One of our forum members, cheekytrolly has recently reviewed a copy of Project Canarias 2006 and posted it on our forums - I decided to post it on the home page for all to see. The review goes: Well I know it has been a month already since this freeware scenery package was released, but after no one else wrote a review of Project Canarias, I decided that it was time I tested it out for myself! Click on Read More for the full review.
To install the addon, you need to get three different files (Totaling 240mb) and extract them all to the same folder before you start the setup. The actual installation process is very professional and guides you through what is happening each step, and shows its progress on a percentage bar that gradually fills with color until it completes which takes roughly 15 minutes.
Once installed, you have the choice of flying at the islands of “Grand Canaria”, “Tenerife”, “La Gomera”, “La Palma” and “El Hierro” which are all covered in new photoreal textures. (Photoreal meaning not computer generated textures, but real satellite or aerial photos placed exactly in the correct location, so what you would see in real life is what you see on the sim) A good thing about photoreal islands on fs2004 is that you don’t see a big line between the new and default textures as the land is surrounded by sea. You can stay flying forever in the Canarys and forget the rest of the world exists!
As well as that, you get 20 metre mesh covering each island, so you see each hill, valley, mountain and crevice exactly as it would be in real life too. Just to put that into perspective for you, most of the default MS mesh is at a resolution of 150m, some good freeware mesh comes at 75m and payware mesh is at about 35m! As you can tell, the level of detail is amazing, especially with volcanic landscape of the Canarys!
Another feature included in Project Canarias that beats payware is the fact that there is autogen scenery (buildings, vegetation, vehicles etc) placed on top the photoreal in the correct locations. For example, a photoreal selection of the UK that cost me 15 pounds is completely 2D, with only images of roofs and treetops to look down upon, where as here, where there is a photo of a house roof in the Canary Islands, there is a 3D house (including all the walls) placed on top of it, again, just like you would see in real life! Even if you prefer no 3D objects if you want to see a specific location not covered up, you can always adjust your display settings in the sim, this way it suits everyone!
Now, what I think is the best feature of this addon is the nightlife in the Canarys. If you change your flight time to evening or night, you will be displayed a completely new set of photoreal textures, photographed at night. To accompany this, there is a setting in the Canarysim manager that allows you to add 3D lights to enhance buildings and roads, which I think you will agree after seeing the screenshot below, looks fantastic!
To conclude, I only have one last thing to say: DOWNLOAD IT NOW
There are no downsides, this package will suit everyone’s requirements and everyone’s systems.
Availible in the Fly Away Download library soon!
http://www.canarysim.com/
Talk about this article in the discussion 
