Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Alive! - Page 3

Skybird · 08-18-20, 05:01 AM

Today's the day. And it does not happen often that the BBC covers a game.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-53811956

Skybird · 08-18-20, 06:29 AM

It is reported that the Microsoft server currently takes a very serious battering.

Some poeple end up with endlessly frozen downloading attempts for that reason.

I also read that the download from Steam is a loader that downlaods the needed I think ~ 100GB from Micriosioft. However, that main download seems to count as gaming time, so it counts against the Steam limit for game time spent in case somebody wants to refund.

Feedback by those who played already, reports some crashes, quite some report very low frame rates 20-25 even on higher end rigs, but also many overwhelmed customers.

I will join the party, but probably not already this week. Lets see how the birthing issues level out.

Skybird · 08-18-20, 09:15 AM

Oh-oh, this turned ugly so soon! Plenty and plenty of complaints about broken download procedures, needs for redownloading (100GB we talk of), CTDs, and those who managed to get started report mostly terrible performance.

I am not yet out, but I have definitely stepped back two or three steps, and watch the bigger picture. Currently its not looking too nice. They need to get plenty of homework done, it seems. No way I spend 70, 90 or 120 coins on something triggering feedback reports like these.

Skybird · 08-19-20, 09:38 AM

I just completed my first brief flight from EDDG to Atterheide near Osnabrück.

Yeah, i know what Ii said yesterday. Don't ask me, I wont comment.

I run an i7 8700K, 32 GB RAM, 1080 TI overclocked and 13 GB RAM. No, i mdid not update the graohcis driver which is two years old or so. No, I am not on the latest built version of Windown 10. Still, it runs, I havbe no frames number, but the game autodected me for "ultra" settings, and in a Diamond Katana and in that region of Germany, the grpoahcis were smooth as silk at a sunny day (live weather). I left the options at what the sim had thrown at me, just overlooked them, and yes, pretty much all was on ultra.

However. My system was throttled down by temperature alarm (room temperature 26°C). Three cores reported maximum values of 99°C, two 97°C, one 95°C.

Not even Assetto Corsa Competizione manages that, not even on a hotter day with room temp at 28°C.

Visually, the beast is a feast. This is VFR sim flying from another star. The system of combining Bing maps with autogen (in this part of the world they did not care to hand-craft buildings and towns) creastes stunnign results. Even with autogen buildings repalcing the look of the rela ones, you can easily maintain VFR orientation by eye. Roads, rivers, woods, railtracks, autobahns (with moving traffic) - it looks splendig. add ot this live eeather, the sky, ther sun, clouds, dynamic time of day.

This sim is made for VFR exploration.

And that is good, because about IFR I have my doubts, currently. The planes are what was to be expected: the defualt planes are a bit toyish. Not what I consider to be sim-heavy, which is especially true for the airliner cockpits that i just briefly checked, it does not compare to PMDG's functionality, but then i did not expect that, of course. Sounds and looks however are top class. I doubt my system would take ti well if I put a PMDG 737 on top of what it already had to move in work and heat digestion.

However, like in VR I have formed a taste for discovering the world in Google Earth and Streetview in VR, I feel tempted to repeat anm experinece I had in FSX so many years ago. bck then, I made a world travel in short hopping planes, once aroudn the whole globe, in around 40 individual flights. I think I will do that again. And stray much further off my original plans. This FS world looks gorgous, no doubt. Maybe I sholuld say farewell to my demand for complex airliner cockpits and IFR, and instead take it as what it is: an expert for VFR fun air hopping.

On the installation, I downloaded a 500MB installer from Steam, which then downloaded 95 GB (!) froim Microsoft. That went smooth, the download took 2 hours, 40 minutes. After that, installation, which took another 25 minutes, and then defragmentation (I have only system and windows on an SSD, ym work horse still is a HD), another hour, almost. When you then launch the game for the first time and have to file a Microsoft account, there comes a time when you get a screen with a blue bar at the bottom that appears to be a progress bar, many people get that, so did I. Just that it never progresses for many, and so not for me. In that case, leave the process via Task manager, and launch the sim new (no worries, the download already has been done at that time). On that new start, the sim then should start normally.

