It’s the one thing keeping me from fully enjoying MSFS tbh. I’m not expecting miracles but the draw distance on photogrammetry (autogen is better but still not great), the way it loads in with the basically flat grid data & satellite imagery LOD’s are terrible. The only time when it looks good is when it’s within a mile of the aircraft (which isn’t good). Beyond that & it’s almost always just flat land with ugly, blurry satellite imagery. Yes, the sim is gorgeous in many area’s but is let down where it matters.
Below are jus two quick examples i found on YT. One in a photogrammetry area, one in an autogen area. Both on High settings, i have everything on ultra & it’s no different. Far better examples can be found on this forum & in the LOD threads.
When I start a flight that’s simulated at 13:00 but in reallife it’s 23:00 everything is wrong. Temperatures, pressure etc. I can fly only at night cos of work but my flights are not in the night. That’s why i need historical weather
Basically a nice and informative Q&A, but they lost me the moment they used a blunt sentence like “it is not a game, it is a sim” to comment on the question about toggling off icing stuff.
DO they really think their icing is anywhere near realitiy to use such an idiotic statement? Did they actually ever check how their icing looks like? Sorry, but no, with so many bugs still in the game, they should be careful using sentences like that, this is ridiculous. \end of rant.
I think that is a big part of the problem, they don’t seem to comprehend the difference between a game and a serious simulator.
They say “it is not a game, it is a sim” in one breath, and in the next they say “it’s only a sim”.
To me that comes across as “it’s a game”.
Personally I’m not a fan in putting people into boxes, like some do with the “gamers” vs “simmers” categorization. You can call me a gamer or a simmer, because I can be either or both.
Yes, some are more dedicated and experienced than others. For some the sound of a knob turning is really important, for others the appearance of their local airport as it enhances their immersion. Neither is wrong in my opinion, it’s about personal preferences. What matters is that people use MSFS in a way they enjoy.
If you cut off people from some end of the spectrum, MSFS wouldn’t exist. To me the wide range of people using MSFS is a strength, not a weakness. It will ensure all parts of MSFS will be worked on and thus as a whole just get better and better
In the end, what brings us here, is our passion, curiousity and interest to aviation, no matter at what level that is.
I completely agree.
A simulator/game can be what you want it to be, that is the good thing about it.
You don’t need to conform to anyone else’s idea’s of a “sim” or a “game”
My point is that in a sim, things like icing, torque effect, nav data issues, etc should be correct.
That is also good for gamers, but gamers don’t need that.
It was stated in this interview that people want to fly a plane like they drive a car.
Unfortunately from hearing comments like that , I have my doubts that they realize the difference.
I think the reference was to how a developer approaches a given project, not the end user. With that there is a HUGE difference between something that simulates reality and a game which is a sandbox for the devs.
He said they are working on a formula to improve the physical and visual effect of icing on your aircraft.
The ‘sim not game’ comment was an instant reaction on the chat, not part of his icing explanation. Someone reacted to the devs calling MSFS a game, to which Martial responded jokingly ‘it’s a sim not a game’.
Yes I saw that part. I actually grinned when I heard it.
My grin disappeared later with the “fly a plane like a car” statement.
It does make me wonder exactly where they are going.
I think you guys are forgetting one key thing - MSFS 2020 will surely need an upgrade to 2021 at some point this year. I’m sure they are saving up some big changes for that to entice you to buy the upgrade. I can’t see them never charging for an upgrade. I’d be more than happy to pay another $90 each year if they really do more than bug fixes. The icing thing really ■■■■■■ me off because they do not even provide a way to disable it (that works). The fact that simple autopilot stuff, simple PID loop tuning, is STILL disfunctional on every aircraft leads me to believe they are just pushing it into a version/release.
I wouldn’t at all be surprised that this sim follows the P3D model of charging for newer versions.
I would probably buy into that as well.
I never tried disabling icing in developer mode, though I have read that others have.
What that does, I don’t know.
They are using a voting system to prioritize the items their user base wants. With a wide audience encompassing both “gamers” and “simmers” (just to keep it simple for the argument, the former population is most likely larger than the later) the later might never get a chance to having enough votes for what matters for them, and as a consequence the vote system numbers would be indicating that core simulation requests are not that much attractive to their audience (bias indication).
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See for example this: Give small but useful requests a higher prioritization (eg taxi ribbon toggle, logbook pop up, full pause)
If the 3rd party developer relationship is any indication, no, I wouldn’t bet on your assertion of “all parts” of FS2020 will be worked on.
But that’s not how they work, the voting is a part of a larger equation.
Zendesk tickets, feedback from third-party devs, internal roadmaps/visions and all items voted on helps them to prioritize. In terms of the voting they explain it rather well in the latest Q&A session.
Not sure what you refer to about third-party developers and the relationship, but they work closely with a lot of them
I don’t think he ever said that live weather is “pointless”.
The point to him is the lack of historic weather.
A lot of simmers, like the poster, want weather conditions to be what they actually are, or rather, were.
I get that. Most of my flights are done at home in the evening as well.
I would like the sim to be able to do historic too, but it’s not, so I have settled for just a time change, with using current weather. It does throw the flight experience off a bit from what one feels is reality.
And that is one of the reasons simming is so popular. You can make it conform to your own idea of reality.
In his view, without historic weather, it is not “as real as it gets”,
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t bet on ALL parts will be worked on… only SOME parts which I hope will not just be “eye candy” in order to please a “gaming audience” first and foremost, for the only reason this is what “sells” and what makes a “simulator built around a market place” a viable offering in the XBox catalog for a 10 years life span.
Please don’t misinterpret me, I might poorly express myself too: I wish this simulator to be a simulator succeeding to both the simmers, and to the 3rd party developers (see, I’m one of them so of course I’d like this simulator to succeed!). But there is the Twitch PR about 3rd parties, and the reality behind, and this doesn’t equate to “working with a lot of them” as in “a wide variety of them for a wide variety of simmers oriented products”.
PS: I shall add there is no doubt Sebastian is passionate and very involved in the FS2020 development and success. It shows in every Q&A and I like it.
I think they should look into this. They don’t have to hire someone full time. Many pilots do contract work for a fixed daily rate. Consult with some for a week or two. But not just a local CFI. Get someone who is actively flying professionally. One who is use to flying jets, doing approaches to minimums in low weather, high altitude flying, icing, busy ATC arrivals, etc. One that goes to professional sim training every 6 months. These are things a developer can’t get with a basic private pilot’s course and a local CFI.
