Microsoft Flight Sim 2020

[Sky_Wolf]

Anyone here aware of whether the Microsoft developers are planning to enable two-person flights in the same aircraft (e.g. one person in VR as pilot, the other in VR as passenger/co-pilot)?

[unlikely_spider]

31 minutes ago, Sky_Wolf said:

Anyone here aware of whether the Microsoft developers are planning to enable two-person flights in the same aircraft (e.g. one person in VR as pilot, the other in VR as passenger/co-pilot)?

Not sure I've seen that on either the dev roadmap or on the top wishlist, though their developer roadmap does not show too far into the future.

If it's something you want, maybe start a thread on their forums with a voting option - I think they look at those to list on the wish list that they publish each update.

[Guest deleted@210880]

I've lost hope for CloD and interest in ( and hope for BoX) so when I can finish red dead and make some space I'll check out FS2020 ( after checking min specs again).

 

Cessna + Alaskan scenery and weather will hopefully be worth it; living the dream...

Edited January 1, 2021 by deleted@210880

[DD_Arthur]

 

[dburne]

Ahh just had a nice leisurely night time VFR flight in my Cessna 172 across part of my state.

Night lights are gorgeous, and it was so relaxing.  Still have to get started with an airliner, but just having some fun with some GA flying right now.

[Lusekofte]

14 hours ago, dburne said:

Ahh just had a nice leisurely night time VFR flight in my Cessna 172 across part of my state.

Night lights are gorgeous, and it was so relaxing.  Still have to get started with an airliner, but just having some fun with some GA flying right now.

Cannot see a reason for the obsession about a airliner. 

It is clearly this sim achilles heal. You loose the visuals the game has to offer, and gain frustration about systems not working. I fly GA only and will do so until they come up with a vintage bug free air-transporter/airliner/bomber

Edited January 3, 2021 by 216th_LuseKofte

[Bremspropeller]

4 minutes ago, 216th_LuseKofte said:

I fly GA only and will do so until they come up with a vintage bug free air-transporter/airliner/bomber

 

Trouble is that "GA" is mostly a G1000-wannabe cockpit and offers little system-depth on the individual airplane. That's similar to all the other stock aircraft in all the other civil flightsims.

So being honest - there's only the stunning visuals.

[ZachariasX]

1 minute ago, Bremspropeller said:

Trouble is that "GA" is mostly a G1000-wannabe cockpit and offers little system-depth on the individual airplane.

Further trouble is that most G1000 are not complete, they are still missing the buttons on panels. You can also crash the sim by "going too Nintendo" during your flight.

 

As I do my world trip in the Baron, I got to know that one fairly well by now and you can have it fly your airplane all the way from lift-off righ before touchdown. It's really not flying anymore, but you get to enjoy the scenery.

 

But what is really bad, is that so far in some aircraft (haven't tried all in that regards but it is certainly so in the Baron), that mixture and cowl flaps are non-functional beyond being able to move the lever. Mixture can be set either cut-off (all the way back) or "on" which gives the same constant fuel flow on any lever position other than full back. This means you'll never overheat or shock freeze, and the most economy in cruise you get is full power (max throrttle, max rpm). This is seriously daft as the aircraft does not pose any challenge at all. It is only the weather that matters. But what a weather... right?

 

As for flying per se in the sim, I consider the old analog gauges to toggle in frequencies and flying after the needles as the only way to fly. If unsure one can refer to a worn 1:20'000 printed map. If decidedly lost, one can hold the aircrat steady while trying to gauge VOR's or NDB's that you are quiet certain to be somehow nearby. Some airports have ILS, one can use them. That is one way of keeping yourself busy when nothing should be happening during your flight.

[Lusekofte]

27 minutes ago, Bremspropeller said:

 

Trouble is that "GA" is mostly a G1000-wannabe cockpit and offers little system-depth on the individual airplane. That's similar to all the other stock aircraft in all the other civil flightsims.

So being honest - there's only the stunning visuals.

For me, not wanting the glass pits , you still got some flying to do. I look at this as a base one still can hope being the foundation for all civil sim fans.  I given up on XP 11 it simply is too much of a simulator and give nothing for a random summer like me. I want to fly choppers in a relatively realistic environment. This do DCS cover to a degree. I have no hope FS 2020 will provide choppers of same quality in near future

8 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

As I do my world trip in the Baron,

I will continue my round trip using my six Saitek FIP's and Google map gps on a second screen. I like to do that, because you can evaluate the accuracy in cities and terrain in known areas. Like all other simulators/ games I never really have hopes of perfection, just something to find entertaining. And useful

Edited January 3, 2021 by 216th_LuseKofte

[Bremspropeller]

Are split throttles working now in FS?