The game is not without issues, apparently, some are bugs, others are questionable desing decisons. (edited, deleted).

Teethign issues aside, this could be the beginning of a years-long new journey into flight simming. And I think I will enjoy it the better the lighter and less hardcore-demanding I take it. So far its not FSX plus PMDG plus Aerosoft Airport Sceneries. Maybe it will never get there, could be. But for what it is, it is stunning, and that already is an awesome looking lot.

And to admit that: I am not really hungry for doing all that modules-installing dance again. After all, I am ten years older than back then.

Skybird · 08-19-20, 01:52 PM

50 German cities in 10 Minutes.

Von Due · 08-19-20, 03:29 PM

It's been a while since I upgraded my pc (the last monitor I bought was a crt monitor...) and while I'm very much on the fence when it comes to MSFS2020, I do keep an eye on reports on bug fixes and further progress. However, since it's been eons since I looked at getting a new computer, what do the more computer savvy among you think of this setup
https://www.komplett.no/configure/11...epic-gaming-pc

(The site is in Norwegian but the parts, bits and bobs have proper names and shouldn't be an obstacle)

Anything there you would recommend me to change? Looks good? Looks like a no-joy? Any input appreciated here.

Skybird · 08-19-20, 03:38 PM

I only say you need a damn good cooling. Its like with every FS incarnation before: the thing is ahead of the tech around the date when it was first released. And even the fastest system today is probably not fast enough for this. So far I have not tried the Airbus or the Boeings at one of the specially covered places and major hubs, and I think with my CPU almost smoking,. I must not even try.

Remarkably, I can run the thing at ultra settings around German places (just ahd two more flights in Cessnas), its just that everythign is at the very safety limit, temperature wise, and I am certainly well advised to not do this too often and too long. I therefore have started to lower settings, and I will also loose 5 degrees in room temperature soon. But even with "High" and "Medium" settings the thing still is a piece of beauty, and I cannot really identify where the visual losses are when reducing settings. Still, its all too hot.

But I found TrackIR working very well. And the controller setup that I complained about, was my mistake - I overlooked the wanted option that made me complaining (you can let the sim map the button you press on hardware to the function you marked before, I did not realise this before).

VR and complex cockpit modules are no option on my system, not with these superhot temperatures already. Not that I miss VR in this case.

Cannot comment on your hardware question, sorry.

Von Due · 08-19-20, 03:43 PM

Thanks, skybird! Yeah we have the heat properly cranked up here as well now and cooling is something I didn't even think of!! Never ran anything that threatened to burn down the town but things could change if I find the right setup, and beside, I still have the dcs module I haven't properly tested yet!

Skybird · 08-19-20, 04:19 PM

I said "cooler", but indeed I mean: cooling solution. It smore than just a CPU and GFX cooler, its also about fans gettign the warm air out of the tower, and new, cooler air in. I have two fans air-in, one fan air-out, which probably is too little.

Skybird · 08-19-20, 05:34 PM

I was not aware of it: that it was not just being looked into whether they add VR later or not, but that it is already announced to come for sure: this autumn already. The G2 Reverb is comign first, I reead, Rift and other headset later.

I keep my hopes low, so that I must not cry when it comes and people find that it works good - and my system cannot cook it without setting the room ablaze.

If it works good, this could become THE killer application for VR. I know how well VR works for google Earth already, and in VTOL VR. Even if only small planes like the S-300 or so can be managed by systems in VR, it would be a killer app-hardware-combo.

Skybird · 08-20-20, 02:47 AM

All-clear on the temperature alarm.

I made the mistake to get fixiated on the Min- and Max- readouts of Core Temp Utility, checking them AFTER a flying session and thus getting the maximum spikes that ever got recorded per core.

However, that dawned on me this morning, and so I tabbed out of the sim and had the utlity running on the monitor during the flight, like an yof the sim'S internal apps. I then could see that during flying from LOWI Innsbruck to LOWS Salzburg and down the river Inn valley the cores's temperatures flouctuated between mostly low 60s and high 70, with only occasional spikes to mid-80 that lasted for splits of seconds only. I chnaged the groahcis settings in flight from low over med to high . Only the low setting most obviously degrades image quality, but had temp in the 50s and low 60s. Medium and High settings for my taste already look perfectly fine, and have temps rising by 10-15 degrees: still below 80 for 99.8% of the time. The spoikes to 100 seem to take place in the menus, or when switching between menus, ironically.

