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What Happened to the Flight Sim Community? By MrYorkiesWorld Introduction Hello there everyone, my name is MrYorkiesWorld, and today's article is actually going to be one that I've been meaning to write for a very long time. It has a special place in my heart purely because of my connection with the flight sim community, and the YouTube community in general which I've seen develop in many different ways over the last decade. The flight sim community has always been a very close one. We have always gone above and beyond to support one another and have always worked together to make the platform our own. One thing I have admired is the longevity of our style of content. We teach people to fly virtual planes, which goes a lot further than simulation - it also helps people train for the real world if they wish to do so. Endless amounts of people out there turn to flight simulation to learn the basics of how to fly an aircraft, and although a computer can only teach you so much, the platform we have is one of the best available. In this article, I'm going to talk about my own experiences and opinions of where we are today in the world of flight simulation, and also how we got here, and how we need to weed out an ever-growing problem that seems to have emerged quite recently following the announcement, and subsequent release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. For those of you who are easily offended, please turn away - I intend to be very honest and brutal throughout! Who Are You to Be Having an Opinion? When it comes to YouTube, I've been around for almost 11 years making actual content. I first started creating YouTube videos back in 2010 on a different, and unrelated subject to flight simulation, and so I've seen all of the changes, big and small, that YouTube has faced in the last decade. This includes the legendary "star rating" system which was superseded by the thumbs up and down system a number of years ago, plus many other changes that have occurred on the platform. Having reached an audience numbered in the thousands (including subscribers), I know what it's like to be part of the YouTube community. In March 2014 I began making flight simulation videos on YouTube, which is where the MrYorkiesWorld channel was born. However, my history in actually using flight simulators and contributing to the flight-sim community dates back to around 2006 when I first started using the platform. I'd often speak to the community, advise people and also ask my own flight-sim related support questions. This was a passion and a pastime that would continue to grow until this day. Over the years, I have successfully helped thousands of people in the YouTube community, either by troubleshooting simulator related problems, or general computer issues. I've learned the basics of flying complex aircraft inside of the sim and even contributed one or two of my own creations to the community as well. I have watched in awe as creators such as Chewwy94 and Matt Davies created content which allowed me to learn more and more about the flight simulation platforms that we all know and love today. I am probably one of only a few flight simulation enthusiasts in the community who creates content the way that I do. In other words...I ignore a lot of the usual flight rules, and just have fun. I find that my style of content (one that throws away the rule book and simply focusses on getting from A to B whilst checking out the awesome in-sim surroundings) works really well for me, and it's something I've been passionate about for a long time. Something's Wrong in the Community Over the years I have watched how people react when new simulators or add-ons are released, but I have never seen anything like how it is today. It seems as if there is something in the air within the flight sim community (no pun intended) - some kind of turbulence that has caused quite a few of us all to become very agitated, angry and down-right aggressive towards each other as of late. The amount of comments that I've read from people asking genuine questions related to the new simulator, and then being met with insults and hate comments from the community is simply ridiculous! One example of the hate I'm talking about was when I recently created a video on my channel showing off a new livery pack created by a user in the community. I was immediately attacked by numerous users for apparently "failing" to mention the creator in my video when clearly a link was put in the description along with all the necessary information linking the liveries to them. What annoyed me the most was that anyone with half a brain cell would simply click the link and then immediately be presented with all the information needed; either this or simply read the video description! However, according to some of the comments I received, I was expected to essentially run an ad campaign for them in my video. It seems people are too lazy to read video descriptions these days. The community has also become very greedy - desperate for fame and to have their opinions forced upon others, and God help you if you try to voice your own opinion on any of it, or try to fight back - although it is unfortunately the same in the real world - nobody can say or do anything these days for fear of upsetting someone. I like to refer to these people as "snowflakes". Too many people are creating "Discord" servers and hosting their files on other strange and potentially unsafe or unstable web sites that are difficult to navigate around. That's why I make it simple - my