One User's Take After Seven Months of MSFS

With "set pause" you can come back tomorrow and the plane will still be exactly where you left it. With active pause, it will have flown away and crashed somewhere. And you can adjust the time to be anytime you want with the onscreen menu, I can't see that as an issue.

 

It's your choice to parse your definition as tight as you want if it pleases you; however, they are two different actions.

 

I don't think so. I have 2 pauses in my sim:

 

1. I have set the P key (as in FSX) to freeze the plane where it is. But the sound persists (as I said in the OP, no Quiet key!), and time still marches on.

2. ESC brings up the home screen, while the flight is paused in the background. But time still marches on.

 

So I agree with the post that said they are the same thing -- except for the sound. I often use ESC, go to Windows mode, minimize -- and do something else.

I don't think so. I have 2 pauses in my sim:

 

1. I have set the P key (as in FSX) to freeze the plane where it is. But the sound persists (as I said in the OP, no Quiet key!), and time still marches on.

2. ESC brings up the home screen, while the flight is paused in the background. But time still marches on.

 

So I agree with the post that said they are the same thing -- except for the sound. I often use ESC, go to Windows mode, minimize -- and do something else.

I don't know what your "P" key is assigned to; I suspect it is to the "active pause" because that's the only pause that Asobo made available on the keyboard on initial installation. This is a carryover from earlier versions of flight simulators which needed some way of allowing access to other programs or menus. With active pause, the plane continues to fly.

 

The escape key is not a "pause" it is the call to change from flight mode to the control menus. The escape key along with Windows functions, makes the active pause unnecessary; the user can now get out of the program to access commands or other programs without it.

 

The pause I use, is the kind of pause as used everywhere else in the computer spectrum, it freezes the plane in mid flight and the plane remains frozen until it is unpaused. The sound does continue, and apparently the time of day clock keeps running; the plane probably burns fuel but I'm not sure of that. This pause is the command at: Controls --> Miscellaneous --> "Set Pause on" and "Set Pause off".

 

I know that perhaps most if not all of them WERE reported by the beta testers but either ignored or shoved to the bottom of the list.

 

I wonder if Asobo read this forum?

 

 

I don't know if Asobo does read this forum, but doubt it, and I know now they were ignored what were reported. Its a shame. I'll never beta test again for a game developer if all of them are like Asobo. Add ons are different, they seem to care what they put out, so I don't mind helping there.

I don't know if Asobo does read this forum, but doubt it, and I know now they were ignored what were reported. Its a shame. I'll never beta test again for a game developer if all of them are like Asobo. Add ons are different, they seem to care what they put out, so I don't mind helping there.

 

So if a company contacted you to ask if you wanted to test their brand new flight simulator before everyone else... you would turn them down?

 

I would have paid to become an alpha tester for MSFS... as it happens I didn’t have to though as I too was invited and I’m glad of it. I know many of our suggestions & reported bugs appear to have been ignored, but I’m sure they have made a note of everything.

I reckon the early release was all down to Microsoft.

Again though... I didn’t mind them releasing it so soon. Even with its problems, I am having a blast! :)

 

Regards

Steve

Nvidia control panel -> Display -> Adjust desktop color settings -> Use Nvidia settings. In my rig, the Nvidia control panel is accessed via "show hidden icons" at the bottom right of the screen. Note that your selections affect Windows 10 in general, not just MSFS.

 

The tutorial you watched evidently was limited in its coverage of the camera capabilities. If you go to the drop-down menu in MSFS and select "cameras" you will find a bunch of options. May I suggest the excellent SoFly manual on MSFS, which costs only 16 bucks and is worth every cent IMO. In there you will find a trove of info on MS covering cameras and just about everything else.

https://www.simshack.net/products/guide-to-flight-simulator-msfs-tutorials-1771

 

1. Right. I had found those later. Can't imagine why you can't get there through Control Panel, but I couldn't.

 

2. I bought the SoFly effort right away. IMO, bad deal, as stated in my OP. One page on Showcase mode is less than a "trove."

1. Right. I had found those later. Can't imagine why you can't get there through Control Panel, but I couldn't.

 

2. I bought the SoFly effort right away. IMO, bad deal, as stated in my OP. One page on Showcase mode is less than a "trove."

 

One page? The manual has 232 pages. Are we talking about the same thing?

