[Official] Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Information & Discussion Thread

[J7SC_Orion]

18 hours ago, Andrew said:

I could, but it made no difference. I'm just not going to use DLSS tbh. Switching it on makes me go from 28-30fps to 32-34fps.

 

It's not worth it when the glass cockpit of the planes I normally fly look like this.

 

 

 

The last thing I want to do is to go on and on about fps and all that on the 4090 (or 3090), not least as these are also work investments for me. FYI, if you check early in this thread, you'll see that I managed to get 2x 2080 Ti working w/NVLink in what is called CFR-SLI in DX11 FS 2020 ('checkerboard rather than AFR SLI). It was an undocumented feature in the NVidia drivers from late 2018 to mid 2019. The age of the driver is obviously a drawback re. other games and apps when used now, but it actually still works (DX11, DX 12 is spotty). If you see a used RTX 2070 + NVL bridge in a market place...

 

Then again, if you are in the market for a bigger GPU upgrade, I would definitely recommend the RTX4K family...the visual enhancements touted for that gen really do work. With DLSS3/FI (which also automatically enables NVReflex on the 4090) and GSync, I regularly see 120 fps (monitor max) at 4K 'ultra' but as mentioned before, the 4090 can get by just fine with any DLSS. 

 

Below is the cockpit of the 787 Dreamliner (per DLSS3/FI/NVReflex).

 

 

 

...and if you look really closely, you can spot the cockpit readouts in this one 

 

 

 

...and some older cockpit screenies...(some with too much HDR re. background  )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

Just tried to do a proper flight with the DC3 and it's surprisingly difficult to fly. Slow as well, took 43 minutes to get from San Diego to Los Angeles. IRL right now, the same trip is 2hrs 20mins with a car. If you go at night, you can probably drop that down to 1hr - 1hr 10 mins.

[J7SC_Orion]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Just tried to do a proper flight with the DC3 and it's surprisingly difficult to fly. Slow as well, took 43 minutes to get from San Diego to Los Angeles. IRL right now, the same trip is 2hrs 20mins with a car. If you go at night, you can probably drop that down to 1hr - 1hr 10 mins.

 

....I was looking at the DC3 yesterday when I chose plans for my evening excursions...probably will try it tonight. Weren't there some early hack mods where you could add a gazillion horsepower / pds/thrust / kW and exceed 75,000 feet altitude ?

[Andrew]

I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are mods like that. I know there is/was a mod for either the Cessna 152 or 172 that gave it 2x A320 engines.

 

I tried the DC3 once when it first came out and immediately crashed it. Like not even 3 seconds of air time after takeoff and it nosedived into the runway. I don't know what I did wrong, if anything at all, there might have been a bug with the physics that has since been fixed. Earlier when I flew it, it was fine. Just more difficult than a modern plane which is expected.

[J7SC_Orion]

10 minutes ago, Andrew said:

I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are mods like that. I know there is/was a mod for either the Cessna 152 or 172 that gave it 2x A320 engines.

 

I tried the DC3 once when it first came out and immediately crashed it. Like not even 3 seconds of air time after takeoff and it nosedived into the runway. I don't know what I did wrong, if anything at all, there might have been a bug with the physics that has since been fixed. Earlier when I flew it, it was fine. Just more difficult than a modern plane which is expected.

 

 ...in that case, I'll try the DC3 on the Lukla (Himalayas) runway  ...it's downhill and then just drops into a deep valley which is good for getting some air over the wings

[J7SC_Orion]

@Andrew ...DC3 at Lukla  ...very sluggish to fly, but that aforementioned drop-off into the valley definitely helped 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

I'm surprised it fit on the runway given how wide it is. The wingspan of the A320 isn't much bigger than the DC3.

[Andrew]

The A310-300 runs pretty decently now. Re-trying it after a couple of updates to see what performance I get, and it's now the same as every other plane. When it first released, I'd get 18-22fps with it. It can also kind of do long haul flights so I'll be using that for a while. Nothing like the 787 or 747, both of which aren't very good as far as the model goes. So I'm probably going to be using that until the PMDG 777-300ER releases or 777X if they decide to do that instead.

 

The current release date for the 777 from PMDG is "yes" so it's still going to be a while. The only thing that is confirmed about it is that they are making a 777 for MSFS and it's the next airliner to come out when they're done with the 737 series. They've just released the last 737 a few days ago so I'm guessing end of this year/early next year for the first 777 to release.

 

 

[J7SC_Orion]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

The A310-300 runs pretty decently now. Re-trying it after a couple of updates to see what performance I get, and it's now the same as every other plane. When it first released, I'd get 18-22fps with it. It can also kind of do long haul flights so I'll be using that for a while. Nothing like the 787 or 747, both of which aren't very good as far as the model goes. So I'm probably going to be using that until the PMDG 777-300ER releases or 777X if they decide to do that instead.

 

The current release date for the 777 from PMDG is "yes" so it's still going to be a while. The only thing that is confirmed about it is that they are making a 777 for MSFS and it's the next airliner to come out when they're done with the 737 series. They've just released the last 737 a few days ago so I'm guessing end of this year/early next year for the first 777 to release.

 

 

 

Definitely worth keeping an eye on PMDG's 777 release when it comes out.

 

For now, some more low-down sneaking-about action...with the Volocity copter and the Icon A 5

 

 

 

 

 

[J7SC_Orion]

...having a blast with the Pitts Special 150. Even when restricting the 4090 to ~400 w (out of 675 W max w/Galax vbios) and running a mild oc 200 MHz below known top speed, I still see FPS at 162 and 1% Lows at 143 (or higher) and that is with 4K ultra max everything DLSS3 'Quality' / FI / NVReflex / DX 12.  Temps, at 25 C ambient, are also more than acceptable per last screenie.

