Four seasons?

[Nedo68 533]

to have around 4 seasons i expect that would rise to 8 petabyte data,
and don't forget that the earth is always summer in one place, and winter in another, should this also be simulated?

to me, that's one of the least important things, if it works, it'll come step by step anyway.

[honanhal 1,427]

7 hours ago, Nedo68 said:

to have around 4 seasons i expect that would rise to 8 petabyte data,
and don't forget that the earth is always summer in one place, and winter in another, should this also be simulated?

Yes, and I think it certainly could be simulated. It’s been that way in various iterations of MSFS for literally decades. This will be the first one without seasons appropriate to different areas in all that time.

Seasons are not the hardest technical challenge for this new sim. They already appear to have mostly solved those challenges. They can do seasons and do them pretty well with shaders. It’s a question of time, commitment and priorities. I really hope they will prioritize it, although I have to admit I’m surprised by the number of people here who genuinely don’t seem to care — at all! — about seasons. Much as I was always surprised by people who would only fly FSX/P3D in their own tiny part of the globe, or people who would fly only at the real time in their area (often nighttime) with current weather, it’s a good reminder that everyone enjoys the sim in different ways and that things that seem absolutely indispensable to me don’t seem that way to all.

James

Edited October 7, 2019 by honanhal

[guenseli 1,606]

1 hour ago, honanhal said:

I’m surprised by the number of people here who genuinely don’t seem to care — at all! — about seasons. Much as I was always surprised by people who would only fly FSX/P3D in their own tiny part of the globe, or people who would fly only at the real time in their area (often nighttime) with current weather,

 

Just as an explanation as I'm one of these (however I use the genius Active Sky historic weather mode to not fly in the dark, but to jump back in time to e.g. morning)

 

Reason is, that I like to fly in regions I know personally. And the other reason is, that I want to "experience" the weather and season I can currently see in real life. So, as example, when I come back from work, I'd like to fly in the foggy morning we had today. Or when I was in holidays, I want to fly there and have a look again.

Another reason is, that I do not have the money and strorage to cover all the regions I'd like to see in high quality ... nameliy with ORBX regions or ORBX TE. 

 

But that will change probably as we get with MSFS2020 with that outstanding detail so that it is possible to experience other regions of the world without asking myself if that is plausible what I see in the sim.

[OSJJ1985 134]

Well, seasons is quite a big deal, although I too feel it shouldn't be on the top priority list.... at least generally speaking (I have no clue what's on the to-do list). I do feel however it should be above VR. I totally agree with you on the "limitations" people set for themselves... I respect their way of using the Simulator. Me on the other hand, my life (and time) is too precious to keep myself bound in one place strictly at real time on an earth where I could go anywhere, anytime at no cost. I also will never understand the enormous time-warp-phobia around most of the community. Again I respect that people want to take realism to the next level. What I don't understand however are comments like "I'd love to fly the 747/777, but I don't have the time for long-hauls". I myself also don't always have the time for long-hauls, but I'd rather trade-off a small dose of realism to be able to experience everything (either time-warp a long-haul flight or use the 747/777 on a short-haul route, even if there is no real world counterpart). I generally keep realism to online flying.... when I "cheat" I do it offline. I also use a compromise of long-haul flights online where I log-off during long-distance no-comm/event situation to accelerate. The same all-rounder attitude goes to airplanes as well.... I fly anything from ultra-light to 747... although I mainly fly airliners.

Anyway, back to topic.... , being a global flyer has it's benefits when it comes to seasons. Should Microsoft decide to add season after release, it's a bummer, but not a deal-breaker. I just have to stick around the northern hemisphere during April - September and in the southern hemisphere during September - April. If I can't wait months to get back to Europe when my real-life shows November? No problem... just wind the Simulator clock back to July? As I said life is too short to give my self limitations in a virtual world that pretty much has none.

[Claviateur 789]

Again, I am pretty sure that 4 Seasons are possible without the duplication of textures as it was in ESP. 

I think many people still think about seasons the way FSX (ESP) delivers them. 

Today I saw the preview of XEnviro 1.12, an environment add-on for X-Plane 11. With V1.1 they introduced volumentric 3D clouds and dynamic, real time snow accumulation based on temperature and location with a slider to add or remove coverage in real time.

And today with the preview, they showed screenshots of dynamic Autumn landscapes including trees. The dev said there are no additional textures involved. Thus the plugin (code) will handle the dynamic tuning of the landscape based on few factors...