Absolutely the worst problem, in my opinion, was not even addressed; the abysmal state of programming flight control computers, MCDU's and Garmins. You definitely need a manual and the system bugs are horrendous; for example the late runway assignments by ATC cause the plane to revert back to the previous waypoint. By the time you do a workaround like deleting (if you can figure out to do it) the passed waypoint or deleting the flight plan and selecting a DIRECT TO option so you can select the assigned runway you have progressed a 100 miles down the flight path. I know! Pause while you work around the problem, but geeezzze! Why haven't they worked out this problem by now they have had plenty of time and don't seem to even own up to the problem.

 

It is incredibly easy to do exactly what real pilots do and (lay version) just google this stuff.

 

I Fly FSX SE. I came over here to see whether 2020 was ready for purchase (my personal definition of ready for purchase :-))

The post you responded to was a pretty good summary, but your response is highly relative to *other stuff - stuff even more interesting than Flight Simulation, that I am compelled to write to you. So, here I am.

 

Communicating succinctly is not my forte, but I am going to totally resist inserting an essay on the point in human evolution where humans began interfacing with the world around them via web interface devices. Remaining on topic - I tend to agree with you about using web devices to augment the aircraft systems. One of the first things I noticed when I began flying Sim was "better not leave your cell phone at home, you are gonna need it." In fact, we are increasingly helpless without it in so many aspects of our existence.

 

So, how long will it be before aircraft manufacturers put a web browser under glass in the cockpit? I liked your comment about "not trying to duplicate all the information available" on the web. On the flip side of my own question, I can easily imagine marketing executives pointing out the arguments against a browser in the cockpit, citing everyone already has one, or lawsuits if it gets a virus, or Google/Microsoft/Amazon will put all their spy crap on it (whether we like it or not), or it could get hacked, etc. etc.

 

What is your opinion?

I Fly FSX SE. I came over here to see whether 2020 was ready for purchase (my personal definition of ready for purchase :-))

The post you responded to was a pretty good summary, but your response is highly relative to *other stuff - stuff even more interesting than Flight Simulation, that I am compelled to write to you. So, here I am.

 

Communicating succinctly is not my forte, but I am going to totally resist inserting an essay on the point in human evolution where humans began interfacing with the world around them via web interface devices. Remaining on topic - I tend to agree with you about using web devices to augment the aircraft systems. One of the first things I noticed when I began flying Sim was "better not leave your cell phone at home, you are gonna need it." In fact, we are increasingly helpless without it in so many aspects of our existence.

 

So, how long will it be before aircraft manufacturers put a web browser under glass in the cockpit? I liked your comment about "not trying to duplicate all the information available" on the web. On the flip side of my own question, I can easily imagine marketing executives pointing out the arguments against a browser in the cockpit, citing everyone already has one, or lawsuits if it gets a virus, or Google/Microsoft/Amazon will put all their spy crap on it (whether we like it or not), or it could get hacked, etc. etc.

 

What is your opinion?

 

Every real pilot I’ve met so far carries an ipad with them. And even the 1969 Cessna 177 I flew in real life recently had a new wifi transmitter installed on it. So this has already happened, at least in the US.

 

Literally yesterday, in real life I got to fly as a student pilot a 2019 Cessna 172 with a G1000. The G1000 was actually even more advanced than the MSFS version. It has every imaginable feature you would want in an on-screen display while flying a small aircraft. You can even pull up some airport information right on it. But no pilot with even this cool technology would ever take off without first using an off-site source about airports to figure out their plan. Real pilots will use ForeFlight to download the “plates” with all the approach information into their ipad, plus the airport chart with labeled taxiways etc. A simmer would typically not want to waste money on a ForeFlight subscription so Google and some key bookmarks are a perfectly good substitute.

 

This whole discussion will worry any experienced real pilot here (which I am not, just a student). “First, fly the plane. Aviate, navigate, communicate.” These are the mantras of safe flying today.

Edited March 28, 2021 by neilends
typos

One page? The manual has 232 pages. Are we talking about the same thing?

 

Yes, we're talking about the same thing, only my copy has 258 pp. Time to update!

 

Please read my sentence again. Page 57 is the one page devoted to "Showcase Mode," which I used as an example of treatment so cursory as to be useless. While we're at it, please tell me what the single sentence under "Drone Follow and Lock Mode" means. If it's locked, how do you move it?

 

Oh, never mind.

"So, how long will it be before aircraft manufacturers put a web browser under glass in the cockpit?"

 

For some years now I have been of the opinion that the IFR panel of the future in a light airplane may well be a sheet of metal covered with velcro, to which would be fastened as many I-whatever devices as the pilot could afford! There are already modules that communicate with I-devices that function as AHRS and Air Data Computers, and these can drive a display on something like the Garmin Pilot app that approximates that which you saw on your G-1000 airplane!

