Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Flight Simulator teases a partnership with online flight network VATSIM

Microsoft Flight Simulator has teased a partnership with the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network, or VATSIM, for the release of the upcoming new edition of the simulator on August 18th...VATSIM is a long-standing institution in the flight simulation community, a nonprofit organization that provides a network where users either fly as pilots or direct air traffic as controllers to produce a simulation of real world air traffic...VATSIM has confirmed that their network will be compatible with Flight Simulator at launch...

 
Seyumi said:
Crazy but understandable due to specific country legal reasons and access to poor internet or capped bandwidth.

I think this is a wake-up call though that you're "living in the past" if you choose to fumble around with 10 DVD's just to install a game which still requires additional internet downloads & connectivity anyway.
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I'd buy a physical copy in the US if they made it available to us simply to save 90GB of data off my monthly capped internet (screw you Comcast!).
 
TheSandman21 said:
I'd buy a physical copy in the US if they made it available to us simply to save 90GB of data off my monthly capped internet (screw you Comcast!).
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This is really the only compelling argument I see to physical media. 1TB data caps become the standard many years ago, but digital media size and consumption has increased rapidly since 1TB was determined to be more than enough for your average houeshold. I can't help but wonder if the upcoming console generation is going to cause a shift here. 100+GB games are going to become normal (they are already somewhat common), and consoles are becoming more and more focused on digital with each iteration. Even massive day one patches for physical copies are become very common. We're reaching a point where a 1TB data cap isn't at all realistic for anyone who plays video games. How long before ISPs take a page from the mobile industry and figure out that in a saturated market, unlimited data is an incredibly lucrative way to steal business from your competitors?
 
Viper87227 said:
This is really the only compelling argument I see to physical media. 1TB data caps become the standard many years ago, but digital media size and consumption has increased rapidly since 1TB was determined to be more than enough for your average houeshold. I can't help but wonder if the upcoming console generation is going to cause a shift here. 100+GB games are going to become normal (they are already somewhat common), and consoles are becoming more and more focused on digital with each iteration. Even massive day one patches for physical copies are become very common. We're reaching a point where a 1TB data cap isn't at all realistic for anyone who plays video games. How long before ISPs take a page from the mobile industry and figure out that in a saturated market, unlimited data is an incredibly lucrative way to steal business from your competitors?
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The city I lived in announced a couple of years ago that they would be running fiber everywhere and act as an ISP, I had been excited but patiently waiting for it to happen. Fast forward to this year and the very month it becomes available I moved about an hour away (closer to work for me and my girlfriend). I could have been paying less than I pay Comcast for gigabit fiber with no data caps. I'm in complete agreement with you that 1TB is too low for the size of these game installs. Most months it's not an issue but it could rapidly become a habitual problem.

I'll be able to squeeze in the massive download for this game though, can't wait for it to come out because it looks amazing.
 
Viper87227 said:
This is really the only compelling argument I see to physical media. 1TB data caps become the standard many years ago, but digital media size and consumption has increased rapidly since 1TB was determined to be more than enough for your average houeshold. I can't help but wonder if the upcoming console generation is going to cause a shift here. 100+GB games are going to become normal (they are already somewhat common), and consoles are becoming more and more focused on digital with each iteration. Even massive day one patches for physical copies are become very common. We're reaching a point where a 1TB data cap isn't at all realistic for anyone who plays video games. How long before ISPs take a page from the mobile industry and figure out that in a saturated market, unlimited data is an incredibly lucrative way to steal business from your competitors?
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at the end of the day data caps are all about maximizing profit, it has nothing to do with them trying to save money.. find a number where a certain percentage of average users stay under but where enough users exceed to force them to pay for unlimited bandwidth each month.. thus the 1TB mark was set by most high speed ISP's and data caps are far more lucrative then trying to steal a few customers because it costs them nothing, while trying to get customers requires marketing which requires spending.

Ryan7968 said:
The city I lived in announced a couple of years ago that they would be running fiber everywhere and act as an ISP, I had been excited but patiently waiting for it to happen. Fast forward to this year and the very month it becomes available I moved about an hour away (closer to work for me and my girlfriend). I could have been paying less than I pay Comcast for gigabit fiber with no data caps. I'm in complete agreement with you that 1TB is too low for the size of these game installs. Most months it's not an issue but it could rapidly become a habitual problem.

