MS Flight Webisode 4: Explore

[Hughes-MDflyer4]

http://www.microsoftflight.com

Microsoft has published Webisode 4 of Flight. One word: Amazing!

 

[hairyspin]

Thank you Brandon!

Did you notice the Maule might be unfinished? Aircraft banks apparently without control column input!

Okay, that's enough nits to pick for one night, the atmospherics are jaw-dropping: each increment of FS got better for VFR and this looks a joy!

 

[solid]

Knowing MS so well, I will continue to follow St.Thomas philosophy until I can see the thing for myself in my PC.....people forget easily, remember the "views" we used to get about FSX and then the demo???------

 

[Hughes-MDflyer4]

Thank you Brandon!

Did you notice the Maule might be unfinished? Aircraft banks apparently without control column input!

No problem!

I noticed that the yoke didn't move as well. Must be unfinished. But the detail on these default aircraft is amazing! Looks like the gauges are 3D! We also saw a new aircraft, well the VC anyway. Anyone know what plane that could be at 00:25?

 

[mdm248111]

Wow!!! The terrain and weather, etc are a HUGE step up from FSX! My only hope is that I will be able to run it on my low-range system!

 

[mmann]

Did you notice the Maule might be unfinished? Aircraft banks apparently without control column input!

Microsoft did say (quote emphasis mine): "We believe the simplicity of “Microsoft Flight” ...". I guess part of the simplicity is not having to actually fly the aircraft!

Regards, Mike Mann

 

[solid]

Microsoft did say (quote emphasis mine): "We believe the simplicity of “Microsoft Flight” ...". I guess part of the simplicity is not having to actually fly the aircraft!

Regards, Mike Mann

I would not be surprised if that is the case....Arcade Flight!!!...I only hope they really make something worth while as a sim.....having to live with FSX for the rest of my days looks boring....

 

[amahran]

well, I only have a few remarks to make about what I saw from the webisode:
1. at about 0:08, we can see a road "vector", which appears to be almost the same as normal road vectors in FSX, still in it's "choppy" bending manner
2. At the same time, we can also tell that the trees are still going to be simple "paper" objects, but apparently the images used in this "papering" appears to have a higher resolution and detail.
3. at 0:20, we can see boats. That could be AI or that could be generic animation, but there's a boat. We can thus deduce that the new "Flight" will have boats, be it AI or animated
4. At 0:33, we can see a HUGE mist improvement over FSX
5. At 0:36, after the mist clears up, I might be mistaken, but I see the grand canyon. I could only thus deduce that the new "Flight" will NOT be limited to Hawaii. It might be limited to specific location (i.e "Choose your world") or it might be worldwide, and they're still in the process of developing it for a worldwide "sim," but the latter is least likely owing to the fact that, seeing as each picture or video we saw has a LOT of detail put into it, it's very unlikely that Microsoft is willing to put that much effort into other "less worthwhile" location.
6. 0:49; As someone mentioned, the yoke of the Orion didn't move when the aircraft was put into a turn. That could be due to either incomplete development or lack of need put to create the necessary "movable parts" of the aircraft.
7. 0:51; We can see a semi-sunken ship. That can have many meanings on the effort put into "Flight"
8. At 1:03, we can see that, although the mountain closest to the camera looks quite detailed from a distance, we can see that, when close up, it's not as edgy as it seemed. I generally interpret that as a simple GMAX poly, thus meaning that "Flight" has separate worlds, each made on GMAX, but other's might interpret it as FSX's default mountain "edginess"
9. We saw, a few screens back on Flight's Website, 2 airports that seem highly detailed, yet at 1:05, we see FSX's generic airport appearance, though it seems to be backed by a ground-photolayer behind the runways and aprons. It could mean that Flight is just a bit like FSX, but the detailed airports we saw were just airports that Microsoft decided to put a bit more effort in, which supports the existence a world outside, such as Europe, Africa, Asia, etc.

Anybody have anymore observations they'd like to point out?

