Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Reviewed for: FS2024
Add-ons: FS Traffic, GSX Pro
I’ve been keeping a close eye on Fly2High (officially shortened to just Fly2), hoping their products would someday reach their full potential. I own Savanah and Harlingen Valley and I’m impressed with neither (although the latter is not too bad in FS2024). The building modelling is always great — a good amount of fine detail, inside and out, and those ‘gritty’ photoreal textures employed by the likes of Marcus Nyberg and Flyt — but the rest is typically a mess. Which is why I’ve stayed clear of Fly2… until now. The marketing images looked really nice — could this latest one really be as bad as Savannah?
DETAIL
My first arrival was from KRDU (Avelo, naturally!) and apart from some thick cloud early in the flight, it was a pleasant run up to KHVN, with clear skies north of New York. The PG in this part of the world really is beautiful, and despite the navdata suggesting two available STARs, I was cleared for a visual to RWY02.
Upon landing, I was surprised by how nice the ground textures are. As I taxied to gate 4, I was met with excellent custom taxiway lights and signage. The stand markings are crisp and clear. Pulling onto stand was a real pleasure — the tiny ramp is filled with mostly custom clutter, also decked out in high-quality textures. So far, so good (very good, in fact).
After shutdown I performed the usual airfield sweep with the drone. The terminal building is superbly modelled, and while only a couple of parts of it have interiors, the bits that don’t wouldn’t warrant them anyway. There’s so much fine detail and custom kerbside clutter on display, both airside and landside. The airport not only looks busy, but genuinely feels it, too. This is the first scenery in which Fly2 have used custom vehicles (though they are stock models, presumably from a communal library available to all devs), and they make a huge difference when compared to the abominations the Asobo SDK offers. The variety is impressive and includes cabriolets, vans, buses, trucks, police cruisers, yellow cabs and even an ice-cream van (which I’ve seen in a few Glideslope Pro sceneries).
Getting further out onto the airfield, some of Fly2’s typical flaws become apparent: gaps in the perimeter fence, and snow effects that really don’t sit well with the airport’s environment (there’s even snow in the tower and terminal, which is indicative of the need for some sort of exclusion). To be fair, the perimeter fence model is decent, but a) it doesn’t encompass the entire airfield, and b) the crank-neck is positioned INTO the airfield, rather than away from it. At least the areas where there is no fence are more remote so it looks like the omissions are deliberate.
Perhaps the biggest issue for me is the PG encroaching onto the airfield — not physically, but in a way that brings it uncomfortably close to the action. Obviously the ugliness of surrounding PG isn’t the dev’s fault exactly but no effort has been made to remove or at least tidy it. The road running past the terminal exhibits some mismatched terrain tiles, which are more apparent right now due to snow in the area in real life. Another noteworthy anomaly is choppy terrain on the remains of the old, disused runway. While this area is quite out-of-the-way, anyone who relishes drone exploration will quickly find it, and again wonder why such an ugly effect wasn’t addressed prior to release.
The night-lighting is lovely… but I have to admit to finding Fly2’s night-lighting aesthetically-pleasing at Harlingen Valley, so it didn’t come as too much of a shock.
Finally, from what I saw, AI aircraft are fully compatible with the scenery. I didn’t note any departures but there were three arrivals, all of which taxied perfectly to their respective stands (two Avelo 737s to the main apron, and a bizjet to the GA).
PERFORMANCE
Tweed New Haven is situated amongst some pretty heavy PG (the northeastern US is probably the most dense area in the sim) but the airport’s small size means it’s likely not going to overly tax your system. New York and Boston are are just about far enough away to not present problems!
VERDICT
I’ve waited a long time for Fly2 to get their act together! Okay, there are still issues here but they’re undoubtedly heading in the right direction with KHVN. The modelling is fab across the entire airfield, with most of the issues being relatively minor and easily fixable. Worth noting that I didn’t see any troublesome LOD issues, which have been reported by other users of this scenery in FS2024.
The whole airport feels bustling and the custom clutter both airside and landside is abundant and very high-quality. It looks to me like Fly2 replaced the terrain imagery — I’m not entirely sure but it works well, regardless of who was responsible.
So, what do I think absolutely needs to be fixed? Just the encroaching PG and the bumpy terrain on the old runway, really. I imagine quite minor jobs but the result would be significant quality-of-life gains. The perimeter fence issues aren’t really noticeable unless you go snooping… and most of us tend to only do that once or twice, right after buying scenery. Likewise, the interior snow isn’t something that immediately catches your attention so I for one can live with it, if I must.
One thing Fly2 have never really done is modelling outside the perimeter fence, and Tweed isn’t an exception. A bit of surrounding detail would not only make approaches that bit more interesting, but it would replace a lot of the ugly PG that exists only a stone’s throw from the airfield boundary. But we’ve come a long way since Savannah, so one step at a time, eh…?
If you’re looking for an attractive, bustling little airport in the New York/Boston area, Fly2’s KHNV will meet your needs. There are two other versions out there — both knocking on a bit now —but neither looks as good as this latest offering. Factor in the very reasonable price (well under £7 for me at Orbx) and there really is no argument for dissuading people from buying this product… even with its flaws.
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