I'll be able to squeeze in the massive download for this game though, can't wait for it to come out because it looks amazing.
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consider yourself lucky because i guarantee in 5 years that shit will get sold off to the lowest bidder and people will still be paying the taxes on it for the next 10-15 years while having to pay for internet to a private company.

all you have to do is look at spectrum(aka charter) that look over a lot of verizon's fiber and has done the bare minimum to support it.


all that aside if you think just downloading the game is bad, have i got some bad news for you if you want to run azure auto generated textures while doing long haul flights..

polonyc2 said:
Flight Simulator teases a partnership with online flight network VATSIM

Microsoft Flight Simulator has teased a partnership with the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network, or VATSIM, for the release of the upcoming new edition of the simulator on August 18th...VATSIM is a long-standing institution in the flight simulation community, a nonprofit organization that provides a network where users either fly as pilots or direct air traffic as controllers to produce a simulation of real world air traffic...VATSIM has confirmed that their network will be compatible with Flight Simulator at launch...

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is it really teasing when everyone in the flight sim community knew this was happening before FS20 alpha started? lol VATSIM wasn't really that hush about it, literally FS20 was announced and they said they were already going to support it whether or not it was official or unofficial.


TheToE! said:
Wondering if there will be a sudden run on flight sticks and gear? ]Kinda reminds me of 2009 when street fighter 4 was about to release. Right afterwards there were no sticks, buttons, parts to be found for a good 6ish months after release.
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depends on what you're looking for.. for the generic stuff the vast majority of people will get, yeah probably.. but there's a lot of good less known HOTAS and yoke controllers out there that aren't super expensive either.
 
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I wonder what types of instrumentation will be supported. I'm semi-tech support for an old guy in the neighborhood who has a full cockpit (A4 Skyhawk) with the instruments replaced with Simkits USB stuff. It seems like it should be really cool, but the actual gauges seem to only work 25% of the time. I think it's Simkits, not FSX but updating the base code certainly can't hurt anything.

Or; do any of you simmers know a better company for gauge pods?
 
DWolvin said:
I wonder what types of instrumentation will be supported. I'm semi-tech support for an old guy in the neighborhood who has a full cockpit (A4 Skyhawk) with the instruments replaced with Simkits USB stuff. It seems like it should be really cool, but the actual gauges seem to only work 25% of the time. I think it's Simkits, not FSX but updating the base code certainly can't hurt anything.

Or; do any of you simmers know a better company for gauge pods?
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i feel his pain, i tried to do something similar in xp11 but was a royal pain in the arse dealing with the scripts to make them work that i gave up and now use a 4th screen which is a 22" 1080p touch screen that has all my guages(can't remember the name of the software right now though, sorry) with my radio clusters to the right side of it and my switch cluster to the left of it. but it can be a pain to get running sometimes when XP11 doesn't feel like playing nice with it. i'll probably be getting rid of the switch cluster when the honey comb throttle quantrant is released.

nvm found an old bookmark, software is called air manager and you can either make your own guage setup or buy/download pre-made ones.
 
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Can anyone recommend which peripherals are "must have" for this game, specifically for casual players? Guessing a joystick at the very least?
 
The Thrustmaster 16000M goes on sale pretty often and has sensors that don't drift out of alighment (the only cheap one I know of).
 
You'll want some type of HOTAS or yoke/quadrant. I know there are cheap HOTAS for $70-80. I wouldn't bother with a standalone joystick.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Can anyone recommend which peripherals are "must have" for this game, specifically for casual players? Guessing a joystick at the very least?
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depends on what you want to fly..

if you want to do GA or Boeing and want stuff on a budget then CH yoke and CH pedels and logitech throttle quadrant are a cheap starting point.. they don't have the deadzone issue the logitech crap has but i much prefer the honeycomb yoke.

if you want airbus/fighters then the logitech T1600M flight packs a decent starting point without breaking the bank. you can also use the throttle from the T1600M for everything else if you're just doing it casually instead of the logitech throttle quadrant in the above one.
 
A standard joystick with a slider throttle on it is more than enough for a casual player, $20-35 range. Itll get you flying, and from there can determine if its worth spending more on a proper setup. The Thustmaster T16000 is pretty amazing for its price point, but if you're really casual, I cant see saying to throw $60+ at a joystick when a dirt cheap one will do just as well most likely.

