MSFS release August 18th!

[Grumpywurzel]

Its not so much scenery add-ons, its aircraft. I am not really into VFR prop plane flying, more a heavy metal tube liner guy So I will be waiting until FSLabs, PMDG, Aerosoft and QualityWings etc come over. I coudln't use any of the default A\C, would drive me insane lol

Just looking now, they do have the 747-8 and the A320 and an other smaller business class jet with the standard game. With the Premium package I think you get the 787 Dreamliner???

 

[mrlip]

Just looking now, they do have the 747-8 and the A320 and an other smaller business class jet with the standard game. With the Premium package I think you get the 787 Dreamliner???

Yeah but the default a/c will be nowhere near as detailed as the those made by the 3rd parties I mentioned. And I wouldn’t expect them to be in fairness. P3D V5 will see me through until at least next year I think, whilst keeping an eye on MSFS

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Well the first landing of a big jumbo didnt end well.... back to Cessna's for me!

 

[Scott]

Just had a very brief stint in it and it's ridiculous.

@mrlip, have you had a look at the detail of the aircraft? It's frighteningly accurate. I wouldn't quite ditch the idea until you've seen what is there to offer. Tonnes of videos now showing them off. The internal detail is just breathtaking of simply a cessna.

 

[Scott]

For info I tried ultra across the board. Hit 45fps. That's only 1080p of course but it's an indication that it'll give a VERY good experience up to around 4k with my setup with reasonable settings.

Afterburner was showing 60% on the GPU and 50% on the CPU which I don't think is right (similar to yourself). When I go into hardware monitor it's showing that the GPU max was 98% and all cores were getting used on the CPU to 100% at least some of the time. It'll need more investigation though when I have time (GF was moaning to watch TV, how selfish!).

First impressions are that it's absolutely stunning. I took off from Glasgow and the scenery is quite simply breathtaking. I really..... REALLY..... don't like the single screen experience. It's going to take a LOT of getting used to. Pilots really don't get to see a lot out of dem planes do they. I'm thinking I'll probably go with an external view for now just to get a feel for the controls etc. The in-cockpit experience is FAR better for authenticity and feel but it's just not for me without wide/superwide/3screens etc.

I also need to map the squillion buttons from my HOTAS to make things useful but first impressions are REALLY good. I did a couple of the tutorials and took off from Glasgow before switching off.

I've installed the update for the simrig but haven't tried it out yet. Will get to it hopefully on Thurs...... I've literally got the whole day/eve on Sat & Sun to pile into this so I'll be doing some proper digging very soon.

 

[mrlip]

Well the first landing of a big jumbo didnt end well.... back to Cessna's for me!

Practice makes perfect 747 has a very high viewpoint distance from ground which can make things trickier. Need a nice steady descent rate, around 140-150 knots if at flaps 25. Use the radio altimeter callouts, Start the flare around 40-50ft, cut throttles to idle at around 20-30ft

Just had a very brief stint in it and it's ridiculous.

@mrlip, have you had a look at the detail of the aircraft? It's frighteningly accurate. I wouldn't quite ditch the idea until you've seen what is there to offer. Tonnes of videos now showing them off. The internal detail is just breathtaking of simply a cessna.

I will take a look at some vids. It’s the systems simulation I would be looking at, functional LNAV/VNAV in the 748 using the FMC etc. Not sure the default aircraft would offer anything close to the level of aircraft addons that are currently available in P3D. But I shall take a look

 

[Scott]

I genuinely think you will be very pleasantly surprised. They have went to town with the functionality. Everything works.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

For info I tried ultra across the board. Hit 45fps. That's only 1080p of course but it's an indication that it'll give a VERY good experience up to around 4k with my setup with reasonable settings.

Afterburner was showing 60% on the GPU and 50% on the CPU which I don't think is right (similar to yourself). When I go into hardware monitor it's showing that the GPU max was 98% and all cores were getting used on the CPU to 100% at least some of the time. It'll need more investigation though when I have time (GF was moaning to watch TV, how selfish!).

First impressions are that it's absolutely stunning. I took off from Glasgow and the scenery is quite simply breathtaking. I really..... REALLY..... don't like the single screen experience. It's going to take a LOT of getting used to. Pilots really don't get to see a lot out of dem planes do they. I'm thinking I'll probably go with an external view for now just to get a feel for the controls etc. The in-cockpit experience is FAR better for authenticity and feel but it's just not for me without wide/superwide/3screens etc.

I also need to map the squillion buttons from my HOTAS to make things useful but first impressions are REALLY good. I did a couple of the tutorials and took off from Glasgow before switching off.

I've installed the update for the simrig but haven't tried it out yet. Will get to it hopefully on Thurs...... I've literally got the whole day/eve on Sat & Sun to pile into this so I'll be doing some proper digging very soon.

I've pretty much left everything to the default joystick settings as recommended by MS, although during the tutorial it was telling me to mash a certain button on the keyboard but it wasnt working and instead it was a button on the joystick. Other times both the joystick and the keyboard worked the same option, bit hit and miss tbh.

My GPU is deffo working hard at High settings, 100% load constant, CPU seems to be dawdling along at 40-50% but I still havent flown in clouds yet so maybe that might change? Guess I will see a drop in fps and if it gets too much I'll drop to medium settings again.

Really impressed with the details within the cockpit and from what I can see roughly 75% buttons actually do "something", although what that something is, is up for debate. Managed to switch off the engines on the 747 but couldnt find how to restart them 🤣 . I have nothing to compare the game too as it's been a loooong time since I last played a flight sim on a PC (MS Combat Flight Sim was the last major title that I can remember) and I wouldnt count World of Warplanes as a sim, which I do have installed.

The view is apparently realistic from the cockpit seat, as in you can't see much at all! Been using an external camera view up to now.

 

[mrlip]

I've pretty much left everything to the default joystick settings as recommended by MS, although during the tutorial it was telling me to mash a certain button on the keyboard but it wasnt working and instead it was a button on the joystick. Other times both the joystick and the keyboard worked the same option, bit hit and miss tbh.

My GPU is deffo working hard at High settings, 100% load constant, CPU seems to be dawdling along at 40-50% but I still havent flown in clouds yet so maybe that might change? Guess I will see a drop in fps and if it gets too much I'll drop to medium settings again.

Really impressed with the details within the cockpit and from what I can see roughly 75% buttons actually do "something", although what that something is, is up for debate. Managed to switch off the engines on the 747 but couldnt find how to restart them 🤣 . I have nothing to compare the game too as it's been a loooong time since I last played a flight sim on a PC (MS Combat Flight Sim was the last major title that I can remember) and I wouldnt count World of Warplanes as a sim, which I do have installed.

The view is apparently realistic from the cockpit seat, as in you can't see much at all! Been using an external camera view up to now.

Start switches on the 747 are on the overhead panel, in the centre, pull down switches.APU will need to be running though and APU bleed switched on so you have some bleed air pressure Yeah I would stick with trying to fly the heavy stuff from cockpit view only, I’ve never used external view other than to look around occasionally when in cruise

 

[Gavras]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but if you join Xbox (beta) https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/xbox-game-pass/pc-games

for £1 you can then download MSFS 2020

sort of a try before you buy (or delayed purchase).

You can then cancel your subscription and buy or not.

 

[Scott]

Gave it another good go today.

Took me 2 hours to setup the controls. They still aren't perfect but I'm at the point where I can pretty much control just about everything I want to do without the keyboard (main aim with VR in mind).

So had an hour or 2 to actually play the game. It still feels a bit awkward for me as I still feel like I can't see a thing (1080p tunnel vision). I'm having to move and adjust my viewing position (seat in the game) to do different things. I've not noticed if there's a way to get the cockpit overlay, the same as the external view, so that I can keep an eye on my airspeed while the air speed indicator is out of view.