 

Realistically, of course, this is tongue-in-cheek, because anything that makes its way onto an airplane, including the toilet seat if you are lucky enough to have one, must be FAA approved and certificated. But with at least one iPad and a hockey puck like the Stratus or the Garmin GDL, you can have more in front of you than I had in the 767 12 years ago (and as much as they have in front of them in a 787 today). The fact that most of the current crop of PC based flight simulators can actually connect with Garmin Pilot, Foreflight or Wing X Pro makes such simulation a real benefit to real pilots looking to enhance their use of these EFB's in the real world. And since, even in a G-1000 airplane, we always use the iPad or iPhone along with it, to replace paper charts if for no other reason, a simmer using such auxiliary hardware is merely being realistic to how flight is conducted today.

 

There is actually an app that is entirely free, which pretty much duplicates the capabilities of Wing X or Foreflight, and that app is Flight Plan GO, from the Flightplan.com website. With an iPad working the same network (typically WiFi) that your sim computer is on, you can get all the info you need to run the app in real time, as though your sim was the real airplane.

Yes, we're talking about the same thing, only my copy has 258 pp. Time to update!

 

Please read my sentence again. Page 57 is the one page devoted to "Showcase Mode," which I used as an example of treatment so cursory as to be useless. While we're at it, please tell me what the single sentence under "Drone Follow and Lock Mode" means. If it's locked, how do you move it?

 

Oh, never mind.

"Follow and lock" simply means that the drone camera locks onto the plane: as the plane moves, the drone moves with it, allowing you to have an unobstructed view as you fly; you can return to the cockpit any time by hitting print screen. Try it and see for yourself. For me, this is a great feature.

The manual, as it does on many topics, points the reader to the right place in MSFS to get into showcase mode, and it is up to him/her to take it from there and learn by doing --the best way to learn anything. I have found the manual very useful as an introductory tool; sorry that you haven't. But this discussion has run its course. Time to move on to other things (such as flying).

Edited March 30, 2021 by cobalt

"So, how long will it be before aircraft manufacturers put a web browser under glass in the cockpit?"

 

For some years now I have been of the opinion that the IFR panel of the future in a light airplane may well be a sheet of metal covered with velcro, to which would be fastened as many I-whatever devices as the pilot could afford! There are already modules that communicate with I-devices that function as AHRS and Air Data Computers, and these can drive a display on something like the Garmin Pilot app that approximates that which you saw on your G-1000 airplane!

 

Realistically, of course, this is tongue-in-cheek, because anything that makes its way onto an airplane, including the toilet seat if you are lucky enough to have one, must be FAA approved and certificated. But with at least one iPad and a hockey puck like the Stratus or the Garmin GDL, you can have more in front of you than I had in the 767 12 years ago (and as much as they have in front of them in a 787 today). The fact that most of the current crop of PC based flight simulators can actually connect with Garmin Pilot, Foreflight or Wing X Pro makes such simulation a real benefit to real pilots looking to enhance their use of these EFB's in the real world. And since, even in a G-1000 airplane, we always use the iPad or iPhone along with it, to replace paper charts if for no other reason, a simmer using such auxiliary hardware is merely being realistic to how flight is conducted today.

 

There is actually an app that is entirely free, which pretty much duplicates the capabilities of Wing X or Foreflight, and that app is Flight Plan GO, from the Flightplan.com website. With an iPad working the same network (typically WiFi) that your sim computer is on, you can get all the info you need to run the app in real time, as though your sim was the real airplane.

 

I am like most simmers a gadget nerd. Entering the real-life flying world as a student has its challenges with this new technology though, because of the danger of over-reliance.

 

I am also an avid hiker and heavily use all of the latest technology to supplement my hiking experiences. But even if I have a GPS device in my hand, I have a paper map stored in my backpack, and I have properly studied that map beforehand. Even though I can use InReach (not just cellphone) to contact Search and Rescue within minutes from any isolated area, I still bring a first aid kit, fire starting equipment, an emergency blanket, and adequate water.

 

I can see similar principles in play with this fancy new stuff in aviation. I was especially reminded of this today simply when I started up my Jeep to drive my daughter to school: the Garmin GPS interface in the Jeep failed to properly boot. No GPS navigation available today, unless I brought up my smartphone as a substitute.

