You must have Microsoft Flight Simulator version 1.37.19.0 (or a more recent version) currently installed to download and enjoy World Update XVIII: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

World Update XVIII provides flight simulator pilots the highest resolution yet for the European countries of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland!

Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, collectively known as DACH (Deutschland, Austria, Confoederatio Helvetica), offer an incredibly diverse array of landscapes and architecture to explore. Highlights include the Swiss Alps, mountain lakes, expansive forests, historic castles and cathedrals, and modern architectural feats.

Microsoft partnered with Bing Maps, Vexcel Imaging, Maxar Technologies, Gaya Simulations, and Orbx Simulation Systems to bring these countries to the Microsoft Flight Simulator world like never before. The update is a fusion of recent aerial photographs, digital elevation models, TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface modeling, hand-crafted points of interest, and airports.

World Update XVIII includes 10 TIN cities: Linz, Salzburg, and Vienna in Austria; Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hanau (Frankfurt), Karow (Berlin), and Potsdam in Germany; and Bern and Zurich in Switzerland. Much of Austria, and parts of Germany and Switzerland feature new digital elevation modelling with resolution as great as one meter. The update includes 116 points of interest (POIs): 42 in Germany, 38 in Austria, and 36 in Switzerland. Three airports have been beautifully hand created: Austria’s Salzburg Airport (LOWS), Germany’s Munich Airport (EDDM), and Bern Airport (LSZB) in Switzerland.

The update also includes nine activities: three discovery flights, three landing challenges, and three bush trips. Experience Vienna, Austria; Zürich, Switzerland; and Frankfurt Main in Germany with the update’s discovery flights. Test your flying abilities with three epic landing challenges: an F/A-18E Super Hornet at Germany’s Peenemünde Airfield (EDCP); a Daher TBM 930 at Switzerland’s Ambri Airport (LSPM); and a DG Aviation LS8-18 sailplane at Austria’s Trieben Airfield (LOGI). The three included bush trips stitch together the wonders of DACH: Germany’s Coasts, Switzerland, and Austria.

World Update XVIII: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is available FREE to all owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Ensure that your simulator is updated to version 1.37.19.0 (or a more recent version), download World Update XVIII, and take to skies above Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to experience these wonderful countries like never before!