[Lusekofte]

1 minute ago, Bremspropeller said:

Are split throttles working now in FS?

One throttle for each engine?  It has worked on my setup at all times I have some oddities in that Dahrers throttle / pitch set

[ZachariasX]

Speaking off my world trip, I have made some more progress.

 

From Calgary Intl. (CYYC) to Whitehorse Intl (CYXY). The G1000 is getting handy there. Canada is in that region is not that exciting (not mentioning the weather) but a good testing ground to go Nintendo on the G1000 to get you places as well as do the ILS approach.

 

 

Nothbound. What is truly amazing about FS20's world is the gradual depiction of snow depending on the weather! It is not *booff* all white, especially along scenery borders or time zone borders. Snow i where the bad weather is/was.

 

 

Stewart Aerodrome (CZST) just on my starboard wingtip. Really nicely put.. and a challenge in lesser weather.

 

The weather up north was surprisingly passable, so I made another trip, from Whitehorse to Cold Bay (PACD) in the Aleutian Islands.

 

Spoiler

 

Cold Bay is a real airport with everything you'd want.

 

 

When departing, weather detoriated a bit, but as long as you can see the sun somehow, it is not bad.

 

 

Anchorage. You gotta love the snow textures.

 

 

The Aleutian Islands, part of the ring of fire. A truly impressive chain of volcanoes. I couldn't stop looking at how well this deserted region is rendered in this sim.

 

 

As the weather was spectacularly good, I opted for another practise round of hands-off ILS apprach on Cold Bay. It might come handy at some point.

 

From Cold Bay on, things were getting problematic.

 

 

What qualifies for a Hurricane in some places is "weather" up here. Windy told me up to 80+ knots wind in that swirl. I cannot make it to Russia, it would be barely theoretically possible, but I should make it to Attu Island. problem is that this island is now more or less deserted and PAAT Cosco Cove has no beacons etc. Oh well.

 

On the way there, I had the most diverse weather of all flights I ever did in a sim, to put it mildly.

 

 

All well on departure.

 

 

Some sneaking below clouds...

 

 

Then it opened up, exposing one volcano after the other. It's rather clear where on the FP posted above I am venturing now. Now, that line on the horizon is not silver line at all. It urned into a white wall that was not possible to overfly and I had snow, zero visibility all the way to sea level and a freezing AC. The wind indicator of the garmin showed me between 60 and 80 knots crosswinds. I had to approach Attu from the north, over a 500 m mountain ridge that is just about the height of the approach. The Garmin being my camera to the world, it was hard to keep the airport on the screen as 60 knot crosswinds made me yaw so much that it woudn't be in the line of sight anymore.

 

 

I managed to put her down without the sim blackscreening on me, but I certainly wouldn't have done that for real. The winds were too strong to make the aircraft even taxi straight, even with the use of brakes. That was intense.

 

I needed to get out of there. Next stop, Yelizovo (UHPP), Kamchatka.

 

Spoiler

 

What a fantastic swirl I had gotten myself into. "Weather" in these places. After a not gud takeoff, I opted to at least displace myself in the area where I at least could expect tailwinds.

 

 

In the end, there was some light.

 

 

The Kamchatka is also one fine array of volcanoes. By now, I really have seen the north.

 

Next stop was New Chitose Airport (RJCC) in Hokkaidō, Japan.

 

Spoiler

 

What a contrast that gave.

 

 

leaving Kamchatka, down the Kuril Islands...

 

 

...where the bland ice world first turned green, then all tidy over Japan.

 

Now looking forward to go and do a little Japan tour.

[Guest deleted@210880]

Aw bugger. On checking the specs again my processor is a shade under the minimum. Been dreaming of a new processor and motherboard for a while, I guess this will be a decent incentive to start saving for them ( if whatever this year brings will permit it).

 

[DBFlyguy]

Always dig these new promo videos from Microsoft/Asobo

[SAS_Storebror]

19 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

so far in some aircraft (haven't tried all in that regards but it is certainly so in the Baron), that mixture and cowl flaps are non-functional beyond being able to move the lever. Mixture can be set either cut-off (all the way back) or "on" which gives the same constant fuel flow on any lever position other than full back. This means you'll never overheat or shock freeze, and the most economy in cruise you get is full power (max throrttle, max rpm).