web site in particular has the name of the files that people need, such as config files, settings, spreadsheets etc... along with a "Download" button next to them. There are none of these silly servers or hoops to go through, as all they do is make it more challenging for the community to contribute, which leads to the frustration and bad attitudes I'm talking about. When you want to find something, you want it to be right there in front of you, ready to download and install in seconds. Posting a question in a forum asking for help is a huge challenge these days. Users have to submit things in a certain template or in a certain format - gone are the days of simply answering a question that you clearly took the time to read. Nowadays, people seem to take the time to read a question, only to tell the author to change the way they asked it slightly so that it looks a certain way, instead of just giving them the answer they should have in the first place. My favourite scenario is when people tell you to use a search engine - they have clearly taken the time to click on the question you've asked, only to write an unhelpful instruction to search elsewhere. Why didn't they just answer the question? Many people find it tedious to fish through endless realms of search results. Gone are the days of providing a simple answer to a simple question. I've had numerous people, close friends of mine in the flight sim community, actually mention to me how the toxic and complicated atmosphere in our community is making them less interested in flight simulation as a hobby. It makes them not want to post any content or ask any questions for fear of offending people, or simply being rejected and ridiculed by the community overall. Where It All Went Wrong It's difficult to say where things went wrong, but personally the blame (to a degree) is due to how the world is at present. Everyone is frustrated due to the impact of Coronavirus, and many people have been forced to work (staring at the same four walls hour on end), and I think it's starting to take its toll. Things seemed to get out of hand around the time Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was announced, and subsequently got even worse after it was released. People immediately started slating Microsoft and Asobo for tiny things such as scenery glitches, missing buildings, problems with aircraft etc... but failed to see the bigger picture. In my opinion, many people simply weren't able to see the fact that we had an amazing new platform to explore and enjoy - one which was far more feature-rich and advanced than what we had ever seen before (especially out of the box). Yes, there were omissions, but that meant the community could create additional content (much like the X-Plane community with the Gateway). On top of this, third-party developers have also jumped onboard and started supporting the new sim, but many people are still far too impatient to actually wait for the results. This is where and how I think it all went wrong - people are just too impatient and too stressed out at the minute, but that is simply no excuse for some of the behaviour we see. There are many individuals who are simply unable to look past the imperfections, and are unable to see that the small "issues" that are currently present in the new sim are all to be expected, all predicted, and are perfectly normal. This is a new platform - new platforms have these sorts of issues, but for some reason the community has lost their ability to see past this - they assume that Microsoft and Asobo should have released a problem-free, perfect sim right from the start. They don't understand the basic concept that the true test of any simulator lies in the art of giving it to the community and using them for feedback (surely the ultimate resource). In many simulators such as FSX for example, we had an abundance of issues that only really started to get under control after the second major patch was released...and still to this day, there are still issues with it. With the X-Plane community, they have a sim which is evolving all the time, one which is in a constant change of flux, but do you hear them moaning and groaning? No! If you look at X-Plane.Org, you'll see that they all work together to create something special...a community. If you consider the fact that Flight Simulator 2020 is massively more detailed and complex than FSX, you can sort of realise why so many more bugs and issues have been discovered. The more content and features there are, the more chance there will be issues - this is the same on any simulator, any game and to a degree...any sort of software regardless of what it might be. The Brighter Side of Things There's always a brighter side to these sorts of stories, and I'm happy to say that despite this minority of people trying to essentially ruin it for us all, there is still a really good community there for flight simmers. Plenty of users just like myself are still hovering around somewhere on the internet, especially on long-established web sites such as FlightSim.Com, and continue to contribute in a good, positive and respectful way. There are still people out there who will answer questions with a real answer and not pass it to somewhere else, and plenty of people value and respect each other enough not to demand to be in the spotlight every time someone uses your product or creation in their videos. It makes me happy to know what underneath this thin blanket of dust, there is still a good community there. The majority of us still help each other out without expecting things in return, and we