Ask Dovetail Games about DTG Flight School & Flight Simulator

[HiFlyer 9,363]

My question is regarding antialiasing. To date, all derivatives of FSX (Except Flight) have had inadequate in-game controls for this function, which has made the use things like Nvidia inspector and whatever other options are available a highly variable art form

 

Will Flight School and DTFS provide better options in this regard, taking advantage of newer antialiasing technologies within the game itself rather than fiddling with various video card control panels and etc?

[ErichB 3,647]

Given that the new sim is making use of 'Physical Based Rendering', 'atmospheric light scattering' and 'HDR' can we assume that - visually - the sim will be very similar to the look and feel of the new DCS?

[DTG Martin 213]

Firstly thanks for your continued contact with the community Martin; it's something I cynically thought would be a short-lived thing but you're still here 15 pages later!

 

I have two basic questions;

 

1) Not actively working on VR support is a bit disappointing and I can't help feeling you're missing a trick if attracting newcomers is part of your plan. There are going to be a lot of headset owners looking for software to try out with their new toys and an entry level flight-sim like Flight School should tempt a lot of them. Can you confirm that VR support is on your roadmap?

 

2) Apologies if this has been covered before but will the AI also be a port of the FSX model of AI or are you looking at something different? Will it be easily interfaced with by 3rd party (pay or free like WOAI)?

 

VR is certainly of interest to us and we have been looking at it for a while. At the moment no one knows how big or small the impact of VR will be. There are lots of different systems being released soon and until the dust has settled it is hard to know who will come out on top. A few years ago everyone was raving about motion controls, just like they are with VR now. That crazy lasted a few years and died a sudden death. Maybe VR will do likewise or maybe it is here to stay No one knows for sure just yet. Until we are sure what is happening and the industry has settled down we will not be actively developing VR related titles. 

 

AI in DTG Flight School will function like it does in FSX: SE. We are reviewing the AI system for DTG Flight Simulator. 

 

- Martin 

Hi Martin, thank you very much for answering our questions!

I am really looking forward to the new flight sim!

 

As you already mentioned some new effects on the new flight sim, such as such as dynamic range rendering (HDR), atmospheric light scattering and physically based rendering (PBR), I would like to get some more information about the improvements on the "visuals" (if possible at this point) :smile:

 

Especially the visualisation of the atmosphere could be improved compared to FSX in my opinon. Will there be some kind of particle system wich makes it possible to have very high view diestances/clear air at high altitudes and lower view distances in lower altitudes?

In my optinion engines like DCS or Outerra a pretty close to real life in doing that- can we expect something similar in the new sim?

 

Hi Tim, 

 

We are not in position at the moment to talk about the graphics engine in DTG Flight Simulation beyond we are have already announced. We will be covering the changes to graphics as we get close to the titles launch later in the year. 

 

That said, we should have some more news about scenery graphics coming in the next day or two. 

 

- Martin 

[DTG Martin 213]

Hi Martin and everyone else in here

 

It's been a million years since I wrote anything on this forum, but since I've picked up my old flightsim habits and given the excitement of having a bunch of new flightsims to look forward to, I'll chip in with some questions.

 

It's been amazing to see what has been done with FSX and allit;s current incarnations already. However, in some regards, it's really showing it's age. Even P3D V3 seems kindof dull and dated compared to what other sims (such as X-plane 10 and War Thunder) bring to the table these days.

 

So I'm kindof wondering what FS and DFS are going to do to entice new players/simmers to give the new sims a try. I think in this day and age, you really have to bring your A-game to still make an impression.

 

Having said that, the new screenshots kindof leave me both optimistic and a bit worried as well. I know, it;s all still a work in progress, and things are bound to change, but here are some of the points that are occupying my mind:

 

-The screenshots look way too blue. It's almost like they were made under water. Maybe they were all made during what's supposed to be early morning, but I don't know.. it looks weird. Maybe you can explain what's going on here?

 

-I've seen you emphasize a living, breathing world. I really hope that that's what things are going to be like. It'd be great if we could have changing weather (not just global weather) where we could see some patches of light and shadows moving along the hills, for example. And as long as we're dreaming, wouldn't it be great if those hills had 3d grass and waving wheat fields on them, blowing in the wind.. or 3d trees that move in the wind as well? I mean that's not pie in the sky these days, though I realize that it'd be difficult for the FSX engine to accomplish such a feat. Then again, in P3D V3 they now allow for speedtrees to be planted, but sadly they can't replace the generic static billboard trees yet. But here's hoping that at some time in the future DFS will look like my dream. Any chance that this may happen?

