https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jul/24/head-in-the-clouds-the-return-of-microsoft-flight-simulator

 

“For games like Flight Simulator, the cloud provides “a system that kind of understands how much capability I need at any point,” Spencer explains. “It’s no different than what we’ve done in years past, streaming into available RAM that’s available on our consoles.” Flight Simulator will have an offline mode when it launches in 2020, but given how heavily it relies on data streamed from Microsoft servers, it’s likely to be severely truncated.”

What I'm thinking is that the offline mode will just have the default scenery.

Great article. Nice to see one of the worlds best newspapers making a story on FS! 

If things will really be streamed (weather?, Scenery?, ATC? etc). I'm now convinced it will be a huge revolution.

Well, wait and see, but I'm hopeful.

10 minutes ago, simmerhead said:

Great article. Nice to see one of the worlds best newspapers making a story on FS! 

Exactly. FlightSimulation with quite a media presence until 2008, virtually disappeard in an elitary niche for 10 years to reappear in media now. Very welcome indeed. 

Kind regards, Michael

Apparently, the cloud will calculate the weather data (maybe collected from real-world data, not sure). That will be amazing. My CPU will be grateful for that.
 

Quote

navigate through unpredictable scenarios thrown up by Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, which leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to dynamically shift flight conditions. This will keep players on their toes – get too comfortable running a commuter flight, and Azure might throw up sudden shifts in the weather, turning a sunny flight into a battle to keep aloft as storm conditions roll in.

 

Quote

"But then we saw the visuals.”

"As you’re flying around, you’re seeing the highest buildings and the weather’s changing in real time. It is just unreal.”  sic. Phil Spencer.

but if Microsoft can stick the landing, this will be a game beyond the wildest dreams of anyone who played in the 80s and 90s.

I hope Microsoft really hits the nail with this new Simulator.

If that is the case, ........ I'm all in.

Cheers.

Edited July 24, 20196 yr by RamonB

33 minutes ago, FPStewy said:

What I'm thinking is that the offline mode will just have the default scenery.

....which would be absolutely pointless if the default scenery is anything like FSX or P3D.

Edited July 24, 20196 yr by Christopher Low

Hold your breath for tomorrow's blurred motion hors d'oeuvre

Edited July 24, 20196 yr by ErichB

2 minutes ago, ErichB said:

Hold your breath for tomorrow's blurred motion hors d'oeuvre

I'm not expecting a lot from tomorrow's update. Probably it will be the first outline of the roadmap (august and september will be covered).

4 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

....which would be absolutely pointless if the default scenery is anything like FSX or P3D.

The way that MS will profit from this and it's just my opinion is that there will be a pay once offline mode, and a sub service for clouds services for streaming scenery and other goodies.

My other prediction is that it will not be called Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 but more like Flight Simulator 365 🙂

2 minutes ago, ca_metal said:

I'm not expecting a lot from tomorrow's update.

Nor me.

48 minutes ago, ca_metal said:

navigate through unpredictable scenarios thrown up by Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, which leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to dynamically shift flight conditions. This will keep players on their toes – get too comfortable running a commuter flight, and Azure might throw up sudden shifts in the weather, turning a sunny flight into a battle to keep aloft as storm conditions roll in.

Sounds neat, but there had better be a way to turn it off, or turn it down, when you really need to complete a flight and you're in something lightweight that can't handle the weather. If the sim is successful enough to be integrated into FSEconomy, you need to actually complete every flight. It's one reason I don't use the xEnviro plugin that only injects real weather without enough user control. We get Fall/Winter storms up here in the coastal PNW that would ground many GA planes and non-SAR helicopters.

I'm also wondering about that last part -- "get too comfortable running a commuter flight, and Azure might throw up sudden shifts in the weather, turning a sunny flight into a battle to keep aloft as storm conditions roll in."

I'm not sure how I feel about the sim (Azure) deciding things aren't exciting enough and turning the flight into a "battle" to keep me on my toes. Really? That's something we've never seen in a serous flight sim, and sounds a bit game-y. As long as there are other options for how the weather is generated, I guess it doesn't matter.

If offline mode is truncated, I can see an opportunity for Orbx to make a play here and provide updated regions and other global content that takes advantage of modern tech and which can be downloaded and locally stored on the user's computer.

We have 8 core processors, slowly becoming a default standard in a "gaming" rig, I'm not even talking about Threadrippers and its Intel analogs. Is this not enough to calculate everything offline?