Aircraft used: PMDG 738
Live weather: on
DETAIL
I’ll begin this review by saying that this airport feels very much alive. The modelling and texturing are first-class and the older areas of the airport certainly feel well-used. The terminals are done to a very high standard but the newer of the two I’d say has received SLIGHTLY more attention and features a full interior. However there are some weird lines inside that look as though they shouldn’t be there — but you really do need to go sniffing around to notice them.
The terminal landside is excellent and features the usual smattering of cars, roadsigns, bollards and lampposts, plus some custom buses that have neat animated lights. My only complaint, comparing this to images of the Salvuz version, is that the rockface opposite the terminal (that features the large ‘Bergen?’ sign) could have been done better.
What really stands out at this airport is its ground clutter, which is nothing short of superb. We get absolutely everything: custom tugs and de-icers, temporary barriers, trussed floodlights, animated Bristow helicopters… and even some oil drums outside the back of the Wideroe hangar! It really does make the airport feel real!
Ground textures are really good, both airside and landside; although they are a little lower-res in places. That said, they are unique and some of the texture styles I’ve not seen before in a MSFS scenery. A minor gripe is they lose their sharpness at a much lower altitude than other airports, when viewed from above.
The majority of peripheral buildings, both airside and landside, are done to the same high standard as the main areas. Not everything, but most of it.
Finally, a little bad news I need to highlight: there are some terraforming issues landside and you’ll find quite a number of vehicles either floating in the air or partially buried by tarmac. Is it a big deal? Probably not — you’re not going to notice it at all from the flightdeck — but it needs mentioning for completeness.
PERFORMANCE
Reading online reviews and seeing the 3.5 rating on the in-sim Marketplace put me off a little but a pretty large airport for under £12 (in the current Nordics sale) seemed too good to pass up.
In spite of the claims of poor performance (from PC users) I’ve only noticed some slight stuttering when near the main terminal area. It’s mildly annoying but not at all bad and I’ve seen far worse.
As for stability, I arrived in the PMDG 738 in external view and was constantly panning around while taxiing to gate to get a good look around. Once parked I took the drone out for half-an-hour, frequently returning to the cockpit to check the screens. I was just about satisfied and was preparing to depart when they went black — however I could see no texture drop-out and so I again took to the drone to see how far I could push it. Normally, once the black screens arrive, so does the stuttering, but on this occasion it seemed unaffected by the ‘emergency’ going on in the cockpit! I didn’t hang around long enough to see if the screens would return after departure but it looks like Bergen will take quite a bit of punishment before black-screening… let alone crashing.
I’ve not yet tried the default and LVFR 320s but I imagine stability with them will be close to 100%.
VERDICT
RD’s ENBR is a surprisingly well done airport but a handful of irritatingly needless flaws keep it from being absolutely stellar. Luckily these flaws don’t really affect the immersion from a pilot’s perspective but that doesn’t make them any less annoying.
On the positive side there really is so much to like in this package — the ground clutter is some of the best I’ve ever seen, peripheral buildings are mostly done to the same standard as the terminal area, texturing is generally of a good resolution throughout and the night-lighting is very authentic. Stability is excellent — if not quite perfect — and performance is also very good, aside from the minor stuttering when taxiing in the vicinity of the terminal.
With the new World Update XV we now have improved scenery in this region and the ‘lakes and mountains’ approach into Bergen — from any direction — is extremely pleasing, enhancing the fine job already done by RDPresets.
Quite why it’s only got a 3.5 rating on the official Marketplace I’ve no idea as it’s far closer to five than it is to three! Highly recommended!
IMAGES
Unfortunately there are quite a few cars that are either floating or partially buried by tarmac.
There’s also something very odd going on with this building…
