Microsoft Flight Simulator: The Sky Is Freedom
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is an incredibly beautiful, impressively high-tech, and mind-boggling game. The heady feeling of flight and absolute freedom that it gives is priceless.
Table of contents [show]
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Genre simulator
Windows platforms, Xbox Series X
Languages Russian, English
Developer Asobo Studio
Publisher Xbox Game Studios
Website flightsimulator.com
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Ballad of Serenity,
Joss whedon and sonny rhodes
Mandatory disclaimer.
This article is illustrated mainly with official Microsoft screenshots captured in 4K at Ultra graphics settings. The fact is that the author's computer, which is waiting for the release of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 series video cards, pulls Microsoft Flight Simulator only with High graphics settings, in some points (anti-aliasing, filtering, shadow quality) lowered to Medium. MSFS 2020 even at medium graphics settings looks better than all other flight simulators, but I still wanted to show the readers how the game looks like “all the money”. The author took more than 600 screenshots in 20 hours of flight, but this article only includes those that relate to Ukraine, you will definitely not see them among the official press materials. So all the screenshots in this article with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 are official 4K screenshots reduced to save space on the server. Screenshots at 1680x1050 were captured on my PC with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with graphics settings just below High. I regularly post my other screenshots from Microsoft Flight Simulator on my Twitter with the tag # MSFS2020.
End of disclaimer.
History of Microsoft Flight Simulator
Although Microsoft Flight Simulator only ranks seventh in the ranking of the longest-lived game series, if you count correctly, starting with Sublogic FS1 Flight Simulator, which was released on the Apple II in January 1979, MSFS is second only to two game series in seniority - The Oregon Trail ( first release December 3, 1971 on the HP 2100 mainframe) and Space Invaders (released in Japan in June 1978 on the Taito 8080 arcade machine).
The fact is that Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0, released on the IBM PC in November 1982, is a version of Sublogic FS1 Flight Simulator ported from the Apple II with improved graphics, changing time of day, weather and a new coordinate system. The first version of MSFS supported RGB monitors, but only in monochrome, the color screenshots below were taken from composite monitors. Interestingly, Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0, along with the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet processor (this is such an industry-standard predecessor of IBM's Excel), was used to test PCs for compatibility with the IBM PC standard (yes, once the abbreviation PC stood for one specific type of computers). If MSFS 1.0 and Lotus 1-2-3 were run on the PC, then it was 100% compatible with the IBM PC.
It's funny that the Sublogic FS1 Flight Simulator itself, which was licensed by Microsoft, began as ... a series of articles on computer graphics written by the programmer Bruce Artwick in May 1976. In the article "A versatile computer generated dynamic flight display" Artvik argued the possibility of creating a flight simulator that works in real-time and using 3D graphics, based on the Motorola 6800 microchip. The same legendary processor, released in 1974 and which gave impetus to the development of personal computers and video games. When readers began to send letters to the editorial office of the magazine, where they expressed a desire to buy such a hypothetical flight simulator, Bruce Artwick created the Sublogic Corporation and made the same game - FS1 Flight Simulator for Apple II.
But back to Microsoft. Since 1982, the company has released an updated version of its now own Microsoft Flight Simulator every two to three years. With regular graphics improvements, a deepening of the simulation level, the emergence of new locations and aircraft. All these years, the game enjoyed constant popularity, and at the beginning of the new millennium it thundered all over the world, when there was still unconfirmed information that the terrorists who sent planes to the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, used Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 for training. ...
Over the past 37 years since the first release, 11 major versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator have been released. The previous part of the series, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, was released 14 years ago - in 2006. This longest break in the history of Microsoft's flight simulator is primarily due to a shift in user interests. Simulators, in the 80s-90s. of the last century, which were among the main game genres, have become the lot of a small group of hardcore enthusiasts, lost against the background of an audience of casual gamers that has grown hundreds of times. However, MSFS X has been doing pretty well all these years. Microsoft released two Service Packs for the game, plus the Flight Simulator X: Acceleration (2007) expansion with new aircraft (F / A-18A Hornet, P-51D Mustang and EH-101 helicopter), improved locations and missions. Plus, traditionally for the series, third-party developers have prepared for MSFS X hundreds, if not thousands, of DLCs with planes, detailed airports, buildings, environment models and locations. This is not an exaggeration, indeed there are thousands, I personally know people and entire companies in Ukraine who made very good money on the release of models for MSFS.
In 2014, Dovetail Games, known for its Train Simulator and Train Sim World series, released Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition in agreement with Microsoft. This version includes all the official add-ons, supports multiplayer via Steam rather than the deceased GameSpy, works better on newer versions of Windows, etc. Plus, traditionally for Dovetail - there are 271 DLCs (!!!), the total cost of which exceeds 75,000 UAH. However, a huge number of DLCs and their high price are absolutely common features for large simulators.
Microsoft's Flight Simulator X engine has been used for several other games. First, the spin-off of the series about light aircraft - Microsoft Flight (2012), the basic free version of which included only the Icon A5 seaplane. Secondly, Dovetail Games' own game Flight Sim World (2017), which could not compete with MSFS X and was closed just a year later. And thirdly, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D is a professional simulator from a well-known manufacturer of real aircraft, which is used for pilot training. The basic version of Prepar3D for educational institutions (universities and colleges) costs $ 59.95, for commercial use - $ 199. Hundreds of DLCs with planes, airfields, locations, support for various equipment and services are also released for this "game".
And of course, the story about MSFS would be incomplete without mentioning Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (1998), a simulator of piston fighters of the Second World War, for which the author of these lines spent more than a dozen hours.
As you can see, the series has a glorious history, and a long hiatus after the previous version has led to the fact that the news about the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator, which for accuracy should be called Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, caused a real stir. And for good reason.
Fly wherever you want!
What is truly amazing and even confusing is the incredible freedom that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 provides. You can really fly wherever you want and choosing a new direction is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks in the game. In the four days since the release of MSFS 2020, I have visited the following places:
Fly over your own home in Kiev. Yes, indeed, very similar, almost one to one except for the color and a few optional decorations. In general, Kiev in the game looks very good, despite the fact that it is entirely generated by a neural network, there are no hand-made buildings here.
Take a flight Koktebel - Kacha over the occupied Crimea. Along the entire South Coast through Sudak, Yalta, Foros, Balaklava and Sevastopol. Ayudag - as if alive. Ai-Petri is cool, although there is something incomprehensible instead of a funicular building. On the site of the Genoese fortress in Sudak, there are several completely left-wing houses. Yalta and Alushta are conditionally similar, although the neural network did not guess the color of the buildings. I only caught Sevastopol by the edge.
Fly over Budapest at night and admire the illumination of Orsaghaz, the building of the Hungarian Parliament. Very similar. This is one of the landmarks made by the developers with all the details. Yes, a night landing at the Budapest airport is still an experience, there is a sea of lights around, it is very difficult to navigate visually.
On the advice of Dmitry Veselov, the author of Home PC and ITC.ua, who lives in New Zealand, he hit the road to the South Island and flew in the Queenstown area. Unbelievably beautiful. Mountains, valleys, many small airfields and just runways. By the way, the airport of Queenstown itself was also hand-made by the authors. Thanks for the tip, Dima!
Met the dawn in flight between the town of Wrangel and Ketchikan International Airport (Alexander Archipelago, Southeast Alaska, USA). An international airport with a runway length of 2286 m in a town with a population of 8200 people! In general, meeting sunrise or sunset in flight is a fantastic feeling.