So if the dynamic seasons + snow coverage is possible with the engine of X-Plane 11, I am confident the same techniques or even a more advanced one can be done with the engine of MSFS 2020.

I hope they will work on this feature to be part of the first release. Especially snow for some immersion in countries where winter renders the land white. I think it is an important feature for such a hyper realistic engine especially with this compelx and true to life weather system they have.

[ca_metal 2,033]

52 minutes ago, Claviateur said:

Again, I am pretty sure that 4 Seasons are possible without the duplication of textures as it was in ESP. 

I think many people still think about seasons the way FSX (ESP) delivers them. 

Today I saw the preview of XEnviro 1.12, an environment add-on for X-Plane 11. With V1.1 they introduced volumentric 3D clouds and dynamic, real time snow accumulation based on temperature and location with a slider to add or remove coverage in real time.

And today with the preview, they showed screenshots of dynamic Autumn landscapes including trees. The dev said there are no additional textures involved. Thus the plugin (code) will handle the dynamic tuning of the landscape based on few factors...

So if the dynamic seasons + snow coverage is possible with the engine of X-Plane 11, I am confident the same techniques or even a more advanced one can be done with the engine of MSFS 2020.

I hope they will work on this feature to be part of the first release. Especially snow for some immersion in countries where winter renders the land white. I think it is an important feature for such a hyper realistic engine especially with this compelx and true to life weather system they have.

And they are an "Indie developer". That in mind, what a big Studio like MS could do!? Much more in less time. 

All already said around those forums, I think seasons will happen, when it will come is just a matter of how much the customers want it. The more people asking for that feature, the sooner they will deliver it. And as you said, I hope and really think they will bring in a more modern and improved approach than just using different sets of textures for each season. Shaders are the better way to go (in my opinion) regarding  seasons over orthoimagery.

[G-RFRY 1,738]

I don't think you will see seasons before 2022 but if they can prove me wrong great , after PC release all hands will be on XBOX release and updates.

[Bigt 192]

Poll mentioned earlier in this thread got shutdown but I'm here to voice my support for seasons. Not having them, lessens the immersion when flying into places like Chicago or Boston in the dead of winter.

[Claviateur 789]

43 minutes ago, Bigt said:

Poll mentioned earlier in this thread got shutdown but I'm here to voice my support for seasons. Not having them, lessens the immersion when flying into places like Chicago or Boston in the dead of winter.

When I flew with my cousin who was a commercial pilot, back in the late 90s, here in Canada, the winter flying experience (VFR) is a different story from the summer one. Add some haze and falling snow and you will have to look in a monochromatic landscape for the small airfield runway with the snow patches all over it... 

Fall season implementation can wait but the snowy one makes a huge difference especially with such a great engine...

Edited October 8, 2019 by Claviateur

[NG_Aviator 39]

It would be great if they could gradually change the texture applied to the 1.5 trillion auto gen trees in MSFS.  In real life all the trees don't change at once.  It would look great if say 10% of the deciduous trees change at the start of autumn and slowly more and more change as the weeks pass until all are bare.

Edited October 10, 2019 by NG_Aviator

[carbonbasedlifeform 179]

In X-Plane, no seasons is a deal-breaker for me because I'm not that big of a fan of the sim in general. I don't find the sim immersive at all.

At this point I don't see seasons upon release, but it's not a deal breaker. You can always fly in the Southern Hemisphere!

In a recent poll, the request for four-seasons basically tied VR, so hopefully it will happen or hopefully OrbX and others can accomplish it.

[OSJJ1985 134]

19 minutes ago, carbonbasedlifeform said:

In X-Plane, no seasons is a deal-breaker for me because I'm not that big of a fan of the sim in general. I don't find the sim immersive at all.

At this point I don't see seasons upon release, but it's not a deal breaker. You can always fly in the Southern Hemisphere!

In a recent poll, the request for four-seasons basically tied VR, so hopefully it will happen or hopefully OrbX and others can accomplish it.

I am sure seasons will most probably be a matter of when. I for one will just switch hemispheres according to their summers until seasons come along. April - September in the North and September - April in the South.

[marc1184 42]

Their latest update says they have a feedback log in which Seasons is included among ATC, VR, Rotorcraft, & SDK.  It says their log includes plans, next steps, and timelines for resolution.  So, as everyone has mentioned, it’s on their to-do list, but no commitments on timeline.