I also checked New York, to my surprise I did not see a signficant temperatrure or CPU load increase there, at medium andn hjigh settings, compoared to Austria before - and that right over Manhatten with those many high buildings there.

So, all seems to be fine.

Not really ice-cool, but safe.

The sim is a love affair that developes quickly. When flying down at river Inn, there are two higher elevations, little "mountains" that you can hop over. I noticed that the air flow around the plane changed when I kept my altitude but the ground rose to me when hopping over the hilltop at tree level. It felt like thermal upwinds in Condor soaring simulator. The air definetly is very much alive and a "fluid", dynamic medium. Small planes get to feel it very obviously.

Gerald · 08-21-20, 03:34 AM

About as ya say. On the installation, I downloaded a 500MB installer from Steam, which then downloaded 95 GB (!) from Microsoft. That went smooth, the download took 2 hours, 40 min, sounds in my ears for a long time....

But I guess it was well worth it.

How is the graphics comparable to previous editions, much better or a little better.

Skybird · 08-21-20, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerald

How is the graphics comparable to previous editions, much better or a little better.

Breathtaking and beyond comparison.

-----

Useful to have: the so far known keyboard command list. Quite a long one.

https://www.shacknews.com/article/11...nd-keybindings

Gerald · 08-21-20, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

Breathtaking and beyond comparison.

-----

Useful to have: the so far known keyboard command list. Quite a long one.

https://de.search.yahoo.com/yhs/sear...n+trim+fs+2020

A curious question! Do you use fixed line or WiFi for downloads ... as I myself download large files and packages, but never took the time you mention here.

Skybird · 08-21-20, 04:48 AM

You said you took 2h40m for downloading, that is the same as my experience that I listed above: 2h40m, and then 25 minutes of installation, and then defragmentizing the HD (SSD only for system files and Windows over here).

Gaming PC has a wire connection, ~100 Mbps download, ~ 30-35 Mbps upload, ping 30 and sometimes below 20. WiFi only for my Linux notebook, and tablet.

Edit: link to keyboard command list in my previous post corrected, the first one was just the search engine.

