Society Islands Part Two – Tahiti and the Windward Islands

In September, 2021, Maps2Xplane released a stunning version of the Leeward Islands portion of French Polynesia. I had the pleasure of reviewing this package and you can read that review if you desire. One of the amazing features of these packages is the Terra-forming mesh modeling that completely alters the shorelines of the islands including the interaction of the shorelines with the water.

In December of 2022, Laminar Research released X-Plane 12 with dramatic changes made to the water features of the simulator that broke the mesh work done by Maps2Xplane. The developer then spent a lot of time revisiting and updating the Leeward islands and all of their other island packages to correct the mesh issues created by that simulator update. The results of that work on the Leeward Islands is reviewed here.

Now, at long last, the eagerly awaited completion of French Polynesia in the form of Tahiti and the Windward Islands has arrived in the X-Plane universe. So, without further ado, let’s climb in our virtual airliner and set our destination for Faa’a International airport on the island of Tahiti.

Introduction

The nautical surface of French Polynesia is roughly equivalent to the area occupied by Western Europe but the total land mass is limited to about 1600 square miles. Within French Polynesia lies the Society Island archipelago that is divided into two clusters: the Leeward Islands Îles Sous le Vent and the Windward Islands (Îles du Vent).

Our focus here is on the Windward Islands comprised of Tahiti, Mo’orea, Maiao,and Teti’aroa and Mehetia.Tahiti is home to Faa’a International Airport and two hospital helipads. Mo’orea hosts an airport and one helicopter pad. Teti’aroa features one airstrip. Maiao is a story unto itself with no developed aircraft facilities. Mehetia is an uninhabited active volcano. The Windward Islands certainly present with a number of different attributes.

Matthias and Albert tell us that, in addition to airports and helipads, their project includes custom meshes with photo-realistic textures for both land and sea, custom buildings and objects, regionally appropriate autogen and vegetation, and custom road networks and sea routes with dynamic traffic.

Lastly, they have implemented the animated marshallers in the Scenery Animation Manager plugin that you will have to obtain separately. (It should be noted that as of this writing, the SAM plugin appears to no longer work in X-Plane 12. There is no official word at this time regarding a potential update.)

It sounds like a lot of features packed into a small area so we’d best get started on our virtual tour of Tahiti and the Windward Islands.

Installation and Documentation

The Tahiti and Windward Islands package is available exclusively through Aerosoft for a regular-price charge of U.S. $38.99. The download and installation are accomplished using Aerosoft’s Aerosoft One utility. Installation is a matter of proceeding to the library tab of the utility once the purchase is concluded either through the website or the utility.

The package is listed as available with an “Install” button that, when selected, begins the automated installation process that will begin with a location choice of the simulator folder or an external Aerosoft Library folder. The Library folder can be anywhere and the installation will create the links in the X-Plane scenery file to the package location.

Once installed, within the scenery folder is a folder labeled Additions. Within this, is a Resources folder containing files that can be copied into “X-Plane/Resources/map data/water/”. These files will provide more detailed renditions of the Windward Islands on X-Plane’s map. They do get overwritten and need to be added back when X-Plane is updated.

If you’ve installed the package to the Aerosoft Library folder, you will have to do a little sleuthing to find the Windward Islands folder since it is in an “Add-ons” folder and identified by a number rather than the package name. Within the numbered folder is a “game Directory-Custom Scenery” folder that contains the actual Windward Islands folders.

The Queen of the Pacific

Tahiti is a 403 square mile island that represents about a third of the total land mass of French Polynesia. The island is formed by two ancient and eroded volcanic cones connected by a narrow land segment. The northern cone, Tahiti Nui, forms the main part of the island while the smaller Tahiti Iti is the foundation of the Taiarapu Peninsula. The peninsula is joined with the larger cone by the Isthmus of Taravao.

Tahiti features a fertile coastal plain that gives way to jagged and mountainous terrain the culminates with the 7,339 foot summit of Mount Orohena on Tahiti Nui and to the 4,340 foot summit of Roniu on Tahiti Iti. The island, as with the other Society Islands, is fringed with coral reefs and lagoons. Coconut Palms, pandanus, hibiscus, and tropical fruit trees are the prevailing naturally occurring vegetation.

