[jhb] Re: More on FS2020
- From: Mike Lucas <mhlucas@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2019 17:21:04 +0100
I'm going to ignore all the sumptuous visuals for now because I can see
that a huge amount of work with Bing was needed to build a full 3D world
from mapping data. I shall ignore the atmospherics too despite them looking
more >> realistic than anything I have seen previously.
What sort of horsepower will be necessary to render this quality of scenery
and weather? I imagine the demo was running on something pretty powerful
and beyond what is readily available to Joe Public and his budget. In
addition, the internet connection speed required to deliver the data to be
rendered locally will probably need to be FTTP Gbps rather than Mbps.
And, as Bones hints in his penultimate paragraph, likely to be a pricing
model which will be a tiered monthly subscription like a lot of business
software.
It'll take a lot to prise me away from XP11 ...
Mike L
PS - Bones: I've just seen the flooding in Laxey - hope you still have your
head above water in Castletown.
On Tue, 1 Oct 2019 at 15:09, Bones <bones@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I wonder if MS have used any of their development of FSX in FS2020 or did
they relinquish all that to Lockheed for Prepare 3D? If this is a new from
the ground up sim it will be fascinating to see what has changed.
I'm going to ignore all the sumptuous visuals for now because I can see
that a huge amount of work with Bing was needed to build a full 3D world
from mapping data. I shall ignore the atmospherics too despite them looking
more realistic than anything I have seen previously. Moving back to
aircraft it may take some time to make all new ones, their cockpits and the
performances - and heavy metal may be lagging in the development process.
It may be a question of relative speeds and render times but at high level
I would have thought ground data would be rendered at a lower LOD, or set
to a limited render distance.
Back when we were making the England and Wales VFR scenery each object had
a default render distance. With most scenery it was not necessary to alter
the default draw distance as things would pop up in sensible sequence as
the aircraft moved forward. When you got to a very dense scenery area, like
an airport, we found in testing that a PC could get slammed with a sudden
demand for object rendering so, to reduce any sudden drop in FPS, we
started to change the DD for each airport object, small things like runway
lights and direction boards being given much lower DD than runways or
buildings.
But maybe not, for as I wrote that I recall very well that even in a
cruise at FL250 the detail down on the ground is startlingly clear so
render distance would need to stay sharp at that height. Cruising at FL410
you still see good detail though not actually pick out individual houses,
so a slight drop in LOD could be acceptable.
If the focus has been on getting the scenery working may the teams (if any
exist) for aircraft, ATC and missions are still working away at them. Again
I wonder if these are all new teams as I cannot see, after all this time,
and original FSX guys still around - or willing to go back after being laid
off after FSX had the rug pulled..
With an entirely new system it is quite feasible that FS would come as a
basic package and that any aircraft, missions or ATC may be extra purchases
to download. Considering the cost of making this 3D Earth model, and the
hint that it may constantly be updated as Bing updates their satellite
imagery the concept of rolling purchases becomes a feasible consideration
to keep capital pouring in..
All conjecture but it's fun to speculate- even when you know you are going
to be completely wrong.:)
Bones
bones@xxxxxxx
*From:* jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
Behalf Of *paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Sent:* 01 October 2019 14:17
*To:* jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [jhb] Re: More on FS2020
Although I posted links to Airboyd's videos there were a whole bunch of
videod released by different bloggers on YouTube yesterday. They all
feature the same in game footage and talk about their experience of being
given early access.
Though, for me, the more telling part was the developers Q&A. The key
point being the guy from Microsoft saying he was not being constrained by
Microsoft and their intention was to develop a flight simulator, not a
game, aimed at the hard core sim fan that has supported them over the last
40 years. He was keen to emphasise they were open to working with
developers to bring in suggestions and envisaged continued development over
10 years. He also emphasised that although they first announced it at E3
they weren't happy that it gave the wrong impression they were aiming the
product at the XBox community.
One thing that stood out though was the focus on VFR in the video they
released. Those attending (I've watched several other bloggers versions)
talk about there being no or very little ATC at the moment and no air
traffic. The lack of heavy metal developed so far and available to the
bloggers is unusual for MS. Rendering issues once the airspeed increases?
There was also mention of adding in support for third party ATC,
helicopters and military. That led me to wonder whether they would be added
in later or on release. While checklists and new user training was
mentioned, another thing not mentioned specifically in the videos I've seen
was whether this release would include missions or not. Given the level of
detail they're putting into the visual elements, doing so would be a no
brainervin my opinion.
Paul Reynolds
Sent from my Huawei phone
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [jhb] Re: More on FS2020
From: Bones
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC:
Fascinating the way FS has evolved.
We started with a split screen showing a cockpit in the lower half of the
screen and a very minimalistic outside view in the top half. What little
CPU power we had drove the aerodynamics engine and the resultant readouts
on the dials. Further versions saw visuals evolve, both outside and inside
the aircraft. Then photoscenery burst upon us and outside realism exploded,
both in scenery realism and atmospheric realism.
This new version seems to be a fully rendered and accurate globe with an
aircraft on top. :) Nothing wrong in that as the scenery is in the cloud
and streamed (I've been working in SL for 10 years which does the same
thing). In fact the same issue affects both in that density of scenery
increases render times and lag and so designers need to make accurate mesh
objects yet with as low a poly count as possible to minimise GPU/CPU load.
The visual are stunning and I think that is what the biggest selling point
will be. I'm not sure if this is the first fully rendered globe in software
(I'm sadly not up to date with things) but that will be the draw for most.
As the guy himself said, the first thing he did was fly over his house
(hands up everyone) but then he said the exploration of the scenery took
his thoughts away from the aircraft and its performance. That is what I am
curious about because he kept calling it a game rather than a simulator. It
makes me wonder if the aerodynamics are improved too or have not moved on
since FSX days - or may be more basic.
I shall watch with interest. :)
Waves to everyone from a slightly wet island.
Bones
bones@xxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Paul Reynolds
Sent: 30 September 2019 23:14
To: JHB Airlines
Subject: [jhb] More on FS2020
Some interesting videos posted on YouTube today...
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 • Global Preview Event:
https://youtu.be/mkMoZkGhIog
Developers Q&A
https://youtu.be/a-ppN8HjZGk
Paul Reynolds
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