I flew to the Red Heart of Australia, the unique rock formation of Uluru. On the way, I almost fell asleep, central Australia is completely flat and unimaginably boring. But Uluru herself is undeniably impressive.
He made a flight Luhansk - Donetsk - Mariupol in an airplane with tail number BNDR-L and callsign PRAVIY-SECTOR. Donetsk airport is presented in MSFS 2020 in a pre-war state. You can even land on it. There are waste heaps in Donetsk, but the city itself seemed to me somehow impersonal. There are no traces of war in the temporarily occupied territories; the satellite images used are a little outdated.
He flew over Egypt, naturally with a flight over all the pyramids. Cairo is simply unrealistically large, my PC literally drowned over the city. Cairo International Airport is hand-modeled but only included in the Deluxe version of the game.
Admired the flocks of flamingos on the lakes in the foothills of the Andes. The transition from the plains of Pampa to the beautiful mountain valleys and snow-capped peaks is incredibly impressive. I sat down on a strip, which is just a section of a red clay plain. No markup, no backlighting, no navigation. However, one could sit there at any point.
He made a flight Khmelnitsky - Kamenets-Podolsky - Chernivtsi - Mukachevo - Uzhgorod. I flew over the Carpathians late in the evening in heavy clouds and rain. Yes, it is very beautiful, but also incredibly difficult. Landing in Uzhgorod at night with low clouds and with a call through the city is one of the most difficult that I have ever done. It succeeded only the second time, I crashed the first plane.
I flew from Sicily to Malta (on a visit to 4A Games), which I did not get in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I went to Cherkassy to Dmitry Kuryatnik and just like that to Chernigov. I flew to Minsk (Long Live Belarus!). He took off in Gibraltar (another "tame" airport) - landed in Tangier in Africa. I flew from Key West to Miami International Airport (by the way, this airport is standard, but looks very good) along the entire Florida Keys. I flew around the East Frisian Islands and specifically Juust, which I will definitely go to in reality as soon as the quarantine ends. Visited Japan, testing the possibility of landing on the water of the ICON A5 ultralight seaplane (you can!).
And this is only a small part of the flights that I made in four days. 33 takeoffs, 29 landings. And I want to continue. I plan to consistently visit all European capitals: Kiev - Minsk - Vilnius - Riga - Tallinn (in Russian it is correct with one "n", but Estonians ask to write with two, so we will do) - Helsinki - Stockholm - Copenhagen - Oslo and further in a circle. I would like to make a trip around the world. Through England to Iceland, then through Greenland and Canada to the United States, then through Alaska to Japan, along all of Asia and through Turkey and the Black Sea home.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has 37,000 airports and godforsaken airstrips. The eyes really run wild. For the same Kiev, there are a dozen runways, about half of which you probably do not know.
The world that the neural network built
The world in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is built on satellite imagery, Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap open source data, and software from Graz, Austria, Blackshark.ai (you should fly!).
If cities such as Seattle or New York are recreated in MSFS 2020 based on photogrammetric data (after all, they were in all versions of MSFS, so the developers have information), then all other buildings and vegetation in the game are generated by a neural network using software Blackshark.ai. This is 99.8% of the buildings, infrastructure and vegetation of the Earth! The self-learning network, using the power of Microsoft Azure Cloud, processed the map of the planet (30 million sq. Km. !!!) for 72 hours and found 1.5 million buildings on it, replacing them with the most similar 3D objects. And in most cases it worked really well. However, given the volume of processed data and their complexity, it was not without funny errors.
Let's say the same sleeping areas of Kiev, built up with the same block high-rise buildings, are really VERY similar to themselves in reality. Obolon, Troyeshchina, Bereznyaki, Borschagovka, Osokorki, Poznyaki are almost like real ones in MSFS 2020. Things are worse with Pechersky. Let's say my, far from the most standard house, turned out to be very similar, but the school nearby, featuring a very eclectic architecture, including interconnected buildings, built 50 years apart, has become some kind of jumble of blocks. "Parus" and "Gulliver" became just straight-line skyscrapers, however, this transformation was only beneficial to the ugliest building in Kiev on Klovsky Spusk.
Naturally, the neural network failed to cope with any of the complex buildings. The same unique building of the Gosprom in Kharkov turned into an ordinary residential complex. On the site of the Sudak fortress, as, incidentally, on the site of almost all fortresses and castles that were not made by hand - porridge. It's scary to look at London, most of the high-rise buildings in which have a unique shape (however, there is already a solution here, DLC with improved London has gone on sale). Taipei does not have a unique Taipei 101, although several other architectural landmarks of Taiwan's capital are available. But in the suburbs of Melbourne, an impressive 212-storey skyscraper was discovered, which appeared due to ... a typo in the OpenStreetMap database. In some places, AI placed wind turbines so tightly that they turned out to be a real forest. Etc. etc.
Errors will continue to be found, with this amount of information it is completely normal. By the way, if you, like me, prefer to fly in less populated areas, such glitches will be less common.
There are problems with the cards themselves. Bing Maps is frankly inferior to Google Maps, however, there are also enough satellite imagery artifacts and it is not a fact that Google Maps would be much better. Artifacts include stitching of images taken with different quality and at different times of the year, the joints are really striking. In areas where low-resolution imagery is used, especially near water, angular coastlines, rectilinear bays and peninsulas can be seen. I came across this while flying over Alaska. In some places the elevation map is incorrectly displayed and you can see "sunken" houses, roads and boat piers. Sometimes AI-generated cars drive along the bottom. Again, such errors are inevitable with such a volume of data. In theory, the most egregious should be corrected, how much Microsoft can handle, we'll see.
But in general, the work of the authors of the game, the studio Asobo Studio (they created one of the most beautiful games of 2019 - A Plague Tale: Innocence) and Blackshark.ai should be rated as "four plus" or even "five with a minus ", We have not seen a simulation of a planet of such a level, and even on a 1: 1 scale.
Check out a comparison of some of the famous locations in the real world and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
There is no bad weather!
The second thing that is impressive about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is the weather simulation. One of the features of the game is the ability to see the real weather anywhere in the world. And judging by the response to my tweets with screenshots from New Zealand, the Carpathians and Crimea, the weather in different regions of the world really matches the real one as much as possible.
Weather Data for MSFS 2020 introduces Meteoblue, a service that sells weather information to agribusiness customers, solar and wind farm operators, and more. So the accuracy here is really impressive. The Meteoblue platform was created at the University of Basel (Switzerland), in collaboration with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US National Center for Environmental Predictions (NCEP). The latter, among other things, is engaged in predicting weather, ocean conditions, hurricanes and issues warnings about dangerous flight conditions for air traffic control services.
Meteoblue's weather prediction network covers all continents with cells of unprecedented size for such services. In most European countries, these are 3 × 3 km cells, in other countries - 10 × 10 km. By the way, the impetus for the creation of Meteoblue was a major accident at the Sandoz chemical plant near Basel in November 1986 and the man-made disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that occurred a little earlier in the same year.
I think I have already seen three dozen types of clouds in MSFS 2020, ranging from light cirrus clouds to thunderclouds over the Carpathians, similar to colossal columns and castles. Very beautiful, but also very dangerous. Light haze, dense fog, overcast clouds, just flood milk rivers of fog flowing down the slopes in mountain valleys and tiny foggy puddles evaporating in the sun in shallow hollows.
One of the reviewers who received the games even before the release even managed to fly into the center of Hurricane Isaias, which struck the Atlantic coast of the United States in early August. He flew into the "eye of the storm", a zone of calm weather in the center of the hurricane, and shot fantastic shots.
It's incredibly difficult to fly in heavy weather. But also insanely interesting.
