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Microsoft Flight Simulator - August 18, 2020


atomheartbevo

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This seems like a Surly thing to do.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/714138428?t=0h0m1s

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One of the big draws with Microsoft’s new Flight Simulator is that it recreates the entire planet to scale. What that means is, if you want, you can fly from one airport to another in real-time. And few airports are further away in a single trip than LAX and Dubai International Airport.

It takes around 16 hours to fly there in the real world, on a seemingly roundabout route that takes you over Canada, the North Pole then down through Europe and into the Middle East. 

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It’s not the longest route in the world—Singapore to New York is 19 hours, while Perth to London is 17—but it’s pretty close. And in the interests of making records and creating quality slow television, some streamers like Bruce Greeneand Boon decided to fly the whole thing in real-time, complete with pilot uniforms, a cockpit and obligatory tiny bottles of booze.

https://kotaku.com/flight-simulator-pilots-make-16-hour-flight-from-la-to-1844784142

 

 

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I expected YouTube to fill up with a shit-ton of people streaming various airplanes and various locations.

But surprised at how many actual pilots are getting in on it.  Then again, plenty have a lot of downtime these days.  I've only looked at half-a-dozen or so, but the consensus seems to be that they did a great job on most aspects.  The only nitpicking seemed to be based on either aircraft selection, or variations between aircraft model,  like a 787-800 vs 787-900 or whatever, or the actual controls they were using.

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https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/27/21403769/hurricane-laura-microsoft-flight-simulator

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Microsoft Flight Simulator players have turned into virtual stormchasers this week, hunting down Hurricane Laura as it approached the US Gulf Coast. While Texas and Louisiana brace for what is being described as an “unsurvivable storm surge,” the real-time weather inside Microsoft Flight Simulator is providing a surreal spectacle for players.

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Virtual strormchasers have gathered in the skies above the Gulf of Mexico to fly directly into Hurricane Laura. The results demonstrate the incredible realism in Microsoft Flight Simulator, just as Hurricane Laura threatens catastrophic damage in the real world. Players have been flying directly through the eye of the storm, around the outer edges, and even so far up that planes have frozen over and needed to be de-iced.

 

 

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I had a graphics card mishap (it's overheating and seems fucked and I can't pull it apart to check it out due to fucking loctite on the tiny screws), so I've had to downclock it and turn everything down to med/high until the new card gets here on Monday.

It still looks pretty great, so those of you with lower tier hardware might still consider giving this one a shot.  Right now, for stability, my card is maxing out at 1375mhz with a Ryzen 3600X processor and 16gb of slow DDR4, and it's still hitting 30-35fps on med-high 1080p, which is fine for a flight sim.  The graphics aren't something you'd rub one out over or whatever, but they're still pretty damn good.  E: I do have Google Fiber which gives a good connection speed and can make a difference, so bear that in mind too.

1375mhz (with 8gb of vram) puts it in the old RX 570 range for clock speed, I think, just for comparison purposes.  There are, of course, some other things about it that are better, but we're not exactly talking about peak Vega 64 performance here.  

 

E2: By "overheating" I mean I have to keep it below about 62-63 degrees in the Radeon software or it blackscreens and needs a reboot.  https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/898055-black-screen-gpu-fans-at-full-speed-crash-fixed/  Basically any stress on it and it starts risking a crash.  I also set it to 1000mV to keep that low too, but these seem to respond favorably to that anyway, and adjusted the fans to start ramping up at 50 and to all out by 60.

Edited by MadBurgerMaker
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1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

When they release the VR version/upgrade to this, somebody needs to come up with a little wingsuit model - should be able to pull it off as basically a small aircraft model.

Can I play as Jet Pack  guy and fly over DKR?

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On 8/30/2020 at 10:06 PM, Doc Reeves said:

spacer.pngspacer.pngThe view from Mt. Fuji

Microsoft Flight Simulator 8_30_2020 10_02_43 PM.png

Nice spot.  I always have trouble with that CJ4 for some reason, and here you are plopping it down on a damn mountain like it's just another runway.

 

7 hours ago, Deej said:

Can I play as Jet Pack  guy and fly over DKR?

