Microsoft Flight Simulator

[TurningMonster]

 

[TehStu]

Holy shit, some shot for shot footage with the old film there (I haven't seen the new one). Can you imagine telling younger you that some day you'd be playing that? It looks like film footage. Whereas, what we were actually playing was Afterburner II on the spectrum, or a flight sim in EGA on the PC.

[shirubagan]

I’m enjoying the Top Gun low altitude challenges very much. 

[Popo]

That video is dope. I might have to install this again. 

[K]

On 26/05/2022 at 18:52, TehStu said:

Holy shit, some shot for shot footage with the old film there (I haven't seen the new one). Can you imagine telling younger you that some day you'd be playing that? It looks like film footage. Whereas, what we were actually playing was Afterburner II on the spectrum, or a flight sim in EGA on the PC.

 

Yeah, I can't help but think about when I used to play F-19 Stealth Fighter on the Atari ST and then go round to my mate's house to play the pen & paper version of Cyberpunk. F-19 in particular seemed stunningly realistic at the time, with its triangular mountains that updated at about 10fps - I would probably have had a heart attack if I'd seen Flight Sim on the Xbox, and could instantly switch to a 3D open world version of Night City. 

 

Shame someone hasn't made an F19 model for the game, but I guess it would be a lot of work to create a plane that never existed.

[spanx]

Anyone playing this on PC looking for something to really get your teeth in to, this plane is absolutely amazing.

 

 

Much more to do than the bigger and more modern airliners, and definitely a big learning curve. But it’s therefore more fun to fly and so rewarding when you nail it. 

 

Check out the cockpit… everything works. It’s astonishing

 

[Eighthours]

35 minutes ago, spanx said:

Anyone playing this on PC looking for something to really get your teeth in to, this plane is absolutely amazing.

 

 

Much more to do than the bigger and more modern airliners, and definitely a big learning curve. But it’s therefore more fun to fly and so rewarding when you nail it. 

 

Check out the cockpit… everything works. It’s astonishing

 

What’s the plane?

[Vespa Alex]

21 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

What’s the plane?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_146

[spanx]

What @Vespa Alex said

 

To be specific, this one: https://www.justflight.com/product/146-professional-microsoft-flight-simulator

[Eighthours]

10 hours ago, spanx said:

What @Vespa Alex said

 

To be specific, this one: https://www.justflight.com/product/146-professional-microsoft-flight-simulator

£50!!!!!!!

[spanx]

Yeah it seems to be the norm for this level of plane. I guess there’s a lot of work involved but it’s quite niche so to be profitable they need to charge quite a chunk. I’ll get a lot out of it over the months so happy to splash out

[Rocafella]

Does anyone play this on Xbox using HOTAS?

 

Currys are doing a deal on this Thrustmaster one, looks a decent deal so tempted to pick it up. 

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/thrustmaster-t.flight-hotas-one-joystick-and-throttle-black-10229629.html

[T Pot]

I do love this game but it fucks me off at times. I was up for a quick blast in a Jet fighter free flight. 
 

40 minutes later and it’s still fucking loading in. What in the living fuck. 

[Eighthours]

Just now, T Pot said:

I do love this game but it fucks me off at times. I was up for a quick blast in a Jet fighter free flight. 
 

40 minutes later and it’s still fucking loading in. What in the living fuck. 

 

It is definitely the worst current console game for loading. Some of it can be traced back to its PC roots, obvs, but still! It’s mad.

[T Pot]

14 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

 

It is definitely the worst current console game for loading. Some of it can be traced back to its PC roots, obvs, but still! It’s mad.

It’s never normally like this on series X. Few minutes tops.

 

The fucking Darkstar is fucked in free flight too. It just doesn’t respond to inputs other than throttle. If you try and take off it’s almost impossible. It’s just constantly stuck turning right and down.

[TehStu]

On 31/05/2022 at 14:06, Rocafella said:

Does anyone play this on Xbox using HOTAS?

 

Currys are doing a deal on this Thrustmaster one, looks a decent deal so tempted to pick it up. 

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/thrustmaster-t.flight-hotas-one-joystick-and-throttle-black-10229629.html

I came here to ask similar. I don't get to play this very often, but fired up the F-18 hoping for quick blasts. But flight sims are awful on a pad, I've got too much muscle memory as a teen playing DOS flight sims.

 

I found something very similar to that on Amazon - is it considered one of the cheaper "not crap" HOTAS? No point me spending much more, but would rather like something that'll last.

[Quest]

3 hours ago, T Pot said:

40 minutes later and it’s still fucking loading in. What in the living fuck. 

 

Something is definitely wrong there. It loads in a few minutes for me on Series X.

[K]

4 hours ago, T Pot said:

It’s never normally like this on series X. Few minutes tops.

 

The fucking Darkstar is fucked in free flight too. It just doesn’t respond to inputs other than throttle. If you try and take off it’s almost impossible. It’s just constantly stuck turning right and down.

I had a quick go on the Darkstar, and it worked OK for me - I successfully took off from Barrow-in-Furness (although the runway is only just long enough) and had a quick buzz over Morecambe, before taking it up to 40,000 feet. I couldn’t work out how to turn on the scramjet, and it handles like a zeppelin, but it seemed to work alright. 

[Don Wiskerando]

18 hours ago, T Pot said:

It’s never normally like this on series X. Few minutes tops.

 

The fucking Darkstar is fucked in free flight too. It just doesn’t respond to inputs other than throttle. If you try and take off it’s almost impossible. It’s just constantly stuck turning right and down.