By the way, Meteoblue has a great weather app with dozens of different maps. For iOS and Android.
If you can't, we'll teach you! or A few words about the simulation level
Yes, about flying. Microsoft Flight Simulator has always frightened novice players with the difficulty of mastering. Many people remember that their acquaintance with the early versions of the game ended with the fact that they simply could not get the plane into the air. And if they succeeded in the end, landing accidents were inevitable. Well, in MSFS 2020, the authors have tried to lower the entry threshold.
First, the game features a series of eight simple tutorials that teach you how to fly the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. The 172nd is the most popular aircraft in the world (more than 44 thousand units were produced in 64 years), it is easy to learn and operate. Takeoff, landing approach, maneuvers around the airfield, navigation. Everything is very simple and straightforward. If you are new to aviation sims, we strongly recommend that you start with training.
Secondly, the game has three basic levels of simulation, plus two simulation models, the classic one, borrowed from Microsoft Flight Simulator X and updated, created for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. At the simplest level of difficulty, the game will draw for you the corridors of the approach and prompt you to overspeed, moreover, in this case, AI will take over the throttle control and will steer if you get too out of the normal approach mode. Easy mode forgives some piloting mistakes and overly aggressive aircraft control. There are no avionics failures in it, the aircraft can withstand the most brutal maneuvers, besides, the fuel supply is not limited here.
At an average difficulty level, flying is already more interesting. Here you can really break the plane in the air by simply overloading the glider with too nervous and hard piloting. Approach prompts are disabled, steering and other assistance is also disabled.
It is really difficult to fly at high difficulty level. It takes into account the gyro effect, P-factor (asymmetric disk effect in propeller driven aircraft), moment of force, icing of planes, change in aircraft mass in the course of fuel production in different tanks, air density at different heights and at different temperatures. There are stressful damage to the airframe and engine, system failures, etc.
As in the case of F1 2020, I started on the simplest difficulty level, quickly switching to medium, adjusting it to my preferences. So I left for AI all the preparatory work before starting the engine, negotiations with dispatchers, correction of the fuel mixture, control of side and landing lights. I turned on the automatic correction of the gyro effect, removed stress damage after several of my airplanes simply collapsed in the air from overloads (I hope I will turn them back on after a while), turned on the auto-hold of the rudder during takeoff, otherwise some light airplanes are very much shaking along strip. But I turned off all the navigation help, that is, in general, and turned on the effects of icing planes.
Now I am busy studying aircraft cockpits. They are modeled with amazing care, down to the sewing stitches on the chairs and the small text under each of the buttons. Most of the buttons in the cockpit are pressed. With the same navigation system, autopilot or radio, you can work not through the game menu, but right in the cockpit by clicking on the buttons with the mouse. Yes, it's terribly difficult, but very realistic.
By the way, a new feature of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is checklists before takeoff. This is a list of several operations that must be performed before starting the engine and before takeoff. A tiny light biplane may have only five points in it, an Airbus A320neo or Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental list may contain forty points, each of which must be passed in order to obtain a take-off clearance. This means that you have to locate the appropriate indicator, lever or switch in the cab, check its condition and put it into operation. Interesting experience, but so far I have entrusted all this work to AI.
I do not presume to judge how realistic Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is and how much worse or better it is than Microsoft Flight Simulator X.On the other hand, there is a MSFS X flight model in the game, namely, it is used in professional Lockheed Martin Prepar3D simulators. So that…
A few words about graphics
As I said at the very beginning, my PC does not run MSFS 2020 in Ultra settings, so let the screenshots provided speak for themselves. Although I repeat that on medium and even low settings, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 looks better than the previous generation simulators. But the price is high, the game is really demanding on resources. And sometimes very unexpected. For example, SSD speed or internet connection. On my fairly modern SSD (Samsung's top model, purchased a year ago), the game takes about 5 minutes to load. As for the Internet connection, in 4 days of the game, MSFS 2020 pulled an additional 2.96 GB of information from the Web. These are Bing Map updates, real weather and real air traffic, which is also in the game.
And here is what experts from Digital Foundry, the technical division of the Eurogamer website, say about the quality of graphics. Volumetric clouds up to the horizon, while loading or deterioration in quality is not noticeable in the distance. Clouds cast shadows on themselves, on other clouds, and on the ground. On the ground near the takeoff field, you can see dense grass, in which you can distinguish individual blades of grass (I myself saw this even at the level of the High graph). On airplanes, every rivet is visible, every stitch in the cockpit, every button, cockpit glazing gets dirty, has scratches and glares in the sun (all this is also on High). Even the maximum approximation does not reveal the flaw in the geometry of the models. The rain on the cockpit glass is incredibly realistic and looks especially impressive at high speed. High resolution shadow maps, SSAO and SSR are used inside the cockpit, objects are reflected even in transparent glass. The frame rate depends on how close you are to the ground and the clouds - the lower the plane, the lower the frame rate. Moreover, if the plane flies low between a detailed city and low clouds, the performance drops the most (this is an addition from me).
Digital Foundry believes that High-End graphics settings will be the best choice for MSFS 2020, although they are worse than Ultra, but not critical. However, I personally plan to upgrade my PC to Ultra.
Bonus. Video comparing different graphics modes in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Can you fly the keyboard? or Beware, the family budget is in danger!
One of the most popular questions that I was asked on Twitter in response to another batch of screenshots from MSFS 2020: "Can I play on the keyboard?" The answer is somewhat unexpected - it is possible, but not necessary. In doing so, you will be using the keyboard anyway!
The full control layout of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 contains somewhere under 300 keyboard shortcuts. This is the entire keyboard, plus the entire keyboard with Ctrl, plus the entire keyboard with Shift, plus the entire keyboard with Ctrl + Shift. Minus service keys. Plus a mouse, which can be used to press physical buttons in the cockpit of the aircraft and call up the service menu for communication with control rooms. Plus some kind of analog control device.
The fact is that the smoothness with which you change roll, pitch and yaw is very important in the control of an aircraft. Control with a discrete device, which is a keyboard, will lead to a sharp change in values, twitching and jerking. That is, it is still possible to take off, but it is unlikely to safely land the plane.
Any analog device will do, from a gamepad to a joystick, steering wheel or ... a car steering wheel. With a little dexterity, you can control the plane using the rudder and pedals. Anything is better than flying from the keyboard.
Microsoft plans to release Flight Simulator 2020 on its next-gen Xbox Series X console following its release later this year. So the game is very well optimized for the gamepad. Actually, I play with the Wireless Controller for Microsoft Xbox 360. Recommendations for those who play with a gamepad - lower the sensitivity by 40-50% and set the dead zones to 10-15%, the control will immediately become softer.
However, the problem with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is that once you start playing, you want more. I am planning to upgrade my PC to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 plus Intel Core i5-10400. I am thinking of replacing the monitor with something with 4K support. My Dell 2209WA honestly worked for 11 years and begs to rest, moreover, many developers have stopped supporting the 16:10 format. And I also started to look closely at the joysticks.
A very good choice is the Thrustmaster TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition, which Microsoft itself recommends. This full-size replica of a real Airbus control stick costs only $ 70 and is completely symmetrical. Unfortunately, it is not sold in Ukraine. A more affordable option, which can also be bought in our country, is the classic Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, which turns 14 this year. This joystick costs around UAH 1500-1700. If we talk about something more serious, then the equally classic Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X for UAH 3,000 will do. A separate throttle is a definite plus.