Haha that shit was so ridicuWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

E:  Oh hey.  If someone lands on the field at DKR, there might be a bug where the textured turf is floating like...I dont know 20ft off the ground.  I'm not sure if it's my current settings being a little fucky or what, but it looks weird.  I flipped the Shock Ultra stopping on it:

 

Spoiler

ymhVzbl.jpg

 

Edited by MadBurgerMaker
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NVIDIA released their 30 series today

https://www.anandtech.com/show/16057/nvidia-announces-the-geforce-rtx-30-series-ampere-for-gaming-starting-with-rtx-3080-rtx-3090

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The first card out the door will be the GeForce RTX 3080. With NVIDIA touting upwards of 2x the performance of the RTX 2080, this card will go on sale on September 17th for $700. That will be followed up a week later by the even more powerful GeFoce RTX 3090, which hits the shelves September 24th for $1500. Finally, the RTX 3070, which is being positioned as more of a traditional sweet spot card, will arrive next month at $499

Apparently the $499 video card is a lot better than the previous generations $1,200 card.

Might be worth buying the previous generation's cards, since they'll be cheap.

I'm not even sure Flight Simulator 2020 can do 8K at 60fps, even with a $1,500 card.

Edit: Ray tracing is apparently not in FS2020, but given that FS2020 is a 10-year product, it'll probably be added (maybe long with DX12).

Edited by atomheartbevo
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Fancy landscape packs are already coming - London is up with https://orbxdirect.com/product/landmarks-london and they have some North America stuff - https://orbxdirect.com/category/north-america/msfs

I have a friend who is retracing all of the routes that Pablo Escobar's minions used, which is an odd use of a flight sim.

And some notes on performance from Guru3D

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/microsoft_flight_simulator_(2020)_pc_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,4.html

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
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I've been using this with OnAir for the last couple days, and I'm liking it kindof a lot.  It gives you more purpose vs just flying around and checking shit out.  Currently on one last run in a DA-62 from Montana to California with 656lbs of cargo, then I'm buying my first TBM with the cash I've built up.  You can hire AI employees (maybe real people too, I dunno) and stick them in planes to make runs and all that shit, set up your own FBO, etc.  You don't even have to use a simulator to fly, and can instead play it like a management type game with all AI pilots if you want for whatever reason. 

 

It costs money (like $68 for two years), but I like it better than FSEconomy, which looks like its from the 90s.  There's a trial so you can try it out if that interests you: https://www.onair.company/

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On 9/7/2020 at 11:01 PM, atomheartbevo said:

So you took a flight sim that came out a couple of weeks ago, and already there is an add-on that turns it into a full blown Air Transport Tycoon game?

spacer.png

This one has been around for a while I think, at least relatively speaking.  They just added the capability of using the new sim's planes in it, and then I guess made sure the SimConnect thing was working properly with it.  There are planes available from FSX, XP11, P3D, along with MSFS.  

Speaking of:  I had been limiting the planes I was giving to my AI peons to hand-me-downs that I had been using, but changed that up.  Sold off all the TBMs, the Bonanza, and one of the two Caravans.  The AIs are rolling in a King Air 350i, a King Air 200B, and a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60. I can only jump in the first one.  I'm thinking about just buying myself a Savage Cub and running around to local dirt strips slowly delivering stuff by pure VFR while the lackeys make the real money.  

Edited by MadBurgerMaker
Not a "350i200B"
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I heard this is free on the Xbox Game Ultimate thing I bought for cheap a year ago.  I need to check it out just to fly around Austin.

I did that once, a pilot friend was delivering planes at the time.  He let me do a touch and go, and fly around Austin, it was fun.

I said, you went to school for this, lol.   You just line up the lights. :)  

He fucked chicks at many stops and flight attendants and makes bank as a captain at SW, after getting kicked out of LeTounau University for partying to hard.  I should have followed suit.

My dad told the family he was going to make me a man when I turned 18, my mom and sis thought that meant getting me a whore, but he gave me a flight lesson, lol.

Edited by BNB
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I had picked up a MSFS 2002 copy at an estate sale 2 or 3 years ago and listed it for sale on my eBay acct.  It sold in the last month, thought that was interesting since this came out about the exact same time as the purchase.  Any correlation to this one that a full documented copy from 2002 would entice one to buy it?

