Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Development Update - Live

[sd_flyer 6,170]

Basically FS2024 will bring purpose of flying!  For those of us who started with Sublogic ATP and still got excited looking a vector graphics back then,  what MSFS is showcasing is simply mind blowing! As we already know FS2024 developing won't stop there!

 

[YukonPete 626]

Beautiful! 

[precog 105]

Regarding the weather, I did see a comment in the Livestream chat by Microsoft saying more on weather coming at later date.

[Sticky 295]

7 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

Basically FS2024 will bring purpose of flying!  For those of us who started with Sublogic ATP and still got excited looking a vector graphics back then,  what MSFS is showcasing is simply mind blowing! As we already know FS2024 developing won't stop there!

 

My favorite memory of those days were unfolding the provided enroute charts and dialing in the VORs and tracking them and even calculating the change over points! Used to fly coast to coast dialing and dialing the whole way....

[sd_flyer 6,170]

2 minutes ago, Sticky said:

My favorite memory of those days were unfolding the provided enroute charts and dialing in the VORs and tracking them and even calculating the change over points! Used to fly coast to coast dialing and dialing the whole way....

The whole experience was magical! 

[Sticky 295]

Back to 2024....while I love the living earth thing (the grass and dirt, the trees and squirrels or whatever) I'm a little shocked that they seem to literally avoid the cloud/weather part of aviation...

Edit: not do sound morbid, but how many high performance pistons flew into storms and got broken up in just the past year? Pretty serious stuff and new pilots could get a false understanding of this flying through lightning storm in msfs.

Edited June 23 by Sticky

[Jeff Nielsen 1,440]

Just got finished watching the vid.  There are just too many good things to say about 2024.  From the 'Foreflight' flight planner to the Primus avionics to the new scenery and lighting, it's all amazing.

I think the much bigger takeaway is the fact that they are continuing to hire from the community and also adding more commercial partners and leveraging the assets that MS has when it comes to the imaging and what not.  Life will start imitating art really soon.  They recognize that to make a sim of this scale they need literally everyone they can get.  Even better is that they're able to pool everyone together cohesively to make this happen in short order.

The other really cool thing was the development of the obstacle database.  That may not seem like a big deal to some, but that has really serious implications whether you're a VFR or IFR pilot.  For airliners it can affect take off performance.  That's some really-really expensive data, IRL. The fact that we're getting it virtually worldwide is amazing in itself.  Again, operators and vendors pay big big bucks for that kind of stuff.

All the new aircraft we're getting along with all the other stuff, for FRRRRREEEEEEE, again for the consumer, pays for itself 100 times over before we've even bought it.

I know they didn't address a few important items like weather, sim performance (multicore), some FM/FD issues like the takeoff from ground transition and what not.  I suspect they may not want to talk about those yet because they don't have a full measure of the sim at this time and/or it's still work in progress.  It sounded like they're still actively working with meteo blue on the weather.  We did see Cirrus clouds though.  I'm sure those details will come out in the next few months, so not really worried at this point.

Anyways, it's really hard to put into words how far this sim has advanced and what it all means, but it's all good.  Jorg and the team are EXACTLY the right people at the top of all this.  Well friggin done!  That's all I can say.

[prolixindec 41]

Over the last 15 years, we've seen gaming turn into something massive, with game franchises becoming worth over a billion dollars to the developers. Flight sim languished in the background as something underdeveloped, because it was for a smaller niche audience. 

It looks like Microsoft and Asobo have decided to give MSFS the same treatment as other major gaming titles, which is great. It means the simulator core can finally get some needed attention with regard to performance and user experience. Anyone who has used other games knows that MSFS is like the one title where people can suffer with 20 fps and force themselves to say they're happy. If Microsoft finally treats MSFS as a billion dollar franchise, then they can afford to throw enough resources at it to make the gameplay infinitely better. 

Of course, every treatment has side effects, but the overall user experience seems to be massively improved, which will attract more customers, which will make ongoing enhancements financially possible. 

These are exciting times. It could go off the rails in any number of ways, but overall it seems like optimism is justified.

 

Edited June 23 by prolixindec

[ca_metal 2,260]

28 minutes ago, precog said:

Regarding the weather, I did see a comment in the Livestream chat by Microsoft saying more on weather coming at later date.

Yeah, I'm sure they will clarify everything in due time, what they can or cannot do. It's the same that happened last year, and it's also happening since 2019. People want every piece of information ASAP, but that's not always possible.

Today they probably had their best presentation bringing in their partners to talk about the features they are working on (like this amazing flight planner/dispatcher), but people can't appreciate it, they need to complain about everything they didn't talk about. I liked, and will patiently wait until they can share more (eyes on interviews and future Q&As).

[kholt 33]

I am very impressed with Microsoft's willingness to work with 3rd party vendors to bring the best talent to bear on new features.  That demonstrates a level of self-confidence without arrogance that is to be commended.  I am also excited to see they will be improving on flight planning capabilities among other improvements.

However, I guess I am a bit of a curmudgeon because I have only secondary interest in all the eye candy.  What I want is realistic weather and clouds, weather radar, better native ATC, better flight models, improved support for hardware cockpits, multi-monitor support that actually works, and most of all a more extensive SDK so other companies can create truly "study-level" (to repeat an overly abused and almost meaningless term) aircraft.  Yet we hear very little about these things that really matter (in my view).  Sure, would I like to have a sim that has cool ray-tracing and other visual effects?  Of course!  Especially if it relates to clouds and low visibility conditions.  What I really want to hear about is how MSFS 2024 is going to address more serious flight training use, to eventually replace P3D.  I'm sure we will get some of that at least, but it never seems to be the primary focus, and that makes me a bit sad for what could be.  Alas, the things I care about do get addressed (slowly), but only it seems as a bit of an afterthought.  MSFS has sold 15 million copies, and I'm guessing there are only 15 thousand that care about the same things I do.  Still, I'm thankful for what MSFS has done for the industry and enthusiasts.  I know I'm in the minority in my expectations.

[Sky_Pilot071 637]

Never forget that Microsoft has a major interest in the planets "digital twin" project that MSFS is showcasing.  Think of the possibilities it has for them.

Bing on steroids.

sp

 

[Lord Farringdon 614]

Well it all comes together now. I recently contacted GOT Friends about an update for my Optica for which they gave me the good and the bad news. The bad news was my Optica was a really early one and was now obsolete and could not be updated.  The good news was that they would give me their current upgraded Optica for free. That was only a few weeks ago and now makes sense in the context that their Optica will now be free in the base sim. Call out to Got Friends for looking after their old customers this way.  

As some of us posited recently, procedural generation is being employed. Coupled with biomes, aerials/obstacles and lighting, this will allow not only this world to be more accurately modelled but any other world where this sim might go in the future. I can see developers and consumers alike having a field day (or four years of field days) with the possibilities this presents.

Charts, walk arounds and boats (and presumably floatplanes) affected by water movements.  {Ticks Checklist!}

I was also very pleased to see Fabio, Henrik and Kai who have put so much effort into improving our world and our view of it, were given some leading roles in 2024. I was really concerned their efforts were going to be cast aside by an ASOBO centric solution. So this is a good outcome for them and for us as a community. They deserve the recognition.  {Applause from crowd}.

Clouds, ATC. Well for those who suggest they couldn't cover everything and we should wait for later and more detailed sessions all I can say is that if they had something substantive to go forward with then I bet they would have spurted something out even if it was "Yep, just wait and see!"  

So I guess that can has just been kicked down the road again which is an ongoing disappointment however,  see my comment below.  

But we get pebbles right ...oh wait? I didn't see any these infamous pebbles. Did anyone see pebbles? {Woah, get off the reply button, I was just joking! I saw some stones in Australia}.

On a serious note, ASOBO is placing all the foundations for a seriously interesting open world and I understand they still have 10 more partners to take on. Could at least two of them be an ATC developer and a weather developer possibly?

Anyway, FS2024 looks like it will rock with a default MAX thrown in for good measure. Did Jorg say the most complex ASOBO model ever?! 

Cheers

Terry  

 

 

    

 

 

      

 

[Silicus 904]

With all the new partners it is a huge disappointment that HIFI Simulation is not one of them.

I can not understand why they are so reluctant, almost stubborn to put more emphasis on weather, which after all, is a major part of flight simulation.

They seem to make a lot of right decisions. I really, really hope weather will get a huge upgrade in 2024.....  

[Ricardo41 5,990]

5 hours ago, Farlis said:

Wow, Simbrief and Navigraph get some competition.

The new Flight Planner

[JBDB-MD80 1,583]

3 hours ago, fakeflyer737 said:

Did they say whos doing the MAX? Is it PMDG? They just announced a MAX 8 in MSFS

 

 

Reading through Roberts text for the last 4 years over the SDK between them and Asobo I pretty certain they will not be partners anytime soon. LOL