But the coolest is, of course, the Flight Yoke System from Logitech G with a Throttle Quadrant lever block. Plus, you can buy Flight Rudder Pedals for rudder control and the Flight Instrument Panel, Flight Switch Panel, Flight Multi Panel and Flight Radio Panel LCD panels. We tactfully keep silent about the total cost of such a set, from which you can assemble a full-fledged cockpit. Yes, this thing was originally called the Saitek CES432100002 / 02/1 Pro Flight Cessna Yoke System and is a full-size replica of the real Cessna's helm, the plane found in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Which version do I need?
The second question I've been asked a lot is "Which version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 do I need?" Everything is simple here, if you are new to flight simulators - the simplest, Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard for UAH 1540. If you get hooked, buy the upgrade to Deluxe or Premium Deluxe yourself.
Versions differ only in the number of manually recreated airports and aircraft. The standard version has 20 aircraft and 30 detailed airports, the Deluxe version has 25 aircraft and 35 airports, and the Premium Deluxe version has 30 aircraft and 40 airports. Considering how many DLCs with planes and locations cost in flight simulators (300-500 UAH apiece), this is a very generous offer. But in order to test all the planes and visit all the most realistic airports, you will need ... 50 hours or more. If you don't plan to fly that much, feel free to buy the standard version.
In addition, additional aircraft are partly variations of those already available in the basic set, if you are not a professional pilot, then you will not feel the difference. Yes, the Premium Deluxe includes the same Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, but believe me, flying small planes is much more interesting, and if you want to fly on a large liner, then the Airbus A320neo is no worse than the 747.
By the way, the basic set also includes an aircraft that is assembled in Ukraine. Flight Design CTLS from the German company Flight Design is made at a factory in Kherson.
And just a few words about the cost, which many consider too high. UAH 1540 Is a completely standard price for Microsoft games. The base version of Forza Horizon 4 cost the same, and the version with two large DLCs had a price tag of UAH 2550. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, etc., cost almost the same at the time of release. If you want to save money, the standard version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is included in the Xbox Game Pass for PC, if you already pay a monthly fee, try this game for free.
And a few words about the DLC. Paid add-ons for large simulators are a standard solution that has been around for decades. If you're a real fan and want to see your favorite plane or your favorite airport, get ready to shell out. So it was starting, it seems, with Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 or Flight Simulator 98. As I wrote above, in addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition, 271 add-ons are available on Steam with a total cost of about 75,000 UAH.
Currently, the Microsoft Flight Simulator in-game store has a dozen DLCs from third-party manufacturers - one new plane, an improvement in London and nine airports from tiny local to international. Some of them are very interesting. The range of prices is from 200 to 600 UAH, which is quite standard. And personally, I've already thought about buying a few extras, at least an improvement for London, a small Orca Island airport, in the bay between Seattle and Vancouver, and Innsbruck Kranebitten International Airport.
If someone makes detailed Zhuliany and Boryspil, I will undoubtedly buy them too. However, this is unlikely, first of all, developers do what mass users buy, that is, airports in the United States and Western Europe.
Several spoons of machine oil
The release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, like all major releases of recent times, was marked by a number of problems, and of course, "responsive" Steam users were quick to underestimate the game.
The installer of the game caused the most criticism. The fact is that from the store, be it the Microsoft Store or Steam, the game downloads only the 1 GB installer, the rest of the data, which is 110 GB, is loaded from the game itself. To quite monotonous music and depending on the "thickness" of your Internet channel from 2 to 5 hours. I downloaded the game from the Microsoft Store on release day when the servers were loaded and on my 100 Mbps it took about 5 hours. Not critical.
But if you do this on Steam, the service will credit you 5 hours of play, and if you cannot run MSFS 2020 due to non-compliance with the system requirements (among other things, you need Windows 10 version 1909) or you don’t like the game, then theoretically you will not you can expect a refund. In fact, this is not the case, and Valve is quite normal in refunding funds even if you exceed the game time limit of 2 hours in 14 days. Well, in the situation with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, Steam support separately agreed that the refund will not take into account the time spent on the download.
And most importantly, it is completely understandable why the game installer is made this way and not otherwise. MSFS 2020 is distributed primarily through the Microsoft Store (recall, the game is included in the Xbox Game Pass for PC), which does not know how to work with DLC as easily as Steam. And given that all parts of the game, every plane, every hand-made airport, even those included in the basic version, are DLC, then the download can only be like that. Again, such a system for checking installation and downloading new content is needed for future third-party DLCs, which will be sold separately.
In addition to problems with the installer, the players were upset by the high system requirements of MSFS 2020 and some instability of the game. Out of 30+ launches, my game crashed about 6 times. Bad, but personally I am guilty of lack of video memory.
Glitches in modeling buildings and drawing a map are not critical from my point of view. Again, given the amount of data, this is expected.
Competitors, who are they? or Is there enough sky for everyone?
At the moment, the competitors of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are the aforementioned Microsoft Flight Simulator X several times, only on Steam it is available for 700-800 thousand players, and the daily online of this game is still 4-6 thousand people. Considering that the most hardcore players probably have an impressive library of purchased and very expensive DLCs, it is not a fact that they will want to migrate to MSFS 2020. It's another matter if Microsoft promises to transfer the DLC to the new version. However, this is already a fantasy.
The second most popular competitor is X-Plane 11 from Laminar Research. In addition to the PC version, this game was released on Android and iOS. Moreover, there is also a professional version certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration. Both the number of sales and the number of users of X-Plane 11 are lower than those of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. On Steam, the game was bought by 350-400 thousand people, and online has recently been about 3 thousand people. 93 DLCs were released for this game on Steam, mainly airports and detailed locations, with a total value of 46 thousand hryvnia. And, by the way, one of the last, literally July 30, 2020, was German Islands 1: East Frisia / XPRealistic v2 with the very East Frisian Islands that I really want to get to. Despite the impressive cost of 674 UAH (the basic version of X-Plane 11 is literally a couple of hryvnias more expensive - 699 UAH), I would definitely buy this DLC. I really hope that the authors decide to transfer their work to MSFS 2020.
The third competitor, Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator from IPACS, is doing the worst. Despite the positive reviews, sales are only 60-70 thousand copies, and online fell to 60-80 players, however, even at its peak, it was only 266 people. Only 21 DLCs have been released for this game, which can be purchased for "modest" UAH 6573.
At the time of the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, only on Steam the game was launched simultaneously by 61 thousand people, although then it was most likely the launch of an installer that would download the client. Now online is 30-40 thousand people. Surely the results are even better in the Microsoft Store, again, the game is included in the Xbox Game Pass for PC.
I think Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be with us for a long time and everything will be fine with it. And this game will gradually pull over all simulator lovers with both X-Plane 11 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. So no, the sky is definitely not enough for everyone.
Take off!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is a game that can be played for thousands of hours. And for me personally, this is the Game of the Year, in which I will most likely spend, if not thousands, then definitely hundreds of hours.
The only thing I'm missing is a career mode, similar to the one in American Truck Simulator / Euro Truck Simulator 2. So that you can build your own company, transport cargo and passengers, earn reputation and money, buy new planes, etc. etc. But MSFS 2020 still has a lot to do. There are tests in the form of dangerous landings on difficult airfields or in difficult weather conditions and missions for orientation in flight without prompts. You can intercept any plane in air traffic, even the one that has just flown over your house, and perform its real flight. You can travel around the world refueling at intermediate airports and drawing up a new flight plan using the built-in navigation system. After all, there are an infinite number of places on our planet that you would like to visit. Considering that we will not be released abroad soon due to the quarantine (Turkey and other beaches should not be offered, I don’t think such a pastime is appropriate), all that remains is to travel the world in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. And this game allows you to do it is with comfort and pleasure.
