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Microsoft Flight Simulator returns - The rebirth of the beloved franchise.

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  • #16
    Microsoft Wants to back Flight Simulator to show it supports PC

    Microsoft Flight Simulator is returning, 13 years after the launch of Flight Simulator X. It's a long time to go without what used to be a PC mainstay, with 12 games appearing between 1982 and 2006. Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of gaming, hopes that its revival is more evidence of its renewed commitment to PC.

    It was revealed after Microsoft's Game Pass for PC announcement, and Spencer says Microsoft wanted to use the opportunity to put its PC games in the spotlight.

    "I didn't know if the PC community was going to be watching or not, but we went Flight Sim, we went Age, we went Wasteland," he says. "We want to make sure we're building games and supporting games that the PC community... we want to respect what they love."

    Microsoft apparently has some pilots on its teams—big surprise—who are fans of the series, and they've been passionate about bringing it back. I guess sometimes you don't want to drive all the way to the hanger. It's also got a community that has stuck around. After Gamespy shut down, killing Flight Simulator X's multiplayer, Dovetail Games got the license and released a Steam edition with multiplayer and Windows 8.1 support. It launched in 2014.

    "Flight Sim was a game in our past that sold millions and millions of units and had a very, very passionate community—in fact, they're still out there," says Spencer. There had to be a reason to resurrect the series, though. "Can we do something new with Flight Sim? Can we actually move it forward in an interesting way?"

    The result is something that, judging by the trailer, looks impossibly vast and real. Spencer says that 2 petabytes of geographical data is used to seamlessly stitch together Earth. The trailer rushes past cities, swoops down so we can see elephants and giraffes hanging around and then soars the mountains for some truly incredible views.

    Spencer warned the team: "You're going to have to put at the bottom that it's in-game, because nobody is going to believe that's in the game."

    Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming next year.

    Keep an eye out for our full interview with Phil Spencer, coming soon.

    https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-wa...t-supports-pc/
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/msflights
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    http://steamcommunity.com/groups/msflights
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    • #17
      Originally posted by ak416 View Post
      Spencer says that 2 petabytes of geographical data is used to seamlessly stitch together Earth.
      While this all looks amazing, and I'm very hopeful for it, this is the part that has me worried.

      This looks like the full interview (pg 2 where FS is discussed): https://www.pcgamer.com/xboxs-phil-s...games-store/2/
      'You're going to have to put at the bottom that that's in-game. because nobody's going to believe that's in-game." You notice the video says '4K in-game'. And then I said, "why does it look like that?". There's 2 petabytes of geographical data behind that game, that they're then using Azure AI to stitch the seams together so as you're flying, you're seeing a seamlessly connected Earth. I was like "you've gotta put that in the video because it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen". It's using real geographical data, real weather data, to give you the ability to literally fly around what looks like a living planet.
      So it's going to require an always on internet connection to get that scenery. Fine... I'm sure Comcast will love me going over my data cap, but besides that what happens to those services if this unfortunately fails? If like with Flight you get a bunch of 3rd party developers talking bad about it. Especially scenery devs as I don't see how they would have any business, that do all they can to sour the communities and try to get it to fail. It would only be a matter of time before MS pulls the plug on that. I guess we'll have to see how much will run offline for this.

      I hope this is successful.

      - Michael
      Check out my cockpit build!

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      • #18
        I share Waterman's concerns, but at the same time temper that with while it might have taken peta bytes of data to build...it may not need it as an always on connection to stream it. Features like live weather might, but not everything.

        Regardless, we still have nothing more than 100 seconds of visuals to go on, so we will all wait and see what happens next.

        For those on Facebook, there is a group started to join in the discussion and share information as it comes to light https://www.facebook.com/groups/MSFS2020/

        Safe Skies

        Novawing24
        Per Ardua Ad Astra

        Check out my videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/Novawing24
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        • #19
          Originally posted by Waterman981 View Post
          they're then using Azure AI to stitch the seams together so as you're flying, you're seeing a seamlessly connected Earth.
          I agree that this sounds a bit concerning. Microsoft Azure is basically cloud computing, so will it actually require an always on internet connection? I would hope they will allow you to download different regions of where you want to fly instead of relying on an internet connection. I find it a bit hard to believe that they would require an always on internet connection, especially after the failure/backlash of other games that have required an always on internet connection. Maybe the guy meant they used Azure AI for development (as demonstration/sales pitch) and the game will not actually be using it during playtime.

