Gamereactor interview with Jorg Neumann

[MarcG 3,014]

2 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Well.....

I suspect MS now (if it did not before) have plans for this engine that at this point may extend quite a bit beyond just flight simming.

Racing games? Shooters? Trains?

Microsoft's version of Unreal Engine?

It would be good as that's what has been predicted by many since the very beginning, the potential for an actual World Simulator is right there and the only thing holding it back is the vision and willingness of MS to go forward with that thinking. Be interesting to see if MSFS 2024 starts to become something more than "just" a flight Sim.

Of course the current one already does, but in a hacky kind of way with the sea physics and lack of terrain detail/roads for ground based vehicles.

[lwt1971 7,424]

9 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

I suspect MS now (if it did not before) have plans for this engine that at this point may extend quite a bit beyond just flight simming.

Always suspected this, a unified world engine/simulator that can also be used for train/boat/driving sims and applications beyond simming. But for the kind of details (like Forza Horizon) at ground level on a world scale, maybe the tech and cloud infrastructure still needs a few years, but also could be possible now with cloud storage coupled with generative AI.. in any case MS certainly must have bigger plans in mind for the digital earth they've created for MSFS.
 

Edited November 8, 2023 by lwt1971

[HiFlyer 9,363]

5 minutes ago, MarcG said:

It would be good as that's what has been predicted by many since the very beginning

But the world was never "granular" enough for that to happen. Roads going sideways up mountains, etc.

If it really is technically possible now to change that, then.... Well, nothing's off the table, after that.

[Franz007 505]

13 minutes ago, MarcG said:

It appears the fun has gone way over some people's heads in this thread, reading every post seriously and not as I said facetiously 🤣 people having a laugh about pebbles then the high and mighty brigade arrive with their pitchforks missing the fun in the posts entirely, lol.

Exactly. That’s why it is so fantastic because at the end we all had fun. That’s a win-win. Only the few usual-suspects who cannot hide their frustration. But that’s ok ☺️

[MarcG 3,014]

2 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

But the world was never "granular" enough for that to happen. Roads going sideways up mountains, etc.

If it really is technically possible now to change that, then.... Well, nothing's off the table, after that.

If they could incorporate a racing Sim Dev to introduce tracks into the world then that'd be incredible for me, since this Sims release I've dreamt of being able to fly to race tracks then get in the car to race against others then fly home again.

[Franz007 505]

6 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

Always suspected this, a unified world engine/simulator that can also be used for train/boat/driving sims and applications beyond simming.

This was actually one of my thoughts as well: connecting all simulators together. This is something i could really find appealing. But please no shooter- stuff, only simulation from a « steering »-perspective. That’s something that should be doable nowadays.

[HiFlyer 9,363]

1 minute ago, MarcG said:

If they could incorporate a racing Sim Dev to introduce tracks into the world then that'd be incredible for me, since this Sims release I've dreamt of being able to fly to race tracks then get in the car to race against others then fly home again.

I also wonder if that's at least one reason they were talking about attempting to reduce the storage footprint on our personal hard drives, and have more of the sim reside in the cloud.

Maybe that's the better option for the massive amounts of data that would be needed for the creation of a world that detailed.....

Especially if it's constantly being worked-on/updated/modified.

All speculation, of course.

[lwt1971 7,424]

2 hours ago, MarcG said:

...or it could be people just being facetious, not everything in life has to be stern serious 24/7 😉

Quite so.. but anyone with >= average reading comprehension, in reading the series of posts on this thread by *some*, would also agree those folks were not being facetious and instead peddling their usual talking points. And now they're backpedaling given they've been clued into what the interview was actually about 🙂

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by lwt1971

[tonywob 4,770]

10 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

I also wonder if that's at least one reason they were talking about attempting to reduce the storage footprint on our personal hard drives, and have more of the sim reside in the cloud.

