Learn what MSFS photogrammetry does, how to enable it in MSFS 2020 and 2024, and how to fix blurry, melted or missing 3D scenery.
Photogrammetry in Microsoft Flight Simulator is streamed 3D scenery built from overlapping aerial photographs, giving covered cities realistic building shapes, colours and textures. Enable Online Functionality, Bing Data World Graphics and Photogrammetry in the simulator’s data or online settings, apply the changes, then fly in a supported area with an internet connection.
What does photogrammetry do in Microsoft Flight Simulator?
Photogrammetry replaces generic, procedurally generated buildings with a textured 3D mesh reconstructed from aerial imagery. It can reproduce an entire city rather than modelling only individual landmarks.
| Scenery type | How it is created | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Photogrammetry | 3D mesh generated from aerial photographs | Recognisable cities, but limited coverage and occasional distorted objects |
| Procedural scenery | Generated buildings placed over aerial imagery and elevation data | Worldwide coverage, but many structures have generic shapes |
| Handcrafted scenery | Individually modelled airports and landmarks | Best close-up detail, but only at selected locations |
Handcrafted landmarks can sit on top of a photogrammetry city, while procedural scenery fills areas that have not been captured. Photogrammetry is therefore only one part of how Microsoft Flight Simulator builds its world.
Coverage is not global. Rural areas and unsupported cities normally use procedural buildings, so enabling the setting does not turn every location into captured 3D scenery.
How do I enable photogrammetry in MSFS 2020 and 2024?
Photogrammetry works when the simulator’s online world-data services and the dedicated photogrammetry option are both enabled.
- Connect Microsoft Flight Simulator to the internet. Photogrammetry is streamed rather than included as one complete local scenery package.
- Open the online-data controls. In MSFS 2020, use
Options > General Options > Data. In MSFS 2024, open the general settings and select the online or data section; the page label can change between interface updates. - Turn on Online Functionality. If this master switch is off, the scenery switches below it cannot retrieve cloud data.
- Enable Bing Data World Graphics. In versions using slightly different wording, select the equivalent streamed world-data option.
- Set Photogrammetry to On. Check that a data-consumption limit has not already been reached and that bandwidth has not been restricted too aggressively.
- Apply or save the settings. Return to the main menu and reload the flight if scenery already loaded before the setting was changed.
MSFS 2020 users may also need the applicable regional package when a city was introduced or improved through a World Update. Our guide to installing and checking World Updates explains where these packages fit into the scenery system. MSFS 2024 streams more of its world content, so its package management does not always match MSFS 2020.
Why is MSFS photogrammetry blurry, melted or missing?
Missing photogrammetry usually means the location has no coverage, an online-data option is disabled, or the scenery stream has failed to deliver its full-resolution data.
- Check the location first. A procedural city is expected outside mapped photogrammetry areas; reinstalling the simulator will not add coverage.
- Recheck all three switches. Online Functionality, Bing world data and Photogrammetry must be enabled together. Also inspect any in-simulator data cap.
- Allow the scenery to finish streaming. Buildings that begin blurry but sharpen after several seconds point to bandwidth, cache or server load rather than a graphics-quality setting.
- Rebuild a stale rolling cache. A damaged or outdated cache can repeatedly serve poor scenery tiles. See our advice on when to use, disable or recreate the rolling cache.
- Check terrain and object detail. Low level-of-detail settings can make distant city geometry appear coarse or disappear early. Our graphics and level-of-detail guidance for MSFS covers the performance trade-offs.
- Test without overlapping add-on scenery. A third-party city or airport package may replace or conflict with the streamed area.
Buildings that remain lumpy, stretched or partly collapsed after their textures have loaded are often defects in the source capture. Cranes, bridges, trees and narrow towers are especially difficult to reconstruct from overhead photographs. No bandwidth or graphics adjustment can fully repair those source-mesh errors; disabling photogrammetry for that area may produce cleaner procedural scenery.
Should I leave photogrammetry enabled?
Leave photogrammetry enabled when you have a stable, uncapped connection and want recognisable metropolitan scenery; disable it when data use, loading pauses or malformed close-up buildings matter more than city accuracy.
The setting can consume substantial streaming data and add pressure to the CPU, graphics memory and scenery cache in dense cities. A rolling cache can reduce repeated downloads along routes you fly often, but it does not make uncaptured areas available offline. Simmers using a metered connection should review the MSFS streaming-data and bandwidth controls before leaving photogrammetry on.
For airliner flights over supported cities, it usually provides the most convincing broad view. For low helicopter flying, slow connections or areas with poor source reconstruction, procedural scenery can look cleaner and run more consistently.