Next Microsoft flight simulator looks astonishing

[elbows]

I might have to go all the way back to the first time I saw 3D accelerated PC graphics to find an equivalent wow moment in my life when it comes to computer generated visual joys.

Despite my various comments promoting and defending very casual flying in this game, I would like to master the Icon A5 if I can find the time.

Even though I would have to shoot myself if I had one in real life, and their marketing stinks of the lifestyle crimes of the rich.

 

[elbows]

I was amused by the size of the wind turbine at Barmouth when I briefly visited the area in this sim at about 3am last night.

Checking out various wind-farms offshore of the UK is very much on my list of things to do but I wasnt expecting to see a big white one so soon! In real life according to my brief research the Barmouth one is actually a fairly modest one at a school by the beach.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I might have to go all the way back to the first time I saw 3D accelerated PC graphics to find an equivalent wow moment in my life when it comes to computer generated visual joys.

A much bigger wow moment will come if you plan on simming in VR.

 

[elbows]

And in terms of skills I'm actually really interesting in learning, figuring out where the hell I actually am by observing landmarks etc is probably top of the list. Obviously it doesnt help when the AI models building in a generic way, and when dealing with areas that lack really tall buildings. I spotted the MIRA vehicle test centre near here within just a few seconds of my first flight, but it was even easier than I was expecting to get totally lost and lose my bearings. So I should probably move away from my fairly nondescript part of the midlands and find somewhere with more obvious features to start with.

 

[elbows]

A much bigger wow moment will come if you plan on simming in VR.

Yes for programming/development reasons I had already pre-ordered the HP Reverb G2 (because I want that resolution so badly to motivate my own VR development project) so I nearly fell off my chair with joy when it ended up being the first VR headset to have official support announced for this game. I expect this will lead to much pain for my increasingly non-existent funds when nvidia announce their next GPU though.

 

[elbows]

This sim also reminds me that the pace of flying is a bit much for me at times, I would like hot air balloons, airships etc in this game!

 

[Magnus McGinty]

And in terms of skills I'm actually really interesting in learning, figuring out where the hell I actually am by observing landmarks etc is probably top of the list. Obviously it doesnt help when the AI models building in a generic way, and when dealing with areas that lack really tall buildings. I spotted the MIRA vehicle test centre near here within just a few seconds of my first flight, but it was even easier than I was expecting to get totally lost and lose my bearings. So I should probably move away from my fairly nondescript part of the midlands and find somewhere with more obvious features to start with.

Following major roads can be a big help in visual flight rules also some planes offer an in flight moving map.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

This sim also reminds me that the pace of flying is a bit much for me at times, I would like hot air balloons, airships etc in this game!

Helicopters

 

[elbows]

Helicopters

Yes I will be surprised if they are not added at some point, and are going to be a far more popular request than most of the stuff I will come up with.

 

[elbows]

Following major roads can be a big help in visual flight rules also some planes offer an in flight moving map.

Yes I imagine I will lean heavily on the maps to start with but intend to try to learn to cope without them more and more as a main challenge. I havent set foot in the Icon A5 yet but if I remember in game videos I watched of it properly, it has a very modest collection of basic controls but also a giant screen for the maps etc.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Following major roads can be a big help in visual flight rules

also rivers and the coast.

/captain-obvious

 

[elbows]

Yeah I'm going coastal later today

In regards a comment I made relating to Apple Maps comedy errors the other day, so far I am happy enough with the first things I've spotted in this category such as the aforementioned Bedworth airport and also the railway bridge at Barmouth going into the sea

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I'm having problems getting it to run reliably for some reason.

My spec is pretty close to being the "ideal" one that they recommended, yet I can't fly for more than five minutes without the game crashing my PC completely. Tried reinstalling/updating drivers, and fiddled with the settings (lower settings let me play for longer) but I can't see any particular reason why I can't run it perfectly fine with max settings.

Quite a lot of similar complaints on the subreddit, and the official forum has collapsed, so perhaps there will be some swift patches coming that address some of the issues people are having.

 

[elbows]

I suppose if that was happening to me I would run a series of gruelling CPU & GPU benchmarks to see if my system had an instsability issue that only showed up under the sorts of loads this game delivers. I think its rather CPU intensive so maybe check for temperature issues in that area. Could even try underclocking to rule out issues on that front.

Of course al of that will be a waste of time if its specific bugs or whatever that are causing your crash.

Oh yeah there were new nvidia drivers out yesterday as well.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Is there plenty of room on your hard drive? Mine is pretty full and I worry that it’s going to need a huge amount of space to cache all the graphics it delivers over the net.

