MS Flight Simulator 2020

meStevo · Oct 2, 2019

Didn't see a thread, figured I'd start one.

First the announce teaser:

pre-alpha footage released this weekend:

At E3 2019, Microsoft revealed that they will be bringing back the Flight Simulator series with an updated release, featuring Microsoft's Azure AI. The new flight simulator includes 4K ground satellite textures and aircraft. The title is due to be released in 2020.

Like some of the frequently updates MS products, (Xbox, Windows Edge, for example) it has an Insider program to potentially test:

Microsoft Flight Simulator | Xbox

Available now across devices with Game Pass

www.xbox.com

Borzak · Oct 2, 2019

It looks good. Wish they had talked more about the actual sim and not 100% graphics.

Pyros · Oct 2, 2019

Borzak said:
It looks good. Wish they had talked more about the actual sim and not 100% graphics.

I watched part of the video the other day when it was released, but it explained a bunch of other stuff, not just the graphics. Although it was more stuff like wind, weather and so on, I guess not so much the planes themselves if that's what you meant.

As someone who's basically a neophyte to the genre but just couldn't afford that shit back when I was a kid and they were a thing, I'm pretty interested it looks fun to fuck around. Would just need to buy a joystick though since I haven't owned one of these since the 90s.

Borzak · Oct 2, 2019

Control yoke, rudder pedals, throttle quadrant, instrument cluster or go home. Jus tkidding.

Aaron · Oct 2, 2019

0:24 in the first video made all Jihadis drool!

iannis · Oct 2, 2019

Borzak said:
Control yoke, rudder pedals, throttle quadrant, instrument cluster or go home. Jus tkidding.

My uncle had it back in the late 80's early 90's on a machine that could run it smoothly.

The shit was nearly a real flight simulator I think. I doubt it was up to professional standards... but holy god damn, you had to bind EVERY key on your keyboard. And the game was "take off, fly around, don't die".

I kinda hope they've brought that back.

moonarchia · Oct 2, 2019

I would kill for an updated X-Wing or Tie Fighter rerelease.

a c i d.f l y · Oct 2, 2019

When I was a kid I played the old 90's version and realized I eventually needed an actual flight instructor to know what the actual fuck I'm doing besides turn off brake, flaps down, throttle full, pull back on stick. Take off is the easiest part. Reading and knowing proper altitude, angle of attack for landing without fucking up your landing gear...

Also, doing all of this shit on a keyboard is insane. Always fantasized about buying a nice sim kit with throttle, 6 axis stick with trim, all the bells, since I couldn't afford even a basic Sidewinder back then.

That's probably why I won't buy this because it'd be a $3000 obsession and I might as well get a real pilot's license.

Janx · Oct 4, 2019

Gurgeh · Oct 4, 2019

Looks good, fit some guns, make that MMO.

a c i d.f l y · Oct 4, 2019

Janx said:

Wow. This new version live streams land data (over 2 petabytes of Google Earth data), covering literally the entire planet. This guy literally flew, in the sim, over his house, and his house was there! Clouds are dynamic using current real world atmospheric data with 32 layers. City lights, lightning, sun rays, all scattered through the various different (all) types of clouds; wispy clusters through cumulonimbus, where light is scattered differently depending on the type of cloud formation, impacting reflections off of water surfaces and illumination across the ground. Individually rendered blades of grass. 1.5 trillion trees. Day/night cycle with realistic shades of yellows and purples.

The physics of the plane aerodynamics are more realistic than real life training simulators. Pilots who have flown over 20,000 hours are used to test each plane for its realism, feel, and quirks.

And the whole thing can be done in VR.

I remember playing the earlier versions in the early 90's. We use to postulate the ideas that this new version is utilizing, "if only the technology existed"... Man... the future is here.

Absolutely insane.

Evernothing · Oct 4, 2019

Time to train up for some sick moves like this.

Brikker · Oct 5, 2019

I wonder if a top of the line PC built this year will be able to play it at max...

Borzak · Oct 6, 2019

I'm kind of interested. But on the other hand I'm curious if I'll need to break out the cray computers out of storage to make this run "well". FS X is already bottlenecked by the CPU depending on how many mods you run. Also curious to how much bandwith the streaming of the terrain is going to eat up.

I still use FS X from time to time. Mostly use it for the really geeky old school navigation and not really sightseeing.

Foler · Oct 6, 2019

a c i d.f l y said:
Wow. This new version live streams land data (over 2 petabytes of Google Earth data), covering literally the entire planet. This guy literally flew, in the sim, over his house, and his house was there! Clouds are dynamic using current real world atmospheric data with 32 layers. City lights, lightning, sun rays, all scattered through the various different (all) types of clouds; wispy clusters through cumulonimbus, where light is scattered differently depending on the type of cloud formation, impacting reflections off of water surfaces and illumination across the ground. Individually rendered blades of grass. 1.5 trillion trees. Day/night cycle with realistic shades of yellows and purples.

The physics of the plane aerodynamics are more realistic than real life training simulators. Pilots who have flown over 20,000 hours are used to test each plane for its realism, feel, and quirks.

And the whole thing can be done in VR.

I remember playing the earlier versions in the early 90's. We use to postulate the ideas that this new version is utilizing, "if only the technology existed"... Man... the future is here.

Absolutely insane.

Edit - wonder if MS will sell this for commercial training? Maybe it could be used in high fidelity flight simulators?

Borzak · Oct 6, 2019

Started using it in the early 80's when it was SubLogic and the simulator was basically like doing an instrument training flight "under the hood" cause you couldn't tell shit looking out the window. But the instrumental and navigation was pretty good. Now everything is a GPS map overlay.

meStevo · Oct 12, 2019

Discusses world building, what offline mode and reduced bandwidth modes look like (spoiler: still really damn good).

Ronaan · Oct 14, 2019

Yeah but can you fly over Area 51 or will your plane get shot down?

meStevo · Oct 14, 2019

Fly over? Pfft I wanna land on that long runway.

Aaron · Oct 15, 2019

Just watched Squirrel's video. It's amazing how much detail they have put into this. Whenever I see things like this, and the Galaxy representation in Elite: Dangerous, and then think what it might be like in a few years if the guys who make Euro and American Truck Sim get there hands on something similar, you'll end up with video game simulations that are incredibly accurate, even down to real time weather as in this game. Just think in 10 years time what MS FS 11 could be like? At the end, it gets me all philosophical, thinking that maybe Elon Musk and the others might be on to something, that we are simply in an elaborate simulation ourselves. What if we're just an NPC in some Alien's sim game? :O

MS Flight Simulator 2020

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