MSFS PC Specs

That thing will probably cost $1,000.00 + !!! :eek:

I was thinking maybe a WD Gold 10, 12, or 14Tb hard drive for scenery.

Can't answer the scenery cache location, though I would expect some sort of configuration.

 

As for a drive to use for the cache, a nice, large SSD would work well. :)

 

https://www.techradar.com/news/this-8tb-ssd-is-the-biggest-you-can-fit-in-a-normal-laptop

I was reading on Reddit that the Scenery is going to be 2Petabytes (PB) so correct me if I'm wrong but that's 2,000TB. So if someone wanted to cache the USA I reckon your looking at, considering the US is 6% of the worlds land mass, about 120TB. That's a lot of hard drives!! I suppose you could get the Nimbus Data 100TB SSD. It's a steal at $50K a pop.

I was reading on Reddit that the Scenery is going to be 2Petabytes (PB) so correct me if I'm wrong but that's 2,000TB.

The 2 PB number refers to the raw data they start with to generate the scenery, not the final output that will be streamed to end users. So while the final amount of scenery data will be quite large, it won't be measured in petabytes.

So for example I can cover my home state with Orbx NRM and CRM for about 7 gigs of bandwidth and $50-ish bucks if I buy it on sale. Actually I did that in 2015, both for $37.70, and they've given me free updates for 3 new sim versions since the initial purchase. I hate to be cynical but Orbx put a lot of work into those two regions and most of it wasn't automated, where are we now that some AI and some computer processing power can replace a couple years of hard work by a group of half a dozen or so dedicated developers working 18 hrs/day for a year? Having some problems with that. What I'm getting is this'll be a 500 Gb download/caching exercise for something that isn't much better than default FSX - but it'll have procedural grass.

I live in Idaho BTW, the forgotten state. Boise might be interesting, the armpit of the state, everything else is gonna be really generic I'm thinking.

The 2 PB number refers to the raw data they start with to generate the scenery, not the final output that will be streamed to end users. So while the final amount of scenery data will be quite large, it won't be measured in petabytes.

Glad to hear(read?) that; but then, if that was the real number, who could play that game? Nuclear engineers hacking the supercalculators managing the reactor?

Glad to hear(read?) that; but then, if that was the real number, who could play that game? Nuclear engineers hacking the supercalculators managing the reactor?

Well, the intent isn't that you will download the entire world onto your hard drive, but that you will stream the data. The sim has an offline mode with less detailed scenery as a fallback for those that can't stream or download the more detailed photogrammetry scenery. And you can also cache the detailed scenery, however, I wouldn't expect most people to download more than a few regions they are interested in at a time.

So for example I can cover my home state with Orbx NRM and CRM for about 7 gigs of bandwidth and $50-ish bucks if I buy it on sale. Actually I did that in 2015, both for $37.70, and they've given me free updates for 3 new sim versions since the initial purchase. I hate to be cynical but Orbx put a lot of work into those two regions and most of it wasn't automated, where are we now that some AI and some computer processing power can replace a couple years of hard work by a group of half a dozen or so dedicated developers working 18 hrs/day for a year? Having some problems with that. What I'm getting is this'll be a 500 Gb download/caching exercise for something that isn't much better than default FSX - but it'll have procedural grass.

 

I live in Idaho BTW, the forgotten state. Boise might be interesting, the armpit of the state, everything else is gonna be really generic I'm thinking.

There will still be room for the likes of Orbx to develop add-on scenery. The AI Asobo is using is limited by the data available, which can be seen on the screenshots they have released. Some cities will be covered by full photogrammetry and will be as good, or better, than anything Orbx can do. On the other hand, most cities won't be covered to the same level, at least at launch. For these ones they are developing the AI to generate buildings as accurately as it can based on the available satellite imagery and other data for the area. While not perfect, it does generally look good.

And one point to consider is that while the AI generated scenery may not be quite as accurate as something developed by hand from Orbx, the sim is doing it for the entire world. How much would it cost to buy Orbx scenery for the entire planet? How much data would the Orbx scenery take?

Oh, okay, that makes sense then. So, you get a "lite" version that's permanently installed on your hard drive, and if you're online when playing, you get the HD version? That's actually pretty smart, and allows people to play with good graphics without requiring them to invest so much in their computer that they could have taken flying lessons and bought a small plane with that money!

Still, I do think I'll be building a state-of-the-art, competition-worthy PC by next year, I've recently gotten my hands on a great gaming laptop but it remains a laptop, and if things go the way I want them to go, I should be able to get some of this real estate in Greece and spend most of the year there, with enough place for a dedicated playing room with a desktop computer, which beats playing on a laptop on your eating/working/hobby table in a flat.