The coastal plain supports the cultivation of coconuts for copra, sugarcane, vanilla, and coffee. Tahiti commerce is also supported by a steady tourist trade that is supported by the Faa’a International airport and the Papeete Transpacific port.

For the trivia fans, Tahiti served as home to the artist, Paul Gauguin, from 1891 – 93 and again from 1895 – 1901. The southern coast is now home to the Paul Gauguin museum where several of his works can be seen.

A VFR Tour of Tahiti

A Note About the Land: Maps2Xplane’s development style eschews satellite imagery in favor of custom high resolution textures with its application being determined by land class data. It is important to note that “photo-realistic textures” are not synonymous with “ortho-photo” or “satellite imagery.” The textures are very high resolution and detailed to include colors, vegetation, patterns, and type of ground cover, i.e., grass, stone, sand, etc.

The textures are visually pleasing from all altitudes and do not blur when engaging in a nap of the earth flight with your favorite helicopter. They also do not demonstrate inconsistent color shadings or “baked in” cloud cover.

The drawbacks for people that prefer satellite imagery include the lack of photos of houses, structures, streets, and the like which makes them unsuitable for VFR landmark recognition flying. This lack of real world detail also detracts from the sense of immersion that can be experienced with higher resolution orthophotos while flying at higher atltitudes.

As a result, it falls to the type and placement of the automatically generated buildings to provide that experience and that can be a hit or miss proposition in the best of cases.

Regardless of preference, it is an objective reality that the developer’s approach to scenery development results in a striking and dramatic improvement over the default representation.

Commencing the Tour: the Coastline
With that being said, we will begin our tour of Tahiti at the northeast end of Matavai Bay where James Cook established his observatory so he could record the 1769 Transit of Venus. The fortified camp was called Fort Venus and the location was named Point Venus. What we’ll find here is a custom model of the Point Venus lighthouse that was build in 1867 and served as the first lighthouse in the South Pacific.

We’ll also catch our first glimpse of a unique photo-realistic texture, that being black sand, in use. Unfortunately, the lighthouse is not an operational one although the developer intended it to be so.

Moving east along the north shore, we pass by two small islands and Tā Pahī point on the way to Papenoo beach that is popular with surfers and features more black sand.

This is as good a place as any to discuss the ground textures in use. As we fly along the coast, we can see multiple textures in use and, in this one scene, there are at least four applied seamlessly side-by-side. The texures are derived from actual land cover and, though not exact, are an excellent representation of what you might see from a satellite view of the island. These textures admirably support the vegetation and structure representations in use by the developer.

Speaking of vegetation and structures, a short distance further along the coast, we see what is most likely a coconut palm plantation with a crop production type of ground texture in use amidst the coastal plain grasslands. The dirt access roads pass among the evenly laid out rows of coconut palms.

Along with detailed photo-realistic textures, Maps2Xplane is known for custom meshes that provide more accuracy and detail than the land mesh that is utilized by Laminar for the default scenery. This is most evident in the fabrication of the coastlines and the construction of the mountain peaks and valleys. Meshes are also used to create objects that exist in the real world but are not found in the default scenery.

Here are some examples of the custom meshes in use and enhanced by the custom textures to provide an authentic look and feel to the island’s shore line.

While flying along the coast, we can also see the custom work utilized in the water surrounding the island. The water textures provide the color variations and gradations that we can see both close up and from a distance. Without the use of satellite images, we have color changes, reefs outlining lagoons, the waves breaking over the reefs, and a different water color where the ocean flows freely through the breaks in the reefs.

The one area that looks like it could use some tweaking is the marina / dock areas, Some of these areas are a combination of asphalt, dirt, rocks, grass, and vegetation but they get represented with heavy black structures that somehow don’t feel “tropical” and break the sense of immersion that is so carefully created throughout the rest of the scenery.

It may well be that these areas are so intricate that it would be difficult to do anything different than what the developers have done but perhaps a lighter colored texture would blend with the atmosphere of the islands in a more realistic way.

Inland
Turning from the coast, we begin our journey inward where Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Ite dominate the view. The details captured by the custom mesh are nothing short of amazing and the textures do an amazing job of coming very close to satellite view. While I have never been to the Windward Islands, the vegetation certainly feels authentic to me.

This is one of those occasions where pictures can take the place of one thousand words so I will let the views do the talking. The one thing that you can’t see here is the experience this intricate work creates when a low-flying helicopter crests a ridge and a deep fissure or valley suddenly challenges the pilots sense of altitude.