I did a 6 3/4 hours flight Hamburg-Exeter with the C172 six weeks ago and mixture and prop pitch worked a treat in order to fly as economic as possible.

Which actually was a vital requirement as the trusty C172 would not have made it that long without leaning properly.

 

Mike

Edited January 4, 2021 by SAS_Storebror

[Lusekofte]

2 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

did a 6 3/4 hours flight Hamburg-

WOW my legs hardly exceed 1 hour

[ZachariasX]

5 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

I did a 6 3/4 hours flight Hamburg-Exeter with the C172 six weeks ago and mixture and prop pitch worked a treat in order to fly as economic as possible.

Which actually was a vital requirement as the trusty C172 would not have made it that long without leaning properly.

I don't doubt that. The Cessnas also have a Garmin featuring all buttons ans almost all functions. Some aircraft were completed more before release (the Cessna is THE default aircraft, it by all means must be made properly upon release) others, well, less. The JMB VL-3 had a Garmin with almost no buttons on release. It was a joke. While you could toggle some functions by key bindings, they wouldn't even show on the display.

 

Also using the Flightplan Nav list with the "fly to" function is often semi useful, it really doesn't compute fuel consumption in a meaningful way. On longer legs it would all too often say "not enogh fuel to fly there". You really don't need that function unless you needed to skip on a very long flight.

 

I tried everything to get mileage from the Baron and I flew in every condition this sim can offer, but engine temps won't change either, regardless of the lever settings.

 

It is really a mixed bag on how far the individual plane modules have progressed. But if you want a relatively completed plane, then the Cessnas 152/172 or the Robins are your pick, maybe the Zlins but I don't use them in a way that would require any other instrument beyond altimeter and speedometer.

 

ASOBO has A LOT of work left on that sim.

[AndyJWest]

New South Wales. The resemblance to the Rhondda Valley is remarkable. ?

 

 

 

[DD_Arthur]

Still just buzzing around locally.  I keep having these “oh yeah” moments where this sim reproduces views I’ve seen from the right hand seat of friends light aircraft. 

This is a short hop around Bath from what used to be RAF Colerne.  The MB wotsisname has had a couple of recent updates to its slightly wonky original flight model and is now an absolute delight to fly in my opinion. Interestingly, it’s coming to DCS shortly too?

[kestrel79]

My wife got me the super deluxe version for Christmas! I guess I was a good boy this year

 

So far I've just been bumming around in GA planes around Wisconsin...a state that has always looked so flat and boring in every other sim...until now. Wow. It's crazy how good even remote areas look in this sim! It's so fun to be able to fly around my home state and actually pick stuff out now.

[dburne]

13 hours ago, kestrel79 said:

My wife got me the super deluxe version for Christmas! I guess I was a good boy this year

 

So far I've just been bumming around in GA planes around Wisconsin...a state that has always looked so flat and boring in every other sim...until now. Wow. It's crazy how good even remote areas look in this sim! It's so fun to be able to fly around my home state and actually pick stuff out now.

 

Yeah I have been doing that a lot over the last three days myself.

Lot of fun.

[Feathered_IV]

Still a bit obsessed with the old DH types as I work my way up far-North Queensland.  I noticed the news reports said there was some strong weather warnings up that way, but I decided to have a go using live weather.  

 

 

I was on instruments for the first thirty minutes as I tried to see if I could get the Rapide up above the weather.  Instead I emerged into the most magical environment I have ever experienced in 25 years of flight simming.  I was able explore this amazing system of caves and galleries until the daylight began to fade.  I didn't want to come down.

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Feathered_IV

[AndyJWest]

5 minutes ago, Feathered_IV said:

 ..far-North Queensland... 

 

Yeah, that's the stuff I avoided by cutting across the outback straight from Darwin to Sydney. It's been much like that all week, apparently. Though I still ran into trouble on the last leg, and found Sydney in IFR conditions, forcing me to divert 40 nm or so up the coast to land at Warnervale Airport (YWVA). Today I flew back down to Sydney to take a quick look before heading back up the coast, trying to figure out whether I was better off above the cloud, or below it - the answer turned out to be neither, really, as the cloud got progressively thinker and higher, and when I finally found a hole to get down under, I was forced down to 1000 ft at the end, and even then visibility was marginal. I landed at Port Macquarie (YPMQ). 

