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Flight Sim Fans: Microsoft Flight Simulator To Be Released August 18th With Three Pricing Options

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Over the past few months, the game has gone through a number of alpha builds and is now transitioning to beta, and fans following the developments can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the game is coming out much earlier than anticipated. (www.gatechecked.com) और अधिक...

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TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 16
For those who are interested, FlightAware has a partnership to fill the FS2020 virtual skies with traffic:

https://stormbirds.blog/2020/07/03/flightaware-to-fill-flight-simulators-virtual-skies-with-airplanes/
KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 5
My three concerns with this game is what's the time frame for support?

1) How long will Microsoft be willing to pay to support a navblue contract for charts and nav data?
2) How long will Microsoft be willing to put up chugging out bandwidth to support the landscaping system?
3) How long will Microsoft be willing to pay FlightAware to use and pull their data?

That's a lot of streaming content, and bandwidth isn't exactly cheap when you scale it up by a few thousand players online every day. Just look at VATSIM, there are around a guaranteed 500-1500 simmers online every day.
cvs62
F Minook 2
They are counting on 5G to do the heavy lifting for the bandwidth. I would be wondering about the other issues also. I have been a fan of Flight Sim for a long time but they stopped supporting it. I still have my Combat Flight Simulator 3 but it would not load into the Windows 10. I tried to load it into Windows 7 but I lost a lot of data transitioning to 10.
chuckmccrossan
Chuck McCrossan 1
I have an old Dell 6000 laptop running XP for older games like Combat FS and Silent Hunter III among others. I have a desktop running Win7 for FS 2004: A Century of Flight and FS X and lots of other games. Have a laptop with Win10 for anything modern. I think the key for length of service of games is to keep the old computers running. :)
MrTommy
MrTommy 1
I can no longer get my FS to load and run on my WIN 7 Dell XPS. Can't remember which FS I have, and I'm currently 2000 miles from home, so I can't even check.
stalbott972
Steven Talbott 2
Given their past history with FSX I would say probably 3-4 years. They did have weather data through Jeppsen but that expired and so it stayed cached for many years with the last days weather. More than likely if I had to guess as far as charts and navdata we will probably see the same that it will go fine for a few years and then just no more updates.
Landscape system the developers did talk about this as I recall to put at ease those who have poor internet connections or maybe none at all. It does have a base mode that you can fly in where all of the basics are still there but you don't get the graphic fidelity of course of having real time map data from Bing overlayed into it. So again once Microsoft no longer deems it worth it to keep the doors open this will go back to a basic mode (I'm guessing it will be closer to what FSX had as far as tiles but of course I haven't had a chance to fly it so it's just an educated guess)
Flightaware I would hope would go a lot longer given I am a feeder in my area. Also given the fact that a large majority of Flightaware's data is voluntarily given to them I would think that they might be able to get by with a lower cost point. But again when Microsoft pulls the plug on it I'm guessing we will have a cached copy of say the last 24 hours or so that it will fall back on.
SkyAware123
SkyAware123 1
They will keep supporting it and expand in future versions even. Since this basically kills all other flight sims I am guessing it will do just fine for a long time. And for that price I think you can't beat it.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
That is pretty much with every game on the market today.... From Fantasy to First Person shooters.... They have a lifespan and then dies... If they game does not keep up with Technology, its life span will be shorter.... Flight Simulator has had an Unusually Long Lifespan, primarily because MS has continued to enhance it and upgrade it.
KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 2
I guess? But what they are promising here is costly. Hopefully by the time the support comes to an end, someone figures out a way to build landscaping scenery like Ortho in X-Plane, and maybe there might be a plugin to tie in Navigraph subscriptions. Dunno about the longevity of the real world aircraft in game, but that's not a priority for me.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
In all reality, a serious gamer, that is not a bad price... The larger package will sell like Hot Cakes.... The Gamer's will eat that up...
KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 2
Yeppp. Im gonna give it a few weeks to see what people have to say, but it looks like a good purchase. The visuals are out of this world and Xplane and P3D just have nothing on it. Might just pick up some Boeings from PMDG as well.
SkyAware123
SkyAware123 1
Yeah, I was expecting a MUCH higher price.
dephtones
John Smith 9
Surprised people aren’t complaining about the pricing tiers. I preordered the 120$ version because I’ve spent more than that on one plane. To get more planes and more detailed airports out of the box is a no brainer.
SymphonicPoet
David Ackerman 3
I'm debating on whether to get the $120 version, but . . . I expect I will in the end. And $60 for a new premium game is about standard. Nothing to complain about there, really.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
I will be doing the same... Just waiting to see if there is a Steam Version.
AAfan
Ryan Vince 3
There’s not going to be a Steam version
KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 1
Yea, if they bought that as separate packs, they would have definitely come out worse. Even if they are not full spec payware airports, they still look really good for the $$.
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
WOW... Really looking forward to that..... My computer exceeds every spec my a long shot... Just built a New I9. 128 Gig ram... Looking forward to this new addition!
srobak
srobak 1
that had to set you back a few coins. :) Specs & prices? I am going to have to build a new system to use this. I am running FSX on an i7 3770K with an nvidia 970. So I know I need to start completely over for this release - would sure love some guidance :)
v1v2
Jim Ward 3
I still play FS98. It includes the bell jet ranger. Crashed.
Lear 45 Crashed. Cessna 182. Doing better. This is the last released where the World Trade Centers are still in the
Visual Library. I still have a pc with Windows 3.1. Old school
Back in the day where you could get your hands on the inside. Autoexec.bat and config.sys file just to install a new cd rom. Ask someone today about DOS ? They give you a deer in the headlights look. Or, are they in congress ?
Yipes!!!
MrTommy
MrTommy 1
I think my last version of FS was also 98. I've never gotten it to load on my ancient Win 7 machine. I flew it with a joystick and the keyboard. I'm guessing my joystick under my desk with a plastic bag over it to keep the dust out will not work anymore. I know I'm going to have to buy a new machine if I want to venture into the friendly skies . . .
cdavidpcarr
David Carr 3
what equipment will be required to operate this simulator?
tomsullivan
Tom Sullivan 2
I got this from a youtube video about the modest and best requirements. First number is modest followed by if you want to run it max.
Intel i5-8400 or i7-9800
Nvidia gtx 970 or rtx 2080
Vram 4 GB or 8 GB
Ram 16 GB or 32 GB
HDD 150 GB
Bandwidth 20 mbps or 50 mbps
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
As with all Flight Simulators from Microsoft you should be able to fly it strictly from the keyboard and also with the mouse. However, having the Yolk and Rudder Pedals will give a much better experience.
vsormanti
Victor Sormanti 1
Any recommendations on yolk, rudder pedals.
ADXbear
ADXbear 3
My hope is this game and SUPPORT will be way better than X plane..

