See what Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 21 adds to the Northeast US, what it excludes and how to fix missing scenery.
Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 21 is a free scenery update for the Northeastern United States. It adds refreshed mapping and elevation data, selected photogrammetry city coverage, handcrafted airports and landmarks, and regional flying activities. It is scenery content, not a new aircraft or a core simulator update.
What area does World Update 21 cover?
World Update 21 concentrates on the Northeast US rather than refreshing the whole country. Its regional scope covers New England and the Mid-Atlantic, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Coverage is not equally detailed everywhere. Regional terrain and imagery form the base layer, while selected cities, airports and landmarks receive individually authored treatment. A town falling inside the update area does not automatically mean that every building or local airfield has been rebuilt by hand.
What content is included?
The package combines broad scenery improvements with a curated collection of detailed locations and activities:
- Updated regional scenery: revised aerial imagery, ground textures and digital elevation data where suitable source material is available.
- Photogrammetry cities: selected urban areas use three-dimensional TIN scenery instead of generic autogen alone.
- Handcrafted airports: chosen airports receive custom terminals, airfield buildings, ground markings and surrounding details.
- Points of interest: recognisable bridges, monuments, towers, civic buildings and other regional landmarks are modelled separately.
- Flying activities: the update adds themed content such as discovery flights, landing challenges and a regional bush trip.
These are the same main content types used by other regional releases; our explanation of what MSFS World Updates add and when they are useful covers the wider system.
Does World Update 21 include an aircraft?
No aircraft is bundled as part of World Update 21 itself. It also does not unlock Deluxe or Premium aircraft, replace the simulator's flight model, update navigation data or introduce global career and ATC changes.
Those wider changes belong in a core Sim Update. See our breakdown of the difference between an MSFS Sim Update and a World Update if both appear in the update queue.
Is World Update 21 available in MSFS 2020 and 2024?
World Update 21 was produced for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. The scenery subject is the same, but installation and storage behaviour differ because MSFS 2020 relies more heavily on locally managed packages, while MSFS 2024 streams more of its world content.
| Simulator | How the content is handled |
|---|---|
| MSFS 2020 | Acquire the free package through the in-simulator Marketplace and verify it in Content Manager. |
| MSFS 2024 | Acquire or enable it through the simulator's content library; some scenery may be streamed rather than stored permanently. |
You do not have to install every earlier World Update first. World Update 21 is a separate regional package, although the simulator may require a newer core build or shared dependency before it can load. Our World Update installation and scenery-management steps explain how to obtain it without unnecessarily reinstalling the whole simulator.
Why is World Update 21 scenery missing?
Missing landmarks usually mean the package, its dependencies or online scenery data are disabled. Work through these checks in order:
- Confirm the simulator is updated. Install any mandatory core update shown before the main menu.
- Check ownership and installation. Find World Update 21 in the Marketplace or content library and verify that it is acquired, enabled and, where required, downloaded.
- Enable online scenery. Photogrammetry and high-resolution world data require the simulator's online functionality and Bing world-data options.
- Restart the simulator. Newly installed scenery does not always populate correctly until the application has been closed and reopened.
- Test without overlapping add-ons. Disable Community-folder or library scenery covering the same airport or city if you see duplicated terminals, sunken buildings or conflicting ground textures.
- Refresh stale cached data. If old imagery remains, delete or recreate the rolling cache rather than reinstalling the complete World Update first.
A mistake we see constantly is judging the installation by one ordinary regional airport. Only the airports advertised as handcrafted receive bespoke models; other airports continue to use their existing default scenery.