JFK Version 2 released

[virtuali]

We are pleased to announce the release of New York JFK Version 2, for Microsoft FSX and LM Prepar3D, here'e the list of improvements:

• 100% Native FSX code, fully DX10 compatible.
• New ground layer using FSX materials and shaders, sharper textures.
• Extended photorealistic scenery outside the airport perimeter, with multiple seasons (Fall, Summer/Spring, Heavy Winter and Night).
• Custom Autogen in an area of about 115 square Km around the airport.
• All new taxiway layout updated to 2013 status.
• Vertical signs updated to 2013 status.
• New Terminal 4 added.
• 3D Taxiway bridges and underpasses.
• Improved shading and Ambient Occlusion of buildings to ground.
• Removed all legacy FS8/FS9 code.
• Seasonal variations controlled with external Python code, for a reduced memory footprint (only 1 season is loaded at time).
• Canarsie “White Rabbit” approach light made as fully custom 3d lights.
• Added EMAS areas on runways 4R and 22L.
• Complete integration with GSX.

The scenery is a new product that must be purchased separately from JFK, but existing users can upgrade to V2 with very favorable conditions, please have a look at this post on the "FSDT Promotions" section of our forum to know how to get the upgrade price:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=8497.0

[virtuali]

Other informations

As usual, the scenery is offered in Trial version, and can be freely downloaded from the Products page of our web site (refresh the pages on the browser, if you don't see it)

Use with GSX

The scenery fully integrates with GSX and, to save something on download size, every GSX-like feature that was previously included with the JFK installer, such as Docking Systems and ParkMe, is now included in GSX only. If you already have GSX installed, there's no need to download anything extra other than the main JFK V2 installer. But, if you don't have GSX installed, you have to download it in order to get Docking Systems and the ParkMe evaluation, since GSX is entirely free to use at any FSDT airport, there's no reason not to install it.

Installation

You must Uninstall JFK v1 before installing v2. The JFK V2 installer will prompt you to do so anyway, otherwise it will not proceed.

[Hnla]

Thanks FSDT for removing FS9 code, so we can have it work in DX10!!

Keep it up!

[virtuali]

Here's two screenshots showing a comparison between JFK V1 and V2, to shows how we were able to improve ground texture sharpness, adding 3d taxiway bridges AND improving the fps by exactly 30%. That's the advantage of using 100% native FSX code, and this was the first time we were able to prove it, since we have two versions of the same scenery that differs mainly because of that.

[virtuali]

Some interesting statistic about JFK V2 compared to KLAX, about ground resolution:

JFK V2 hires photoreal ground covers about 36 km² and the entire ground texture is 12288 x 9728 pixels, or 114.0 Mpixels, divided in four 4096x4096 tiles, plus one at 4096x2048.

KLAX hirest photoreal ground covers about 20 km² and the entire ground texture is 11264 x 5632 pixels, or 60.5 Mpixels, divided in three 4096x4096 tiles, plus one at 2048x2048.

So, overall ground resolution for JFK V2 is 3.30 pixels/mt (or 30 cm/pixel), and KLAX is 3.17 pixels/mt (or 31.5 cm/pixel)

[Slayer]

First off - Thanks for upgrading this. Your airports are the absolute best there are for FSX bar none. Your attention to detail makes your products shine and you should be proud.

My FPS jumped up dramatically I'd say the 30% estimate is pretty close. I used to get about 25 FPS now it runs about 45. Everything is smooth and textures are way better.

Did that tram move before? I never remember seeing it and always look for cool stuff like that. Also the mirroring effects on the glass are amazing.  Excited to explore this place again and see what else has changed.

I just bought Vancouver a few days ago now I'm torn which to fly this weekend. This upgrade brings it pretty close to that airports standards.

[theshack440]

This looks great, thank you for doing this! I look forward to downloading it.

I just have two kind of simple questions. One, did you end up putting in docking systems at T8? And two, did you add gate numbers to the apron around T5? I don't mean to sound picky, these just crossed my mind because it wasn't clear in the released screenshots. Thanks!

[virtuali]

Thank you for your comments, for us fps are very important, but of course not at the cost of graphic quality.

We never were entirely happy with previous JFK ground textures, mostly because the default photoreal FSX terrain can look good or blurred depending on system load and/or settings, without any control on our side, but the JFK area is so fps intensive on its own, that we couldn't use the slow FS8 code for ground polygons to control the resolution, like we did in other earlier sceneries such as Zurich, KLAS or LSGG, so we didn't had much choice back then, when the scenery was released.

So, it's good that we finally managed to use the newer methods introduced with KDFW/KLAX/CYVR, removing any FS8/9 code, for an obvious improvement in fps. And here at New York, where it's needed the most.

[virtuali]

Some other informations that might be useful to some:

VAS memory usage in JFK V2 is exactly 250MB higher than JFK V1. In the situation of the two posted screenshots, FSX with JFK V1 took 850MB of VAS, while JFK V2 took 1.1 GB. There are no AI in that screen and it's a default airplane, but of course (all else being equal), what we are interested in it's just the *difference* between V1 and V2, and it's 250MB. This is DX9. With DX10, everything goes down. Overall, is FAR less than KLAX or CYVR.

Why VAS is higher in V2, and yet the fps higher too ?

As usual, the answer is always "there's no free lunch": the FS8/9 code is clearly slower than native FSX code, but it's also more compact. Of course, just being compact in memory, doesn't necessarily mean being faster, because to translate FS8/9 code into actual graphics commands, FSX has to do much more work with the CPU than when running FSX code, even if the FS8/9 code is smaller.

The FSX native code and the way the textures/shaders are made also means the scenery takes more GPU memory but, since under DX9 the GPU allocation is copied into the user RAM, the more a scenery uses the GPU, the more VAS will use too. That's why it's best to use DX10, when you have many add-ons running together.

So, by getting rid of FS9 code, you trade some memory for performance, and I'll take fps any day, especially at New York.

If you are short on memory, there are several of solutions to try to recover it (using DX10, using less-memory hungry airplanes, lowering the textures resolution to 2048 or even 1024), but if the scenery is slow, because it's done with FS8/9 code, there's simply nothing you can do about it.

[Catchman86]

Wow, that's really interesting. Thanks for enlightening us on the concept. I'd like to know more about these new methods, specifically how you've managed to reduce the load (assuming by running couatl and off-loading some of the processing on to another core). Is there something written on FSDeveloper, etc. where I can learn more?

[emendez]

Thank you for this upgrade. Hopefully KORD and KDFW can get a brush up too, so I can stop switching DX9 to 10

[robbo747]

I would also like to thank you for this update, you're scenery quality and support is second to none.  Your upgrade prices are very fair.  I have most of your scenery and will continue to purchase the remaining and future airports over time.

Rob

[Kurt]

I just installed the new version (before I uninstalled the old one), but after registration with the addon-manager there are no buildings visible. What did I wrong? Should I uninstall the addon-manager too?

[Kurt]

Solved! I restarted FSX oncemore and everything was OK.

[AaronMyers]

I presume the new textures are 4096? Will there be an installation option for 2048 as a compromise as there was with CYVR? That's the option that made CYVR usable for me.