2 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

@Skywatcher i find the idea of being able to fly around Google Earth 3D incredibly appealing, and I suspect of newbies will even more so. The first thing many will do after buying this is fly over their home. I think it's a good move that will bring a lot of new people in and encourage GA flying, given the opportunities to explore and navigate visually.

Yes there will be some compromises to be accepted, but on balance it's going to knock landclass based scenery in to a cocked hat. Then again I'm already converted, as I run photoscenery/ortho in P3D

This is subjective I do agree. Some would accept the pitfalls to see things like their own home in the game. However, this can still be done with ad-dons later on. Putting it in the core of the game just kills the game.

16 minutes ago, ErichB said:

As amazing as this looks, I can recall the same kind of 'wowwee' reaction to Dovetails flightsim (although this is a few notches higher).    

Not me. I was indeed excited when I learend DT would make another sim. As soon as the first facts and shots arrived (the fact that the very first shots actually didn't show anything juicy at all was alarming already) I lost most of my hopes. As did many others.

Kind regards, Michael

I didnt even know there was something like Flight Sim World until this thread. After looking up at youtube I havent missed anything

From a technical perspective is there anything stopping P3D or X-Plane from aquiring the same or similar data to provide satellite imagery and AI rendering to create a similar "world" in their products?  Maybe its simply a cost issue as they don't own the data.

3 minutes ago, DaWu said:

I didnt even know there was something like Flight Sim World until this thread. After looking up at youtube I havent missed anything

You might have accidentally blinked, as it was announced, lived and died before you could even react.

3 minutes ago, MarkW said:

From a technical perspective is there anything stopping P3D or X-Plane from aquiring the same or similar data to provide satellite imagery and AI rendering to create a similar "world" in their products?  Maybe its simply a cost issue as they don't own the data.

Probably impossible with the ancient tech P3D uses. FS2020 should have a new engine from scratch

20 minutes ago, MarkW said:

From a technical perspective is there anything stopping P3D or X-Plane from aquiring the same or similar data to provide satellite imagery and AI rendering to create a similar "world" in their products?  Maybe its simply a cost issue as they don't own the data.

They sure could. But for now and some time to come, how Microsoft is doing what it does exactly will remain a secret. Lockheed and Laminar would have to invest into the development of their own scenery engine, the server infrastructure and the AI. And they will indeed have to pay for the GIS data, most likely on a per-use basis. 

XBox Game Studios are in the unique position that they belong to the same corporation as Bing. So they probably only have to pay an internal, reduced price. I can't imagine that they get it for free, that is just not how corporations work, but it could be a lot cheaper for them than for an external 3rd party. Part of that monthly flight sim usage fee will probably be used to cover exactly that. In exchange we might get scenery data that is updated as Bing updates, and the AI constantly evolving and improving the way that it looks. I know that this sounds like SciFi, but software technology has definitely been catching up in the last decade.

Maybe Google will revamp their Google Earth Flightsim too, put in some weather and virtual cockpits, more airplanes. They have the same disposition WRT the data and development resources.

Best regards

Edited June 13, 20196 yr by Lorby_SI

3 minutes ago, DaWu said:

FS2020 should have a new engine from scratch

That is definitely the upshot here.  The tech should be cutting edge, no more crippling backward compatibility (thank God).  

Ok, this is a very long thread, which is 99% speculation. But the breakdown of the video frame by frames in areas with proof that it is in game footage should say it all. This is a big leap forward in visuals.  Whether MS is using this to do a demo to the rest of the world what their tech can do or not, its still flight simulator, and if its done right, appealing to both the casual gamer and the hardcore hobbyist, then it can go a long way. 

We are for sure somewhat delusional with our expectations because we dont have a full features list, and have a ton of questions of what it will have or not have, but my gosh, negativity doesnt get anywhere. Dont burst the bubble of reasonable excitement.  Clearly its a new engine, and for sure will take advantage of the latest greatest hardware if present, so this means a much more fluid sim flying around with alot more accurate visuals than we have ever seen rather than just portions of it at high regional costs , including stutters, and popping.  We may have dissappointment after more facts and news come forth , or we may be even more surprised.  

With all Microsofts power of analytics, you can be sure they are watching the response to all this, so keeping up the excitement without going overboard with it, will surely keep them motivated further to make this right.  This is a make it or break it chance to bring back MSFS properly and not drop the ball this time.   Be happy this hobby has big potential especially with MS resources.  

Quote

As amazing as this looks, I can recall the same kind of 'wowwee' reaction to Dovetails flightsim (although this is a few notches higher)

I never understood the appeal of FlightSim World. It looked like nothing more than yet another version of FSX, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Nothing like the kind of "next generation" flight simulator that was required to get existing FSX/P3D users to switch.

34 minutes ago, MarkW said:

From a technical perspective is there anything stopping P3D or X-Plane from aquiring the same or similar data to provide satellite imagery and AI rendering to create a similar "world" in their products?  Maybe its simply a cost issue as they don't own the data.

Money and licensing.. If one of these companies could get hold of Google's mapping data and AI tech it would be truly something else :). X-Plane users have for a few years now used Bing imagery inside X-Plane using Ortho4XP.

 

6 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I never understood the appeal of FlightSim World. It looked like nothing more than yet another version of FSX, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Nothing like the kind of "next generation" flight simulator that was required to get existing FSX/P3D users to switch.

It was a good sim. Whilst it was somewhat a 64-bit FSX, it added TrueSky, ORBX Global, nice planes and ambient-occlusion to the autogen which actually added a lot to the sim for a cheap price. Visually they did far more with it that LM did, but sadly it was never to be... 

Until I see it, I will not believe it. Something tells me this is just another Microsoft Flight. Remember that? I expect to be disappointed again.  I cannot understand why Microsoft would all of a sudden be interested in flight simming again. I think this new thing is just a casual flying GAME.

Edited June 13, 20196 yr by coldhoist
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4 minutes ago, coldhoist said:

Until I see it, I will not believe it. Something tells me this is just another Microsoft Flight. Remember that? I expect to be disappointed again.  I cannot understand why Microsoft would all of a sudden be interested in flight simming again. I think this new thing is just a casual flying GAME.

ALL base flight simulators are. Or can you do any serious simming with P3D and its default airplanes/airports and no weather??

Aerosoft is certainly working with Microsoft, so that would give us, at very least, their decent Airbuses. If that comes built-in with the Sim then you would probably have the most advanced default aircraft like...ever...

Edited June 13, 20196 yr by GCBraun

Question is can Aerosoft make a similar decent Boeing? I hope so

And besides Airports and Planes there is another at least for me very important thing that is needed to make me switch: AI Liveries

I dont wanna see Global Airways and Suntrans at the gates. I need my LH, Emirates and Quantas. 

57 minutes ago, MarkW said:

From a technical perspective is there anything stopping P3D or X-Plane from aquiring the same or similar data to provide satellite imagery and AI rendering to create a similar "world" in their products?  Maybe its simply a cost issue as they don't own the data.

The technology is there for all to use, however, I - as you - would guess it is a cost issue, not just getting the data, but building some sort of conversion software for implementing the data in the sim. Here's a fairly old example of the technology in use: