While Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has been about barely a couple of weeks now, the community are already fast at work on making MSFS 2020 so much better. One area where the community and modders have really stepped up is fixing scenery and landmarks in the game.
It turns out that Bing Maps is not as comprehensive or as detailed as Google Maps, so some landmarks are missing and existing buildings improperly converted into 3D models using Blackshark.ai’s 2D to 3D generation artificial intelligence algorithm.
In fact, at the time of writing this, prominent and well-known landmarks are completely missing from MSFS 2020, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. Fortunately, someone in the community added it in and smashed it out of the park.
You can find many completely additions from the community here in the /r/FS2020Creation subreddit and some of the work done here will blow you away.
Fortunately, someone in the community has shared how they go about creating new scenery and landmarks in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, but it is time intensive, so make a coffee first.
In the above video from Flying Theston, you’re guided through the process of exporting photogrammetry model data from Google Maps and importing it into Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Of course, it’s not a simple export and then import.
The amazing thing about MSFS 2020 is the SDK allows this level of customisation. The ability to replace segments of the game itself with more realistic scenery and buildings, the community are filling in the blanks and quite fast as well.
When I get a moment, I want to try my hand at exporting some data from Google Maps and creating my own scenery in MSFS 2020. For now, I’m just trying to remember all of the keyboard shortcuts to fly a plane using a keyboard and mouse.