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          • #20
            Yeah, at this point we don't know how it will all be done. If you look at the "flight simulator" in Google Earth, that is streaming all the data down, and on my 150 Mbps internet it will still buffer for me. Apples and oranges of course even if MS is streaming down the scenery. We just won't know until we get more info. You look back at FSX being used for 13 years now, and reliance on cloud resources (gamespy anyone?) can break the game prematurely, which is the only thing I hope doesn't happen.

            I fired up Flight last night... I couldn't connect to anyone else's session as probably nobody else was running it at that time. I think most of us from the early days here saw the potential for Flight, and I just hope the same situation doesn't happen here. (As a side note in the trailer I didn't notice any trees swaying in the breeze )
            - Michael
            Check out my cockpit build!

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            • #21
              Originally posted by Waterman981 View Post
              I fired up Flight last night... I couldn't connect to anyone else's session as probably nobody else was running it at that time. I think most of us from the early days here saw the potential for Flight, and I just hope the same situation doesn't happen here. (As a side note in the trailer I didn't notice any trees swaying in the breeze )
              Yeah its pretty empty but you can still find the odd person playing now and again. There were 4 of us in a session a few weeks ago!

              An offline mode without AI or weather wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but if it requires you to stream in scenery that would be a bit concerning. But if they can do it well and it looks as good as it does in that trailer, I'm fine with it. I don't want FSX2. I don't want to install third party addons outside of the game. I don't want to keep a spreadsheet of my licenses. I don't want to have a limit on the amount of times I can download an addon that I paid $60+ for. If Microsoft can offer me an experience that made me feel the same way I did when I played Flight then I'll be happy. I want good performance, I want some sort of structure like missions and a career mode, a wide variety of scenery and aircraft and multiplayer servers. I want everyone in that multiplayer server to see the same aircraft and the same scenery. Everything else is just icing on the cake for me.

              Like Nova said though, we know very little from that trailer except that it looks incredible. Let's hope we get some more information soon, I'm dying to know more.
              Facebook: www.facebook.com/msflights
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              • #22
                I read a new Microsoft update today......they will be supporting 3rd party planes and scenery. Don't know if this is good news or bad news.
                [img]http://www.msflights.net/pilots/phpvms/lib/signatures/MSF0027.png[/img]

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by Splithorse View Post
                  I read a new Microsoft update today......they will be supporting 3rd party planes and scenery. Don't know if this is good news or bad news.
                  Here is the full text

                  "For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

                  This sentence from Leonardo da Vinci embodies the driving force behind the Microsoft Flight Simulator team. And while all of us have our own personal associations with flight, the entire team is committed to the singular goal of capturing the artistry, mastery, and essence of flying. We believe part of achieving that goal is taking a moment to recognize pivotal steps in our development process, and today is one of our biggest. The culmination of time, effort, technology, and collaboration was edited into a 1:30 second video shown at the Microsoft Keynote presentation this year to kick off E3 2019.

                  On behalf of the entire Microsoft Flight Simulator team, we humbly and deeply express our gratitude for such an overwhelmingly positive response to our announce trailer! We recognize that without people like you, we don’t get to make experiences like this that span more than 35 years and maintain such a passionate following. Thank you for being patient enough to weather the turbulence caused by some of our previous missteps. Thank you for being willing to look to the possibilities of the future while asking us to be accountable for the past. We hear you, we value you, we want to make the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator for you, with you.

                  While this is not the moment to answer every question being asked, we do want to take the opportunity to answer a few important ones:
                  1. We are making Microsoft Flight Simulator. Emphasis on the word SIMULATOR.
                  2. Designed for PC, optimized for multiplatform support (e.g. Xbox).
                  3. Yes. We are supporting 3rd Party Content Development and Community Content creation. We are aware of the concerns in the current eco-system and are working to address them.
                  4. Yes. We genuinely want to work closely with the community in the development of this title.
                  5. Accessibility is important to us. Whatever your abilities are, if you want to fly, we are going to do whatever we can to make that happen. Yoke and pedals, mouse and keyboard, controller, etc. No pilot should be left behind.

