Gaming New Microsoft Flight Simulator?

[Topper]

Hello,
I've read an article that Microsoft will release a new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020? I have no Idea if it can keep up with the old version in terms of realism etc., I just have read this short articles and this trailer... The graphics looks great!

 

[Notebook]

It does look lovely. didn't Microsoft giveaway FS to Lockheed for the Prepare3d or similar.

Haven't kept up with MSFS for a few years, decided to go with Xplane only.
Getting too expensive to run two

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

I thought the Steam Edition or Lockheed Martins Prepar3D are the successors....

 

[Topper]

From wikipedia:

Reboot
On June 9, 2019, Microsoft announced a new installment, simply titled 'Microsoft Flight Simulator', as part of their E3 conference and with a teaser video on their Xbox YouTube channel.[20] On the same day, Microsoft launched a new website for the title and opened registration for a public alpha and early forum access for members of the Xbox Insider Program.[21] The new version features tight integration of satellite data and Microsoft's own Azure AI into the simulator's engine to generate near photoreal graphics. Release date, pricing, and other features are yet to be announced. The simulator will be released in 2020 on Xbox and PC. It is also not clear if previous tons of add ons from 3rd party will be supported or not.

...
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

At E3 2019, Microsoft revealed that they will be bringing back the Flight Simulator series with an updated release, featuring Microsoft's Azure AI. The new flight simulator includes 4K ground satellite textures and aircraft. The title is due to be released in 2020.[27] This is Microsoft's first simulator since Flight Simulator X in 2006 and Microsoft Flight in 2012.[28]

thats all at the moment...

 

[Fabri91]

This looks to be a strong departure from the previous FS iterations also on a technical point of view, which could be positive since FSX, not being optimized for modern hardware at all, struggles to run fluidly even 13 years after its release.

 

[DaveS]

This looks to be a strong departure from the previous FS iterations also on a technical point of view, which could be positive since FSX, not being optimized for modern hardware at all, struggles to run fluidly even 13 years after its release.

I once read that the reason why MSFSX runs so badly is that back when it was still development, the dev team had to make a choice: either optimize it for multi-core CPUs or stick with single-core CPUs with an ever increasing clock speed. They went with the latter while actual PC CPUs went with the former.


The thought was that in a few years the CPU clockspeed would way past 5 GHz and just keep on increasing. They were wrong and the software has suffered for that wrong decision ever since.

 

[Urwumpe]

I once read that the reason why MSFSX runs so badly is that back when it was still development, the dev team had to make a choice: either optimize it for multi-core CPUs or stick with single-core CPUs with an ever increasing clock speed. They went with the latter while actual PC CPUs went with the former.

Actually, it wasn't really a choice. They developed the core functions of MSFS in the early days of personal computing, when even pipelining was a new thing.



You can't simply go and switch a single-thread application into a multithreaded application. You need to change many algorithms and data structures to support it. And a lot more to really gain performance that way.


And even then, you can't go and turn every algorithm into a parallel one. Some things are simply meant to be done in sequence. Even with a million technicians and engineers, you can't execute a pre-launch checklist faster on just one rocket.



(Which is why many smaller launch vehicles have a tiny advantage again)

 

[Mojave]

Seeing as it is Microsoft... And Flight was so special... My hopes of this installment being good are somewhat dashed.

Maybe I'll be wrong and this won't be another "Vista" of their flight simulation software.

---------- Post added at 09:51 ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 ----------

I say that as I get this E-Mail from the competitor:

 

[dbeachy1]

Seeing as it is Microsoft... And Flight was so special... My hopes of this installment being good are somewhat dashed.

Maybe I'll be wrong and this won't be another "Vista" of their flight simulation software.

Did you see the actual 4k real-time footage?

It's far beyond any PC sim I've ever seen. :blink:

I'm psyched about it! :tiphat:

 

[fred18]

Did you see the actual 4k real-time footage?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDDgFfWlS4

It's far beyond any PC sim I've ever seen. :blink:

I'm psyched about it! :tiphat:

oh... my.... god...

