Skywatcher

I'll try and clarify things even further. There has been no direct association between MSFS and previous FS versions made in any way, zip, zero, absolutely nothing. You just don't do this if MSFS is a continuation and previous users are intended consumers. It's simply really bad marketing unless the new product will differ greatly from the previous product.

Everything I see is marketing toward console gamers not hardcore enthusiasts not even PC users despite MS mentioning the game will be on PC first. I suggested this from the beginning. The latest screenshot and update imo confirms it. There is absolutely nothing that has been released to this point that makes me even question I could possibly be wrong. I can't say anymore than what I have said many times. I am certain this is no FSX replacement. The only thing I can't suggest is where the line will fall between arcade and simulator. The write-up all points to selling a modern MSFS 1 to the current modern console and casual PC gaming market. It does not point to selling a follow-on MSFS 11 to the market which is currently using FSX. The screenshot is an effect screenshot as is typical as you would produce to sell to the console crowd. The radical DOF effect, the angle and even general lighting. Furthermore, it's nowhere near close to reality. It's nothing like the eye would see this scene, it's how you would portray the scene in a game. Lack of HDR/dynamic range as the eye would see is also not there. What is there is the opposite, the light areas totally blow out all detail. They love doing this for gaming (bloom effect is one example) but it's not a representation of reality or how the human eye would see this scene if sitting in that cockpit. Text and screenshot, both point to a console type game not a FSX replacement. Look at what they are promoting, a flight planner, a new flight model, VFR-IFR flight, weather simulation, VR. Does this sound like it's going to excite the long term hardcore FSX user or possibly excite the more casual Xbox gamer?

You can use Winzip to split a large file into smaller parts.

To answer that, I would need to be prepared to be attacked, criticized, called names, accused of trolling or being a loser by people who have say all of around 10 posts to their name. I would need to risk mods suspending or banning me as well. Not interested, sorry. It is what it is. I will certainly never stop using my FS9 which I totally enjoy and for me, for reasons I have also explained, is the best of all the flight simulators. I simply have no interest in continuing commenting on MSFS or being an active part of the FS community. I hope this clarifies everything.

Couldn't respond earlier, been suspended. Sorry, 30 years in imaging, 30 years in marketing and a lifetime of gaming, I can assure you I am seeing things none of you are. The latest screenshot thread is another example. It is pointless me trying to explain anything to anyone here. Maybe if people listened when I was trying to explain a little about 4K they would not have needed, I think it was 5 pages, of discussion trying to determine something as simple as what the source of that screen was. The screenshot imo is not "WOW" for example, it is "Oh, no!" but you need to understand what you are looking at. I can neither explain or comment without being attacked by people who understand absolutely nothing. I've spent many years helping people on FS forums, even created a little content and was in the process of creating more. My partner has pulled out after 16 months on the project we working on due to comments here. That project is dead for me too. I'm moving on to being active in other games. Good luck to you all.

Correct! There is clearly enough information available to make a logical, rational, assessment of the game. It doesn't mean everyone will make one. Listening to the radio yesterday, a man was suggesting humans are not from planet Earth. His reasoning was we don't appear to suit the environment of this planet as well as animals. He thinks we came from somewhere else. Conclusions of a situation may vary person to person. lol

It's not a negative take, it's a rational assessment based on them not showing anything to confirm it will be a modern day FSX. Everything points to plane game. They had opportunity to state beyond this but didn't. At this point, I have no expectations because everything they have released, the platforms it will be on, the modern day market, key developers knowing nothing, it all screams modern day plane game. It's not a matter of being negative or positive. As I said, I don't think we will ever see the likes of a FSX again. These types of open hardcore sims are not viable in 2019 as they were in 2000-2005. Edit: How positive would everyone be if it didn't carry the MSFS name and had something else? Everyone would be far more negative. One single piece of marketing by using a known badge and everyone is jumping with joy. Even the badge is concerning because it also creates no statement MSFS is a carry on from previous versions.

That's the point, I am only going by the evidence presented so far and it's quite clear.