Hell I use a 15+ year old Logitech Extreme 3D I think (not at home atm), so old that it originally came with a serial port connector and a dongle to convert that to USB. It works fine since my X52 HOTAS was lost during a move, and I dont fly in anything often enough right now to spend the money on a new setup. * To be transparent though, I had to open it up and adjust the twist sensor since it started registering a constant twist and deadzone to the left... opened, knocked the sensor/knob thing against a desk, put back in, working great now :p
 
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Seems like the Thrustmaster T.16000M is at an all time high price and there's an airbus edition coming in September. Now I'm torn. Perhaps I should just wait for the airbus edition and play with a controller until then.
 
TwistedMetalGear said:
Seems like the Thrustmaster T.16000M is at an all time high price and there's an airbus edition coming in September. Now I'm torn. Perhaps I should just wait for the airbus edition and play with a controller until then.
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I just got the Airbus TCA Sidestick today, it's really nice. Definitely cool if you have any interest in flying Airbuses (but of course it would work well in pretty much anything)
 
*girly squeal*

!!!!!!

*another girly squeal*


Yeah, preordered on steam. Huzzah.

I wasnt impressed or excited at first, but the more time goes on the more I cant wait for this. Going to order a proper control setup sometime soon as well. Will be useful to have for War Thunder and Star Citizen as well anyway. Thats the story Im telling myself... its not really because this game will be even better with it than my existing ancient joystick... no... not at all.
 
Premium deluxe day 1 for me. Cant wait for vr. Time to dust off the old saitek x45.

i didnt see a TBM in the list of available planes.Bummer. Wonder if CAPS will be a thing on the sr22.
 
I love how the the game seems tailored for all playstyles from super real world simulator to easy mode for people who don't want to get into the hard core mechanics of flying...it also seems to work fine across all inputs- flight sticks, controller, KB/M etc...the Digital Foundry video mentioned the game being 'relaxing' and that is a good thing...flying from place to place and taking in the sights...VR should look incredible
 
polonyc2 said:
I love how the the game seems tailored for all playstyles from super real world simulator to easy mode for people who don't want to get into the hard core mechanics of flying...it also seems to work fine across all inputs- flight sticks, controller, KB/M etc...the Digital Foundry video mentioned the game being 'relaxing' and that is a good thing...flying from place to place and taking in the sights...VR should look incredible
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Thats not new for the MSFS games. I remember bouncing off the ground like a super ball in FS98 when I got it as a 10 year old... You just had to set realism to the right amount for what you wanted. Auto mixture, auto rudder, proper airspeed indication, unlimited fuel, no stress crashes, no collisions, no...... etc etc etc.. All have been there since at least 98 lol. You could have GPS, enable autopilot in aircraft that didnt have it...
 
FighterAce124 said:
Thats not new for the MSFS games. I remember bouncing off the ground like a super ball in FS98 when I got it as a 10 year old... You just had to set realism to the right amount for what you wanted. Auto mixture, auto rudder, proper airspeed indication, unlimited fuel, no stress crashes, no collisions, no...... etc etc etc.. All have been there since at least 98 lol. You could have GPS, enable autopilot in aircraft that didnt have it...
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I think most people just assume that something with 'Simulator' in the title is for the hard core players...I played a helicopter sim many years ago and damn that was not fun...just taking off required learning dozens of commands...felt like I could fly a real helicopter after playing the game
 
New Microsoft Flight Simulator Gameplay | Stormy weather montage



New Microsoft Flight Simulator Gameplay | Flying over famous landmarks & cities



San Francisco to Las Vegas Full Flight Gameplay

 
OMG it's on Steam lol.

Is there any reason why I should keep my preorder on the Microsoft Store over Steam? I'm more concerned about future content / DLC's. I'm not sure how the marketplace will work and maybe the marketplace will be different on the Microsoft version over the Steam version by chance? Like different approval processes so DLC's might be on one store but not the other?
 
Seyumi said:
OMG it's on Steam lol.

Is there any reason why I should keep my preorder on the Microsoft Store over Steam? I'm more concerned about future content / DLC's. I'm not sure how the marketplace will work and maybe the marketplace will be different on the Microsoft version over the Steam version by chance? Like different approval processes so DLC's might be on one store but not the other?
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Absolutely do cancel it and reorder on Steam. FUCK the MS Store, what a pile of fuck it is.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
Absolutely do cancel it and reorder on Steam. FUCK the MS Store, what a pile of fuck it is.
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It does seem like the plethora of inevitable DLC for this game will be easier to wishlist and track for sales on the Steam side, not to mention the windows store version might be harder to mod in the event they containerized the game inside UWP - meaning you don't have access to the physical files. In fairness I don't know if MS still does that for Win32 games in the store or dropped that practice, but they used to.