 

[4throck]

What you see is a auto generated 3D mesh from satellite / aerial imagery. Just like Orbiter 2016 in fact.
And nothing new:
https://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2014/04/using-google-earth-flight-simulator.html

Here's something that runs on your browser.:
https://www.geo-fs.com/


Microsoft will have major problems with disk space, shadows present on the imagery, seasons (requires at least 4 global coverage datasets), "melted" trees, and national security restrictions on certain countries.
Let's see how they handle this...

 

[dbeachy1]

From reading about it, my impression is that the new Microsoft Flight Simulator will stream the scenery and textures down from their AI-integrated Azure cloud and cache it locally as you need it rather than try to install all the scenery in the world locally, as previous-generation flight simulators do. In any case, however they do it, the results look stunning! :blink:

 

[Wolf]

Well new products trailers are always a bit tricky (often raising the expectations beyond legit) but if the graphics, terrain and weather engine are even only 70% of what the video shows than I’ll surely give it a try

 

[Fabri91]

From reading about it, my impression is that the new Microsoft Flight Simulator will stream the scenery and textures down from their AI-integrated Azure cloud and cache it locally as you need it rather than try to install all the scenery in the world locally, as previous-generation flight simulators do. In any case, however they do it, the results look stunning! :blink:

Generally I don't like software to require a constant internet connection, but if this is the result, I'm on board! Still, an option to download specific scenery areas would be nice.

Anyway, like for other software Microsoft has opened up an Insider program where pre-release versions will be available: https://fsi.microsoftstudios.com/insider-program-sign-up/

---------- Post added at 20:52 ---------- Previous post was at 20:33 ----------

A bit of additional information: https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-wants-to-bring-back-flight-simulator-to-show-it-supports-pc/

 

[fred18]

And even then, you can't go and turn every algorithm into a parallel one. Some things are simply meant to be done in sequence. Even with a million technicians and engineers, you can't execute a pre-launch checklist faster on just one rocket.


(Which is why many smaller launch vehicles have a tiny advantage again)

Just a sort of OT to tell that when I was working in Oil&Gas I encountered many clients who thought something different. To sum it up: if to build this offshore oil rig it takes 1 million man hours... just put 1 million workers and in 1 hour we'll get it :lol:

 

[dbeachy1]

Quoting from the article that Fabri91 linked (highlight added):

The result is something that, judging by the trailer, looks impossibly vast and real. Spencer says that 2 petabytes of geographical data is used to seamlessly stitch together Earth. The trailer rushes past cities, swoops down so we can see elephants and giraffes hanging around and then soars the mountains for some truly incredible views.

Spencer warned the team: "You're going to have to put at the bottom that it's in-game, because nobody is going to believe that's in the game."

2 petabytes is 2000 terabytes, which is 2,000,000 gigabytes, which is the equivalent of 500 four-terabyte hard drives. :blink:

So it's safe to say the scenery will be streamed down from Microsoft's AI Azure cloud as necessary. :lol:

 

[Fabri91]

Yeah, and I thought I had plenty of space when I bought a 6TB drive in February :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

Just a sort of OT to tell that when I was working in Oil&Gas I encountered many clients who thought something different. To sum it up: if to build this offshore oil rig it takes 1 million man hours... just put 1 million workers and in 1 hour we'll get it :lol:

I know. :lol: I have met similar people in the automotive industry.



But I have also heard of the exact opposite once... engineers fighting against parallel processing. They had a very comfortable, stress free workday as long as the software was the bottleneck:


They started 8 post-processing jobs when they started their workday. Those needed about 5-12 hours to finish. In the mean time, they did the paperwork with the post-processing results of the previous day.



And then came some stupid young aerospace software developer. Got badly criticized in a meeting because the alternative post-processor was too slow. At that time it used same mathematic flow as the single-core version and needed about 6 hours for a large job (where the single-core version needed 12).


In the next meeting, the new post-processor needed 1.5 hours with 8 CPUs for the 12 hour job. At this point, the young software developer had to explain why his version of the software differed by 0.02g air/hour from the baseline (About [math]{10}^{-9}[/math] of the total flow through that radiator.)

 

[Frilock]

Oh joy *looks at rural internet that takes a week to download BFV updates*

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Well, the streaming model kind of makes sense. How much scenery can you really see from a plane at any given time? I can see some smart algorithms being used to compress the data. You don't need to be able to count the shingles on a house from FL300.