MSFS scenery

MSFS Tours City Photogrammetry Scenery

Tours, France receives expanded photogrammetry coverage with refined color matching, added points of interest, and smoother Level of Detail tuning for stable performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Updated collision meshes and lighting tweaks improve dusk and dawn visuals, while smarter exclusions prevent conflicts with autogenerated buildings for a clean, immersive Loire Valley cityscape.

5/5 (2) 393 downloads 2.56 GB Scanned clean

France

Flight Simulator 2020 Flight Simulator 2024

Images & Screenshots

18 total

A complex highway interchange crosses through a densely built urban area with residential buildings and a river bordered by green trees.

Aerial view shows a densely built urban area bisected by a winding river, with scattered clouds and agricultural fields surrounding the city.

A small black aircraft with red accents flies directly above a dense cityscape of tightly packed buildings and intersecting streets.

A light aircraft banks over a dense urban area with tree-lined streets, visible river, and several analog cockpit instruments in view.

A small aircraft with red wingtips flies above a densely built city featuring a river, multiple bridges, and tree-lined avenues.

Aerial view shows a dense cityscape with historic buildings, tree-lined boulevards, and a large park area in the background.

A dense urban area with historic stone buildings is bordered by a river and surrounded by patches of green parkland and trees.

A large sports stadium with a green field sits near a river, surrounded by trees, parking lots, and urban buildings.

A dense urban area with tightly packed buildings is bordered by a winding river and several bridges under a golden sunset sky.

Aerial view shows a sprawling city with dense urban areas, green parks, a winding river, and scattered cumulus clouds overhead.

A wide aerial night view shows a large illuminated roundabout with multiple roads radiating outward and dense city lights in the distance.

A wide river with multiple bridges flows through a densely built city, bordered by green trees and under a partly cloudy sky.

A wide river runs through a densely built city with several bridges crossing over and scattered green areas along the banks.

A densely populated urban area with scattered industrial buildings and a river is seen from above under scattered cumulus clouds.

A wide river with several bridges runs through a densely built city, with a prominent cathedral and clusters of trees along the banks.

A black amphibious light sport aircraft with red accents flies above a sprawling cityscape with a river and scattered clouds.

A densely built urban area with tree-lined streets stretches toward the horizon under a sky filled with thick, dramatic clouds.

Aerial view of a sprawling city at sunset shows a winding river, multiple bridges, and prominent lens flare effects.

Editor reviewed · Tested in-sim

Expert Overview

The MSFS Tours City Photogrammetry Scenery elevates the historic French city of Tours by seamlessly blending photogrammetric modeling and high-fidelity textures within Microsoft Flight Simulator. Detailed buildings, landmarks, and points of interest pop into focus with accurate colorimetry, while refined LOD settings and collision meshes boost overall performance for a smoother, more immersive flight experience. Notably, Version 3.1 resolves conflicts with Blackshark AI buildings in the Saint-Pierre-des-Corps suburb, ensuring that every neighborhood confidently represents its real-world counterpart.

Capturing the charm of the Loire River and the “Garden of France,” the mod offers photoreal vistas of Roman-era architecture, châteaux, and UNESCO-recognized historic districts. Recommended departure points include the conveniently located Tours Val de Loire Airport, as well as Loire Valley Airfield for a more intimate general aviation journey. With its blend of realism and stable performance, this city photogrammetry scenery offers a deeply rewarding exploration of Tours’s iconic skyline and timeless heritage.

Enhance your virtual flight experience with the Tours City Photogrammetry Scenery, a meticulously crafted mod for the enthusiasts of Microsoft Flight Simulator. This scenery overlay brings the vibrant and historical city of Tours, France, into your simulator, with unmatched realism and detail through the advanced use of photogrammetry.

Introduction to Photogrammetry Scenery

Photogrammetry is a technique where photography is used to survey and map a location from multiple photographs. This process captures the fine details and textures of the scene, which are then reconstructed in three dimensions. In flight simulation, this translates into extremely realistic and immersive environments, as every building, tree, and landmark mirrors its real-world counterpart with precise accuracy.

Main Features

Expanded photogrammetry coverage that encapsulates the city in remarkable detail, improving both visual fidelity and realism.
Enhanced colorimetry ensures the scenery blends seamlessly with adjacent tiles, providing a consistent and engaging visual experience throughout different times of day and lighting conditions.
Optimized Level of Detail (LOD) settings reduce framerate drops and improve performance, ensuring a smooth simulation even on moderate systems.
Added points of interest (POIs) and city landmarks to enhance navigational experience and enjoyment.
Specific collision meshes added to reduce CPU load, thereby ensuring better simulation stability and reduced risk of crashes to desktop (CTD).

Technical Enhancements

Version 3.1 features a crucial fix for the exclusion of Blackshark AI-generated buildings in the suburb of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, ensuring no conflicts with autogenerated content.
Procedural lighting adjustments correct the visual discrepancies on flat surfaces, particularly noticeable during dusk and dawn, enhancing realism.
Continuous improvements in texture management to mitigate flickering issues and improve the overall visual clarity of surfaces.

Exploring Tours, France in MSFS

The city of Tours, positioned along the scenic Loire River, boasts a rich history from its Roman roots to its pivotal role throughout French history. The mod captures both the architectural splendor and the lush, verdant landscapes that have earned it the nickname "Garden of France." Virtual pilots will appreciate navigating above this historically rich landscape, experiencing its famed sites like the massive Roman amphitheater and the picturesque old town, Vieux-Tours, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Recommended Airports for Departure and Arrival

Tours Val de Loire Airport (LFOT): Conveniently located just northeast of the city, this airport offers the perfect gateway for starting or concluding your scenic flights over the Tours area.
Loire Valley Airfield (LFEF): Ideal for general aviation enthusiasts, this smaller airfield is situated to the east of Tours, providing a quaint but well-equipped starting point for regional explorations.

Installation and Compatibility

This mod has been developed using the Google Earth Decoder tool, ensuring high fidelity and compatibility with existing MSFS architecture. Installation is straightforward, following the standard mod installation procedures for MSFS, ensuring that even novice simmers can easily enhance their flight simulation experience.

Simply extract the archive and copy the thalixte-tours folder into your MSFS community folder.

The MSFS Tours City Photogrammetry Scenery is not just a visual enhancement; it's a deep dive into the heart of France's storied past, rendered with an eye for detail and a commitment to performance. Whether you're soaring over the rooftops of Tours or navigating the complex river landscapes of the Loire Valley, this mod brings unparalleled depth to your virtual flights.

Ready to download Tours City Photogrammetry Scenery?

Free for all simmers · 2.56 GB · Scanned clean

File information

Filename

tours-msfs-photo.zip

File size

2.56 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 3h 3m 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.

Finding the scenery

Use these coordinates to fly directly to this location once the mod is installed.

MSFS format (paste into search bar)

47.39424100,0.68473600

Decimal degrees

47.394241°, 0.684736°

Degrees, minutes, seconds

47° 23' 39.268" N 0° 41' 05.050" E

Paste these coordinates into the Microsoft Flight Simulator search bar when planning a flight, or into the Developer Mode Teleport window, to fly directly to this location.

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.