I had a $2800 pc made just for that game.
And never got 5 min of enjoyment from it.. the FB pages were plentiful but very confusing and no way to understand most of what was being said.. like a book without an index. Chapter 18 first then 5 then maybe 1..

I benched that entire system 15 months ago waiting for this FS 2020.. IF THIS doesn't work then my sys will be us for sale..
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
And I 100% agree with you... I remember the FSX
tomcat1965
Thomas Schneider 3
I still use FSX, with serial port stick and rudder pedals. I purchased an adapter some time back. I've since added a 3ed party weather generator, and 3rd party A/C. The 32 bit architecture can make things a bit cumbersome on a 64 bit machine(memory access issues mostly), but it still works with a bit of massaging. However, I am excited about MS's first update in 14 years! It'll be nic to operate a FS with architecture built around modern hardware! Hell...If I have to go out and buy a new set of rudder pedals and stick...I'll do it.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Serial Port.... WOW... I have not seen a Serial Port Joystick in Decades!
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
I hope they continue to support the Flight Controls (Yolk/Rudder pedal) and Saitek Pro - With out those, the game will be useless.
jmilleratp
jmilleratp 1
Yeah, I'm just going to buy my own actual plane instead. ;-)
rmontgrain
Ronald Montgrain 1
Been using X-Plane for 3+ years without any issues whatsoever.

