Revisiting 17 September 2020, 17:24

author: Darius Matusiak

Flight Simulator 2020 – Amazing Details You Might Have Missed

Microsoft Flight Simulator is among the most sophisticated video games to ever be released, but like any large game, it comes with a lot of interesting details. We've caught the best of them for you.

The review is based on the PC version. It's also relevant to XONE version(s).

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a gigantic, gargantuan sandbox. As with many games of this genre, there's a lot of leeway here. Of course, all you can do is fly airplanes – you won't take Roman bowling or for a beer, but you can perform stunts around Dubai's skyscrapers or land at night in a storm somewhere in a small airport in Alasca. What Flight Simulator 2020 also has in common with the best open-world games we know is the attention to the smallest details, which usually don't matter in terms of gameplay.

They're designed to enhance immersion and improve authenticity, build the atmosphere. Again, it's not Rockstar-level of their sheer number and scope, but in terms of quality and realism, many of these are simply dazzling. Much like with games such as GTA V, Death Stranding, or Red Dead Redemption II there's a ton of interesting small details worth seeing. About the only activity Flight Simulator offers is, well, flying. But it doesn't mean the game's boring – quite the contrary, this single element is so intricate and detailed that we couldn't miss the opportunity to show you these amazing details.

"Thank you!" – the only easter egg

The creators seemingly didn't have a lot of time to include fun easter eggs into the game, which is understandable givent that they had to recreate the entire globe. In previous editions of Microsoft Flight Simulator, we had volcanoes exploding, fireworks going off on the New Year's Eve, and a skeleton of an unfortunate traveller on a small island in the ocean. This time, about the only thing we got is a "thank you" note from the devs – the Asobo studio.

But it is admittedly quite inventive. We can find it in the city of Bordeaux in France. A thank you to the MFS 2020 community is placed on a balloon suspended above the building where Asobo is actually located irl. If you go looking for the place, look out for a special emoticon placed on the courtyard of the building, it's quite easy to spot. Bordeaux was recreated with photogrammetry, so the studio's headquarters look very realistic.

Here comes the rain again

Flight Simulator 2020 has been praised for its recreation of night-time illumination of cities. You can see the lights of buildings, streetlights, traffic lights, lights cars moving in different directions. And in general, there's not much more to it. It's night, cities are lit – what else would you do? Well, there is a thing or two: for example, who, flying three miles above the ground would pay any attention to... lamps inside houses?

When we take a closer look at urban settlements after dark, we see small lights in the windows – a sign that someone is probably sitting there doing something important. What's cool is that the later it is, the more lights go out, totally at random. A typical evening at 9 p.m. is full of artificial light. As time passes, they will be turned off one by one. At 2 a.m., there will only be a few lights left. And as if that wasn't enough, some of the windows have flickering blue light, such as coming from a TV.

Light pollution

Another interesting feature related to light is the effect of light pollution. . It's a technical term for the glare of light visible from afar over large conurbations. It's created by excessive amounts of artificial lighting, impacting negatively on the functioning of plants and animals and human health, and obscuring stars on the night sky, which is never dark enough over cities.

Shop displays and graffiti

It would seem that the appearance of buildings is mostly irrelevant in a game like this. After all, most of the time we watch the world from at least a few miles above the ground. You can see the lights and some traffic, but not stuff like shop displays. And yet, the creators thought about it. You can see some of them are shops because they have exhibition windows. You can see a certain depth of the interior and the goods arranged inside. You can also see posters or graffiti on smaller buildings. Perhaps we would appreciate such details more with helicopters in the game.

Dangerous weather – a paradise for storm chasers

The game allows you to match the in-game weather to the forecast for the given location. Recent events in the United States have shown that it's not just a matter of rainy/sunny/overcast. Flight Simulator 2020 generated Hurricane Laura raging in August, which encouraged players to play storm chasers.

Although the game's engine had trouble reproducing the large wind force, there was no problem with the thick cloud cover. Inside, it felt like a network of white caves, and you could see that a white carpet of clouds from a high altitude, reaching up to the horizon. The area was visible not only outside the aircraft's windows, but also on weather radars included in modern aircraft's cockpits. The amazing atmosphere was complemented by the possibility of meeting real storm chasers in the air (in the form of a code designation of their flight), because Flight Simulator 2020 also simulates real air traffic in the sky, which can be seen on Flightradar websites.

