Game Discussions Microsoft Flight Simulator

askavir

askavir
I just tried for the first time asking ATC to guide me to the nearest airport, and almost shed a tear... The whole ATC / comms is just absolutely fantastic.

By the way just in case anyone doesn't know how to make sense of the runway numbers, this is how it works:

All runways are numbered according to the compass heading of their direction, without the last zero. So a runway pointing directly north on the compass will be runway 36 (heading 360 without the last zero). That exact same runway, but in the opposite direction, will be named runway 18 (heading 180 without the zero).

This is useful for orientation on the airport while taxiing (although ATC provides directions that match markings in the taxiways) and also while landing as with the runway number you'll know the proper heading orientation.
 

Vasea Azure

Vasea Azure
Its so peaceful and relaxing to just cruse around:

d5hy8xn.png
 

wrmiller

W
askavir said:
Well I have to say I'm incredibly happy with Tobii 5. :)

Regarding eye tracking I didn't notice any improvement over 4C, Tobii says it has superior scanning frequency and resolution, but I was already extremely satisfied with the eye tracking in previous version so I didn't really notice anything.

Now regarding head tracking, the difference is HUGE! The (much) wider tracking angles work wonders, and head tracking is so much smoother and stable now. I can turn my head until I almost break my neck and it never loses track, and I can finally look well up or down and it keeps tracking too. It also comes with a new mount that goes below the monitor, and it has adjustment so you can have it to your taste without having to tilt the entire monitor.

Regarding TrackIR emulation, which was my biggest fear, I am pleased to say it not only works flawlessly with FacetrackNoIR, but it actually feels much better than the 4C due to the huge improvements to head tracking. it's much smoother and precise than the 4C in this department, with the 4C the view wobbled slightly up and down, and it tilted a bit down whenever I tried to look to the sides, now it's absolutely flawless. Additionally, it now supports roll, and the X / Y / Z axis now also work smoothly, which means we can now lean into the monitor to zoom in to read the instruments, or lift our head up to peek over the dashboard, which is fantastic.

I highly recommend that you upgrade to the new version if you can. (y)

If you do, you'll need to uninstall all drivers and software from the previous version, and for TrackIR emulation you'll need to configure FacetrackNoIR slightly differently, you can just follow this instructions (it uses Star Citizen as an example for it works for any game): https://www.dropbox.com/s/2mx85be1fi053wb/DCT - HOW-TO - Tobii 5 EyeTracking - Guide - Installation & Configuration - Star Citizen.pdf?dl=0

Like the previous version, the eye tracking functionality only works properly in screens up to 27 inches, which incidentally is exacty what I have.:)

Exactly like I long hoped for, on top of the eye tracking features this device also provides full TrackIR functionality without the need to have any gear or cables on my head, just need the Tobii device mounted below the monitor and turn it on. Very happy camper here :)
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I have a 34" monitor, so Tobii is not an option for me. But the TrackIR works just fine for me. And besides, I never flew in a real plane with a naked head, unless I was a passenger on a commercial flight, so wearing a headband doesn't really bother me.
 

askavir

askavir
Codger said:
I was able to locate my house. It is represented by a brown blob surrounded by greenish mushroom growths, but I still recognized it.
View attachment 184720
The map data seems to be quite old. The huge shopping center across the way is missing completely, and it went in 5 years ago or more. But the army barracks is there, and it went in a few years before that.

Still, it's got all the landscape right, and the rest is close enough unless you're down at rooftop level, really.

There sure is a lot of area covered, that's for sure :)
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Yeah it's a few years old indeed... Just flew over the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, the summit lava lake is still there even though the big 2018 eruption drained the lava from the summit and as result that entire area collapsed and created a huge caldera 300 meters deeper than before...

20200820204346_1.jpg


The blue haze is the steam rising from the lava lake, the game made it part of the ground texture :D But I guess asking for realistic volcanic gasses is probably a bit too much :)
 

Fishy

Fishy
So, as expected, my area is a mixed bag. Lots of miscasts in some buildings (multiple 5 storey buildings in Irish villages? Even in Dublin they have to beg to build that high), some shocking flat-texture-no-model major buildings in Galway (the rugby stadium, the cathedral), and parts of the city are underwater, which doesn't prevent cars from happily commuting. Also, some godawful road layout completely mismatched with the texture (but I knew that, it's a Bing thing, I can't even being to imagine how GPS navigation would fare with Bing as a data source...), and pathetic meshing effort for cliffs. Basically, cliffs don't exist, there are gentle slopes. So Dun Aengus on Inishmore, an old fort perched on a cliffside overlooking the Atlantic, is now a bunch of stone walls on a gentle sloped field, with the central part of the fort out on the beach.