08-18-20, 05:01 AM	#31
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Today's the day. And it does not happen often that the BBC covers a game. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-53811956 __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-18-20, 06:29 AM	#32
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	It is reported that the Microsoft server currently takes a very serious battering. Some poeple end up with endlessly frozen downloading attempts for that reason. I also read that the download from Steam is a loader that downlaods the needed I think ~ 100GB from Micriosioft. However, that main download seems to count as gaming time, so it counts against the Steam limit for game time spent in case somebody wants to refund. Feedback by those who played already, reports some crashes, quite some report very low frame rates 20-25 even on higher end rigs, but also many overwhelmed customers. I will join the party, but probably not already this week. Lets see how the birthing issues level out. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-18-20, 09:15 AM	#33
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Oh-oh, this turned ugly so soon! Plenty and plenty of complaints about broken download procedures, needs for redownloading (100GB we talk of), CTDs, and those who managed to get started report mostly terrible performance. I am not yet out, but I have definitely stepped back two or three steps, and watch the bigger picture. Currently its not looking too nice. They need to get plenty of homework done, it seems. No way I spend 70, 90 or 120 coins on something triggering feedback reports like these. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-19-20, 09:38 AM	#34
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	I just completed my first brief flight from EDDG to Atterheide near Osnabrück. Yeah, i know what Ii said yesterday. Don't ask me, I wont comment. I run an i7 8700K, 32 GB RAM, 1080 TI overclocked and 13 GB RAM. No, i mdid not update the graohcis driver which is two years old or so. No, I am not on the latest built version of Windown 10. Still, it runs, I havbe no frames number, but the game autodected me for "ultra" settings, and in a Diamond Katana and in that region of Germany, the grpoahcis were smooth as silk at a sunny day (live weather). I left the options at what the sim had thrown at me, just overlooked them, and yes, pretty much all was on ultra. However. My system was throttled down by temperature alarm (room temperature 26°C). Three cores reported maximum values of 99°C, two 97°C, one 95°C. Not even Assetto Corsa Competizione manages that, not even on a hotter day with room temp at 28°C. Visually, the beast is a feast. This is VFR sim flying from another star. The system of combining Bing maps with autogen (in this part of the world they did not care to hand-craft buildings and towns) creastes stunnign results. Even with autogen buildings repalcing the look of the rela ones, you can easily maintain VFR orientation by eye. Roads, rivers, woods, railtracks, autobahns (with moving traffic) - it looks splendig. add ot this live eeather, the sky, ther sun, clouds, dynamic time of day. This sim is made for VFR exploration. And that is good, because about IFR I have my doubts, currently. The planes are what was to be expected: the defualt planes are a bit toyish. Not what I consider to be sim-heavy, which is especially true for the airliner cockpits that i just briefly checked, it does not compare to PMDG's functionality, but then i did not expect that, of course. Sounds and looks however are top class. I doubt my system would take ti well if I put a PMDG 737 on top of what it already had to move in work and heat digestion. However, like in VR I have formed a taste for discovering the world in Google Earth and Streetview in VR, I feel tempted to repeat anm experinece I had in FSX so many years ago. bck then, I made a world travel in short hopping planes, once aroudn the whole globe, in around 40 individual flights. I think I will do that again. And stray much further off my original plans. This FS world looks gorgous, no doubt. Maybe I sholuld say farewell to my demand for complex airliner cockpits and IFR, and instead take it as what it is: an expert for VFR fun air hopping. On the installation, I downloaded a 500MB installer from Steam, which then downloaded 95 GB (!) froim Microsoft. That went smooth, the download took 2 hours, 40 minutes. After that, installation, which took another 25 minutes, and then defragmentation (I have only system and windows on an SSD, ym work horse still is a HD), another hour, almost. When you then launch the game for the first time and have to file a Microsoft account, there comes a time when you get a screen with a blue bar at the bottom that appears to be a progress bar, many people get that, so did I. Just that it never progresses for many, and so not for me. In that case, leave the process via Task manager, and launch the sim new (no worries, the download already has been done at that time). On that new start, the sim then should start normally. The game is not without issues, apparently, some are bugs, others are questionable desing decisons. (edited, deleted). Teethign issues aside, this could be the beginning of a years-long new journey into flight simming. And I think I will enjoy it the better the lighter and less hardcore-demanding I take it. So far its not FSX plus PMDG plus Aerosoft Airport Sceneries. Maybe it will never get there, could be. But for what it is, it is stunning, and that already is an awesome looking lot. And to admit that: I am not really hungry for doing all that modules-installing dance again. After all, I am ten years older than back then. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 08-19-20 at 03:43 PM.

08-19-20, 01:52 PM	#35
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	50 German cities in 10 Minutes. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-19-20, 03:29 PM	#36
Von Due Sea Lord Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 1,660 Downloads: 30 Uploads: 0	It's been a while since I upgraded my pc (the last monitor I bought was a crt monitor...) and while I'm very much on the fence when it comes to MSFS2020, I do keep an eye on reports on bug fixes and further progress. However, since it's been eons since I looked at getting a new computer, what do the more computer savvy among you think of this setup https://www.komplett.no/configure/11...epic-gaming-pc (The site is in Norwegian but the parts, bits and bobs have proper names and shouldn't be an obstacle) Anything there you would recommend me to change? Looks good? Looks like a no-joy? Any input appreciated here.

