1784

I only got to watch the intro of the Dunkirk episode so far but that was excellent; hope it keeps being fun for you guys, and I’ll definitely keep an eye on your channel.

Was going to post the Japan update but beaten to it; looks wonderful.

1785

The interesting thing is that as far as I know there aren’t any photogrammetry cities in Japan in Bing maps (yet). So either they’re about to add them (meaning they will probably be adding other regions), or we’re no longer limited to Bing data (seems unlikely, except for landmarks).

1786

That would be win-win, if they were updating the maps before using them in the sim.

Is Japan a little odd of a choice for their first world update, as I don’t think MS have a huge footprint there? I guess it benefits everyone though as a unique area.

1787

I’m pretty happy about it, as I reckon it would be very picturesque to fly in with proper landmarks. I’ve barely done any flying in Asia yet. And the cities are so sprawling (well, Tokyo anyway) that it’s not really feasible for modders to do it well and comprehensively, unlike some places. I’m already imagining how bonkers it will look at night.

1788

Awesome news about the Japan world update.

@Pedro, they don’t have a big console presence, but currently this isn’t a console game anyway. Also maybe they look at this as something to help them gain ground.

Plus, Europe and the US are fairly heavily covered compared to the rest of the world. Australia also has a fair number of cities (although the choices do seem odd with the largest Aussie cities not on their list— for any Aussie flyers, Orbx is doing a full work up on Syndey).

Asia seems like the obvious choice for a target that has a lot of potential customers. Although I will say their Great Britain photogrammetric cities are really paltry.

1789

I’m pretty sure it’s because it makes sense for Bing Maps, given the population (and tourism) and Flight Sim is benefitting from that imperative.

1790

True, agree on all that. It’s a great shout from a digital tourism view at the very least, though the point about Bing Maps driving it is very interesting.

Southampton and Portsmouth, the Pearls of the South Coast! :P

1791

Just watching that Japan trailer ad and again I am awestruck with this game. It looks flipping amazing. This truly is next-gen as far as that term gets thrown around.

1792

That Japan trailer is really something. And Japan is just a tiny part of the entire planet that’s in this game. It continues to blow my mind.

Btw, they surely would have had to do some of these buildings and landmarks in the trailer by hand. I doubt even photogrammetry could get that kind of detail right.

1793

I could be wrong, but large scale photogrammetry isn’t cheap, and I have to imagine that MS is going to make more money out of it from Maps (either directly, or from licensing the data) than from incremental sales of Flight Sim.

1794

They have also yet to turn on the money machine of paid releases. Right now we’re all swimming in oohs and ahhs but we haven’t seen the price of a plane, helicopter or scenery update once they switch to a pay model.

Also I’m deeply smitten with this game. We’ve all been there, when you play and think about a game enough that you have dreams about it, which I’ve had a few times now. I don’t know what phase that’s called in game addiction but achievement unlocked, I guess.

1795

Well they certainly deserve more than the $0 I’ve given them so far. Well, okay maybe not $0, some tiny portion of my game pass subscription let’s say.

1796

Sunrise over Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria3840×2160 805 KB

1797

I flew a sunrise flight this morning too, eastward from Vancouver, BC to Abbotsford, where I’ve set up my new Stratus OnAir attempt. Going ok so far. It was a beautiful sunrise flight into a storm with light rain, but I didn’t take any screenies :(

Question:

  • What is the exact order I need to turn on my lights/engines for OnAir? I can never seem to get that right, and just bleed reputation because of it.

I can’t play during the work day, so I hired an AI pilot and am driving her out to pick up my player pilot in Abbotsford and bring them both back to Vancouver with my rented Cessna to fly some Level 2 jobs. We’ll see how that goes.

1798

Not sure if in a POH but certainly the in-game checklists usually cover the order and as a complete guess, that may be what OnAir keys on, especially as it is pulling data from simconnect from the game.

But, knowing myself those aren’t complete, it’s easier to find things off on the internet for your answer, or at least to get you close:
http://www.freechecklists.net/simchecklists.asp

1799

My first moments with MSFS (after the massive download) are incredibly disappointing. I have the CH Pro fighterstick, throttle and pedals. It recognizes their existence but has zero control mapping for them. Apparently I need to assign every single axis and button individually. WTF MS?

1800

Several of us had this issue. I did it with one of my older joysticks before finding out that joystick was somewhat trashed and couldn’t hold a true neutral. Squirrel has a video on it. It seems like a pain in the ass, it is, but even with joysticks that HAVE a profile, you end up going back and to re-tune or change button assignments.

Note: be sure and set up axis using the axis assignment, not the axis plus or axis minus additional items. He shows that in the video.

1801

Yeah, just found the throttle axis. Apparently it’s not under “essential” where throttle up and down are but only under “all”. Feels like an engineer designed this UI.

1802

Oooh, yeah good point. He mentions the difference in the list if you select essential or ALL, etc. Where they put some things is strange.

As for buttons, my most used are:
Brake
Gear
Flaps up/down
Parking Brake
External/Internal camera toggle
Autopilot on/off

I still use the keyboard for things like going into drone mode, sim rate up/down, screenshots, etc. I also still use the mouse to click things in aircraft too, so a “recenter view” button is nice to have as well.

1803

Don’t forget trim.