I'm sure some of you have already tried this, you can even find video of it online:

Exploring the world on foot.

 

This summer I can't go hiking in the mountains for real, and will only be able to make some local trips. To scratch the itch to see real mountains I tried something.

I picked up a tour guide which I had in my library from an area I have not yet been in real life and randomly chose a tour. Then I downloaded the gpx data for and imported it into LittleNavmap. Unfortunately it will only show the waypoints and not the actual trail, that one I had to figure out on the map my self. Then I picked one of the electric aircrafts in the sim and spawned myself at the starting point of the tour and just started walking.

I am amazed. Sure it does lack a few important features. The sim's position in Littlenavmap is firmly centerd on your aircraft and not on you as a person, so you don't know where you are exactly. Also no compass to guide you.

And many parts of the trails when they lead through forests are invisible because they not visible on the satelite image either. And even where they are visible they are often blocked by foliage that shouldn't be there, because there is no OSM data to tell the sim to stop doing that.

But with a bit of dead reckoning one will eventually find the right way and more or less the right rought. Uphill one is of course way faster than in real life because the avatar does not seem to mind walking up slopes. When it's flat though you walk about as fast as you do in real life. So when the tourguide tells you you have a 3 hour walk in front of you you have to plan walking about 75 minutes in the sim, depending on the terrain and your pathfinding.

 

I'd never have though this feature to have so much potential. It's kind of like a less refined way of walking through the world of "Kingdom Come Deliverance" The soundscapes are spot on, the wind is blowing the birds are singing in the morning you see the valley below you the mountains in the distance, the draw distance of the trees and buildings is perfect for this kind of exploration.

 

If you had told someone 25 years ago when the first open world games came out that in the future you would have the entire Earth to explore on foot like this, they would have laughed and called you crazy.

 

There are a few things that could be improved. The toggle message at the bottom of the screen needs to go, the position of your avatar on the map should be visible, an Open Topo Layer for the map would be great, and of course the probability to see fauna should be increased. Birds for example would be great.

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by Farlis

Time for a Mountainbike in the sim it seems. As this would be traceable by LNM and such

When MSFS 2020 was released, I was fiercly convinced that it was part of a MS masterplan for simulation games. You could have trucks running cargo from an airport to population centers and buses and trains to carry pax to the airport. You could connect economic simulations on the ground with those of airlines. Increased services and infrastructure (e.g., setting up hiking trails) could lead to population growth and you could get a major centre built up in your hometown if you find enough people to join you in the endeavour. People who may not like flight simming but love driving buses or trains, or just like to manage a virtual company.

Five years down the road nothing of this materialized. Strange.

4 hours ago, Farlis said:

...

There are a few things that could be improved. The toggle message at the bottom of the screen needs to go, the position of your avatar on the map should be visible, an Open Topo Layer for the map would be great, and of course the probability to see fauna should be increased. Birds for example would be great.

I can tell you that something similar is in the works 😗

 

In the meantime, if you enjoy guided tours in the mountains, this may be fun

 

 

Back in December,  when I was finding 2024 particularly frustrating, I hooked up my PC to our big, 4k family tv in the living room.

I took off from Barrow-in-Furness airport in one of the bug smashers to explore the Lake District.

Because the UK is postage stamp sized compared to the USA - and I'm familiar with the area - I was able to crash land in the visitor centre carpark 😃 and my wife and I spent a pleasant evening climbing Helvellyn via Red Tarn and then out along Striding Edge to the summit. All from the comfort of our sofa using a wireless Xbox controller. She even agreed to wear my TrackIR hat!

I set the TLOD to 400. 60fps doesn't really mean anything at ground level and walking pace. The Lake District has had grazing animals all over it for hundreds of years so there's no forests or much in the way of tree cover to interrupt the view. It's also one of those places where the weather can provide all four seasons within the space of twenty four hours.

I have to say it was amazing. The level of ground and elevation detail 24 can provide, combined with live weather meant we were in and out of cloud cover and occasional rain and the views were magnificent and completely convincing. 

@AnkH, mountain bike would be ideal for this.

 

I would be happy if we just could land, leave the plane, walk over to another addon and drive/fly this. 

Imagine flying the Fenix A320 to somewhere, then enter the parked Heli and take a sightseeing flight and then land and walk back to the A320 again and fly. 

Everything seamlessly, cockpit states and fuel saved. 

@mamu82 Tsk, tsk... shameless advertizing plug, eh?

 

No worries I have been using your project lifts forever and I will get a payware version with animated ones in a blink of an eye.

In fact I could have used it half an hour ago when my little hike was over and I flew the Jetson back to the place I stayed last summer. I was flying low enough to see all the lifts, among them one I took last year and thought to myself: "Now wouldn't it be cool if they were moving?"