That's all the same gripes that I had with FSX originally though, and the reason why VR just blew my mind when I started using it. I cannot wait for VR to hit this game.

In the mean time though I've started to slowly but surely get to grips with the game. It feels SOOOOO much more involved than FSX did, the plane honestly feels alive in the turbulence and air. You feel as if you are in control of a plane with the way the physics are transmitted.

Also got my chair up and running which adds yet another level of immersion. I left it turned off this eve though as I'm still trying to get to proper grips with the game again.

There are countless hours in this game. The challenges and tutorials alone are hours worth of work to get right. Did my first challenge and was 5000 (and something) in the world. I'll take that haha.

Not sure how to add friends etc yet but if anyone wants to add i'm TheOnlyScotster.

 

[mrlip]

Gave it another good go today.

Took me 2 hours to setup the controls. They still aren't perfect but I'm at the point where I can pretty much control just about everything I want to do without the keyboard (main aim with VR in mind).

So had an hour or 2 to actually play the game. It still feels a bit awkward for me as I still feel like I can't see a thing (1080p tunnel vision). I'm having to move and adjust my viewing position (seat in the game) to do different things. I've not noticed if there's a way to get the cockpit overlay, the same as the external view, so that I can keep an eye on my airspeed while the air speed indicator is out of view.

That's all the same gripes that I had with FSX originally though, and the reason why VR just blew my mind when I started using it. I cannot wait for VR to hit this game.

In the mean time though I've started to slowly but surely get to grips with the game. It feels SOOOOO much more involved than FSX did, the plane honestly feels alive in the turbulence and air. You feel as if you are in control of a plane with the way the physics are transmitted.

Also got my chair up and running which adds yet another level of immersion. I left it turned off this eve though as I'm still trying to get to proper grips with the game again.

There are countless hours in this game. The challenges and tutorials alone are hours worth of work to get right. Did my first challenge and was 5000 (and something) in the world. I'll take that haha.

Not sure how to add friends etc yet but if anyone wants to add i'm TheOnlyScotster.

Regards to the camera, can you not map camera free pan to the middle mouse button? That’s how I have my P3D setup although I do use an add-on called EZDok for camera stuff. I don’t believe it’s available for MSFS yet. But yeah if you can map the middle mouse button and wheel to a free pan/zoom combination that works well. Then use keyboard shortcut for specific cockpit views like radio panel, overhead panel etc

 

[Scott]

Regards to the camera, can you not map camera free pan to the middle mouse button? That’s how I have my P3D setup although I do use an add-on called EZDok for camera stuff. I don’t believe it’s available for MSFS yet. But yeah if you can map the middle mouse button and wheel to a free pan/zoom combination that works well. Then use keyboard shortcut for specific cockpit views like radio panel, overhead panel etc

Oh yes, don't get me wrong. I have the panning working fairly well. It's just not intuitive for me at the moment. It doesn't feel natural. I have one hand on the stick, one on the throttle controls.... so having to require a 3rd hand for mouse input and a 4th for keyboard just isn't coming easily to me.

The main difficulty is I'm not at a desk. I'm sitting in a sim racing rig haha.

I've got one of the little analogue sticks set as the pan control and it works well, but it's very small and tends to get stuck slightly off centre and moves around when I don't want it to (annoying). I've not found a way of increasing dead space in the axis. I hope that there is a way of doing it that I'm missing or it's going to be added.

 

[mrlip]

No null zone settings to increase anywhere?or maybe try to turn the sensitivity down on that axis instead? If it’s not there right now I’m sure it will be added as that would be a must for some controllers

 

[Gavras]

Downloaded mine yesterday, had a brief mess around, joystick accepted straightaway.

graphics look great on 1080p 144hz, so I imagine they look stunning on 1440p 144hz Etc.

I do like the fact it cost £1 and if I keep it another month its £3.99 (half price offer), this will give me some decent play time to see how it feels.

its even worth it for those that would not normally try flight sims, to get in to that pilots seat and view their house from the air.

the Samsung 970 M.2 couple with Virginmedia 500MB broadband, really works well for downloading.

i know what I am doing this weekend, beer and pizza primed.