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1 hour ago, mulletpelini said:

I had picked up a MSFS 2002 copy at an estate sale 2 or 3 years ago and listed it for sale on my eBay acct.  It sold in the last month, thought that was interesting since this came out about the exact same time as the purchase.  Any correlation to this one that a full documented copy from 2002 would entice one to buy it?

Probably YouTube streamer.  Or a collector.

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I'm convinced the 350i is the perfect plane.  It's too bad the avionics are a little fucky at the moment in this game.  Regardless, OnAir sent me down to South America for some mission stuff, and it can pretty much land and take off from anywhere.  Made it in/out of MHDA just now on the way down, which consists of some Honduran farmer's backyard: 680ish feet of grass.  Maneuver around the buildings and between the hills and you're golden.

E: Also it has working windshield wipers, just FYI.

 

On 9/10/2020 at 11:11 AM, BNB said:

He fucked chicks at many stops and flight attendants and makes bank as a captain at SW, after getting kicked out of LeTounau University for partying to hard.  I should have followed suit.

This is one of those times where I start thinking about the choices I made, or didn't make, in life.  

Edited by MadBurgerMaker
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  • 2 weeks later...

Been meaning to check those out but haven't yet.  Started over in OnAir based out of Gibraltar with no AIs to make free money for me.  Just finished a cool flight toward the end of a job chain that took me around Spain and Portugal with the smooth gliiiiiiide in to some place called La Juliana, LEJU.  Because I ran out of gas 8nm out.  It was fucking awesome.

Also probably good that this place has 100LL cause I still need to get to Rota and then back to Gibraltar.

 

E: To clarify, OnAir has airports in the database that don't necessarily have Jet or 100LL (no mogas, even though Im pretty sure some of the Rotax planes in this can use it) available at the FBOs that are present.  Some have both, some have one or the other, some have none or no FBOs at all.  So if you are dumb and just click shit like me without checking out the airports, you end up going to places that only have the wrong type of fuel or no fuel at all, and have to either stop on the way, or work on your glider skills.  If it comes down to it, you can rent/buy a plane and fly cans of fuel to wherever your plane is (or hire AIs to do this for you).  

Anyhow, it uses some plugin to set your fuel levels and make sure you aren't cheating by adding gas mid flight and all that.  It's pretty cool until you get in to the Longitude and can only go 500nm or whatever it is because Asobo fucked it up.

Edited by MadBurgerMaker
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VR fans, get your lotion and boxes of Kleenex ready.  December 23.

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-vr-finally-has-release-date-and-surprise

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Microsoft Flight Simulator VR will be available on all VR headsets for Windows PCs, not just the HP Reverb G2 as originally stated.

That view above is about to get a lot more familiar to owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and a VR headset of any kind, as the game's long-awaited VR mode is finally being released just in time for Christmas. What's more is that, contrary to previous statements saying the game's VR mode would only be available on the HP Reverb G2, Microsoft Flight Simulator VR will work on all VR headsets from any vendor. This, according to a Twitch steam from the development team at Asobo Studio, as first noted by Polygon.

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The VR update comes as part of Sim Update 2, which is scheduled to launch on December 23. That's right in time for lots of new people to unwrap great new headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 on Christmas and jump right into an ultra-immersive flight experience. Asobo Studios says the entirety of the game will be playable in VR, so you'll be able to strap that headset on and launch the game in VR without having to do anything separately on your PC beforehand.

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What's more is that World Update 3 will be headed to Microsoft Flight Sim on January 28, 2021 and will include new landmarks and detail in the United Kingdom, as well as tweaks and other fixes throughout the world. Asobo Studio is also working on adding many of the most-requested features from fans, including helicopters, the missing replay functionality, support for multiple screens, and several others sometime in 2021.

 

 

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On 3/18/2021 at 10:52 AM, atomheartbevo said:

$20,000 for three 65-inch TVs and a seat that moves up to 10 degrees?   Rather see a high-end VR version for much cheaper.  