Happy flights! And let the number of your landings always equal the number of take-offs.
Table of contents [show]
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Genre simulator
Windows platforms, Xbox Series X
Languages Russian, English
Developer Asobo Studio
Publisher Xbox Game Studios
Website flightsimulator.com
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Ballad of Serenity,
Joss whedon and sonny rhodes
Mandatory disclaimer.
This article is illustrated mainly with official Microsoft screenshots captured in 4K at Ultra graphics settings. The fact is that the author's computer, which is waiting for the release of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 series video cards, pulls Microsoft Flight Simulator only with High graphics settings, in some points (anti-aliasing, filtering, shadow quality) lowered to Medium. MSFS 2020 even at medium graphics settings looks better than all other flight simulators, but I still wanted to show the readers how the game looks like “all the money”. The author took more than 600 screenshots in 20 hours of flight, but this article only includes those that relate to Ukraine, you will definitely not see them among the official press materials. So all the screenshots in this article with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 are official 4K screenshots reduced to save space on the server. Screenshots at 1680x1050 were captured on my PC with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with graphics settings just below High. I regularly post my other screenshots from Microsoft Flight Simulator on my Twitter with the tag # MSFS2020.
End of disclaimer.
History of Microsoft Flight Simulator
Although Microsoft Flight Simulator only ranks seventh in the ranking of the longest-lived game series, if you count correctly, starting with Sublogic FS1 Flight Simulator, which was released on the Apple II in January 1979, MSFS is second only to two game series in seniority - The Oregon Trail ( first release December 3, 1971 on the HP 2100 mainframe) and Space Invaders (released in Japan in June 1978 on the Taito 8080 arcade machine).
The fact is that Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0, released on the IBM PC in November 1982, is a version of Sublogic FS1 Flight Simulator ported from the Apple II with improved graphics, changing time of day, weather and a new coordinate system. The first version of MSFS supported RGB monitors, but only in monochrome, the color screenshots below were taken from composite monitors. Interestingly, Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0, along with the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet processor (this is such an industry-standard predecessor of IBM's Excel), was used to test PCs for compatibility with the IBM PC standard (yes, once the abbreviation PC stood for one specific type of computers). If MSFS 1.0 and Lotus 1-2-3 were run on the PC, then it was 100% compatible with the IBM PC.
It's funny that the Sublogic FS1 Flight Simulator itself, which was licensed by Microsoft, began as ... a series of articles on computer graphics written by the programmer Bruce Artwick in May 1976. In the article "A versatile computer generated dynamic flight display" Artvik argued the possibility of creating a flight simulator that works in real-time and using 3D graphics, based on the Motorola 6800 microchip. The same legendary processor, released in 1974 and which gave impetus to the development of personal computers and video games. When readers began to send letters to the editorial office of the magazine, where they expressed a desire to buy such a hypothetical flight simulator, Bruce Artwick created the Sublogic Corporation and made the same game - FS1 Flight Simulator for Apple II.
But back to Microsoft. Since 1982, the company has released an updated version of its now own Microsoft Flight Simulator every two to three years. With regular graphics improvements, a deepening of the simulation level, the emergence of new locations and aircraft. All these years, the game enjoyed constant popularity, and at the beginning of the new millennium it thundered all over the world, when there was still unconfirmed information that the terrorists who sent planes to the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, used Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 for training. ...
Over the past 37 years since the first release, 11 major versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator have been released. The previous part of the series, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, was released 14 years ago - in 2006. This longest break in the history of Microsoft's flight simulator is primarily due to a shift in user interests. Simulators, in the 80s-90s. of the last century, which were among the main game genres, have become the lot of a small group of hardcore enthusiasts, lost against the background of an audience of casual gamers that has grown hundreds of times. However, MSFS X has been doing pretty well all these years. Microsoft released two Service Packs for the game, plus the Flight Simulator X: Acceleration (2007) expansion with new aircraft (F / A-18A Hornet, P-51D Mustang and EH-101 helicopter), improved locations and missions. Plus, traditionally for the series, third-party developers have prepared for MSFS X hundreds, if not thousands, of DLCs with planes, detailed airports, buildings, environment models and locations. This is not an exaggeration, indeed there are thousands, I personally know people and entire companies in Ukraine who made very good money on the release of models for MSFS.
In 2014, Dovetail Games, known for its Train Simulator and Train Sim World series, released Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition in agreement with Microsoft. This version includes all the official add-ons, supports multiplayer via Steam rather than the deceased GameSpy, works better on newer versions of Windows, etc. Plus, traditionally for Dovetail - there are 271 DLCs (!!!), the total cost of which exceeds 75,000 UAH. However, a huge number of DLCs and their high price are absolutely common features for large simulators.
Microsoft's Flight Simulator X engine has been used for several other games. First, the spin-off of the series about light aircraft - Microsoft Flight (2012), the basic free version of which included only the Icon A5 seaplane. Secondly, Dovetail Games' own game Flight Sim World (2017), which could not compete with MSFS X and was closed just a year later. And thirdly, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D is a professional simulator from a well-known manufacturer of real aircraft, which is used for pilot training. The basic version of Prepar3D for educational institutions (universities and colleges) costs $ 59.95, for commercial use - $ 199. Hundreds of DLCs with planes, airfields, locations, support for various equipment and services are also released for this "game".
And of course, the story about MSFS would be incomplete without mentioning Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (1998), a simulator of piston fighters of the Second World War, for which the author of these lines spent more than a dozen hours.
As you can see, the series has a glorious history, and a long hiatus after the previous version has led to the fact that the news about the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator, which for accuracy should be called Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, caused a real stir. And for good reason.
Fly wherever you want!
What is truly amazing and even confusing is the incredible freedom that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 provides. You can really fly wherever you want and choosing a new direction is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks in the game. In the four days since the release of MSFS 2020, I have visited the following places:
Fly over your own home in Kiev. Yes, indeed, very similar, almost one to one except for the color and a few optional decorations. In general, Kiev in the game looks very good, despite the fact that it is entirely generated by a neural network, there are no hand-made buildings here.
Take a flight Koktebel - Kacha over the occupied Crimea. Along the entire South Coast through Sudak, Yalta, Foros, Balaklava and Sevastopol. Ayudag - as if alive. Ai-Petri is cool, although there is something incomprehensible instead of a funicular building. On the site of the Genoese fortress in Sudak, there are several completely left-wing houses. Yalta and Alushta are conditionally similar, although the neural network did not guess the color of the buildings. I only caught Sevastopol by the edge.
Fly over Budapest at night and admire the illumination of Orsaghaz, the building of the Hungarian Parliament. Very similar. This is one of the landmarks made by the developers with all the details. Yes, a night landing at the Budapest airport is still an experience, there is a sea of lights around, it is very difficult to navigate visually.
On the advice of Dmitry Veselov, the author of Home PC and ITC.ua, who lives in New Zealand, he hit the road to the South Island and flew in the Queenstown area. Unbelievably beautiful. Mountains, valleys, many small airfields and just runways. By the way, the airport of Queenstown itself was also hand-made by the authors. Thanks for the tip, Dima!
Met the dawn in flight between the town of Wrangel and Ketchikan International Airport (Alexander Archipelago, Southeast Alaska, USA). An international airport with a runway length of 2286 m in a town with a population of 8200 people! In general, meeting sunrise or sunset in flight is a fantastic feeling.
I flew to the Red Heart of Australia, the unique rock formation of Uluru. On the way, I almost fell asleep, central Australia is completely flat and unimaginably boring. But Uluru herself is undeniably impressive.
