Microsoft flight sim 2020 pre-order open

[kattz]

Hey Joe, thank you. Also, where did you buy all your PC items, one place or multiple?

Hey Kevin, like Joe, you provided a great shopping list, but where did you purchase everything?

I've been looking at investing into a setup like the two of you have, and in the past I purchased from NewEgg or TigerDirect. Likely, I'll go there again unless you guys have something better...

John

Micro Center, John!  Cheapest around.

And I turned 55 August 12th.

Kev

[N4208T]

Hey guys.  For those of you using MSFS 2020 and especially those who were in the alpha/beta test program, I was literally just about to buy the sim but noticed something that bothers me.  (I just put a brand new motherboard and the latest i7 processor and a water cooled fan in my main machine and wanted to test it out)

There is a disclaimer on the Microsoft store website that states "This app can
Access all your files, peripheral devices, apps, programs and registry
Access your Internet connection"  It can and does also apparently write to the registry without your permission on doing some additional research.

Microsoft has been including a lot of data mining/retrieval stuff in the latest windows 10 versions and though most of it can be turned off, you have to be aware of it and you have to go looking for it in order to turn it off. MS is getting as bad as Google and Facebook in terms of gathering information about all of us.

I used to do a lot of work with them in the healthcare and predictive analytics arena and they are very different company than they used to be.

Any of the beta testers have any comments/insight on this aspect of the new sim?  I personally think there is way too much invasion of everyone's privacy and though I have nothing to hide, I do not like the idea of anyone, including Microsoft, gathering info from my activities.  That is one reason why I really like stand-alone programs.

Comments?

Steve

[N4208T]

Clarification ... not looking to start a conversation about privacy or data mining etc.  Just wondering if anyone knows exactly what information the software actually gathers and, to what extent, it is sending info back to Microsoft.

Thanks.

[bernard S]

here here i get super vexed about i use stnd alone as much as pos i am lucky my sim is stand alone ..they want two things and in this order  your info then your bucks .. 

[blueskydriver]

One of the better YT videos I've seen thus far concerning MSFS 2020 hardware.

https://youtu.be/y6RIvvMPBTg

John

[Joe Lavery]

That's an interesting video indeed, but he hasn't considered the 1080Ti which was last years top card, now cheaper that even the 2070 card which it outperforms by some margin.
I have two systems running the 1080Ti, I get 30-35 fsp with settings set at ULTRA in MSFS 2020, no stutters at all, this is at 4K resolution.
Yet one of our writers runs a similar setup and gets poor performance. In the same way I had no issues at all installing the program, but I see many others have had all sorts of problems. I guess it's still something of a lottery until they iron out all these issues. 

Just my 2 cents :-)

[jackpilot]

Joe, they know who you are and they sent you the ultimate version nobody has (including themselves) 

[Joe Lavery]

Now that I never thought of Jack ....     

[KyleH]

One of the better YT videos I've seen thus far concerning MSFS 2020 hardware.

https://youtu.be/y6RIvvMPBTg

John

IT's NOT A 'GAME!'

[Joe Lavery]

Hey Kyle, don't tell all those X-Box players, we want as many people buying it to keep MS developing it.   

[jackpilot]

IT's NOT A 'GAME!'

I"m afraid it is !
Outer skin is nice though

Most people have a sweet spot for aviation and flying, hence the buzz around that "NEW" Flight simulator because it LOOKS terrific.
Awe effect. Well done MS !
What we expect from a "non game" Flightsim is totally alien to the gaming crowd and they are the majority.
Stick with aerospace people.
My two cents
Jack

[bernard S]

well for those that require higher fps  how about 1000 out of an i7    stupid like being worth 200b but can be done    why stupid   eye can not register 1000fps and brain can not imgine 200b as dollars

[Joe Lavery]

Some real thought provoking information there Bernard.... I think!!!       

[RayS]

Lifted this interesting article from the WaPo:

Storm Chasing in MSFS2020

[jackpilot]

Check the video, not a peep of turbulence, clear smooth sailing...!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqUiXztuws&feature=emb_logo

Seems like Media are discovering Flight simulation.
Soon it will allow personal no cost travel..no need to get out of your couch.