You've probably got one of the autopilots on.   Try holding down x or y for a few seconds.   I had the same on the F-18.

[MattyP]

OK. Watched Top Gun Maverick last week. Just seen this thread. Have Game Pass. I have decided now  is the time to get into Flight Sim. Have HOTAS. Check. Oculus headset. Check.

 

As far as I know MS FS now works with Oculus on PC! Anyone used it? How well does it work on your setup? Have a Ryzen 5, 16GB RAM, GTX980Ti (6GB VRAM). Hopefully it should work fairly well. Giving it a try anyway but just want to set my expectations appropriately!  

 

EDIT. OMG just realised the Top Gun Expansion is FREE. Well played Microsoft! This will be like everything I imagined when playing EAs F/18 interceptor all those years ago on the Amiga (I was blown away then!!!).

 

 

[MattyP]

So booted this up for a quick go on VR. It actually works OK on my setup. Think my GPU could do with an upgrade as it was juddery at times it probably needs the 8GB of VRAM as the recommended minimum specs state however it will boot and run on less (have 6GB here). The cockpit detail is amazing as is the sense of immersion. WOW. Maverick pack now downloading. Will be setting up the HOTAS at some point and actually learn how to fly!

 

Definitely worth a try in VR even if your system is on the older side still a great experience. This is how I envisioned playing flight sims all those years ago playing F/18 Interceptor on the Amiga and Psion Flight Simulator on the Spectrum.

[papalazarou]

1 hour ago, MattyP said:

Maverick pack now downloading. Will be setting up the HOTAS at some point and actually learn how to fly!

The maverick dlc is really good in vr 

Spoiler

Esp the high altitude Mach 10 test plane mission from the movie

 

 

[iwan_canobi]

1 hour ago, MattyP said:

So booted this up for a quick go on VR. It actually works OK on my setup. Think my GPU could do with an upgrade as it was juddery at times it probably needs the 8GB of VRAM as the recommended minimum specs state however it will boot and run on less (have 6GB here). The cockpit detail is amazing as is the sense of immersion. WOW. Maverick pack now downloading. Will be setting up the HOTAS at some point and actually learn how to fly!

I’m quite surprised you’re getting playable frame rates in VR on that GPU, but that’s awesome! I haven’t played for ages but loaded it up last night for the inevitable updates to download so I can have a go this week.

 

I’m using the HOTAS ONE with the pedals as well and it does add a lot to the immersion! It’s a bit light feeling personally but once you’re in VR you forget all about it! Not sure the pedals really add too much immersion mind you, but it depends what level of realism you’re looking for.

[MattyP]

16 minutes ago, iwan_canobi said:

I’m quite surprised you’re getting playable frame rates in VR on that GPU, but that’s awesome! I haven’t played for ages but loaded it up last night for the inevitable updates to download so I can have a go this week.

I was surprised too.. actually surprised it booted at all!  Seems there is life in the old 980Ti yet and the tech MS are using is very scalable. 

[Rocafella]

On 02/06/2022 at 15:04, TehStu said:

I came here to ask similar. I don't get to play this very often, but fired up the F-18 hoping for quick blasts. But flight sims are awful on a pad, I've got too much muscle memory as a teen playing DOS flight sims.

 

I found something very similar to that on Amazon - is it considered one of the cheaper "not crap" HOTAS? No point me spending much more, but would rather like something that'll last.

 

Are you referring to Xbox, or PC? On Xbox, you're far more limited in terms of compatible hardware. There isn't much on the market at the moment.

 

The HOTAS One I mentioned seems to be considered the standard, entry-level hardware for Xbox (for MSFS, not sure in relation to other games). There are similar models for PC/PS which are meant to be a bit better, and obviously you have all of the high-end gear.

This is my first crack at flight sims, so decided to take a punt as it was a good deal, just to see if it's something I'll enjoy. Not expecting the world, but will definitely beat a controller! 

[TehStu]

57 minutes ago, Rocafella said:

Are you referring to Xbox, or PC? On Xbox, you're far more limited in terms of compatible hardware. There isn't much on the market at the moment.

 

The HOTAS One I mentioned seems to be considered the standard, entry-level hardware for Xbox (for MSFS, not sure in relation to other games). There are similar models for PC/PS which are meant to be a bit better, and obviously you have all of the high-end gear.

Sorry, Xbox. I only have a laptop so haven't even tried the PC version. That HOTAS One is probably perfect actually, looks to be about as much money as I've spent on other joysticks over the years.

[Boozy The Clown]

Halo Pelican available in in game marketplace. 14 Liveries.

 

edit: 10 minutes later -  it's a bit rubbish.

[TehStu]

1 hour ago, Boozy The Clown said:

Halo Pelican available in in game marketplace. 14 Liveries.

 

edit: 10 minutes later -  it's a bit rubbish.

How do I fly more than 89 knots? Throttle seems to control up and down, and pushing forward barely moves me.

 

Edit - ah, hover/normal switch on dashboard. Struggling to get this thing above 35k feet though, much less stratospheric flight. Moves like a slug.

[Gotters]

Depending on how you play this of course, but I think helicopters could be a bit of a game changer as somebody who uses this for a bit of virtual sightseeing, my partner says lets have a look at ...... and we have a nose round. The hard part is having to loop round and get good angles of all the stuff she insists on seeing. 

 

Copters should make that all far easier.

[Boozy The Clown]

 

 

2 hours into a Cesna flight from my local airport outside Glasgow to the Isle of Barra. This happened.