08-19-20, 03:38 PM	#37
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	I only say you need a damn good cooling. Its like with every FS incarnation before: the thing is ahead of the tech around the date when it was first released. And even the fastest system today is probably not fast enough for this. So far I have not tried the Airbus or the Boeings at one of the specially covered places and major hubs, and I think with my CPU almost smoking,. I must not even try. Remarkably, I can run the thing at ultra settings around German places (just ahd two more flights in Cessnas), its just that everythign is at the very safety limit, temperature wise, and I am certainly well advised to not do this too often and too long. I therefore have started to lower settings, and I will also loose 5 degrees in room temperature soon. But even with "High" and "Medium" settings the thing still is a piece of beauty, and I cannot really identify where the visual losses are when reducing settings. Still, its all too hot. But I found TrackIR working very well. And the controller setup that I complained about, was my mistake - I overlooked the wanted option that made me complaining (you can let the sim map the button you press on hardware to the function you marked before, I did not realise this before). VR and complex cockpit modules are no option on my system, not with these superhot temperatures already. Not that I miss VR in this case. Cannot comment on your hardware question, sorry. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-19-20, 03:43 PM	#38
Von Due Sea Lord Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 1,660 Downloads: 30 Uploads: 0	Thanks, skybird! Yeah we have the heat properly cranked up here as well now and cooling is something I didn't even think of!! Never ran anything that threatened to burn down the town but things could change if I find the right setup, and beside, I still have the dcs module I haven't properly tested yet!

08-19-20, 04:19 PM	#39
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	I said "cooler", but indeed I mean: cooling solution. It smore than just a CPU and GFX cooler, its also about fans gettign the warm air out of the tower, and new, cooler air in. I have two fans air-in, one fan air-out, which probably is too little. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-19-20, 05:34 PM	#40
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	I was not aware of it: that it was not just being looked into whether they add VR later or not, but that it is already announced to come for sure: this autumn already. The G2 Reverb is comign first, I reead, Rift and other headset later. I keep my hopes low, so that I must not cry when it comes and people find that it works good - and my system cannot cook it without setting the room ablaze. If it works good, this could become THE killer application for VR. I know how well VR works for google Earth already, and in VTOL VR. Even if only small planes like the S-300 or so can be managed by systems in VR, it would be a killer app-hardware-combo. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-20-20, 02:47 AM	#41
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	All-clear on the temperature alarm. I made the mistake to get fixiated on the Min- and Max- readouts of Core Temp Utility, checking them AFTER a flying session and thus getting the maximum spikes that ever got recorded per core. However, that dawned on me this morning, and so I tabbed out of the sim and had the utlity running on the monitor during the flight, like an yof the sim'S internal apps. I then could see that during flying from LOWI Innsbruck to LOWS Salzburg and down the river Inn valley the cores's temperatures flouctuated between mostly low 60s and high 70, with only occasional spikes to mid-80 that lasted for splits of seconds only. I chnaged the groahcis settings in flight from low over med to high . Only the low setting most obviously degrades image quality, but had temp in the 50s and low 60s. Medium and High settings for my taste already look perfectly fine, and have temps rising by 10-15 degrees: still below 80 for 99.8% of the time. The spoikes to 100 seem to take place in the menus, or when switching between menus, ironically. I also checked New York, to my surprise I did not see a signficant temperatrure or CPU load increase there, at medium andn hjigh settings, compoared to Austria before - and that right over Manhatten with those many high buildings there. So, all seems to be fine. Not really ice-cool, but safe. The sim is a love affair that developes quickly. When flying down at river Inn, there are two higher elevations, little "mountains" that you can hop over. I noticed that the air flow around the plane changed when I kept my altitude but the ground rose to me when hopping over the hilltop at tree level. It felt like thermal upwinds in Condor soaring simulator. The air definetly is very much alive and a "fluid", dynamic medium. Small planes get to feel it very obviously. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

08-21-20, 03:34 AM	#42
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,211 Downloads: 548 Uploads: 0	About as ya say. On the installation, I downloaded a 500MB installer from Steam, which then downloaded 95 GB (!) from Microsoft. That went smooth, the download took 2 hours, 40 min, sounds in my ears for a long time.... But I guess it was well worth it. How is the graphics comparable to previous editions, much better or a little better. __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

08-21-20, 04:48 AM	#45
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,461 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	You said you took 2h40m for downloading, that is the same as my experience that I listed above: 2h40m, and then 25 minutes of installation, and then defragmentizing the HD (SSD only for system files and Windows over here). Gaming PC has a wire connection, ~100 Mbps download, ~ 30-35 Mbps upload, ping 30 and sometimes below 20. WiFi only for my Linux notebook, and tablet. Edit: link to keyboard command list in my previous post corrected, the first one was just the search engine. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.