I rather disagree with the thrust of some of your remarks regarding XP’s design priorities.
That, though, is not to be critical of XP.
Because all flight simulators, historical and current, are ultimately stymied by the ‘state of the art’
of the hardware and the sophistication of the software in contemporaneous play.
Whatever, I am glad we are able to discuss these things.
So then, onto the more agreeable.
Right up until the release of MSFS 2020, P3d was my sim of choice - and was for many years.
So with some authority I endorse your remarks regarding the benefits of said
platforms DX12 implementation.
I remember that first post DX12 flight very well!
It really felt as if LM had found a way to circumvent that pesky ‘you can’t have something
for nothing’ law of physics by delivering up better graphics AND better performance.
Sadly, I expect that for the average hardcore simmer, revelatory moments, such as these, are
rather thin on the ground - No pun intended!
However, my next revelatory moment came along rather sooner than I was expecting.
Yes, you’ve guessed it: That moment came in the form of MSFS 2020.
And THIS first flight felt not just revelatory, but revelatory with clanking great bells on!!!
A veritable giant leap forward!
My point here is that just as I could never eschew the genius of say a Jacob Zyteckie
in favour of the mediocrity of say an Eric Clapton, for me at least, as far as flight
simulators are concerned, I can never go back.
The retail version of X-Plane purchased at X-Plane.com is not certified for flight training right out of the box, since certification requires a software and hardware combination. However, the software available for about $60 at X-Plane.com is almost identical what is found in the $500,000 full-motion FAA-certified platforms.
But enough talking about X-Plane, even if the topic is “how other flight simulators can…”
And thanks for the interest.
Though you started it! Haha.
I am happy that we can agree with the bulk of our respective posts. Not least because around here agreement can be… a little short in supply.
I am then also happy to come clean, hold my hand up, and freely admit that I lack the hands on time
with XP to come to any meaningful conclusions beyond a few anecdotal remarks.
I hope you are not too disappointed.
I was then - in my clumsy way - just pointing out the obvious really. And that is:
Very high frame rates + very constant frame rates = the best rendering outcome.
But very constant frames at the expense of very high frames [or visa versa] is a compromise.
My point being that XP has had to compromise.
No revelations here then. Haha.
To be fair to XP [note: I did state in my post my wish not to appear critical], all
simulators - and I include MSFS 2020 and P3d here - are inevitably the product of a whole
series of compromises. Compromises can be found at the concept and design stage and
beyond and through to the moment of coding.
For what it’s worth, when ‘tweaking’ for best case graphical fluidity in MSFS, I too chose to
go for Constance of frames. And, of course, I did this by locking my framerate down.
I agree this game is just amazing. Each time I fire it up I’m so impressed. I totally agree - thanks Asobo,MS,Black Shark and Azure
I am also a big user of X-Plane 11 and use both MSFS & XP11 regularly. The answer to your query is an easy one - its not all about the graphics.
Does that mean I dont notice that XP11 feels 50 years old? Of course I feel that. It does look so dated after I do a flight in it right after MSFS. But…it does not bother me once I’m flying because I enjoy the excellent planes so much and (dare I say it!) the graphics have a kind of charm to them.
As far as I’m concerned on my system MSFS and XP11 compliment each other well and I enjoy them both a lot.
XP11 will never catch MSFS when it comes to graphics. They just cant, they dont have the resources and also if I’m not mistaken Austin is not a fan of ortho. Im very interested to see what direction XP12 takes. They can fix many things, like getting rid of the awful carboard trees that are in XP11 etc.
But now its time for some Grand Caravan flights in MSFS and then a 737-800 mission in XP11 Zibo…and maybe a a Sukhoi SU25 flight in DCS. Virtual flying is fun!
Speaking of FPS, graphics and the 737 I wonder how this all is going to come together in MSFS when the PMDG 737 comes around, I’m quite intrigued to see how the PMDG 737 will handle when it comes to performance in MSFS. It will be so awesome if I can get great graphics, maxed out settings and use a complex addon while getting acceptable FPS.
I suspect all the 3rd party planes got a lot of breathing room now that the FPS is higher for everyone. I’m sure PMDG already optimized the 737 a bit heading into SU5, but the 737 of course will benefit from the overall increase in FPS for the overwhelming majority of MSFS players.
There is a reason why that XP vid has only 120k views, while the MSFS trailer has over 3M.
MSFS has broad appeal, and Asobo’s engagement with the community has been top notch since the first trailer.
BTW… you won’t find any other flight sim that has had so much developer investment (both payware and freeware) in just a year…than MSFS.
You also won’t find the Asobo team looking to argue with folk in the comments section of a “low” viewed video…like Austin does in the one you posted. Thanks for giving us more insight into XP…the best sim of the “past.”
Seriously though, when I first got my 1070ti a few years ago I fired up XP11 and was shocked by the awful performance. Glad that those days are behind us now
But some people think MSFS is more realistic than X-Plane. The graphics are way more realistic, it’s not even close. X-Plane graphics look like they are from a decade ago.
The geography and landscape for MSFS is way more realistic than X-Plane because MSFS uses satellite & photogrammetry for the entire world, and the houses and buildings in satellite data have been converted to 3D houses and buildings by Blackshark AI. Auto-generated stuff from X-Plane just contributes more to the “fakeness” of X-Plane.
The main advantage of X-Plane is that it has more planes to select from, especially higher fidelity airliners. But this takes time and in time, MSFS will have a wide variety of planes, including high fidelity airliners as well.
XP is of course competing with MSFS, it’s the same market.. XP just I think will accommodate to only a small subset of simmers. What else could they offer than improved graphics to try and woe a broarder audience, or even stop the inevitable bleeding of players over to MSFS? This is not to say that people cannot use more than one sim, some do, but that again is not a huge part of the market.
Every update some people say the same, and that is simply not true, on the contrary, they increased base 200 LOD distance, so now this setting offers more draw distance than 200 did during SU5.
I no longer need to use LOD400 in the user.cfg file.
