimal for me either. Nevertheless, I have already commuted back and forth between Juneau and Sitka several times. That’s why I also picked up Wrangell and Petersburg last week. However, I still need to take a look at and test both airports. It’s just a shame that some of the satellite images in Alaska are so bad (unfortunately also in Norway). That takes away a bit of the immersion. At least I’ve also bought the ORBX mesh for Alaska. It makes the mountains a little prettier.
I will definitely test the SLH airports at the next sale.
On Provo: Yes, I agree with you. Provo almost has a nicer interior than the Pyreegue airports. However, the terminal is quite a bit smaller than EGNX. But it’s really impressive how accurately the interior has been recreated. I once compared the interior with original photos, and there’s hardly any difference… And I can’t actually remember a black screen in Provo. So it runs really stable for me.
I believe that really poorly running airports also run poorly for everyone. And super stable ones are usually stable for everyone. However, I think there can be slight differences in perception when it comes to airports that are not so clear-cut. For example, I have a very good TV as a screen, which reduces the stuttering somewhat thanks to its own image optimization. And for me, activating the 120 Hz mode made a difference. This also made the picture noticeably smoother.
Yes, I think we are all susceptible when it comes to such biases. But I do try to be impartial in my reviews and it would be easy for me to promote EGNX as the best airport in the sim because it is, in fact, my local.
I bought Burning Blue’s Tatenhill the other day. I already owned a couple of their airfields and they’re extremely well done — but Tatenhill’s real-world nature actually makes it a rather boring and uninteresting place — a detail that Burning Blue have inadvertently managed to perfectly capture!
Not their fault, of course, but there’s not a lot one can do if the real place is quite sparse! It’s set in some lovely countryside, though…
Honestly, they’re a hidden gem! I never really fancied flying in the Caribbean but I’ve become quite enamoured with it. It’s intimate; and never too long before you’re on the ground or up in the air again. I flew TKPK-TNCM-TQPF-TUPJ last night, with LOTS of exterior viewing and droning. Made it to my final destination and still no black screens. I’m guessing I could have flown back and forth all day without issue! But it’s important to note that there’s no PG in this area currently, and there’s a lot of water (which can’t be stressing hardware). There is, however, some decent satellite imagery and Asobo have hand-crafted St. Maarten, St. Barths and Saba. I’m also using Seafront’s appropriate Caribbean pack, which has impressed me no end! Wish I’d picked up their Virgin Isles while I was at it…
This is true but EGNX doesn’t have a full interior, whereas Provo does. I think it’s probably a matter of personal taste — EGNX’s interior is pretty sterile in reality and Provo’s just looks so much more diverse and quirky.
I do enjoy seeing a FULL interior but very few airports have them. Off the top of my head, besides Provo, we only have Drzewiecki’s Polish airports and EETN, and Ini’s EGHI. There are surely more but I can’t think…
As somebody suggested why limit to 3! I just find it useful to find out which are the best add-on airports for XBOX. I will add a further top 10 of airports I own, are stable and I enjoy flying on console. I never go inside the terminal or use drones though so my list is mostly about stability and how the airport looks from the cockpit and airside.
And I really appreciate this impartiality in your reviews. And yes, it’s true. When evaluating the quality of airports, things like the surroundings or the architecture should actually be disregarded.
But I think Trondheim is a little underrated for me. There are two features that only a few airports offer. Firstly, a functioning VDGS. And secondly, Aerosoft has equipped the area around the airport with new, higher-resolution satellite images over a large area. That really makes a difference. I have some really nice airports that are a bit ruined by the poor quality of the nearby satellite images. Orly is the best example. There’s a nice YouTube review of Aerosoft’s Trondheim where you can see how extensively the satellite imagery has been replaced.
I also think the terminal has been recreated very realistically, it runs very stably and there are a few aesthetic highlights, such as the rocks in front of the runway facing the water. All in all, I think it’s a nice airport that I can recommend.
Interesting. ENVA Trondheim (Aerosoft) has black screened for me recently and historically on Series X. Too bad because it is ideally located for some city pairs that appeal to me between north an south Norway. Or is there another Trondheim being discussed?
I can’t disagree with anything you say above about Trondheim. And I must admit, the taxi out to RWY09 is visually very impressive. But to me it feels a little lifeless, if you know what I mean? Not helped of course by LVFR’s statics pack being ineffective there.
The VDGS is a nice addition and I wasn’t even aware it was included until someone (might have been you) pointed it out very recently. A little more clunky than MK’s (I think theirs is an Xbox version of Nool) but it does at least have it.
I do, however, struggle with stability at times. It’ll take a fair bit of exterior viewing punishment but the drone tends to make it BS. That said, I’ve not tried it post-SU14. It’s an airport I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
Does anyone know how MM’s Tromso performs? Looked at it several times in the last few sales but the download size always manages to put me off.
Whereby PAJN is still the most stable.
