Microsoft Flight Simulator

[Quest]

5 hours ago, Marlew said:

 

Cheers for this info. I'm mostly curious about what data they have for China. I just assumed it would be crap without access to Baidu data or something. Is it decent? 

 

So far it seems decent enough. Huangshan seemed pretty nice from the brief trip I made up there, and the bigger cities are fairly well represented even if it's still just the AI-built stuff.

 

For the small (by Chinese standards) city I live in they've captured the layout and general feel but there are quite a few issues that seem to arise from the map data being captured at completely different times of year. Still, I flew around my hometown of Nottingham for comparison and that wasn't particularly more accurate to be honest, so it might just be a case of it being better to visit less familiar places where the errors are less glaring.

[Popo]

I changed the ‘external camera look up’ binding to right stick down (actually it was already set to down) but when I press down on the right stick the camera looks down. Have I missed something?

 

I used the search function to find “look up” and cockpit and external camera are the only bindings that appear - both set to right stick down. 

[tnman]

26 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

How do you retract the landing gear in a 747 on a HOTAS or the controller? Is there a default key binding for it?

 

I think it was D-Pad Left or Right on controller as default. Try one of the two and go to external view and see if your wheels come out I guess. 😅

 

Please can someone explain to me how to take photos? The share button on my controller flicks between cockpit and external view, and if I go on the Xbox button to get the dash slide in it just brings up the pause menu automatically. I took my wife on a flight over Disney World to see our honeymoon spots but we couldn't take any nice photos.

[Parappa]

Anyone managed to update the PC version and test it out? I am interested to see if it runs any better on my middle of the road machine.

[Eighthours]

I think the servers are getting hammered again, as London was definitely not a smooth experience on my Series X a few minutes ago, and when I approached the O2 the game crashed. Then crashed again when I loaded it back up! Have turned my Xbox off, and will give it a couple of hours before trying again, I think! Am planning to do some more taking off and landing training, and going for a flight over Vegas. 

 

I have my settings as Squirrel (the YouTuber, not the animal) advised. Have a look at his latest videos if you haven’t already, they’re really good.

[iwan_canobi]

12 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

I think the servers are getting hammered again, as London was definitely not a smooth experience on my Series X a few minutes ago, and when I approached the O2 the game crashed. Then crashed again when I loaded it back up! Have turned my Xbox off, and will give it a couple of hours before trying again, I think! Am planning to do some more taking off and landing training, and going for a flight over Vegas. 

 

I have my settings as Squirrel (the YouTuber, not the animal) advised. Have a look at his latest videos if you haven’t already, they’re really good.

 

Yeah these help, particularly the yaw as the default is way too sensitive!

[Popo]

19 minutes ago, tnman said:

 

I think it was D-Pad Left or Right on controller as default. Try one of the two and go to external view and see if your wheels come out I guess. 😅

 

Please can someone explain to me how to take photos? The share button on my controller flicks between cockpit and external view, and if I go on the Xbox button to get the dash slide in it just brings up the pause menu automatically. I took my wife on a flight over Disney World to see our honeymoon spots but we couldn't take any nice photos.

Share button definitely takes screenshots, I’ve taken quite a few already! Check your button bindings - the square inside but slightly offset another square button switches between external and cockpit for me. 

[tnman]

5 minutes ago, Popo said:

Share button definitely takes screenshots, I’ve taken quite a few already! Check your button bindings - the square inside but slightly offset another square button switches between external and cockpit for me. 

 

I'm such a moron... thank you...

[shirubagan]

"I can see the pub my home from here!"

[5R7]

the DF vid is out

 

[ilpostino]

42 minutes ago, Parappa said:

Anyone managed to update the PC version and test it out? I am interested to see if it runs any better on my middle of the road machine.

The update took all night, so I'm hoping to find out tonight!

[Sixkiller]

Having a weird time in New York at the moment on the Series S - the Chrysler building is labelled as a landmark, but graphically it's just a black rectangular skyscraper.

 

Don't have that issue on the PC version.

[spanx]

PC version was a massive step up in frame rates for me, very noticeable. Alas it’s also lost some stability, had two or three hard crashes. 
 

Not sure if it was FSUIPC causing the issues though - would be keen to know if other PC players have probs. 
 

Really promising though, and it’s only a quick patch away from amazing. 

[Petrousgyre]

Has the PC VR mode been improved any? Last time I tried a month or two ago it was all but unplayable. 

[SharkyOB]

15 minutes ago, spanx said:

PC version was a massive step up in frame rates for me, very noticeable. Alas it’s also lost some stability, had two or three hard crashes. 
 

Not sure if it was FSUIPC causing the issues though - would be keen to know if other PC players have probs. 
 

Really promising though, and it’s only a quick patch away from amazing. 

 

Hopefully it's like racing cars; it's easier to make a well-performing game reliable than it is to make a reliable game perform.

[TehStu]

@Stanley was it you asking about mice? I just grabbed a cheap Logitech m325c that we had lying around, which the kids normally use with their school Chromebooks. It comes already synced with the supplied USB dongle. I plugged it in while FS was running and a popup immediately asked "Do you want to customize controls or accept defaults", so clicked defaults and hey presto, a Windows (lol) mouse pointer on my Xbox. It's small on a 4k TV, hopefully there are some accessibility controls that cover it.

 

If you use the left stick, the mouse pointer goes away and you get the usual dot with a big circle around it for navigating the interface. Think I'll leave this thing connected and just turn it on for when we're playing FS.

 

I think they've spun up more Azure, it's much quicker to load and pull updates today. At least Azure in my region.

