Game Discussions Microsoft Flight Simulator

[Ian Skippy]

Some more impressions: the game does not like being run in the background. So its Google Maps on the phone, GPS map of FS2020 on the 2nd screen and no alt+tabbing. I have visited my current house, my GF' place, my childhoom home and yesterday flew from Teuge Airport (where I once had a flight lesson ages ago) via Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Antwerpen and Mechelen to Brussels Airport. Absolutely stunning, could easily pick out many landmarks and places I've been too.

Slowly starting to consider getting my pilot's license again, which has been a bit of a dream of mine. Checked out how any of that works around here, and it turns out to cost ~15k. So maybe not right now, I suppose. :/

 

[Kemo]

Sad to learn about no airport/airfield in the Faroes... it was definitively in my go-to list... But if there's a real airport there, it will be added sooner or later. I have already realized there are so many places I want to fly to, that this game will last me many, many, many years. And the game it will only tend to become even better with time.

Regarding flight itself, my only gripe so far is with trimming... It feels unresponsive without any feedback and I can barely tell if it's working at all, but I am yet to determine if it's the game itself, or my control settings that cause this. I'm playing with props and turbo-props so no big deal for now, this issue will likely feel worse with jets which usually require more use of trimming.

I expect that once I tried all the planes I end up settling mostly for turbo-props, as they're IMO the best compromise between being great for sightseeing while having a bit of extra speed for when I actually want to get somewhere a little bit faster, so they fit my "tourist flights" role play the best.

I'm struggling with the trim, no feedback is def the issue for me. and keeping the plane level, so it's not banking left/right is a challenge. I did wonder with my X52Pro HOTAS was getting a bit tired and loose... a bit like the operator

 

[Juniper]

Some more impressions: the game does not like being run in the background. So its Google Maps on the phone, GPS map of FS2020 on the 2nd screen and no alt+tabbing.

Yes, all the major issues I've had with this I can trace back to alt-Tabbing.

Don't do it, kids. Just let it do it's thing, or quit the sim. At least until it's patched out.

Slowly starting to consider getting my pilot's license again, which has been a bit of a dream of mine. Checked out how any of that works around here, and it turns out to cost ~15k. So maybe not right now, I suppose. :/

Crikey, that's expensive. I knew it cost money - but not quite that much.

When you look at it like that, I suppose people spending thousands on controllers & building their own cockpits etc doesn't seem so outlandish.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Regarding flight itself, my only gripe so far is with trimming... It feels unresponsive without any feedback and I can barely tell if it's working at all, but I am yet to determine if it's the game itself, or my control settings that cause this. I'm playing with props and turbo-props so no big deal for now, this issue will likely feel worse with jets which usually require more use of trimming.

You mean vertical trimming? I have it on a rotary on my throttle and it is super responsive. Very, very minor changes have instant and very noticable effects on a 152.

 

[askavir]

I'm struggling with the trim, no feedback is def the issue for me. and keeping the plane level, so it's not banking left/right is a challenge. I did wonder with my X52Pro HOTAS was getting a bit tired and loose... a bit like the operator

I'm using the X56, can barely tell if the trimming is actually being adjusted or not when I press the assigned buttons... Will try fiddling with the control settings later, maybe I'm not using the appropriate options. I'm trying to use incremental trimming using a hat switch, not assigning axis. Will try later using the 360º thumb axis on the joystick to see if it feels differently.

 

[askavir]

You mean vertical trimming? I have it on a rotary on my throttle and it is super responsive. Very, very minor changes have instant and very noticable effects on a 152.

Vertical mainly, but I was assigning a hat switch to use as incremental. Will try using axis tonight. Was thinking about using the "thumb joystick" on the Joy, but a throttle rotary makes more sense indeed as it's much more precise.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Crikey, that's expensive. I knew it cost money - but not quite that much.

Apparantly its minimum 45 hours solo flight (so renting a plane for those hours), lessons (renting a plane + hiring instructor), theory classes, exams, gear and so on.

When you look at it like that, I suppose people spending thousands on controllers & building their own cockpits etc doesn't seem so outlandish.

Clearly. Once you have your license and you want to own your own little 152, its gets even more expensive: 15-20k for a used older but working plane, plus about $300/month in storage, maintenance, annual review blabla costs without flying a single minute. Renting a plane like that is about $120/hour, so you need to fly >500 hours minimum to make owning a plane 'worth it'. Unfortunately, my employer does not provide a landing strip. And on the other hand, I've seen simmers with cockpit replicas at home easily costing tens of thousands of dollars. Granted, I havent checked what owning a 747 costs but I'd rather fly a small single prop than have a world-class airliner replica at home.

In the end the cool thing is the range of options. People can fly on a console with a gamepad, to more expensive gaming pcs with a joystick and all the way to extensive replica setups. It is accessible with as much depth and expenses as you are willing to accept.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Vertical mainly, but I was assigning a hat switch to use as incremental. Will try using axis tonight. Was thinking about using the "thumb joystick" on the Joy, but a throttle rotary makes more sense indeed as it's much more precise.

I have the same X56 as well, it defaulted to the big one on top of the throttle:

Curious to hear how it works for you!

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Yes, all the major issues I've had with this I can trace back to alt-Tabbing.

Don't do it, kids. Just let it do it's thing, or quit the sim. At least until it's patched out.

Alt+tabbing is not an issue for me, I even use Google maps to check for landing strips.