 

I'm really looking forward to what you are going to reveal about the new scenery technology. I really hope you're getting rid of those old silly oversized houses that occupy cities in FSX and P3D, and replace them with something that looks a bit more like reality.

 

Anyway, with all that said, I'm just really happy that flightsimming is getting a new lease of life, so I can continue with my favorite pasttime on my computer. Thanks for all you're doing

 

Welcome back to the forums! 

 

I've spoken at great length about where our inspiration for both DTG Flight School and Flight Simulator came from. To recap quickly;

 

We have spent the last two years listening to existing and would-be simmers alike. We have been intent on discovering what keeps you all simming, and what stops those who would like to get into flight simulation from doing so. We have learned that flight simulation appeals to an incredible amount of people, but a lot of them find it too hard to get started with. It is our aim to reclaim and attract those would-be simmers, but in order to do so, we need to present flight simulation in a way that doesn't initially overwhelm them. 

 

DTG Flight School is focused on breaking down the idea that flight simulation is too hard to get into. Although DTG Flight Simulator is a much broader title, the same focus is at the forefront of our development process. Steve Hood, our Creative Director for both projects, spoke about this in a recent podcast. To paraphrase what he said - we are not expecting people to put down Call Of Duty and suddenly start playing DTG Flight Simulator, that is not the audience we are focusing on. Instead, we believe that there are a wealth of players out there who have either always wanted to try flight simming or have given up on it because they found it too difficult. We want to reclaim those simmers and introduce the hobby that we all love to a new generation of players.

 

To this end we are focused on streamlining the experience and presenting it in a fashion that doesn't overwhelm, while still maintaining the depth and features that simmers love. It is this focus that we believe will entice simmers to give the two titles a go. That and they are a lot of fun!

 

As you said, the screenshots released so far come from a work in progress version of DTG Flight School. They represent what the sim looked like at the time they were taken, rather than what the finished title will be like. We will have some more screenshots this week which will represent how things are progressing. 

 

Like you, we believe in letting our imaginations run wild and dreaming big. There are always challenges to making your dreams come true but we are fully committed to try our best to do that just that for many years to come. Are all the features we would like to see in DTG Flight Simulator going to be there day one? No, of course not. But with the help of the simmers old and new we believe over time we will be able to bring out the full potential of DTG Flight Simulator. 

 

- Martin 

Ah, yes.....that new scenery technology. Any chance of some details? It was going to be revealed the week before last, and then last week, and........still no sign?

 

All will become clear tomorrow Christopher. 

 

- Martin 

[Christopher Low 5,375]

 

And the Spanish?

 

Spanish is one of the most used languages in the world, after Chinese is the most spoken language, with over 500 million Spanish speakers.

Despite this, not you going to include this language in DTG Flight School and Flight Simulator? It would be quite disappointing.

 

It probably has more to do with how many more flight simmers speak English/German/French than Spanish.

[DTG Martin 213]

 

You said earlier: "We put out content on Facebook in English, French and German. The three languages that DTG Flight School will support." 

 

And the Spanish?

 

Spanish is one of the most used languages in the world, after Chinese is the most spoken language, with over 500 million Spanish speakers.

Despite this, not you going to include this language in DTG Flight School and Flight Simulator? It would be quite disappointing.

 

A greeting.

 

 

DTG Flight school is available in English for both text and audio. It also supports German and French text with audio subtitles. There are currently no plans to expand the range of languages supported at this time. 

 

We are looking to support a wider range of languages in DTG Flight Simulator. At the moment I can not confirm what these will be. 

 

- Martin 

Given that the new sim is making use of 'Physical Based Rendering', 'atmospheric light scattering' and 'HDR' can we assume that - visually - the sim will be very similar to the look and feel of the new DCS?

 

We are not looking to make comparisons between DTG Flight Simulator or any other title. Instead, we are focused on building the best looking sim we can. 

 

- Martin 

[DTG Martin 213]

I have another question. Will the issue with the poles (and the equator) be sorted out. FSX was the first version to allow the Earth to be a sphere but the terrain was still part of the flat earth tile system. This also includes landclasses. This means that a field in the United States, Europe and Japan displays almost like a square but in the poles and the Equator, they appear a bit stretched. Clouds are also affected by this issue as well. Not only that, but due to how the LOD system works in the poles, FSX would think that you're further from the landclass tiles in front of you than you actually were, meaning that the textures load later than anywhere else.

 

This is not something we are actively working on at this time. 

 

- Martin 

[payt 2]

Welcome back to the forums! 

 

I've spoken at great length about where our inspiration for both DTG Flight School and Flight Simulator came from. To recap quickly;

 

We have spent the last two years listening to existing and would-be simmers alike. We have been intent on discovering what keeps you all simming, and what stops those who would like to get into flight simulation from doing so. We have learned that flight simulation appeals to an incredible amount of people, but a lot of them find it too hard to get started with. It is our aim to reclaim and attract those would-be simmers, but in order to do so, we need to present flight simulation in a way that doesn't initially overwhelm them. 

