Aerofly FS 2: Update thread

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Mitch,

Wow! 17 hours later and with fairly consistent d/l speeds of 1.3MB/s, 76.2GBs of updated/new data now resides safely on its targeted SSD. This is a record for me! Currently my Aerofly FS2 installation stands at 125GB whereas my fabulous performing number one sim, P3D, is 223GB (and that doesn't include stuff installed on a different drive).

Above posts persuaded me to make my first port of call Monument Valley - how could I resist? 😀 I have the area as an ORBX download in P3D and it is pretty good. However, this is something else! As real as it gets? You bet, this represents a very significant raising the bar of realistic depiction in a simulator. For example, how on earth did they manage to lay textures so convincingly on those vertical sandstone surfaces?! 

As ever, performance in this sim is exemplary with an unchanging 120fps (FRAPS) at Monument Valley and Salt Lake City. Different story at New York, however, when frame rates drop to 70-80fps with significant micro stuttering. Perhaps not surprising in view of the extraordinary density of scenery. Looks like every 3D building/structure has been included and drawn with a high degree of accuracy. I tried using GSync, reducing monitor refresh to 60, with and without VSync and in each case the micro stuttering persisted.

I hope something is done soon to sort out those unconvincing clouds. When viewed from a distance they really do detract from the experience, until you fly through them when things do improve quite nicely. Nice try, but simply doesn't quite cut it these days. Also, is turbulence implemented yet?

There's no doubt that this sim has enormous potential. We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is still in Beta and there is still lots to do. Doubtless everything will be fixed over time. However, as it stands it's a great flying experience....and so easy to use with fast loading times, user friendly configuration and easy setup of flight situations.

Regards,

Mike

 

[caaront 109]

I love it.

[JimmiG 244]

On 2017-04-06 at 9:52 PM, HiFlyer said:

The clouds were/are from a third party, and at this point are known to cause issues. Ipacs will be replacing them, probably about the same time they do the weather update. Heck, we may even see something from REX, someday. In the meantime, avoid using Max cumulous clouds, and turn off the sun lensflare if your machine is having issues.

 

Well my negative Steam review and recommendation to not buy this game stay until they get their act together and fix this. Having the sim not be a total stutterfest should get priority over releasing paid DLC.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

2 hours ago, JimmiG said:

 

Well my negative Steam review and recommendation to not buy this game stay until they get their act together and fix this. Having the sim not be a total stutterfest should get priority over releasing paid DLC.

Well, getting the act together and fixing problems is kind of the definition of early access and beta. It's going to also be the case that over a wide range of users and systems, some are going to have more problems than others. (CTD forum, anyone?) Helping the developers locate and address those issues is also part of a beta (and early access)

Perseverance is also necessary. Unlike Microsoft, I don't think Aerofly has near-endless resources to push into the project without occasional cash injections to keep things going. Our expectations as a community, as opposed to the actual risks to a company go far in explaining why developers haven't been racing to provide this niche with new sims.

For me, when somebody does finally take the extreme risk of entering this niche, they deserve my support; and just as DTG received ready cash (including from me) with the release of Flight School, Ipacs is also going to need the occasional boost to keep things going. Does anyone really believe that DLC and scenery will be withheld for years until DTG sim is perfect? 

I suspect that's not going to happen; for the simple reason that it's just not financially possible.

One commits to a potentially very long journey when buying into any early access title, and considering the complexity involved and expected, that should probably go triple when the product is a flightsim.

Just as with X-plane betas, or the upcoming P3D 64 or DTG Sim, there's a leap of faith necessary to purchase into early access, as well as a potentially long wait while things come together.

In the end, we all have to decide if we have the patience for the journey, and whether we would rather be participants, or spectators.

All I will say is that as a tester, I have seen and heard enough to believe that very good things are coming.

I would say, hold on!

 

[Cruachan 705]

2 hours ago, JimmiG said:

 

Well my negative Steam review and recommendation to not buy this game stay until they get their act together and fix this. Having the sim not be a total stutterfest should get priority over releasing paid DLC.

Hi Jimmi,

Surprised to read this and I feel you are being unfair. Not sure when you penned your review but current experience, for me, is very different. So far, the only situation that gives me micro stutters is New York. Show me another sim with that level of detail and still maintains a healthy frame rate of 70-80fps albeit with some stuttering. As yet I cannot vouch for everywhere else, but so far Fraps is telling me that 120fps is the 'norm' to expect from this sim as it stands. Sure, that's likely to change in the future but this level of performance suggests a healthy overhead more than capable of absorbing performance sucking addons. I think Aerofly FS2 has the potential to become a truly great sim. Prepar3D and AF FS2 are the 2 sims I am compelled to run these days.

I like XP 11 for the way it portrays the sensation of height above ground during flight but maintaining frame rates of 25-35fps without dialling back on settings represents a significant challenge. Thankfully, when it came out of beta most of the microstuttering has been eliminated even at lower frame rates. Also I feel there is far too much haze. P3D + PTA/Adamski's 21.11 Preset seems far more realistic and complements ORBX scenery wonderfully.

Aerofly FS2 just feels more real to me out-of-the-box without all the attendant hassles of having to tweak for performance.

Regards,

Mike

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

This thread is an example  of why I only slightly consider what is said in online reviews. The best source of information is gained from personally testing a full featured  time limited demo of either a flight sim or its addons. There's way too much "Ford versus Chevy" bias in most reviews.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

3 hours ago, Cruachan said:

Show me another sim with that level of detail and still maintains a healthy frame rate of 70-80fps albeit with some stuttering.

I got spoiled so quickly! After years of New York sceneries that at best hit maybe 30 stuttery FPS, it's amazing how fast I learned to frown when my frames drop below 100. 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Small Patch Released (EA4.16)

A small update was released today. This was mainly for the bug fix for Geneva airport crashing, however, there is also one small new feature for those of you who have a GTX 1080 or GTX 1080ti GPU. You will notice in the settings that there is now an "Insane" setting for shadows. This new setting introduced a new level of shadows that will give you solid building shadows and, well, insane shadow mapping everywhere. Please keep in mind that this setting is a GPU memory hog so you will need at least a 1080 (or 8GB card or higher) to fully enjoy this.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

EA4.24 Update

Most of you have noticed a small update today. This update was just a small performance tweak that reduced some CPU computing. You may see a very small FPS increase but nothing of note this time around.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Small Update EA4.28 Released Today

There was another small update that improved performance when looking into the sun as well as added VKBsim Joystick support with a default assignment.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Autopilot fix and tree variations in UPDATE EA4.32 (Public_Beta)

An update has been pushed to the public beta channel that should fix the autopilot bug. In addition to the bug fix, a few more tree variations have been introduced as well. Please report if you still have some issues with autopilot following this update.

 

[WingZ 547]

How d'you see what version has been pushed? (Steam newb here)

[HiFlyer 9,343]

17 minutes ago, WingZ said:

How d'you see what version has been pushed? (Steam newb here)

Thats a good question! For me, the easiest is to just start the sim and then click "About"

[WingZ 547]

...and that's a good answer!

Thanks.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Small Update for owners of the Switzerland DLC - Added Airport- Speck-Fehraltorf

For owners of the Switzerland DLC a new airport is heading your way shortly: Speck-Fehraltorf Airport

ENJOY!