Being a real simulator, the learning curve is deep, and unavoidable.

I suspect you're expecting an arcade game, which MSFS might be.
wcarlin
William Carlin 2
When will they relase a VR version?
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
My guess is that they probably will, but have not seen any indication either way. Would kind of be pretty lame if they did not.
Baywooff
James Bruton 1
It's my understanding MSFS 2020 supports VR. Like all software, the initial performance may be limited, but we'll see.
isjps
Jose Serro 2
If you are talking about a game, probably you are right.
This is not a game... This is a simulator.
Your doubts are pertinent, but only for gamers.
When these contracts expire their place will be taken by new addons for FS that we are gone to buy it, for sure.
xmitr
Don Whyte 4
You are right, this is a simulator and the more you get into it the closer it gets to reality so the involvement and what you can get out of it keeps growing. A co-worker once commented "it's just a game, why are you so interested in it and at your age? I said well it's not whack-a-mole.
KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 4
But it is a game regardless.

"A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a two- or three-dimensional video display device such as a touchscreen, virtual reality headset or monitor/TV set."

isjps
Jose Serro 3
If you will use it like a game it's a matter of time to get boring and turn it off.
If you look to it like a simulator (and you love aviation, of course) then it's forever.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
I am in the "Forever" Group... It never gets old! I personally hope they release it as a Steam Game as well.... That way not only will you be able to fly with the Real Planes, but your friends can join you as well...

(For those who are not familiar with steam, it is basically a hub where many games are based from. Similar to an airport hub! It is free to join and you have your friends who also use the game or simulator (depending on how you use it) and you can join them or they can join you. Them in their plane and you and yours). You can fly formation, Do Airshow type formations or aerobatics or just have a group fly across the country, and also be able to talk with each other as you do it in real time.)
MrTommy
MrTommy 1
I've got one game on Steam, not flight related. The fun part is that you can race (or whatever) free of charge, unlike PlayStation or Xbox where you have to 'pay to play'.

I can't see MS allowing anything free.
WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 2
Some years ago, MS tried to do this thing for PC called Games For Windows Live. No one subscribed to it like they did for XBox live on the XBox. They ended up making it free. PC gamers had several options to use that were most likely better such as XFire, GameSpy Arcade and Steam. PC gamers have played online without spending anything other than the internet connection for so long that they were not going to pay MS matchmaking, or access to other things that GFWL offered. Last I heard, they shut that whole thing down.
aca856
Rob Hall 2
A 'game' could imply there is a winner and a loser, and a set point in time or level the 'game' is concluded. FS, everybody wins and the 'game' never ends...unless you embarrass yourself on a busy afternoon landing EGLL on VATSIM in front of a couple dozen others :P
KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 1
I end up losing in my head every time my landing rate is above 500fpm :(
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
Gamers treat this as a Game, even though, I personally like it for training in weather and flying different approaches... Flying from one place to another does not do much for me. I much prefer doing Touch And Goes and Flying Instrument Approaches. I have a lot of the Saitek instruments and Controls (Yolk/Rudder Pedals/Control Panels) and gives a much more realistic feel and a lot cheaper than renting a plane.
xmitr
Don Whyte 2
Yes it's a great advance for pilots to hone their skills and fly approaches before actually doing the
real thing. Make the mistakes in the sim.