Flight was released during the transition period from old time gaming markets to modern gaming markets. MS tried to jump in early to benefit from the new gaming era. They got their marketing wrong as did many during that time and their product failed. How to market a game today and have it be successful is very clear cut so they are back for another attempt. First step, slap a well known badge on it. It was interesting to see they didn't put a version designation into the title as well. It's just MSFS. This community has really surprised me.

A "little" use of landclass and autogen. The final product will require a lot more across the entire planet. I'm not sure how else I can explain my thoughts to people. The 1min 30 sec trailer tells you it's an immaculate, spacious, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with extensive outdoor areas. You need to see the property in person. Every person here would buy the home from the description alone. Not only would they buy it but from the description are now expecting the bathroom will have a spa, his/her showers, the outdoor area will have a pool. It doesn't state that in the ad but they are now expecting it to happen. That's how it's going with MSFS. lol

I wish to race offline. I like to do seasons and race against AI. From what I recall, none of those sims have both a season option that you can tailor AI times for racing to be competitive nor do they have great AI to race against? Correct me if I am wrong and I will take a look at what you recommend. We are talking F1 here too.

Can't believe someone comes in and makes a point like yours and even worse, someone then reacts to it! There are no words. lol Ok, I apologize for being sooooo general. The VAST majority of the male population would find some interest in driving cars and simulating them in one form or another via a gaming environment. You would've struggled to go to any of the old arcades anywhere in the world and not find at least one racing machine. You would also struggle to find one gaming platform of any description of any time period that does not have a racing game in it's game catalogue. Like I said, there are no words.

You can only try. lol

Haha, ok, I've been through it all and explained it all. I did also point out racing sims as a sim exception on console. Every male of any age finds driving a car an attraction and always has. Racing games have and always will exist on any platform. In regards to the racing sims being hardcore on console, I like my F1 and I'm playing F1 Challenge 99-02, others are playing GP4, some are on GPL. Many are still playing RBR or GTR2, it's very widespread because the modern sims are not what you are stating. I haven't tried all the modern sims but things like realistic physics, AI, offline racing, season modes, these types of features have all dropped off. Racing sims are no different to anything else I pointed out, geared to online racing, subscriptions, DLC's and little ability for user content or modification. You can claim everything I type is BS, you can claim the sim and gaming world today is what it was 20 years ago. You can claim if MSFS turns out to be exactly what I suggest it will be, you can claim I fluked it. We still won't agree. lol

Should also say, games like FS just don't exist any longer. Any genre, they are all stripped down versions of games from years past built to generate revenue from things like DLC's and close access to outside development. They are not left wide open for others to come in and take from those profits. To get a modern day FSX replacement from MSFS, nothing in the world would surprise me more.

I honestly think it will be a cross between sim and plane game but what I really do not think it will be is a modern day FSX nor replacement for FSX. How do I come to these conclusions? (In short, main points) It will be on Xbox. To be a FSX replacement I think it will be the first of this type of in-depth game ever re-leased on any console. It will also be released in a time where these types of games are fading out not coming in. The first feature they highlighted was a flight planner. They used the word simulator rather than make any blatantly obvious statement that may indicate a continuation of the franchise. The entire write-up could just as easily fit any modern plane game. There is nothing specifically written to indicate it will be more than this. No, I do not believe they just forgot to indicate this. The content aspect is left wide open and very unclear. A major player like PMDG knows nothing. Where are these hardcore 3rd party aircraft going to come from? It's unrealistic to think they will release the game and then open things up to PMDG after release due to development times. Everything written is worded to continue interest without any commitment being made. Clear marketing that sets off some major warning bells. As I have said, we need one more public release. They will either confirm or sidestep again. Either way should then give us a real answer as to what MSFS will be.

