Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Reviewed for: FS2024
Add-ons: FS Traffic, GSX Pro
This airport has the somewhat unflattering record of being the one that’s forever been in and out of my shopping cart, since my Xbox days three years ago! The promo video always looked decent but we know only too well how such videos show the best parts, while hiding the worst. The screenshots were never really able to convince me, either. But since I’m now running out of airports to buy each week(!), I thought I’d bag it in the current Marketplace sale…
DETAIL
Right off the bat, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this airport looks. It’s a good few years old now and this does show in the lower-resolution textures used in many areas; but the overall quality is of a high standard. Despite the lower-res texturing, it is that photoreal variety used so effectively by the likes of Marcus Nyberg and WFSS. If you’re a fan of WFSS’ Chinese airports, you’ll instantly feel at home with LH’s LHBP.
Surprisingly, one area in which the textures are more than adequate when measured by today’s standards is on the ground: the runways, taxiways and aprons all look good and the markings are clear and accurate. The airport’s terraforming is excellent.
The terminal building is a story of two halves: its airside bits are pretty well done (even if some of the interior effects are quite poorly executed) but the outdoor landside is as bad as it looks in the marketing images. Very low-res roadways, not much in the way of fixed clutter (just some custom barriers, and a few signposts in the car-park), and a lot of default Asobo cars. The quality of the modelling is, however, consistent as you move away from the terminal, into the airfield’s peripheries. LH have included the aviation museum, located on the airport grounds, and the exhibits have been very nicely crafted.
The terminal features a partial interior, to include the main airside concourse and the lo-co pier. The lo-co pier was added in a recent update and there is a noticeable quality difference between it and the original work. The main concourse is less developed internally, while the lo-co pier actually looks reasonable by 2026 standards. The only issue I could find is an escalator animation that doesn’t work properly, but you’re not going to notice this unless you go snooping.
The ramps contain a decent amount of custom clutter, both fixed and mobile, and its quality isn’t bad. It doesn’t live up to the best this year has so far offered, but there’s enough to make the airport feel like a functional facility. Some signs are those wafer-thin 2D things, that literally have no depth when viewed from the side.
Where I think this airport really shines is in its peripheral and surrounding modelling, which as I said earlier is consistent with that seen in more prominent areas. All the cargo aprons/buildings are present (some of which were added in the last major update, and again look higher quality than the original work), plus quite a lot outside the perimeter fence. The only anomaly I’ve located is a duplicated doppler dome not far from the RWY31R threshold. Speaking of the perimeter fence, it’s all-encompassing and is a high-quality custom model I’ve not come across before.
Finally, night-lighting, which isn’t one of this scenery’s strengths, I’m sad to say. Perhaps a moot point, however, since there’s a free mod available on fightsim.to that greatly improves the airfield lighting.
PERFORMANCE
This scenery was released early in 2021, so it may come as no surprise to learn that performance isn’t an issue.
VERDICT
For me, this scenery’s greatest weakness is its abundant use of low-res textures. However if you’re willing to keep typical operational distance from them, they’re actually quite pleasing. In fact, the whole airfield looks nice as long as you refrain from examining it with a magnifying glass. The only other real issue is the poor night-lighting but this can be negated by using the freeware mod.
The photogrammetry in this part of the world is among the more recent and LH’s airport sits extremely well within it, being completely surrounded. This of course makes approaches from all directions very aesthetically appealing.
The current full price is perhaps pushing it a bit for a scenery of this vintage but it’s significantly discounted at the moment on the Marketplace (it’s only sold there and at LH’s own store). Its age is likely a silver lining as it almost guarantees decent performance on even mediocre setups. If you’re looking for a busy Eastern European hub for your collection, you could do way worse than LHSims’ LHBP.
One final note: I believe the 2024 version of this airport is native.
IMAGES
To follow…