Update, January 24, 2022 – Vessels: Global Shipping is now available for Xbox! Console pilots can now enjoy thousands of boats all over the world and much more immersive flights above water. Find this updated product (v1.6.0) from Seafront Simulations in the in-game Marketplace. More information here.
Original article below – July 30, 2021
Seafront Simulations has an interesting idea going on for Flight Simulator: to populate the world with… boats. While definitely not the main type of transportation in MSFS, boats are an important part of the scenery and a beautiful thing to see from up above. The developers have already released a couple of region-specific add-ons that introduce accurate and very good-looking boats to those places, but now they are expanding this idea to the whole world.
Vessels Enhanced AI and Vessels Global Shipping, released today for Flight Simulator on the PC, are two separate products that do two things separately. Vessels Enhanced AI improves the default ships and boats with higher quality versions and a wider variety of models, from yachts to catamarans, fishing boats, cargo ships and even cruise ships. So, it’s just an easy way to upgrade the existing boats in MSFS, but doesn’t change their actual traffic.
Vessels Global Shipping, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. This add-on adds around 50.000 routes and tens of thousands of high-quality boats all over the world, effectively filling the waters with realistic shipping traffic and leisure boats. Those flights over water should now be much more interesting!
Vessels: Global Shipping requires you to have Vessels Enhanced AI (not anymore, after v1.6.0), so you are looking into some investment here. Enhanced AI costs around US$12.00, while Global Shipping will set you back around US$19.00.
Obviously, after this week’s release of Sim Update V, boats now look much better in the water, with wake effects behind as they move. Both these products from Seafront Simulations support these new effects.
If you are looking for a similar way to add some life to the seas in MSFS, you may want to check Henrik Nielsen’s Global AI Ship Traffic, an impressive freeware mod that does a very similar job!
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