Game Discussions Microsoft Flight Simulator

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
AvonNZ said:
Does

Does VFR map work in VR mode ?
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Yes. It tends to open up in an inconvenient place, but it's easily moveable, as is the ATC window.

@Para Handy yes, I downloaded Little NavMap, it's pretty impressive and detailed, but I have to say I found the interface a little confusing, and I'm anyway not really looking for an alternative to the world map in-game. As I say, for manual route plotting (in the USA) Skyvector works well for me, and if I want to be more realistic I can use Simbrief to generate correct flight paths.
 

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
Revenant69 said:
Looks like I have a LOT to learn about being a real world pilot. Right now the really frustrating part is flying with a lame gamepad while waiting for my HOTAS to arrive (probably two months or so away).
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Waiting is a killer! Having got my Reverb, it was clear that my existing PC would struggle, so I've bit the bullet and ordered a new one - faster processor, RTX 3080 and an SSD drive. I think it'll be great - but have to wait until the end of January for it. Will be playing a blurry game until then.

As for learning to be a real world pilot - which I am not - it's one of the things I really like about MSFS 2020, so much and so many things you can learn that elevate it from being a game to something that feels very much more real.
 

AvonNZ

AvonNZ
Faded Glory said:
Yes. It tends to open up in an inconvenient place, but it's easily moveable, as is the ATC window.

@Para Handy yes, I downloaded Little NavMap, it's pretty impressive and detailed, but I have to say I found the interface a little confusing, and I'm anyway not really looking for an alternative to the world map in-game. As I say, for manual route plotting (in the USA) Skyvector works well for me, and if I want to be more realistic I can use Simbrief to generate correct flight paths.
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Thanks, wonder if something like OVR Toolkit might be useful in VR game? Can look at any window and locate/hide or bind to your hand.
 

Revenant69

Revenant69
This sure is a sim that makes me actually want to learn about the nuts and bolts of the subject matter. Right now I'm just gritting my teeth and dealing with the inherent frustrations of flying mechanics with a gamepad, but the thing I'm really struggling with from an understanding level is how do I create a flight plan for approaching a crowded airport taking into account traffic and wind variables. I watched one video of a real world pilot planning his route into Heathrow but it was clear that he actually knew all the approaches, practical geographic considerations and landing strip options and as a consequence he made it look easy when in fact it really isn't. I'm soooo ignorant of the subject matter that I don't even know where to start sorting the conversations that discuss various map add-ons versus the deficiencies of the ingame map, for instance, since I'm so green that I don't even know what the limitations of the ingame map are in the first place.

I'm loving it, though. Utterly smitten. I can see this being a major focus of my leisure/hobby time in the years ahead.

Edit: if I'm in the simulator's provided route planner muddling through a flight plan, do I need to figure out wind speed and direction when choosing my strip? For that matter, when wind speed and direction are given does that mean the direction it's actually blowing or the direction the wind is coming from?
 
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Faded Glory

Faded Glory
Revenant69 said:
Edit: if I'm in the simulator's provided route planner muddling through a flight plan, do I need to figure out wind speed and direction when choosing my strip? For that matter, when wind speed and direction are given does that mean the direction it's actually blowing or the direction the wind is coming from?
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This is way above my knowledge level, but to get started, when you are in the game's world map planning a flight, if you select low level airways (or presumably high level airways) in the drop down top left (it defaults to VFR route), you will see an additional field now below your departure and arrival locations where the runway or gate selector field was. These fields now allow you to select a specific runway approach at your arrival airport, be it ILS or RNAV (assuming they exist), and the other field (the one on the left) allows you to select a named approach (or departure if it's your departure airport) which is a fixed navigational approach to that airport. It will show these routes on the map in pink, as opposed to the standard grey of the route.

