Easily bring in Google Maps Photogrammetry Data into Flight Simulator 2020 with Google Earth Decoder 

Its such a shame they used Bing for the maps, image the improvement if they went with google maps, I know Bing is owned by Microsoft so that's obviously why they used it

why I should use crappy bing. bing sucks in every way. they should partner with google.

Imagine if X Plane partnered with Google.

@@Conker1337 people have been saying that since release but it was inevitable that they would use Bing, there's no way Google would sell their product to a competitor, not for a fair price at least and the result would probably be FS2020 being a subscription game.

@@XMadAntzX They need to partner with Blackshark AI as well or else the world would be mostly flat and look very low resolution up close.

I will see about sharing a package for Auckland. Only visited once, but it was enough to start emigrating my family. Haven't made it yet thanks to some health issues and now covid-19 and DJT's narcissistic delusions though. Can't think of a better place to try this process with. What's the max size you want, where exactly do you want it focused, and if you have a preference, what LOD range?

@@MichaelRainabbaRichardson wow..that would be brilliant if you can manage Auckland. I guess the city centre would be my preference..along with the harbour bridge. The boubdaries could be the motorways... If you get time and manage to post it..i am certain you will get some good take up of your work! Thanks even for the offer!!🙂🙂

@@rayhughes Seen these? flightsim.to/file/574/microsoft-flight-simulator-2020-auckland-pack-1-0 and flightsim.to/file/522/auckland-airport-enhancement

@@glars37 Really good scenery, even has Sounds Air, Picton livery 😁

@@jjnxyz4368 "Bing generally has better sat images..." Not at high latitudes. For about five minutes they were a bit ahead. Neither has seemed to bother with updating much of their image data above, oh, 62-64 degrees north latitude and up for several years now, especially in rural areas (most everything at that latitude is rural). Street views, even in major regional hubs, are also seriously out of date.

Please accept my thumbs up for the Griswold comment

As easy as shitt1ng the bed and kicking it out with your foot ! 🤣

1 minute in and I was like didn't he say this was going to be easy? And yes I know how to use a computer. lol

Honestly I’m impressed this is such an easy to follow tutorial yes their may be a lot of steps involved but their easy to follow and if your playing Microsoft flight sim then you should already be somewhat familiar with installing packages and what makes it easier is that they already have the package installer for us as part of the game this is great thanks a lot

Don't know how many times I heard "and now all we need to do".

Yes it's easy, some people really need to be teleported back to 2006 when FSX came out

MadKad noooooeeeeeuuuuuhhh 😱 it is a SIM changer!

@@ytwos1 The main advantage FS 2020 has over XP (at the moment) is there's no need to store huge imagery files on a local drive.

what type of pc do you have and how big was your project? I have 32gb of ram, a 10700k, 3070 and im building a package of about 7.83gb and its been an hour now

@@josephl1004 Ik it's been 2 years but did your project ever end up working? I'm trying to do my town but it "freezes" when building the package and I end up just closing msfs because I doubt it's going to work. Been longer than 30 mins I'm sure. If yours ended up working do you remember how long it took?

3 years later... Have you found out how to do this?

Sadly Gifu doesn't have 3D mapping in Google either

I mean we just need to get comunity server running with 30 peta bytes of storage so we can all stream world asets from google maps instead of ping lamo. That would take alot of effort and I doubt we would sell enough to make it worth it.

Lower the level of detail on the download

@@biggles9604 Google may find out

im trying to get montreal with this

What about night textures and seasons

And you would need terabytes of disk space to store all that locally.

Not every city has 3D, at least in the UK. And a medium town can take 6B + storage, so you'd need to be selective!

@Mark Tyrrell have you even tried?? It works!!

I never created scenery or other mods but after doing the steps in the tourtorial i really have a good looking Stadium now in Stuttgart and not that houseblock from bing i never thought it would work so easy bit i guesd whenn the area gets bigger its much harder not to overlap

@Julian Moses You should have posted this as a video response

Who prints shit to read it? Thats so 90s. lol. but yeah a pdf would be nice. Have at it :)

@@chikokishi7030 Yeah but I'm 74 so it would be so 60's for me :) Maybe just an automated script where I just circle the area I want and it does it be itself world be better.

