Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Alive!

Pisces · 06-13-19, 08:46 AM

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/

ET2SN · 06-13-19, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pisces

if it ends up like Microsoft Flight

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

Skybird · 06-14-19, 07:35 PM

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.

Skybird · 06-15-19, 05:34 AM

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

Sailor Steve · 10-02-19, 06:15 PM

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

Sailor Steve · 10-03-19, 02:29 PM

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.

Skybird · 10-28-19, 03:00 AM

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.

06-13-19, 08:46 AM	#1
Pisces Silent Hunter Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: AN9771 Posts: 4,892 Downloads: 300 Uploads: 0	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/ __________________ My site downloads: https://ricojansen.nl/downloads

06-14-19, 07:35 PM	#3
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,566 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	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. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

06-15-19, 05:34 AM	#4
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,566 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	It also looks like being a huge marketing offensive for private cloud computing, on which this title seems to base heavily. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

10-02-19, 06:15 PM	#5
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	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 __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

10-03-19, 02:29 PM	#6
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	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. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

10-28-19, 03:00 AM	#7
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,566 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	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. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.