Did a flight a couple of days ago from Watson Lake to Whitehorse in the Yukon.  Or should I say, I started  a trip but didn't finish.  Just west of Watson Lake I ran into the worst looking scenery I've seen in many years.  Imagine FSX default landclass in a poorly represented area with the lowest resolution mesh and no autogen.  That's an understated description of what I saw.  I could see better quality in the distance but after a short time, and with any sort of immersion completely gone, I bailed.  Left a really bad taste and I haven't flown since.  Silly?  Perhaps, but it really spoiled things as this leg was a continuation of a trip up the Alaska highway I'd been looking forward to, and I can't decide whether I want to risk resuming in Whitehorse or just move on to another area.

I'd read there were areas in the far north which didn't have good satellite coverage, but this was worse than what I expected.  Far worse. 

So, a couple of questions.  Has anyone else made this trip and encountered similar, or was this simply a glitch on my system?  Are there other areas waiting to ruin the experience just over the horizon in this area?  I've been looking at some Alaska airports to purchase recently, but I'm not going to bother if there are more areas like this waiting to ruin the experience.

 

Scott

1 hour ago, tttocs said:

Has anyone else made this trip and encountered similar, or was this simply a glitch on my system? 

This area has really bad coverage.. you are not alone in this!   Alaska is better in my experience.

I flew up there (northern Canada/ Yukon) a few years ago (MSFS2020) and it was bad as you describe.

I haven't flown up there since to check if it has improved ('24).

My experience with Alaska is same as Bert's, Nome to Barrow (that's a remote route) down to Anchorage and the coverage was good throughout.

MSFS Map Enhancement will solve the problem if you purchase the paid version.

 

Use MAPBOX as your map source and enjoy a nice landscape

 

I don't know about MS20204 but 2020 has lots of areas with FS8 looking textures 😞 

It is unfortunate how poorly rendered the Canadian North is given how beautiful it is in real life.

17 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

This area has really bad coverage.. you are not alone in this!   Alaska is better in my experience.

 

16 hours ago, Mace said:

My experience with Alaska is same as Bert's, Nome to Barrow (that's a remote route) down to Anchorage and the coverage was good throughout.

Well thanks guys.  I held out a slim hope that I just had a random glitch, but that's obviously not the case.  This is unfortunate for those, like me, wanting to recreate GA trips to Alaska from the lower 48 as the three most common routes taken (Alaska Highway, Cassiar Highway and The Trench) are impacted.  While it's good to hear that Alaska itself is better, having sections of the routes most of us take - I've flown both the Alaska Highway and The Trench routes - sure takes some of the fun out of things.  Sure the coastal route is spectacular, but it's the least used route to traverse due to weather concerns.  Note I'm not saying there isn't much GA flying in that area, only that it's the least used of the common routes for getting to Alaska from the lower 48.

Don't think the map enhancement option would be viable for me, and the paid version is pretty off-putting with no availability from trusted vendors and little information given before you have to give over your personal info and payment to a dubious looking site.

Thanks all for the responses!

 

Scott

I have found northern BC and Yukon and North West Territories has been totally neglected.  There are 100s of small GA airports and the terrain is unique, yet, the focus of course one can understand this, is USA, Europe and the more populous areas.  Quite frankly, to get around this, I use my XP12+ to fly those areas where the imagery with ortho photos is fantastic.  

I live in the Yukon. I dont have a problem around Whitehorse Etc... I never fly around Watson Lake. 

On 7/19/2025 at 1:37 PM, YukonPete said:

I live in the Yukon. I dont have a problem around Whitehorse Etc... I never fly around Watson Lake. 

Well that's at least a bit encouraging.  I may go ahead, take my chances and continue on the next leg from Whitehorse to Northway, AK - the common point to clear customs for Alaska Highway fliers.

 

Scott

Is this unique to the 2020 version or carries over to 2024 as well?

2024 has satellite orthos that work. Flew from Yellowknife through a wall of smoke to  Wekweeti (cywe) and it is still all ortho, however:

1. Yellowknife had no 3d building representations where as similar sized village/towns in USA do

2. On the orthos much of the terrain is snowy.

3. on the ground no scrub and grass, just pines sitting in a few inches of snow. Not at all much like real flora/ground conditions i see on the web and webcams.

On 7/19/2025 at 7:37 PM, YukonPete said:

I live in the Yukon. I dont have a problem around Whitehorse Etc... I never fly around Watson Lake. 

In which sim ?

Because in MSFS2020, I've recently made a flight from Beaver Creek to Whitehorse, and more than 99% of the terrain in between was covered with purely generic textures, until less than 10 miles away from Whitehorse...

About the Map Enhancement tool, why was the payware version recommended ? The freeware one doesn't work in that area ? I thought it did ?...

3 hours ago, Daube said:

Because in MSFS2020, I've recently made a flight from Beaver Creek to Whitehorse, and more than 99% of the terrain in between was covered with purely generic textures, until less than 10 miles away from Whitehorse...

Ugh!  Right along my route to Northway.  Thanks for letting me know and saving me the frustration.

 

Scott

Well you might want to give the maps enhancement tool a try. The freeware version, I mean.

I just gave it a go, somewhere halfway, and I was getting some normal ground textures from the "Bing Latest" server. Looked nice enough, but some places had clouds on the texture... It's aerial textures after all... in the default MSFS content, we get generic textures in place of white clouds on ground, but we get a lot of them... 

Not sure if the textures from Google pro (needs the payware version of Map Enhancement if I understood properly) would give better results there... But at least the freeware version won't cost you much to try 🙂

I have flown extensively in the north.  Years back I made my own orthos, still stored on my drive.  2020 have generic textures everywhere, it's rather boring.  I have not tried Map Enhancement for 2020, but only in XP12.2.  Map Enhancement is spot on, particularly if you use ARC coverage in my view.  I love the ability to switch on the fly between providers and see which one works best in a particular area.  MS generic textures are terrible in this area in my view.