Structures
Before landing at Faa’a, we need to consider the customized structures and autogen that the developers have provided and evaluate their claim that they are regionally appropriate. A quick answer to that claim is provided by two images: one from over the Maps2Xplane version of Tahiti and the other from Google Earth. While I have never been to Tahiti, this looks like a very decent rendition.

In addition to a very good likeness with autogen buildings, there are custom buildings found in the scenery. The modeling of these structures is detailed, accurate, and complete in its presentation. Two of the most detailed outside of the airport, are hospitals with helipads. One is in Papeete ( Taaone Hospital, NTHP) and the other is found in Taravao on Tahiti Iti (Taravao Hospital, NTHV).

The French Polynesia style of the over-water resort bungalow is one of the gems of the Leeward Islands scenery and that continues here with an amazing amount of detailed textures on rather small buildings. The main buildings of the resorts are, unfortunately, a continued use of autogen from the Leeward Islands do not reflect the reality of either resort on the western coast of Tahiti Nui.

In Papeete, there are a couple of highly detailed sports complexes in addition to the autogen sport facilities that you will see scattered around the island. In addition to these complexes, you can ascertain your position by referencing the number of cemeteries that are depicted in the scenery.

The last piece of detailed scenery that is worth a few screenshots is the Port of Papeete with its myriad containers, cranes, warehouses, and trucks. There are a few ships in port and helicopter pilots will find yet another place to land on the rear deck of the military ship in dock.

Finishing our exhaustive tour of the island, it is time to approach and land at the gem of this modeled version of Tahiti.

Faa’a International Airport (NTAA)

The largest and principal airport in French Polynesia is Faa’a International Airport located on Tahiti Nui, just outside Papeete in the Commune of Faʻaʻā. It is classified as a state airfield with the leading airline at the being Air France while the flag carrier is Air Tahiti Nui. The third major airline that serves the airport is Hawaiian Airlines that connects Papeete to Honolulu. The airport has about 50 flights daily serving approximately 8000 passengers.

The airport features a single 3420 meter runway that lies five feet above sea level and is designated 04/22. Runway navigation aids include PAPI lighting, low intensity runway lighting systems for 04 and 22, runway end identifier lights for 04 and 22, and high intensity runway lights for 04 along with painted numbers and lines. Navigation aids at the airport include NDB,VOR, and LOC instrumentation and windsocks at either end of the runway.

Upon final approach to Runway 04, at midday, the details of this fairly complex (from a modeling perspective) facility come clearly into view. The first thing we notice is the runway itself. The color, texture, and reflectivity of the runway asphalt is realistic and quite satisfactory. It’s pleasing to see the grooves in the tarmac along with the accurate painted notations and the heavy rubber coat laid down by skidding tires.

Taxiways are clearly marked with lights and paint and the masterful texture work follows from the runway to the taxiways and the aprons where multiple textures are required to represent current conditions at the airport.

Faa’a International apron areas appear to be roughly divided into five parking areas, a helipad area, and a military area. The International and Domestic terminal is located on the South apron along with the Customs and Freight terminal building, with the maintenance hangars next to that and the military area beyond the maintenance hangars. At the south end lies parking area Golf and the Air Tahiti Nui offices and operations building.

The South apron and its structures are modeled with an eye for detail and accuracy. The textures in use throughout are very satisfactory and, with the proper pastiche of apron equipment present, provide for a realistic airport experience. Finding your way around is an easy endeavor due to both the lack of complexity and the accuracy and clarity of the lines and other markings one expects to see in a quality airport model.

Across the way lies the North apron which is home to general aviation activities at the airport. There are three designated parking areas plus a helipad. The area includes several smaller GA hangars. The dual hangar structure to the right of the large parking area entry taxiway houses the airport’s FBO. Painted details are clear with movement lines and parking stalls clearly marked so finding your way around is not very difficult.

Other structures in this area include the fuel farm, the emergency services building, and the tower complex.

As with the South apron, we see a continued penchant for detail, expert texture use, and well structured and accurate modeling of buildings with a variety of styles and materials.
Putting it all together results in a very immersive and pleasing rendition of Faa’a International airport that would merit the price of the scenery package on its own.

