The tech thread

[Tomaz Drnovsek 440]

Any word on if MSFS will be true fullscreen application?

[vortex681 806]

@FDEdev - as I said in my earlier post, if your sims were really that bad, someone wasn’t doing their job properly (and we’re not talking about the manufacturers). Based on my experience, I disagree with most of what you’ve said but it’s not worth arguing about it here. Let’s get back to talking about the new sim.

[tweekz 2,165]

@FDEdev @vortex681

Some time ago I found a statement of an actual sim technician on reddit. I digged it up again. Might give some additional insight.

Refer to 14 CFR Part 60.13, and I think it’s pretty easy to assume everything we do is table-based. The only approved data source in the case of the FAA is the aircraft type manufacturer, and only from real-world flight test data. This probably sets a standard where the aircraft (flown within the known/approved envelope) feeds back a response equal to the real thing.

Every calendar month I run a dozen or so tests from our qualification bank as required per 60.19. So in a full year we complete just shy of a couple hundred tests, all of which were initially run at the time the sim was first certificated. So we’re basically just re-checking these certification tests against their first-run versions for any data discrepancies.

Per the resultant objective data, all our sims pass the tests or don’t get used - but we’ve got a pretty good uptime rate. Then there is a subjective annual evaluation, where the device is flown through scenarios that the evaluating crew get to judge based on their real-world operating experience.

Is that a decent answer?

 

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by tweekz

[FDEdev 955]

2 hours ago, vortex681 said:

@FDEdev - as I said in my earlier post, if your sims were really that bad, someone wasn’t doing their job properly (and we’re not talking about the manufacturers). Based on my experience, I disagree with most of what you’ve said but it’s not worth arguing about it here. Let’s get back to talking about the new sim.

I think you are missing the point. 'Really that bad' unfortunately still means 'sufficient'. You already admitted that even Level-D sims are not replicating the real world behavior at the essential edge of the envelope. (e.g. MCAS desaster)

I don't know how much hours real world experience you have to be able to compare a Level-D sim with the real aircraft. I have +16000hrs airline ops and +500hrs in Level-D sims.

But I agree that continuing this discussion doesn't make much sense. 

Edited February 5, 2020 by FDEdev

[Bottle 663]

One of the things I'm interested in with MSFS is the use of Azure and the potential for machine learning techniques (it's the bioinformatician in me). I thought this was an interesting article that is not the same as what Azure is doing for the Bing imagery, but gives a taste of what advanced computer science can do for visual images;

 

https://steampunktendencies.com/someone-used-neural-networks-to-upscale-an-1896-film-to-4k-60-fps-and-the-result-is-really-stunning

 

As far as I know, this is something truly unique for MSFS (the Azure computing power and expertise), that among other things makes it a step-change that will be hard (or even impossible) to match.

[tweekz 2,165]

32 minutes ago, Bottle said:

As far as I know, this is something truly unique for MSFS (the Azure computing power and expertise), that among other things makes it a step-change that will be hard (or even impossible) to match.

 

Another great thing is, that due to the streaming nature, we can always get updated scenery (due to new source content / Azure calculations) on our sim. No need to manually care for updating every bit and part.

[b737800 470]

1 hour ago, tweekz said:

 

Another great thing is, that due to the streaming nature, we can always get updated scenery (due to new source content / Azure calculations) on our sim. No need to manually care for updating every bit and part.

Depending on how that is implemented it might also be possible to fly back in time... only back to the beginning of the data of course.

[tweekz 2,165]

21 minutes ago, b737800 said:

Depending on how that is implemented it might also be possible to fly back in time... only back to the beginning of the data of course.

What? If they don't implement dinosaurs at least, this will heavily break immersion!

[Bottle 663]

If they don’t model pterodactyl strikes, it’s a no-buy from me!

[b737800 470]

10 minutes ago, Bottle said:

If they don’t model pterodactyl strikes, it’s a no-buy from me!

...and the pterodactyl MUST be in the Landor livery.