MSFS scenery

MSFS Rotterdam, Netherlands Scenery

Rotterdam, Netherlands gets a comprehensive visual upgrade with sharper ground imagery, improved terrain mesh, and rebuilt citywide 3D buildings and textures sourced from higher-detail external data. Designed for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the freeware package refreshes the wider Rotterdam area for more convincing VFR sightseeing and approaches around Rotterdam The Hague Airport.

4.7/5 (7) 1.3k downloads 5.49 GB Scanned clean

Netherlands

Flight Simulator 2020 Flight Simulator 2024

Images & Screenshots

19 total

A large football stadium with a green field sits near a river, surrounded by parking lots, roads, and city buildings at sunset.

A dense suburban area features a circular canal neighborhood, straight residential streets, and surrounding green fields with intersecting waterways.

A small single-engine aircraft with red accents flies directly above a dense urban area featuring modern buildings, streets, and green spaces.

Aerial view shows a densely built city with winding rivers, numerous bridges, high-rise buildings, and a mix of residential blocks.

A complex highway interchange with multiple overpasses runs through green areas and residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of a sprawling city.

Aerial view shows an industrial port area with numerous large storage tanks and warehouses along a wide river channel.

A wide river curves through an urban landscape with dense residential blocks, industrial warehouses, and green parks under a partly cloudy sky.

Aerial view shows a densely built cityscape with winding canals, red-roofed buildings, and scattered green spaces under a partly cloudy sky.

A large river runs through a modern city with high-rise buildings, residential blocks, and a red suspension bridge crossing the water.

Several scattered cumulus clouds cast shadows over a detailed cityscape with winding rivers, ports, and an intricate street grid below.

A wide river curves through a densely built cityscape with clusters of high-rise buildings under dramatic, partly cloudy skies.

A small aircraft flies above a modern cityscape with high-rise buildings, a large river, a cruise ship, and several bridges.

Aerial view shows a large urban harbor with multiple docks, industrial warehouses, and cranes under partly cloudy evening skies.

Aerial view shows a sprawling cityscape with dense urban buildings, multiple waterways, and scattered clouds illuminated by the warm light of sunset.

A cockpit view shows digital and analog instruments with a cityscape, river, and red suspension bridge visible at sunset outside.

A cityscape at night features illuminated roads, a green-lit observation tower, and several high-rise buildings along a winding river.

A large steel lift bridge spans a wide river with city skyscrapers and dramatic clouds visible in the background.

A city skyline with tall modern buildings is shown at sunrise, with lens flare and scattered clouds in the sky.

Large bold white text reading "THALIXTE" appears over a dark red and black background, with smaller text below stating "MSFS 2020 ADDONS."

Editor reviewed · Tested in-sim

Expert Overview

MSFS Rotterdam, Netherlands Scenery by Thalixte transforms the default simulator environment into an exceptionally detailed and photoreal representation of Rotterdam. By integrating higher-resolution ground textures, advanced terrain mesh, and accurately rendered 3D buildings, it captures the city’s signature skyline and bustling port region with remarkable realism. From my personal testing, the improvement over the stock scenery is evident in the enhanced clarity of landmarks, smoother building edges, and overall immersion.

This freeware pack includes everything needed to cover the entire Rotterdam region with upgraded building textures, refined terrain data, and more realistic cityscapes. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, it also dovetails brilliantly with VFR flights from Rotterdam The Hague Airport, adding a layer of authenticity for short hops around the Dutch coast. Having used it extensively, I consider it one of the best city overhauls available, well worth adding to any flight simulation library.

A fun and exciting scenery mod covering Rotterdam, The Netherlands replacing the default Microsoft photoreal and terrain detailing scenery with a much higher detailed ground texture and terrain from an external source. From the developer Thalixte - this freeware scenery mod is completely free to download and use.

Image shows an overview of Rotterdam city after installing this freeware scenery mod in Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) 2020 release. As well as replacing the default ground textures and terrain elevation (DEM) data - also known as "mesh" - this scenery pack also replaces the whole Rotterdam area with buildings, building 3D data, building textures, and much more.

Essentially, it's a complete replacement of Rotterdam using data from external sources as provided by the developer. The data used is of a higher detail than that provided in a stock MSFS install.

Some nuances will still occur using any data source (like the default, of course) - some buildings will appear jaggedy and lacking detail - but it's a lot better (and we have tested it) than the default scenery.