 

Carefully staged Sydney screenshot avoiding showing the entirely-wrong Harbour Bridge. 

 

My next world trip leg will take me out to  Lord Howe Island, 318 nm, followed by a 483 nm leg to Norfolk Island, and then 453 nm on to New Zealand. I'm going to have to be careful, as the latter two legs are well into land-there-or-in-the-ocean range for the XCub. I'll check the weather before I start, and again before I get to the point of no return. 

 

The guys responsible for the XCub performance mod I'm using have now produced two versions with tundra tyres - one has a cargo pod as well. And there's a floatplane version on the way too. ?

 

 

 

[ZachariasX]

8 hours ago, Feathered_IV said:

Instead I emerged into the most magical environment I have ever experienced in 25 years of flight simming. 

So much this. Doing all those "questionable weather flights", this is always what stikes me most in this sim. Finally, for the first time in flight simulation, the clouds are not a mere obstruction, they are a landscape.

 

The only thing still outwardly wrong is the limitation of visibility inside a cloud. When entering a cloud, then you usually can see the wing maybe for the distance of an arms length, but in the sim you always see the whole aircraft. If you can see father then that it is more a kind of fog than a cloud.

[dburne]

I have spent quite a bit of time flying this sim since I got it, and I have to say even in VR it is simply drop dead gorgeous.

Beautiful landscape, clouds, shadows, terrain.  Asobo has done a great job with this and sounds like much more is planned.

[AndyJWest]

Continuing my XCub world tour. A leg of 483 nautical miles across the Pacific.

 

I'd arrived at Lord Howe Island a couple of days ago, flying the 318 nm leg east from Australia. My intention was to fly on to Norfolk Island yesterday, but the 'live' weather looked questionable, and I ran the risk of finding it covered in cloud. Definitely not good when there is no possible diversion. Land there or swim.

 

Checking today, the weather looked much better, so off I went. Lord Howe Island is a volcanic remnant, with just enough room for a 2,900 ft runway.

Out over the Pacific, well over 200 miles from anywhere. 

 

Landing at Norfolk Island. A fair bit bigger and flatter than Lord Howe Island, with two runways, one 6,700 ft long. A former penal colony, later used to rehouse Pitcarn Islanders, who probably felt right at home. I probably lowered my flaps earlier than I needed too, as my straight-in approach took rather a long time. Slowing down to 50 kt in a 20 kt headwind has that effect. Fortunately the wind was straight down the runway.

My next leg will take me southeast to New Zealand. 453 nm to the nearest airport, but at least I'll have alternatives if I get there and find that one clouded over. I'll check the weather carefully first, all the same.

[Bremspropeller]

13 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

but at least I'll have alternatives if I get there and find that one clouded over

 

Come on, it's right in that place's name!

 

Norfolk and Lord Howe are nice places. Been to both in Xplane with a 727.

Lord Howe is a challenge in the old iron...

[AndyJWest]

Ah yes, Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. Which makes a lot more sense than naming it after one of the flattest parts of Europe. Though I have a suspicion that most of the European place names in this part of the world are either down to the over-use of irony, or to the effects of being at sea for far too long. The same sort of effects that result in sailors mistaking manatees for mermaids. ?

 

 

[Hoots]

I've always liked the Australian literal way of naming things, "Man this is a great and sandy desert, I shall call it the great sandy desert".

[Bremspropeller]

36 minutes ago, Hoots said:

sandy desert

 

Sounds like a stage-name for cheap adult-entertainment, though.

 

56 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

The same sort of effects that result in sailors mistaking manatees for mermaids.

 

Must have been those dutch vapeboats ?

Edited January 11, 2021 by Bremspropeller

[AndyJWest]

44 minutes ago, Hoots said:

I've always liked the Australian literal way of naming things, "Man this is a great and sandy desert, I shall call it the great sandy desert".

 

What shall we call the empty space out back, Bruce? 

 

Of course there's the alternative Australian way of naming things: "I claim this entirely uninhabited bit of land in the name of Her Britannic Majesty. We shall name it Warrnambool." "That's a funny name, where did you get that from?" "Um, err, don't ask awkward questions..."

[dburne]

I will tell ya one thing regarding VR that Asobo did with MSFS2020 that I really like. Well two things actually.

 

1: A completely separate graphics setting menu for PC versus VR. Each has their own. Newcomers to the sim at first might miss it because it defaults to the 2d graphics setting screen. Click the right arrow to move to the VR graphics setting screen. ( yeah it fooled me too).

