This will make Germany even more real – and the world more dynamic
As shown as part of the Xbox stream at Gamescom, the Microsoft Flight Simulator will soon receive a comprehensive update for the DACH region. We spoke to the Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator about realism and future plans.
The big DACH world update for the Microsoft Flight Simulator is to appear on September 7th. Be it the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna or the Wartburg near Eisenach: With this update, over 100 well-known sights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are being modeled from scratch, making them much more realistic. There are also new airports, for example in Lübeck, Stuttgart or Klagenfurt. Players can also look forward to new missions, discovery flights, landing challenges and bush trips.
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Data is required for realism
In order to create a building like the Wartburg in a digital game, one thing above all is needed: data. “The colleagues from Bing Maps fly around the world and take aerial photos,” says Jörg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator. They would have looked at this data, together with satellite images, and decided on the basis of the data available which locations could best be modeled. “Then we approached the federal states to see whether they could provide us with even more data,” he says. Geographical details, information on building materials or the climate – with data of all kinds and from different sources, the developers can then create detailed models that are ultimately integrated into the game. But if there is a lack of data, buildings, areas of land or airports would have to be modeled by hand. “That takes a lot of time. There are new dates for Berlin, for example. But the city is so big, it would take a little eternity to build it all, ”says Neumann. He had already built the airport in Stuttgart by hand – a particular pleasure for him as a native of Stuttgart.
The Junkers JU 52, which is new to the game. (Screenshot: Xbox Game Studios)
Often the input comes from people and not from machines. In the new world update, that’s about as well Junkers JU 52 aircraft contain. A machine from 1932. “To make it as realistic as possible, we worked with the builder’s great-grandchild, looked at the last flying copy and spoke to a pilot who has already flown the machine,” he tells us. Parts of the Microsoft Flight Simulator could now be seen as a digital museum. Machines and buildings that may soon no longer be accessible are preserved here.
The 3 functions of the world
In order to breathe life into the Flight Simulator, Jörg Neumann divides the game world into three functions: static, dynamic and living. The current updates mainly deal with the static world. This means the landscape, the cities or airports: elements of the world that are not constantly changing. The dynamic world includes, for example, the weather or the seasons. “We’re always trying to get better. For example, we can map large hurricanes. In local weather, however, it gets more difficult. ”In theory, they could also show how much snow there is in the Harz Mountains and, accordingly, show the depth of the snowed-in trees in 2D. There is also data on how thick the pack ice is at the South Pole or where forest fires are currently raging. Here, too, it’s a question of data: every detail of the game world naturally also needs storage space.
Above all, a lot of data is needed to represent a city like Cologne. (Screenshot: Xbox Game Studios)
The third function, the living one, is meanwhile one of the most interesting – and the most complicated. “The more we go into the granular, the more the question of data protection comes up at some point,” says Neumann. As soon as people switched on their phones, one could theoretically find out where they are – and show something like that in a game. There would also be data on shipping, train connections and, of course, flights that cross the world. The movements and activities of people in the real world can also be mapped digitally to a large extent. But the question is always: How deep do you want to go? “We’ll feel our way closer to that,” he says.
What else can you expect from the Flight Simulator
In the months and years to come, you can expect that there will always be updates that make the game environment more realistic or real. More details, more dynamic changes. Neumann is already thinking about the future of flying: the much-discussed air taxis, for example. New technology should also be made playable in the Flight Simulator.
Jörg Neumann is also talking about game mechanics enhancements that will appear in the coming months. “We want to make it possible to fly against your friends,” he says. Competing against each other at 500 miles an hour or even flying in formation with each other – they want to make all of this possible. However, the Flight Simulator should remain an open ecosystem. There are external companies and developers who work on add-ons, create new planes or airports. “We talk to them a lot. We try not to do the work that they have already done. “
The flight simulator can therefore be more than “the best possible flight simulation”. Due to the amount of data and meticulousness, the representation of a world is created here that is getting closer and closer to our reality. The ability to represent the ecology of the world. That not only makes the players’ experience better. It can be a step towards preserving the digital world.
