Macco Simulations took to their Discord server to announce and detail exciting new upcoming updates to their rendition of Manchester Airport (EGCC) for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The team will be visiting the real-world location to capture footage and reference imagery for what seems to be a major overhaul to the airport rendition.
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What can we expect?
After a while of liaising with the MAG team at Manchester Airport, the Macco Simulations team will be visiting the real-world airport later this month (August 2023). Once they have the footage and reference imagery they will be in a position to start planning the major overhaul to EGCC. The new update aims to incorporate lots of high-quality features including custom satellite imagery throughout the entire airport, increasing texture details, new ground textures that incorporate PBR, custom jetway variations, land-side ground textures, and further optimization of every 3D object and building.
Further features that have been planned also include full re-modeling and re-texturing of terminal buildings, ATC tower, STS hangar, fire station and hotels, the addition of train stations, tracks and animated trains, and the addition of other land-side buildings. Moreover, the team also intends to implement other immersive features such as fully modeled interiors, new immersive lighting, a major increase in ground-level details (signs, people, dirt, fences, bollards, posts, doors, etc.), full AI traffic integration, and five LODs (levels of detail) for much better performance in-sim.
A little about Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England located eight miles south-west of Manchester city centre. It is the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those not serving London. The airport comprises of three passenger terminals and a cargo terminal and covers an area of 1,400 acres. The airport offers scheduled services to almost 200 destinations worldwide. It is served by a plethora of airlines such as Air France, Austrian, British Airways, easyJet, Emirates, Jet2.com, Qatar Airways, and Ryanair.
When can we expect it?
Macco Simulations aims for this update to be a massive overhaul and hence 90% of the current airport will be scrapped and modeled and textured from scratch. As there is a large amount of work, updates will be pushed out regularly rather than waiting for the entire thing to be completed. Due to the sheer amount of work, we can expect the entire airport to be overhauled over quite some time, maybe even a few months. That said the team will be posting new information and work-in-progress screenshots once work on the update has been commenced. For more Macco Simulations news, announcements, and releases do read our coverage on the topic.