He made a flight Luhansk - Donetsk - Mariupol in an airplane with tail number BNDR-L and callsign PRAVIY-SECTOR. Donetsk airport is presented in MSFS 2020 in a pre-war state. You can even land on it. There are waste heaps in Donetsk, but the city itself seemed to me somehow impersonal. There are no traces of war in the temporarily occupied territories; the satellite images used are a little outdated.
He flew over Egypt, naturally with a flight over all the pyramids. Cairo is simply unrealistically large, my PC literally drowned over the city. Cairo International Airport is hand-modeled but only included in the Deluxe version of the game.
Admired the flocks of flamingos on the lakes in the foothills of the Andes. The transition from the plains of Pampa to the beautiful mountain valleys and snow-capped peaks is incredibly impressive. I sat down on a strip, which is just a section of a red clay plain. No markup, no backlighting, no navigation. However, one could sit there at any point.
He made a flight Khmelnitsky - Kamenets-Podolsky - Chernivtsi - Mukachevo - Uzhgorod. I flew over the Carpathians late in the evening in heavy clouds and rain. Yes, it is very beautiful, but also incredibly difficult. Landing in Uzhgorod at night with low clouds and with a call through the city is one of the most difficult that I have ever done. It succeeded only the second time, I crashed the first plane.
I flew from Sicily to Malta (on a visit to 4A Games), which I did not get in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I went to Cherkassy to Dmitry Kuryatnik and just like that to Chernigov. I flew to Minsk (Long Live Belarus!). He took off in Gibraltar (another "tame" airport) - landed in Tangier in Africa. I flew from Key West to Miami International Airport (by the way, this airport is standard, but looks very good) along the entire Florida Keys. I flew around the East Frisian Islands and specifically Juust, which I will definitely go to in reality as soon as the quarantine ends. Visited Japan, testing the possibility of landing on the water of the ICON A5 ultralight seaplane (you can!).
And this is only a small part of the flights that I made in four days. 33 takeoffs, 29 landings. And I want to continue. I plan to consistently visit all European capitals: Kiev - Minsk - Vilnius - Riga - Tallinn (in Russian it is correct with one "n", but Estonians ask to write with two, so we will do) - Helsinki - Stockholm - Copenhagen - Oslo and further in a circle. I would like to make a trip around the world. Through England to Iceland, then through Greenland and Canada to the United States, then through Alaska to Japan, along all of Asia and through Turkey and the Black Sea home.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has 37,000 airports and godforsaken airstrips. The eyes really run wild. For the same Kiev, there are a dozen runways, about half of which you probably do not know.
The world that the neural network built
The world in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is built on satellite imagery, Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap open source data, and software from Graz, Austria, Blackshark.ai (you should fly!).
If cities such as Seattle or New York are recreated in MSFS 2020 based on photogrammetric data (after all, they were in all versions of MSFS, so the developers have information), then all other buildings and vegetation in the game are generated by a neural network using software Blackshark.ai. This is 99.8% of the buildings, infrastructure and vegetation of the Earth! The self-learning network, using the power of Microsoft Azure Cloud, processed the map of the planet (30 million sq. Km. !!!) for 72 hours and found 1.5 million buildings on it, replacing them with the most similar 3D objects. And in most cases it worked really well. However, given the volume of processed data and their complexity, it was not without funny errors.
Let's say the same sleeping areas of Kiev, built up with the same block high-rise buildings, are really VERY similar to themselves in reality. Obolon, Troyeshchina, Bereznyaki, Borschagovka, Osokorki, Poznyaki are almost like real ones in MSFS 2020. Things are worse with Pechersky. Let's say my, far from the most standard house, turned out to be very similar, but the school nearby, featuring a very eclectic architecture, including interconnected buildings, built 50 years apart, has become some kind of jumble of blocks. "Parus" and "Gulliver" became just straight-line skyscrapers, however, this transformation was only beneficial to the ugliest building in Kiev on Klovsky Spusk.
Naturally, the neural network failed to cope with any of the complex buildings. The same unique building of the Gosprom in Kharkov turned into an ordinary residential complex. On the site of the Sudak fortress, as, incidentally, on the site of almost all fortresses and castles that were not made by hand - porridge. It's scary to look at London, most of the high-rise buildings in which have a unique shape (however, there is already a solution here, DLC with improved London has gone on sale). Taipei does not have a unique Taipei 101, although several other architectural landmarks of Taiwan's capital are available. But in the suburbs of Melbourne, an impressive 212-storey skyscraper was discovered, which appeared due to ... a typo in the OpenStreetMap database. In some places, AI placed wind turbines so tightly that they turned out to be a real forest. Etc. etc.
Errors will continue to be found, with this amount of information it is completely normal. By the way, if you, like me, prefer to fly in less populated areas, such glitches will be less common.
There are problems with the cards themselves. Bing Maps is frankly inferior to Google Maps, however, there are also enough satellite imagery artifacts and it is not a fact that Google Maps would be much better. Artifacts include stitching of images taken with different quality and at different times of the year, the joints are really striking. In areas where low-resolution imagery is used, especially near water, angular coastlines, rectilinear bays and peninsulas can be seen. I came across this while flying over Alaska. In some places the elevation map is incorrectly displayed and you can see "sunken" houses, roads and boat piers. Sometimes AI-generated cars drive along the bottom. Again, such errors are inevitable with such a volume of data. In theory, the most egregious should be corrected, how much Microsoft can handle, we'll see.
But in general, the work of the authors of the game, the studio Asobo Studio (they created one of the most beautiful games of 2019 - A Plague Tale: Innocence) and Blackshark.ai should be rated as "four plus" or even "five with a minus ", We have not seen a simulation of a planet of such a level, and even on a 1: 1 scale.
Check out a comparison of some of the famous locations in the real world and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
There is no bad weather!
The second thing that is impressive about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is the weather simulation. One of the features of the game is the ability to see the real weather anywhere in the world. And judging by the response to my tweets with screenshots from New Zealand, the Carpathians and Crimea, the weather in different regions of the world really matches the real one as much as possible.
Weather Data for MSFS 2020 introduces Meteoblue, a service that sells weather information to agribusiness customers, solar and wind farm operators, and more. So the accuracy here is really impressive. The Meteoblue platform was created at the University of Basel (Switzerland), in collaboration with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US National Center for Environmental Predictions (NCEP). The latter, among other things, is engaged in predicting weather, ocean conditions, hurricanes and issues warnings about dangerous flight conditions for air traffic control services.
Meteoblue's weather prediction network covers all continents with cells of unprecedented size for such services. In most European countries, these are 3 × 3 km cells, in other countries - 10 × 10 km. By the way, the impetus for the creation of Meteoblue was a major accident at the Sandoz chemical plant near Basel in November 1986 and the man-made disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that occurred a little earlier in the same year.
I think I have already seen three dozen types of clouds in MSFS 2020, ranging from light cirrus clouds to thunderclouds over the Carpathians, similar to colossal columns and castles. Very beautiful, but also very dangerous. Light haze, dense fog, overcast clouds, just flood milk rivers of fog flowing down the slopes in mountain valleys and tiny foggy puddles evaporating in the sun in shallow hollows.
One of the reviewers who received the games even before the release even managed to fly into the center of Hurricane Isaias, which struck the Atlantic coast of the United States in early August. He flew into the "eye of the storm", a zone of calm weather in the center of the hurricane, and shot fantastic shots.
It's incredibly difficult to fly in heavy weather. But also insanely interesting.
By the way, Meteoblue has a great weather app with dozens of different maps. For iOS and Android.
