Hal Bryan said:http://inspire.eaa.org/2019/09/30/an-inside-look-at-microsofts-newest-flight-simulator/
"Asobo’s second step was to review all of the existing code in FSX to determine what to adapt, what to upgrade, what to emulate, and how to integrate a simulation system with its visualization engine. And Asobo’s first step? To buy everyone in the company an introductory flight lesson to make sure they had a firsthand taste for what they were going to build. Now the company estimates that something like 60 percent of the team is actively involved in flight training.
This was especially important to Asobo CEO and Co-Founder — not to mention avid pilot — Sebastian Wloch.
“Having spent so many hours flying in real life, I think it totally changed the picture,” he said. “When you are in the gaming industry, you are tweaking the reality in order to make something interesting. Here, we have to be as close as possible to the reality to bring something interesting. … The first thing and the most important thing I understood is flying in the real world is fun and interesting. It’s actually a great experience, and this immediately triggered the fact that if we just emulate reality in the best way possible, we don’t have to add anything …. There’s no need to make it a game.”
Backward compatibility is indeed a wonderful thing, but in all fairness to the VR guys I do get it - as a real-world trained pilot, P3D or X-11 in VR is still going to trump the new sim on a screen - there is just no comparison now to the "truly being there" feel of VR. That said, third-party folks like FSX FlyInside will probably fill the vacuum quickly with software to do the job for us - I certainly hope so anyway, as the new sim's world is absolutely gorgeous and those weather systems a dream come true!Mostly 'backwards compatibility' with "Legacy" (FSX/P3D) models! Wow...
But, already pages and pages and even more pages of whining from the "VR or I won't buy" crowd (all six or so of 'em) at AVSIM.![]()
Amongst the various videos and articles I've read I'm sure it was mentioned that a number of Asobo staff got their pilot licences. I believe they have a cockpit model of a DR400 at their workplace which they can use to compare flight characteristics with the real thing at the local airport.The developers are not pilots or sim enthusiasts. So they come as lambs to the upcoming slaughter.
Yes, a lot of deja vu at that: a good number of ACES developers had a PPL back in the day.it was mentioned that a number of Asobo staff got their pilot licences
Apples and oranges. If sometihng is crowdfunded, you sure have a right to know what you money is doing at the moment. But since FS2020 uses a classic funding model, they only have obligations toward their publisher.Look at Star Citizen development model... if they don't publish how much toilet paper they use Weekly, the community draw the pitchforks and torchs immediately.
We DEMAND to know hoy many polys are in those blades of grass... or how many meters of toilet paper they're using at least.
That's totally true, but for many people on the internet "Open development" means "As soon as possible" and "Without delays".Apples and oranges. If sometihng is crowdfunded, you sure have a right to know what you money is doing at the moment. But since FS2020 uses a classic funding model, they only have obligations toward their publisher.
They'll have VR. Just not in the Alpha, and perhaps not in the initial release. This is going to be an ongoing project similar to the updates of P3D.Backward compatibility is indeed a wonderful thing, but in all fairness to the VR guys I do get it - as a real-world trained pilot, P3D or X-11 in VR is still going to trump the new sim on a screen - there is just no comparison now to the "truly being there" feel of VR. That said, third-party folks like FSX FlyInside will probably fill the vacuum quickly with software to do the job for us - I certainly hope so anyway, as the new sim's world is absolutely gorgeous and those weather systems a dream come true!![]()
https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/everything-you-know-about-upcoming-flight-sim-from-microsoft.445504/post-830360
This link is to an audio interview. It's a bit more informative than what I've read:
https://www.flightsim.com/images/features/msfdev/FlightSim.com-Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_Interview_AUDIO.m4a
The claim that they've already contacted 3rd party developers seems odd. I haven't read anything about that. And it seems these developers will be given a functional SDK around the same time as the tech alpha build... but the actual SDK will be a work in progress and delivered at the release of the sim. Also, the sim and the SDK will very much be a work in progress, much like Windows 10 or P3D... continually getting updates. That could be a headache for developrs as the addons could be broken by new versions of the sim or the SDK. 2D panels are gone. Seasons might get added post release. As might helicopters, ATC and Ai.
Dominic Smith said:https://www.flightsim.com/images/features/msfdev/FlightSim.com-Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_Interview_AUDIO.m4a
What about .. Content?
If you look at sites like FlightSim.com, if you look at our file library we have thousands and thousands of files generously donated by thousands of authors over the years. Is this something which is going to be available to these guys ? Are we going to still be able to have these files in our file library for example...things like this. Is Freeware content going to be available for the Sim?
Jorg Neumann said:https://www.flightsim.com/images/features/msfdev/FlightSim.com-Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_Interview_AUDIO.m4a
Yes, from a Microsoft perspective, absolutely.
We love that there is dedicated fans. It's one of these areas of the industry that has probably the most dedicated fans, and we definitely want them to be able to do what they love doing. Seb, do you have any technical things to add?
Sebastian Wloch said:https://www.flightsim.com/images/features/msfdev/FlightSim.com-Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_Interview_AUDIO.m4a
Yes, and some more details about… so, basically, today we are not fully dialing into any SDK questions, like what are the file formats etc..
A few details: the idea is just to say that we started with FSX, and we are making every system that was used to mod and customize ...either better, or we are adding options, or we are making it easier; but we are not removing things that people could do.
For example, on the aircraft there was .X Files to customize or to create aircraft, and then there was these binaries, it was absolutely the same type of data ...it was just binaries, so it was harder to author.
So we have removed no data and no option to actually customize data, but we made everything text. So it's easier, but still comfortable with the binaries; so the binary is still open but it's now all possible to customize it in text.
We also exposed more variables, so none of them have been removed, but some of them were not open ...and now they are.
And it's the same for something for example like SimConnect, which I think we use for physical cockpit; we debugged some of the exposed variables, and added a lot.
So the idea is really to take what was happening in the past ...further and forward.
We are opening doors, we are making doors easier to get through, and we are not closing any doors.
I haven't been following 2020 discussion closely so maybe this has already been discussed. But how likely is this going to be a subscription service? I mean, so many software publishers want to go that route (hello Adobe) and I think the expectation that you buy FS2020 and then get free scenery downloading for the years to come... well that just screams subscription service to me. Maybe you can buy FS2020 and get a limited scenery set but the rest of the downloadable scenery comes with a subscription?
They have indeed discussed a subscription as well as limited scenery for offline users. I suggest that you watch one of the videos or read one of the articles linked yesterday. They explain it far better than I can.I haven't been following 2020 discussion closely so maybe this has already been discussed. But how likely is this going to be a subscription service? I mean, so many software publishers want to go that route (hello Adobe) and I think the expectation that you buy FS2020 and then get free scenery downloading for the years to come... well that just screams subscription service to me.
Early Access is a good concept if pricing reflects the current status.And that is why we have the "Early Access" cancer in the games industry.