@@byronmcduffy3485 lollll ive imported a few things with this method. i may just make a pdf. may not. Its not difficult: download and open program make a folder on your pc to save to copy sample scene delete 2 folders copy location address open program paste address select and download area open dev tools in fs load selection build packagr open game flight edit and safe

@@chikokishi7030 i did it but then there are just unknown ones do yo know what i have to do?

Same here, it was working but now get 'unknown' every time. Wouldn't care, I've not changed the method in any way. Not sure if it's since the Japan update.

This is because this method only works once - you need to create a unique project for additional areas - Flying Theston has put a video to show you how. I've tried it - works every time :-) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3K0XhAf0WYw.html

@@majicknous1946 I can send you the files I have changed if that would help - You can then highlight the area you want and try it?

same here :/

@@florianlauer3067 Same here

Same here anyone got a fix mine won't download it just says 1 remaining,0 Done...

It either means there is no photogrammetry data in your area or you have a project already named the same as the project you're working on (or some other unknown bug)

same error, any fixes?

Just check on google maps. You need to click the globe button in the bottom right and then the 3d button and if there is photogrammatry data available it should show up.

Actually, I managed to make it work simply by reducing the area

@@kaloca @Flying Theston This happens to me when i try to add highly detailed areas, with standard ugly details it works... did you solved the "unknown" bug?

Me too and I dont know why.....its terrible for me

@@spacemarderdontaskme6452 did you find a solution?

@@martinluther7436 same here, I think maybe microsoft patched the game so that people can't load in google data?

Cpt.AirWolf could be of the version is not working any more

Same here. :(

What helped was to choose a smaller area.

@@JanStrojil It started working today I must have chosen smaller areas

I have the same problem. Always unknown. Size does not seem to matter. Happens even if I only choose a city block.

The night lights will not show up on the photogrammetry buildings. But if you place the roads just under the ground so it is using the flight sim roads then you'll get the night lights from them. You can also place manual lights in the scenery editor, using Light_Cold and Light_Warm objects.

@@FlyingTheston Please reply to my query in the comments in relation to this method on airports.

@@FlyingTheston could u show how it works?

@@FlyingTheston sorry dude but you then get half a building in height, scaling just lifts it back out the ground and brings the road back up..

@Mark Tyrrell why once? can´t you just make multiple projects, save multiple sceneries in the community folder and the load MSFS with all those?

Have the same issue: ´unknown’ list. Is this a memory issue in the tool ?

I have the same problem. It usually works in cities, in landscapes only "Unknown" appears in the scenery editor.

We don't understand what he means and isn't willing to explain for the past 6 months unfortunately. This answer isn't to explain him as I also don't have any idea what he's talking about, but it's my solution to the "unknowns". But on r/FS2020Creation there are some workarounds mentioned such as deleting the problem files shown if you check the errors console in the SDK after the first build package before loading into the game. For example, the text to look for should be something like: **GltfCompiler | Failed to reload saved model for verification, from file** F:\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Projects\(directory)\_PackageInt\_tempFiles\mycompany-scenery-simple\mymodellib\**20527140405061616264_LOD00.gltf** Then after removing the file types associated with the number 20527140405061616264 such as the .bin, .gtlf, .png, and .xml files of the same name, attempt to build again after cleaning the previous package and look for the manifest.json and layout.json to be generated to know it was successful. This is because Google does not have the specific LOD level data for a tile despite it rendering normally when importing into Blender. When one or a couple files is missing data then the whole game decides the entire scenery shouldn't be loaded which I guess is meant for safety from getting CTD but makes it more tedious remove them from the modellib. The biggest problem with it is that the developer completely abandoned this tool without response and no one else has ever really picked up and tried improving it. It was only uploaded on a subreddit but it really should be on Github for open support just like FBW, Salty, WorkingTitle, etc

in the editor within the game? yup, same here too... does that mean that there is no geodata?

Memory issue ,

Just started using the tool and tutorial: indeed I succeeded to create one scenery... someone a tip ? E.g. Re-installing the tool each time you create a scenery ?

Try renaming the default package name before building and loading into editor. It worked for me, just changing the 'simple' final word for something else.

Im downloading Hong Kong Map, about 40 square mils area, I'll come back to tell you how long it took, my net speed is about wired 900Mbps

@@sought84 any news? 😬

Mick Golding still going I think 😆

and going...........

and going............