 

Whoa! Nice rig but $20,000$? No way. I spent  $1800 on a PC with a rtx 3080 and an AMD 7 3700x. Along with a HP Reverb G2. Loving the game in VR. But for far less money I get a great experience playing MSFS 2020 and numerous other games...

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  • 1 month later...

They addressed the file size issue.  

https://www.flightsimulator.com/release-notes-1-16-2-0-sim-update-iv-now-available/

  • We performed some optimization for the initial full download of the title so the base game is only 83GB instead of +170GB.

And some other stuff:

  • Fixed some Live Air Traffic aircraft using the wrong model
  • Fixed an issue where some Live Air Traffic aircraft had broken callsigns
  • Increased the density of Live Air Traffic
  • Reduced weather data bandwidth
  • Improved precision of live snow coverage
  • Weather radar now displays precipitation instead of cloud coverage
  • Fixed contrail behavior on player’s aircraft during windy conditions
  • Contrails are now displayed for applicable AI traffic planes

And a shitload of other fixes/updates at the link above. And I mean a shitload.

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  • 1 month later...

I downloaded all 102 gb of it and flew around Bora Bora a bit. 

I need to go through all the tutorials and learn the controls though.

Seemed to run fine on the X for the little bit I did. Looks fantastic on a 4k TV.

Edited by Hawndoh
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  • 2 months later...

Massive update, including the Top Gun stuff

https://www.flightsimulator.com/game-of-the-year-edition-release-notes-1-21-13-0-sim-update-vii-now-available/

RELEASE NOTES 1.21.13.0

New Aircraft We are adding 5 brand new aircraft to Microsoft Flight Simulator:

  • Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet: Our first military jet and a highly requested feature from the community. The Top Gun: Maverick expansion will release with the movie next Spring, but we wanted simmers to have the opportunity to be able to test their need for speed this holiday.
  • VoloCity: We partnered with well-known German company Volocopter, which is working on an eVTOL called “VoloCity”, a vision for an urban air taxi. We worked closely with the Volocopter engineering team to develop an authentic version of the aircraft for the simulator. This is our first aircraft that can perform pinpoint landings and is a teaser of what you can look forward to in 2022 when we intend to launch helicopters in the sim.
  • Pilatus PC-6 Porter: This legendary short takeoff and landing (STOL) utility aircraft is a highly versatile plane from Switzerland, and our close collaboration with the manufacturer and the development efforts by famed developers Hans Hartmann and Alexander Metzger resulted in a great and fun new aircraft with exception capabilities in the simulator.
  • CubCrafters NX Cub: Yakima-based CubCrafters recently introduced a nosewheel option for their flagship CC-19 XCub Aircraft, popularly called the NX Cub, which we are pleased to introduce to the flight sim audience to further enhance our bush flying and off airport options.
  • Aviat Pitts Special S1S: One of our most popular planes gets a single-seat option with the release of this aircraft.

New Airports

We are adding 8 handcrafted airports in Central Europe and the United States:

  • Leipzig/Halle Airport (EDDP)
  • Allgäu Airport Memmingen (EDJA)
  • Kassel Airport (EDVK)
  • Lugano Airport (LSZA)
  • Zurich Airport (LSZH)
  • Luzern-Beromunster Airport (LSZO)
  • Patrick Space Force Base (KCOF)
  • Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (KNKX)

The Game of the Year release is adding information about 545 previously missing airports in the United States

New Missions
Based on the popularity of the recently introduced Discovery Flights, we are adding an additional 6 locations (Helsinki, Freiburg im Breisgau, Mecca, Monument Valley, Singapore, and Mount Cook) to this popular series

New Tutorials (produced in partnership with FS Academy)
To further expand the onboarding experience, we are adding 14 new tutorials, introducing simmers to Bush flying (in an Icon A5) and IFR (in a Cessna 172)

New Features
We are also pleased to introduce several highly requested features by the community: an updated weather system, early access to DX12, and a dev mode replay system (more info below)

New Photogrammetry Cities
As part of our ongoing collaboration with Bing Maps, we are pleased to add a number of new photogrammetry cities: Helsinki (Finland), Freiburg in Germany (Germany), Brighton, Derby, Eastbourne, Newcastle, and Nottingham (UK), ), Vers-Pont-Du-Gard, Chambord and Port-Vendres (France) and Utrecht (Netherlands)