Anything that improves the really long install times is a win for me. Last time I installed, it took nearly 2 days

[abrams_tank 7,426]

32 minutes ago, MarcG said:

It would be good as that's what has been predicted by many since the very beginning, the potential for an actual World Simulator is right there and the only thing holding it back is the vision and willingness of MS to go forward with that thinking. Be interesting to see if MSFS 2024 starts to become something more than "just" a flight Sim.

Of course the current one already does, but in a hacky kind of way with the sea physics and lack of terrain detail/roads for ground based vehicles.

IMO, this is another reason why Microsoft will win the flight sim wars. They are making a world engine not just for flight simulation, but for many other uses. Microsoft is going to keep pouring money into the MSFS engine, or maybe they will rename it something like "world engine" when they start using it for other things, other than flight simulation.

I would hate to be competing against Microsoft. You are just going to get walked over.

[MarcG 3,014]

Just now, abrams_tank said:

IMO, this is another reason why Microsoft will win the flight sim wars. They are making a world engine not just for flight simulation, but for many other uses. Microsoft is going to keep pouring money into the MSFS engine, or maybe they will rename it something like "world engine" when they start using it for other things, other than flight simulation.

I would hate to be competing against Microsoft. You are just going to get walked over.

On the other hand competition is good as it keeps you on your toes, we wouldn't of got to the moon if it wasn't for the USA & Russia going at it. So if someone else comes to the party to challenge MS for a true World Sim, then I'll gladly sit back and watch the development of both unfold, without that competition it could take MS longer to reach that goal if that is what they're aiming for of course.

[ryanbatc 12,874]

To me this is great news.  Generally speaking, the ground is bland and lacks many details compared to the real world.... especially off airport landings (ie helis or bush fixed wing).  If they auto generate some realistic features this will be most welcome.

[somiller 694]

1 hour ago, lwt1971 said:

I see the usual suspects taking the lighter to their hair, and a certain other band of cohorts coming in with their usual silly talking points 🙂

What both sets don't seem to grasp (more likely they're being disingenuous), is that this interview is about world updates and graphics.. so shock and horror Jorg focuses on tidbits (pun intended) about those aspects in MSFS 2024. Gonna go out on a long limb (over a stream of pebbles) and say that given they've invested in 500+ people on their team, they're able to keep pushing the boundaries on graphical fidelity *and* keep pushing on many other aspects of flight simming.

Oh, and we know this because:
MS/Asobo FSExpo presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPhScg_FINE
MSFSAddons interview: https://msfsaddons.com/2023/06/25/exclusive-interview-with-jorg-neumann-and-sebastian-wloch-we-are-in-the-pursuit-of-the-perfect-sim/
Helisimmer interview: https://www.helisimmer.com/interview/msfs-2024-helicopters-future-msfs-2020
FSElite interview: https://fselite.net/content/interview-microsoft-on-microsoft-flight-simulator/

Always advisable to educate oneself of all known facts and consider proper context, versus picking on a narrow slice of that to then make proclamations and/or attempt to push narratives of your choice 🙂

 

Thanks dad, I needed that...where would I be without you?!

[lwt1971 7,424]

3 minutes ago, somiller said:

Thanks dad, I needed that...where would I be without you?!

One can only imagine!

[abrams_tank 7,426]

45 minutes ago, MarcG said:

On the other hand competition is good as it keeps you on your toes, we wouldn't of got to the moon if it wasn't for the USA & Russia going at it. So if someone else comes to the party to challenge MS for a true World Sim, then I'll gladly sit back and watch the development of both unfold, without that competition it could take MS longer to reach that goal if that is what they're aiming for of course.

I agree, competition is good. But the competition to MSFS moved way too slow and did little to advance flight simulation in the 10 years that Microsoft was away from flight simulation. The competition was complacent for 10 years, before MSFS came out.

If you watch American football (NFL), the competition moved the ball forward by 2 yards in 10 years.  MSFS comes in, laughs at the 2 yard progression, and punts the ball 80 yards down the field within 30 seconds of entering the match. 

Edited November 8, 2023 by abrams_tank