That said, the buildings layout in general is insanely good, and I can definitely locate most landmarks visually. It's predictably not as wonderful as it was hyped up to be, but it's definitely a massive upgrade in terms of autogen. We already had photorealistic flights given a bit of altitude, now the illusion lasts a lot longer when descending. Even with the casting errors, I can immediately identify Galway and the surrounding villages from their look, that's pretty big. I haven't bothered with learning the ATC mappings just yet either, but I'm impressed by the communication and feel bad for not confirming reception when they keep asking!

Also, since Asobo obviously hate rotaries, I'm enjoying the little Icon. It's not quite all that, but it's pretty neat for low speed/altitude flights, and it's got a great cockpit view. Otherwise, the Cub is as fun as ever to land anywhere.
 
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askavir

askavir
wrmiller said:
I have a 34" monitor, so Tobii is not an option for me. But the TrackIR works just fine for me. And besides, I never flew in a real plane with a naked head, unless I was a passenger on a commercial flight, so wearing a headband doesn't really bother me.
Click to expand...

If you already have TrackIR and are happy with it then there is no reason to buy a Tobii unless you specifically wanted the eye tracking features as well as head tracking, or really really wanted to not have stuff on your head.
 

Ralph Vargr

Ralph Vargr
askavir said:
I just tried for the first time asking ATC to guide me to the nearest airport, and almost shed a tear... The whole ATC / comms is just absolutely fantastic.

By the way just in case anyone doesn't know how to make sense of the runway numbers, this is how it works:

All runways are numbered according to the compass heading of their direction, without the last zero. So a runway pointing directly north on the compass will be runway 36 (heading 360 without the last zero). That exact same runway, but in the opposite direction, will be named runway 18 (heading 180 without the zero).

This is useful for orientation on the airport while taxiing (although ATC provides directions that match markings in the taxiways) and also while landing as with the runway number you'll know the proper heading orientation.
Click to expand...
Note: these are the magnetic headings, not true north. They can, and do, change. I hope the dev's are aware of this...
 

Fishy

Fishy
Ralph Vargr said:
MDY is Midway. WAK is Wake Island. The dev's are noobs at history...
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There are lots of airports missing, nothing to do with history. Malaga, Eindhoven, the more modest Toulon-Hyeres... For some reason a lot of places with ICAO codes are simply missing. Heck, a day or two ago Heathrow was under the sea.
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
Para Handy said:
Small steps. Perhaps you key repeat is too rapid? I have up and down elevator trim assigned to a rocker switch on my yoke - not an axis - I find no problem in stabilising the 152 and 172 - I ran the DA20 last night and don't remember an issue there either. As long as you start off with the trim wheel in the TO position you shouldn't find much trouble. So far I have found the 152 and 172 very stable.
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I figured it out, remove any and all duplicate bindings and, while it's sensitive, it's workable. After removing all the duplicate controls bindings the game is so much more fun! I actually feel like I'm flying.
 

Ralph Vargr

Ralph Vargr
Fishy said:
There are lots of airports missing, nothing to do with history. Malaga, Eindhoven, the more modest Toulon-Hyeres... For some reason a lot of places with ICAO codes are simply missing. Heck, a day or two ago Heathrow was under the sea.
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Abbeville? Biggin Hill? Duxford? :)

 
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Iron Golem

Iron Golem
Old Duck said:
I found another inaccuracy last night. I live in nowhereland rural America, yet at night FS has all the back roads lit up like the Vegas strip. WUT??? I confess my disappointment (and eagerness for proper scenery editing tools). Almost as bad, the lights that should be there - specifically, the many towers in my region, are missing. How does a flight simulator miss huge radio towers? Aren't this cataloged as "navigational hazards" or something IRL?
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Ive noticed this also in my area, every little back road with houses looks like city skylines avenues with the well lit even spaced road lighting. I have weird dark spots with unconnected lit up neighborhoods also.
 

Iron Golem

Iron Golem
Mole HD said:
My rig (Liquid cooled i7 8700k/GTX 1080ti, 4Tb of NVME and 4Tb of SATA SSD)... being fairly average these days, except for perhaps me shoving 64Gb of DDR4 in it, ran everything at ultra with very little issue or hiccup...even though as default the sim recommended high settings. It surely needs optimising as it fairly hammered my GPU even when it was apparently doing nothing except downloading in the background with not even the UI open...that aside, the entire game deciding to uninstall and reinstall itself from scratch led to me just uninstalling it completely...it ran perfectly fine when I had it installed.

Don't mention the Orkney islands though...I could have drawn a better rendition with some crayons on a wall :cautious:
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This happened to me the other day as well. I finished the reinstall and did some more night flying. Still havnt see my area during the day...
 
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