If you can't, we'll teach you! or A few words about the simulation level
Yes, about flying. Microsoft Flight Simulator has always frightened novice players with the difficulty of mastering. Many people remember that their acquaintance with the early versions of the game ended with the fact that they simply could not get the plane into the air. And if they succeeded in the end, landing accidents were inevitable. Well, in MSFS 2020, the authors have tried to lower the entry threshold.
First, the game features a series of eight simple tutorials that teach you how to fly the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. The 172nd is the most popular aircraft in the world (more than 44 thousand units were produced in 64 years), it is easy to learn and operate. Takeoff, landing approach, maneuvers around the airfield, navigation. Everything is very simple and straightforward. If you are new to aviation sims, we strongly recommend that you start with training.
Secondly, the game has three basic levels of simulation, plus two simulation models, the classic one, borrowed from Microsoft Flight Simulator X and updated, created for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. At the simplest level of difficulty, the game will draw for you the corridors of the approach and prompt you to overspeed, moreover, in this case, AI will take over the throttle control and will steer if you get too out of the normal approach mode. Easy mode forgives some piloting mistakes and overly aggressive aircraft control. There are no avionics failures in it, the aircraft can withstand the most brutal maneuvers, besides, the fuel supply is not limited here.
At an average difficulty level, flying is already more interesting. Here you can really break the plane in the air by simply overloading the glider with too nervous and hard piloting. Approach prompts are disabled, steering and other assistance is also disabled.
It is really difficult to fly at high difficulty level. It takes into account the gyro effect, P-factor (asymmetric disk effect in propeller driven aircraft), moment of force, icing of planes, change in aircraft mass in the course of fuel production in different tanks, air density at different heights and at different temperatures. There are stressful damage to the airframe and engine, system failures, etc.
As in the case of F1 2020, I started on the simplest difficulty level, quickly switching to medium, adjusting it to my preferences. So I left for AI all the preparatory work before starting the engine, negotiations with dispatchers, correction of the fuel mixture, control of side and landing lights. I turned on the automatic correction of the gyro effect, removed stress damage after several of my airplanes simply collapsed in the air from overloads (I hope I will turn them back on after a while), turned on the auto-hold of the rudder during takeoff, otherwise some light airplanes are very much shaking along strip. But I turned off all the navigation help, that is, in general, and turned on the effects of icing planes.
Now I am busy studying aircraft cockpits. They are modeled with amazing care, down to the sewing stitches on the chairs and the small text under each of the buttons. Most of the buttons in the cockpit are pressed. With the same navigation system, autopilot or radio, you can work not through the game menu, but right in the cockpit by clicking on the buttons with the mouse. Yes, it's terribly difficult, but very realistic.
By the way, a new feature of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is checklists before takeoff. This is a list of several operations that must be performed before starting the engine and before takeoff. A tiny light biplane may have only five points in it, an Airbus A320neo or Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental list may contain forty points, each of which must be passed in order to obtain a take-off clearance. This means that you have to locate the appropriate indicator, lever or switch in the cab, check its condition and put it into operation. Interesting experience, but so far I have entrusted all this work to AI.
I do not presume to judge how realistic Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is and how much worse or better it is than Microsoft Flight Simulator X.On the other hand, there is a MSFS X flight model in the game, namely, it is used in professional Lockheed Martin Prepar3D simulators. So that…
A few words about graphics
As I said at the very beginning, my PC does not run MSFS 2020 in Ultra settings, so let the screenshots provided speak for themselves. Although I repeat that on medium and even low settings, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 looks better than the previous generation simulators. But the price is high, the game is really demanding on resources. And sometimes very unexpected. For example, SSD speed or internet connection. On my fairly modern SSD (Samsung's top model, purchased a year ago), the game takes about 5 minutes to load. As for the Internet connection, in 4 days of the game, MSFS 2020 pulled an additional 2.96 GB of information from the Web. These are Bing Map updates, real weather and real air traffic, which is also in the game.
And here is what experts from Digital Foundry, the technical division of the Eurogamer website, say about the quality of graphics. Volumetric clouds up to the horizon, while loading or deterioration in quality is not noticeable in the distance. Clouds cast shadows on themselves, on other clouds, and on the ground. On the ground near the takeoff field, you can see dense grass, in which you can distinguish individual blades of grass (I myself saw this even at the level of the High graph). On airplanes, every rivet is visible, every stitch in the cockpit, every button, cockpit glazing gets dirty, has scratches and glares in the sun (all this is also on High). Even the maximum approximation does not reveal the flaw in the geometry of the models. The rain on the cockpit glass is incredibly realistic and looks especially impressive at high speed. High resolution shadow maps, SSAO and SSR are used inside the cockpit, objects are reflected even in transparent glass. The frame rate depends on how close you are to the ground and the clouds - the lower the plane, the lower the frame rate. Moreover, if the plane flies low between a detailed city and low clouds, the performance drops the most (this is an addition from me).
Digital Foundry believes that High-End graphics settings will be the best choice for MSFS 2020, although they are worse than Ultra, but not critical. However, I personally plan to upgrade my PC to Ultra.
Bonus. Video comparing different graphics modes in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Can you fly the keyboard? or Beware, the family budget is in danger!
One of the most popular questions that I was asked on Twitter in response to another batch of screenshots from MSFS 2020: "Can I play on the keyboard?" The answer is somewhat unexpected - it is possible, but not necessary. In doing so, you will be using the keyboard anyway!
The full control layout of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 contains somewhere under 300 keyboard shortcuts. This is the entire keyboard, plus the entire keyboard with Ctrl, plus the entire keyboard with Shift, plus the entire keyboard with Ctrl + Shift. Minus service keys. Plus a mouse, which can be used to press physical buttons in the cockpit of the aircraft and call up the service menu for communication with control rooms. Plus some kind of analog control device.
The fact is that the smoothness with which you change roll, pitch and yaw is very important in the control of an aircraft. Control with a discrete device, which is a keyboard, will lead to a sharp change in values, twitching and jerking. That is, it is still possible to take off, but it is unlikely to safely land the plane.
Any analog device will do, from a gamepad to a joystick, steering wheel or ... a car steering wheel. With a little dexterity, you can control the plane using the rudder and pedals. Anything is better than flying from the keyboard.
Microsoft plans to release Flight Simulator 2020 on its next-gen Xbox Series X console following its release later this year. So the game is very well optimized for the gamepad. Actually, I play with the Wireless Controller for Microsoft Xbox 360. Recommendations for those who play with a gamepad - lower the sensitivity by 40-50% and set the dead zones to 10-15%, the control will immediately become softer.
However, the problem with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is that once you start playing, you want more. I am planning to upgrade my PC to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 plus Intel Core i5-10400. I am thinking of replacing the monitor with something with 4K support. My Dell 2209WA honestly worked for 11 years and begs to rest, moreover, many developers have stopped supporting the 16:10 format. And I also started to look closely at the joysticks.
A very good choice is the Thrustmaster TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition, which Microsoft itself recommends. This full-size replica of a real Airbus control stick costs only $ 70 and is completely symmetrical. Unfortunately, it is not sold in Ukraine. A more affordable option, which can also be bought in our country, is the classic Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, which turns 14 this year. This joystick costs around UAH 1500-1700. If we talk about something more serious, then the equally classic Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X for UAH 3,000 will do. A separate throttle is a definite plus.
