https://flightsim.to/product/hogwarts-express-steam-train-for-msfs-featuring-custom-animations-sounds-smoke-effects

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Im probably missing something or perhaps Im just too old to understand why people like it, but whats up with modeling the inside of airports and in this instance...trains? Doesn't it eat a bunch of resources in the scenery to model arrival/departure boards inside of an airport? Do people just drone camera throughout an airport to see what it looks like while their plane refuels? 

The train looks great. I wonder if it is possible to use it in other sceneries. 

26 minutes ago, Bdub22 said:

Im probably missing something or perhaps Im just too old to understand why people like it, but whats up with modeling the inside of airports and in this instance...trains? Doesn't it eat a bunch of resources in the scenery to model arrival/departure boards inside of an airport? Do people just drone camera throughout an airport to see what it looks like while their plane refuels? 

I literally could not have said it better myself.

This does look cool, not gonna buy something like this though as IMO basic trains running on tracks should be in the default Sim. But I bet it's fun to follow in a low & slow plane or chopper.

I like it.

57 minutes ago, Bdub22 said:

Im probably missing something or perhaps Im just too old to understand why people like it, but whats up with modeling the inside of airports and in this instance...trains? Doesn't it eat a bunch of resources in the scenery to model arrival/departure boards inside of an airport? Do people just drone camera throughout an airport to see what it looks like while their plane refuels? 

I guess because different folks, different strokes? The modelers that build the detailed airside of the airports for our sim, often want to detail the other side of the glass too and what fantastic results we get. In real life, airport companies around the world compete to make their airport buildings and passenger spaces as innovative, relaxing, exciting, inviting and enthralling as they possibly can. The Jewel Changi Airport is just one such example and it is brilliantly rendered by Cloudsurf. There are many other examples too. Airport architecture done well is a sight to behold. And isn't that what MSFS is all about now? Not just about the flight but the sights and the scenery along the way and of course the destination? Bush trips are not something ever previously considered to be as much fun as they are now. The fidelity and flexibility this sim offers means that we can do just about anything we want. Fly an extremely detailed and functioning airliner like PMDG's that for all intents and purposes is at a similar level to a commercial simulator, or grab Harry Potter flying a broomstick and chasing a quidditch. Sit at the end of a wharf while singing 'Sitting on the dock of the bay' and watch the ships roll in and rollout again, courtesy of Henricks marvelous vessel products (someone remind me I'm in a flight simulator!) or sit at the end of the runway and just plane spot all day while listening to ATC (although MSFS ATC might send you a little batty). Clearly trains are now part of the scenery possibilities too and of course you have to feast your eyes on some of the most awesome architecture in the world while flying around numerous cityscapes both new and ancient. Importantly while all this has been made available, it has not been at the expense of the what Microsoft Flight Simulator started off as. A 2D low pixel screen from which to use the keyboard to land a Cessna has now morphed into to beautifully rendered airframes and essentially fully functioning flight decks all with the better FPS than ever previously experienced so that real world flights can be simulated with a high degree of accuracy.    

So you can see the interior rendering of many iconic airports is just another awesome outcome of this simulator. There is something for everyone but as I say, different folks, different strokes.  Oh did I mention giraffes, whales, birds.......

 

Cheers

Terry  

 

 

I'm waiting to watch the Youtube videos.

5 hours ago, Bdub22 said:

Im probably missing something or perhaps Im just too old to understand why people like it, but whats up with modeling the inside of airports and in this instance...trains? Doesn't it eat a bunch of resources in the scenery to model arrival/departure boards inside of an airport? Do people just drone camera throughout an airport to see what it looks like while their plane refuels? 

I used to think the same way, but using the drone camera changed my opinion.

Waiting for the day when it's possible to create "mash-ups" of different games: say MSFS with GTA, or Call of Duty, or MSFS + Train simulator.

Edited April 22, 20224 yr by Ricardo41

It's a nicely modelled world so I guess folks are just going to put stuff in it to give it depth. Inevitable really. Although I probably wont buy into this particular mod I like the idea in principle. If King Kong swiped some biplanes out of the sky on top of the Empire State Building I would go and watch.....not sure I'd pay for it though.

 

10 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

Waiting for the day when it's possible to create "mash-ups" of different games: say MSFS with GTA, or Call of Duty, or MSFS + Train simulator.

Imagine that, landing at an airport in a war torn part of the world and you have a Call of Duty battle taking place all around you. As long as there are no Fortnite “build battles” taking place on the runway.

Edited April 22, 20224 yr by RaptyrOne

Railway lines are very useful flying VFR, and trains help you spot the railways...

I wonder if MS is thinking of reviving its railsim franchise on the exact same platform as MSFS? This would be an extraordinary direction.  And integrate them where you could switch from flying your plane to a local rail line by train.

23 minutes ago, Lenny777 said:

I wonder if MS is thinking of reviving its railsim franchise on the exact same platform as MSFS? This would be an extraordinary direction.  And integrate them where you could switch from flying your plane to a local rail line by train.

Oh man as an equally big fan of train sims I am hoping this is what they do one day! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if MS is going to keep extending and refining their "twin earth" simulation core platform/technologies for other uses, such as trains, and hopefully a combined world of both flight and trains. The key to this would be to render the ground-level view of the world in more detail, especially the photogrammetry and/or autogen... perhaps when in "ground mode" more details can be served up from their cloud to our machines but restricted to a certain radius since the view distance/angles is completely different than when flying, so as to keep hardware/networking resource use manageable. Those flying in this environment would continue to get current terrain/photogrammetry details. Anyways, just spitballing here 🙂

Per their roadmaps https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/617852-april-21st-2022-–-development-update/, the lifetime wishlist #28 for trains is marked as "Not started" so it is definitely in their plans for some future version of MSFS... assuming this is just moving trains for viewing from a flying perspective.  But a rebirth of MS Train Simulator in this environment might well be in the cards, who knows.

 

Edited April 22, 20224 yr by lwt1971