Microsoft Flight Simulator...

[ArizonaTank]

According to Steam, I've played this for 9 hrs. Actually all I've done so far is download and rough install (no fine tuning options).
What a monster game! What a huge amount of disk space! Certainly the biggest single download ever for me. Over 1Tb download, I think.

1TB for the core game?  That seems like a lot since when I downloaded it was only like 90GB (still bigger than most things).  Last year's call of duty still the largest for me where I think it was 150GB or so.

LoL...yeah, this is not a 1 TB download. It's less than 100 GB.

The game downloads the scenery while you fly (the reason ideal specs mention Bandwidth : 50 Mbps).  Doesn't this data remain on your PC or is this downloaded again when you fly the same area the next day ?

If there is no need to download it again you could collect more than 1TB on your HD after you took a trip around the world.

When I installed it said I needed approximately 147 GB of available HD space and the actual download was more like 93 GB. It doesn't make sense that you could need up to 1TB of HD space while in flight because of downloads while in game. If that is the case, a lot of people are going to have to drop out mid-flight to free up HD space.

Ouch. But it wouldn't be the first time that a particular game pushed the hardware spec envelope and forced gamers to upgrade hardware. Microsoft and its Flight Sim are big enough to pull that off.

Overall, sounds like a great sim, that I might consider.

Twenty-five years ago I was a big fan of MS Flight Simulator. But now I am not certain that simple flight from here to there, enjoying the scenery along the way is enough to interest me.

If I am going to fly around, why not over the Western Front in 1917 (Rise of Flight)? or over Stalingrad in 1942? (IL-2 Sturmovik) Anyway, I will keep my eye on Flight Sim...and perhaps wait for a sale and my next hardware upgrade.

[Pete Dero]

When I installed it said I needed approximately 147 GB of available HD space and the actual download was more like 93 GB. It doesn't make sense that you could need up to 1TB of HD space while in flight because of downloads while in game. If that is the case, a lot of people are going to have to drop out mid-flight to free up HD space.

Not 1TB for a single flight but to store a large part of the whole planet scenery on your HD instead of downloading it every time as you fly.

Minimal bandwidth required is 5 Mb, recommended is 20 Mb and ideal is 50 Mb.  If we take an average of 10 Mb/s that gives you 1.25 MB/s.  After an hour of flying at 10 Mb/s you have downloaded 4.500 MB or 4,5 GB.  If your game settings require you to download at 50 Mb/s an hour leaves you with 22,5 GB downloaded.

If this downloaded data remains on your HD after a while 1TB isn't unreasonable.
I don't have the game so I can't check this, but I guess there isn't a way to save this data for later use.  I would prefer such an option because reading data from an SSD or even a regular HD is much faster (> 200 MB/s) and could help the issue people have who report 10 FPS over large cities.

[WYBaugh]

I picked this up doing the $1 trial of Games for Windows.  What would be an inexpensive joystick to pickup to use for the sim?  I bounce between an 65% and 87% keyboard and have a mouse and a sony dualshock but not even close to being able to play with the game without some major reconfiguring.

[mbar]

I've been following pricing of flight sticks and it's crazy high at the moment probably due to the release of MSFS 2020. A Logitect G 56X is selling for a price almost as high as a Thrustmaster Warthog. That's just insane. You may want to wait for prices to get back to sane levels before you shop for one now.

[Skoop]

I've been following pricing of flight sticks and it's crazy high at the moment probably due to the release of MSFS 2020. A Logitect G 56X is selling for a price almost as high as a Thrustmaster Warthog. That's just insane. You may want to wait for prices to get back to sane levels before you shop for one now.

If that's the case why not go for the warthog or better.

[Pete Dero]

What would be an inexpensive joystick to pickup to use for the sim? 

My first stick was the Logitech extreme 3d pro.  I think I paid around 50 € ($60) for it and you should still be able to find it for sale at that price.
Not enough buttons for combat flight sims (DCS etc) but should be great for this game.

[WYBaugh]

Awesome, thank you guys!

[Father Ted]

What would be an inexpensive joystick to pickup to use for the sim?

I've used for many years a Thrustmaster T16000.  It has a few buttons (incl hatswitch for looking around at all that scenery), is twistable for rudder, and has a slider for throttle.  Its main selling point is that has HALL-effect sensors rather than potentiometers for the input, so it doesn't suffer from "spiking" over time.  And it is pretty much entry-level price-wise.

[planetbrain]

Sorry people, I was way out of line with the 1TB download! Big mistake.
My clean Steam installation of MFS is currently 0.98 GB while the main install path is 100GB (So 101GB vanilla all up)
Compared to this my Steam FSX install totals 34.4 GB obviously with many, many more aircraft etc.

[Yskonyn]

^ Thats a good call, and I also suspect it'll go on half off sale in a year.

Yet everyone will not be able to contain himself and have it installed right on releaseday regardless. Mark my words. If not that, then surely shortly after. 😂

Called it!  L:-)

[steve58]

As with every previous version of MSFS, there have been some quirks at release.  Here's how the Washington Monument is being displayed:



More in this article:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21376978/microsoft-flight-simulator-glitches-maps-bugs

[hellfish6]

I feel like people are focusing on these fairly minor errors (some of which people seem to be genuinely outraged by) while not appreciating that the whole world is in the game and it looks amazing. I'm confident the most obvious errors will eventually be rectified (maybe someone is already contracted to do Washington DC in detail?) but there's this vocal group that just seems to relish in trashing the game. I've see this happen time and time again in the sim community - whether it's a missing rivet texture on a Bf-109E2-4239i3 or a tank's color is a shade off. Simmers are destined to continue eating their own children, which is why sims are such a niche product.

Anyone on the fence to get MSFS on Steam right now is gonna look at those absurd reviews (like 90% of them are about download time counting as play time for refund purposes, but as I understand that Steam has been granting refunds anyway) and miss the fact that what MS accomplished here is astonishing. People keep asking for a whole-world simulator (like TitanIM, VBS4 or something) and MS is the first one to actually do that. And it looks way better than Titan or VBS. You just can't shoot anything. Yet.

[mbar]

If that's the case why not go for the warthog or better.

Exactly. But I've been checking that and they are $800+ USD now. A few days ago they were their normal $400~ Availability of sticks are low on Amazon at least.

[Skoop]

Wow, might as well get a virpil at this point.  Buy the best and only cry once.  Plus a virpil stick will last a lifetime.  My warthog wore out just like a saitek or any other cheap model.

[Skoop]

As with every previous version of MSFS, there have been some quirks at release.  Here's how the Washington Monument is being displayed:



More in this article:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21376978/microsoft-flight-simulator-glitches-maps-bugs

Wonder if it's left like that as intentional.  Meaning you'll have to get a 3rd party addon for spot on dc graffics and landmarks.  The 3rd party addon ecosystem is already ramping up with products.  The sim looks so good though you may not need much. 

The reviews say the ATC is week like the previous sims, so you'll need an addon for that or just do mp / vatsim.  Also weather looks great but active sky will be next level for this.  PMDG is already underway with their 737, I have it preordered.  Probaly won't touch the sim much until it's released.