That said, Xbox Game Pass is a compelling value to try this game for a month or two, for $1 or $5 or whatever. MS deserves some praise for that.
 
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Seyumi said:
OMG it's on Steam lol.

Is there any reason why I should keep my preorder on the Microsoft Store over Steam? I'm more concerned about future content / DLC's. I'm not sure how the marketplace will work and maybe the marketplace will be different on the Microsoft version over the Steam version by chance? Like different approval processes so DLC's might be on one store but not the other?
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The only potential reason (and it's a stretch) is for VR. MS has said that when VR launches it will initially be exclusive to the Reverb G2. I am going to hazard a guess that this means, at least initially, this game will not use Steam VR. Whether or not the Steam version will support the G2's VR mode outside of Steam VR is unknown, but it wouldn't surprise me to see it locked to MS Store until Microsoft is ready to support all VR headsets.

So, if you want VR, you have or plan to acquire a G2, and don't want to risk the Steam copy not supporting VR initially, hanging onto it for MS Store MIGHT be safer. If none of that applies to you, there's no question, cancel on MS Store and buy on Steam.
 
I apparently was selected for the beta last week and the e-mail went to my spam folder. Installing it now, will check it out after work tonight!
 
Viper87227 said:
The only potential reason (and it's a stretch) is for VR. MS has said that when VR launches it will initially be exclusive to the Reverb G2.
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The G2 exclusive thing was misquoted and clickbaited yesterday, but it's wrong. MS clarified later that it will be platform Iimited initially - meaning WMR headsets - and additional headsets to follow.

And yes it will still work for Steam-purchased. The G2 thing was mostly mentioned on the initial Xbox blog post because that headset's release would roughly coincide with the VR support patch.
 
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Colonel Sanders said:
Absolutely do cancel it and reorder on Steam. FUCK the MS Store, what a pile of fuck it is.
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What's so bad about it? I've not used it at any great length, but it seems pretty benign, given that it's just there in Windows anyway. I'm way more offended by the Epic launcher, which I can never remember the password for.
 
odditory said:
The G2 exclusive thing was misquoted and clickbaited yesterday, but it's wrong. MS clarified later that it will be platform Iimited initially - meaning WMR headsets - and yes it will still work for WMR if you buy the game on Steam. The G2 thing was mentioned on the initial Xbox blog post because that headset's release would roughly coincide with the VR support patch.
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Good to know. I'll admit, I thought it was odd to have it exclusive to a specific headset instead of a platform.

There is one other potential advantage to MS Store, if this title supports Play Anywhere. I don't know if it does, but IF it does, and IF you want the freedom to play on both a PC and XBox, MS Store is the only way to make that happen. I personally would say that having it on Steam far outweighs having Play Anywhere... but something might disagree.

Side question, as I don't own any of the recent MS releases on Steam... do they tie into MS Store at all (similar to how Ubi games require Uplay)? Or are they entirely managed by Steam?

RazorWind said:
What's so bad about it? I've not used it at any great length, but it seems pretty benign, given that it's just there in Windows anyway. I'm way more offended by the Epic launcher, which I can never remember the password for.
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It really is terrible. I own a few Forza's on MS Store, and they are always super frustrating to deal with. They get installed into strange nonsensical folders... you can pick a drive and that's it, whatever drive you pick will be filled up with several folders you cannot name, or even access. Uninstalling games often doesn't work, and if you swap a drive or something without getting it properly uninstalled first, consider that data permanent on the drive until you do a hard format. The games do not properly keep themselves updated and managing DLC is a total pain. If all that weren't enough, these games will frequently just not launch. I tried out game pass for a few months and I bet somewhere around 25% of the games I tried to play straight up would not launch. I had an issue with both FM7 and FH4 where they would not load at all for like a year. I tried everything under the sun, wasted hours trying to get them working, and eventually gave up. As mysteriously as they stopped, they eventually started working again on their own.

The only reason I'd ever buy a game on MS Store is if that was the only place it was available and I really, really wanted the game. Or else, game pass... I still advocate that from a pure value standpoint, just be prepared for technical issues. If you ever wanted to make the game a perminent part of your library though, go for Steam... even if it costs more.
 
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