 

DTG Flight School is focused on breaking down the idea that flight simulation is too hard to get into. Although DTG Flight Simulator is a much broader title, the same focus is at the forefront of our development process. Steve Hood, our Creative Director for both projects, spoke about this in a recent podcast. To paraphrase what he said - we are not expecting people to put down Call Of Duty and suddenly start playing DTG Flight Simulator, that is not the audience we are focusing on. Instead, we believe that there are a wealth of players out there who have either always wanted to try flight simming or have given up on it because they found it too difficult. We want to reclaim those simmers and introduce the hobby that we all love to a new generation of players.

 

To this end we are focused on streamlining the experience and presenting it in a fashion that doesn't overwhelm, while still maintaining the depth and features that simmers love. It is this focus that we believe will entice simmers to give the two titles a go. That and they are a lot of fun!

 

As you said, the screenshots released so far come from a work in progress version of DTG Flight School. They represent what the sim looked like at the time they were taken, rather than what the finished title will be like. We will have some more screenshots this week which will represent how things are progressing. 

 

Like you, we believe in letting our imaginations run wild and dreaming big. There are always challenges to making your dreams come true but we are fully committed to try our best to do that just that for many years to come. Are all the features we would like to see in DTG Flight Simulator going to be there day one? No, of course not. But with the help of the simmers old and new we believe over time we will be able to bring out the full potential of DTG Flight Simulator. 

 

- Martin 

 

All will become clear tomorrow Christopher. 

 

- Martin 

 

Ok Thanks for the reply Martin. I will be waiting with bated breath to find out what news tomorrow will bring regarding the scenery.

 

I really hope a new generation of players will jump on flightschool. It'll be an interesting experiment to see how many peeps actually start taking the virtual flying lessons, compared to the amount of people who just want to hop in a plane and take it for a spin themselves. I think my mindset usually fits more in the latter catagory, but it'll be fun to finally learn how to fly a plane by the numbers and by the book, especially if the process is presented in a fun and encouraging way. Maybe it'd help if the instructor was a hot chick

 

Which takes me to my next question: How far and how deep will Flightschool take us along in the process of learning to fly? I mean it's quite a comprehensive subject. The basics are pretty easy, and I'm sure that most people can physically 'fly' (as in take off, cruise and land) a plane in 1 or 2 days if they're complete novices. But then comes the real challenge: navigating a plane, abiding to all the air laws, communication, situation awareness, handling different weather conditions etc. How far will Flightschool dive into these matters?

[Gidlet 0]

During the Reddit Q&A of yesterday, Steve Hood stated, "DTG Flight Simulator will not support FSUIPC. Instead, we will be looking to supply our own range of multiplayer options..."

 

What, exactly, does that mean? I didn't even know FSUIPC had anything to do with multiplayer, per se. As I'm familiar with it, FSUIPC is a hardware/software interface tool. Is it DTG's intent, then, to provide a similar tool at the time of the software's launch. Or, perhaps a better question is, what sort of toolkit/SDK will be available at launch?

[DTG Martin 213]

How exciting.

 

I think these forum threads have become so long now that people are starting to ask repeat questions (including myself) with no new information forthcoming beyond the generic answers which are permitted.  So tomorrow's update would be good.  Looking forward to it.

 

Due to circumstances beyond our control we have had to push it back a little bit. There is some exciting news coming though, hang in there. 

 

- Martin 

[dtrjones 356]

Hi Martin,

 

Thank you again for your continued support and feedback to these forums. I've seen a few posts on different sites and I have to say Steve and yourself work tirelessly to answer our questions to the best you can at this stage in the development process and it's wonderful to have this level of engagement with DTG.

 

My question is related to a topic which I'm pretty sure has been discussed before but I can't remember where. This topic is 'Persistence' which I think could become a huge asset for DTG and it's something A. DTG can incorporate and add value to the Flight Simulator (or Flight School) simulators and B. As far as I can tell, no one really has got a handle on the use persistence in any field of simulation as far as I can tell.

 

So before I ask me question I just wanted to give you my impression of what I think persistence in DTG Flight Simulator is. Apologies if I have stolen Steve or your ideas but I want to be as complete as I can. Fundamentally persistence as you know is a persistent state which where information is saved when you last used the simulator so a pilot can continue from where they left off the next day which brings the immersion into play but also gameplay elements like maintenance of aircraft, exploration etc.