WEATHER

  • Improved METAR ingestion into live weather
  • You can now consult real airport METARs during flight from the Weather panel (only when Live Weather is active)
  • Updated .WPR file versioning for weather preset edition. Now handles both coverage and density for cloud layers (Formerly density became coverage). Backward compatibility has been handled
  • It is now possible to put clouds below sea level (-400m) for regions such the Dead Sea
  • Fixed AGL / MSL UI display in weather panel
  • Setting wind with weather panel is more coherent with in-game wind near ground
  • Fixed unit conversions in weather panel
  • Minor UI improvements in weather panel

Microsoft Flight Simulator is now compatible with VR controllers on PC!

  • Main menu: Use the raycast mode to navigate and interact with the menus
  • Cockpit
  • Instruments: Switch between the proximity mode (you interact with the instruments by grabbing them) and the raycast mode (you use a raycast to pinpoint the instrument you want to interact with). Beware of the autopilot as it overrides your inputs.
  • Yoke/stick: In the VR options, you can choose between ‘Hold’ mode (hold the interaction button to grab the yoke) and ‘Toggle’ mode (press the interaction button once to grab the yoke and press the button again to release it) to interact with the yoke at your convenience.
  • Toolbar: Use the raycast mode to interact with the toolbar and the in-game panels.Implementing support for VR controllers has required a few updates in each plane. If a plane has not been updated, a pop-up message informs you that it is not fully compatible with VR controllers, in which case:
  • You cannot grab the yoke with the VR controllers and control it with hand gesture.
  • You can control the yoke with the stick of the left VR controllers.
  • You can interact properly with the instruments using the VR controllers.
  • Lighting issues are fixed.
  • VR is compatible with DX12. You might encounter a few issues as the implementation of Dx12 is still WIP.

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
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New DLC, and holy shit is Microsoft going all out.

https://www.flightsimulator.com/reno-air-races-expansion-available-now-on-msfs/

RENO AIR RACES EXPANSION AVAILABLE NOW ON MSFS

The Microsoft Flight Simulator community continues to grow! The Reno Air Races: Expansion Pack and Reno Air Races: Full Collection are available today for purchase in the Microsoft Flight Simulator marketplace.

The Reno Air Races: Full Collection offers 40 unique, officially licensed and carefully modeled planes – 10 North American P-51 Mustangs, 10 North American T-6 Texans, 10 Aero L-39 Albatros’, and 10 Aviat Pitts Special S1S. Among them are many famous “Gold” champions like Miss America, Strega, Voodoo, Baron’s Revenge, Radial Velocity, Six-Cat, American Spirit, and Pipsqueak, and many of the other top racers. All of these amazing aircraft and the full online racing experience are included – for just $59.99.

For those who just want to get their feet wet and race with friends, the Reno Air Races: Expansion Pack is a great entry point. It includes the exhilarating, online multiplayer racing experience along with four highly detailed starter aircraft: a North American T-6 Texan, a North American P-51 Mustang, an Aero L-39 Albatros, and an Aviat Pitts Special S1S – for only $19.99.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator team worked closely with the Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) and dozens of pilots and owners to develop highly authentic recreations of many of the world’s most famous racing aircraft.

Meet the planes:

https://www.flightsimulator.com/reno-air-races-meet-the-planes/

RENO_L39Races2.png

 

 

 

 

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https://www.flightsimulator.com/november-18th-2021-development-update/

3rd Party Stuff:

Airports:1169 airports (+19) are either released or are in various stages of development.

  • 951 airports (+18) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  • 515 airports (+11) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  • 112 airports (+4) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  • 103 airports (-6) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.

Aircraft:237 aircraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.

  • 80 aircraft (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  • 52 aircraft (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  • 133 aircraft (-2) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  • 24 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.

Scenery:432 sceneries (+12) are either released or are in various stages of development.

  • 415 sceneries (+12) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  • 41 sceneries (-1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  • 17 sceneries (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  • Mission Packs:45 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  • 45 mission packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  • 5 mission packs (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

 

DR_09_23_2021.jpg

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