 

[Scott]

No null zone settings to increase anywhere?or maybe try to turn the sensitivity down on that axis instead? If it’s not there right now I’m sure it will be added as that would be a must for some controllers

Yes, this was my thinking too. Ironically I can configure the deadzone via the Logitech app for every analogue input other than the one I'm using. Couldn't make it up haha.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Gave it another good go today.

Took me 2 hours to setup the controls. They still aren't perfect but I'm at the point where I can pretty much control just about everything I want to do without the keyboard (main aim with VR in mind).

So had an hour or 2 to actually play the game. It still feels a bit awkward for me as I still feel like I can't see a thing (1080p tunnel vision). I'm having to move and adjust my viewing position (seat in the game) to do different things. I've not noticed if there's a way to get the cockpit overlay, the same as the external view, so that I can keep an eye on my airspeed while the air speed indicator is out of view.

That's all the same gripes that I had with FSX originally though, and the reason why VR just blew my mind when I started using it. I cannot wait for VR to hit this game.

In the mean time though I've started to slowly but surely get to grips with the game. It feels SOOOOO much more involved than FSX did, the plane honestly feels alive in the turbulence and air. You feel as if you are in control of a plane with the way the physics are transmitted.

Also got my chair up and running which adds yet another level of immersion. I left it turned off this eve though as I'm still trying to get to proper grips with the game again.

There are countless hours in this game. The challenges and tutorials alone are hours worth of work to get right. Did my first challenge and was 5000 (and something) in the world. I'll take that haha.

Not sure how to add friends etc yet but if anyone wants to add i'm TheOnlyScotster.

In Game friend request sent bud. If anyone else fancies adding me the crack on- GRUMPYWURZEL

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Just in case anyone wants to go looking for picturesque type stuff, MSFS doesnt allow you to just type in, say for instance, Niagara Falls. However it will allow you to enter the Lat and Long, this YouTube vid covers it-

 

[Gavras]

Just in case anyone wants to go looking for picturesque type stuff, MSFS doesnt allow you to just type in, say for instance, Niagara Falls. However it will allow you to enter the Lat and Long, this YouTube vid covers it-

cheers that’s handy.

i like most went to visit our house etc.

the house I am currently living in is near canals, obviously MS have decided if it’s water it has waves lol, I could surf on some of these canals lol.

Then I went to visit one of our other houses, flew up to North of Scotland, was amazed that the small fishing village had decided to build loads of high rise buildings and other very large structures lol.

i will need to write a strongly worded letter to local council lol, shocking turning a quaint village in to down town New York lol, oh and someone stole the lighthouse.

btw I realise the limitations of scenery, bricks, mortar and software physics, so a bit tongue in cheek.


overall it’s really good, nice if someone came up with an iPad app for all the various keys.

Gibraltar is pretty good but I think they may have missed a few feet of the top of it.


now need to sort out some Lat Longs for specific places.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

cheers that’s handy.

i like most went to visit our house etc.

the house I am currently living in is near canals, obviously MS have decided if it’s water it has waves lol, I could surf on some of these canals lol.

Then I went to visit one of our other houses, flew up to North of Scotland, was amazed that the small fishing village had decided to build loads of high rise buildings and other very large structures lol.

i will need to write a strongly worded letter to local council lol, shocking turning a quaint village in to down town New York lol, oh and someone stole the lighthouse.

btw I realise the limitations of scenery, bricks, mortar and software physics, so a bit tongue in cheek.


overall it’s really good, nice if someone came up with an iPad app for all the various keys.

Gibraltar is pretty good but I think they may have missed a few feet of the top of it.


now need to sort out some Lat Longs for specific places.

Just type where you wanna go into google maps and in the url box it gives you the Latn Longs as per the vid. Just landed at the Pyramids at Giza... Fairly sure the Po Po wouldn't let you do that in real life 🤣