 

[Pickman's model]

Is there plenty of room on your hard drive? Mine is pretty full and I worry that it’s going to need a huge amount of space to cache all the graphics it delivers over the net.

get an external hard drive and move all your files onto that

 

[Pickman's model]

I'm having problems getting it to run reliably for some reason.

My spec is pretty close to being the "ideal" one that they recommended, yet I can't fly for more than five minutes without the game crashing my PC completely. Tried reinstalling/updating drivers, and fiddled with the settings (lower settings let me play for longer) but I can't see any particular reason why I can't run it perfectly fine with max settings.

Quite a lot of similar complaints on the subreddit, and the official forum has collapsed, so perhaps there will be some swift patches coming that address some of the issues people are having.

this is why late adopters like me like early adopters like you, so you can identify the things ms need to tweak

 

[Magnus McGinty]

get an external hard drive and move all your files onto that

it’s mostly software taking up all the space though. Actually it’s an idea for me to get an external thunderbolt/usbC one I think.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I suppose if that was happening to me I would run a series of gruelling CPU & GPU benchmarks to see if my system had an instsability issue that only showed up under the sorts of loads this game delivers. I think its rather CPU intensive so maybe check for temperature issues in that area. Could even try underclocking to rule out issues on that front.

Of course al of that will be a waste of time if its specific bugs or whatever that are causing your crash.

Oh yeah there were new nvidia drivers out yesterday as well.

I installed the new driver release yesterday before starting the game, although I'm starting to wonder whether reverting to the previous version might not be a bad idea to try.

I don't think it's temperatures, I was running a monitor and they weren't going at all high when it was crashing. And I tried underclocking (or rather, I switched off the boosting system that automatically overclocks) but it didn't make any difference.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Updating drivers always seem to affect performance for me.

 

[Pickman's model]

I'm having problems getting it to run reliably for some reason.

My spec is pretty close to being the "ideal" one that they recommended, yet I can't fly for more than five minutes without the game crashing my PC completely. Tried reinstalling/updating drivers, and fiddled with the settings (lower settings let me play for longer) but I can't see any particular reason why I can't run it perfectly fine with max settings.

Quite a lot of similar complaints on the subreddit, and the official forum has collapsed, so perhaps there will be some swift patches coming that address some of the issues people are having.

you weren't flying a 737 max were you?

 

[alsoknownas]

Mind your own business then, I spent my £60 and will fly how I please.

Do it properly you bugger .

 

[elbows]

All in good time, and never with a commercial airliner Because the only thing I want to operate with that many controls is a synthesiser!

 

[elbows]

Besides if you want me to take off you better have a word with Bedworth airport about getting a longer runway

 

[alsoknownas]

No Harrier Jump Jet option then?

 

[elbows]

I have successfully landed and taken off from water (the Exe estuary) in the Icon A5, as well having taken off from land, from Bedworth airport no less

I still had all the aids apart from AI co-pilot turned on though, so not too much of a sense of achievement yet, but its another step or two closer.

Yesterday evening I flew into the sunset along the jurrasic coast, having left everything synced to actual real world time of day etc.

I need to go back to Bournemouth under brighter lighting conditions because I think I might have noticed that it doesnt know what beachhuts are and so planted a lot of small houses on the promenade

I take back what I said about speed the other day, the Icon A5 is plenty slow enough, takes an age to travel a substantial distance.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I have successfully landed and taken off from water (the Exe estuary) in the Icon A5, as well having taken off from land, from Bedworth airport no less

I still had all the aids apart from AI co-pilot turned on though, so not too much of a sense of achievement yet, but its another step or two closer.

Yesterday evening I flew into the sunset along the jurrasic coast, having left everything synced to actual real world time of day etc.

I need to go back to Bournemouth under brighter lighting conditions because I think I might have noticed that it doesnt know what beachhuts are and so planted a lot of small houses on the promenade

I take back what I said about speed the other day, the Icon A5 is plenty slow enough, takes an age to travel a substantial distance.

Great that you’re having lots of fun with it. It’s downloaded for me but I’ve yet to fire it up. There’s loads of srs twats whining about it not living up to expectations when comparing this brand new model just out of the gate with other more developed sims. Wanting to strangle it at birth because it isn’t P3D5 or XP11.

 

[teuchter]

This is only for wealthy PC owners or will it be available on the mac at some point too?

 

[fishfinger]

This is only for wealthy PC owners or will it be available on the mac at some point too?

Windows and XBox One only.

 

[Supine]

This is only for wealthy PC owners or will it be available on the mac at some point too?

Who makes it? They will want it exclusive too their platform.