 

[solid]

well, I only have a few remarks to make about what I saw from the webisode:
1. at about 0:08, we can see a road "vector", which appears to be almost the same as normal road vectors in FSX, still in it's "choppy" bending manner
2. At the same time, we can also tell that the trees are still going to be simple "paper" objects, but apparently the images used in this "papering" appears to have a higher resolution and detail.
3. at 0:20, we can see boats. That could be AI or that could be generic animation, but there's a boat. We can thus deduce that the new "Flight" will have boats, be it AI or animated
4. At 0:33, we can see a HUGE mist improvement over FSX
5. At 0:36, after the mist clears up, I might be mistaken, but I see the grand canyon. I could only thus deduce that the new "Flight" will NOT be limited to Hawaii. It might be limited to specific location (i.e "Choose your world") or it might be worldwide, and they're still in the process of developing it for a worldwide "sim," but the latter is least likely owing to the fact that, seeing as each picture or video we saw has a LOT of detail put into it, it's very unlikely that Microsoft is willing to put that much effort into other "less worthwhile" location.
6. 0:49; As someone mentioned, the yoke of the Orion didn't move when the aircraft was put into a turn. That could be due to either incomplete development or lack of need put to create the necessary "movable parts" of the aircraft.
7. 0:51; We can see a semi-sunken ship. That can have many meanings on the effort put into "Flight"
8. At 1:03, we can see that, although the mountain closest to the camera looks quite detailed from a distance, we can see that, when close up, it's not as edgy as it seemed. I generally interpret that as a simple GMAX poly, thus meaning that "Flight" has separate worlds, each made on GMAX, but other's might interpret it as FSX's default mountain "edginess"
9. We saw, a few screens back on Flight's Website, 2 airports that seem highly detailed, yet at 1:05, we see FSX's generic airport appearance, though it seems to be backed by a ground-photolayer behind the runways and aprons. It could mean that Flight is just a bit like FSX, but the detailed airports we saw were just airports that Microsoft decided to put a bit more effort in, which supports the existence a world outside, such as Europe, Africa, Asia, etc.

Anybody have anymore observations they'd like to point out?

Amigo!!, your sence of observation is to be comended, you must be an astronomer , an underwater explorer or maybe a Icebraker mariner!!!! keen eyes you have.......

 

[amahran]

Amigo!!, your sence of observation is to be comended, you must be an astronomer , an underwater explorer or maybe a Icebraker mariner!!!! keen eyes you have.......

Why thank you!

 

[Kai503]

7. 0:51; We can see a semi-sunken ship. That can have many meanings on the effort put into "Flight"

It's the USS Arizona Memorial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arizona_Memorial

The only meaning I could imagine is the fact that the attack on Pearl Harbor was on December 7, 1941. So it's 70th anniversary this year.

Kai

 

[Hughes-MDflyer4]

My two and a half cents:

well, I only have a few remarks to make about what I saw from the webisode:
1. at about 0:08, we can see a road "vector", which appears to be almost the same as normal road vectors in FSX, still in it's "choppy" bending manner

The roads are just roads. It's not called Microsoft Drive.

2. At the same time, we can also tell that the trees are still going to be simple "paper" objects, but apparently the images used in this "papering" appears to have a higher resolution and detail.

From a performance view, this is a good thing. Using complete 3d trees considering how far in the distance you can see them would kill frames.

3. at 0:20, we can see boats. That could be AI or that could be generic animation, but there's a boat. We can thus deduce that the new "Flight" will have boats, be it AI or animated

True

4. At 0:33, we can see a HUGE mist improvement over FSX

Also true.

5. At 0:36, after the mist clears up, I might be mistaken, but I see the grand canyon. I could only thus deduce that the new "Flight" will NOT be limited to Hawaii. It might be limited to specific location (i.e "Choose your world") or it might be worldwide, and they're still in the process of developing it for a worldwide "sim," but the latter is least likely owing to the fact that, seeing as each picture or video we saw has a LOT of detail put into it, it's very unlikely that Microsoft is willing to put that much effort into other "less worthwhile" location.

I didn't know that the grand canyon was covered in trees. I think everything we saw was in Hawaii. Now, this doesn't mean Flight will be restricted to this location. Pretty obvious that it won't be based off of the past.

