Discussion: February 4th, 2021 Development Update

She actually said it will be in the next few updates.
That sounds a bit more positive, and more like it is as you mentioned, mostly ready.

Ha! Great minds think alike.

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would that change anything though?
I guess that the artists that are updating the world dont have the skills it takes to do programming and bug fixing

The issues persisting from Alpha is one thing (I’ve never seen the prerelease version). These things might be difficult to handle indeed.
But I’m more worried about the issues like the coastline glitch (ugly water triangles) which was introduced by World Update 2 USA. Unless it was done on purpose or as accepted (by Asobo) side effect of some performance optimization, it should be easily (?) reversible assuming they have some release/change management in place. Just by returning to pre World Update 2 coastline generation routine, assuming again that the code is nicely structured, not like a big plate of spaghetti.

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I was hoping to see VR getting a little more love, at least in the roadmap. I think the controller issue should be a primary. I would imagine there is more going on there than we see, but it sure would be nice for VR receive the attention it deserves.

I’m confused I didn’t get any update when I launched the game today?

That’s because today is the Development update (i.e. the info on what’s coming) and not the delivery day for the actual software update. That’s due next week on the 11th feb.

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Ahhh gotcha “update” as in news update. Dang I got all excited for a second.

To be honest, I never really noticed coastline problems- but I haven’t flown in those areas often. My annoyances are with terrain spikes mainly- but there are fixes here and there for those. Back in X-plane, we could make some tweaks to the orthos and improve coastlines pretty nicely. I wonder if similar logic exists in whatever system Asobo has set up for MSFS too?

I think of it this way.

World updates include some detailed airports, but them detailed airports still have the problematic ground AI.

The World updates include vast roadways, but the roads are still greenish.

So the world updates are meh because the bugs outweigh them by a vast majority. The problem is the vast majority of faithful msfs users are mainly photographers and sightseers, or they submit to this past time as being patient until the bugs get fixed. So the bugs regarding aviation remain a low priority.

If there were as loud a voice for autopilots as there was for VR, certainly autopilots would be working fine this very moment. Loud voices are now forbidden, so nothing gets done aviation wise. We’ll see if sim update 3 correctly fixes all autopilots.

Proof of my position is in some of the marketplace items and a few of the aircraft mods available. Small teams getting things done fast. So if there are separate teams for msfs; one doing world updates and other teams fixing the Autopilots (or ATC, Weather, Seasons, whatever), the question has to be asked: why does it take 2 years to fix autopilots? The only possible answer is because autopilots are unnecessary for screenshot taking…it really is the only logical answer. Its not like before the alpha was released they were not working on the autopilots for at least a year before that. Its not like they could not get some hints from the FSX SDK or even the FS5 SDK!

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You’re not getting the point.

The artists / bing maps people working on the world updates, are not the same people as the people who are fixing bugs with AI, flight systems, aerodynamics models etc.
Different jobs requiring completely different skill sets.

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Hi Jayne,

Please change this to “The great T-45C Goshawk” whenever you are able.

Thanks :slight_smile:

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I had the point many decades ago.

But your point sounds like it would suggest that the msfs team who are fixing bugs with AI, flight systems, aerodynamics models etc., have little skill. I would not suggest this. I know they could work just as fast and good as the msfs scenery developers and 3rd parties, but the priority is just not there.

For now screenshots/sightseeing are the priority. Perhaps to entice the xbox platform user base, because its very unlikely xbox users will care about an ILS Cat IIIB or PCL or carb ice, they are waiting for the next shooter or EA title; msfs is meh to them in the grand scheme.

So essentially we are still waiting for a flight sim for flight simmers. YAWN…

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This is very old news. DC Designs (dev of the this F-15 you are referring to) have already sorted it out (and said so in public numerous times):

DC Designs - VERY BIG FRIDAY UPDATE! ( Read the whole… | Facebook

Even the garbage Eurofighter Typhoon (now available in the marketplace) can do supersonic.

Thanks for the heads up.

I do not follow the developer and relied on YouTube/Reddit reviews for that aircraft. If they found a way to have accurate physics beyond Mach 1, all power to them. It seemed to me that supersonic flight is not supported by the physics engine yet.

Do what I do and ignore the mainstream media :stuck_out_tongue:

Three of the very reliable flight simulation sites that you should follow are: FSElite, ThresholdX and AVSim

https://twinfinite.net/ is doing very well as well. At first it might look like a video-gaming site but @Abriael who regularly writes articles there have been writing flight simulation articles too and he fact-checks a lot before publishing something. Great stuff! Highly recommended.

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Yes, AVSim is a must for sure. Have been there like 14 years now at least, likely longer. And also some reputable German sites.

Still not really sure if the physics engine can handle proper supersonic flight or not, but I guess with an entertainment level product it doesn’t matter one way or the other.

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Well, it is a video gaming website haha. But thanks for the kind words. We do try to cover even technical genres with competence :smiley:

The F-15 was a pretty funny case, with lots of mainstream outlets going “oh this is cool!” and giving it a lot of… slightly cringy coverage based on second hand info from youtube. Pretty much like all the interviews that are basically just “oh please Jorg and Seb, tell us more about that amazing tech of yours that lets us visit our house!” or that major PC website that won’t be named that still believes that “activating the autopilot” means giving control to the AI copilot. :joy:

Sorry about the slight rant, just hit a pet peeve right there lol :joy: But again, thanks for the kind words.

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The physics engine, as well as literally almost everything else in MSFS, is subject to constant change, development and improvement, as per what the devs have said numerous times. If it doesn’t support proper supersonic flight right now, it will tomorrow. It’s a matter of when and not if. Like I mentioned above, two MSFS developers have already added supersonic support to their respective aircraft.

In case you missed it, here’s when Asobo CEO Sebastian talks about supersonic flight support to the flight model. I fast-forwarded it. Just click Play:

You are entitled to call it whatever you want, be it entertainment product or serious simulation, but like what the devs and producers said countless of times in the past and present, MSFS 2020 is first and foremost a simulator for simmers, not gamers/entertainers (although it can be used as an entertainment tool, just like I can use Prepar3D - a training tool - to go on twitch, put my plane on autopilot and then dance and entertain my viewers). FSLabs created the supersonic Concorde for FSX and Prepar3D several years ago. For MSFS 2020, it’s a matter of when and not if. The developers have other more important priorities too, with Xbox support being one of them.

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Interesting to see that they also have this strange effect that the line markings on the ground get blurry… Has this problem been addressed before?