On the eve of FS2024 here’s a brilliant history of the sim by Max Lenormand - great job and well worth a watch!
I watched this video yesterday. Fascinating!
2 Likes
Thank you for this, very well done look back at the history and current state of flight simulation. Highly recommended, you won’t regret the time you spend watching this presentation!
1 Like
Well made video and it was nostalgic seeing shots from the previous iterations. If Microsoft’s media department made something like this, it would be a huge marketing hit I think. And I wish somebody could spend a little more time on the technical evolution of the series.
A couple big technical flaws though. The video claims that you couldn’t fly and land at places around the world until the 2020 version. Past versions definitely had a model of the whole Earth with worldwide airports and procedurally generated terrain. I think FS5 was when we had the jump to worldwide scenery if I’m not mistaken. 2020 of course took it to a whole new level with streaming world wide imagery.
Thank you for this. I flew every Microsoft version from the first. Lamented it’s disappearance until the 2020 version re-appeared. Brought back some great memories and may remind some of the new simmers how far we have come.
3 Likes
saw it yesterday, then I went straight to Chicago Meigs, remembering good old days;
3 Likes
An interesting history of MSFS leading up to 2024
3 Likes
Hmmgh lol as much as I applaud the dude for the effort… some of the technical explanations on the computation side leave a bit to be desired… although now I have a hankering to see if I can whip up a simple sim on my own time, gonna have to refresh my knowledge of CGL
Hey that’s my video!
Thank you for sharing it here, and for the kind words!
Blockquote
The video claims that you couldn’t fly and land at places around the world until the 2020 version
I realise I should have worded this better. The point was mostly that the worlds before were quite empty, and not every single airport in the world was modelled, and most of the world available wasn’t modelled based on that much local data, from the research I did.
But I hear you, I should have worded that better
1 Like
That’s also a fair criticism
The goal of this video was to make some of the topics accessible to people who may not have heard as much about Flight Sim before. So I did decide to make some simplifications for the sake of trying to reach a broader audience.
My dad and my partner watched this video and really liked it, well because they’re family sure, but also because they could follow along. That’s what I was trying to go for as much as I could 
That being said, I’m sure there are better analogies out there to explain this, and welcome finding better ways to explain the engineering & tech in simple words
1 Like
You forgot MS Flight completely. 
It’s still in my pc and working!
-eelis-
The explanation on procedural generation was wrong as well. It’s not defining some reusable models and then having a list of locations to place them. The procedural part is to get rid of the list, so that a formula (or procedure) generates the locations on the fly as they are needed. The key is that it’s a deterministic generation so a location’s looks don’t change each time you view it. It can be as simple as a seeded pseudo-random number generator. The point is there no list and thus hardly any storage is required.
You could also procedurally generate the models, eg. trees, so that the forest isn’t full of clones, but that takes a lot more processing and RAM so it’s not common yet.
I take the point that the difference probably isn’t important to the intended viewership though, and that’s fair enough.
https://youtu.be/JIQxJWoKcPs?si=v2bpVi0WI2KlWPUW
Lots of background info on the Flight Simulator series, and a declaration of love for flight simming. Highly recommended!
Really excellent history of FS! Thanks for posting this!
Been along for the ride since the Apple II version and still have the floppy.
1 Like
Hey - it’s a brilliant video thank you so much for all the hard work and effort that went into it. There will always be some who focus on the 1% and not the big picture but don’t let that worry you / for the reasons and audience you made it for it’s a great piece of work. I was really touched by your closing comments too / that you weren’t around to experience what it was like seeing these sims for the first time. Sadly I was! I remember in 1982 - I was 12 on the Sinclair Spectrum computer in
the UK loading it from audio - PSION Flight Sim
(https://youtu.be/d7KQ0HGm6H4?si=JKwosTzv3OzIup_w)
I was so excited and while the limitations were obvious it was still flight sim in my bedroom and I loved it. Context is everything and it was so exciting to use. I stopped simming in 2007 and trained as a real pilot in my 30s - I went back to flight sim in 2021 on XBox and have enjoyed being wowed all over again. Although it’s not like real flying (it’s great in a different way) what is becoming clear is just how good it’s become and on the day FS2024 releases I’m excited all over again. It’s a fantastic hobby and a great community - thanks for your brilliant contribution!
1 Like
Should we all just keep repeatedly posting the same video over and over?? 
1 Like
Didn’t mention FS98 which is the one I started on. Yeah it’s come a long way.
1 Like
A lot of people here losing their mind over the last 24hrs, need to sit back. Make a nice cup of tea and realise where this all began and what Microsoft flight simulator is all about!
1 Like
Great job on the video. There will always be some that complain, but not willing to take the time to do what you have done.
From somebody that had MS from the start and flown the 2 line runways and seen New York with a few line drawings of buildings, I can appreciate how far MS has come. 2024 launch was not great but access is better everyday and bugs will be addressed (for the most part). It will become the new standard for flight simulation.
Thanks for the memories. Perhaps this is a reminder to those that are complaining how far we have come. 2024 takes us one step further into the future of flight sims.
Thanks for the memories.