Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
MSFS add-ons: FSLTL, GSX Pro, REX AccuSeason (which may misrepresent some colours in certain light conditions)
FS2024 add-ons: GSX Pro
FS2024-specific differences: none
DETAIL
My first WFSS scenery and it’s a mixed bag. In short, the airside areas are very well done, but the landsides, although not terrible, feel somewhat neglected.
The main terminal buildings look impressive from airside and feature very highly-detailed custom jetways and basic interiors (more basic than we’ve come to expect lately). Unfortunately there is no tint in the glass once you move inside, and there’s really nothing in the way of interior clutter (not even passengers). The interiors have clearly been designed to look acceptable from the flightdeck of a parked airliner but that’s about all.
Out on the apron, everything looks decent — ground textures, markings and signage are convincing (the stand type markings are the best I’ve seen) and there are some nicely-modelled drainage channels cutting through the airfield. Custom GSE clutter is plentiful, some of it being animated (although there’s not a lot of variety: two catering truck models and a China Eastern-branded Cobus). Runways textures are good, without being exceptional, and we do get custom approach lighting — albeit only for one runway.
Moving landside is where things start to go a bit downhill. The terminal landsides are actually fully modelled (i.e. roadways, ramps, signs, ground markings, streetlights, etc.) but there are no cars, and no people. It all looks a bit sparse. To WF’s credit, they’ve included a good number of landside peripheral buildings but many have textures that are overly garish and look a little out of place among their default Asobo neighbours. This becomes more apparent at night, when some obvious repetition reveals itself more prominently. Of course a lot of the decent texture work is masked at night, so what looks good or even just acceptable in daylight looks less convincing after dark. It really is a shame, given how good some of these structures look in the sunshine.
There are two things that, for me, ease the pain of the troublesome peripheral buildings: the excellent animated trains (into Hongqiao station) and the many elevated sections of highway that completely surround, and extend away from, the airport. The signage on these highways is, oddly, sharper than a lot of the texturing present around the main terminals.
Finally, the night-lighting is good. Typical of what we should expect in 2024.
PERFORMANCE
With light FSLTL traffic, performance is very good; but as the FSLTL traffic is increased, it seems to have a disproportionate effect on framerates. Obviously any increase in on-screen assets will affect performance but it should be gradual, rather than almost immediately noticeable after adding only a couple of extra aircraft. I dialled back my FSLTL settings by just five active IFR aircraft and it seemed to revert to decent performance. I’m not sure if this is the norm with this airport or whether something else was at play during my tests. But for whatever reason, I definitely noticed a difference between the two FSLTL settings.
VERDICT
WFSS should be lauded as they are one of very few developers actively creating scenery in China. ZSSS is my first airport of theirs but it won’t be my last. Is this because they currently have little competition, or because they’re good quality? In truth, both. We don’t have much choice if we want airports in this part of the world but, that said, I can think of many devs who do a far worse job than these guys. Yeah, it’d be great to get Pyreegue, IniBuilds, Flightbeam or MK making Chinese airports but until they do, WFSS have it covered with scenery of decent enough quality.
If you want a decent Shanghai Hongqiao in MSFS or FS2024, this is it. It’s far from perfect but it offers a good (and even exceptional, at times) level of detail in the areas that matter most. The elevated highways around the airport are probably my favourite feature and, being so easily noticeable, they greatly increase the immersion while on short finals. There’s certainly great potential here but SOME of the texturing choices the dev has gone with just seem odd to me.
On a final note, the airport’s proximity to the city makes Samscene’s Shanghai City Times v2 a worthwhile accessory.
IMAGES
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