Microsoft flight sim 2020 pre-order open

[jskibo]

Pre-order open at Microsoft. Three versions available. Appears airports and planes being the difference. 

$59 to $119

MS2020 preorder

Release Aug 18th

[kattz]

Any word on how well it will support builders?

[jskibo]

I haven't seen anything other than an SDK.  If they haven't learned their lesson form the last 20 years we will need a Pete Dawson tool

[Trevor Hale]

Pete & John have confirmed they will be working on FSUIPC for it.  I have also confirmation Simconnect is still there.

Trev

[jskibo]

Pete & John have confirmed they will be working on FSUIPC for it.  I have also confirmation Simconnect is still there.

Trev

Just need a solution for my other hardware. PFC, RXP for the GTN and Air Manager for the Aspen oh and Flight Illusion

[FredK]

Hmmmm.......the timing on this is sort of weird.....

Alpha testing is still in progress, and the closed Beta was not to start until July 30.

So a decision was made by somebody to suddenly and completely leap-frog all of that.  Could be that MS has a very high confidence in what they have, or it could be there is management frustration that the development process is dragging on too long.  With everyone at home due to COVID they may be thinking that they would otherwise be missing a big opportunity if they launched later.

No 737, and it will be awhile yet for MSFS2020 to be "cockpit" ready.  So I am content for the time being to stay with my "crash-proof" P3Dv4.5.  Will be interesting to follow the forum reports though.

Fred K

[jackpilot]

Same here, still with V4 which performs bulletproof with SimAvionics..

[Vincent T.]

Yes the timing of MSFS2020 surprises, it does look like people being at home during Covid is helping beta / alpha tests?

[stratfordwill]

I think the timing suggests that the open beta, now scheduled for 8/18, is included in the price of your pre-order. But that's the trend with most games these days. Release early and fix later or maybe don't.  Regardless I still have high hopes.

[Ed]

I don't understand the advantage of pre-ordering. Why not just pay and download on release day?

[jackpilot]

Besides, waiting for a stable build is probably a good idea.

[Ed]

Besides, waiting for a stable build is probably a good idea.

Good Morning Jack,

Agreed. I'm not going to be diving in to quick, although I have high hopes that maybe this time they'll get it right. Time will tell.

Still have fond memories of that hidden corner of Quebec. Hope all is well your way.  Take good care and stay safe.

[Garys]

I don't understand the advantage of pre-ordering. Why not just pay and download on release day?

You can download it onto your system right away. The executable wont run until Aug 18th, but I imagine the servers are going to be hammered for a few days when its first released so its a way of beating the traffic so to speak. Other than that there is no real benefit.

[jackpilot]

Hi Ed.
Flying everyday (nothing much else to do!)
Stay safe 2
Jack

[Ed]

I don't understand the advantage of pre-ordering. Why not just pay and download on release day?

You can download it onto your system right away. The executable wont run until Aug 18th, but I imagine the servers are going to be hammered for a few days when its first released so its a way of beating the traffic so to speak. Other than that there is no real benefit.

Ahh... got it.  Thanks.

[jfuenmayor]

Hi fellows.

I have been away all too long from the forum. I have not looked at the new MSFS except for some videos on YT. Besides the great graphics etc. what caught my attention was the implementation of RWY gradients, which is a missing feature in in both FSX or P3D as I understand it. I am also aware, as pointed out by some of the developers during an interview, that the flight dynamics now include parameters that may render a stall more realistic, like the dropping of a wing and pre stall buffet. I wonder if any of this will prompt these developments in P3D.

I will continue to use P3D 4.5 unless any of you can give me a compelling reason to make the jump to the latest version .

I hope that everybody is safe during these turbulent times.

Cheers

[FredK]

Hi fellows.

I have been away all too long from the forum. I have not looked at the new MSFS except for some videos on YT. Besides the great graphics etc. what caught my attention was the implementation of RWY gradients, which is a missing feature in in both FSX or P3D as I understand it. I am also aware, as pointed out by some of the developers during an interview, that the flight dynamics now include parameters that may render a stall more realistic, like the dropping of a wing and pre stall buffet. I wonder if any of this will prompt these developments in P3D.