I've been through all this. Tried to use a rational approach, tried to explain you must use a rational approach to take anything away from the little that has been released so far. Tried to explain you can't make assumptions as are being made on this forum. Tried to explain you can't assume a FSX replacement from the word simulator. Tried to explain you can't assume SDK from the word content. Tried to make a statement and leave it there but continue to get met with confrontational and challenging posts because my view does not coincide with the masses. I have also tried to explain, my views are based on the material released so far, not total fantasy. 30 years I've been involved in and around marketing. I am looking at the marketing to base my decision on what this game will be. I am not blindly taking a wild guess or forming an opinion based on my own desires for what I wish MSFS to be. I am taking a logical approach. I have also explained my thought process regarding what can be taken from the marketing. I have not taken anything from the trailer, I have explained this as well, it tells you nothing. I stated tongue in cheek it will be a game just as the members here have so clearly stated it will have every feature known to man. I have also tried to get away from this subject but it clearly just cannot be done.

As long as we don't end up with elephants and giraffes in every capital city on the planet. lol

Yes, agree, we need more information and from a graphics standpoint, to see it on our machines. I've looked at it closely now, appears to me the grass is some kind of overlay and different to all the other elements within the scene including the ground. You can also see this in the giraffe scene by looking at the grass in the distance. Appears it may have gone from overlay to plain texture/photo when you look at the grass in the distance.

Correct. I'm not an expert to tell how modern graphics work and what is possible and what is not. However, the tress and elephants are likely different graphical elements. Let's say they are autogen for example. The grass is part of a modern day landclass. It's a representation of how ground elements may look and render. I am guessing here but I really don't believe the elephants, trees and grass are all the same graphical type of element. The grass would be representative of much of the MSFS world on the ground. This is why some elements are sharp and others fall apart.

No, it won't be perfect but we may have a new modern version of "the blurries" that FS9/FSX users have moaned about for years. The other question that immediately springs to mind, the trailer would've come from a high end machine. If you ran this on a lesser machine, what would it look like?

The difference is speed. I think the grass in the elephant scene and giraffe scene is absolutely identical. The difference is what happens to the grass when you introduce movement/speed. The rest of the trailer hides this type of rendering situation in every scene except the elephant scene. Here it has slipped through so you get to see how things will look from your cockpit flying low. As I have stated, it's the most critical part of the trailer. Everything else just shows typical promo vid elements in ideal situations where they will present well visually. The rest of the video is just a bunch of sat data or autogen that comes with it's various pros and cons. The elephant scene shows you much more than any other part of the trailer.

There is a difference between heated discussion, rational discussion and simple evaluation. Sorry Mr Mod who messaged me but you can see it is almost impossible to make mention of anything unless you let your tongue hang out and want to kiss MS's behind! lol If this is all I can do on this forum, sorry, I have no interest and feel free to just suspend, ban or whatever.

Ok, just watched the trailer a 3rd time. Yes, the elephant scene is the most critical. Every other scene is carefully chosen to sell the game and show MSFS at it's best. The elephant scene looks like it kinda slipped through because they were likely too distracted in focusing on and simply wanting to show everyone the elephants themselves. The grass shows the game rendering at flight speeds and flying low. Be it if you fly a prop or are in a jet coming in to land, this is what you may see. There are many questions this raises, I would have to carefully think for a while to come up with answers.

Yeah, sorry! lol Like I have said, the trailer didn't offer much in telling me anything about the sim beyond graphics so I didn't watch it again. I understand the trailer excited many people but for me, which I also explained, satellite imagery isn't something I want to see used in a new flight sim. For this reason, I had little interest from the sims graphics standpoint and there was no need to watch the trailer again. Another post in a topic questioning Dubai water prompted me to watch it again. I'm gobsmacked if this has not been brought up or that it was not covered by the expert ACES team member. The elephant scene imo is one of the most critical of the entire trailer and actually shows you something. I'll comment on it but I may have to go back and watch everything again to be dead certain. The elephant scene is the only scene that shows close ground rendering at flight speeds. Everything else we see is either satellite imagery, autogen, not at speed or is at altitude. The giraffe scene is not the same as the elephant scene. The ground scenery (grass) rendering in the giraffe scene remains sharp as it is the aircraft which has the most motion. The grass remains almost still in that scene. In the elephant scene, the blurry green area is grass. It's the only scene that shows what MSFS may be using as modern landclass and how it may render in the game. I'm no expert on graphics of this nature. To me, it appears there are serious issues rendering this detail. I'll really have to go back and look at it further. I was expecting someone would just give me an instant answer.