Very interesting.

 

http://inspire.eaa.org/2019/09/30/an-inside-look-at-microsofts-newest-flight-simulator/?fbclid=IwAR0dYUMkYaBXH04K2Ua8OopuxV5Ru-SHWBewVEzcqfCKBeLpxdy-hHgXxoc

 

Vic

Interesting stuff regarding plain text configs and backward compability. 

But will it work with accusim aircraft from A2A for example?

9 minutes ago, dilore said:

Interesting stuff regarding plain text configs and backward compability. 

But will it work with accusim aircraft from A2A for example?

It's doubtful any aircraft that was developed using an LUT-based performance model will be able to outdo even a stock aircraft in a properly-simulated physical world.  What people may actually find useful is the ability to port their valid FSX-licensed commercial airfliners over to the new MSFS in "legacy" mode.  No doubt we'll hear something shortly from the usual suspects.  My guess is they'll say "if you do this you're a dirty pirate" and disallow the practice.  Kudos to the dev that doesn't take this archaic approach to the situation but instead allows their customers to use the products they already own while they shift focus to developing new, exciting products for the new sim.  But hey, why do that when you can just alienate everyone instead?

Edited September 30, 20196 yr by TechguyMaxC

14 minutes ago, dilore said:

But will it work with accusim aircraft from A2A for example?

I believe it should be the other way around.
ie. What will A2A and other aircraft designers need to do to work properly with MS2020?

IMO this is a hole new ballgame. MS will make the playing field and supply the tools. 3th party developers will need to adjust, upgrade or develop their products to take advantage of the new physics and other engines.

Edited September 30, 20196 yr by RamonB

Excellent article providing a lot of information.  Good to know the simulator will be backward compatible and creating add-on aircraft or slightly modifying current aircraft will be easy. I do hope they include some heavies in the first release. 

10 minutes ago, RamonB said:

I believe it should be the other way around.
ie. What will A2A and other aircraft designers need to do to work properly with MS2020?

It would be very handy though to be able to move over advanced P3D airplanes until they have been upgraded by A2A, Aerosoft, Milviz, PMDG. Like in the P3D v1 - 3 days, when it was easy to use FSX aircraft there.

 

Edited September 30, 20196 yr by dilore

I'm guessing that only those a/c that were modeled strictly according to the SDK will be a trouble free port. Many major devs with custom coding will probably have a tweak or two to make.

 

Seems like a good time for simmers!

 

Vic

2 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

Many major devs with custom coding will probably have a tweak or two to make.

Article states the SDK may not be ready until after the initial release so hope you are right.

The big takeaways from my perspective, from this article and a few of the videos making the rounds:

A 200-person product team (!)

Clear-text flight parameterization instead of binary .air files

Reverse-compatibility with many existing add-ons

Local caching of terrain/photogrammetry data and an offline mode for those not endowed with fast broadband connections

Primary target audience is flight simmers on the PC, with XBox gaming and neophyte/casual gaming accessibility a secondary market

Native finite-element flight dynamics engine, enhancing realism in other than coordinated straight-and-level flight (stalls, spins, slips, frost/icing effects etc)

Fluid-flow atmospheric dynamics, allowing simulation of things like ridge lift, mountain pass lift/sink, wind-affected ground effect over/near irregular terrain, mountain wave turbulence etc

This simulator may be pre-alpha, but it's FAR past the sketchboard planning phase.  Hugely functional already, even if not ready for prime time.

Biggest question marks for me are ATC and AI acft traffic, which seem to have been intentionally left out of the spotlight at the moment.

 

I'm a born sceptic, but I have to say that these videos and interviews have left many of my biggest pre-release concerns to melt like a snow cone in July...

Quote

While the team is currently evaluating something like an in-sim store for supplemental content, there will be no requirements to use it, and no restrictions of any kind on downloading freeware or payware add-ons from other sources. 

This bit is particularly encouraging and will probably increase interest in FS2020 from folks with large payware aircraft and other add-on collections. Hopefully the porting processes will be uncomplicated and financially feasible for developers.

6 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

This can't be correct?  So what is MS using to create content for the product?  There will be no one left standing if this is accurate ... unless Microsoft are going to hand out big interest free loans for 2 years.

From the article: "Microsoft is committed to providing a software development kit (SDK) with the product at launch that will give developers the tools they need to build add-ons, though they caution that it is something that will be polished and expanded through post-launch updates"

Here we go!

 

2 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

This can't be correct?  So what is MS using to create content for the product?  There will be no one left standing if this is accurate ... unless Microsoft are going to hand out big interest free loans for 2 years.

Cheers, Rob.

That's what it states in the article.  I would suspect they are using a draft SDK?  I don't think they would develop the SDK first.  After the product has been tested and had its initial base release of MSFS.  As stated in the article, much of the new sim is based off of FSX.  Read the section, "What about all of my Third-Party Aircraft".

P3D V4s SDK wasn't perfect either IIRC.

4 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

So the plan is wait for Nov 2020 release, have an unpolished SDK (maybe), take 1-2 years or more adapting to a changing SDK and hope that money falls off trees to fund these projects?  And this is going to be good how or is this entire "time travel" thing something we should have developed a long time ago?

I think it may turn out to be more good news than bad...this is one of those breakpoints in the sim evolution timeline that allows devs to re-create projects they've already developed a foundation for based on what they produced for the previous sims, requiring a lot less on the front-end than developing something completely new.  I have my doubts that many of the top-shelf add-ons will turn out to be backwards-compatible, and MSFS will present a market that isn't as near saturation as the FSX/P3D market is.  We're already seeing some duplication (e.g. FlyTampa's KLAS), and even devs trying to remarket mildly-enhanced remakes of their own works (e.g. LatinVFR KMIA v5).

Personally, I'm not parking P3Dv4 for the foreseeable future...history suggests that it takes years of post-release development to flesh-out a sim's flying world...I was still on FS9 3-4 years after FSX released, and on FSX for 2-3 years after starting to build up my P3D world.  I'd guess I'll still have at least one foot in P3D for a few more years still.