I will continue to use P3D 4.5 unless any of you can give me a compelling reason to make the jump to the latest version .

I hope that everybody is safe during these turbulent times.

Cheers

Multi-screen/multi-channel and a Sim Avionics 737 are basic requirements before I can even start to think about MSFS2020. It will also take several months to work out all the bugs associated with a release like this I believe.....particularly since MS has essentially leap-frogged beta testing.

Also, I am very content with P3Dv4.5 performance right now.  Over the years I have become weary regarding all the instability and tweaking involved with FSX and P3D.  There is none of that with P3Dv4.5, so I am in a good place right now.

I'm not knocking MSFS2020.....I am certainly looking forward to it....I am just setting reasonable expectations for myself.

Fred K

[WheelerEGKK]

I totally agree with Fred K. So much invested in my cockpit together with Prosim. It does look to me as is the users will be doing a lot of the testing post release. I understand this approach as we have such a range of different equipment. I will wait until it is stable and all the addons etc have been released.

P3D v4.5 is working fine for me. Have never had sloped runways so I can wait.

Kelvin

[jackpilot]

I read on some euro-forums that the flight models were not consistent across the alphas.
Sometimes improved then back to previous pitfalls. To be checked for sure.

[helloo]

Multi-screen/multi-channel and a Sim Avionics 737 are basic requirements before I can even start to think about MSFS2020.

Fred K

Multi screen is already supported from their cockpit discovery video.  Not a valid attachment ID.

[Joe Lavery]

Hi all,
I've been fortunate enough to have access to the Alpha and recently the Beta versions of FS2020, which is as good as it looks.. quite stunning in fact, particularly at night. It's the first time I found it possible to fly accurate VFR at night.

While I've enjoyed both P3D and X-Plane over the past few years. they both look rather dated in their default sceneries by comparison. Of course the addition of Orbx scenery can improve them considerably. The down side being the massive amount of drive space you need to install it. For example the whole of the UK in Orbx True Earth is over a terabyte.

I didn't honestly believe the scenery would be as good as the advertising shots and videos, but it is! The detail even outside the areas given the super detail treatment are still better than we've ever had before. Yet those nominated for this extra treatment are simply mind blowing.

We still don't know if 2020 will completely support out hobby, but I don't see them ignoring such a large segment of prospective flight Simulator customers. I'm told we're shortly to have the release version, so perhaps I'll know more then.
   

[navymustang]

I can verify your comments about the scenery. My Beta version is wonderful, minor bugs still, but it is truly on the way of being a great VFR scenery flyer experience.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Joe,

I've been checking YT videos and leaving questions in the comments about turning off the cockpit view/MIP per se in MSFS 2020. As of yet no one has answered or made any other comments regarding this.

Asobo did a 45 second preview back in one of the episode videos; however, nothing as been mentioned from them since.

Therefore, please tell us what you know and/or make a video showing it being turned off, or at the very least say if it's currently possible....

Kind Regards,

John

[Joe Lavery]

Hi John,

From what I've seen so far there is no option to remove the MIP, but the final list of options is 33 pages long and includes a Toggle Panel option. Another option is Toggle Own Aircraft, which I presume refers to an outside view.
There are literally hundreds of commands that reference items that are not available in FSX or P3D. "BUT" and that's a big but, we are all working with a pre-release version of the software, so many of these options may not be available when it finally appears.
Having said that it demonstrates that the developers are looking at all these commands and options.

As far as video or screen shots are concerned, I'm not one of the chosen few who have had their user IDs removed from the screen. Consequently I cannot publish anything until Microsoft release me from the NDA.

From a personal perspective I think this simulator will include all these options at some point; they have certainly laid the groundwork to do so. I can see no reason why they wouldn't.

Kind regards
Joe.

[blueskydriver]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for letting us know everything, and totally understand about you're under the NDA. It's just good hearing from you about it in any regard because you're a full-size builder; whereas, the desktop folks who haven't learned the intricacies of dealing with things like this might not fully understand.

John