The Airport Zurich (previously Zurich-Kloten) is the largest airport of Switzerland, now in a brand new version for FSX, P3Dv2 and FSX: Steam Edition. This completely new scenery is full details, including every building and the entire airport environment, docking systems and all features you would expect from a modern scenery for FSX and P3D.
The ground layout has been created from scratch based on high resolution aerial images and it complies with the current data of the charts. What is special about our scenery is that it represents the complete and finished development condition of the real world counterpart.
The airport has three runways, two of which crossing each other. Additionally, the airport has three docks – A, B and E. Dock B, as the oldest, was shut down in 2003 and from there on served as a so-called event dock which was available for rent for various events. In 2008, Dock B was completely dismantled and replaced by a new construction at the same location and was finished in 2011.
The finished development condition results in some new features:
Newly created buildings and objects with lots of 3D details, partly high resolution 2K textures with rendered shadows and lighting.
New transparent boarding bridges with glass sides at every gate.
Updated taxiways and parking positions, as creating parking positions for the Airbus A380 changed other positions and moved lots of taxiway markings.
Parking position E67 at Dock E now includes a separate, elevated boarding bridge
Static Airbus A380 of Emirates Airline, parking at Gate E67 (optional)
Terminal 2 is currently being rebuilt and set to be finished by the end of 2015 – we already completely finished the terminal for this scenery
Enhanced Apron P with additional parking positions
Jet engine test site with new, large noise absorption hall
The entrances to terminals 1 and 2 are currently being rebuilt – we already completely finished the reconstruction for this scenery, including a new roofing
Additional features:
Completely created scenery of Airport Zurich for FSX ACC-SP2-SE and Prepar3D, state of late 2015
Detailed representation of the airport
Photo realistic ground textures based on aerial images (0,5m/pixel)
Seasonal colouring of ground and vegetation
All buildings and airport facilities
Photo real textures for buildings, vehicles etc.
True to original navigation systems (ILS, VOR/DME, NDB, ATIS)
Complete taxiway and runway signage
“High speed taxiways”, allowing for exiting the runway at high speeds
Great night effects (baked textures)
Animated radar systems and wind hoses
Animated vehicle traffic at and around the airport (AESLite), for FSX ACC-SP2 with “Intelliscene”
ADGS – Aircraft Docking Guidance Systems
True to original runway and taxiway lighting
Traffic routes with ground traffic signage
Optimised for good performance (frame rate)
Optimised AFDs for different landing directions on the crossing runways
Compatible with Airport Enhancement Services (AES)
Compatible with default AI traffic as well as AI traffic add-ons (e.g. MyTraffic X)
Compatible with Switzerland Pro X and Ultimate Terrain Europe
Microsoft Flight Simulator X (incl. Service Pack 2 or Acceleration Pack
or Gold Edition or Steam Edition) or Lockheed Martin Prepar3D V2 or V3
Windows XP / Vista/ 7 / 8
DualCore Processor with at least 2.66 Ghz or faster
min. 4096 MB RAM
3D Graphics card with 512 MB (1024 MB recommended)
.NET-Framework 3.5 or higher
Installations-Size: 1.5 GB
Scenery does not justify the high price. Lack of attention and feels like original release. The XPlane version by same dev is significantly better. Shame - I regret my purchase.
A highly detailed airport which comes at a familiar Aerosoft frame-rate annihilating cost. My computer definitely isn't top of the line but can still cope with most add-ons but this airport is largely unplayable with anything above the lowest settings due to frame-rate stuttering.
The strange part is, as with a lot of Aerosoft products it seems, it's not obvious why it's such a frame-rate hog, given other airports which similar/far more features don't cause the problem.
You also start to question if up to 3 rows of cargo/admin-style buildings/hangers were really necessary; I personally could do without those and have the actual airport terminals/gates more playable by boosting frame-rates. It is also worth noting that it comes with an optional SINGLE parked Airbus - I dread to think how bad it would be if there were multiple planes like other developer airports.
In summary, if you run a very high spec computer then I'm sure you'll enjoy this detailed airport as intended, but for us mere mortals with average spec'd computers, I would struggle to recommend this.
Even though I purchased this product on the Aerosoft main website, I am leaving a review here for those who are thinking of purchasing the product for FSX:SE. Mega Airport Zurich is once again a great, detailed scenery from Aerosoft which operates quite smoothly when landing, taxiing, and departing the airport. My only reason for giving this airport (or any add-on airport for this matter) 4, instead of 5 stars, is the fact that the jetways do *not* operate with Ctrl +J, as I wish they would. Other than that, I highly recommend for European operations.