Total solar eclipses

A total solar eclipse is a phenomenon that doesn't happen very often, especially if we consider that we have to be in a specific place on Earth to see it. Flight Simulator 2020 simulates the actual solar cycle of the planets in our system, so by setting the right date and location, we can witness a total solar eclipse at will. This phenomenon may not be as dark and spectacular as in reality, but it's still worth seeing. Who knows, maybe the authors will refine this effect in future updates.

Since the game simulates eclipses, it's essentially a formality to mention that the Moon's phases are also realistically recreated. If we have a full moon outside the window, we will also see the big glowing cheese in the sky.

Milky Way, constellations and the mesosphere

From the Sun and Moon we ought to move to the cosmos, because here, the creators have tried for a lot of authenticity and detail. Microsoft Flight Simulator is a bit like Google Earth where you can fly. In addition to cities and detailed land, we can also see the Milky Way in the sky in all its glory. What's more, astronomy fans will surely recognize many star constellations in the right position on the sky.

You can also bend the rules a bit and see what the game world looks like on the border of the stratosphere and mesosphere. Bend because, of course, none of the aircraft featured in the game is capable of reaching such heights in real life. With a small trick, the "slew" option, which has been in the MFS for a long time, we can quickly place the aircraft at the desired altitude.

Here, the authors set the limit at 275,000 feet (whereas the maximum altitude for a Boeing 747 is about 43,000 feet). The mesosphere at this height looks basically like on the real pictures. The sky is dark-green, and the Earth's curvature is clearly visible on the horizon. Perhaps one day, there will be additional planes in DLC packs to make better use of the game's limits, such as the experimental X-15, which travelled to 60 miles.

Land ice and clouds

One element affecting flight realism is the phenomenon of icing. Ice forming on fuselage or engine surfaces can be very dangerous. Modern aircraft have various anti-ice systems to reduce the risk, but smaller avionics are simply prohibited from operating in conditions that could lead to icing.

Flight Simulator 2020 simulates this effect quite well, because according to physics, it requires moisture and low temperature. Flying at high altitude in the Alps can go smoothly under clear skies, but if you fly through a large cloud, ice will start to appear on the plane. The game engine then creates fine graphic effects on the cockpit windows, and in the outside view, icing can also be seen on the fuselage and wings. The proper realism of damage, in turn, simulates the effect of engine icing, which can negatively affect its operation.

The developers also recreated the descending and ascending currents and the behavior of air masses near mountain peaks and even tall buildings. All of this makes a short flight of a small plane in mountainous terrain quite challenging.

GR-ALT Witcher 3 – you have permission to land

Is this some sort of crossover of The Witcher and with Flight Simulator 2020? No. It's just a creative take on one of the features the game offers. All communications and conversations with the ATC tower are not pre-recorded, because there would simply be too many for all airports and actual flights in the world. The developers used the technology also implemented in Windows 10 to convert text to speech, so that the SI will basically say anything that we write down.

The players are able to determine their own call-sign and flight number, so if they're "Witcher" and "3" respectively, the ATC will refer to our flight as Witcher 3. . It sounds pretty fun.

Lacquer's new, glass is old

Graphic designers working on aircraft models have shown a little inconsistency, or just wanted to give the modders something to do. The paint on all planes is spotless, as if straight from a factory. There's no wear and tear. However, when looking from inside the cockpit, you can see extremely realistic details that suggest a lot of wear and tear.

You can see scratches, fingerprints, and other defects. As in reality, they only become visible when viewed at the right angle and in the right light. Again, this doesn't matter at all in terms of gameplay, but certainly reinforces the atmosphere.

Departure with lunch and luggage

Speaking of details that reinforce atmosphere, it's impossible not to mention the entire ground-level infrastructure. There are people in reflective vests all over the place. Trucks arrive at parked passenger planes at our request to load passenger lunch trays, and a vehicle with luggage approaches the conveyor belt next to the plane. The largest airports have the jet bridges, used by passengers to board. But what if the plane is parked somewhere far from the terminal? Another option, used at smaller airports, are of course the airstairs.

Chernobyl – the detail that almost worked

We've showed you the area around the power plant before. This time, we wanted to draw your attention to an important detail that required some work from the programmers. It turns out there is no traffic in the area of Chernobyl and the city of Pripyat. The roads that normally have simple 3D models of cars driving in other locations, are empty here. And it would have been awesome, if not for one thing. The empty blocks of flats light up after dark as if life was going on in them as if nothing ever occurred in Chernobyl. It's completely out of place and I wish it had been removed along with the cars. Maybe one of the patches will do that.