 

Flight Simulator ideas in the Persistence World

1. Persistent world which is online, always the correct time, weather etc. depending on where you are in the world.

2. Location always where your last landed which have controls so you can't just spawn at a random airport unless say you've been there or go to that airport first. Maybe going to the larger airports can unlock other locations or planes to use.

3. Avatar focused so you have to perform visual pre-flight checks on foot. Avatar's also introduce a social element with the simulation world, I.e. airport lounge for a chat.

4. Planes age overtime which could include visual ageing which would require a flight check to put right, but also to address system failures.

5. Planes need to be acquired, so you need to have travelled to an airport with a plane before you can fly that plane.

...Lots more, not mentioned missions, AI, user generated content - this could really be just the beginning especially when we're talking about an online world...

 

I see persistence as a game mode, but not by any means the only way for Flight Simulator to function - however it has the ability to add real authenticity as well and additional gameplay features. When going to FSX and selecting real world weather and the correct time and day - I see this as the building block for a much bigger world which I think would be exciting to exploit and definitely give DTG FS an advantage over it's peers. 

 

So finally my question. What plans to DTG have for persistence for DTG Flight School and Flight Simulator if any, thanks.

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[DTG Martin 213]

Flightsim community 101 Martin; never, EVER give a specific delivery day.

 

I know right. Stupid me. 

 

However, I have everything set and ready to go. Today is the day!

 

- Martin 

[DTG Martin 213]

 

 

There may be some truth in the statement people are less able to learn today; although i think it's more likely they simply want a tutorial to take them through the basics, something like the quick missions in DCS that take you gently through the systems.

 

What is true is that way people learn has changed over the years. Back in the 80's and early 90's we were mainly an analog society. Computers and digital storage were about but it was extremely limited. 500mb hard drives anyone? People expected to be thrown in the deep end. There was no room for tutorials on the disks! Sims came with 500+ page manuals and if you wanted to know more you best bet was ordering a specialist book or a trip to your local library. 

 

The world has changed a lot since then. The way that people learn, interact with media and reference material has been revolutionised by technology and the World Wide Web. There is a whole generation out there who grew up with the Internet and digital culture. The landscape has changed massively. If we want to appeal to these people and introduce them to the hobby we all love then we need to move with the times. We need to refresh our views of what flight simming is and present it in an appealing away.

 

That is what we are trying to do. It is not about providing less options or features. It is about how those options and features are presented. Think back to the best teacher you ever had. Chances are one of the things which made them so great was that they presented information in a way that appealed to you and you could relate to. 

 

- Martin 

[borobutty 0]

Hi Martin,

 

Let me start off by saying that I'm extremely excited to see Flight Simulator series back in development. This is just what (most of) the community have been waiting many years for following the failure of flight. Thanks for taking the time to answer questions here.

 

A few questions if I may and apologies if these have already been covered:

1. Why have DTG chosen to stick with updating the core FSX engine rather than build a new engine utilizing new tech, does using the old engine limit development in any way?

2. As we all know all too well FSX still requires some heavy computing power, what are the expected requirements for flight school/flight sim?

3. A feature that I would love to see is the ability to move around the aircraft on foot. Just think of the possibilities for ground checks, sitting in a passenger seat whilst auto pilot cruises at 35,000ft. is this something that has been considered?

4. Damage model was limited or non existent in FSX, I'd love to see something similar to DCS's model applied. Is this possible?

 

Any new screens or even a video clip coming soon?

[DTG Martin 213]

As promised, finally...

 

Following the completion of long term discussions, Dovetail Games is pleased to announce we will be partnering with Orbx Simulation Systems in order to bring key aspects of their technology to Flight School and Flight Simulator, both scheduled for release this year.

 

 Orbx Simulation Systems has dominated the flight simulation scenery space since CEO John Venema founded the company in 2006.

 

 "We are thrilled to partner with Dovetail Games as they usher in a new era of 64-bit simulators built on robust technology that we have a decade of experience in developing for", says John Venema, CEO of Orbx Simulation Systems. "We've developed a solid working relationship with the Dovetail team and we're confident that our terrain will look absolutely stunning in their enhanced 3D engine and provide a level of immersion unlike anything experienced before. We look forward to a long a productive partnership."

 

“We are incredibly excited about working with Orbx on Flight School and Dovetail Games Flight Simulator”, says Stephen Hood, Creative Director at Dovetail games. “Orbx represents the pinnacle of what can be achieved in terms of in-game scenery, so collaborating with them on these projects was the obvious choice for us. We are deeply committed to partnering with both new and existing developers and content creators moving forwards to create the best possible combination of technologies to power our simulators – this is only the beginning”

 

New screenshots are availble on Facebook - www.facebook.com/dtgflightschool