                  Over the next few months, we will be communicating our plans for the rest of the year, including important updates to the Preview Build/Insider Programs, and important development beats. Maintaining a collaborative relationship with the community starts with transparency and clearly communicated expectations. Early August is our current timeline for kicking off the communication of the development roadmap. We will continue to add clarity to this timeline throughout the summer. If you’d like the latest updates, please make sure to sign up for the Insider Program.

                  This is just the first step in an adventure we are honored and excited to be taking with all of you. The reaction we received from our recent trailer was an incredible reminder that we are not alone in this passion we have for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, honestly expressing your feedback and concerns, and for taking this next step with us.

                  From all of us here working on Microsoft Flight Simulator:

                  Thank you.

                  Sincerely,

                  Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

                  https://fsi.microsoftstudios.com/
                  Facebook: www.facebook.com/msflights
                  Steam Group:
                  http://steamcommunity.com/groups/msflights
                  YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MSFlightsMedia


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                  • #24
                    I think that statement clears up a lot for so many of us I hope. I think that's great news.

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                    • #25
                      I you take that statement as read it look s like they may have learnt from Flight. Good to read they are supporting 3rd party addons software and hardware.

                      Hope everyone gives it a far go and not kill it before it even gets started.
                      Oz Flyer.
                      David.
                      VA Operations Manager.
                      SPAD.neXt Beta tester.
                      FIPGauges.com Beta tester.



                      Got a question about the Virtual Airline? Please post in the VA forum or send me a private message.

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                      • #26
                        Hiya!

                        There’s alot of analysis on YouTube of the trailer - but I found this one to be particularly convincing.

                        https://youtu.be/dyBeRmOLnBA

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                        • #27
                          July 11th, 2019 – Development Update


                          As the team enters the dog days of summer, we’ve been hard at work putting the finishing touches on many of the big updates we’re planning to share toward the end of summer. Our excitement continues to build, as does our impatience to share this information with you. So we press forward counting down the days until we can open the hangar doors and dive into the details with you.

                          There are many very important topics being discussed in the community (e.g. New Flight Model/IFR-VFR Flight/Weather Simulation Depth/VR Support, etc.). The team is constantly monitoring the feedback/suggestions being discussed and please know that many of these topics and more, will be covered thoroughly in near future updates.

                          In the meantime, here’s a work-in-progress screenshot, and confirmation that the Insider Program will be starting in early August as part of our development roadmap kickoff.

                          On July 25th, we will be releasing another update on our plans for August and September. Until next time, know that the team is excited and anxious to share more information with you.

                          Sincerely,
                          The Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

                          https://fsi.microsoftstudios.com/
                          Facebook: www.facebook.com/msflights
                          Steam Group:
                          http://steamcommunity.com/groups/msflights
                          YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MSFlightsMedia


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                          • #28
                            I didn't realize that was a screen shot at first...
                            - Michael
                            Check out my cockpit build!

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                            • #29
                              Flight Simulator was once one of the jewels in Microsoft’s crown, as close to synonymous with PC gaming as it’s possible to get. The series debuted a staggering 37 years ago, pre-dating even Windows as an operating system, and demanded exacting attention from players as they guided increasingly detailed planes safely through the skies. Over the course of a dozen iterations spanning nearly four decades, the flying experience evolved from blocky cockpit views to full aerial tours with a hangar’s worth of realistically modelled aircraft to get to grips with. It’s been running so long that even Microsoft does not know its sales figures, but Flight Simulator has certainly been played by millions.

                              Yet as PC gaming blossomed, becoming home to everything from competitive shooters to arthouse narrative games, Flight Simulator’s star began to wane. The last major release was 2006’s Microsoft Flight Simulator X (eventually revamped and repackaged for Steam in 2014), while 2012’s simplified spin-off, Microsoft Flight, had an aborted take off, cancelled a mere five months after launch. The golden age of flight (simulators) has long been over.

                              Until, that is, this year’s E3 in Los Angeles, where a brand new Microsoft Flight Simulator made a surprise appearance. It was announced during the Xbox conference, for Xbox consoles as well as its more familiar PC home. The franchise’s shock reappearance was very well-received, but even Microsoft’s head of Xbox Phil Spencer wasn’t confident about debuting a flight sim alongside the likes of Gears of War and Forza.

