Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

murphey said:
Fortunately, I'm not interested in best tech or scenery. I'm not about to drop $750 or more on hardware (already priced it out for someone who plans to get MSFS2020) for something I'll rarely use. I have MSFS X and 2004, and they do all that I need. In fact, haven't even turned on the Windows system in months. I keep it around for MS Access and MSFS and that's about it.
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Cool that you have an older computer that you don't use I guess. The entire point of simulators and advanced graphics is to blur the line between game and reality. The new MSFS 2020 will blow away FSX and FS2004 (both of which I also have). The realism is what gets people excited, especially if they (and the add-on developers) can closely mimic design characteristics of the popular airframes. I can run this new version on my existing 2017-model Dell desktop that isn't especially powerful, and I can run it with most of the visual settings maxed out with just a better graphics card. I don't have any sort of high end gaming rig, but I'll drop $400-500 on a graphics card that allows me to get the most out of the game.
 
I'm just hoping it won't take much to get my radio stack working with 2020. The xplane plug-in is kind of a pain in the ass, will be interesting to see how they handle 3rd party add-ons.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Cool that you have an older computer that you don't use I guess. The entire point of simulators and advanced graphics is to blur the line between game and reality. The new MSFS 2020 will blow away FSX and FS2004 (both of which I also have). The realism is what gets people excited, especially if they (and the add-on developers) can closely mimic design characteristics of the popular airframes. I can run this new version on my existing 2017-model Dell desktop that isn't especially powerful, and I can run it with most of the visual settings maxed out with just a better graphics card. I don't have any sort of high end gaming rig, but I'll drop $400-500 on a graphics card that allows me to get the most out of the game.
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Enjoy! I prefer reality. I get enough CGI and such at work. I avoid everything resembling a computer when not being paid for it.
 
Can anyone suggest the best Cessna type controls for MS2020?
 
5QK said:
Can anyone suggest the best Cessna type controls for MS2020?
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Honestly the Honeycomb Alpha is originally the best out there at a reasonable price point. Good feel, avionics panel, ignition, ptt, electric trim, and and A/P disconnect. They are supposed to be releasing their Bravo throttles soon as well which should cover anything from single engine piston to 4-engine turbine plus reversers. There is always the cheaper Saitek yoke but it's not what most would consider to be good quality.
 
It’s honestly not that difficult to build your own machine but do your research first. I’ve built several but each new build requires a bit of research anyways.

The risk you run in buying an off the shelf box is that the interior is all factory designed to fit into the smallest case possible. Very little upgrade capability. The other option is to buy a gaming computer. The price to do that probably wouldn’t be all that more than a DIY project, which can easily get into the 4 AMU territory. I just looked at graphics cards which are pretty much a central and that’s 1 AMU just by itself for the high end cards.
 
Only 85mb but you need a very fast internet connection. It’s all cloud stored and pulls the maps and details off the servers so if Connection isn’t great, you’re going to have issues.
 
woodchucker said:
It’s honestly not that difficult to build your own machine but do your research first. I’ve built several but each new build requires a bit of research anyways.

The risk you run in buying an off the shelf box is that the interior is all factory designed to fit into the smallest case possible. Very little upgrade capability. The other option is to buy a gaming computer. The price to do that probably wouldn’t be all that more than a DIY project, which can easily get into the 4 AMU territory. I just looked at graphics cards which are pretty much a central and that’s 1 AMU just by itself for the high end cards.
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Yeah....I’m probably at least 4 AMU into my total build if I added it up
 
bluesideup said:
You must not know much about code. What I mentioned is a very small part of what the overall package is. Adding some better scenery would not require much code, converting to 64 would not, they already had a lot of the VFR ground references all they need is to add some more, the Flight dynamics was very close and I fail to see how this Game based co. is capable of developing better flight dynamics.

If you are not familiar with the acft that are being used in training you will likely not know or care about anything else in aviation.

It's half baked, incomplete, and I would suggest to everyone to get the FSX, or any another sim before you buy this.
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Uh oh... someone ****ed in your corn flakes... sorry about that bud. Can we just be clear that you think FSX has a realistic flight model? I am a big fan of FSX... but there was a lot of improvement needed on the flight model to say the least. That is 15 year old tech... I recommend you watch the Asobo development series on Youtube. They address all of your "criticism" and then some. This Sim is made for pilots, as well as the general public. Where are you getting the info about no IFR? That has been shown. Also, the flight model has been demonstrated... it is more realistic than anything I have seen... they have shown spins and demonstrated how they are accurately modelling aerodynamic forces... as to speak to the specs, to get a PC (which I am building) that runs it between recommended and optimal is not going to cost an outrageous sum (in my opinion). This Sim will rely heavily on streaming, which will ease up on CPU usage... of course all of this remains to be seen upon release.

