Game Discussions Microsoft Flight Simulator

[[VR] Deggial]

I am very interested in MSFS2020 and I will most likely get the game at some point.
Before I pull the trigger, VR integration (for Oculus Rift) will have to be implemented, though. “No VR, no buy” applies here too, I am afraid. But fortunately, this will only be a matter of time and not hope, like with EDO.

I’ve never before “played” a pure flight simulator and I am still not sure, how long MSFS2020 will be able to keep my interest. That’s why I’ll stick to the standard version at first. The representation of the whole earth and the awesome cloud technology bodes well though and I can very well imagine me flying and exploring exotic (and not so exotic) places for a long time!

I certainly wouldn’t mind a more “gamey” aspect accompanying the simulator.
‘FSEconomy’ looks really great in this respect (yet visually quite unappealing) and I hope, it will be able to interact with MSFS2020 in the future. Or, even better, MSFS2020 adds its own, integrated “economy and career mode” into the simulator. Were‘t there some hints towards this in the past?

I can see me upgrading the game to a later point. I am not sure, whether or not MS’s two own game versions will do it for me. The ‘Deluxe’ version seems a bit underwhelming (regarding the additional airplanes); if at all, it probably would have to be the ‘Super Deluxe’ variant.
Third party planes might be even more interesting - but I am a bit worried about the price tag.
Anyway, if somebody would offer a high quality ‘F4U Corsair’, I would likely cave in.

Who doesn’t want to fly this beauty?

 

[Juniper]

I am very interested in MSFS2020 and I will most likely get the game at some point.
Before I pull the trigger, VR integration (for Oculus Rift) will have to be implemented, though. “No VR, no buy” applies here too, I am afraid. But fortunately, this will only be a matter of time and not hope, like with EDO.

They've said it's coming, but not for a few months, and initially the G2 Reverb only for obvious reasons (Microsoft are involved). But Rift too eventually.

I want it too. In the meantime, if I'm desperate, there's always VorpX, and as it's a seated experience it should work OK.

I’ve never before “played” a pure flight simulator and I am still not sure, how long MSFS2020 will be able to keep my interest. That’s why I’ll stick to the standard version at first. The representation of the whole earth and the awesome cloud technology bodes well though and I can very well imagine me flying and exploring exotic (and not so exotic) places for a long time!

I think this is why it's worth getting the £1 Xbox game pass for PC, because it gives you the opportunity to try out the full game for a month and see how you enjoy it. I'll very likely buy it myself at some point soon... just depends on the finances and what's available when I pull the trigger.

I certainly wouldn’t mind a more “gamey” aspect accompanying the simulator.
‘FSEconomy’ looks really great in this respect (yet fisually quite unappealing) and I hope, it will be able to interact with MSFS2020 in the future. Or, even better, MSFS2020 adds its own, integrated “economy and career game” into the simulator. Were‘t there some hints towards this in the past?

There's a game coming. This is why it's only being released on PC for now, and the Xbox version will follow when they have a game in place. They've dropped a few hints on what that might involve. I think there's still some basic challenges etc already, as well as a ton of achievements, but no economy aspect as yet.

Who doesn’t want to fly this beauty?

I think there'd actually have to be something wrong with you if you weren't interested in exploring the planet in this.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

IGN review is out, unsurprisingly with a 10/masterpiece rating.

 

[askavir]

Check the date. That's 23:00 UTC today, which is midnight tonight here in the UK at least.

You just turned my mood from terrible back to sun is shining, thank you!

 

[askavir]

I sort of see the positive side that it will be released tomorrow 6:00 AM CET on Steam, I won't be 'forced' for a very late night session with downloading and setting up the game.
On Reddit many are changing their system clock to Kiribati, if that works, they will start downloading in a couple of hours.

Same here, even though it releases at 23:00 today, I'd rather not touch it until tomorrow, as it's impossible to play such an anticipated and potentially wonderful game for "just a bit" before going to bed... Between downloading / installing and first time configuring options and bindings, it would be well past midnight when I first started flying, and I hate going to bed late before a workday.

I'll leave it all to tuesday so I can have a "proper first time experience".

 

[Juniper]

Here's a review for anyone still on the fence about this. Covers both the good and bad (and there is 'some' bad, although how much it affects you depends on your system and how you intend to play).

 

[Old Duck]

I wonder if there will be sailplanes, and ultralights?

And hot air balloons! I hope that hobbyists can still make free content for the game, perhaps even using the market place (kinda like Steam Workshop) to distribute it. The best thing of the older FSs was the free content made by enthusiasts. Heck, it don't even need to be free - I'd pay two bucks for a hot air balloon or a boat.

 

[Old Duck]

and there is 'some' bad

For me the baddest bad is the lumpy, bumpy wart-covered texture-skewed buildings and terrain that the AI generates from photogrammetry. I really don't like it. I'm hoping that Microsoft can tweak the AI the generating things like skyscrapers in NYC to be aware that, "This is a building, it should not have warts and spikes and pimples" and thus clip these things out, kinda like a 3D version of anti-aliasing. If I'm 20,000 ft over NYC, I won't notice, but if I'm landing in LaGuardia, I definitely will see this effect.

I REALLY don't like it...