2: An assignable command to toggle between 2d and VR whilst in the game. No having to exit and restart the game when going from one to the other. Can be done while in game. I like to do my flight planning all in 2d, then when ready to click on fly toggle to VR.

 

It would be so nice if more games that have additional VR support provided at least #2 as well.

Edited January 12, 2021 by dburne

[AndyJWest]

NZ arrival. Plenty of holes in the long white cloud, making things simple. 

 

I'll have to do a bit of Googling before I go any further - I'm sure there are volcanoes to check out somewhere around here. Then I'll be heading down at least as far as Aoraki / Mount Cook, to get a look at the glaciers too.

[CanadaOne]

4 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

NZ arrival. Plenty of holes in the long white cloud, making things simple. 

 

I'll have to do a bit of Googling before I go any further - I'm sure there are volcanoes to check out somewhere around here. Then I'll be heading down at least as far as Aoraki / Mount Cook, to get a look at the glaciers too.

 

Are you doing all this in real time?

 

You listening to music or lectures or anything along the way?

[dburne]

I would take screen shots of some of my flights but with me doing them in VR they would not look so great.

I have seen some gorgeous scenery and cloud formations.

 

The eye candy force, strong with this one it is.

Edited January 12, 2021 by dburne

[AndyJWest]

@ CanadaOne: 

 

I've been using 4x simulation speed over the ocean, and for a few less-interesting bits over land (e.g. over the Saudi Arabian empty quarter), but otherwise normal sim speed. I've also time-shifted quite a bit, for convenience, thought the latest leg worked out nicely without shifting: late-evening here, plus 12 hours for a trip with the sun almost overhead. If I was doing this for real, I'd invest in a wide-brimmed hat.

 

As for keeping myself occupied during the boring bits, I do a fair bit of web browsing - checking out forums etc. Over land, there's often something that catches my eye, worth a bit of Googling just to figure out what it is. And since the XCub has an autopilot, I can safely wander off and do mundane things like loading the washing machine, as long as I don't take too long over it.

[Lusekofte]

I definitely need to fly this sim. Haven't touch it in a month. 

[Hoots]

7 hours ago, dburne said:

I will tell ya one thing regarding VR that Asobo did with MSFS2020 that I really like. Well two things actually.

 

1: A completely separate graphics setting menu for PC versus VR. Each has their own. Newcomers to the sim at first might miss it because it defaults to the 2d graphics setting screen. Click the right arrow to move to the VR graphics setting screen. ( yeah it fooled me too).

2: An assignable command to toggle between 2d and VR whilst in the game. No having to exit and restart the game when going from one to the other. Can be done while in game. I like to do my flight planning all in 2d, then when ready to click on fly toggle to VR.

 

It would be so nice if more games that have additional VR support provided at least #2 as well.

Yes definitely this, it’s such a neat method, really well done. For dcs I have 2 .bat files to load the different settings but for il2 I never fly other than VR so no issue. 

[ZachariasX]

Did some more flying in Japan. Down from Hokkaido via Sendai and Tokio to Kobe. Weather was really nice. I was mainly enoing the view while working the Garmin. It is really awful that there is no way to open a sort of a map that details the airports along with their respective info like runways and frequencies. As the do not always match he real frequencies, skyvector is not always a help.

 

Arriving over Honshu from Hokkaido.

 

 

I absolutely love how the ice is added. Maybe this year, they will add seasons to the sim world. This together with the way snow and ice is added will be just awesome.

 

 

Approaching Ishinomaki, I leave the snow behind. The ugly weather is to the west over the ountain range. I figure I stay clear of that, given the choice.

 

 

ILS approach on Sendai Airport.

 

From there, I take off again to Kobe, Takamatsu Airport (RJOT).

 

 

Ah Tokio. One of the most iconic parliament buildings, bottom right. I know its distinct silouette ever since I am a kid.

 

Spoiler

 

But there's more to see, and there is no visit to Japan without visiting this one:

 

 

And then to Kobe. The world update is absolutely spectacular.

 

Onward to Beijing via the Koreas.

[dburne]

I need to start broadening my horizons and fly overseas some. So far have mainly flown in the SE US.

Had to get back to my DCS Hornet last couple of days to finish my controller setups, and now time for some IL-2 PWCG action to finish my controller setups for it.

Edited January 16, 2021 by dburne