Um France is World Update 4. No need to jump through a million hoops to put a bit of Google maps in the sim.

thanks for the sub!

Me too...anyone with a hint...

Hi ! You must rename different folders and files and Rebuild package in the game, it works for me ..

@@Kestral-85 what files and folders need to be renamed or altered?

@@evangeloskoutalas6892 Scenery project.xml and in package définition : mycompagny-scenery-simple folder and file.xml ! You must replace those name by the name one for examole A and edit xml.file by replacing ( scenery project and my-compagny-scenery-simple) by A

Thus you don't need to build package before launching your area ! Just do it when you are already in game on your location ;)

@@Kestral-85 thanks my friend!

That is because you are probably trying to capture areas with too high LOD. Lower your range and it should work.

@@Mrv1960 And why is it not working with High LOD? keeping the details low makes no sense, the shapes are really ugly

i don't think it's the LOD, had 2 little parts working with 20 LOD, bigger part with 18 LOD didn't work. so annoying, you have to wait forever until the package is finished, just to find out it was a waste of time. would be awesome if there was a fix.

Same problem here. Changing LOD didnt change anything

This is because this method only works once - you need to create a unique project for additional areas - Flying Theston has put a video to show you how. I've tried it - works every time :-) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3K0XhAf0WYw.html

Now you know how to do it :-D

I have a feeling 'Orbx' will do it?

@Extraordinary I was trying to make someone smile , but as for time on my hands I work 6 days a week, 12 hour shifts but thanks for giving me your time and comment . I never cry you Extra Ordinary prick . Bet your happy you chose that name now Eh.

"Easily"

Feel free to upload your own tutorial sharing your infinite knowledge of the sdk, with your own script anytime bud!

I get the impression you get caught up on language use a bit?

Hhhhahah

Don't take it literally🤣

I thought I was stuck, but a quick check at task manager and windows explorer showed it is building the package. It's a fairly long process depending on how large the area is

@@HortaRacing did it work on you?

@@Dany-gf9zu it's still going, 1 hour since I hit the build package already, but I can see the Packages folder being filled with textures. Given the size of the city I'm trying to do I assume it's around 60-70% now

@@HortaRacing on minute 4:27 you can see assets group what do u have in there? bc when I click on mycompany-scenery-Simple there is no folder

@@Dany-gf9zu exactly what was showing in the video. I think it just finished building the package, around 2 hours total time. Gonna watch the remainder of the video now and hopefully in some time I'll let you know if it worked :)

If you have a high LOD setting then the framerate will be hit quite hard. The other issue is the total number of polygons from all the ground mesh as well. This is a great tool for getting a quick location into the game, but for a really refined scenery output then you need to put the effort into cutting it all up manually. I'm going to be doing a mini-project series on how to do this soon.

@@FlyingTheston Thanks again. I did use the 17-19 LOD setting but will have a crack later today with less and see how it behaves. The hit presented as a mini stutter - noticeable but not unworkable. It certainly looked better than the MS version but trees were turned into rocks. Look forward to your future work.

same here.

@MichaelKingsfordGray so your saying my nintendo switch is the weak point?

@MichaelKingsfordGray my computer has 12 gb gpu and ryzrn 9

Would also like to know. Seems like it wants to take days lol

If anyone is reading this and not going to bother since the commenter above says it took 12 hours, I did it just now at a 6x6 km area and it took about 5 minutes, so i have no f-ing idea wtf kind of area they are trying to download lol

Around 15 min

same here

@@kreiskrappen_sim Package is just to big as i noticed

i got the unknown problem solved by reloading the project.xml in scenery editor

@@tonitakomo6225 really, how??

Gotta love competitiveness, eh? *eyeroll at them*

Bing maps is free for them. Google maps will cost a shit load of money, It’s not an easy choice.

let xplane do it

showmoke they already have a superb flight simulator. What more do you want. Greedy and spoilt now are we?? Think about what you’re getting for default with bing maps anyway. Always complaints 🙄

Oli Lewis - nothing wrong with striving for excellence. They’re getting there, but not there yet. By ‘getting there’ I’m referring to 100% scenery accuracy worldwide.

I still get the Unknown error when I try this. Is it a bug? Or is there a way to fix it?

