Xbox Beta

is anyone else excited about the news from that last Q&A when Jorg mentioned that “maybe next month” there could be beta news?

i bought a Series X just for this sim. i cant wait

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Given the sim is intended for the Xbox as the main platform. There’s good reason to be excited.

Yes for sure. But I think for the best immersion you need to play on PC.

Don’t know where you got that from as it’s just not true. If anything sims on console usually have less of the available content available to pc users and I would imagine less add-ons will be available especially 3rd party stuff.

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Or if you read Jorgs interviews and listen to the q&a you will see he said they will not dumb it down for Xbox and that beta is possible next month.

The core content will likely be exactly the same but until 2 years ago I was a console gamer into my 30’s and usually there is less content brought to the console versions. I was just replying to the misinformation.

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Gotcha sorry. I am just excited. All I can do is watch streamers at this point

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I fully agree with DORRAGER here, I am also a ex console but I’ve always owned a gaming rig, consoles are great for shooters etc, but simulation titles not so,

A good comparison is dovetails train simulator, difference between console and pc is rather big,
And with flight sims more main stream, I can’t see many 3rd party pushing stuff that much,

Even more so as a lot at the moment don’t have much interest in using the new sdk, and as they can’t copy paste like they do for p3d a lot more work goes into it

It will still be a good experience don’t get me wrong, but I think for full potential it lies with pc

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:nauseated_face:

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The vanilla MSFS experience will be 100% identical to the PC version - provided you currently play on PC using an XBOX controller and only install add-ons purchased in the marketplace. Otherwise, that’s where it ends. The expansion possibilities will be very limited.

Want to add some scenery or liveries from flightsim.to or another site? Not happening. There won’t be a community folder to add stuff to.

Another major difference is no existing peripherals will work with XBOX. The ever popular Logitech flight panels, displays, etc? Nope. A new XBOX compatible of the Honeycomb Alpha will be coming out, as well as their HOTAS setup. But otherwise, you’ll be limited to an XBOX controller.

Want to use the XBOX as the centre of a home cockpit instead of using a PC? You’d better curb your expectations of what a home cockpit is then. You can’t use more than 1 screen on XBOX. And none of the advanced 3rd party stuff like Real Sim Gear and such will work. That also means no home-grown, DIY solutions for external controllers, switches, knobs, panels, etc like people have been doing for decades now will be possible. For the majority of users, this likely won’t be an issue, but it’s something to be aware of nonetheless, and a major difference between the 2 versions.

Also, no linking up of external software like LNM, Navigraph, etc which require bridge applications such as SimLink, FSUIPC, etc in order to operate.

It’s not so much of a “dumbing down” than it is severe limitations of the platform. Anyone who believe that “not dumbing down” means the 2 platforms will be identical are in for a nasty surprise.

Now that said, I’m sure the sim will run fine on XBOX, and to anyone who’s looking to fly from their couch vs PC will get what they’re looking for. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. But the overall experience won’t be the same.

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A lot lot of incorrect information in this post. Particularly, peripherals and add-on content.

I think anyone wanting to speak with any authority on this needs to temper their opinions, until we know and see more. There’s going to be an awful lot of upset people when it’s the same experience, regardless of whether you are on PC or Xbox. Indeed, ‘No pilot left behind’ is one of their work quotes.

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What is the wrong information? Please provide more detailed information.

peripherals and addons are some things that have been addressed in the referenced Jorg interview. They are working to get the free addons to marketplace from third party’s. just today VR was shown coming to the new xbox series, not in the same sentence with MSFS but coming to XBOX nonetheless. obviously there are other hopes for peripherals, but so far these are the things that have been mentioned.

What’s incorrect? Let’s break it down.

Unless a peripheral has the security chip and explicit support by Microsoft for XBOX in the form of drivers, it simply doesn’t work with XBOX Series X. At all. That’s why no existing flight peripherals (Logitech or Thrustmaster) or 3rd party hardware (Logitech panels / controls, Real Sim Gear Panels, etc) can be used with XBOX. Even existing Honeycomb products. This isn’t speculation or opinion. It’s documented fact.

Because of this, Honeycomb is releasing a new version of the Alpha which is both PC and XBox compatible. It will also have the security chip and a 2 port USB hub so that you can connect existing Bravo throttle and the upcoming Charlie pedals to XBOX. And they’ve announced their XBOX compatible HOTAS (Tango Foxtrot Flight Stick and Throttle) that will be coming later this year as well.

Although I’ll concede that there’s 1 extra product Honeycomb are releasing that I was unaware of - an XBOX compatible USB hub with the security chip that will allow you to use existing Honeycomb products with XBOX without having to get the new Alpha. That gets a thumbs up from me. Although they’re very much leveraging their partnership with Microsoft to ensure they have exclusive control over flight peripherals for XBOX. Maybe they’ll let Thrustmaster get in on that action as well with their Airbus stick since they’re also a Microsoft partner in MSFS. But there’s been no word on that.

This is all verifiable information. There’s nothing incorrect about it. If you have access to actual information to refute this, then I’m all ears.

You still can’t do multiple displays on XBOX. Nothing wrong with what I posted.

You can’t download 3rd party apps from web sites. Yes, they’re planning on adding a freeware section to the marketplace for scenery and liveries. They’ve been talking about that for months. Potentially planes as well, although that hasn’t been confirmed. Not sure about other types of mods as they haven’t said anything about that either.

And I’m completely onboard with that. I’d love nothing better to have all my add-ons and updates managed in 1 place. But I can guarantee you that not every 3rd party dev is going to be onboard with the required approval process to get into the marketplace and long wait times to get their stuff published. Hell, there are many well established 3rd party devs that don’t even want anything to do with the marketplace for those reasons. That means a ton of content won’t be available on XBOX but will be on PC.

Again, no incorrect information here.

And as for most home cockpit stuff - be it 3rd party hardware or DIY solutions - they all rely on custom drivers or 3rd party apps like FSUIPC, Mobiflight or other to connect to the sim. Those need to be running on the machine where the sim is installed. Again, that’s not going to be possible on the closed XBOX ecosystem. Again, nothing incorrect.

Which leads us to external applications like Navigraph, Air Manager, and others that rely on their own plugins that need to be installed on the host machine to work. You can’t do that on XBOX.

None of this is based on personal opinion. It’s all verifiable information with a little bit of google work. I’m not a #pcmasterrace guy. I think the XBOX Series X/S is brilliant. And I think bringing MSFS to it will be a milestone - the first “real” flight sim on any console. But expectations need to be kept in check.

Like I said, the vanilla MSFS experience will be the same on both platforms meeting their “No pilot left behind” mantra. But by sheer virtue of the restrictive nature of the XBOX (or any console) platform, you won’t be able to get all the extra functionality. Some, yes, but not all.

Like I said, if you have concrete, verifiable information to the contrary, I have no issues with being proven wrong and learning something.

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I believe the “no pilot left behind” was meaning to make it usable and accessible for those that don’t know much about flying to the expert user as well as disabled people.

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Correct. That’s exactly what it means. It has nothing to do with the expandability of the sim via 3rd party products.

i appreciate all the research, but back to the opening thought- i am excited for what is coming

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Microsoft owns GitHub. They bought it for $7.5bn in 2018: https://news.microsoft.com/announcement/microsoft-acquires-github/

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2018/10/26/microsoft-completes-github-acquisition/

Any info on how you will control cockpit knobs and switches on an Xbox?

You can use a mouse and keyboard like you do on the computer. Also there are peripherals coming so you should be able to map things when they come out.