Missing Landmarks - MS, 3PD or freeware?

[joschy66 13]

From what we've seen so far, MSFS looks fantastic almost everywhere in the world. However what most reviewers complain (or even laugh) about are missing landmarks.

And I have to admit, Washington without the Capitol, Paris without Notre Dame and so forth looks kind of strange. Not to mention cities that have no handmade landmark at all. Especially in Europe important buildings (like castles, cathedrals, television towers or lighthouses) certainly define the whole landscape around them and are vital orientation points for VFR flying. Not only those in cities, but especially those in the middle of nowhere (Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Pont du Gard...)

So what do you think we'll see after release: Microsoft/Asobo handing out more landmarks (for free)? Or third party developers jumping in (ORBX already started with London) or will there be a community delivering handmade landmark buildings?

I think packs would be cool, like "European Landmarks" or something. There used to be a product called German Landmarks about 15 years ago which was pretty good value for little price.

[RALF9636 1,960]

I expect several more regional landmark packs by Orbx soon.

It shouldn't be a large task for them to bring all the landmarks of their existing regions into MSFS, like power lines, bridges, churches etc. Orbx already have all these landmarks and just need to port them into MSFS.

[Nedo68 533]

i will build my own missing landmarks around where i live once i get hands on the SDK,

i will build this just for me, but everybody will be able to get it free, thats my plan.

I hope for alot freeware stuff for MSFS in the near future.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Nedo68

[2reds2whites 827]

I think there'll be plenty of freeware options. So easy to knock together a (fairly basic) 3d model, and hopefully there'll be collaborations where people pool their models to put together 'packages' for cities or areas.

Need a White House?

Find a royalty free model;

https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/architectural/street/game-jam-game-assets

Stick a texture on it, Bob's your Uncle.

Edited August 10, 2020 by 2reds2whites

[dilore 126]

For FSX/P3D airfields and landmarks for whole countries are available as freeware, I am for example using Norway and Sweden in P3D. This took a couple of years to accomplish though, and required dedicated enthusiats.

ORBX has hundreds of POIs in each of their regional scenery packages, I hope they will provide these for MSFS too (and my guess is they will).

[jlund 380]

How about 3D models in Sketchup Warehouse, are they royalty free and (if possible) can be used in MSFS?

[Will Fly For Cheese 1,710]

17 minutes ago, jlund said:

How about 3D models in Sketchup Warehouse, are they royalty free and (if possible) can be used in MSFS?

They can and I have used before. Be sure to optimise the poly count though as Sketchup doesn't trend towards gaming so they're BIG. There are resources to reduce poly counts for models going in to P3D/ FSX but it's a wait and see with MSFS exactly what will be required.

[jlund 380]

7 minutes ago, Will Fly For Cheese said:

but it's a wait and see with MSFS exactly what will be required.

Yes, I was just curious if sketchup and Blender models were an option to have landmarks, bridges, windmills etc. etc. in the new sim. But I also think we will see developers make POI's and missing landmarks, for the new sim. 

[Der Zeitgeist 1,575]

What I'm hoping for is not just large and famous landmark buildings, but also the small details we had in previous sims with certain addons, like from OrbX.

Things like small boats, piers, seaplane bases.

 

[Kopteeni 819]

Most certainly there will be a massive stream of freeware landmarks. They're easy to create and require only basic modelling/texturing skills for the detail level that's required for flight sim sight seeing.

[ckyliu 1,749]

3 hours ago, joschy66 said:

So what do you think we'll see after release: Microsoft/Asobo handing out more landmarks (for free)? Or third party developers jumping in (ORBX already started with London) or will there be a community delivering handmade landmark buildings

I hope the former, but the pessimist in me says expect the latter. For me the lack of custom landmarks in non photogrammetry areas (far less than in FSX) has been one of the most disappointing points of the new sim.

[bonchie 2,305]

With the SDK being open and the airport editor having a visual mode (shown in the feature discovery series), I imagine MSFS will have a much more booming freeware market than FSX had. We may get to XP11 levels.

[Der Zeitgeist 1,575]

1 minute ago, ckyliu said:

I hope the former, but the pessimist in me says expect the latter. For me the lack of custom landmarks in non photogrammetry areas (far less than in FSX) has been one of the most disappointing points of the new sim.

I'm not so sure we really have fewer custom landmarks in the sim overall, compared to FSX. There's a lot of custom buildings in places no one ever went to before, like the stadium in Pyongyang.

[ckyliu 1,749]

@Der Zeitgeist Well looking at places I know that have featured in videos, such as London and Edinburgh, there's a major reduction. In London all the skyscrapers are generic except the Shard (whereas before Canary Wharf complex was custom amongst others), there's no Thames Barrier, no London Eye, Buckingham Palace is an office block with terraced housing in front of it(!), all which were in FSX - also HMS Belfast appears scuttled! In Edinburgh, the Castle appears as apartment blocks(!), the world famous Forth Crossings are just simple flat bridges, Murrayfield Stadium is flat - these were all there in default FSX 13 years ago.

What landmarks Asobo have modelled are very nice, there just isn't much of it.

Edited August 10, 2020 by ckyliu

[bonchie 2,305]

16 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

@Der Zeitgeist Well looking at places I know that have featured in videos, such as London and Edinburgh, there's a major reduction. In London all the skyscrapers are generic except the Shard (whereas before Canary Wharf complex was custom amongst others), there's no Thames Barrier, no London Eye, Buckingham Palace is an office block with terraced housing in front of it(!), all which were in FSX - also HMS Belfast appears scuttled! In Edinburgh, the Castle appears as apartment blocks(!), the world famous Forth Crossings are just simple flat bridges, Murrayfield Stadium is flat - these were all there in default FSX 13 years ago.

What landmarks Asobo have modelled are very nice, there just isn't much of it.

It's more accurate to say that MSFS models land marks in different places compared to FSX.

You have 400 cities of not just landmarks, but every single land mark. You have reductions in land marks in AI areas though like London because they haven't hand-crafted to the same extent. But then again, there are hand-crafted areas that weren't present in FSX at all, and certainly not in the same detail.

FSX's system was just different. It was easier for them to decide what to model because they could just pick capital/major world cities and do it. But photogrammetry coverage is much more diverse (I never expected my city to be covered but it is) and doesn't follow the logic of major cities being prioritized.

Edited August 10, 2020 by bonchie