6. 0:49; As someone mentioned, the yoke of the Orion didn't move when the aircraft was put into a turn. That could be due to either incomplete development or lack of need put to create the necessary "movable parts" of the aircraft.

I am heavily leaning towards an unfinished aircraft.

7. 0:51; We can see a semi-sunken ship. That can have many meanings on the effort put into "Flight"

It's the USS Arizona that is being shown. Possibly means transparent water/ability to go underwater.

8. At 1:03, we can see that, although the mountain closest to the camera looks quite detailed from a distance, we can see that, when close up, it's not as edgy as it seemed. I generally interpret that as a simple GMAX poly, thus meaning that "Flight" has separate worlds, each made on GMAX, but other's might interpret it as FSX's default mountain "edginess"

I don't really have a comment regarding this matter. LOL

9. We saw, a few screens back on Flight's Website, 2 airports that seem highly detailed, yet at 1:05, we see FSX's generic airport appearance, though it seems to be backed by a ground-photolayer behind the runways and aprons. It could mean that Flight is just a bit like FSX, but the detailed airports we saw were just airports that Microsoft decided to put a bit more effort in, which supports the existence a world outside, such as Europe, Africa, Asia, etc.

The runways and taxiways still look better than FSX. You can also see smoother taxiway stripes at 1:05. The runway textures dont look that bad like they did in FSX. If they are generic, they are a good generic.

 

[n4gix]

And no one noticed the tree's swaying in the wind?

Not too observant, eh?

 

[Hughes-MDflyer4]

And no one noticed the tree's swaying in the wind?

Not too observant, eh?

I knew I forgot something! Yes, I did see the trees swaying...very cool!!!

 

[solid]

Great, just like talking about UFOs.........

 

[mmann]

Since the webisode takes place in Hawaii; maybe swaying hula girls would have been more appropriate (and interesting) than swaying trees.

Regards, Mike Mann

 

[Hughes-MDflyer4]

Since the webisode takes place in Hawaii; maybe swaying hula girls would have been more appropriate (and interesting) than swaying trees.

Regards, Mike Mann

So true

 

[JPetroSS]

It looks so fine in graphics!! I admit I didn't notice the trees swaying

 

[UtahJazzfan]

I bring this up again... The fact that it's not called Flight Sim 2012 scares me. Also the lights on the runway still look the same. It will be a shame if we have to put all lights down when making a ground poly once again just because they keep the same lighting code.

 

[ollyau]

5. At 0:36, after the mist clears up, I might be mistaken, but I see the grand canyon. I could only thus deduce that the new "Flight" will NOT be limited to Hawaii. It might be limited to specific location (i.e "Choose your world") or it might be worldwide, and they're still in the process of developing it for a worldwide "sim," but the latter is least likely owing to the fact that, seeing as each picture or video we saw has a LOT of detail put into it, it's very unlikely that Microsoft is willing to put that much effort into other "less worthwhile" location.

Definitely not the Grand Canyon. Willing to bet it's Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. But I do think Flight will have global coverage.

7. 0:51; We can see a semi-sunken ship. That can have many meanings on the effort put into "Flight"

As Kai pointed out, that's the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. I think there may be a chance that Flight will have underwater topography, as the sunken USS Arizona seems to actually be underwater, as opposed to just being a texture. I believe Prepar3D allows you to go underwater. But then again, it could be orthoimagery with a water mask above it, and the improved water effects in Flight.

As for my own comments...

I found an earlier copy of Webisode 4 on a cached copy of a Bing/MSN Videos page, which has subtle, but significant differences compared to the one uploaded today. If you compare the two side by side, you'll notice the scenes are framed slightly differently, and the lighting is significantly different. The only scene that really changed aside minor framing was the one in the Maule, at 0:43, with the gauges giving entirely different readouts, different shadows, different pan/view, etc. You can view the one that was grabbed from the cached copy here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhc29ia-sb4&hd=1 and the one grabbed from the video uploaded today here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf15i0mQEw8&hd=1. I suspect the cached video was possibly unedited. At least not as much editing, going by the lighting in the newer video.