 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

Flying the PMDG 737 again. I do like how the HUD does this to make it easier to see

 

I also found out there was an update that included window shades

 

There is someone who claims to fly these IRL on YouTube who does say both the HUD thing and the Boeing window shades are very accurate to real life.

[J7SC_Orion]

17 hours ago, Andrew said:

Flying the PMDG 737 again. I do like how the HUD does this to make it easier to see

 

I also found out there was an update that included window shades

 

There is someone who claims to fly these IRL on YouTube who does say both the HUD thing and the Boeing window shades are very accurate to real life.

 

That looks really, well, real. I have seen similar window shades on 4K TV documentaries on certain types of planes.

 

You really like the 737, don't you ? I don't have that but in terms of the big(ger) planes, I tried the 747, 787 and that Hercules 'Spruce Goose' - but for the sheer instant response and being able to place it exactly where I want it when I want it there, I turn to the smaller fry - such as the Pitts Special 150 

 

 

...day break on a cold winter morning above the Squamish Valley ...

 

 

 

above the Cypress ski area to the near right, Vancouver at center-left, and some of the Washington State Olympic National Park mountains at the far right

  

 

 

Early morning Concrete Canyon run...

 

 

[Andrew]

I spent $70 on this 737-700, so you bet I'm going to fly it a lot although honestly I should have waited for the -800 instead of the -700 which was the first one to release. I do think if they changed their business model, they'd get more money coming in. If they made all of their 737 variants $70, but if you buy one of them, you can get the rest for an additional $20 each, more people are going to give them money for these. I'd pay an additional $20 each to get the -800 and -900ER. I'm not going to spend another $70 on the -800 and $50 on the -900ER, both of which are basically the same plane, but with a different weight and a bit longer.

 

It is also a really good plane to fly, but yes, it does feel unresponsive if you're used to smaller planes, especially that Pitts. It is more responsive than the 787 and 747 though. If you want to see roughly what it's like to fly, I'd suggest the FBW A320. It's as close as you're going to get to the PMDG 737 but for free.

[Andrew]

I just made the mistake of going on r/microsoftflightsim.

 

That subreddit is full of morons posting a screenshot or a video titled "what am I doing wrong?" with no further context as to what issue they're having. Sometimes a few hours later, the OP will post a comment saying what the problem was.

 

Like this for example:

 

 

If you guessed "the IRS needs to be aligned" you're wrong. The issue is that hydraulics systems aren't working because they're not switched on.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Andrew

[Sir Beregond]

13 minutes ago, Andrew said:

I just made the mistake of going on r/microsoftflightsim.

 

That subreddit is full of morons posting a screenshot or a video titled "what am I doing wrong?" with no further context as to what issue they're having. Sometimes a few hours later, the OP will post a comment saying what the problem was.

 

Like this for example:

 

 

If you guessed "the IRS needs to be aligned" you're wrong. The issue is that hydraulics systems aren't working because they're not switched on.

Sounds about right for reddit. Take a look at r/watercooling if you want to see a real joke of a subreddit.

[J7SC_Orion]

17 minutes ago, Andrew said:

I just made the mistake of going on r/microsoftflightsim.

 

That subreddit is full of morons posting a screenshot or a video titled "what am I doing wrong?" with no further context as to what issue they're having. Sometimes a few hours later, the OP will post a comment saying what the problem was.

 

Like this for example:

 

 

If you guessed "the IRS needs to be aligned" you're wrong. The issue is that hydraulics systems aren't working because they're not switched on.

 

...I don't do Reddit (or Facebook) so I can only imagine what I have been missing all these years....but yeah, things work better if you turn them on  

[Andrew]

Landing at Heathrow.

 

[J7SC_Orion]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Landing at Heathrow.

 

 

Nice view ! The sunshade also looks trick in this shot.

[J7SC_Orion]

@Andrew

 

'''Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your First Officer speaking. Due to the unforeseen insanity of our captain, we will offer you a free voucher for the lunch you just lost...we at (Sc)Air BC hope you enjoy the rest of your flight"...

 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

 

You do appear to be going a bit over the 250kts speed limit.

[J7SC_Orion]

5 minutes ago, Andrew said:

 

You do appear to be going a bit over the 250kts speed limit.

 

 ...speed limit ? What's 'a speed limit' anyways ? 

[J7SC_Orion]

...drove by there earlier (turned right on that intersection) - feels weird to see it from above 

 

 

 

...near-by (frozen) mountain lake, can be done as a day-hike

 

 

 

looparama 

 

 

 

 

[J7SC_Orion]

@Andrew  ...noticed another new smaller FS2020 package update re. marine vessels...

 

London docks

 

 

...near Nice 

 

 

 

back in Vancouver

 

[Andrew]

Yeah, I noticed I downloaded that without even realising. I think that's why I've been seeing cruise ships around coastal cities.

[J7SC_Orion]

18 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Yeah, I noticed I downloaded that without even realising. I think that's why I've been seeing cruise ships around coastal cities.

 

...they are getting better and better with that - new yachts, freighters, fishing boats, tugs, LNG ships...living in a coastal city right by the ocean, I am bit of a naval fan anyway. Speaking of water, below is the Beaver w/floats for an early morning cruise above our home w/real weather (cropped and converted to .jpg)