Mo’orea

The atoll of Mo’orea is the closest of the other Windward Isands to Tahiti. It is known for lush mouintains, tourquoise lagoons, and pristine beaches. Pretty much the same as most every leeward island. In the later years of its history, it became a popular tourist destination that spawned the coastal development of hotels and resorts of which you can find plenty in the scenery package and created a decline in the agricultural economy that had sustained the island in earlier years.

Mo’orea is about 16 km across and is dominated by Mount Tohivea that stands 1207 meters tall and is visible from Tahiti. It is surrounded by a reef that is fairly close to the main island resulting in a fairly narrow lagoon with several navigable passages through the reef.

Approaching the island from Tahiti, we can see that the treatment of Mo’orea is as satisfactory as that of Tahiti. The mesh is breathtaking, coastlines are accurate, the reefs, lagoon, and buildings are all of the same quality and caliber as what we’ve seen thus far. A couple of highlights include a large resort with lagoon bungalows and a golf course that you fly over on approach to runway 12.

On the southeastern coast of the island, tucked into a sheltered harbor, is a small and very detailed general hospital with a helicopter pad. This is Afareaitu Hospital and is designated NTHF. The area is very true to the real world (based on a comparison with Bing maps that appears to be more recent than Google in this case) and the skill with which the buildings are rendered is excellent, as we’ve come to expect.

Mo’orea (Temae) Airport (NTTM)
Opened as an airfield in 1967, the airport lies 15 km west of Tahiti on the northeast coast of Mo’orea. The existing terminal was completed in 1982 and the new tower was built in 1990. It is 5 m above mean sea level. The single runway is asphalt and is 1237 by 30 meters. It is designated 12/30. Air Tahiti offers shuttle flights from Tahiti and other flights connect Mo’orea with Bora Bora, Raiatea, and Huahine. These three airports are on the Leeward Islands and can be found detailed in Maps2Xplane’s scenery package.

As we would expect after our tour of Tahiti, NTTM is very detailed even though it is not a large or complex airport. The main terminal building is architecturally striking and the developers have done an excellent job capturing this right down to the garden in the interior rotunda.

To the southeast of the terminal lies the emergency equipment building and the NTTM tower. Both of these are well constructed with detail and quality texture work. I thought it might be nice to see a couple of emergency vehicles in the bays to help me identify what the building was.

The apron and runway are well marked and the texture work is flawless. Modeled lighting is true to the real world with PAPI, strobe, edge lighting, and end lights all present. The approach to runway 12 over the golf course and inland water is somewhat unique.

Mai’ao

The Forbidden Island
You will not find an airport, landing strip, helipad, or port on this 9 km2 island that lies about 80 km from Mo’orea. You will find the mesh and texture work of Maps2Xplane as well as the regional autogen that marks the only village in a valley on the southwest section of the island.

The two inland bodies of water, Rotoiti lake and Rotorahi lake, have become more salty than the surrounding ocean as a result of evaporation and the unusual appearance of the surrounding marsh lands have been captured quite nicely by the textures implemented for their rendering. The two lakes are also responsible for frequent rainbows occurring over the island giving it the nick- name “Teanuanuaiterai” (Rainbow).

The island is surrounded by a barrier reef that is responsible for the lagoon. It has both a natural (Apotoo) and a man made (Avarei) pass through it. The Avarei is closest to the village and was created to allow boat passage. Apotoo is only used as an alternate. The highest point is a small 154 m peak named Ravae.

Reportedly, the islanders distrust foreigners as the result of an incident that took place in the 1880’s and that did not reach resolution until 1992. A Cooperative was established to take care of the situation and the committee generated regulations disallowing the construction of airstrip and accommodating tourists. As a result, the island is isolated and is reminiscent of earlier life in the Windward Islands. One local source maintains that foreigners are discouraged from visiting and are banned from overnight stays without a formal invitation.

Tetiaroa (NTTE)

The next to last island that we will cover is Tetiaroa. This atoll consists of thirteen Motu surrounding a lagoon that has no reef opening, thereby making boat access near impossible. Tetiaroa has a long history of being a playground for the wealthy going back to the royal family of Tahiti.

