Is it possible to go into a cloud? Is new MSFS only VFR?

[KERNEL32 500]

Seems every official picture and/or GIF I've seen so far, the players are moving around the clouds and never through them. A HUGE part of the challenge of real world aviation is loss of horizon, or IFR. I wonder, is MSFS only a VFR sim even though they show clouds? Will we ever experience true IFR? I wonder what happens if a plane goes into the cloud in this new sim, is it just like "see-through" or "paper thin"?

I remember a RW flight I flew a long time ago and we flew over lake Michigan at night, it was clear out but no moonlight. We lost the horizon and that was just as disorientating as going inside a cloud! I also wonder if these types of challenges will exist in this new version of Flight Simulator.

Hopefully soon we'll see some official pictures or better yet videos in first person view of aircraft descending or ascending through clouds, thus going IFR. Also would be neat to see strobe flash inside a cloud day and night, this is also very disorientating, adding to immersion and challenge!

[OriginalGood 22]

They are certainly not 'paper thin' or 'see through'. Microsoft has explained that the clouds are fully volumetric. I don't want to accidentally break the NDA by going too far in depth into what I've seen. But you'll be delighted to know a IFR discovery series video is coming out late this month.

Edited April 11, 2020 by OriginalGood

[KERNEL32 500]

2 minutes ago, OriginalGood said:

They are certainly not 'paper thin' or 'see through'. Microsoft has explained that the clouds are fully volumetric. I don't want to accidentally break the NDA by going too far in depth into what I've seen. But you'll be delighted to know a IFR discovery series video is coming out late this month.

I cannot wait! 🤞

[ca_metal 2,024]

17 minutes ago, KERNEL32 said:

Seems every official picture and/or GIF I've seen so far, the players are moving around the clouds and never through them. A HUGE part of the challenge of real world aviation is loss of horizon, or IFR. I wonder, is MSFS only a VFR sim even though they show clouds? Will we ever experience true IFR? I wonder what happens if a plane goes into the cloud in this new sim, is it just like "see-through" or "paper thin"?

I remember a RW flight I flew a long time ago and we flew over lake Michigan at night, it was clear out but no moonlight. We lost the horizon and that was just as disorientating as going inside a cloud! I also wonder if these types of challenges will exist in this new version of Flight Simulator.

Hopefully soon we'll see some official pictures or better yet videos in first person view of aircraft descending or ascending through clouds, thus going IFR. Also would be neat to see strobe flash inside a cloud day and night, this is also very disorientating, adding to immersion and challenge!

Sure you can go into them, they are volumetric. There's an official video just about the weather:
 

I've marked the time when it shows a bit of the effect when get into one cloud but you should watch the whole video, it explains a lot.

About IFR, the next Official video showing the features of the new sim (it's a series called discovery series) will show off how the IFR will work on the new sim.

[KERNEL32 500]

10 minutes ago, ca_metal said:

Sure you can go into them, they are volumetric. There's an official video just about the weather:

I've marked the time when it shows a bit of the effect when get into one cloud but you should watch the whole video, it explains a lot.

About IFR, the next Official video showing the features of the new sim (it's a series called discovery series) will show off how the IFR will work on the new sim.

Great find thank you. I wonder if 4k will help eliminate some of the "banding" while inside the clouds. Anyway that looks spectacular so far!

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by KERNEL32

[GlideBy 324]

Some of the reason you didn't see pics of people flying into clouds, was there was a bug where clouds would be shown inside the plane.  This bug was fixed in the latest build.

Also shots of pure white are not so interesting.

And soon we will have a IFR feature video.  That may show full white out conditions while flying through a cloud.

Most sims can handle IFR.  This sim stands out as the first you can truly fly and navigate via VFR.

[Scottoest 1,561]

1 hour ago, KERNEL32 said:

Great find thank you. I wonder if 4k will help eliminate some of the "banding" while inside the clouds. Anyway that looks spectacular so far!

 

Banding probably has more to do with compression of the video, than being in the sim itself.

[JPStudios 4]

No you can't go into clouds, the gravity around them pushes you around like a atmosphere slingshot from mars.

[GlideBy 324]

58 minutes ago, JPStudios said:

No you can't go into clouds, the gravity around them pushes you around like a atmosphere slingshot from mars.

Did you read his whole question before being sarcastic?   Can you answer it?  "I wonder what happens if a plane goes into the cloud in this new sim, is it just like "see-through" or "paper thin"?"

[JPStudios 4]

1 hour ago, GlideBy said:

Did you read his whole question before being sarcastic?   Can you answer it?  "I wonder what happens if a plane goes into the cloud in this new sim, is it just like "see-through" or "paper thin"?"

It's volumetric, if there is cloud you will see cloud

[GlideBy 324]

That doesn't answer if clouds will be see through or paper thin.  We have seen clouds pics.

[ca_metal 2,024]

1 minute ago, GlideBy said:

That doesn't answer if clouds will be see through or paper thin.  We have seen clouds pics.

I posted a video above. Just watch it. I’ve marked the time they go through a cloud. 

[GlideBy 324]

8 minutes ago, ca_metal said:

I posted a video above. Just watch it. I’ve marked the time they go through a cloud. 

It mentions the density of the clouds can evolve.  I wonder if that means cumulonimbus clouds, which are dense, can be paper thin, or just thick as a brick with variations.  And I wonder how much control we have over that.  

[siggy 154]

What would be nice to see, and I think we have not seen this, if a 'spot plane camera' sees the flown plane disappear into a cloud and reappear from it. Going through a cloud looked not too bad in FSX from the cockpit, but the 'spot plane' always saw the flown plane, even in the thickest cloud. This should be gone with volumetric clouds, but I haven't seen this for the new sim yet, or I can't remember where.