If Rotterdam is your base, this scenery is a must-have for your virtual flights.

The developer has released several revisions of this mod and this one featured here on Fly Away Simulation is the latest. v1.0 was the initial release (and testing bed) whilst version 1.1 fixed some elevation issues around the airport regions and the latest version (v1.2) ensured compatibility with other third-party payware and freeware add-ons/mods that users may have installed overlapping with the scenery area covered.

Rotterdam is at the heart of The Netherlands and a perfect place to perform short VFR flights in and across Europe - perhaps start a short flight out of EHRD (Rotterdam The Hague Airport) into Le Havre – Octeville Airport (LFOH) and track the coastline all the way.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has opened up great scenery experiences with its advanced graphics engine and third-party freeware mods like this really make it fun and exciting to use.

Complete Pack

The freeware release available from Fly Away Simulation includes all packs needed to experience the whole scenery area of Rotterdam, The Netherlands as envisioned by the developer. Some other sites that list this file release it in parts.

The one you download from here will include all parts (1-3) and is a complete, single download pack with no need to source or search for additional files or releases. It's a complete package with a single download. The developer originally released this scenery in 3 parts - they are all included.

This is a very large download and while it's easy to download (all in one pack), we recommend a download manager should your connection get interrupted.

Finding the scenery

If using simply GPS, the coordinates for the center of Rotterdam are: 51.9244° N, 4.4777° E

Best Airports to Fly From/To

If you're wanting to start/stop flights at airports in and around the scenery coverage area, the best places to take off from and land at are below.

These airports are inside the Rotterdam region. Instead of listing everything nearby, we chose this selection because they are inside (or almost inside) the scenery area covered. ICAO and IATA codes have been included.

Airports including major and smaller airfields are (in order of size):

Rotterdam, Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM / EHRD)
Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS / EHAM)
Eindhoven, Eindhoven Airport (EIN / EHEH)
Maastricht, Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST / EHBK)
Gilze-Rijen, Gilze-Rijen Airport (UXQ)
Tilburg, Gilze-Rijen Air Base (GLZ / EHGR)
Woensdrecht, Woensdrecht Air Base (WOE / EHWO)

Installation

Installation is easy. Simply extract the downloaded archive and move the three folders into your MSFS community folder;

thalixte-rotterdam1
thalixte-rotterdam2
thalixte-rotterdam2

All folders are located inside the Scenery folder once extracted.

If you have a previous version of this scenery, it's important to remove it first by deleting it from your MSFS community folder.

Ready to download Rotterdam, Netherlands Scenery?

Free for all simmers · 5.49 GB · Scanned clean

File information

Filename

rotterdam-msfs-release.zip

File size

5.49 GB

Virus scan

Clean (scanned with ClamAV)

Access

Freeware

Content rating

Everyone

Download speed: Free tier is capped at 2 Mbps (this file takes approximately 6h 33m at the cap). PRO members download at full line speed.

This is a freeware file — use is subject to our freeware copyright terms.

How to install this mod

MSFS scenery

Extract the downloaded archive

Use 7-Zip (free) or WinRAR to extract the ZIP to a temporary folder. Don't install while still zipped — the simulator can't read inside ZIP files.
Locate your MSFS Community folder

All MSFS add-ons live in the Community folder. Microsoft Store / Game Pass version: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community\. Steam version: %APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community\. Tip: enable Developer Mode in MSFS to see your exact Community folder path.
Copy the scenery package into Community

Drag the extracted scenery folder into your Community folder. Photogrammetry and large mesh packs can be 1GB+ — ensure you have disk space.
Restart MSFS

Close MSFS completely and relaunch. The new content appears in the Content Manager, on the World Map, or in the aircraft/livery selector.
Always read the included readme

Every mod ships with a readme.txt or README file. It tells you exactly where files go, what dependencies are needed, and any quirks specific to this add-on.

About the developer

Thalixte

Thalixte is a developer that has focused on creating photogrammetry and scenery packs for the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) 2020 release. All of this developer's releases have received fantastic feedback from many users on various flight sim websites including Fly Away Simulation.

Based in France, the developer tends to focus on creation of European packs however some "further afield" packs have also been created.

Enjoyed this mod? Thalixte released it as freeware. Consider donating to support future projects.