Why is everybody so addict to shadows ?  Heck, my last FSX install was pure DX9, and I cleared up all shadows effects - what does it matter for the simulation of flight ?

 

But yes, it appears to have shadows - I just hope I can disable it .... and get a few more fps....

Beta version has been sent to some people including us again. I asked some questions to the DTG team about Flight School so hopefully we can put the article up soon

Given the time it seems be taking on the review for the Alpha to appear I wonder if "soon" for the Beta is likely to be before the release of the actual product?

 

Why is everybody so addicted to shadows ?  Heck, my last FSX install was pure DX9, and I cleared up all shadow effects - what does it matter for the simulation of flight ?

 

It matters for realism. Whilst shadows on the terrain are not so important to me (since I use photoscenery, so static shadows are already present), I really wouldn't want to be without shadows in the VC.

Why is everybody so addict to shadows ?

 

Its something called realism I see shadows in real life so like them in simulated life. It gives all sorts of visual cues adding to the sense of depth of motion.

whats jordans  facebook page ??????

 

I dont know, but I see his posts in a facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dtgfs/

 

OMG OMG I hope you're right. I was thinking when I saw some of the earlier ones that the light reflections off of the surfaces in the VC are really well done, very realistic. Having that so well done without shadows would be a really jarring effect, so if they've got that sorted I'll be a happy camper.

 

Good news... people were asking on facebook as well and he responded with this picture, he also noted that he was playing with NI settings and it affected the anti-aliasing, although personally I dont see much difference between this and his other pics. Maybe I am missing something. 

 

I dont know, but I see his posts in a facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dtgfs/

 

Good news... people were asking on facebook as well and he responded with this picture, he also noted that he was playing with NI settings and it affected the anti-aliasing, although personally I dont see much difference between this and his other pics. Maybe I am missing something. 

 

Well, the cockpit panel is darker and "shadowed" but it's not showing the kind of hard-edge shadow that I think most of us associate with dynamic cockpit shadow effects. It's that hard line of sunlight/shadow that moves across the instrument panel during a turn, and adds to that "you're there" feeling. 

 

Like this, for example (Carenado C208 in X-Plane). Those shadows on the panel and instruments will move as the plane changes heading: http://ptjams.com/mb/img/planes/Car_C208B_v10_1-shadows-01.jpg

 

I don't think it's a priority for Flight School, but I'm pretty sure we's all like to see this in the later DTG Flight Sim.

 

and also - in that pic the sun appears to be coming from the left but yet there is bright reflection on the dash as if there were a bright light to the upper right. maybe they've got competing light sources that are minimizing shadows. or maybe its just that shot.

I wouldn't be surprised if Flight School ends up without cockpit shadows. There are also clearly no scenery or cloud shadows. It has also been confirmed that there won't be volumetric fog, and I doubt there will be tesselated 3D water.

 

I think it's pretty obvious at this point that it's essentially the FSX visuals with slight tweaks, even though the underlying architecture has been updated (DX11, 64-bit). It doesn't really matter whether Flight School is considered to be in Alpha or Beta at this point - it's still very close to release, and these kinds of features can't just be "switched on" at the last moment. It took Lockheed literally years to get shadows right. X-Plane also struggled for years with "shockwave shadows" (low draw distance of shadows, expanding like a shockwave away from your aircraft).

 

The good news is that they have a lot of time to implement more rendering features for the "real" flight sim coming out later. If the first preview shots of *that* end up looking like FSX with HDR, then it's time to get worried.

AHA!

 

Reticule's posted a new video featuring the beta build...

JimmiG -

I wouldn't be surprised if Flight School ends up without cockpit shadows

 

Yet they're in there, about to watch the video but from the freeze frame of the vid above they look pretty good.

AHA!

 

Reticule's posted a new video featuring the beta build...

JimmiG -

Yet they're in there, about to watch the video but from the freeze frame of the vid above they look pretty good.

 

Reviewer: Mumble mumble......  :smile:

 

Head cold?

 

First day with his new tongue?

 

Imitating one of the Beatles?

 

Mic stuck up his nose? 

 

Ok, that's enough. More seriously, why on earth would you record at 360p?

 

EDIT: Ok, its showing up in higher resolution now.

HiFlyer -

why on earth would you record at 360p?

 

I'm guessing YouTube is still processing the video, they show low res videos while they're processing the higher res version.

Reticule does tend to use a high compression codec though, so the videos tend to look a little rough even at high res.

 

 

On the shadows front, even though the they had a disconnection issue with the front forks, I'm still over the moon that they're in there.

Okay, that video shows some nice cockpit shadowing with direct sunlight.

 

The instrument panel looks like it's 2D, because the knobs sticking out from individual gauges and the gauge bezels aren't throwing shadows like that Carenado panel I linked above. But this is enough for a basic flight sim. I'd expect a full 3D panel in the better (payware) models for the final flight sim. IIRC, the default GA planes in X-Plane have flat 2D panels too.

 

P.S. I wish this particular previewer would post in something higher than 360p video quality. That adds so many YouTube compression artifacts that it's hard to tell how much blurriness is in the sim, and how much is just the video compression.

 

Edit to add: Okay, maybe it's just an initial version while YouTube is processing.

I wouldn't want those smears on the windshield.

At least it`s getting better. Now it looks similar to my FSX. Scenery still a bit behind MSFlight.

 

Shaping up nicely. Although its good to have a few options coming through as well like PC version of Aerofly 2 for PC which looks... STUNNING!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqYCii6YSzo&feature=share

 

Although its good to have a few options coming through as well like PC version of Aerofly 2 for PC which looks... STUNNING!

 

Wow, that reminds me so much of Flight Unlimited 2 and 3. I really must keep an eye on this one. I did notice that the water close to San Francisco International airport appears to be part of the photographic scenery texture sheet, so I wonder if this will be updated for the final release?