Last week the new Microsoft Flight Simulator got released and with it the realistic rendering of every city around the world. The game developers used various techniques to build a 3D world including using 3D data from maps as well as using AI to convert 2D satellite maps to 3D world. It’s actually a very interesting process by itself which you could read a bit more about here.
Anyway, the video above is a Kuwait flyover if you’re curious to see how Kuwait looks like in the game. Some buildings like Hamra Tower and Souq Sharq seem to be there but some popular landmarks like the Avenues, Kuwait Towers and the National Assembly are missing. JACC is even still an empty sand plot in the game. Check it out the video above and some in-game screenshots here.
Thanks James and _madlib_
8 replies on “Kuwait in Microsoft Flight Simulator”
The game uses bing maps data, so that would explain the old imagery.
Yeah it’s a shame the devs had to use bing maps since Bing only has photogrammetry of cities in the US and a handful in Europe.. meanwhile google maps has photogrammetry data of most major cities worldwide. not even mentioning the appalling quality of bing maps and how old they are.
Local devs are already working on an overlay to include many buildings as well as update the area around the airport (MSFS use bing maps to populate the graphics and Kuwait’s Bing satellite images are many years old (4-6 years old as per my estimate). I was actually surprised to see Jaber Causeway since it’s not in the satellite images.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what the community makes! Do you have any idea where this will be released and how we’ll be able to download it?
And same here, the first thing I noticed after taking off from OKBK was the Jaber Causeway and didn’t remember it being in Bing maps last time I checked..
Can you land at Kuwait Airport in the game?
yes, you can
I got my first Microsoft FS98 back in 99. The graphics of the game was of course nowhere near FS2020, but you used imagination to compensate for it. I would invite my friends over and we assembled dining chairs to make up a cabin. My sister served them refreshments and snacks while i was flying:)
I will not be downloading FS 2020 because my salary as an airline first officer is not enough for fancy PC and my sister is too tired to serve me aboard my PC as she working for Kuwait Airways as a flight attendant 24/7.
Be careful with this game, it might jumanji you in forever:)
lol this is actually pretty cool. Someone should do this for real as a start up, like recreate a mock up of the first class cabin of an upmarket carrier like Emirates or Cathay Pacific with MFS2020 running in the bg etc.and open it up to the public as a small restaurant or glorified small movie theatre and charge them per “flight” where they could spend time dining and watching films or even sleeping, in a fun cozy environment without the jet lag and screaming kids. I’m sure it’s been done before but probably not in Kuwait. Mark are you down for this? 😀