But the coolest is, of course, the Flight Yoke System from Logitech G with a Throttle Quadrant lever block. Plus, you can buy Flight Rudder Pedals for rudder control and the Flight Instrument Panel, Flight Switch Panel, Flight Multi Panel and Flight Radio Panel LCD panels. We tactfully keep silent about the total cost of such a set, from which you can assemble a full-fledged cockpit. Yes, this thing was originally called the Saitek CES432100002 / 02/1 Pro Flight Cessna Yoke System and is a full-size replica of the real Cessna's helm, the plane found in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Which version do I need?
The second question I've been asked a lot is "Which version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 do I need?" Everything is simple here, if you are new to flight simulators - the simplest, Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard for UAH 1540. If you get hooked, buy the upgrade to Deluxe or Premium Deluxe yourself.
Versions differ only in the number of manually recreated airports and aircraft. The standard version has 20 aircraft and 30 detailed airports, the Deluxe version has 25 aircraft and 35 airports, and the Premium Deluxe version has 30 aircraft and 40 airports. Considering how many DLCs with planes and locations cost in flight simulators (300-500 UAH apiece), this is a very generous offer. But in order to test all the planes and visit all the most realistic airports, you will need ... 50 hours or more. If you don't plan to fly that much, feel free to buy the standard version.
In addition, additional aircraft are partly variations of those already available in the basic set, if you are not a professional pilot, then you will not feel the difference. Yes, the Premium Deluxe includes the same Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, but believe me, flying small planes is much more interesting, and if you want to fly on a large liner, then the Airbus A320neo is no worse than the 747.
By the way, the basic set also includes an aircraft that is assembled in Ukraine. Flight Design CTLS from the German company Flight Design is made at a factory in Kherson.
And just a few words about the cost, which many consider too high. UAH 1540 Is a completely standard price for Microsoft games. The base version of Forza Horizon 4 cost the same, and the version with two large DLCs had a price tag of UAH 2550. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, etc., cost almost the same at the time of release. If you want to save money, the standard version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is included in the Xbox Game Pass for PC, if you already pay a monthly fee, try this game for free.
And a few words about the DLC. Paid add-ons for large simulators are a standard solution that has been around for decades. If you're a real fan and want to see your favorite plane or your favorite airport, get ready to shell out. So it was starting, it seems, with Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 or Flight Simulator 98. As I wrote above, in addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition, 271 add-ons are available on Steam with a total cost of about 75,000 UAH.
Currently, the Microsoft Flight Simulator in-game store has a dozen DLCs from third-party manufacturers - one new plane, an improvement in London and nine airports from tiny local to international. Some of them are very interesting. The range of prices is from 200 to 600 UAH, which is quite standard. And personally, I've already thought about buying a few extras, at least an improvement for London, a small Orca Island airport, in the bay between Seattle and Vancouver, and Innsbruck Kranebitten International Airport.
If someone makes detailed Zhuliany and Boryspil, I will undoubtedly buy them too. However, this is unlikely, first of all, developers do what mass users buy, that is, airports in the United States and Western Europe.
Several spoons of machine oil
The release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, like all major releases of recent times, was marked by a number of problems, and of course, "responsive" Steam users were quick to underestimate the game.
The installer of the game caused the most criticism. The fact is that from the store, be it the Microsoft Store or Steam, the game downloads only the 1 GB installer, the rest of the data, which is 110 GB, is loaded from the game itself. To quite monotonous music and depending on the "thickness" of your Internet channel from 2 to 5 hours. I downloaded the game from the Microsoft Store on release day when the servers were loaded and on my 100 Mbps it took about 5 hours. Not critical.
But if you do this on Steam, the service will credit you 5 hours of play, and if you cannot run MSFS 2020 due to non-compliance with the system requirements (among other things, you need Windows 10 version 1909) or you don’t like the game, then theoretically you will not you can expect a refund. In fact, this is not the case, and Valve is quite normal in refunding funds even if you exceed the game time limit of 2 hours in 14 days. Well, in the situation with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, Steam support separately agreed that the refund will not take into account the time spent on the download.
And most importantly, it is completely understandable why the game installer is made this way and not otherwise. MSFS 2020 is distributed primarily through the Microsoft Store (recall, the game is included in the Xbox Game Pass for PC), which does not know how to work with DLC as easily as Steam. And given that all parts of the game, every plane, every hand-made airport, even those included in the basic version, are DLC, then the download can only be like that. Again, such a system for checking installation and downloading new content is needed for future third-party DLCs, which will be sold separately.
In addition to problems with the installer, the players were upset by the high system requirements of MSFS 2020 and some instability of the game. Out of 30+ launches, my game crashed about 6 times. Bad, but personally I am guilty of lack of video memory.
Glitches in modeling buildings and drawing a map are not critical from my point of view. Again, given the amount of data, this is expected.
Competitors, who are they? or Is there enough sky for everyone?
At the moment, the competitors of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are the aforementioned Microsoft Flight Simulator X several times, only on Steam it is available for 700-800 thousand players, and the daily online of this game is still 4-6 thousand people. Considering that the most hardcore players probably have an impressive library of purchased and very expensive DLCs, it is not a fact that they will want to migrate to MSFS 2020. It's another matter if Microsoft promises to transfer the DLC to the new version. However, this is already a fantasy.
The second most popular competitor is X-Plane 11 from Laminar Research. In addition to the PC version, this game was released on Android and iOS. Moreover, there is also a professional version certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration. Both the number of sales and the number of users of X-Plane 11 are lower than those of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. On Steam, the game was bought by 350-400 thousand people, and online has recently been about 3 thousand people. 93 DLCs were released for this game on Steam, mainly airports and detailed locations, with a total value of 46 thousand hryvnia. And, by the way, one of the last, literally July 30, 2020, was German Islands 1: East Frisia / XPRealistic v2 with the very East Frisian Islands that I really want to get to. Despite the impressive cost of 674 UAH (the basic version of X-Plane 11 is literally a couple of hryvnias more expensive - 699 UAH), I would definitely buy this DLC. I really hope that the authors decide to transfer their work to MSFS 2020.
The third competitor, Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator from IPACS, is doing the worst. Despite the positive reviews, sales are only 60-70 thousand copies, and online fell to 60-80 players, however, even at its peak, it was only 266 people. Only 21 DLCs have been released for this game, which can be purchased for "modest" UAH 6573.
At the time of the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, only on Steam the game was launched simultaneously by 61 thousand people, although then it was most likely the launch of an installer that would download the client. Now online is 30-40 thousand people. Surely the results are even better in the Microsoft Store, again, the game is included in the Xbox Game Pass for PC.
I think Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be with us for a long time and everything will be fine with it. And this game will gradually pull over all simulator lovers with both X-Plane 11 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. So no, the sky is definitely not enough for everyone.
Take off!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is a game that can be played for thousands of hours. And for me personally, this is the Game of the Year, in which I will most likely spend, if not thousands, then definitely hundreds of hours.
The only thing I'm missing is a career mode, similar to the one in American Truck Simulator / Euro Truck Simulator 2. So that you can build your own company, transport cargo and passengers, earn reputation and money, buy new planes, etc. etc. But MSFS 2020 still has a lot to do. There are tests in the form of dangerous landings on difficult airfields or in difficult weather conditions and missions for orientation in flight without prompts. You can intercept any plane in air traffic, even the one that has just flown over your house, and perform its real flight. You can travel around the world refueling at intermediate airports and drawing up a new flight plan using the built-in navigation system. After all, there are an infinite number of places on our planet that you would like to visit. Considering that we will not be released abroad soon due to the quarantine (Turkey and other beaches should not be offered, I don’t think such a pastime is appropriate), all that remains is to travel the world in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. And this game allows you to do it is with comfort and pleasure.
Happy flights! And let the number of your landings always equal the number of take-offs.
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