Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#51

Post by saiya-jin » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:23 PM UTC

wjossey wrote: post #36

Lots of folks here saying “it’s impressive but...” The game was probably released faster than what one would expect from a super polished title, but the game is still extraordinary. The visuals are superb, the detail is spectacular (I can see my real house with our pool as I fly over), the mechanics are incredible for a base flight simulator (lots of stuff you’d normally pay extra via addons for), and the game has be…

> if you’re into flight simulators

I think this will be a problem a bit - apart from initial WOW effect, not that many people are into civilian flying. Its way too complex for casual gamers and learning curve is almost vertical, you need ultra-expensive hardware (how many want to spend 1000s in covid times?) and to be honest, non-combat realistic flight sims are really not for everybody, I would say not for most gamers.

People rave about details, but plenty of places look on similar level as if I would take google earth's built in flight sim - I am talking about what I've seen around Mont Blanc, not exactly a remote place. Yes, few more nicer buildings and slightly more detail, but that's hardly enough for non-geeks.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic, it is a fantastic game in its own tiny little niche and I am sure most issues will be resolved over time, I just think nowadays that niche is pretty small and won't expand that much because its not something that's easy to grasp and have fun quickly.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#52

Post by fyfy18 » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:26 PM UTC

ourmandave wrote: post #44

I've been watching a few unboxing videos on youtube where MS has sent influencers a box with the Deluxe Premium Ed (comes with 10 DVDs for install) with full HOTAS controls. (Even after the install there's a 19g download update.) I wonder if everyone who gets one has a system with the specs to run it?

I have an 8 year old workstation as a gaming PC, with a 3GB GTX 1060, and a 2.5" HDD as a data drive, and it works fine for me on medium graphics at 1080p.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#53

Post by ourmandave » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:34 PM UTC

fyfy18 wrote: post #52

ourmandave wrote: post #44

I've been watching a few unboxing videos on youtube where MS has sent influencers a box with the Deluxe Premium Ed (comes with 10 DVDs for install) with full HOTAS controls. (Even after the install there's a 19g download update.) I wonder if everyone who gets one has a system with the specs to run it?

I have an 8 year old workstation as a gaming PC, with a 3GB GTX 1060, and a 2.5" HDD as a data drive, and it works fine for me on medium graphics at 1080p.

Yeah, I'd only seen a spec list from a guy playing max setting on 4K.

But he was on a brand new stupid level hardware PC.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#54

Post by user_501238901 » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #10

Before anyone gets excited and goes to buy the game outright: First: Please consider trying out the game via the Xbox Game Pass for PC program instead. $5/month, $1 for the first month instead of buying it outright. Do remember to cancel. Thank me later. Second: The whole download/install experience is a trip. You need to download about ~90 GB of data (no problem!). However, the downloader is abysmal. It's not optimi…

According to many long-time flight simmers, the performance of this title is about the same as previous ones, with the addition of 10x improved graphics. So that's why they don't care and you're getting downvoted on Reddit.

PS: It's a next gen game built for the future in mind, GTX 1070 is basically outdated. Expect to require a 3xxx series graphics card for good performance.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#55

Post by joezydeco » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #45

joezydeco wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also: ignore the 8GB minimum RAM requirement. Whoever built that chart ignored the fact that Win10 needs a gig or two of its own to run. And FS20 needs about 7.5GB to boot. Get 32GB and give yourself some breathing room.

16 GB should be fine based on what I've seen in terms of actual memory usage so far. To be clear - that's not what caused the issues I mentioned though - I've got 64 GB.

Oh of course, your observations are totally spot on. But even when you get through the grind of loading this game, the performance goes completely to hell once Windows starts swapping out RAM pages.

I also agree with that note on how the credits were stacked up. And that’s literally how this game got built. Asobo came to MS with this awesome visualization tool and MS pretty much said “ok, why don’t we hand you FS14’s code and we can call it FS20?”

The product was literally built backwards.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#56

Post by anotheryou » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

garaetjjte wrote: post #48

tpmx wrote: post #10

Before anyone gets excited and goes to buy the game outright: First: Please consider trying out the game via the Xbox Game Pass for PC program instead. $5/month, $1 for the first month instead of buying it outright. Do remember to cancel. Thank me later. Second: The whole download/install experience is a trip. You need to download about ~90 GB of data (no problem!). However, the downloader is abysmal. It's not optimi…

I must have different expectations for games, 'minute or two' loading times sounds completely fine to me. Bugs are probably fairly typical of modern 'release broken now, patch later' development.

to return to the menu?

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#57

Post by user_501238901 » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 8:56 PM UTC

skybrian wrote: post #29

I don't have Flight Simulator, but someone on Facebook posted a screenshot of a friend's house in a suburban area in Florida, and I duplicated the image in Google Earth. It's just one data point, but here's what I noticed. - The water looks better in Flight Simulator. A large pond has ripples and reflections in Flight Simulator but it's just flat in Google Earth. - Trees and houses look better in Google Earth. Flight…

Half the point is the delay of gratification. If you want to see the different islands of Hawaii, there will be some downtime while you're cruising. The tension starts building once you get closer and closer, until you finally get to see the absolutely epic view.

Comparing Google Earth vs Flight Sim is the same as watching 3D images of hiking trail end points vs actually walking through the trail.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#58

Post by skybrian » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

user_501238901 wrote: post #57

skybrian wrote: post #29

I don't have Flight Simulator, but someone on Facebook posted a screenshot of a friend's house in a suburban area in Florida, and I duplicated the image in Google Earth. It's just one data point, but here's what I noticed. - The water looks better in Flight Simulator. A large pond has ripples and reflections in Flight Simulator but it's just flat in Google Earth. - Trees and houses look better in Google Earth. Flight…

Half the point is the delay of gratification. If you want to see the different islands of Hawaii, there will be some downtime while you're cruising. The tension starts building once you get closer and closer, until you finally get to see the absolutely epic view. Comparing Google Earth vs Flight Sim is the same as watching 3D images of hiking trail end points vs actually walking through the trail.

I guess, but in practice, wouldn't you speed up the simulation for the boring parts? Can't you put the plane wherever you want and start flying?

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#59

Post by AmericanChopper » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #10

Before anyone gets excited and goes to buy the game outright: First: Please consider trying out the game via the Xbox Game Pass for PC program instead. $5/month, $1 for the first month instead of buying it outright. Do remember to cancel. Thank me later. Second: The whole download/install experience is a trip. You need to download about ~90 GB of data (no problem!). However, the downloader is abysmal. It's not optimi…

Your system is pretty underspec’d for anything other than 1080p on this game. It runs pretty smoothly on my 3950X/2080 TI. 4K is bit underwhelming, running between 30-40 FPS. But I’m expecting that to improve a fair bit when the RTX 3xxx cards come out.

Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator maps entire globe with AI

#60

Post by mrkeen » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

Microsoft Flight Simulator's (69,99€) AI is so good they'll charge you not to use it!

The Deluxe Edition (89,99€) includes everything from Microsoft Flight Simulator plus 5 additional highly accurate planes with unique flight models and 5 additional handcrafted international airports.

The Premium Deluxe Edition (119,99€) includes everything from the Microsoft Flight Simulator Deluxe edition plus 5 additional highly accurate planes with unique flight models and 5 additional handcrafted international airports.