Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

[sonatine]

pre-orders are up, launches on nov 19 you dumb dicked bitches.

[Dan Druff]

Seems like a nice improvement. Here's a good article on it: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/09/...-2024-preview/


They'll finally be doing something about the ground detail. That was my biggest pet peeve with FS 2020. Up in the air, things looked pretty good, but once you got close to the ground, it was garbage. Basically they electronically generated terrain from elevation/topographical data, and then drew rough approximations of buildings and slapped decals on them. This data was faulty, too. For example, some unpopulated areas near where I live had random houses strewn about in FS 2020, including some which would be impossible to reach, even if they existed in real life.

Now the ground detail will be far better, and supposedly we're seeing improved buildings, too. Oh, and there will be animals on the ground!

You'll also be able to float around in a hot air balloon, which is kinda cool, I guess.

The cars on the ground, which were also trash in FS 2020, will supposedly get a big upgrade, too.

One thing that bored me about FS 2020 was that the scenery was too similar due to the ground detail issue, so I felt less motivated to fly to far-flung locations. You've seen one cliff or mountain in FS 2020, you've seen 'em all. I have optimism that this might be different now.

I guess we'll see.

[sonatine]

Seems like a nice improvement. Here's a good article on it: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/09/...-2024-preview/


They'll finally be doing something about the ground detail. That was my biggest pet peeve with FS 2020. Up in the air, things looked pretty good, but once you got close to the ground, it was garbage. Basically they electronically generated terrain from elevation/topographical data, and then drew rough approximations of buildings and slapped decals on them. This data was faulty, too. For example, some unpopulated areas near where I live had random houses strewn about in FS 2020, including some which would be impossible to reach, even if they existed in real life.

Now the ground detail will be far better, and supposedly we're seeing improved buildings, too. Oh, and there will be animals on the ground!

You'll also be able to float around in a hot air balloon, which is kinda cool, I guess.

The cars on the ground, which were also trash in FS 2020, will supposedly get a big upgrade, too.

One thing that bored me about FS 2020 was that the scenery was too similar due to the ground detail issue, so I felt less motivated to fly to far-flung locations. You've seen one cliff or mountain in FS 2020, you've seen 'em all. I have optimism that this might be different now.

I guess we'll see.

whats interesting is apparently its going to be around 30gb? i dont understand that math at all.

[Dan Druff]

whats interesting is apparently its going to be around 30gb? i dont understand that math at all.

I'll be honest, the 30GB shit is scaring me, too.

Like, yeah it was heartbreaking to see a 118GB download when I load the game up and am in the mood to play, but it's more heartbreaking to think of them getting skimpy with local space usage.

Supposedly they will be "downloading data from the cloud", but that just introduces another variable which can fuck up your experience and/or force you into lower resolution.

I'm hoping they just found a way to more efficiently compress things, or they found more efficient usage of the data.

Flying in FS 2020 reminds me of when I'm in a familiar place in a dream. It kinda sorta feels like the real thing, but at the same time, things just look different. Like I fly around the 10 square miles surrounding my house, and I just don't recognize it from the air. Yet when I'm on a real plane, much higher up, I can easily recognize my area.

It just felt like they were almost there, and hopefully the 24 version will be what I've really been waiting for.

[Dan Druff]

Nobody can get it to work today.

Launched at 8am.

Most are getting server errors, the others are getting choppy motion.

[drake]

I used to be pretty into FS2020 and the prior versions. It was a fun challenge learning how to program the 737 and fly from airport to airport. Not really that hard but once you learn the basics you can fly real routes if you're into that.

[sonatine]

Nobody can get it to work today.

Launched at 8am.

Most are getting server errors, the others are getting choppy motion.

i saw these reports as well. it feels like the math of scaling resources into a successful launch just doesnt make sense anymore because more often than not, launch day for any significant game is just an absolute fucking clown show.

in any case, really looking forward to this and doubly so if theres been any real advancements in VR gear.

[sonatine]

fuckin buuuuump city because this shit is coming to ps5 somehow?




https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/...this-december/

[lol wow]

Tine has spent the last year trying to smuggle a box cutter into this game

[VaughnP]

I was curious if they had incorporated auroras into this version.



Thats pretty much what they look like in an active state between substorms - during substorms they can get quite a bit brighter.

Another good example, very similar to what being under strong geomagnetic conditions looks like in real life, the substorms from this would be as crazy as it gets:

[Dan Druff]

So I have to say that this update is disappointing.

The intro to it is fucking awesome, but then when you go to play, the actual gameplay is nothing like it.

It's the 1980s arcade game "attract mode" all over again.

Ben remarked the other day, "How do we get to do these things in the actual game?"



I have not yet seen one animal, nor does the ground stuff look any better than in 2020. In fact, the fucked up roads and buildings make it difficult for me to fly around my own neighborhood, because half the stuff I don't recognize. It's like I'm in a dream where the buildings and landscape look sort of like real life, but also completely different in some ways.

Landscapes still need improvement. I would love to fly around the world and see beautiful landscapes, yet it's all too generic. The mountains generally look the same, as do the cliffs, as do the foliage.

I still find it the most fun to get in a small plane and zip between buildings in places like NYC or Vegas.

[sonatine]

So I have to say that this update is disappointing.

The intro to it is fucking awesome, but then when you go to play, the actual gameplay is nothing like it.

It's the 1980s arcade game "attract mode" all over again.

Ben remarked the other day, "How do we get to do these things in the actual game?"



I have not yet seen one animal, nor does the ground stuff look any better than in 2020. In fact, the fucked up roads and buildings make it difficult for me to fly around my own neighborhood, because half the stuff I don't recognize. It's like I'm in a dream where the buildings and landscape look sort of like real life, but also completely different in some ways.

Landscapes still need improvement. I would love to fly around the world and see beautiful landscapes, yet it's all too generic. The mountains generally look the same, as do the cliffs, as do the foliage.

I still find it the most fun to get in a small plane and zip between buildings in places like NYC or Vegas.

i literally have it installed and havent played it yet which is highly embarrassing but im kinda waiting until i get a VR headset that does it justice and probably some proper controls. that said.

the two things that compelled me to buy it;

1) the cirrus vision jet emu because i actually might cop one of those if i make it back to the west coast

2) this actually kinda gives me goosebumps.


also this dropped today;




shout out to the vision jet at :45


but also to your point its not exactly gameplay, its just rendered pretty stuff.


we might just have to wait a few years for hardware to catch up before this game reaches its potential.

[Dan Druff]

I should really put more effort into finding online discussions regarding the most interesting places to fly.

It can look very nice when they've put effort into the scenery or the buildings, but unfortunately this has to be done manually, so there's not much of it. The Vegas strip isn't bad (the Sphere actually has its yellow face and looks around), and that's an improvement over the 2020 version where the strip looked post-apocalyptic. I was flying through it the other day and did some pretty sweet moves to go between the buildings, until I got too aggressive and slammed right into the Cosmo.

You might be right that the graphic cards have to catch up. They also need more data to map in better detail, or otherwise you get the situation where things look good from 2000 feet in the air, but the natural features all look the same when you get fairly close up, and the buildings look like they've been abandoned for 50 years.