If you want to go further, you can google the specific airport and in many cases you will be able to find the 'paperwork' for that airport. For example, you can find charts for Heathrow here. Somewhere in there will be charts for the standardized approaches and departures for the airport. You will also find charts similar to the one I posted above that show in detail ILS and RNAV approaches and the elevations you need to be at at various points out. What speeds you should be at will vary obviously depending on the plane you are in. To find a specific plane's approach speeds search on google for their pilot's operation handbook. Not all are available for free, but there are often copies available for download.

As to wind direction, you presumably want to land into the wind where it's possible, and in the world map the direction is where the wind is coming from. It's possible ATC will direct you to an appropriate runway (in the game), but to be honest I don't use ATC much, so don't know how accurate it is. It was definitely flaky at release, hence why I stopped using it, and I imagine that if you select a specific runway when planning your flight it will direct you to that one regardless of real world conditions, at least, it always used to.
 

Revenant69

Revenant69
@Faded Glory on your advice I've been incorporating SkyVector into my flight planning and I can see where it's a crucially important resource. Also, I spent a bunch of time installing and tinkering with Little NavMap yesterday and I think it'll wind up being a go-to tool for me as well. The only thing I don't like about it (and I might be wrong about this) but it looks like you need to pause the sim every time you want to tab out (in absence of a second monitor) and check your progress on the Little NavMap utility. If anyone is familiar with this tool can you please chime in and let me know if there's a better way to check your progress on the utility? Even so it's still awfully handy planning the route in the first place, setting/dragging waypoints around and then saving in a format that MFS understands, far better than doing it on the flight prep screen within the simulation. I can see where it'll help make me feel like a real world pilot once I become proficient with it.
 

AvonNZ

AvonNZ
Revenant69 said:
@Faded Glory on your advice I've been incorporating SkyVector into my flight planning and I can see where it's a crucially important resource. Also, I spent a bunch of time installing and tinkering with Little NavMap yesterday and I think it'll wind up being a go-to tool for me as well. The only thing I don't like about it (and I might be wrong about this) but it looks like you need to pause the sim every time you want to tab out (in absence of a second monitor) and check your progress on the Little NavMap utility. If anyone is familiar with this tool can you please chime in and let me know if there's a better way to check your progress on the utility? Even so it's still awfully handy planning the route in the first place, setting/dragging waypoints around and then saving in a format that MFS understands, far better than doing it on the flight prep screen within the simulation. I can see where it'll help make me feel like a real world pilot once I become proficient with it.
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Hi Revenant69, if you are playing via Steam in VR you can try to use "OVR Toolkit" within VR. You can view any windows window as big or small or hidden as you like, within VR. Unless you are playing flatscreen? I have done a short video on it if you are using VR.
 

Revenant69

Revenant69
AvonNZ said:
Hi Revenant69, if you are playing via Steam in VR you can try to use "OVR Toolkit" within VR. You can view any windows window as big or small or hidden as you like, within VR. Unless you are playing flatscreen? I have done a short video on it if you are using VR.
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Flat screen only I'm afraid, and only a single one at that. I'm hoping to pick up a small second monitor and experiment with running the app on that while the simulation runs on Fullscreen on my main monitor.
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
AvonNZ said:
Flatscreen more comfortable for longer session, and a lot easier on your PC ;-)
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Indeed. Though I can't stop stressing how much landings become easier when you can actually feel how you are coming down. Really a game changer, explained much of the difference I saw between all those beautifully smooth landings I saw being made by trainees on youtube, and my wobbly hammerings while trying the same with no actual perception of depth. A real shame that all that clarity and smoothness of a monitor gets lost...for now.
 

Juniper

Juniper
Revenant69 said:
The only thing I don't like about it (and I might be wrong about this) but it looks like you need to pause the sim every time you want to tab out (in absence of a second monitor) and check your progress on the Little NavMap utility. If anyone is familiar with this tool can you please chime in and let me know if there's a better way to check your progress on the utility?
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Are you running in fullscreen mode? Have you tried selecting 'borderless windowed' mode instead? Because then you can simply place the Little NavMap on the same screen at the same time. Just find a wee corner for it, and expand it as and when you need it. Only thing you have to worry about is which window currently has 'focus', but you'd have the same issue with multiple monitors anyway. 🤷‍♀️
 

AvonNZ

AvonNZ
AkenBosch said:
Indeed. Though I can't stop stressing how much landings become easier when you can actually feel how you are coming down. Really a game changer, explained much of the difference I saw between all those beautifully smooth landings I saw being made by trainees on youtube, and my wobbly hammerings while trying the same with no actual perception of depth. A real shame that all that clarity and smoothness of a monitor gets lost...for now.
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Cross fingers that the VR (and entire game) get more optimised in the near future !
 