@@plaidzombie7265 Think it was a bug introduced on the last update as previous to that I had no issues, not sure if the SDK changed the default paths. Anyway, heres what a step by step what I do to the point where Scenery Editor loads in the scenery files. (I'll use my default file system on my dedicated SSD which is S:\FS2020 and also refer to the scenery your going to import as 'Example') 1. Make a copy of the simplescenery folder and put it wherever you want, the idea is you won't have to change the file over and over for each project, I placed it in my main folder as follows; S:\FS2020\SimpleScenery 2. Once there ensure you do the following; - Change the file name to e.g. S:\FS2020\Example from SimpleScenery. - Open the folder and change the xml file from 'SceneryProject.xml' to 'Example.xml' - Open the file now called 'Example.xml' and change the code refering to SceneryProject and mycompany-scenery-simple to 'Example' as follows **ORIGINAL . _PackageInt PackageDefinitions\mycompany-scenery-simple.xml **CHANGED TO . _PackageInt PackageDefinitions\Example.xml then SAVE and close editor 3. Open folder 'PackageDefinitions' in the same folder and rename both the folder and xml files in there to 'Example'. So you should have; **ORIGINAL A folder called 'S:\FS2020\Example\PackageDefinitions\mycompany-scenery-simple A file called 'S:\FS2020\Example\PackageDefinitions\mycompany-scenery-simple.xml **CHANGED TO A folder called 'S:\FS2020\Example\PackageDefinitions\Example A file called 'S:\FS2020\Example\PackageDefinitions\Example.xml 4. Open the Example.xml file with your xml editor (Notepad++ or similar) and you need to change FOUR lines, I'll highlight the lines CAPITALS as I can't use fonts. **ORIGINAL ; SCENERY false false Copy false PackageDefinitions\MYCOMPANY-SCENERY-SIMPLE\ContentInfo\ ContentInfo\MYCOMPANY-SCENERY-SIMPLE\ ArtProj false PackageSources\modelLib\ scenery\MYCOMPANY BGL false PackageSources\scene\ scenery **CHANGE TO ; SCENERY false false Copy false PackageDefinitions\EXAMPLE\ContentInfo\ ContentInfo\EXAMPLE\ ArtProj false PackageSources\modelLib\ scenery/GLOBAL/SCENERY ****please take care with forward & back slashes*** BGL false PackageSources\scene\ scenery 5. Once done save again and exit the xml editor 6. Now go back a folder to S:\FS2020\Example where you'll have Folder PackageDefinitions Folder PackageSourxes File Example.xml 7. Open folder 'PackageSources' then modelLib and delete all folders EXCEPT 'texture' 8. Open 'texture' folder and delete all textures in there. 9. Go back to folders and you'll see Folder 'modelLib' Folder 'scene' 10 Open 'scene' folder and delete the 'objects.xml' Thats now your template made which you can use over and over again by copying it to your 'MyFSProjects' folder 11 Once you've copied your folder template called 'Example' to 'MyFSProjects' all you do is go through steps of changing the files you changes to 'Example' with your actual project name, e.g. for 'newcastlebridge' EVERYTHING thats named 'Example' will be 'newcastlebridge' including any folders or xml files named 'Example' as in the steps made out earlier. so for example you should have in your Projects folder; S:\FS2020\MyFSProjects\Example\PackageDefinitions ewcastlebridge (Folder) S:\FS2020\MyFSProjects\Example\PackageDefinitions ewcastlebridge.xml in the newcastlebridge xml file all references to 'Example' will be need to be changed to 'newcastlebridge', you obviously don't need to change the line scenery/global/scenery\ as your template will now always have that set. Thats it!, you only have to go into the Flightsim and follow the video on how to copy and create the objects you require, you should not get errors if this is followed and the video is followed. Good luck and hope this helps! All folder

@@eddiemcgee8667 Thank you very much for this highly detailed answer! It took a couple of goes but I finally got it to work! Not sure what I was doing wrong... The google map data isn't very high quality and is very jaggy. What are the best setting to use for high detail? Many thanks!

@@plaidzombie7265 19 to 21 inclusive normally is good, any higher and you can get the dreaded 'Unknown' error as the original Photogrammetry may not be that high. I've pretty much done the whole of Newcastle with all bridges, railway station, The Sage and St James Park. Looks amazing!

@@plaidzombie7265 I have found that sometimes if you close the project then reopen it and reload into the Scenery Editor it works OK. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it an d I don't know what causes the problem.