[blueskydriver]

Anyone watch the NVIDIA live announcement? I did, here comes RTX 3080 on September 17th...

As I was saying, every new cycle of flight simulator is tied to needing better hardware; unless, you already had it right before.

Oh well, now waiting for the 17th...lol!

John

[Joe Lavery]

Just had the MSFS 2020 update from Microsoft today. I haven't checked it all out yet but I guess the updated notes will be worth a read.

[kattz]

Anyone watch the NVIDIA live announcement? I did, here comes RTX 3080 on September 17th...

As I was saying, every new cycle of flight simulator is tied to needing better hardware; unless, you already had it right before.

Oh well, now waiting for the 17th...lol!

John

Hey, John,

The 3XXX-series will use PCIe 4.0 is my understanding and not be backwards-compatible to PCIe 3.X. 

Later edit:  John, the cards will support PCIe 3.x.  They will also support PCIe 4.0.

I'm planning to pick up the 3080.  3090 is nice, but... maybe.

Kev

[Joe Lavery]

Just a few notes on MSFS:
Microsoft announced yesterday that in the first 7 days they sold over 1 million copies and those "pilots" flew over a billion miles. So of course the more people that buy it the more investment they will make.

Also the update has fixed the Simconnect issue, with users reporting average frame rates of up to 60 fsp. Also for those that use Arduino and particularly those that use MobiFlight. The new update works perfectly with the FSUIPC 7 Beta. That of course means for the controls that have been implemented. Some aircraft still have some buttons and switches that are marked as INOP.

Joe.

[Joe Lavery]

Hi all,
In case those who are testing MSFS have not found it yet there is a website dedicated to freeware and other stuff for the new platform:
It's nicely laid out, has a forum and a Discord, more importantly the download speeds are very good at the moment, I guess they will add a tiered premium method once they get enough users, like flightsim.com did. The site is:

https://flightsim.to

Up to the time of writing they have:

85 new or adapted airports
108 landmarks, things like stadiums bridges and other items missing or badly made in the sim.
Approximately 200 new liveries covering many of the aircraft.

If you don't feel like browsing there's a master list of each element with hyperlinks. Some are very good and others are just a bit better than the original, but worth a look. I've installed a few and they fit pretty well into the sim. It's just a matter of dropping the item folder into your Community folder; that's it.
There is generally instructions on how to do this anyway.

Incidentally I have no connection with this site, so as usual it's your decision whether to use this stuff or not.   

Cheers
Joe.

[Joe Lavery]

Another patch released last night, 11GB should fix a few issues.
(Correction the patch is actually 15.69 GB) I've just installed it!  :-)

[N4208T]

Well I took the plunge and bought MSFS 2020 about 3 weeks ago.  I did put it on a separate drive with its own version of Windows and still mostly fly P3D but I could not resist.  Still do not like the way that they have set it up as an X-Box type "app" and it is definitely still a late beta, but it is an interesting sim with definite possibilities as it evolves.  And the graphics are beautiful.

Have had the usual crashes and growing pains but with the last patch I am seeing consistent FPS of 30-40 running a 2070 on 3 55 inch monitors in surround but not at the full resolution.  But I can run it at Ultra settings.

Of note.  I flew out of Denver yesterday in the Caravan into some fairly light clouds and I PICKED UP ICING ON THE WINDSCREEN.  Now I will admit that was cool and something I have not experienced before, except in real life.  Not only that, but once I got below the clouds, it took a while for the ice to dissipate slowly, not all at once.  I was and am impressed and hope that there are going to be other things like this.  Have never seen that in P3D or any other sim.

Steve

[Joe Lavery]

Steve, have you see the waves at low level with the wind blowing, it's tremendous. And I know it's all eye candy really, but what a difference it makes to the perception of reality.
 

[navymustang]

Just think what this will be like to fly helicopters when they become available. !!!

[jackpilot]

If weather is correctly modeled, what about Gliders !!