Hi folks!

 

Do you guys think that MS will release the next USA DLC's state by state or by regions?

 

I´m wondering that because if that is the case it would take about 12 years to release just the US...

 

I personaly prefer small and well desined DLC maps, but i don´t know how they are going to keep it up, because in 12 years the first DLC would be really outdated in terms of design and graphics...

 

Any ideas on that?

*consults crystal ball* Humpf...

 

*reads tea leaves* Dang...

 

*views entrails of a goat* Eeww...

 

Shrug... Dunno. Since the dev team is silent, all we can do is guess. I would guess by region.

I expect regions, composed of individual medium-sized nations/states, or groups of smaller nations/states, or portions of large nations.

 

For example, I expect one of the next couple of scenery areas will be the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, possibly BC (connecting this area to Alaska), and maybe even Idaho for more inland territory.

 

Another might be the British Isles, covering the UK and Ireland.

 

Scandinavia would be another good one, or the Iberian Peninsula.

 

On the other hand, countries around the size of South Africa, Japan or New Zealand might stand on their own, especially if they are isolated geographically.

The Iberian Peninsula, including Canary islands, Madeira and Azores....

Hi,

 

Speaking from a position of total ignorance as to what's going on at MS in regards to the future of Flight and simply speculating I think it likely that multiple areas of the world are, at least, under consideration. It also seems likely that the most expeditious process for encoding the available data so it can be accessed by Flight would be an ongoing concern.

I've long felt that the need for backward compatibility was preventing the flight simulator series from being the best that it could be. With broadband access being specified as a requirement for Flight, the ability to modify the existing graphics engine to accommodate improved technologies is not out of the question. Needed changes to the existing scenery data could be made as well.

I'm hopeful. I recently posted my feelings regarding Flight at Arwen's site that I think may be representative of many of those who post here. To slightly paraphrase: We see the glass as one sixteenth full, whereas those who don't care for Flight see it as fifteen sixteenths empty.

 

Jim F.

Speculating... The file structure for Flight mirrors that of FSX. While Alaska is the name for the next (?) release I would not be surprised to see some bleedover with Canada, as they share common folders. There is also an existing credit in Flight to the Canadian office for mesh. Because remember, mesh is a good thing! Oops, sorry about that. So carving up the US by state or Europe by country can be done, but it gets a bit messy when you try to do stuff like that. Or at least it does for me.

 

Anyone withe the Deluxe/Gold version of FSX and who has the SDKs installed can look at the "Base Grid" for folders and files. As seems to be the Microsoft way, it looks a little goofy at first when trying to decipher 0625 and 0624 and 0524 being within the 0003 block, but stare at it long enough and it will start to make sense. It did for me... :Nerd:

I've been staring for too long. :Hypnotized:

 

Best regards.

Luis

I don't think they will ever make whole USA because making it better than in FSX and non generic (especially airports and their surroundings) would take really much time to do, and releasing them like they are in FSX would take away whole idea of MS Flight.

 

I believe they will rather release smaller areas as DLCs from many different areas. Maybe Grand Canyon DLC, then part of Caribbean, maybe then jump to Africa or South America for some tropical bush flying? Papua New Guinea DLC would be also nice, together with Alaska its one of the most interesting bush flying places with amazing difficult terrain and airports.

 

If they ever release PNG DLC and some bush flying planes I will sure buy it, been enjoying flying there in FSX with proper addon so much.

I doubt they will make all the states.

 

If Alaska don't flop, then they will move on to another area... perhaps somewhere else int he Pacific Rim , Japan maybe... I'd imagine they would like to make their international customers feel good.

 

Since 88% of the worlds population lives outside North America.

The Iberian Peninsula, including Canary islands, Madeira and Azores....

 

I'd buy that.

They've got a lot of options on how to proceed. On the one hand, they may go beyond the US right after Alaska, to indicate to the international customers that they are going to be catered to as well. On the other hand, they may limit themselves entirely to the US or North America for the next couple of years, leaving the rest of the world "untouched" for future development by third-parties.

 

Who knows?

I hope they do NOT go for all the states... I'd like to see some regions from all over the world. Sounds like more fun to me. Not every US-state is DLC worthy imho.

 

I don't think they will do it but I would love to see Norway in Flight.

California in Flight would be nice. Quite a variety of scenery all the way up the state.

That is going to be the hairy part about DLC for a flight sim. Real world flight is essentially boundless, whereas Microsoft will have to find a way to cut the world into bite sized chunks that don't frustrate you with a "trapped" feeling. They have also promised "more detail" (whatever they decide that means) but judging from Hawaii, seem unwilling to be as detailed overall as the best FSX scenery's (Orbx and etc)

 

They have filed a very interesting flight-plan for themselves! (Or they are making it up as they go)

I'd like to see if they can better Aerosoft's Manhattan X. Otherwise I'd go with AZ.