I am also an avid hiker and heavily use all of the latest technology to supplement my hiking experiences. But even if I have a GPS device in my hand, I have a paper map stored in my backpack, and I have properly studied that map beforehand.

Now with MSFS, if you're going to a remote place to hike or camp you can fly over the area to get your bearings (contour lines don't give a picture of what is visible to the eye).

 

Fly over and park (pause), break out the drone, and you can examine an area from great height or down to almost the individual tree level of detail. You can plant yourself on a ridge line and pan the view for 360°.

 

This use of the sim astounds me.

Now with MSFS, if you're going to a remote place to hike or camp you can fly over the area to get your bearings (contour lines don't give a picture of what is visible to the eye).

 

Fly over and park (pause), break out the drone, and you can examine an area from great height or down to almost the individual tree level of detail. You can plant yourself on a ridge line and pan the view for 360°.

 

This use of the sim astounds me.

 

I've actually already done this. I have used MSFS to scope out hiking areas in Arizona just to increase my familiarity with the landscape I am exploring on foot. I would definitely do this for any area I intended to hike in that was outside of Arizona, much less in other countries.

I've actually already done this. I have used MSFS to scope out hiking areas in Arizona just to increase my familiarity with the landscape I am exploring on foot. I would definitely do this for any area I intended to hike in that was outside of Arizona, much less in other countries.

Sometimes I think I'm more interested in geography than aviation.

For me, this singular feature of MSFS --- accurate real-world topography, shorelines, and placement of buildings and roads -- overrides other concerns and issues in this sim, however important they are (which are gradually being fixed in any case). As is pointed out in this thread, the ability to view the world in 3D in minute detail for the first time, opens the way to uses that go well beyond flight simulation, while of course tremendously enhancing the realism of flight simulation per se. To wave this off as mere "eye candy" is to completely miss the point. We have a revolutionary advance here, whose larger implications are only beginning to be recognized. Stay tuned!

For me, this singular feature of MSFS --- accurate real-world topography, shorelines, and placement of buildings and roads -- overrides other concerns and issues in this sim, however important they are (which are gradually being fixed in any case). As is pointed out in this thread, the ability to view the world in 3D in minute detail for the first time, opens the way to uses that go well beyond flight simulation, while of course tremendously enhancing the realism of flight simulation per se. To wave this off as mere "eye candy" is to completely miss the point. We have a revolutionary advance here, whose larger implications are only beginning to be recognized. Stay tuned!

 

Much of the same capacity to view geography and locations, etc., is also available with Google Earth. It is amazing there too in what you can view remotely and be 'almost there'. In the high-res areas it has a 3D mode that is very similar to what MSFS will show. In the rural areas where they are using lower resolution, the 3D does not work. Even without the Streetview it has a lot of info. And the price is right, as long as you are willing to have Google apps on your PC. But it has no option where you can move along a course. Or at least I don't know if it has a way to do that.

is also available with Google Earth. ... But it has no option where you can move along a course. Or at least I don't know if it has a way to do that.

 

Google Earth has its own basic flight simulator.

 

https://www.lifewire.com/hidden-flight-simulator-google-earth-1616454

Much of the same capacity to view geography and locations, etc., is also available with Google Earth.

I have long been an avid user of Google Earth, but MSFS2020 has brought GE's shortcomings into view for me. The flight simulator presents a much more realistic view of terrain; one can get a sensation of "being there" with the sim that is not available with Google Earth. Hills, ridge lines and valleys present very realistically with the sim, I used to think GE did so too, but the sim has shown GE to fall far short.

 

Exploring the Yosemite Valley will bring this point home conclusively. Flying from Mariposa - Yosemite Airport to Yosemite Valley either overland or by following the Merced river is awe inspiring in the sim; with GE, the beauty of the terrain and the majesty of the valley is completely lost. You just cannot get a picture of the Yosemite region with Google Earth.

 

But this does not render GE as obsolete or useless, there are things it can do that aren't available in the sim and GE's strong points compliment and enhance the versatility of MSFS2020. With GE, roads can be highlighted and political borders made visible, locations can be highlighted in several ways and notes stored at any location. Courses can be plotted in Google Earth on the grid system using true north and then adjusted for declination to get the magnetic course for the sim (or real planes). Google Earth can give the exact elevation for any point of the Earth which is of course missing in the sim. But the sim will allow you to "fly" through a valley and get a true sense of terrain, where with GE this kind of view can only be obtained by laborious adjustment of tilt, location, azimuth and elevation, one view at a time.

