Game Discussions Microsoft Flight Simulator

[avow555]

FSX and 99% of all previous flight simulators do not use sat images for scenery. All previous versions of Microsoft Flight Sim use ground altitude data to create the surface mesh. They then use vector data to lay out the major roads and coastlines, minor roads and water bodies are less accurately placed. Major landmarks like important buildings and bridges are hand modeled and placed by MS, these were called "hero landamrks" by the MS Aces team in the past. Finally, the ground textures and 99% of the buildings are what they called "autogen", meaning they are procedurally generated and placed. They mimic the real world but in reality they have no connection to how the Earth actually looks. It's a complicated magic trick to approximate the world.

Where the new MFS is different is that its using actual sat images to texture the Earth as it looks in real life. Then MS is using AI routines to model and place actual color and shape correct buildings, roads, vegetation, coastlines, lakes, rivers, railroads, everything where they truly belong. This is the first time this has ever been done and the game world in the new MFS will be incredibly accurate to the real Earth. You'll be able to find your own house and driveway in the sim.

Now, when it comes to weather and snow, what makes it so much more complicated in the new MFS is the sat images themselves. When you changed the seasons in your FSX last night the sim simply loaded the appropriate color changed autogen textures it has stored on the hard drive. They don't look like real life but they randomly approximate it. With sat images there are no season correct images to load, they don't exist. This is why modeling seasons with sat images in a flight sim HAS NOT BEEN DONE PREVIOUSLY, because the sat images do not exist.

And yet, MS has found a way to do this with the new sim. With an accurate just like real life model of the Earth. For the first time. EVER. My best guess is they are using a mixture of complicated shaders and AI routines to modify the sat images on the fly, it would be super interesting to see exactly how they pulled this off.

If you don't see the difference now between seasons in FSX (and all other flight sims) and the new MFS then I can't help you anymore, sorry.

I haven't seen the finished product, have you?
I don't require your help either so keep that dillusion to yourself.
Don't guess about features if you don't know.

 

[Snarfbuckle]

My only worry with it going for realism is that this means that the UK will 74% of the time covered with dull lifeless grey cloud. (Still, at least this will hide the queues on the M20 around Ashford, coming anytime soon.)

Australia will be covered in black smoke and there will be fire alerts around airports...

 

[Mengy]

I haven't seen the finished product, have you?
I don't require your help either so keep that dillusion to yourself.
Don't guess about features if you don't know.

I'm not guessing, what makes you think that I am? Do you think anything I've stated so far is incorrect? I'm just telling it like it is, from factual knowledge about the old sims and the new one, to explain to you that having seasons in the new MFS given it's terrain generation method is a tech breakthrough.

If you don't want to believe it then fine, you be you, some people believe the Earth is flat too even though facts state otherwise.

 

[encrypted]

Australia will be covered in black smoke and there will be fire alerts around airports...

+ airports will be partially on fire in exact same select spots + until you deliver 20000000 tonnes of basic medicines to them, they'll stay this way. No passengers coming in, just passengers flying out, doesn't matter which direction.

 

[Snarfbuckle]

+ airports will be partially on fire in exact same select spots + until you deliver 20000000 tonnes of basic medicines to them, they'll stay this way. No passengers coming in, just passengers flying out, doesn't matter which direction.

Hopefully MS adds a water bombing plane so we can fight fires.

 

[Old Duck]

So when does this actually release? I'm guessing Q4, but definitely this year, right? I suspect this will offer ED "New Era" some serious competition, at least for my free gaming time.

 

[Vasea Azure]

What I do hope is that this will be the first semi pro flight sim that wont immediately required 3p addons for graphics, weather, air traffic. Recently I got in to Prepar3d and to be able to make any decent experience I actually had to purchase expensive weather engine, cloud texture pack for said weather engine, AI traffic addon, at least one plane as def hangar is just incredibly outdated (they put FS2004 Alphasim helicopter there!), ORBX scenery for my favorite area and even camera/view addon. And I`m talking about essentials, with out mentioned 3p addons the sim is pretty much useless. Whas it worth it - yeah, the modded Prepar is just superb and it looks almost like promos for MS20 now.
Also as of late the prices for flight sim addons, at least for my region, are getting unacceptably high.