 

[Juniper]

For me the baddest bad is the lumpy, bumpy wart-covered texture-skewed buildings and terrain that the AI generates from photogrammetry. I really don't like it. I'm hoping that Microsoft can tweak the AI the generating things like skyscrapers in NYC to be aware that, "This is a building, it should not have warts and spikes and pimples" and thus clip these things out, kinda like a 3D version of anti-aliasing. If I'm 20,000 ft over NYC, I won't notice, but if I'm landing in LaGuardia, I definitely will see this effect.

I REALLY don't like it...

Yep, I've seen it in a few videos. Also in cities, with trees growing in the middle of a road with cars driving through them.

It's not perfect (is anything?), but it's a really valiant attempt at bringing together multiple datasets and using them to create a realistic representation of our planet. Many of the datasets are incomplete, but new data is being added all the time, so it's only really a matter of time before things like this get ironed out. They've already said they plan to do an entire world data update in a couple of weeks, with future updates every few months or so. In other words - it will only get better.

 

[askavir]

What scared me a bit in the video Juniper shared is the loading times... Having played X-Plane 11 for years I'm kind of used to very long loading times, but when the guy said "up to 4 minutes" my heart skipped a beat...

 

[Juniper]

And hot air balloons! I hope that hobbyists can still make free content for the game, perhaps even using the market place (kinda like Steam Workshop) to distribute it. The best thing of the older FSs was the free content made by enthusiasts. Heck, it don't even need to be free - I'd pay two bucks for a hot air balloon or a boat.

From what I can tell, everything is being offered through this... which permits you to publish to their store, and then you can pay for it in-game using "flight coins" (money). You can make free stuff too - so expect a pretty rich modding community to transfer over to this from FSX and X-Plane.

 

[Juniper]

What scared me a bit in the video Juniper shared is the loading times... Having played X-Plane 11 for years I'm kind of used to very long loading times, but when the guy said "up to 4 minutes" my heart skipped a beat...

Yep, when I heard that, I immediately cleared about 500GB on one of my SSDs & then re-installed my "preload". It seems like an SSD is almost mandatory for this game.

 

[avow555]

A well that's me just parted with my cash, hope my Internet holds good overnight

 

[Old Duck]

They've already said they plan to do an entire world data update in a couple of weeks, with future updates every few months or so. In other words - it will only get better.

That's what I'm counting on. Another effect I hate is the "wall" that connects many bridges to the ground / water. You can tell it's an automated height map rather than a separate asset of an actual bridge. This is all the same tech used for Bing and Google maps (3D version), so I'm very familiar with how it works and its flaws.

I'm hopeful that some free developer tools will be released to allow users to edit terrain and scenery. I would actually enjoy going in and fixing my home town and surrounding area, for example, and I'd provided those fixes to the community for free if the tools allowed. This too would allow the sim to get better over time, by crowdsourcing the enthusiasts like myself to fix some of these things. However, a big iconic city like NYC should be done by the actual developer team responsible for this.

 

[Juniper]

I'm hopeful that some free developer tools will be released to allow users to edit terrain and scenery. I would actually enjoy going in and fixing my home town and surrounding area, for example, and I'd provided those fixes to the community for free if the tools allowed. This too would allow the sim to get better over time, by crowdsourcing the enthusiasts like myself to fix some of these things. However, a big iconic city like NYC should be done by the actual developer team responsible for this.

As far as I know, the SDK is being released at the same time as the game.

 

[Old Duck]

As far as I know, the SDK is being released at the same time as the game.

Will the official marketplace be the ONLY way to share content with other players, or will we be able to "side-load" content as well? I'd be thrilled if MSFS supported Steam Workshop as a way to at least share free content. Anything I release will likely be free.

 

[Mengy]

What scared me a bit in the video Juniper shared is the loading times... Having played X-Plane 11 for years I'm kind of used to very long loading times, but when the guy said "up to 4 minutes" my heart skipped a beat...

I'm going to begin installing tonight at 12;00 AM, and I'm putting MFS on my NVME 4.0 super fast drive. Hopefully that helps reduce the loading times to "get a drink and come back" levels.

 

[Alien]

I'm annoyed .... My PC is (surprisingly) easily meeting the system requirements to play MS Flight Simulator except for it being a Win10 min OS requirement.
My PC doesn't like trying to install Win10, it errors every time (I think there's a problem with my RAM, but I'm not sure)
I don't think there's any justifiable reason to have it be only a Win10 game other than it's Microsoft and they hate Win7

Otherwise I'd be throwing money at them for it.
(don't suggest GamePass, that is also a Win10 only thing, even if the games, like Grounded, are happy to run on Win7)

 

[Mengy]

I don't think there's any justifiable reason to have it be only a Win10 game other than it's Microsoft and they hate Win7

MFS will be a DX12 game in the near future, and that requires Win10. That and Win7 is no longer supported by MS.

 

[Juniper]

Will the official marketplace be the ONLY way to share content with other players, or will we be able to "side-load" content as well? I'd be thrilled if MSFS supported Steam Workshop as a way to at least share free content. Anything I release will likely be free.

That's the million dollar question isn't it. They've made a big effort to try and stop the spaghetti installs of addons into their flight sims, and an integrated "store" is how they've chosen to do it... since Steam workshop won't work for the Xbox or other platforms. Don't know if you can side-load, but it wouldn't surprise me if not.

So long as the mod creators can get their stuff on the store (and free), I'm cool with it.