Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Alive!
 

Microsoft has released the first teaser for the new version of Flight Simulator. No number yet, just FS. I'm not sure how they've kept this under wraps, but it looks to put MS firmly back in the running for "best" flight sim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDDgFfWlS4

Awesome!

This looks like reality! I'm astonished!! :up:

It looks like its for the X Box. :timeout:

I'm running FS2002 on my desktop locked at 60 FPS. :up:
I can afford to wait and see what this is.

BTW, I wonder if this will have real time downloadable weather?
Maybe MS could set up a server somewhere that has weather updates? :O:

Agreed, it's not worthy of the MS Flightsimulator name if you cannot run it on a PC.

[soapbox]
And neither is it if it ends up like Microsoft Flight with limited scenery.
[soapbox off]

But fortunately that OS is covered (Windows 10), according to the bottom of this page:

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/mic...ight-simulator

You can also sign up for the Insider Program, supposedly giving a chance to playtest it and provide feedback in the development process: https://fsi.microsoftstudios.com/insider-program-faq/

Yep, I think we're on the same wavelength. :yep:

I hold my breath, still. Looks awesome, yes, but realism and functionality and complexity are what decides wether a flight sim is a flight sim. And when it is running on an Xbox, I cannot imagine that it is en par with for example Pr3pared, or X-Plane.

I am sceptical.


And I did not even start to think about the hardware and framerate.

It also looks like being a huge marketing offensive for private cloud computing, on which this title seems to base heavily.

They've finally released something. Over the last weekend MS invited several professional reviewers and YouTubers to Seattle (all at MS's expense) to play the first pre-Alpha release. Those who were there said that they got to spend half a day playing around with what they have so far. The second half of the day was spent flying (or riding in) a real Cessna just so they could compare the two. There were interviews and explanations. From what I could glean from the reviewers comments so far:

The terrain covers the whole world, including 40,000 airports, all using satellite images from Bing Earth. This requires 2 Petabytes of information. If you have that kind of storage you can always be offline. If you don't have that amount of storage (and who does?) you can download just the area you live in, or the area you've always wanted to live in, and stream the rest as needed. Option three, if you're comfortable with it, is to download nothing and stream everything. This gives a lot of possibilities, with option 2 being the one most players will likely go with.

So far there are only three planes available, but each one is said to have around one thousand contact points, which means every few inches of skin reacts to airflow on its own. One player said it was the first time ever in a sim in which he felt one wing begin to stall when the other wing hit an updraft.

The sky and clouds are fully volumetric. You can set your flight for any time of day and any season of the year. This does include real-time weather.

You can see for yourself the terrain and the traffic. This lead to one funny joke when one of the invitees pointed out that one of the buildings they hadn't got installed yet, one of the buildings still missing, was the very hotel they were staying at.

The reviewers got to play and all said they really enjoyed it, but they weren't allowed to record their escapades. MicroSoft did send them home with approximately one-half hour of footage. There are versions with voice-overs and sound-storms. I chose to post my favorite, which has a label in the top right hand corner showing what city if is. Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkS5sd2Jlhk

For those who are worrying, the "rest of the world" that you download as you pay will be free. I'm sure there will be some DLC, but after the lessons learned in 2012 from Microsoft Flight, they're trying to take the opposite route, keeping things as cheap as possible. This includes PC requirements. They are insisting that the new 2020 version will run great on an average PC or laptop.

Is that becoming just a VFR simulator for small and sports planes, or have they said anything about airliners?


Is it mod-open/as modular as FSX and earlier versions were? Can external airport sceneries and plane/cockpit moduels be implemented?



Will the engine even allow night lights on the ground, since they seem to collect their images from aerial photography via Bing?


The description of how they want to realise streaming and downloading of scenery, reduces the thretatlevel by one step. Downloading my major flight area - Europe - and streaming the rets if I ever get there - that I can live with.

Those are all good questions. I don't know if it will support airliners, but I would think that having every type of plane available would be a must. I see a big market for the aftermarket aircraft makers. All I can think right now is "we'll see".

Meanwhile here is a release showing more of the World:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58npsp-EjnE

^ Looks nice, but could as well be a demonstrator for some arcade flying toy. Not before before mentiikned questions get positive answers by Microsoft will we know ehther it is worth it or not.


VR I do not ask for, I jave just deinstalled xPlane because VR handling a complex airliner cockpit simply is no fun in VR, noris orecise, smooth yoke control with VR grips possible, since they are too sensitive, too nervous.


I remain watching this unfolding, but so far I reject to already get "emotionally engaged." They should release some hardcore info and not just eye candy. And flying the world in real stereoscopic 3D I already can in Google EarthVR (which is a blast, btw).



Special, functional airport sceneries, night lighting, complex airliner cockpit operation, and PC able to maintain a minimum of 30 fps without turning hot like a volcano (sufficient for civilian flight sims) - then we start talking.

Wow Just wow will be watching this with interest looks very pleasing on the eye and the detail is a joy tobe hold.
diffinately on my 2020 wish list

I found an alternative that for a pure VR flyer maybe is the better alternative, due to specs.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...t+simulator+vr

Seems to be able to use its own genertic landscape as well as constantly loading Bing aerial photography. Also, it can be used to run FS and P3D in VR, I just cannot get off my chair to do that installation combo again. However: PMDG planes in VR - wowh, just wowh. The gold standard in flight simming.

Will buy it soon, it is Early Access and thus costs just 30 coins.

On XPlane 11 with VR I have given up and deinstalled the sim, its too much a technical hassle, still. And frames always being an issue in VR. They say much good stuff on XPlane, VR and 2D, but I just do not get warm with it.