Direction of the Sim

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I know whenever a title like this comes on any game forums, immediately people think “Oh oh”.

In this case, its the opposite.

We all love this sim for what it can do. And yes, we had some hard times right after SU5. And things got better. Then came the 40th Anniversary, and that just blew people away. The partnership with developers to bring quality planes to the sim was just amazing. The interaction with the community, the bringing of new experiences to the sim with helicoptors and gliders, it was amazing. And I admit, I thought “Ok, 40th Anniversary is over, we are going back to normal”.

But then we got all the work from Working Title with AAU1. The work on the three aircraft, the work on the avionics suites, that was just incredible. And this was being made base to the sim now. That blew me away.

But then I saw the latest Developer Q&A, and going over the next WU, we see that this time there has been extra love put into the update. More airports, more experiences, more POI. Attention has been made to the cities being released. That was amazing.

And it was great to see that Local Legends and Famous Flyers, more attention is being put into making them more than just a base sim quality plane. The progression had been there from the very first ones, but I was happy to see this trend expanding.

Then we got AN-225. I will be honest. I expected an aircraft that big and complex, we would get a simplistic shell where the exterior was all modelled well, and it would fly, but again, I was expecting something more simplistic. Instead, we found out IniBuilds was hired to do it. And this great bird was given the dignity and respect that she deserves. I’m frankly kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I had tears in my eye. It wasn’t me jumping up and down going “oooooh”. I was genuinely touched that one of the best developers was hired to honor this aircraft. I was saddened like everyone else when this plane was destroyed. Even if it was a shell, I would have paid my money for the shell to restore her. But instead, I find out she was given a soul in the sim. And I am impressed beyond words that that was done.

We also heard about the Marketplace. That has been an area where there have been issues. And this time, I felt like instead of getting marketing talk, we were getting heartfelt feedback, and for the first time, I have faith that this too will improve.

So to Jorg, Asobo, all the MSFS development partners, Microsoft, I wanted to share my thanks for the direction we have been going, and express my appreciation for what has been done. I have always loved this sim. But lately, I have just been impressed beyond imagination. MS, Asobo, Jorg, and the partners always hear the complaints when things go wrong. And when something goes right, the community does express that to the particular entity. But I just wanted to express my thanks to the entire team, and that includes the business partners too.

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Jorg’s passion for MFS is very evident. The worst thing that could happen to MFS would be for Jorg to leave the program. He keeps pushing the boundaries of what is possible in a flight simulator, and we all benefit from that.

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For us VR users, since day one, the game has been going in the wrong direction. Check all the VR topics.

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Thanks for the kind words, @tgbushman. :slight_smile:

I’ve said this many times before, but as a real-world pilot, avgeek, and long-time flight simmer, I’m so incredibly proud to work on the Microsoft Flight Simulator team. Every day I see the passion and enthusiasm my colleagues have for aviation, whether it’s a desire to make MSFS the best and most realistic home flight simulator or to digitally preserve vintage aircraft that most people will never have a chance to see IRL.

The team is really thrilled by the positive reception from the community to AAU1 and the announcements in yesterday’s Developer Livestream. If you look at the most recent Dev Roadmap, you’ll see that there are many more exciting things still to come for MSFS in 2023, including two more AAUs and several more surprises. We’re obviously not ready to reveal those details yet, but I can confirm there are more great things coming throughout this year. :slight_smile:

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Thanks,
MSFS Team

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Just have to pop in to say that I love these dev streams. That being said, I really hope there will be more than just one sim update this year. On my end there are a few annoyances that I hope will get fixed soon.

  • Turboprops are still broken (including issues with simulating prop drag according to devs)
  • Helicopters while the initial implementation is a really good start they still need improvements
  • Piston engines also need multiple improvements
  • ATC needs significant improvements (correct phraseology, general improvements and getting rid of the auto-tuning of squawk codes and frequencies. At least make it an option)
  • Ground physics needs to be improved
  • Realistic water physics needs to be implemented (it’s a shame with so many great sea planes that we have such horrible water physics)
  • Other issues: I’m also having issues with my honeycomb bravo not currently being supported, especially the trim wheel. We also need a way to assign beta and reverse to the power axis like you can in X-plane along with some other features like easier management of profiles etc. Many of us have multiple hardware controls, which currently require third party solutions to make them work properly without dual keybindings etc.
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Last year, they came out and stated at the beginning of the year, there were going to be 6 sim updates. We all know that didn’t happen. SU10 took 5 months in beta to finally release. I am sure there will be multiple sim updates this year despite only 1 being on the roadmap, its just they don’t want to commit to how many because beta periods for each sim update can vary relative to what is in the sim update.

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Amazing to hear to the 225 being recreated! But how will sounds (mainly engine sounds) be produced for an aircraft that has been destroyed? I imagine given the 6 motors it would (should) have a rather unique sound?

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In the Q&A session, they said sounds were taken from videos of the real AN-225 before it was destroyed.

