Microsoft Flight Simulator Release Date and Pricing

[ak416]

ak, in your correspondence with me it sounds like you went whole hog on simulator hardware lately. TrackIR is slated to work at launch of FSXX. ak, when you mentioned your aquisition of Warthog HOTAS, what did you mean? Just the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog throttle quadrant ? I know you said you bought a high end joystick proviously, Galaxy someting.

I recently bought the VKB Gladiator MK2, it was a joystick that I was very interested and one of the only in stock at the time. It is an excellent joystick. I had been checking Amazon and other retailers regularly for the Warthog Throttle Quadrant, and I came across a good deal on the complete Warthog HOTAS bundle. It was about $200 cheaper than other retailers were offering, new from Amazon, so I grabbed one of the 2 left in stock. I really want a split throttle and it's my only option. VKB does not offer a throttle currently and the VIRPIL throttle alone is about the same price as I got the full Warthog set for, not including VAT, shipping and import fees. The Mirage 2000, L39 and F86 have been calling my name in DCS for a while now so it's not just for FSXX exclusively.

Glad to see Kalo also got access, annoying though that Microsoft's own emails are going straight into the junk folder on their own service.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Kalo tells me in PM that Kalo also had an FSXX beta tester invite hidden in his OutLook spam folder for weeks, just like in ak's case. Sounds to me now that all you beta tester applicants should review the email you applied for tester with for a possible acceptance notice from Microsoft. Kalo is the second case where an invite sat, unnoticed since July 27th, in a spam folder.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I read in the testers' forum that beta testing opportunity will continue after August 18th. New Asobo team clarifications sounds like continued tester participation will necessitate an uninstall of the current 1.6.13 beta build (which will deactivate upon commercial release). Then a purchased license must be installed, followed by another separate testing variation install. The current tester NDA will remain in full effect for the testers' installation and that may mean continued watermarks. Because of recent NDA violations on social media, the watermarks doubled in quantity with the last beta release and the watermarks make night flying unacceptable (to me).

Microsoft-Asobo could ask for no better nor more experienced Steam ecosystem FSXX tester than you, ak. I intend to continue on as a beta tester even after I purchase a commercial license. Kalo has expressed interest to me in volunteering our community to Microsoft-Asobo post-release as continued testers of the multiplayer aspects of FSXX. Our community has a history as such beta testers for various Dovetail flight simulator efforts.

ak, in your correspondence with me it sounds like you went whole hog on simulator hardware lately. TrackIR is slated to work at launch of FSXX. ak, when you mentioned your aquisition of Warthog HOTAS, what did you mean? Just the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog throttle quadrant ? I know you said you bought a high end joystick proviously, Galaxy someting.

[ak416]

I recently saw a familiar name in the membership listing on the FSXX beta tester insider forum... akfouronesix. I hope this is accurate. The avatar image looks familiar.

Yep, I had an invite to the beta sitting in my Junk folder for nearly 2 weeks.. I stopped checking that email a while ago, and its a secondary Microsoft account, not my main one.

My thoughts echo those of Travis, especially after spending most of the day yesterday with the beta (though thankfully I have had 0 crashes thus far). The Orbx POI's are exactly the kind of addons I am interested in, but I also think we'll see a lot of freeware in the same vein so I will likely hold off for now.

Less then a week to go now, starting to get excited!

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I recently saw a familiar name in the membership listing on the FSXX beta tester insider forum... akfouronesix. I hope this is accurate. The avatar image looks familiar.

[Travis]

I have mixed opinions about Orbx. I have heard bad things in the past, and yes they over charge(my assumption), but they do give back and sponsor things like FS Expo. Also, as money grabbing they can be, they did help keep the simulation world alive and updated, even if it was just through management of and quality control of scenery and distribution. So good to see them not die off, but I do think most people (including myself) will enjoy the new sim for some time before finding the need to... do I dare say... "tweak" it?

I am planning(on release) to buy the highest tier MFS offered. Do I need these extras, probably not, but the airports, and a select few aircraft, are what make it worth it. As expected, they have obviously done more work in this sim than previous ones. This may be unfair due to the technology restrictions. But level of detail is much better overall. From what I have seen online... Thing's are not perfect, and I think on release, we will likely see bugs and a community lashing to the MFS Asobo team, but they have been listening to us for years, so I think they know it is coming anyway(on little details). But it is looking like the future, and honestly, I am ready for the... most interesting X-plane owner to compete and keep them working hard!

I think one thing to be thankful for, a real light at the end of a dark tunnel. Flight sim has been a slow crawl, and I am almost certain our crashes and issues wont fully go away with this one, at least not for a while, BUT, I think this is like the launch of FSX, but better. The beginning of a new Saga. Something people can play with hardware that is available(unlike FSX). Sure many people will need to upgrade running 5+ years old computers, but many high end systems of that era may be okay to run. And you can't beat the openness they have been giving to the community. They have been letting youtubers publish flaws and whatever they like. Many (know before you buy) videos. Even on MFS official site, you can find out what you are buying with each tier.

