Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MS FS 2020) [PC, XGP-PC]

J

Jupiter

Veteran

Official Ste: https://www.xbox.com/de-DE/games/microsoft-flight-simulator


Some environments
(Someone told me that he even saw the rock in the Central Park where he ate breakfast during the summer holidays.)


They have used satellite images for the game which were adapted with AI.



A Preview

That looks like a giant leap for the whole flight sim genre. He also talks about some of the technology. Very interesting.
 
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eeeeeh wait a sec. if this thing comes with VR support and Xbox Scarlet gonna support running it in VR.... omg my money... im sure i wont be able to stop myself from buying it, and surely PS5 will have PSVR2...

simply flying in VR was a bliss in ace combat 7. FS2020 VR? omg. im so hyped, and they hadnt even say anything about vr support

EDIT: the dude on the video talks about in pre alpha, the high quality terrain and 3d buildings are only in north america and england.

i wonder, does it use Bing's "aerial/perspective" data in combination with sats to generate 3D models? if it does, then all areas not covered by bing "aerial/perespective" data will be a concern.... how good/bad they will be?

EDIT2: no VR at launch
 
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Did anyone play flight simulator back in the days? I never really got into it. Just curious what the allure is.
 
iroboto said:
Did anyone play flight simulator back in the days? I never really got into it. Just curious what the allure is.
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Accuracy, generally. It's meant to be a simulator, it's definitely not an action game. Once players get past the wow of it, you will be left with the people who actually want to play it. Which involves things like successfully going from one airport to another in a single-prop plane using VFR only, accurately navigating an airport runway system, flying and landing in another country in a commercial jet using the correct instrumentation, navigation and flight paths (in real time!).
 
iroboto said:
Did anyone play flight simulator back in the days? I never really got into it. Just curious what the allure is.
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I have played Flight Simulator for Windows 95 from 1996. In generel I like some simulation games but more in that military genre (mech, combat, tank, ships, submarine, space etc.). However, I find that the term space or tank simulation is often misused. Most of these games are usually not simulations from my point of view.
 
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Malo said:
Accuracy, generally. It's meant to be a simulator, it's definitely not an action game.
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Yes, and the accuracy of the simulation was so good that actual commercial airline pilots used to use it to keep their piloting skills in top shape.

I'm so glad that Microsoft has refocused on delivering quality PC games again. It was a dark era for Microsoft WRT to PC gaming from about mid-Xbox original to a bit into Phil becoming the head of the division (needed time to ramp up efforts in the PC space again).

Being an RTS fan, I'll always be sad that Ensemble Studio got dissolved, however.

Regards,
SB
 
I still remembered the thick instruction manual came with one version of my Flight Simulator game (I think it's the 2000 version). It's a nice read in its own right even if you don't play the game.
 

New footage in a 30 minute reel. Some really impressive stuff in there even with some of the jankiness (for example, vehicles on the road look kind of weird). However, considering the scale, some really impressive stuff.

Regards,
SB
 
I've been keeping an eye on this for a while now (hoping to get into the alpha!).

I'm not a hard-core simmer, but I do like getting my joystick out and tooling around. And of course I'm a total slut for visuals.

I've tried to get into XPlane 11, spent hours making customs ortho scenery. But the whole thing just doesn't grab me in the way that some flight sims did in the late 90s and early 2000s.
 
Looking amazing. I've noticed there's no night flying in any of the released footage, so likely night-related content like lights on buildings, streets and cars isn't available yet.
 
Malo said:
Looking amazing. I've noticed there's no night flying in any of the released footage, so likely night-related content like lights on buildings, streets and cars isn't available yet.
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There is footage of night/dawn and lights from urban areas, albeit from altitude. Not in that clip maybe, but in other in their discovery trailer.
 
iroboto said:
Did anyone play flight simulator back in the days? I never really got into it. Just curious what the allure is
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Ive bought nearly all of them and I do the same thing take off from my local airport and try to find my house then I never touch it again.
I am a massive fan of combat flight sims though
 
I can't wait to build my new PC at this rate. When I was younger I was hooked on Flight Simulator 2000 and later FSX. Granted, I would never qualify as an actual pilot; but it was an excellent de-stresser that I miss a lot! I'd hop into an aircraft I like for a short/medium hop between airports and talk to myself as I made announcements. Trying to learn as I went and got better and better. I miss those days...

What stood out to me was the following:

A much improved weather and physics engine (weather builds gradually and more naturally, air currents and turbulence both take underlying terrain into account and also act differently according to where your plane is in relation to the turbulence. One wing might be entering turbulence while the other isn't etc.) and the absolutely beautiful results from the renderer. Raindrops etc forming and flying off of windshields according to the wind etc.... Just beautiful.
 
Extracting 3d models from aerial pictures is a complex problem, but a known quantity by now. But extracting a model with proper PBR materials that work well in a dynamic day-night and weather system is a new challenge as far as I know. I wonder how well their solution will work out in the end.
 
iroboto said:
IGN hands on impressions
https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/ddb0bf

The OP of that thread seems rather an excited person.
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Multiple petabytes of satellite data. And that's just for the limited locations (I believe just the US, maybe NA, and UK for now?) available now. I wonder just how far into the boonies this will be accurate for and will it be uniformly accurate across the US?

I also wonder if it drives Microsoft nuts that many in the media continue to refer to it as RTX support rather than DXR support. I highly doubt that any RT support MS puts into the game will be limited to RTX cards.

Regards,
SB
 
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Silent_Buddha said:
Multiple petabytes of satellite data. And that's just for the limited locations (I believe just the US, maybe NA, and UK for now?) available now. I wonder just how far into the boonies this will be accurate for and will it be uniformly accurate across the US?
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What I thought was interesting is that there will be an "offline" terrain map of some kind to span the gaps in satellite data. I assume it'll be procedurally generated off of lower quality terrain data stored locally when you lack an internet connection or enough bandwidth to stream the datasets. I've only really got two questions as a result of that:

1) Assuming the data is streamed from Microsoft servers, will it be kept locally as a downloaded terrain set or will it resist in some sort of temporary cache. And 2) will it be possible for users and modders to load terrain data themselves from other sources?

For the longevity of the sim I sure hope it will be able to receive other sources of terrain data. I'm immediately put off by games that force internet connectivity to proprietary servers to function.
 
Davros said:
Ive bought nearly all of them and I do the same thing take off from my local airport and try to find my house then I never touch it again.
I am a massive fan of combat flight sims though
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Many years ago, I bought pirated FS (yes, pirated games are commonly sold in shopping malls etc while legit games are nowhere to be found) and that was my experience too.

Then everything changes when I got 384k broadband ultra high-speed internet and starts downloading community-made "maps". Then airways skins. Then modding the tower interaction, etc.

With the new FS, lots of things that was only available via mods will be available OOB.

That's awesome
 
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