go out of our way to support each other no matter how "silly" the question might seem to some. Slowly but surely, we will bring back our community, and what a beautiful time to do it when we've just been blessed with a simulator as amazing and revolutionary as Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Future of the Community The future of our community very much relies on people actually coming together and sharing their own ideas and experiences of flight simulation. By doing this, we will become stronger, bigger and most importantly of all...better. This in turn benefits everyone...which is surely what we all want. Despite what I've said about the negatives, I really do believe that we can come together and repair ourselves. Think about it...we all share the same passion...the same desire to jump into an aircraft and explore the virtual world on offer (no matter what simulator it is). If we can just remember that behind every sentence typed, there is a real living person, then I think we're off to a good start! We will once again...be as strong as we used to be! MrYorkiesWorld Youtube Channel

Microsoft Flight Simulator - New Ideas - New Beginnings By MrYorkiesWorld Introduction Hello everyone, my name isMrYorkiesWorld. I've been writing articles and content forFlightSim.Com for quite some time now, and I'm extremely excited to bewriting this article at a time when we are about to enter into yetanother extremely exciting time in the world of flight simulation. Isay "about", because even though the simulator is now released, therewill likely be an ever-expanding growth to it with regards to updates,fixes, improvements and third-party developer content! The History of MrYorkiesWorld & Flight Simulation /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t/msfs-new-ideas-01.jpg It has been around 37 years since the very first Microsoft FlightSimulator was released for IBM compatible PCs. Microsoft FlightSimulator 1.0 was released all the way back in November 1982, whenthings looked very different to what they do today (see imageabove). For me, Flight Simulation became something of a favourite hobby ofmine around 2002 - 2003, when Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: ACentury of Flight was released. I then moved on to the newer versionsas soon as they became available and also tested out the previousversions right back to the very first. Obviously, the hardware backthen ran pretty well, without the need to render too many complicatedtasks, which is very different to the story we tell today in ourcommunity! In 2014, or around that time, I began making YouTube content aimedat Flight Simulation. I would carefully watch and learn as otherflight simulation enthusiasts such as Matt Davies, Chewwy94 and othersshowed us how to fly aircraft around the virtual skies in a morerealistic way than what I was used to. My love for the hobby onlyincreased from there. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t/msfs-new-ideas-16.jpg Modern-Day Simming Both Lockheed Martin and Laminar Research have graced us withamazing simulators over the years, with the latest being Prepar3D V5,and X-Plane 11. These simulators are both very advanced platformsallowing us to simulate real-world flights in a very realistic andaccurate fashion. I've never been a fan of comparing one simulator to another, butMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2020 literally blows everything else we'veseen out of the water. Coming from someone who has seen most versionsof the Flight Simulator series, as well as simulators not related toMicrosoft at all, I can say first hand that my experience with theAlpha, Beta, Preview Build, and now the released version, has openedmy eyes wider than anything else. With P3D and X-Plane we see sophisticated systems, weather add-ons,texture packs, sound packs, add-on aircraft and scenery, plus 3rdparty airports to name just a few, which help enhance the baseplatform. However, nobody would have thought that Microsoft would thencome up with something such as Flight Simulator (2020), which comespacked with many of the features mentioned above as standard. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-02.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-03.jpg In today's society, flight simulation is getting more and morecomplex and accurate, with professional pilots using flight simulationplatforms alongside lifelike physical/motion simulators. This allowspeople the chance to get as close as it gets to the real thing,especially in terms of flight planning and preparation. On top ofthis, we can also safely train for all eventualities, such as enginefailures, pressurisation issues and missed approaches, without everneeding to put ourselves in any real danger. The Features Of Microsoft Flight Simulator We all know by now that Microsoft Flight Simulator brings with itan entirely different set of flight dynamics, features andpossibilities. One of the main features is the world map, which iscaptured via Bing Maps, and then translated properly to reflectreal-world buildings, landmarks, roads, rivers and water bodies. Thisis all done in a way we have never seen before, and is bound toimprove over time. From my experience, the scenery available in the simulator is good,but there is obviously a lot of room for improvement. I think a lot ofpeople fail to take into consideration that compared to X-Plane andP3D, the "stock" scenery found in Microsoft Flight Simulator is secondto none. You simply will not find the level of detail and accuracystraight out of the box in any other simulator platform, and I'd bewilling to argue with anyone on that fact having seen first-hand thedifferences. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-04.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-05.jpg Another fantastic feature of the simulator is the ability to planyour flight quickly, easily and efficiently - selecting any of the37,000+ airports in the world, with any of the departures, runways andgates that you choose. The simulator then allows you to plan yourflight to your destination in a number of ways. No longer is there anabsolute need to pay extra for other flight planning utilities. Of course, buying a more advanced flight planning utility is alwaysan option, and I, like many others, will probably go down this routejust for the realism. However the fact is, the simulator comes withits own system which is far more accurate and advanced than most ofthe other freeware options currently available on the otherplatforms. Microsoft Flight Simulator seems to feature a very accurate flightmodel despite a few teething problems, which hopefully, will be ironedout over time. This is of course aided by the fact that sloped runwaysare now included in the simulator. We've seen sloped runways in other simulators such as X-Plane, andnow in P3D V5, but never before have I seen such accurate runwayfriction like we have in the new simulator. Not only this, but otherforces such as wind effects are a lot more accurate, not to mentionthe new environmental effects such as icing on the windshield andaround the aircraft. All of these features help make the simulatorincredibly immersive. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-06.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-07.jpg My Dislikes In The Simulator If I had to pick something I'm not too keen on in terms offunctionality, it's the camera system built into the simulator. Forsomeone like myself who has been used to using ChasePlane for my views(provides a lot more customization), I can honestly say the existingcamera system is terrible. The views are very limited, and there arejust way too many buttons you have to press in order to get the sameresults you would in ChasePlane. In addition to this, the existing camera system (aside from theDrone - the Drone is amazing) seems too clunky and buggy. For example,there is currently a bug which causes the camera to pan to a randomangle when you're trying to load a custom saved camera, which meansyou're forced to then "Reset" your view via the in-sim menu. This hascaused a lot of issues for me in longer flights where I've been tryingto make a video, as it makes the video look rushed or not editedcorrectly. In terms of other things I don't like about the simulator, it wouldhave to be the flight dynamics on a few of the big jets. This might bebecause I'm so used to flying PMDG aircraft in P3D, which is acompletely different simulator. However, I just feel that the flightdynamics mimic (to a degree), what it would be like to fly a plane onthe moon, or perhaps....underwater. Suffice to say, things just don'tfeel quite right at the moment. Again, this is likely something thecommunity will help sort out by suggesting fixes and reporting issuesto Microsoft. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-08.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-09.jpg Aside from that, I don't really have any other gripes about FS2020- I'm more than happy with the scenery, the performance (minus thestuttering) and the potential the new sim has, and I can't wait to seewhat new and exciting roads Microsoft's new breakthrough simulatorwill take us down! Performance This is probably going to be my favourite part of the article, andfor good reason. I have been sitting here quietly, waiting ever sincegetting access to the Alpha build of the simulator, for people tostart claiming that they are able to get 4K 60 FPS on Ultrasettings. Even before the simulator was released, it was being claimedonline, and even now in fact, that beefy machines such as those with a9900k CPU and an RTX 2080TI, will be able to run the simulator in 4Kand Ultra, and still get 60 FPS. This is a subject I've spent a lot of time arguing about with agreat many people, and one that now (finally) seems to be gettingaccepted; you simply cannot run this simulator at completely maxed outsettings, whilst at the same time getting 60 FPS at 4K resolution. Thereason? Simple; the simulator is insanely power-hungry. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-10.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-11.jpg I find that running the simulator at "High" settings, with ani9-9900k running at 4.7 GHz (no Hyperthreading), 32 GB of RAM, a 2080Tiand separate SSD's for my OS, and even then, the simulator can stillbe a challenge. In densely populated areas, I sometimes get below30 FPS, which is fine for me (as long as it's smooth I don't reallycare). There are videos out there claiming to have the sim running at 4Kon Ultra with 60 FPS, however they are missing one vital component -they don't actually show us inside the virtual cockpit, with a highlydense area, and bad weather! If we also factor in that they are clearly only using stockaircraft, and not something insanely detailed such as a PMDG product,I think it's very clear that these people are deceiving their viewers,and will more than likely learn the hard way when purchasing highfidelity add-ons. Aside from all of this, I find that by using "High" settings, withmaybe one or two things set to "Ultra", seems to work well for smoothflight in 1080p at 60 Hz. By doing this, I get around 20 - 40 FPS invery dense areas, and between 50 and 60 FPS at all other times. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-12.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-13.jpg Summing Up This is not a review, but I think it's clear to see that MicrosoftFlight Simulator 2020, in my opinion, is a major step forward in thenext generation of flight simulation. Judging by what I haveexperienced so far, I think it's safe to say that we can look forwardto many years of enjoyment with this amazing new sim. Thepossibilities truly are endless, and despite the issues the newsimulator has (the first patch at time of writing, is almost ready), Ithink we have a really exciting future ahead of us. I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in flightsimulation, or aviation in general, to try Flight Simulator 2020, itreally is that good. /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-14.jpg /images/op-eds/yorkie01/t2/msfs-new-ideas-15.jpg Many thanks to the team at FlightSim.Com, and also at Microsoft forproviding me with a copy of the simulator. What an amazing ride it'sbeen so far...and the best thing about it...we've only just takenoff... It truly is a remarkable time to be a flight simmer! MrYorkiesWorld Web Site Youtube Channel Twitter Become a Patron Other MSFS Presentations MSFS VFR Flight - Heathrow To London City In C172 Microsoft Flight Simulator Video Tutorials MSFS VFR Flight Around Queenstown New Zealand What Settings Do I Use in the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Preview Build? VFR Circuit Around Catania Sicily in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Gibraltar & Surrounding Areas In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 An Introduction To The New Microsoft Flight Simulator...Stunning Visuals! Microsoft Flight Simulator - Can I Run It? Flight Simulator 2020 First Impressions MSFS Landing Page - All Microsoft Flight Simulator Info In One Place

/images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-07.jpg Flight Simulator 2020 VFR Full FlightLondon Heathrow to London City In Cessna C172By MrYorkiesWorldHello there guys, my name isMrYorkiesWorld, welcome back to the channel...and welcome back toMicrosoft Flight simulator 2020. Now today we've actually got a veryexciting video. I did a poll on YouTube asking everybody what sort ofvideo or videos you would like to see from this channel, and therewere quite a few people compared to the rest, who voted for fullflight videos. So in this particular video we are going to betravelling from London Heathrow on a short VFR flight to LondonCity. /images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-04.jpgNow the exciting part about this flight is EGLL is one of theincluded handcrafted airports inside of the Premium Deluxe versionwhich is what I own. I've also got London City Airport from Orbx, andI've also got the London City Pack (the landmarks pack) from Orbx aswell, and what I've done is used Little Navmap. /images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-02.jpgHere you can see we've got a short VFR flight route. So here we areat EGLL and we're going to be going all the way on a nice littleroot. I've planned this route especially because hopefully it willallow us to see a lot of the London scenery around London City,specifically when we get to this particular waypoint here which isFoxtrot Foxtrot Zero Nine. That will allow us to see a lot of the cityof London and a lot of landmarks there as well... MrYorkiesWorld Web Site Youtube Channel Twitter Become a Patron Other MSFS PresentationsMicrosoft Flight Simulator Video Tutorials MSFS VFR Flight Around Queenstown New Zealand What Settings Do I Use in the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Preview Build? VFR Circuit Around Catania Sicily in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Gibraltar & Surrounding Areas In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 An Introduction To The New Microsoft Flight Simulator...Stunning Visuals! Microsoft Flight Simulator - Can I Run It? Flight Simulator 2020 First Impressions MSFS Landing Page - All Microsoft Flight Simulator Info In One Place Additional Screen Shots /images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-03.jpg /images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-05.jpg /images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-06.jpg /images/specials/msfslond/t/msfs-london-08.jpg

Microsoft Flight Simulator Pre-Release Live Stream By MrYorkiesWorld Microsoft Flight Simulator Early Access Live Stream | Countdown to Release! In this stream we will be taking a look at the official release build of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, where a whole new world of virtual aviation awaits us! Come and join in with the chat and get to know the new simulator as we count down to the public release and look at some beautiful areas of scenery around the virtual globe! MrYorkiesWorld Web Site Youtube Channel Twitter Become a Patron Other MSFS Presentations MSFS VFR Flight Around Queenstown New Zealand What Settings Do I Use in the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Preview Build? VFR Circuit Around Catania Sicily in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Gibraltar & Surrounding Areas In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 An Introduction To The New Microsoft Flight Simulator...Stunning Visuals! Microsoft Flight Simulator - Can I Run It? Flight Simulator 2020 First Impressions Microsoft Flight Simulator August 6th, 2020 Development Update MSFS Landing Page - All Microsoft Flight Simulator Info In One Place