See what the MSFS 2024 Australia World Update adds: upgraded scenery, four handcrafted airports, 94 landmarks, 16 activities and install tips.
The MSFS 2024 Australia World Update is the Australian scenery package originally released as World Update VII. It adds upgraded aerial imagery and elevation data, four handcrafted airports, 94 custom points of interest, broader airport improvements and 16 Australia-themed activities. It enhances selected areas; it does not rebuild every location nationwide.
What does the Australia World Update include?
| Content | What is added or improved |
|---|---|
| Terrain and imagery | Updated aerial imagery and higher-resolution elevation data across Australia, improving coastlines, mountains and general ground detail where suitable source data is available. |
| Handcrafted airports | Longreach, Mount Beauty, Paraburdoo and Shellharbour receive bespoke buildings, airport objects and ground detail. |
| Other airports | More than 100 additional airports receive data or visual improvements. These are not all fully handcrafted airports. |
| Points of interest | 94 custom landmarks, covering recognisable buildings, bridges and notable sites around the country. |
| Activities | Five bush trips, six discovery flights and five landing challenges were included with the original World Update VII release. |
The package also improves the representation of major urban areas, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Photogrammetry and handcrafted landmarks are selective, however, so smaller towns and uncovered suburbs may still use autogenerated buildings.
Which Australian airports are handcrafted?
The four bespoke airports are spread across several very different parts of Australia:
- Longreach Airport (YLRE) in Queensland
- Mount Beauty Airport (YMBT) in Victoria
- Paraburdoo Airport (YPBO) in Western Australia
- Shellharbour Airport (YSHL) in New South Wales
“Handcrafted” means the airport has custom modelling rather than relying mainly on the simulator's generic airport assets. It does not mean every surrounding building, road or landmark has been recreated manually.
Is World Update VII fully available in MSFS 2024?
The scenery, airport and landmark content can be used as compatible official world content in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, although the newer simulator may stream or organise individual components differently from MSFS 2020.
The 16 activities belong to the original World Update VII package. Their availability and placement in MSFS 2024 can differ from the older simulator, so missing legacy activities do not necessarily mean the scenery failed to load. Use one of the four handcrafted airports or a prominent landmark to verify the installation instead.
Our World Update installation walkthrough for MSFS 2024 explains how to claim, enable and check the package. If storage is the concern, see how the simulator handles streamed scenery versus locally downloaded content.
Why does Australia still look generic or low-resolution?
The update improves its source scenery but cannot provide handcrafted detail everywhere. A generic-looking location may simply fall outside the updated photogrammetry or landmark coverage.
- Blurry ground textures: Check that online data is enabled and that the connection is not being restricted by a data limit. Streamed aerial imagery can temporarily fall back to lower-detail scenery.
- Flat or generic city buildings: Enable photogrammetry where the platform and data settings offer it. Some towns are not covered and will remain procedurally generated.
- A handcrafted airport is missing: Confirm that the Australia package is owned, available and enabled in the content library. Restart the simulator after changing installed content.
- Duplicated buildings or uneven terrain: Disable older community scenery covering the same airport or city. Overlapping packages are a common cause of double objects, elevation steps and misplaced runways.
- Old scenery remains after an update: Rebuild the rolling cache if the normal restart and package check do not correct it.
Does the World Update replace Australian scenery add-ons?
No. It provides a stronger official baseline, but specialist add-ons can still offer more detailed regional airports, bush strips and city landmarks. Before adding one, check whether it overlaps a handcrafted airport or photogrammetry area; our Australian MSFS scenery library is organised by region for that purpose.