Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) - We're really sorry about Microsoft Flight

Pretty modest development update:

Main thing of interest is the VR preview, though Asia-based pilots may be interested to see landmark packs launched for HK and Singapore.

I decided to do some passenger hauling with the new rig today so I rented @Ginger_Yellow 's Diamond DA-62 for a jaunt from Frankfurt, Germany (EDDF) over to Quartier La Horie an airbase in Saint-Jean-Kourtzerode, France. It was an easy trip, a full flight of folks returning from a holiday break, and again, a few folks leaving there going back to Frankfurt for their holiday.

I tried to get my timing a bit better to catch the sunset but failed a bit. Instead, my flight out of Frankfort was at dusk.

And most of the flight went well:

But as dusk changed to night, I had a difficult time locating and landing at the airbase. There was … some bumpage of the plane … and I was just thankful everyone was okay, regardless of some puke in the back by the youngest guy.

I strangely misplaced my screenshot of it. Or perhaps I just didn’t want to Ginger to see the dents. Fortunately I know a guy who knows a guy who gave Philippe, the local fixer, a call. He did fine work overnight. You can barely tell anything happened, Ginger.

I booked the flight back the following afternoon, giving us a chance to see the sights:



And a clean run into the airport back in Frankfurt:

… wait, what’s that jumbo jet doing … tower? Tower?

One landing and a clean pair of pants and we leave for the pubs. Cheers!

I just noticed all of my Steam screenshots look white and washed out compared to the in-game view. I wonder what’s causing that?

EDIT: Nevermind, I found out the sad reason why. Apparently Steam isn’t capable of taking HDR enabled 4K screenshots. :( That really sucks, I mean MSFS 2020 Screenshot Generator should come with a warning.

I just hit the Print Screen button on my keyboard and then paste directly into a forum post…

Ah, I see that HDR isn’t possible because it’s not stored in the screen buffer.

Test, test …

The built-in Windows Game Bar screen capture seems to do a good job. (Windows+Alt+PrtScn)

Three days and counting, lads…

oh my. It’s gon’ be gud! (well it better be, but likely low framerate hell).

And I’m getting my G2 delivered too! yay! no more screendoor. I will have to run the thing at half or even quarter res on account of my GPU, a 1070, being most likely incapable of pushing sufficient pixels sufficiently fast to let the G2 do it’s thing in all it’s glory.

FWIW I tried running X-Plane with a 1070Ti on an original Oculus and while it worked okay in the countryside, it chunked very badly in cities. I upgraded to a 2080 and it still wasn’t very smooth in cities, even at medium settings.

Microsoft has a much more modern engine than X-Plane, so it might go better.

I’m thinking MSFS VR’s going to be a bloodletting for anyone without god emperor rigs.

Nb. I do not have a god emperor rig. I fully expect my VR experience to be… suboptimal.

My rig is partly potato, partly quite OK (I5-9600K) and it does fine running DCS at 45 frames, so I have some hope for MSFS. I reckon if I can get the G2 to do ok with about as many pixels as the rift asks, I should be ok for now, and due for a huge upgrade when the 3080 gets here.

Let’s see if their VR API is up to snuff.

There have been a few versions of Meigs field uploaded, but this one is better than any of the ones that ever shipped with Flight Sim… Those of you who have been playing since the C64 days will appreciate the chance to relive this approach!

Because I needed it on my new PC, I had to hunt down the latest Liveries Mega Pack. For those looking or needing, it’s now on Discord:

http://liveriesmegapack.com/LiveriesMegaPack.zip

Once you link in on Discord, you add notifications for it, then you can grab it. I like browsing the individual ones here:

But let’s be honest. One big pack provides 90% of what I need for aircraft alternative coloring. Until I learn how to make these myself one day, this is good enough.

That being said, here is a copy of the latest Mega Pack:

Some extreme detail above Colorado …

And a nice quiet landing in Safford, AZ:

Excellent, thanks for this. I grabbed the TBM and Savage Cub liveries early, and haven’t bothered with it since they added (?) the Discord requirement. Hoping to spend some time in the C152 so this is nice.

No worries. Trying to save you guys the time of connecting via Discord, getting approval and grabbing it there.

Love that Colorado shot’s lush valley. I’m guessing that used to be a river? I don’t see any water flowing through that valley now though.

@Skipper Thanks for the liveries! Still on my list to sit down and really play this game. Too much to do.

There’s definitely a river bed there, hard to tell if any water’s flowing from this height.

I thought the same thing but I truly don’t know exactly where it is. It was a good contrast between those mountains and the valley though. I’ve taken to doing longer flights again and you get some really cool scenes that just pop up out of nowhere.

Like, why is the Arizona State University campus literally beside a small mountain?

Why does the Pittsburgh airport terminal look so strange?

Why are the rolling hills of West Virginia so gorgeous in the morning?