 

As for the hike: I used VR had to find some compromise for TLOD (in 2D I can do 400 without a problem when walking on the ground in VR I have to reduce to something around 230) and then took a route that I had planned on my real vacation last year but had to cut short because it was a route that started too far away from the bus stop (I travel without car). The real hike take 6 hours and 30 Minutes according to my book, the virtual one took me about 3 hours. 

I found that on the downhill part of the route the walking speed of the avatar is only ever so slightly faster than I walk in real life. So if the guide says it will take you 1 hour to get down from somewhere it will take you 50 minutes in the sim. 

All of this really helps you appreciate the fact more that the virtual world is indeed the same size as the real one. Flying around in it, especially on a 2D Monitor can make everything feel smaller.

But that's just because flying is such a fast way of travel. Exploring the world on foot in the sim shows you how big it really is. 

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by Farlis

@mamu82 Bought it.  😁

 

By the way it would help us users of the freeware versions of your stuff to decide to buy the payware more if the feature lists explained a little better what the improvements of the freeware version are. 

For example I was eyeying the Powerlines as well, but hesitated because I can't really see the advantages of the freeware I already use. 

Lol 😆 not really an ad

More of a market survey,

I had little return/reviews on the guided tour part of those animated cable cars, 

And that part alone took a lot of effort training the AI trying to teach her the difference between left and right 

 

So before getting involved in walking tours I would love a bit more feedback 

 

I'm actually a mountaineer and love exploring paths in the game (already have some personal tools to show the paths on the ground)

 

The idea is to provide an interface to load kml/gpx,

Showing the data on a moving map on the EFB , and if course the position of the avatar 

According to the path, placing signs/stones with path markings and numbers,

and have a guide character to follow,

Leaving to AI a narration about the surrounding 

That is all possible, dunno how much people will be interested!

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by mamu82

50 minutes ago, mamu82 said:

That is all possible, dunno how much people will be interested!

Count me in. If it also helps you to find paths more easy that are overgrown by the foliage and are hard to spot in the satelite image that would be even better.

 

 Regarding the lifts, I haven' had time to test them yet and I also haven't browsed the suggestions on discord but there is one thing I immediately thought of:

Operating hours. You being a mountain guy yourself, are probably very much aware of them. This unwritten rule in the alps that all of them close down at 17:00. A time that I always found ridiculously early.

I only can think of a few exceptions, like the cablecars that are part of the public transportation network, like the one that connects Bolzano and Upper Bolzano.

So it would be cool if your virtual counterparts also close down at 17:00, or if you really want to be a stickler for realism, take their last ride so that it ENDS at 17:00.

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by Farlis

4 hours ago, AnkH said:

Time for a Mountainbike in the sim it seems. As this would be traceable by LNM and such

There is a rideable bike for MS2020 and MS2024:  Black Rock City Bike for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS, available on flightsim.to.

Thanks for this idea! I have enjoyed walking in MS2024 but the inability to track my location in LittleNavMap is a problem. The bike, though, should be trackable as you say.   

 

 

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by cobalt

2 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Back in December,  when I was finding 2024 particularly frustrating, I hooked up my PC to our big, 4k family tv in the living room.

I took off from Barrow-in-Furness airport in one of the bug smashers to explore the Lake District.

Because the UK is postage stamp sized compared to the USA - and I'm familiar with the area - I was able to crash land in the visitor centre carpark 😃 and my wife and I spent a pleasant evening climbing Helvellyn via Red Tarn and then out along Striding Edge to the summit. All from the comfort of our sofa using a wireless Xbox controller. She even agreed to wear my TrackIR hat!

I set the TLOD to 400. 60fps doesn't really mean anything at ground level and walking pace. The Lake District has had grazing animals all over it for hundreds of years so there's no forests or much in the way of tree cover to interrupt the view. It's also one of those places where the weather can provide all four seasons within the space of twenty four hours.

I have to say it was amazing. The level of ground and elevation detail 24 can provide, combined with live weather meant we were in and out of cloud cover and occasional rain and the views were magnificent and completely convincing. 

@AnkH, mountain bike would be ideal for this.

 

There is a rideable bike available on filghtsim.to for MS2020 and MS2024.

Somebody walked up Mount Everest in MSFS 2024: 

Nevermind the improved flight dynamics, the improved ground handling, the more realistic terrain AI placed rocks and boulders across the world, and the improved lightning, just having a more realistic world to walk around, makes MSFS 2024 such a huge improvement.

We're living in the Matrix 🙃

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by QuaxTheSnoopie
Matrix should have been written in capitals

Look at that nutter on Everest. Totally inadequate clothing, and a pair of trainers!