the rest of the world? That’s where the modding
community comes in. The FS2020Creation subreddit is
a bustling swap-shop packed with homebrewed cities,
airports and natural wonders. And while some are the
result of modders applying their 3D modelling skills,
there’s another approach that accounts for the majority
of these creations. Bing isn’t the only source of publicly
available photogrammetry for cities.
Google has its own bank, used for Google Maps, and
“its coverage is much better than in Bing Maps”, explains
Perpechka, who says the quality of imagery is also better.
The community quickly found a way of ‘slurping’ data
from Google Maps, feeding
it into Blender’s modelling
tools and back into the
game – Perapechka has
made this even simpler
with his Google Earth
Decoder tool. “People were
spending weeks to rip just a
few square kilometres. So I
decided to make something better, something where you
can just select region on map, press ‘download’, and voila.”
IS IT A BIRD?
One of the most prolific modders working with this
slurped data is known as ‘High_Frame_Rates’ in the
community. “I’ve never done any kind of modding to this
extent in other videogames,” he says – but just a few days
after Flight Sim’s launch, having taken a test flight around
his native Australia and noticing a lot of missing
landmarks, he got to work. Since then, he’s uploaded
versions of Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.
Seeing its own community switch to Google data is
perhaps a little embarrassing for Microsoft, given Flight
Sim is, in part, a showcase for its tools and platforms. But
it hasn’t discouraged modders yet, and the ones I speak to
are unconcerned about any issues – at least, not from
Microsoft’s side. “Since day one there has been talk about
this breaking Google’s Terms of Service, which it may
very well,” High_Frame_Rates says. The 3D imagery
they’re using is commercial, and not intended to be used
in this way – but there have been no cease-and-desists yet,
and the general consensus is that Google isn’t too worried
about some gamers demonstrating its product’s
superiority over the
competition. “I think the
only real concern is anyone
trying to use Google’s
photogrammetry scenery
and profit off of it – that’s
when Google will probably
have a problem with it.”
Instead, Perapechka sees
a bright future for Flight Sim modding. He’s currently
researching autogeneration to replace Microsoft’s own
processes. He believes that by implementing neural
post-processing methods, it should be possible to
automatically create more detailed cities. “Of course,
you can say that just one software engineer cannot do
something better than Microsoft, but recent research
papers make me think that it’s possible. Moreover,
communities often implement better features than
original developers,” he says. Flying over yet another of
High_Frame_Rates’ reworked cities, it’s hard to disagree.
Alex SpencerFAR LEFT: Revisiting
my university
campus, thanks to
FlyingTheston’s
Birmingham UK
pack, was a quietly
emotional
experience.LOWER LEFT:
Before and after
shots of High_Frame_
Rates’ Melbourne
Cricket Ground.WEIRD WORLD The most existentially troubling spots on Flight Sim’s algorithmic Earth
THE BENEVENTO TWIN
But it’s not alone. Rising out of the
Italian countryside, this tower is too
eldritch for its peaceful surroundings.THE JAPANESE DEATH SPIKES
Located in the Saga prefecture, these
spines appear to be... oh God... organic
in nature? Horrifying.THE LAGOA NOVA PIT
You can take off from the airstrip at the
bottom of this chasm, but be warned:
physics get a little weird down there.THE MELBOURNE ANOMALY
The one that started it all – a 212-storey
omen that, when the Combine come
for Earth, Australia will be first.“PEOPLE WERE SPENDING
WEEKS TO RIP JUST A FEW
SQUARE KILOMETRES”NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT