Why are the Twin Towers missing in MSFS?

The Twin Towers are missing from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 because both depict modern New York rather than the pre-2001 skyline. The original World Trade Center was destroyed on 11 September 2001, so the default scenery represents the rebuilt site, normally with One World Trade Center as its main landmark.

Is this a bug, and will changing the date fix it?

No. The absence of the Twin Towers is intentional for the period represented by the default world scenery; it is not a missing-object bug or a hidden scenery setting.

Changing the flight date to 2001 or earlier alters time-dependent elements such as lighting and weather, but it does not load historical buildings. Microsoft Flight Simulator has no built-in system for switching an entire city between different historical eras.

Some older Flight Simulator editions and period scenery packages show the towers because their New York scenery reflects an earlier era. Their appearance in old screenshots does not mean they are supposed to be present in MSFS 2020 or 2024.

How do I restore the Twin Towers in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

PC users can restore the historic skyline with a custom scenery package. Our freeware recreation of the original World Trade Center complex is provided for MSFS 2020 and 2024.

1. Check the platform: externally downloaded scenery requires the PC version and access to its Community folder.
2. Remove competing scenery: temporarily disable other Manhattan or World Trade Center replacements so that two packages are not trying to alter the same location.
3. Extract the download: do not leave the package inside its compressed archive. A typical MSFS package has files such as manifest.json and layout.json in its package root.
4. Install it in the correct Community folder: MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 may use different package locations, especially where a custom packages path was selected during installation.
5. Restart the simulator: load a flight over Lower Manhattan and check that the package appears without overlapping modern structures.

A mistake we see constantly is an extra folder level after extraction. If the scenery does nothing, check that the actual package folder—not an outer download or version folder—is inside Community.

Why does Lower Manhattan still look wrong?

If One World Trade Center or much of Lower Manhattan is absent, blocky or unusually generic, the problem is probably streamed world data rather than the intended omission of the Twin Towers.

• Confirm that online world-data streaming and photogrammetry are enabled.
• Check that the simulator is connected and has not reached a configured data limit.
• Temporarily disable other New York scenery packages to identify an add-on conflict.
• If the historic and modern complexes overlap, test the Twin Towers package by itself before changing graphics settings.

Our guide to how photogrammetry coverage affects MSFS 2024 cities explains why streamed buildings can differ from handcrafted landmarks. If the wider city needs improvement rather than a historical conversion, compare the available approaches to enhancing New York scenery.

Restoring online scenery may bring back the modern World Trade Center and improve Manhattan, but it will not restore the original towers. That requires historical custom scenery.

Can I install the Twin Towers on Xbox or PlayStation?

Not from an external freeware archive. Xbox and PlayStation editions do not expose a PC-style Community folder, so their users are limited to compatible scenery distributed through the simulator's in-sim Marketplace.

The linked Twin Towers download is therefore a PC solution. A console package would need to be released and approved specifically for the relevant Marketplace platform; a PC download cannot be copied across manually.