Well, I know things will not be perfect, but I am excited, and I know things during my upcoming group flight(Shameless plug here) will not be perfect. But I think we will all enjoy it from what I have seen, even if there are flaws. So come on by the first weekend after launch (22nd Aug) and put your rig through some new flight sim testing. Hope to see anyone and everyone there!

[Waterman981]

The Orbx stuff looks great. One nice thing is with London City there was the video by Squirrel where he did the night VFR flight to there, so you can get a bit of a comparison. More for my bank account to bear...

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

First Products Announced for Microsoft Flight Simulator - From Orbx, today, Aug. 9th.

https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/...ht-simulator/#

QUOTE from Orbx linked announcement:

To support the new platform, we will be releasing several products available at, or shortly after, launch. During the launch window, new products will be available for purchase at competitive pricing levels, ranging from US$7.99 to US$19.99 through both OrbxDirect and the Microsoft FlightSim Marketplace.

We are also happy to confirm that current owners of Orbx products running on FSX, Prepar3D, X-Plane and Aerofly FS 2 that are launched for Microsoft Flight Simulator will receive a 40% discount. As ownership needs to be validated, this discount can only be applied via purchases from OrbxDirect.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Credit card billing phase has started for pre-orders as of this post's timestamp, I read on the web. I, myself, have not pre-ordered but I intend to purchase the top end FSXX version upon actual release, probably thru Steam. I understand that beta testers' installations will remain active for further feature evaluation beta testing even after the commercial release August 18th.

[Karl]

I'm conducting a brief survey to see what you all think in the wake of the announcement !

https://tinyurl.com/N24MSFS07

I had forgotten about this. I just put up a similar poll on the main page. We should compare results next week.

[ak416]

Digital Foundry has released their initial hands-on impressions of Flight Simulator.

An astonishing jump in graphical realism, Microsoft's new Flight Simulator delivers unprecedented visual fidelity and truly next generation visuals. In this video, Alex Battaglia discusses the technological make-up of the new engine - and the significant performance cost in delivering this generational leap.

Some basic benchmarks, much more in depth performance analysis when the game is out:
Ryzen 3900X and RTX 2080TI @ 4k Ultra, 30-40fps
I5 8400 RX 580 @ 1080p High, ~30fps
I5 8400 GTX 1060 @ 1080p High, ~35fps
I5 8400 RX 580 @ 1080p Medium, ~40fps
I5 8400 GTX 1060 @ 1080p Medium, ~50fps

"This game is heavy, and particularly heavy on AMD hardware in the current version with the current drivers."

[ak416]

In addition to availability on Windows 10 and Xbox Game Pass for PC (Xbox Game Pass for PC is currently in Beta), Microsoft Flight Simulator will also be coming to Steam on August 18. We are thrilled to announce that Steam pre-orders for the Standard, Deluxe, and Premium Deluxe editions of Microsoft Flight Simulator start today!

Listening to the community has been a priority for the development team since the announcement of Microsoft Flight Simulator in June 2019. Two of the most requested features we’ve been hearing about from the Community are TrackIR and VR support. Today we are excited to announce that Microsoft Flight Simulator will have TrackIR support available on day one, and VR support will be available later this year in time for the launch of the HP Reverb G2!



TrackIR

TrackIR is the premier head tracking solution delivering full six degree of freedom (6DOF) camera control for an ultra-immersive simulator experience. TrackIR allows simmers to enjoy a low latency mouse free look around with Microsoft Flight Simulator in full 4K/HDR, while still allowing easy interaction with a suite of hardware peripherals.

Additional information on VR support and original source here
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/07/...nd-vr-support/


I initially did not see the option to preorder on Steam, but that seems to be resolved now.

This is a big relief for me. While yes, the Steam version still heavily relies on Microsoft's back end to function, my issues have always been with the Microsoft Store itself and not their servers.

[Wingman]

I just read an article somewhere online that indicates Microsoft flight simulator is now available for pre-order on steam! looking on steam for myself, I see the product page, but no pre-order option. Perhaps it'll simply be available for purchase on August 18th, per the announced planned release date on the product page.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Thanks, ak. For those of us who intend to purchase FSXX but are waiting to order or preorder, this Steam info really helps.

I saw just recently that VATSIM now has an official partnership with FSXX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGgWSC1AcWs

[ak416]

Microsoft has just concluded their "Xbox Games Showcase" where they announced a few new games and updated Steam to include store pages for said games. Flight Simulator was not one of those games, so I suspect it will not launch on Steam on the 18th of August and if it does come to Steam at all my best guess would be that it coincides with the console release date.

Still not going to preorder just yet, once it comes down to the wire I will end up preordering to take advantage of preloading the game so that I can play as soon as it's released. Here's hoping for a smooth launch.