Mutley's Hangar

Introduction

Like most simmers it seems, for me, flight simulation is about more than just the flying. Sure, it can be ultra realistic, just like flying the real thing, however, without something to see out of the window, I get board. Great scenery is essential to my flight simming needs and, well, X-Plane does not really deliver in this area. The 'plausible world ' Austin praised as a concept, does not really work with generic buildings looking the same from New York to Paris to Tokyo. What X-Plane needs is some Orbx level scenery, designed to make you drool. Strangely, good scenery for X-Plane X is hard to find. There are some good freeware options which use photo scenery as a base and Open Street Maps (OSM) data to provide instructions for autogen which work fairly well, but if the OSM data is lacking, the results can be underwhelming. So it was with great joy I spotted a new scenery company Beti-X, and their first project for X-Plane X, Stewart Airfield, British Columbia. The question is, does it cut the mustard?

The Town of Stewart

The Town from the Ridge

Location

Stewart is located at the head of the Portland Canal in north-western British Columbia. Sitting literally in the shadow of the Alaskan border, Stewart is surrounded by mountainous peaks. Gold and silver mining dominated the town's early economy, with timber being a mainstay of the economy. In recent years, Stewart has been the filming location for many Hollywood movies.

Stewart Aerodrome is a small airfield which services the town but no airlines operate scheduled flights from the airfield.

Availability and Installation

Available as a 'download only' product (some re-sellers may also offer a master back-up DVD service for a minor additional cost). It is currently priced at £16.82 or US$27.00 and is delivered as a nicely packaged 390MB zip file.

The file contains three folders and the manual. There is no installer, you just extract the folders to your X-Plane custom scenery folder and your done. Hopefully they read the right way up, as priority is important. If they are not in the right order in your Scenery packs.ini file, swap them round to read A, B, and C. That is it. I really love X-Plane for installing add-ons, unzip to the directory and go flying.

Welcome to Stewart

Loading in and on the ramp, my first impressions leave me speechless. This scenery is more than just a little airfield in the middle of the British Columbia back country. No, the Beti-X team have built the entire town of Stewart. A glance at the manual tells me it is even more than that. Looking at the map provided, the scenery extends to both the north and south plus the adjacent valley. The photo scenery textures of the mountains look beautiful and are rendered in 50cm per pixel detail. The airfield itself features 2cm per pixel imagery, but this is only available if you are using 'Extreme Resolution' as your texture option. I am using 'Extreme Resolution', and the results are stunning. This is not just flat photo scenery though. No, autogen is placed according to its real world counterparts, meaning the town is one of the most realistic I have ever seen in any flight simulator.

The Ramp - 2cm Photo Scenery Looks Stunning	Volumetric Grass
A Little Surprise Around the Corner - Hyder, Alaska	More Surprises Off Runway 18

Fly Drive

This is probably the first scenery I have ever come across which makes me want to take a drive instead of flying, and I cannot resist using X-Pane X's walk around camera to take a stroll. The town is painstakingly accurate. It seems as if every building, every house, is modelled exactly as it looks in real life. Add in the standard X-Pane X traffic and the town feels alive, with traffic lights at the intersections stopping cars. The gas station alone is a work of art. Further away from the town is the sawmill. British Columbia has a large timber industry and it is no surprise Stewart features a sawmill. The sawmill sits on the river and looks fantastic and the detail involved is stunning.

The Detail is Amazing

Every Building Captured

Back at the airfield, I take a look around. All that is missing are a few people wandering around. If it had those, you would think this was part of the Orbx airport series. The 2cm textures look stunning, and as I taxi out for a flight, I am struck by how realistic the ground looks.

I take off towards the sawmill and do a bit of sightseeing. The river is beautifully covered, with silt banks forming shores as I fly up river. Reaching the edge of the scenery I double over for a look at the adjacent valley. Like the other river, this shows the silt shores as the river flows down towards the head of the canal. On the mountains, the 50cm photo scenery looks great with snow capped peaks being a welcome addition to the season less environment of X-Plane X. As the two rivers merge, I swing over a sea plane base, which is included in the scenery, before heading back to the airfield. The airfield is difficult to spot, but I am soon on the ground.

The Sawmill	The Sawmill Looks Stunning Up Close
The Seaplane Dock	The Salmon River is Just Photo Textures

By Night

Whist the airfield looks stunning during the day, come evening time, the beautiful X-Plane X HDR lighting sparks up and the town looks even more life like. I take a little flight at sunset to see the town get ready for the night. Landing after dark is a 'no no' in Stewart so I can only circle as the night draws in and the lights come on. Watching the car headlamps is a real treat, as Stewart gets ready for bed.

Early Evening	Nightime
Gas Station at Night	The Sawmill at Night

Value for Money

Beti-X CZST - Stewart is considered excellent value for money. Whilst the coverage area is small, the quality and detail make up for it. Overall, the airfield provides a fantastic base for flights and if you like flying in this region it is a scenery add-on you will want to have.

Conclusion

It is hard to find fault with Stewart. This little airfield gives you so much more than I come to expect from X-Plane X's scenery. The level of detail contained in such a small place is breath taking and, at last, it seems we are seeing X-Plane X fulfill its potential.

The only slight issue has to do with the Salmon River, which is depicted with photo scenery only. This is solely due to X-Plane X and its water flow abilities apparently, so the Beti-X team chose to depict it this way rather than having water flow backwards.

There is a lot of love in this product and it shows. I had a great time exploring Stewart and I was impressed with the hidden little gems I came across, hidden little hamlets and the odd building in the town, all which make you go 'Wow'. Best of all, this cracking little airfield will not cost you the earth and it is worth every penny. If you are looking for a base from which to explore British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies, this airfield is perfect. Beti-X have done a great job and I would put them up there with Truscenery when it comes to X-Plane scenery. This is the Orbx of the X-Plane X world and I, for one, cannot wait to see their next project.

Approach at Late Evening

Almost There

Verdict and Rating

A great first product from Beti-X, CZST - Stewart displays high quality and attention to detail.

Pros:
    ● High quality.
    ● Excellent level and attention to detail.
    ● Very good value for money.

Cons:
    ● Minor issue with river depicted with photo scenery (limited by X-Plane).

Verdict:
• Level of Detail:	9.5/10
• Performance:	9.5/10
• Scenery Coverage:	9.0/10
• Quality of Buildings:	9.5/10
• Value for money:	9.5/10

Mutley’s Hangar score of 9.4/10, with a "Outstanding" and a Mutley's Hangar Gold Award.