It is now primarily known as the island Marlon Brando “owns”. Technically, he has a 99 year lease, achieved after much resistance and several failed attempts, that will expire in 2065. Brando died in 2004 but his dream to maintain the atoll in its natural state while allowing others to enjoy it has been realized with the 2014 opening of The Brando, a LEED Platinum Certified 100% energy independent luxury resort featuring 35 private villas. You can spend five nights here for US $12,200 per person plus the cost of your flight to Tahiti and then the flexible rate for the Air Teti’aroa plane from Tahiti to the landing strip on Motu Onetahi.

That landing strip is designated 06/24 and is a finished asphalt surface. Here, the developers treat us to a runway that is in much better repair than what appears to be the reality. It is about 2543 ft. in length and is demarcated by painted numbers, threshold markings, and a center line. Taxi guidance is painted on the ground as well. This runway has no lighting and the airstrip has no scheduled flights. The apron is small as one would expect and has a quaint grass-roofed colonnade that leads to the resort.

Meheti’a

What can one say about an island that is uninhabited, is an active volcano, and has no beach access? How about “it’s here.” There are not many developers that would go through the effort to create a small and, aeronautically speaking, insignificant 2.3 km2 volcano that was the site of a series of earthquakes in 1981.

The island is a young and active stratovolcano that lies 110 km from Tahiti and is part of the Teahitiʻa-Mehetia hotspot.

Maps2Xplane’s mesh work is an almost perfect match photos of the real world volcano and the textures are better than what can be obtained by orthophoto. If nothing else, Meheti’a speaks to the developer’s penchant for detail and, when tackling a project, doing it right.

Summary

Right. So here we are at the end of our tour and what have we found? I’d say we have found a scenery package that is well worth the cost of purchase. What adds to the value is the developer’s revisiting the package and updating it as needed to maintain compatibility with X-Plane which we’ve seen them do with every one of their other island packages.

Will there be an update to this one? I would say that, based on their forum on X-Plane.Org, that is a definite since they are now looking at adding XP12 specific items such as 3D trees, weather maps, and sounds. And, the updates will be free to pilots that own the current version.

What makes this worth the purchase price? Let’s think about what we have seen throughout our tour. We have seen amazing mesh work to define islands that were only vaguely represented in the default XP-12. We have seen amazing land texture work that rivals satellite images and, in some cases, betters it because of its consistency and lack of baked in cloud images.

We have seen the implementation of autogen that does seem to be regionally themed if not entirely spot-on. We have seen a rendering of water features that I, personally, have yet to come across in any other package not done by this developer. We have also seen a few detailed structures that have been rendered in unparalleled realism.

Is it perfect?
Of course it isn’t since no project can ever be perfect. The faults are few and limited in scope. My personally biggest complaint continues from the Leeward Islands: the docks are kludgy at best. They are the single feature that breaks the immersion factor the quickest. Unfortunately, there is simply not a way for the developer to do anything differently that would not result in a huge jump in cost for the armchair pilot.

Perhaps, one day, X-Plane will revisit what they make available for docks that fit in with various regions since they are utilized by float plane pilots. One can only hope…
My bottom line is this: I think this package has a limited appeal to airline pilots. It has more value to small craft GA pilots and presents the biggest “bang for the buck” to helicopter pilots providing you equip your whirligig with floats.

There are some vast, ocean traversing, distances between these islands, after all.

It has been over a year since my X-Plane rig crashed and burned. This is the first package I review upon my return on my new rig and I couldn’t have asked for a better re-introduction to the world of X-Plane flight simulation.

The package can be bought at the dedicated Aerosoft store, X-Plane.Org or SimMarket.

Until next time, cheers!

Feel free to contact me if you’ve got additional questions related to this impression. You can reach me via email Angelique.van.Campen@gmail.com or to Angelique@X-Plained.com.

With Greetings,
Paul Beckwith
 
 

Add-on:	Payware Maps2XPlane Tahiti and Windward_Islands
Publisher | Developer:	Aerosoft / X-Plane.Org / SimMarket | Maps2Xplane
Description:	Highly realistic representation of the Society Islands Tahiti and the Windward
Software Source / Size:	Download / Approximately 7,53GB (download)
Reviewed by:	Paul Beckwith
Published:	January 6th 2025
Hardware specifications:	- i9-13980HX - 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM - Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB GDDR6X - X-56 Flight System - Logitech G Rudder Pedals
Software specifications:	- Windows 11 Pro - X-Plane 12.1.3 r2 (64 Bit)