[Skull Commander]

I had a little shot when I finally got the UK update, and was picking out lots of familiar Aberdeen sites. It's stunning that I'm seeing all this on a games console. 

[Harsin]

Why don't they just strike a deal with Bandai-Namco so they make an Ace Combat where you can have scraps over your local Tesco.

[SneakyNinja]

1 hour ago, Parappa said:

Anyone managed to update the PC version and test it out? I am interested to see if it runs any better on my middle of the road machine.

 

I've just had a quick go (take off from London city, quick tour of the sights, then back for a rough landing).

 

It's smoother now on 'high-end' graphic settings that it was pre-update on 'mid range'. (Ryzen 7 / RX5700XT)

 

First time in a long while that a performance update did what it promised, I reckon.

 

[friedgold]

11 minutes ago, Skull Commander said:

I had a little shot when I finally got the UK update, and was picking out lots of familiar Aberdeen sites. It's stunning that I'm seeing all this on a games console. 

Weirdly it's kind of made me pine for 'Car Simulator'. I really, really don't know why.

[TehStu]

Just grabbing world updates (which they should really push you to grab, I think casual players will miss them) and when you have the content manager up it'll actually tell you what files its downloading. You can tell the game has PC roots, although I had to dig and there's enough of a veneer for people who don't care to avoid that.

 

 

[Mike S]

4 minutes ago, TehStu said:

You can tell the game has PC roots, although I had to dig and there's enough of a veneer for people who don't care to avoid that.

 

 

 

 

I don't think it is so much that the game has PC roots but that Asobo have just made a real hash of how we update the game and manage all of the extra content that they are making available. The rest of the interface and various menus are mostly smooth and straightforward, albeit offering an awful lot of scope for digging deeper into the game that has been seen on a console before now. Let's not forget that this is a unique piece of software with regards to complexity and ambition as far as consoles and, to deliver the full PC sim experience, was never going to be streamlined/simplified enough to integrate more smoothly with traditional console expectations/experiences.

 

I remain amazed that MS even thought to bring the game to consoles and that, having done so, they appear to made an incredibly successful job of it.

[Mike S]

1 hour ago, spanx said:

PC version was a massive step up in frame rates for me, very noticeable. Alas it’s also lost some stability, had two or three hard crashes. 
 

Not sure if it was FSUIPC causing the issues though - would be keen to know if other PC players have probs. 
 

Really promising though, and it’s only a quick patch away from amazing. 

 

It took a shocking eight hours to download the remaining 17Gb of the patch today but it is now finally installed and I had a minute to stress test.

 

I repeated my high speed runs through the streets of Manhattan and am seeing a frame rate increase of ~40%. As an example, fast, high speed, low level turns would see me crashing to 15fps pre-patch but now they are an acceptable 30fps. Given that I was in dev mode and the speed and tightness of the turn would have likely ripped my wings off so it's not a real world stress test I am very happy. Just flying about without panning gives 50-60fps even over NYC now which is up from 25-40fps yesterday. In less graphically and simulation stressful areas things are rock solid. I took a flight over the incredible Richat Structure in Mauritania, followed by a fly by over the Akator Volcanic Field in Algeria and it was an comfortable 60 fps whatever I did. That's at 4K and with the most pretty settings at Ultra and the rest at medium to high.

 

No crashes yet but I only managed twenty mins of flying.

 

I am not too keen on the increased push towards using the controller for things other than flying. I am very keen on them finally moving to sat maps for the world screen. It's still not perfect but is night and day better than the precious blank world.

 

I do have a lovely photo of the Eye of The Sahara from 3,500 AGL but gave up on sharing it after repeated -200 errors.

 

 

[Naysonymous]

The servers are definitely getting hammered.  I did the pre install last week but the day one patch and get UK World Update see absolutely crawling. Can’t wait to see London and Birmingham though, I want to land a plane on the roof of where I work.🥳  

[SteveH]

Disappointed that the chatpad doesn't work. It gets recognised as a keyboard and the labels for each function changes, but sadly nothing works on it apart from some odd camera angle changes. 

[TehStu]

35 minutes ago, Mike S said:

I remain amazed that MS even thought to bring the game to consoles and that, having done so, they appear to made an incredibly successful job of it.

Absolutely. I remember this game before it was MS, it's a remarkable piece of work to bring it to consoles.

 

I don't want to hear any other devs say console ports of games with complicated interfaces can't happen! It's just a time/money/expertise thing.

[RFT]

6 hours ago, RFT said:

So, last night, I flew from the tiny strip just outside Banbury (My nearest airfield) to RAF cosford (this meand flying over birmingham) , then this morning did a hop from Cosford to the Gliding Club in Usk (near where my in-laws live). And I think from there i'm going to have a look at Cardiff and then maybe head out to west wales and so on.

 

My lunchtime trip was Usk-Pembrey and I'd forgotten I'd put live weather on, so what I saw of the south wales scenery was mostly through grey cloud. Terrible Visbility on takeoff. Luckily it was OK for landing, which is fun at Pembrey as you go straight over a racing curcuit that's using a good chunk of the former RAF base, leaving half a runway to land on.

[Popo]

Is the training instructor’s voice that of Cortana?

[Baz]

Aside from the Series S version only running 1080p, are there other differences in performance next to the X version?

[Parappa]

Can agree - a quick spin and it does seem a lot smoother on medium (PC) so I am going to try high-end and see if mine will run it. 

 

I can also confirm the weather works. I live not far from Manchester airport where it is throwing it down with rain, thunder and lightning.  All present and correct in game.  Its amazing.