Off topic: Shawbury Fields and Earth Simulations

I know this isn't about Liverpool at all, but I thought it neccessary to say something about this particular product and Earth Simulations as a developer, especially as there appears to be some misunderstandings about what this product actually is.

When I first heard of Shawbury Fields as in development I was quite excited, as it's only just to the south of where I usually fly. I looked at the screenshots and impressive though they were, I held off buying. Why? Because I wasn't sure that with so much detail I'd get enough performance to make it flyable.

As with most things I like the look of though, the magpie effect won out in the end and I bought it! I wish I'd done that sooner, because it really is a beautiful scenery. I had to overcome a few memory problems and re-install the OS and FSX (not because of Shawbury Fields I hasten to add, just that my installation of WinXP was so old and cluttered it might as well have been dead :p)

This not a single airfield product - coverage of such a large geographical area is this way is unheard of for UK products as far as I know and the realism factor of so many buildings and trees cannot be underestimated at all at low levels.

Shawbury Airfield itself (with Shawbury Fields)

Shawbury Airfield itself (without Shawbury Fields)

Telford (with Shawbury Fields)

Telford (without Shawbury Fields)

Lots of autogen and bespoke 3D models

Lines of smaller trees added in minute detail!

Gliders and Parasailers as well!

So, am I satisfied with this product?  hell yes! 

Positives:

• So much area covered
• Great detail
• Lots of landmarks included
• Excellent performance given the level of detail
• Good forum support on the Earth Simulations website

Are there any negatives for me?  Well, yes, I'm a bit of a perfectionist with my own work and never really consider it good enough because I am intimately familiar with all the compromises that have to be made...  In that sense every product is the same and there are some minor details with Shawbury Fields that niggle with me in the same way.

A good example is  in the eastern area near Chirk there's a bridge missing and the terrain at one end of the aquaduct at Pontcysyllte is too high.    ES know about the issue though ( http://www.earthsimulations.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1026&start=20 ) and are willing to do an update.  I may well take a short trip there to get them some photos so they can make accurate models.

These issues can be rectified easily enough with some minor 3D scenery additions and tweaks though, so overall I don't think they detract from the product that much.  Either Earth Simulations will give an update or someone will do it 3rd party as freeware :) 

The bottom line is Shawbury Fields is a great product and I'd be very surprised if you were disappointed by it. 

A word on Earth Simulations as well.  Darren and Vicky have always been very responsive and I genuinely get the feeling they do care about their customers.  They have a number of products in development not least of which is an autogen tool which could cover the whole of the country with accurate buildings and vegetation.

The prospect of some killer scenery product like that means that as well as the scenery items I really want and like, I'm buying some of their other sceneries as well, even though I'm not likely to fly them too often.

I'm not connected to Earth Simulations in any way whatsoever, other than as a customer of several of their products - but I really do feel that we as simmers need to support developers with potential.  Great small companies like this deserve our support otherwise outstanding ideas like Autogenesis may not ever get to market.