Yolk is spelled yoke BTW. Yolk - egg yolk. Lol just sayin'
SmokedChops
SmokedChops 1
THANK YOU! I have been resisting all of the others, so far...
yolk - staring back at you from your plate, beside the bacon and toast
yoke - big 'W' shaped doo-dad clamped to desk controlling your flight-sim inputs
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
I also have 4 Monitors... Front, Left, Right, and Over Head Panel!
eichmat
Tim Eichman 1
Gotta see a picture of your rig...
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
You ask and you shale receive

Monitors
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LQvHbgp8rEQDx7Qu6

Computer (The Guts, 2 drives shown, 2 M.2 Drives mounted on the motherboard (hard to see) other 6 drives are hidden (Yes 6) you can see 4 white trays to the right which is where the large storage drives are for a total of over 27 TB of drive space. Video Editing takes a lot of space.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AGjfypvX5f61AhPEA
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Did not link URL, will have to clipboard copy it.
eichmat
Tim Eichman 1
srobak
srobak 1
same here. 4 for the view, 1 for the controls and radio. FSX here. eagerly waiting for this new release.
srobak
srobak 1
sorry - 3 for the view. 1 for the panels
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
I use the main (Center Lower) for view and insturments. I control the Radios and other switch items with Saitek Controllers... I control the Throttles (yes Plural, I use twin engine throttle quadrant), and my yolk controls the PTT, Trim, and multitude of other things as well as Rudder Pedals as well and normally fly a Beech Duke (B60) that I have always loved. It was a 3rd party add on plane that Real Air Sold and it was great.
Rainoxer
Damien ENGEMANN 2
This is a videogame.
It simply belongs to the category of "serious games" as well as professional simulators.
wcarlin
William Carlin 2
My goodness , that is just unbelieveable , In contrast to the fist MS Flguht Sim so many years ago,I think I had Flight Sim 3 or 4, very Good at the time, but this just makes your mouth drop open.
So, do you think they will put this into a VR environment to add to the immersion of the experience?
loomis
loomis 2
there are plans for VR!
Bobqat
Bob Harrington 1
Pffft! I'll stick with SubLogic Flight Sim on my trusty TRS-80 Model I... ;^}
MrTommy
MrTommy 1
I started FS on my trusty old Atari 1040 ST. I wasn't bad, given that it was early 80's tech.
aspeedbump
aspeedbump 1
C-64 for me... Sure wish Meigs Field was still the default strip.
asellitto
A Sellitto 2
Here's a video by Microsoft. Realistic is an understatement

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE38gLr?autoplay=false
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
WOW... SOLD! Would nice if they would do VR... that would be great for flying IFR Approaches!
wcarlin
William Carlin 2
jimweil
Jim Weil 2
With the release of this product there are now several major contenders for flight simulation. All, except for X-Plane are strictly entertainment products. X-Plane on the other hand, can be certified for professional flight training with the addition of a hardware key for around $900. However it is the same program as the 'entertainment version', X-Plane additionally runs on all 3 major computer platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and mobile devices.

So, in my opinion, if you are strictly interested in a Windows game, MSFSX would likely be a reasonable choice. However if your interest exceeds that, interested in the most realistic flight experience, looking for actual pilot training, or are not using Windows, my choice would still be X-Plane.
Quirkyfrog
Robert Cowling 1
And it's on 20 DVD's! (As I remember)

OMG!!!
MrTommy
MrTommy 1
I thought most of it is supposed to be in the cloud so lesser powered and sized machines can run it.
FaisalNahian
Faisal Nahian 1
It’s a good a start. I am hoping they will release more aircrafts and airports throughout months after official release date so we don’t have to depend on third-party add-ons.
Cat3508
Neil Ward 1
Airports with extra attention. One for Australia and one for New Zealand, arent we being spoilt.!!
aurelien21
Michael C 1
Like every version that came out, current pc cant run it.
Baywooff
James Bruton 1
My main Pc is a 2015 27 in. iMac and I've been been running XPlane 11.41. It's Ok but when Apple went to 64 bit Catalina OS, a lot of add-ons no longer worked properly and the sim didn't always work. Two months ago, I purchased a loaded Dell G5 gaming desktop (Core i9. 64GB Ram, Geforce RTX2080, etc...) mostly for the purposes of running the new MS flight sim. and and enough power to support VR. While waiting, I run Xplane and FSX Steam on the PC and the performance is outstanding! The iMac doesn't have the power and a new iMac rig is just way too expensive compared to the Dell. I've run MSFS since the old "green screen" days so it's good to be coming back.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 1
stansdds
Michael Stansfield 1
It depends upon your PC. Their low end specs are pretty low by today's standards. As for me, I will need a new PC, but I do not expect a 10+ year old PC that still uses Windows XP to run anything these days.
WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 1
While I will need a new PC for this, one needs to remember that this is also coming to XBox so what may or may not be needed PC wise is up for debate. We know that previous versions needed a beast of a PC to run, at least CPU wise, as well as a large enough hard drive to hold all the added scenery and aircraft.