 

[Jenner]

So when does this actually release? I'm guessing Q4, but definitely this year, right? I suspect this will offer ED "New Era" some serious competition, at least for my free gaming time.

All we know officially is '2020 sometime'.

 

[Chris Simon]

All we know officially is '2020 sometime'.

I'm pretty sure they're going to announce in at E3.

 

[Old Duck]

All we know officially is '2020 sometime'.

Well, we still know WAY more about MFS2020 than we do New Era 2020.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Well, we still know WAY more about MFS2020 than we do New Era 2020.

I'd hazard a guess that it will be a launch title on the new Eggs Box.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

If I had the funds for a new mega-PC, I know which game I would be spending my time on....

 

[jasonbarron]

Wow, that trailer looked absolutely amazing. Two questions: will it release on PC, and will it be playable with a controller?

Edit: another question: how much bandwidth are we going to need to run this beast?

 

[jasonbarron]

Been watching some more preview videos, sort of thinking right now this looks like more than just a stand alone one and done $59.99 purchase. My prediction is that this is almost definitely going to be subscription based. Hope like hell I'm wrong.

 

[Vasea Azure]

Been watching some more preview videos, sort of thinking right now this looks like more than just a stand alone one and done $59.99 purchase. My prediction is that this is almost definitely going to be subscription based. Hope like hell I'm wrong.

What do you mean by stand alone? If you are worry about third party planes then no need, guys from PMDG already said that they will be making their planes for new sim.

 

[jasonbarron]

What do you mean by stand alone? If you are worry about third party planes then no need, guys from PMDG already said that they will be making their planes for new sim.

No, i meant a stand alone purchase. Looks like too much game for a single fee, and I'm concerned the pricing will be subscription based.

 

[Mengy]

No, i meant a stand alone purchase. Looks like too much game for a single fee, and I'm concerned the pricing will be subscription based.

Microsoft haven't said anything about pricing models yet, but given the sat images stream from the cloud I'd wager there will also be some kind of subscription service with MFS too. It might just be the Xbox Gamepass subscription honestly, which currently costs $5/mo for PC, so $60 per year.

I'm hoping it isn't that expensive, as thats essentially buying the game anew every year. Sure you'd get a lot of other games with that subscription but I only want MFS.

We'll find out later this year in any case. I'm a huge aviation enthusiast so I'll be buying it no matter what it costs. Prepare3D has cost me more than that over the past few years so whatever, lol.

 

[jasonbarron]

Microsoft haven't said anything about pricing models yet, but given the sat images stream from the cloud I'd wager there will also be some kind of subscription service with MFS too. It might just be the Xbox Gamepass subscription honestly, which currently costs $5/mo for PC, so $60 per year.

I'm hoping it isn't that expensive, as thats essentially buying the game anew every year. Sure you'd get a lot of other games with that subscription but I only want MFS.

We'll find out later this year in any case. I'm a huge aviation enthusiast so I'll be buying it no matter what it costs. Prepare3D has cost me more than that over the past few years so whatever, lol.

What kind of bandwidth are you thinking it'll require? I'm moving in the spring to an area where I'll be lucky to have modest microwave dish internet. And I want this sim so bad!

 

[Chris Simon]

What kind of bandwidth are you thinking it'll require? I'm moving in the spring to an area where I'll be lucky to have modest microwave dish internet. And I want this sim so bad!

I've read on the forum from one of the testers that they have a 20Mb down/10Mb up link and everything works fine.
I think the game works on a tile-based pre-load (it downloads the terrain around you in advance) so theoretically, at least in small and slow aircraft the bandwidth requirements should be really low.
I would be surprised if the continuous downstream was anything more than a couple hundred kb/s. Kind of like Elite in Solo mode. They can't afford to make it too demanding.
Now multiplayer could be a whole another can of worms..

 

[jasonbarron]

I've read on the forum from one of the testers that they have a 20Mb down/10Mb up link and everything works fine.
I think the game works on a tile-based pre-load (it downloads the terrain around you in advance) so theoretically, at least in small and slow aircraft the bandwidth requirements should be really low.
I would be surprised if the continuous downstream was anything more than a couple hundred kb/s. Kind of like Elite in Solo mode. They can't afford to make it too demanding.
Now multiplayer could be a whole another can of worms..

Fingers crossed!