 

[Para Handy]

I actually found the elevator trim was not a problem - I have it assigned to the rocker switch on the left "grip" of the CH Yoke. As long as you check the trim wheel is at TO position before heading off then it seems OK.

Regarding instrument views - there are bindings for "instrument view" - I bound the "next" and "previous" controls but cannot get them to work - need to play-about more as I suspect it is a case of going into an "instrument view mode" that I have not worked out yet.

I just had a giggle at a review video that rips the Orbx London scenery addon a new one - really shows up how it is just a cut-and-paste job that screws-up some of the default highly detailed scenery. (The "bleepers" out-takes at the end is really funny.)

 

[Juniper]

Alt+tabbing is not an issue for me, I even use Google maps to check for landing strips.

It may be fine during flight - my issues have come when it's downloading something in the menu (manual caching) and I alt-Tab out when it's taking ages. When you go back in after it's finished, the whole thing is frozen, and your entire cache file is corrupt & useless.

If I leave it in the foreground, it'll work fine with no issues.

 

[Juniper]

Apparantly its minimum 45 hours solo flight (so renting a plane for those hours), lessons (renting a plane + hiring instructor), theory classes, exams, gear and so on.

When you say 'solo' flight - you have a qualified pilot with you, right? I mean the skies aren't full of unqualified pilots trying to get their 45 hours in?!

In the end the cool thing is the range of options. People can fly on a console with a gamepad, to more expensive gaming pcs with a joystick and all the way to extensive replica setups. It is accessible with as much depth and expenses as you are willing to accept.

I'm using a T-Flight Hotas 4, which is fine for messing about in Elite (what I bought it for), but I think I definitely need something more up-market for this.

Is the Warthog still the daddy, or is there something better/cheaper out there now?

 

[Vasea Azure]

So far after hours of tweaking I managed to get the sim running at 30-45 frames with pretty high settings. The populated areas that are represented in my Prepar3d v5 with ORBX look less impressive but overall its a pleasant experience.
Especially if I choose places that are not covered in other sim by extra ORBX sceneries like Amman city area in Jordan:

The photo scenery adds so much to those places I might end up buying the sim when the pass ends.

Problems I have are - I really dont like the flightmodel, it feels twitchy and very fake if I compare FS20 aircrafts to Xplane or Prepar ones.
Biggest issue - live weather (if even works) feels very basic and I can see this will be another sim where purchasing software like ActiveSky will be necessary.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

It may be fine during flight - my issues have come when it's downloading something in the menu (manual caching) and I alt-Tab out when it's taking ages. When you go back in after it's finished, the whole thing is frozen, and your entire cache file is corrupt & useless.

If I leave it in the foreground, it'll work fine with no issues.

It is a juggernaut and when it handles large data blocks it seems it gets out of depth - when I tried to set up the rolling data cache it hanged - possibly because I have 16gb RAM only. But again I don't bother with it as anyway I am flying to new places all the time and have unmetered broadband connection.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

So far after hours of tweaking I managed to get the sim running at 30-45 frames with pretty high settings. The populated areas that are represented in my Prepar3d v5 with ORBX look less impressive but overall its a pleasant experience.
Especially if I choose places that are not covered in other sim by extra ORBX sceneries like Amman city area in Jordan:

The photo scenery adds so much to those places I might end up buying the sim when the pass ends.

Problems I have are - I really dont like the flightmodel, it feels twitchy and very fake if I compare FS20 aircrafts to Xplane or Prepar ones.
Biggest issue - live weather (if even works) feels very basic and I can see this will be another sim where purchasing software like ActiveSky will be necessary.

How do you know which one is fake?
Again, as posted by one of the 3rd party developers, the very basics how the airflow and physics are modelled are a giant leap ahead of the competition - so they will be able to do much better.
Having said that, I'm not a pilot and enjoying with default planes through hard settings, as is.

 

[Ian Skippy]

When you say 'solo' flight - you have a qualified pilot with you, right? I mean the skies aren't full of unqualified pilots trying to get their 45 hours in?!

No, solo flight means just you in the plane. Obviously you cannot start with solo flights though. typically you will need 25-30 flight hours with an instructor plus all theory classes. After that you are cleared for solo flight practice. So you cant just yeet off and yolo your way to Italy obviously but you can take off, follow the flight pattern and land again in a touch-go fashion for a few rounds. When you are allowed solo sessions you clearly already can take-off/land so it is just to get the routine in. Its the equivalent of driving a car around a supermarket parking lot on your own after having practiced that for 25 hours with an instructor.

But yeah, taking off on your own for a solo practice session is kinda a commitment to also land the thing on your own.

 

[askavir]

So you cant just yeet off and yolo your way to Italy

 

[Juniper]

So you cant just yeet off and yolo your way to Italy

Pfft! Says you...

Its the equivalent of driving a car around a supermarket parking lot on your own after having practiced that for 25 hours with an instructor.

Gotcha. That makes me feel slightly safer.

But yeah, taking off on your own for a solo practice sessions is kinda a commitment to also land the thing on your own.

Good point!

 

[Fishy]

I've discovered an even WORSE problem!

The cars in the UK drive on the right.

That's it. It's going in the bin. Utter rubbish!

This is strange, I just did a first flight and over Ireland they drive on the left. Didn't check NI, mind.

 

[Old Duck]

Some questions:

1) How do I take screenshots? I'm not talking about PRTSC button, but saving screenshots to disk like I can in many other games.
2) Is there a way to see other air traffic (I'm using live traffic) in either an overlay map or my little flight computer?
3) How do I change my own voice for ATC from female to male? My avatar is male.