MSFS -Everything you know about upcoming Flight Sim from Microsoft-

[DragonflightDesign]

I would like to add a slight correction to that: we won't know until the SDK is released and Asobo have already said it won't be available at GTM.

 

[OzWookiee]

We’ll all know in three weeks’ time.

Maybe, there's some suggestion that the SDK may not be available at launch, much like with the FSX launch (or so I've been told).
But yes, either way, we'll find out then.

 

[theisomizer]

The SDK is not going to be released at the same time as the sim (although nobody knows when), and the NDA for early access won't disappear on August 18th.

I am preparing for August 18th some documentation of what can be determined just by file structure and not under the SDK NDA. Hopefully this will be useful in preparing to develop content, however, you will need the SDK in order to actually build and use 3rd-party packages in sim.

I would encourage anybody who needs access to the SDK to write to Microsoft at kh-sdk@microsoft.com, it is not only the "big" developers that have access currently.

 

[Tim Collins]

While we won't get the SDK straightaway, we almost certainly will get a raft of announcements from third-party developers that will give s a good idea of what we'll be able to do given the right resources.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Dos Equis will be available via Steam August 18 as well.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1250410/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator/

 

[scruffyduck]

Looks like the £-$ parity exchange rate again. That appears to be priced in UKP while I recall the same values in USD on their own site. Or perhaps I have finally lost the plot

 

[Lagaffe]

Hi,

I am not a big developer, just a litlle structure which make freeware and Microsoft has send a ticket for the Developer mode, so we have obtain the 3 last SDK (0.2.1.0; 0.3.0.0 and 0.4.0.0)
I have just send and e-mail to Microsoft and signed with the label of my home site.

 

[Tim Collins]

Looks like the £-$ parity exchange rate again. That appears to be priced in UKP while I recall the same values in USD on their own site. Or perhaps I have finally lost the plot

I paid £109.99 for the Premium Deluxe version direct from MS (it's the same on Steam). The US price is $119.99 - BUT that is before State taxes. In most States, that'll add another $5-10.

 

[GaryGB]

Here's another good in-depth video review released today:

Flight Simulator PC Hands-On: A Generational Leap In Graphical Realism

Hmmm... I have not decided which is testing my patience more:

* Having to wait until after release to see MSFS-2020 itself

...or:

* Deciding what hardware updates I may need to buy and configure before release of MSFS-2020.

GaryGB

 

[tylerpilot]

Is there a webpage where you can sign up for the SDK? I am also a small developer. I saw the message above that says to email kh-sdk@microsoft.com. I just wanted to know if there was any other special information page or something similar from Microsoft that lists a specific process.

 

[Essex]

* Deciding what hardware updates I may need to buy and configure before release of MSFS-2020.

Loading time is an issue apparently. So as NVMe M.2 drives are cheap now, I've gone ahead and fitted one.

I just needed an adapter

M-Key M.2 NVME/NGFF SSD to PCI Express X4 X8 X16 Gen3 Converter Adapter Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for M-Key M.2 NVME/NGFF SSD to PCI Express X4 X8 X16 Gen3 Converter Adapter Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[scruffyduck]

Is there a webpage where you can sign up for the SDK? I am also a small developer. I saw the message above that says to email kh-sdk@microsoft.com. I just wanted to know if there was any other special information page or something similar from Microsoft that lists a specific process.

Not sure there is. I assume the first requirement is to be part of the Closed Alpha team. If you are then you can probably find the best way to request access to the SDK there.

 

[WildLynxPilot]

The Alpha/Closed beta team does get the SDK when everybody else gets it, after the release of the sim. It will be available to everyone, as far as I have understood.

 

[RicherSims]

Loading time is an issue apparently. So as NVMe M.2 drives are cheap now, I've gone ahead and fitted one.