Hopefully, MS realizes that gamers love FS and though a niche market, is worth keeping up as it did previously and not throw it all away such as they did after FSX.

One also needs to remember that Prepar3D is based off of FSX.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
The Fastest Processor is not required, but is useful.... Where they list I5 as the Minimum and the I9 as the Best.. and I7 will run it fine... Also, no need to max out the RAM. 32 Gigs of RAM is fine. One place you do not want to scrimp is the Video Card... Personally I like N'Vidia Cards, but there are others that are acceptable and others like (Kind of the GM vs Ford Analogy). If you check the System Requirements ( https://www.gatechecked.com/flight-sim-fans-microsoft-flight-simulator-to-be-released-august-18th-for-pc-3277#System-Requirements ), I would generally go with the Recommended Column except for the RAM and Hard Drive.. For the cost of RAM now days, 32 GB and for the Hard Drive get an SSD and If your Motherboard supports the NVMe and or M.2 Drive go that route. That would be my recommendation. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like more specific help on figuring out what you would want to do...
WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 1
I am some time off before I can build one. I just remember how my i7-920 paired with a GTX 285 (top of the line at the time) would cringe flying into JFK with any clouds as well as other air traffic (which is why FS9 needed a better CPU instead of GPU).
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
With this time off courtesy of this Virus, I had plenty of time to rebuild mine after it totally crapped out (Motherboard Failure). I do much ore than Flight Sim, primarily built it for Video Editing...

Specs: I9 4.4 Ghz, 128 Gig Ram, Asus X299 Motherboard, Asus GeForce Nvidia 2080 ROG Video Card, and M.2 NVMe Drive... Hard to watch the boot up process... One it leaves the Bios screen, you never see anything until it is at the log on screen, which literally if you blink, you miss it. But Video Editing is its main job and where it needs the speed and the RAM!
WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 2
Due to most games typically needing a decent GPU, I normally went for the top tier cards, just to eke out a few more years. My desktop lasted for 9 years with that set-up. I just can't play games on it anymore so I am stuck with my laptop, which plays some games, but not all I own.

I just got RIFed recently so I have to put stuff like a new computer on hold, but will need a new laptop in the future first as I typically use it for work, but when having to wait so I can do inspections, I want one that cab play games. For FS, I will build a box that can run it really well and will last a while to boot.
Rainoxer
Damien ENGEMANN 1
You clearly don't know how this specific simulator is made. The environment is too large and high quality to be stored on your disks. It does not require a large SSD/HDD, but a good internet connexion to stream the assets.

;)
wcarlin
William Carlin 1
HAH! Good One! Yes, that's about the time I started with Flight Simulator...
And as for DOS, I still use some DOS to trpoubleshoot computers once-in-a-while, tomorrow actually.
I have a 3.1 disc but am on Windows 10, Windows 3.0, and 3.1 were mkonsters foisted on the public, Windows amazing today.
I just took a look at DCS World Combat Sim, looks fun...
Viperguy46
Jesse Carroll 0
Anybody know what Flight Sims work on Apple products?
CanadaKen
Ken Shaba -2
Typical of Microsoft....they will sell MSFS 2020 when it's still in Beta. Their Beta programs are most software companies Alphas.

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