Revenant69

Revenant69
Juniper said:
Are you running in fullscreen mode? Have you tried selecting 'borderless windowed' mode instead? Because then you can simply place the Little NavMap on the same screen at the same time. Just find a wee corner for it, and expand it as and when you need it. Only thing you have to worry about is which window currently has 'focus', but you'd have the same issue with multiple monitors anyway. 🤷‍♀️
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I'll give that a shot, thanks!

Edit: hmmm, only have options for "fullscreen" or "windowed." Is that what you meant?
 
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Faded Glory

Faded Glory
AvonNZ said:
Cross fingers that the VR (and entire game) get more optimised in the near future !
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I suspect it will be - at least I hope so. For a first stab at VR what's there is really pretty good. My PC is struggling a bit, but I've got it running pretty smooth, just a bit blurry (and I am getting a few more CTD's, but don't know if that is VR related). Anyway, have ordered a better PC which should run it OK (RTX 3080), but even on my current PC I've been having a blast flying from California to NY.

I plan the leg / journey using Simbrief and Skyvector, use the world map to set my departure airport and ramp, then input the route directly into the FMS in flatscreen (TBM 930), switch to VR, complete pre-flight routines and off I go. Has been working great, just one more leg now to JFK. :)
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
Faded Glory said:
I plan the leg / journey using Simbrief and Skyvector, use the world map to set my departure airport and ramp, then input the route directly into the FMS in flatscreen (TBM 930), switch to VR, complete pre-flight routines and off I go. Has been working great, just one more leg now to JFK. :)
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I think I'll still be doing short range VOR flight for the time being, I just set the departure place and runway, look for the destination VOR from the map and input that on the radio before take off. I might even write down a couple intermediate VOR beacons if the destination is particularly far or has no beacon of its own. I'm not able to follow a precise flight plan so my ETAs are all over, I just use them as a very rough estimate, but once I'm in the range I generally rely more on checking how fast the radial header veers off course and then eyeball the landing point once I know I'm in short visual range. It's everything an half decent pilot wouldn't do, but I'm just there to enjoy the scenery and that's why I love simulators. :)

I wouldn't bet too much on some miraculous optimization work for VR, considering the standard rendering is already pretty heavy on hardware for good reasons, I found this early implementation to run surprisingly good. Holding barely to its 30-35 fps, I expected the 1060 to completely lose the ball in VR and make a hilarious slide show out of it. Instead, even with its scaled down resolution, scaled down detail and choppy framerate, it still somehow manage to hold it up and make VR flying tolerable to the point of being enjoyable. I would have never bet on that, before actually seeing it.

(Still, what's up with that C152 VR cabin? That's a cockpit for ants!)
 

AvonNZ

AvonNZ
Faded Glory said:
I suspect it will be - at least I hope so. For a first stab at VR what's there is really pretty good. My PC is struggling a bit, but I've got it running pretty smooth, just a bit blurry (and I am getting a few more CTD's, but don't know if that is VR related). Anyway, have ordered a better PC which should run it OK (RTX 3080), but even on my current PC I've been having a blast flying from California to NY.

I plan the leg / journey using Simbrief and Skyvector, use the world map to set my departure airport and ramp, then input the route directly into the FMS in flatscreen (TBM 930), switch to VR, complete pre-flight routines and off I go. Has been working great, just one more leg now to JFK. :)
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Could use OVR Toolkit to program the FMS in VR, but probably harder (never tried it).
 
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