Aviation trivia

Microsoft Flight Simulator also featured some interesting details that appeared accidentally. We don't owe them directly to the developers, as these things are little details and morsels that are obvious to people who have been flying for a long time. However, thanks to faithful reproduction of reality, terrain and real-life procedures in Flight Simulator, the game became something of a gateway that opened up access to the world of aviation to anyone eager for a new experience.

Gandalf, Jedi and Sith went to the airport...

Departure and arrival routes to congested airports, i.e. the SID and STAR's procedures are generally boring and complicated things that don't concern the layman much. Even here, however, there was room for a bit of fantasy. Such routes consist of a series of navigation points, or checkpoints, that an aircraft must pass on its way to or from the landing strip.

The names of these checkpoints are often associated with specific air routes, but they may also be references to local attractions or sports teams. This is the case, for example, in San Diego, where the checkpoints refer to a famous zoo, or in Orlando, Florida, with names from Disney films.

The most "nerdy" airport in the world is probably the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (KATL). The SID and STAR checkpoints refer the world of Star Wars and Tolkien's books. The aircraft passes points such as SKWKR, NWHPE, HOTHH, WOKIE, EEWOK, BBFET, JJEDI and XWNNG. The arrival can be completed along the GNDLF TWO route, namely: SHYRE, FRDDO, BLLBO, BGGNS and SMAWG. Flight Simulator 2020 is based on actual procedures, so when creating your flight plan, you can fly exactly according to these points by looking at their list in the machine's cockpit.

Welcome to Cleveland – well, almost...

By accurately recreating the cities in the game with the use of photogrammetry, we can see authentic details on the ground, just as when viewing maps on the web. One of the most famous landmarks in the world of aviation is a certain roof. On a brown background there is a huge white inscription "Welcome to Cleveland." The thing is, this building is located in the city of... Milwaukee.

Now, Cleveland and Milwaukee aren't that far. The roof of the building is directly below the point where Milwaukee-bound airplanes fly at a relatively low altitude. No wonder, then, that the inscription causes quite a stir among unaware passengers.

It was created by today's retired photographer Mark Gubin, who, as he himself points out, made it only to sow chaos and confusion. Interestingly, the inscription was created in 1978 as a proto-meme and a tourist attraction in the area. From time to time, the internet and the media recall the photographer's strange idea and the subject returns to blogs, talk shows and late night shows. Nobody wants to remove it, though. "Welcome to Cleveland" became the "Mona Lisa" of the city and Gubin himself. Flight attendants usually inform passengers before landing that they are on the right course and the plane is not lost.

Corn fields and videos reveal date of birth of maps

Corn mazes are quite popular in some states. . But some farmers take it a step further. They often arrange the fields into intricate "paintings" that you can only see from above. We can see a lot of these in Flight Simulator 2020 after entering the right coordinates on the world map.

Flying over such locations isn't just about seeing an interesting illustration from above. By comparing the views with information on the farm's website, we can identify the year in which the photos were taken for Bing maps. Farmers are careful to offer a slightly different attraction each year and encourage regulars to visit again.

A quick investigation revealed that many of the pictures from Bing date back as far as 2010. A visit to Hollywood Boulevard and the Dolby Theatre (formerly the Kodak Theatre) gives you a glimpse of the movie posters and giant billboards of the time. One of them shows an advertisement for Whitney, a movie that was released in 2015. Berlin was photographed in 2014, judging by the ad of Surface Pro 3 tablet.

Authenticity and immersion before business?

Last, but not least, we have a detail that in a game created under the auspice of a gigantic corporation seems quite interesting. Flying over cities fully recreated with photogrammetry, we sometimes come across real objects that retained a lot of detail in their textures. We can see signs of local restaurants, bakeries, shops, big supermarkets or car service stations. No matter if they're small, local businesses, or large corporations. All the major brands of stores are here, and their logos haven't been blurred or deleted.

Looking at how cities are generated in the game from the technical perspective, we're sure no one placed them on purpose. . It's interesting that these logos should get into the game, but on the other hand, likely nobody will make the decision about where to buy furniture based on what logo they saw in an airplane simulator. However, seeing how many publishers are keen to use our pixels as their ad space, it is worth appreciating Flight Simulator 2020 for authenticity and naturalness in this respect. At least for now.