 

One thing the sim is much better at is presenting lakes, they stand out in the sim, wheras in GE they are just greenish brown blobs that are almost invisible until zoomed in on. I have taken the trouble to color all the lakes in Northern California blue (using add path, blue, about 20 wide and about 15% opacity), to make them stand out as they do with the sim. That works.

 

I always have GE open when I am "flying", it is my overview for the dead reckoning navigation that I use, but GE is just the assistant, the sim is the objective.

 

It's notable that you mention street view, as Google has all but eliminated that function from GE now that they have begun forcing people to use the online version of their product. The "street view" that remains in the online version is limited in scope and difficult to use, all those cars traveling about with their cameras just strike me as so much wasted effort now.

Much of the same capacity to view geography and locations, etc., is also available with Google Earth. It is amazing there too in what you can view remotely and be 'almost there'. In the high-res areas it has a 3D mode that is very similar to what MSFS will show. In the rural areas where they are using lower resolution, the 3D does not work. Even without the Streetview it has a lot of info. And the price is right, as long as you are willing to have Google apps on your PC. But it has no option where you can move along a course. Or at least I don't know if it has a way to do that.

 

I am familiar with Google Earth and have used for years -- it is a great tool for finding places. But there is no comparison with MSFS, which is fully 3-dimensional (yes, even in rural areas) and offers an immersive flight experience complete with weather, ATC, ground services, AI planes and ships, and many other features. For those who prefer "flying" in GE to flying in MSFS, be my guest. I suspect that this will be a very small group.

Just my hiker's perspective:

 

Google Earth is not that helpful for exploring an area I wish to hike. If you're properly preparing for a long hike or even a backpacking trip, you're already studying topo maps and route guides so intensely that they are basically emblazoned into your brain, in addition to being conveniently located in your backpack. Google Earth doesn't really add any value to this task. I don't think I would even glance at it. Route-planning for a challenging hike is as detail-oriented and demanding as route-planning for a pilot. GE will not cut it.

 

Google's satellite imagery is slightly more helpful because the same trails you are studying on the topo map are instead depicted with the vegetation in the images--assuming you're in the same season of the year. The seasons thing is a problem though. The inability to navigate in a human-realistic way through the terrain is also a hindrance. Sure I can pop into one valley and then pop into another valley, using top-down views only, but that's not giving me the overall understanding of the landscape that "flying" through it in an acrobatic small airplane would.

 

On top of all that, using MSFS to understand terrain is fun.

Cameras are needlessly complex, especially the drone (which is somehow a subset of “Showcase”). Yeah, I know – there was no drone in FSX. But you can’t control the plane when you’re in drone view. So I find I hardly ever use the drone. I guess this is a matter of individual taste.

Mac6737, I agree with just about everything you say, especially the cameras. I have now finally found some way to use the cameras effectively and it's ok. However, I don't like the drone views and believe it is only really useful for youtubers wanting to make videos, not the majority of us who want to FLY THE AIRCRAFT, not the drone.

 

For me there are three things wrong with MSFS:

1. no flyby view

2. no flyby view

3. no flyby view

 

And please don't tell me to go and set up some convoluted way of positioning the drone camera. I just want to press a button and see my plane fly past, like it does in FS9, FSX, P3D, X-Plane, DCS World, Aerofly FS2, IL-2, Wings over Flanders Field, Combat Flight Sim, Combat Air Patrol, Rise of Flight, Strike Fighters, FlyInside. Just about every flight sim ever created had the flyby view, yet the one with the biggest budget and most brain-power ever known to man doesn't...

The flight parameters display in external view is absurdly large, making screen shots useless.

 

What bothers me about this, is you can't set a key to turn the heads up display off. You have to go into the settings. Isn't that stupid, for something you are gonna want to do all the time!

And please don't tell me to go and set up some convoluted way of positioning the drone camera. I just want to press a button and see my plane fly past, like it does in FS9, FSX, P3D, X-Plane, DCS World, Aerofly FS2, IL-2, Wings over Flanders Field, Combat Flight Sim, Combat Air Patrol, Rise of Flight, Strike Fighters, FlyInside. Just about every flight sim ever created had the flyby view, yet the one with the biggest budget and most brain-power ever known to man doesn't...

 

Setting up the drone camera is actually not difficult. You can place it in a fixed location to observe your plane in flight, or you can toggle a "follow the plane" mode that gives you an instrument-free view from the cockpit while you fly. I also use the drone to roam around and explore locations of interest up close while the plane itself is paused. It is really a tremendous tool!

But since you said not to tell you how to do any of this, I will respect your wishes.