                              “I remember we were going through the planning, and I was like, ‘could we really get Flight Sim on our stage?’,” Spencer says. “I thought for sure, there’s just no way. But then we saw the visuals.”

                              As the trailer above demonstrates, the new Flight Simulator looks absolutely astounding. Real-world locations including Dubai, San Francisco, and Egypt are recreated in photorealistic 4K resolution, with geography and textures captured from satellite imagery. Players will be able to control numerous authentic planes from light aircrafts to passenger vehicles, set their own flight paths, and navigate through unpredictable scenarios thrown up by Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, which leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to dynamically shift flight conditions. This will keep players on their toes – get too comfortable running a commuter flight, and Azure might throw up sudden shifts in the weather, turning a sunny flight into a battle to keep aloft as storm conditions roll in.

                              Spencer first saw footage of Flight Simulator in “probably February or March”, and was so taken aback that he had to confirm with Microsoft’s studios head Shannon Loftis that it was actually real. “There were scenes that look better than photorealistic,” he recalls.

                              If Flight Simulator looks ahead of its time, that’s because, in many ways, it is. Not only do the underlying AI and graphical technologies behind its creation push current gaming technology to its limits, but they begin to surpass them. The geographic data alone, needed to render the world players will be flying around, comes in at two petabytes – equivalent to 20,000 Blu-ray discs.

                              It will be far in excess of what can fit on a disc or be reasonably downloaded, and so Flight Simulator is at the vanguard of a new breed of game that can only live, perhaps fittingly, in the cloud. Microsoft servers will do a lot of the visual processing remotely and beam the results to a player’s screen, doing away with the need for a super-powerful PC at home (though you will need a fast internet connection). This is part of a wider shift that is already under way in video games: as technology improves and developers strive to create ever more realistic virtual worlds, games balloon in size, and the hardware needed to run them becomes more and more expensive. Offloading some of that data and processing to cloud servers is the solution that Microsoft – among other companies, such as Google – is betting on.

                              For games like Flight Simulator, the cloud provides “a system that kind of understands how much capability I need at any point,” Spencer explains. “It’s no different than what we’ve done in years past, streaming into available RAM that’s available on our consoles.” Flight Simulator will have an offline mode when it launches in 2020, but given how heavily it relies on data streamed from Microsoft servers, it’s likely to be severely truncated.

                              Always-online games are sometimes controversial – not everyone likes logging into a server every time they want to play (and indeed, some players aren’t able to). But in this case, the advantages are surely worth it. “We’re getting to the point with games where there’s the [question of] how much data can you actually download and store?” says Spencer. “[But] there’s also the matter of how much data do I need to have locally at any time? I’m not playing the beginning, middle and end of every game at every time … Not only do we have two petabytes of data behind [Flight Simulator], but we’ve got Azure AI running [so] you have different levels of fidelity in different parts of the planet. As you’re flying around, you’re seeing the highest buildings and the weather’s changing in real time. It is just unreal.”

                              Ahead of Flight Simulator’s release in 2020, Microsoft has launched an Insider program, to share development updates with players and provide early access to the game in return for feedback from early adopters. Flight Simulator’s approaching return will be watched closely by its many passionate fans – but if Microsoft can stick the landing, this will be a game beyond the wildest dreams of anyone who played in the 80s and 90s.
                              https://www.theguardian.com/games/20...ight-simulator

                              Highlighted the bits I thought were especially relevant.
                              Facebook: www.facebook.com/msflights
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                              http://steamcommunity.com/groups/msflights
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                              • #30
                                The information about Azure AI powering the weather and potentially random scenarios in flight is interesting, as is the apparent acknowledgment that the community is wary of always online titles.

                                It is good to see that there will be an offline mode, what is lost in offline vs online will be interesting to see.

                                The conclusion is also apt in its acknowledgement that it is being watched closely, with a healthy amount of scepticism.
                                Per Ardua Ad Astra

                                Check out my videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/Novawing24
                                Join me on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/Novawing24
                                Follow me on Twitter! https://twitter.com/novawing24
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