The problem with making a sim that is PURELY for pilots is no one will buy it. We are in a minority here. You have to make a Sim that does everything pilots want, if you select those options. But also an arcadey version for those who don't want study level. That is the key. Even my wife asked me, "Well if you don't know how to fly why would you buy it?" exactly. Anyways, as for you... lighten up my friend, there are enough things in the world to spike your BP... a simulator shouldn't be one of them. I am looking forward to seeing how this thing performs, and cannot wait to get my hands on it. I will let you know how it goes.
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
The stoke is high for the throttles
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I bought a leftover VKB stick... and will buy the Honeycomb throttle... with saitek pedals... kind of a budget combo. I like the stick because the aircraft I am most interested in flying (GA) are all stick. And hopefully third party in the future... warbirds etc will use a stick. That honeycomb yoke though is the way to go if thats what you want.
 
It's pretty legit. I gave up trying to get the Beta installed. Just going to wait till the initial round of patches come out for the release.
 
So I've played it for a bit. It is not nearly as user friendly and intuitive as FSX in my opinion. To be honest it also seems like the flight model isn't as good, even with settings all the way up. The diamond da40 rolls like a pitts and aircraft still won't spin. It is visually stunning however, but I'm still trying to work through the usability and get used to it all.

I'm still reserving judgement before I say it doesn't meet expectations since I'm still not through it all. It hasn't exceeded expectations, but they were also set quite high.
 
I read some reviews on Steam. The installer takes something like 6 hours to download, and if you download it through Steam, that counts as game play time; more than the 2 hours you can try something before you can't return it.
Also, starting the game once it's downloaded is fraught with portent. I'm waiting before I pony up my cash.

I have to say, from the demos I've seen, the eye candy is awesome.
 
I'll be honest, I"m rather disappointed.

First thing out of the gate, it doesn't recognize my CH Pro Pedals. They're only one of the most common pieces of sim gear, but ok. Took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to configure them, it's a one time thing, I can get over this.

Load up an airplane, hey, 172S with a G1000...sweet. Selecting an airport was a little funny, the interface felt coarse and buggy. It wouldn't show anything when I searched for my home airport, it kept suggesting that I go somewhere else. I'm not sure how, but I finally got it selected. Time to fly....and...wait. And wait. And wait. Nice to see some things don't change. Mind you, I'm running on 100Mb/s network and a AMD Ryzen 5 with 64 GB of memory plus a GeForce 2080 card. I'm not exactly bottom of the barrel here. Finally it loads me on the threshold, ready to go.

For some reason, the airplane stuck in place. The brakes were released, the parking brake was off, but the plane just never moved down the runway. The speed tape started climbing, it said I was going 80 kts, but still sitting in the same position. Ok, something is broken there. Maybe a restart.

Out of caution, I restarted and chose the regular 172. All the setting are there and after I released the hand brake (on the runway?), I can see that it started to roll. Performance was choppy, nosewheel steering was extremely sensitive. I got into the air and started climbing. Woo, I'm flying, now, let's go find my house.

Now here's where the air went completely out of me. As I'm climbing out, I realize 1) the ground looks entirely flat and 2) there are no vertical landmarks. The big radio towers aren't there. The little radio towers aren't there. The tall buildings aren't tall. Even the nuclear power plant is completely missing and that's one of the THE major landmarks in the area. There are trees and buildings on the ground as promised, but there just isn't any way to navigate visually. Within 10 miles, I was lost in a city I've grown up in, other than being able to see the 430 moving map. I know what was supposed to be under me, but it was all just a flat sheet. After all the build up on how great the terrain would be, it was rather a let down.

I'm done for the night. I'll try it out again tomorrow, maybe turn the graphics down so I get better performance, try to dampen the flight control sensitivity, and see if I'm missing a setting about making the terrain run better. I still have to work on connecting some more hardware, but that will likely wait for the weekend.

Really hoping this improves.
 
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FWIW I was blown away with the terrain and visuals, just disappointed with the flight model and realism. I echo @bflynn about the controls. While it recognized my joystick it didn't set it up well and fixing the mapping was not at all intuitive and a real PITA.
 
Thanks for the early reports. Might save myself a few grand at least for now and stick with XP. It’s probably going to take a year or so to iron out some of those bugs.
 
BTW, the MS Flight Simulator is downloadable and you can try it out for free. It IS better than xplane, so I'd recommend trying it and seeing what YOU think. I probably just had really high expectation that weren't going to be met.
 
Fair enough. I may try that. I just don’t think my current machine will fair well with the demands of the game making it hard to make a fair assessment.
 
If you're used to XP with a bunch of aftermarket add-ons and plug-ins that got everything just the way you like it, you're going to be disappointed with FS. They released this way too early, the install is a pain in the ass, all of the hardware and aftermarket add-ons don't work yet, and there is some learning curve from changing to new software again. In the end, it will blow away XP, it's going to take some growing pains to get there.
 
