Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Add-ons: FSLTL, GSX Pro, REX AccuSeason (which may misrepresent some colours in certain light conditions)
I’ve been periodically eyeing up this scenery ever since it was first released (almost two years ago) but never pulled the trigger due to the rather unflattering consensus on the in-sim marketplace. Let’s find out if its low rating there is justified…
DETAIL
As always with a new airport, I opted to fly in from afar (well… EHAM). There’s a certain excitement (perhaps tinged with a little apprehension) in gradually having a scenery make an impression on you in this way. Needless to say, the proximity to the centre of London ensures the steep approach is pretty impressive, particularly from the west (onto RWY09) and with Orbx’s sister package, Landmarks London, installed. A mile or so out, I could easily tell that Orbx have added a significant amount of custom detail to this part of East London. Putting the wheels on the deck and taxiing in felt very immersive, and the first thing I noticed was the quality of the ground textures/markings (runway, taxiway and apron).
The airport has frequently been criticised for not featuring any interiors (not even parallax windows) but, honestly, it all looked fine as I arrived on stand. Texturing is generally of a high standard and the weathering effects are convincing. Ramp clutter isn’t perhaps as plentiful as I’d like but there’s just about enough to make the place feel alive (we could’ve done with a handful of static passengers, though). The terminal landside isn’t quite as detailed as the competing UK2000 version but it’s attractively modelled, nonetheless.
Orbx’s main focus here is clearly the surroundings, which admittedly are what make this airport so unique. And despite the fact that much of the peripheral modelling isn’t quite up to the standard of the Landmarks London pack (different dev team, maybe?), it’s more than acceptable. The Tate & Lyle factory is a pretty imposing building, just south of the runway, and has actually been crafted beautifully. It seems they’ve put the emphasis right where it needs to be — on the most prominent buildings — while those further away are a little less detailed. Perfectly understandable, given that hundreds of high-detail buildings and dense PG aren’t together conducive to blisteringly smooth framerates.
Night-lighting is a mixed bag. Some (but not all) of the peripheral buildings have quite poor illuminated window textures but the after-dark lighting on the airport itself is very good indeed.
PERFORMANCE
As I said earlier, photogrammetry and extensive custom modelling aren’t a recipe for enviable performance and you are going to need a pretty beefy machine to run this airport with reasonable graphical fidelity, especially with FSLTL. I have a very high-end machine and it can get slightly stuttery at times (in MSFS), so I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone not owning a higher-end system. I imagine the majority of negative reviews on the Marketplace are due to questionable performance with less capable hardware.
VERDICT
TL;DR: Orbx’s EGLC is a great little airport for anyone with a machine capable of running it satisfactorily. In spite of some reviewer complaints about the lack of internal development/effects, I really don’t see an issue. Sure, parallax windows would probably have been a better choice but it looks just fine as it is. The terminal is pretty basic in real life — I’d wager few simmers would choose interior details/effects over custom-modelled surroundings at an airport like EGLC. It’s obvious that the London area is a struggle for the sim so the decision to just model the essentials was likely the right one.
Interestingly, it seems Gary from UK2000 went in the opposite direction, choosing to prioritise airfield detail over surroundings. If we could merge the two, we’d probably have the perfect London City. But as things stand, you need to make a choice: do you want the eye candy on finals, or once on the ground? Overall, I think the Orbx version offers the better balance — its airfield detail might not be quite as intricate as UK2000’s but it’s enough to maintain the immersion. Of course if you have a less capable machine the obvious choice is UK2000, whose sceneries are renowned for being easy on system resources.
On a final note, the airport recently got an update to make it compatible with the latest UK World Update. Some general improvements were also made but the one thing the UK2000 version has that the Orbx REALLY ought to is the animated docklands train.
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