Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Arrives With a 'Full Digital Twin' of Earth (arstechnica.com) 17
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is out today (Xbox/PC, Steam), and it packs in a whole lot of simulation. It's hard to imagine topping the 2020 version, which contained the entire world, at scale, 3D modeled and able to be flown over. It had real-time weather and rather detailed physics. You could theoretically fly a helicopter back to your high school football field and land on it, like 15-year reunion royalty.
What could come next? A lot, including a world simulation that Microsoft repeatedly describes as Earth's "full digital twin." There are few, if any, real "reviews" up yet, given the size of the game and seemingly late access for reviewers. As such, I offer up all the notable things packed into this latest release so that those with flight sticks, patience, and a desire to get way up yonder can decide whether to take off. These are the most "notable things" available in this latest release, as highlighted by Ars' Kevin Purdy:
- The file size is much smaller than the 2020 version, totaling "around 30GB"
- You can expect ~5GB an hour of streaming data (up-close data is streamed on demand; flying high-up in the skies uses pre-loaded data)
- AI learning has allowed for "4,000 times more" detail in textures and terrain meshes
- Aircraft and airports you customized or purchased are carried over from 2020 into 2024
- There's a new Career Mode, with 26 different paths
- Animals have more realistic behavior -- e.g. sheep head inside when it's raining, birds migrate, and elephants will be more aware of your flybys
- Flight Simulator 2020 will continue to get support
What could come next? A lot, including a world simulation that Microsoft repeatedly describes as Earth's "full digital twin." There are few, if any, real "reviews" up yet, given the size of the game and seemingly late access for reviewers. As such, I offer up all the notable things packed into this latest release so that those with flight sticks, patience, and a desire to get way up yonder can decide whether to take off. These are the most "notable things" available in this latest release, as highlighted by Ars' Kevin Purdy:
- The file size is much smaller than the 2020 version, totaling "around 30GB"
- You can expect ~5GB an hour of streaming data (up-close data is streamed on demand; flying high-up in the skies uses pre-loaded data)
- AI learning has allowed for "4,000 times more" detail in textures and terrain meshes
- Aircraft and airports you customized or purchased are carried over from 2020 into 2024
- There's a new Career Mode, with 26 different paths
- Animals have more realistic behavior -- e.g. sheep head inside when it's raining, birds migrate, and elephants will be more aware of your flybys
- Flight Simulator 2020 will continue to get support
streaming 11 Mbps to play the game (Score:2)
Not going to work with my 5 Mbps DSL.
Re: (Score:2)
We're not that high on the list.
microsoft day (Score:2)
Is it Microsoft day on slashdot? This is like the 4th or 5th MS article today.
Re:microsoft day (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft Ignite 2024, one of the company’s largest annual tech conferences, is going on right now. That's why you're seeing so many Microsoft announcements.
Re:microsoft day (Score:4, Funny)
> Microsoft Ignite
Self-immolation would be the ultimate Microsoft security response.
Re: (Score:2)
> Microsoft Ignite
Self-immolation would be the ultimate Microsoft security response.
There's a pay-per-view worthy event!
They've bought practically everything (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You also can say "fucking," no need for that stupid censoring.
FS 2020 was a struggle (Score:4, Interesting)
Hopefully things are better in 2024. I only use MSFS 2020 occasionally, and it seems invariably every time I start it up it has to download another 10+ GB mandatory update. Not all of us have gigabit, so this takes usually 10-20 minutes. So often I'll fire up the simulator, only to have it update, so nevermind and go do other things instead. So I rarely get a chance to fly it.
Seems like there are lots of other issues that they've never fixed, such as the fact the papa lights are nearly impossible to see on the screen. I realize in real life they can be hard to see sometimes, but I know they are brighter than MSFS shows them. In VR I can't see them at all until I'm about a mile out.
Hopefully 2024 is a step forward. Flight sim is about the only application of VR that I care for.
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe they should rebrand it to "Microsoft Flight Simulator Update".
Ah, my new favorite least favorite buzzword (Score:2)
For those not in the know, a "digital twin" is what mid-career engineering managers and associated phbs used to refer to as a "computer model," and before that, as a "digital computer model" to distinguish it from the tried-and-true analogue computer models of yore.
Which is to say, a computer simulation of a real electromechanical object or system that captures the all relevant dynamics to a level of fidelity that would satisfy a later-stage design review. Usually as a prelude to, or substitute for some par
Microtransactions (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, you're mistaken. Searching for "MSFS2024 included aircraft" gets you a list. I'm sure it's on the MS product page too.
https://insider-gaming.com/air... [insider-gaming.com]
Third parties also make planes at various levels of detail that sell for various amounts of money.
So far... (Score:2)
The stupid XBox PC thing keeps blowing me out an error 0xc0000005 and won't launch the thing. And it isn't just that game. After about two hours with Microsoft support (chat, because their phone literally goes to voicemail and hangs up) and escalating it to tier 2 (which took over an hour itself) they said that they would get back to me. Nevermind that the error has been blowing around for over a month.
If anyone knows a solution to that, I and the rest of the community would appreciate it.