Never buy version 1 of anything. :)

Hopefully this thing makes it out of the “let’s use our customers as guinea pigs” stage.
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
If you're used to XP with a bunch of aftermarket add-ons and plug-ins that got everything just the way you like it, you're going to be disappointed with FS. They released this way too early, the install is a pain in the ass, all of the hardware and aftermarket add-ons don't work yet, and there is some learning curve from changing to new software again. In the end, it will blow away XP, it's going to take some growing pains to get there.
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They figure those who buy in early are already sold.

By chance do you use water cooling? I’m considering this for my new build (for the learning experience) .... if so any tips/suggestions?
 
woodchucker said:
They figure those who buy in early are already sold.

By chance do you use water cooling? I’m considering this for my new build (for the learning experience) .... if so any tips/suggestions?
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Unless you’re overclocking like mad, save the headache and get a nice cooler and quiet Noctua fans.

If Ryzen, heck the previous gen before the brand new X stuff, the cooler and fan bundled with them handles 99% of use cases and it’s sad AMD decided to stop bundling them. Not as quiet though.
 
bflynn said:
For some reason, the airplane stuck in place. The brakes were released, the parking brake was off, but the plane just never moved down the runway. The speed tape started climbing, it said I was going 80 kts, but still sitting in the same position. Ok, something is broken there. Maybe a restart.
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I watched a youtube demo video from one of the beta testers that talked about this behavior. Apparently there is a pause mode that freezes the plane in place. While in pause mode, all the controls still work and responds like they should, but the plane will not move. And there is no on screen indication (besides the plane not moving) to tell you that you're in pause mode.
 
Just started playing last night but am wondering if Anyone else is disappointed in the garmin G1000 avionics in the game (or any garmin product for that matter)? What’s with that synthetic vision, it’s an eye sore. There’s also a lack of instrument approaches to be loaded for that matter.

Also curious if anyone else is playing on their MacBook?
 
bflynn said:
Load up an airplane, hey, 172S with a G1000...sweet.
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What gets me is there wasn't a single model with a Garmin GTN system, Avidyne IFD etc, they have been around for a decade now and this new FS2020 doesn't have them
 
midlifeflyer said:
Brian, I don't see that option. Just pay. Can you point me?
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Well darn, I can't find that now.

Either they changed it or I saw recent postings for FSx demo downloads. I'm almost positive I read less than a week ago that there was a FS2020 demo download.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
I watched a youtube demo video from one of the beta testers that talked about this behavior. Apparently there is a pause mode that freezes the plane in place. While in pause mode, all the controls still work and responds like they should, but the plane will not move. And there is no on screen indication (besides the plane not moving) to tell you that you're in pause mode.
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The plane would move in response to controls. For example, kicking the rudder would skew the plane momentarily. Throttling up would zoom in slightly as a visual response and I saw other aircraft taxing nearby.

If I see it again, I'll try pause.
 
I stopped playing the beta when I got a new machine and was just going to wait for the release version before I touch it again. Overall between beta and release it is a much improved version.

My installation took about an hour, that was all just downloading but started right up after that. It recognized my Thrustmaster sticks, throttle, pedals with no issues. I did take time to wipe all the mapping and set the controls up how I wanted. TrackIR worked after I 'updated games' in the TrackIR app.

Overall I'm happy with the game and will play it over P3D or Xplane. For me the scenery goes a long way. It's not a one to one replica of everything but it's solid enough that if you know the area you can get around. As mentioned above I would like to see towers added at some point. As far as flight dynamics go, I don't care what game it is none of them fly like the real thing. I was able to adjust the sensitivity curve enough to make me happy, especially on tail wheel planes.
 
bflynn said:
Well darn, I can't find that now.

Either they changed it or I saw recent postings for FSx demo downloads. I'm almost positive I read less than a week ago that there was a FS2020 demo download.
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Thanks for checking. My computer is marginal. although it runs X-Plane 11 acceptably. But, like X-Plane, I'd like enough of a demo to be sure.
 
@dppintr2 i honestly regret getting the premium version. I got it for the extra aircraft but since the avionics don’t match reality then I’d rather just have the standard set of aircraft and buy specific add ons as they become available.
 
I used to be big into flight sims, always having to upgrade when a new one came out. These days not so much, and I don't see much that interest me in this sim. I have XP11 and DCS with plenty of add-ons for the occasional time I get to sim. I prefer the systems rich type of aircraft sim, which DCS has, and X-Plane with the Zibo Mod 737 provide. From the sounds of things, Microsoft didn't do much with systems in this new sim, at least with default aircraft. I may wait and see how it plays out, maybe the third party developers can do something with it. Depends on the architecture Microsoft built in. It always seemed X-plane was a lot more open for systems integration than the old MS flight sims were.
 
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