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Great I’ve not seen the video is there a link? Bet theres quite a bit of analogue goodness to look forward to :grinning:

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most recent official developer stream

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Think we’re going to need lots of camera views :joy:

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Love this post. Very well said. There’s no other gaming experience like it. To add to everything you said, the excitement that comes once per week (every single week!) in looking forward to Thursday’s Marketplace update. Like during any given week you have the chance of finding out the entire game might change with the addition of something you’ve been looking forward to.

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Well put!
I agree 100% with the OP‘s comments and praise.

MSFS is a dream come true, in my case after 35 years of flight siming. I fly exclusively in VR (over 400h logged by now) and for me, VR in particular is what makes the sim so incredible…

Big Thank You to the teams at Asobo and Microsoft!

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Well spoken, totally agree!

Two and a half years after the release, you would think they scale down things, but no, instead they keep going and adding some more! It’s not like they take some cheap, unknown devs to help out either, they are paying well-respected companies such as Gaya, Orbx, IniBuilds etc to provide content. Like with the PG initiative, to get help from Gaya to clean things up is just amazing. I so much look forward to what is to come and that’s one of the things I really love about the journey with MSFS, the future is bright :slight_smile:

Sometimes we take things for granted, while there is for sure areas where there is room for improvement, the passion towards MSFS from everyone involved on the dev side is awesome to see.

So thank you and keep up the good work!

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Great wording, and I cannot agree more! It is really amazing that the development does not stop, but that the platform keeps evolving. Of course with ups and downs, but in the end the sim is truly living up to it’s potential. Something to inspire many many (new and old) aviators. Thank you very much!

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Yes, a good positive thread here by the OP and I am pleased to say that I echo many of his sentiments.

I have been with the sim since launch and been through its many ups and many downs (and been very critical at times too!) but thankfully, in my opinion, now Asobo seem to be on the right track, listening to customers and producing at the same time an amazing sim.

Of course, it’s not yet perfect and there are still issues and quite a long way to go. But what a journey and what a lot there is still to look forward to.

And what sim or game now or ever gave us this many updates for free? I can’t think of any to be honest.

Another thing too. I know that some people have complained of bad perfornance but on my 2017 base PC system I am getting over 40 fps on the ground and over 50 fps in the air with the PMDG 737 with no lags or stutter. This with 3 monitors at 1440p, FTSL, Pilot2Atc, Lorby AAA, Realistic Pro, Rex Accuseason, Simshaker and some stuff in the Community Folder. Quite amazing really.

For me no other civ flight sim comes close and for me it is way ahead of the competition.

Great job Asobo but please don’t mess this up with the next WU or SU. Take your time before releasing final versions. I don’t want to start whinging again :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yeah, you weren’t the only one. Listening to the 225 pilot speak was very moving. and reading your post makes me realize that that dev stream was better than I gave it credit for.

I’m amazed at how much they do for free and the concept of them going back to redo such things as the bridges in all the PG areas – thats amazing. and their goal was stated as ‘the whole world’ – thats a big goal. They are doing great things even if they dont ever seem (or very rarely seem) to care about my personal issues that I have with the sim (atmospheric optics). one day they’ll get to it.

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I have no facts to back this up but I feel as if Joerg was hugely instrumental in not only getting MS to invest in a partership with Asobo to create MSFS 2020 but to also get MS to commit to a lengthy post-release development cycle instead of the usual post-release drought that inevitably leads to cancellation again.

I don’t think it can be overstated how important this is for the simmer community and how much we should count ourselves lucky that Joerg decided to find a way to make this all happen from the business perspective.

Just look at Forza Horizon, another MS franchise, that is just becoming a hollow shell of it former self with developers who can’t be bothered (or quit), total focus on Gamepass “player engagement” through mindless chores, locking content behind grinding, peddling cheaply made “accessories”, cringy live streams that avoid any form of actual Q&A or acknowledgment to criticism etc. etc. That’s how bad things could become if there isn’t a Joerg to steer the ship correctly.

My casual, relaxed VR VFR flights every evening have by now become a treasured part of my life. Instead of trying to switch my overactive mind off with some brainless TV, I am now relaxing a few thousand feet in the air, discovering new places on our planet at a rate that would not be possible IRL even if money was no object.

Thank you, Joerg, Asobo, MS and all of your partners for creating this very healthy antidepressant.
Now please tell me how I can use my HSA to pay for the hardware and peripherals with pre-tax dollars!

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Same here, the love and passion these guys have for the aviation community warms my heart.
I hope they can solve the issues with the marketplace so addons can be released fast and their updates even faster. I really want to buy in the marketplace to support the game, but until now it has been difficult to justify the purchase given the slow updates flow.

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Same, purchasing on the Marketplace is best because it funds the sim, but it’s such a terrible place for well-known reasons currently :expressionless: As I’m typing this I’m loading the Carenado Seneca update, and, guess what, I got the infinitely looping download bug again (starts the download again on finish).
They could make so much more money if not for that bad Marketplace, they could have cornered the entire market easily.

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