I just needed an adapter

M-Key M.2 NVME/NGFF SSD to PCI Express X4 X8 X16 Gen3 Converter Adapter Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for M-Key M.2 NVME/NGFF SSD to PCI Express X4 X8 X16 Gen3 Converter Adapter Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

While NVMEs are indeed getting very cheap and can have insane read/write speeds, these speeds are often limited to sequential reads and writes of insanely huge files (in the GBs).
When it comes to random read/writes, they are hardly any different to regular SSDs.*
I know some of you may already know this, but to the uninformed who may be looking at the potential requirements of FS2020, I would hold off on paying the premium for an NVME over a regular SSD before we can be sure that the extra performance actually benefits the sim (especially in things like reducing stuttering during actual flight).

Here is an example video comparing a mechanical HDD, SSD and NVME drive in different scenarios.

As you can see the difference is usually one second to the loading screen*. Sometimes none. Paying about twice the price per GB for a 1 second difference to loading time may not be worth it.
During actual flight*, I speculate, that you may not see much difference if any at all, but I will wait to see if any side by side tests prove this to be incorrect. In that case, I'll definitely be buying one myself.

*Yes, photoreal tiles often are many GBs in size, but remember these are usually placed into memory at the loading screen and then slowly streamed into memory from the drive at rates far below GBs per second.

 

[Heretic]

Watched a few preview videos of the beta and the sim really looks like a sensible improvement over FSX in all areas. If it gets some thumbs up from people running it on Linux via WINE/Proton, I might get really interested.

 

[Gerli]

The Hype is real... even popular Streamers are jumping on the FS2020 wagon.... we're not a niche anymore guys!

 

[DeDrake]

The SDK is not going to be released at the same time as the sim (although nobody knows when), and the NDA for early access won't disappear on August 18th.

I am preparing for August 18th some documentation of what can be determined just by file structure and not under the SDK NDA. Hopefully this will be useful in preparing to develop content, however, you will need the SDK in order to actually build and use 3rd-party packages in sim.

I would encourage anybody who needs access to the SDK to write to Microsoft at kh-sdk@microsoft.com, it is not only the "big" developers that have access currently.

3th day without any reply...

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Here's a condensed (edited) transcript of the recent AVSIM/Asobo interview:
https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/...f-the-fs-team/?do=findComment&comment=4282958

Q: Legacy air plane support has been promised. How will this work, will it be a matter of drag and drop or do we need the SDK to rebuild?
A: It has not been a promise, we said we'll try to make it possible for the planes you have by default in FSX. The more complex third party planes may not work, the technology is too far from what we are doing now.

Q: I'm interested in the methodology to import an old plane?
A: It's a drag and drop system, but we can't promise they all work, it's technically not possible to support every one of them.

Q: Will the SDK be ready at release and will it be available to all users?
A: Yes, we want to make it available to everybody, we would like people to be as creative as they can be. It's included in every version and it's basically the same tools as the team is using, you can make aircraft, and missions, and airport, it's all there.

Q: Will the marketplace have some toys head on ... some aircraft, or scenery?
A: There were some 200 subscriptions to the marketplace program in just the first four days. They've shown us stuff, there will be scenery, aircraft, airports and even some things we never expected ... it's awesome.

Q: Is 80GB the download size now?
A: For the standard version it is, for Premium Deluxe it may grow up to 150, or more.

No word if the SDK ships with the initial download, or if it will be available at a later date. I'm assuming the import of legacy aircraft from FSX will be only XML gauge aircraft.

 

[GaryGB]

Excellent info, Dick; many thanks for the heads-up on this encouraging news.


Hmmm... I should probably try to check in over at at AVSIM and SOH more often.

I have not been doing that in recent years, as I my time has been too limited to accommodate the 'temptation' to scan forums ...for way too many hours per week.

GaryGB

 

[Heretic]

The Hype is real... even popular Streamers are jumping on the FS2020 wagon.... we're not a niche anymore guys!

Oh no. So many newbies floding the community...