To Reach Such Graphics, Microsoft Required US Government Approval and 4 Years of Work. MSFS Update Is Devs' Holy Grail
The former Microsoft Flight Simulator will be developed even after the debut of the new release. A U.S. update has just hit the game.
While Microsoft is concentrating on the forthcoming, revolutionary release of its flight simulator series, the Asobo studio is certainly not neglecting the previous installment of the series. Microsoft Flight Simulator received a big Update IX, which significantly enriches the American regions of the game.
The patch is now available for download, and its features were showcased in a post on the official game website and in a new trailer on YouTube.
As the name suggests, City Update 9 focuses on refreshing the appearance of areas near cities. This time it affected the northern regions of the USA, including Detroit, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and New York (as well as Washington). In this way, the Asobe team is celebrating American Independence Day on July 4th.
In practice, this entails improving the game with updated aerial images and new digital elevation models, among other things. Many locations from these regions of the USA were taken into consideration, which - as the devs revealed in an interview for HellSimmer.com - required Asobo studio 4 years of cooperation with the American government.
This is roughly twice as long as similar projects usually take. The primary challenge was the substantial air traffic restrictions in the area. Microsoft therefore had to closely cooperate with officials in order to carry out this work at all.
The project also involved teams from Bing and Vexcel Imaging, as well as state-of-the-art cameras and sensors. AI algorithms were also used, which among other things helped to remove shadows and clouds and "flatten" trees in images obtained using photogrammetry.
Asobo / Microsoft.
Asobo / Microsoft.
Asobo / Microsoft.
Apart from that, a new machine has been added to the game today: the legendary Curtiss C-46 Commando, which gained fame during World War II and later transported passengers until 1968. Even today, in the 21st century, this aircraft is used by researchers (for example in Arctic).
Unfortunately, it has also been announced that the release of the update adding the Boeing 707-320C to Microsoft Flight Simulator will be delayed. The machine was supposed to be in the game yesterday. The debut date for this airplane hasn't been announced yet.
