Nice one. I believe Orbx is going all in on x plane next year, and committed to converting all of their existing sceneries. There are a number of small free orbx airports available on their web page as well.
And if you're looking for a good payware GA aircraft that's not the TBM 900, I recommend the Aerobask Diamond DA 62. Really fun plane to fly and modeled well.
Nice one. I believe Orbx is going all in on x plane next year, and committed to converting all of their existing sceneries. There are a number of small free orbx airports available on their web page as well.
And if you're looking for a good payware GA aircraft that's not the TBM 900, I recommend the Aerobask Diamond DA 62. Really fun plane to fly and modeled well.
Oh you wicked tempter - now Im going off to look at that too!
Rebirthing this thread one last time in case anyone was inspired by the latest GWJ Conference Call to dip their toes into Xplane (or flight sim in general).
I am tempted to start streaming some of my flights just for fun, so if I do that I'll also post some announcements here (or wherever one announces streams).
It got me a little itchy to dip back in. The reality is that I don't have the time to devote to it though, not without sacrificing one of my other time-intensive hobbies/game obsessions.
And I just dropped $600+ on a new wheel and pedals, so that's where my time's going right now.
It got me a little itchy to dip back in. The reality is that I don't have the time to devote to it though, not without sacrificing one of my other time-intensive hobbies/game obsessions.
That's where I'm at, too.
Also, I'd have to clean up my desk to make enough room for my CH yoke. 
i find that xplane works quite well with the standard xbox controller. Definitely not as immersive, but if you are just looking to dip back in it is a good option
One day, I hope to live in slightly larger place so that I don't have to pack up my flight chair every time I have a visitor. Once it gets packed away, it tends to stay that way for a long time.
I recorded a flight using Xplane 11 and flying with online ATC on VATSIM if anyone wants to have a look. I'm taking a Boeing 737-800 from Atlanta to Raleigh Durham during an online ATC event. Starting from cold and dark and then to the gate at KRDU.
FYI I'm by no means a streamer so you will be met with long moments of silence but during takeoff and landing you can see how VATSIM works.
In case anyone was wondering, VATSIM is an online ATC network, so i'm talking to real people who are watching me on radar screens on their computer.
I start talking to ATC at around 8:00
Call for Taxi at around 26:30
Takeoff at around 34:40
Neat, thanks for sharing, Carlbear.
Those vatsim folks can keep you on your toes by not quite doing what you expect. 
Indeed.
I kind of got crossed up on the landing. I set the FMC for landing on 23R, they gave me visual 23L. Not too big of a deal, but the FMC in the aircraft wasn't accepting my change in runways (the aircraft I was flying is actually a free mod, and an amazing one at that). If you made it that far into the stream, I am struggling with it quite a bit. Eventually I get it in thankfully before its too late and before the aircraft starts going in the wrong direction.
As I get better in streaming, I would probably show what I was doing which was going back and forth from the arrival charts to the sim to try to figure out what was going on, but I was a little too panicky to do that.
Yes, I noticed that you even confirmed with ATC that they meant 23 left and spent a little time getting the computer to accept it and get rid of the discontinuity in your route.
Why would ATC give you a "pilot's discretion" altitude change that was so drastic (from FL350 to FL210 IIRC)?
It's been a while since I've flown in a sim, and even though I usually flew smaller aircraft so messing about with an FMC and approaches to larger airports is not something I've done.
Why would ATC give you a "pilot's discretion" altitude change that was so drastic (from FL350 to FL210 IIRC)?
I thought about that too, but then looking at the arrival chart there is a key waypoint with a "below FL 210" restriction, and the controller knew he was going to hand me off before i got there, so he was basically giving me my clearance to start descent at pilots discretion and because he may not have been sure what runway I was going to, he just left it at that. As soon as I was handed off to RDU approach i was given the "descend via STAR" instruction so at that point I was free to continue descent before vectors to the visual.
Streaming another VATSIM flight today.
Feel free to watch here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNpL...
will be getting on around 10:30am pacific (17:30z), and have a scheduled departure from Copenhagen to London Gatwick at 11:15am pacific (18:15z).
Carlbear, your videos are so awesome.
What equipment do you have? I only have a Thrustmaster HOTAS.
I just cancelled the stream. had some weird issues and crashed (the plane, not the pc). Hopefully no one was watching
I have a Saitek X56. pretty old, but does the job.
Another flight. This time with a little more talking from me. Landing was... well at least we got the thing on the ground! Unfortunately while I had online ATC for clearance delivery I, he seemed to abruptly disconnect. I also apologize for horrible sound levels. Earlier I reset some settings in xplane which reset the game sound settings to maximum volume. I couldn't hear that through my headset since I have a mixer on my headset, but I forgot to check the sound levels in the stream so aircraft sounds are very loud while my voice is pretty low.
Still learning this streaming thing. Also, I actually had someone watch! Look out Ninja here I come.
It may not have the expansive real-world controls of many of the PC flight simulators, but I have to say - even with using a DualShock controller instead of a HOTAS, the PSVR missions of Ace Combat 7 are absolutely amazing. Sure there are other games that model aircraft more realistically, but in the VR missions, loops and barrel rolls feel like the real thing to the extent my stomach drops and the tricks we were taught during our Altitude Chamber training to combat motion sickness actually work.
WeEeEeEeEEEEE!!!
I was quite excited for Ace Combat when it was mentioned that it will be compatible with HOTAS systems, but turns out its actually only compatible with one very specific system.
I may still end up getting it when its on sale to play with a controller, but I really was hoping that I could use my current setup for some fast paced A2A combat.
Pretty long stream I made flying 2 legs, Portland to Oakland then Oakland to Los Angeles.
There was a big VATSIM event going on that started on my way into Oakland and continued through my flight to Los Angeles. The departure out of Oakland gets interesting as another aircraft kind of spawns right in front of me and ATC quickly vectors me around for spacing.
Full flight is here
The 2nd leg starts at around the 3 hour mark and is definitely the more interesting of the legs.
I am not sure how to feel about this.
Curious why they made it an Xbox exclusive...
I am all for competition to hopefully improve X Plane, but I agree I'm not sure what market this is going after. If its playable on a console, hardcore simmers that drop lots of money on addons/DLC are going to thumb their noses at it. If its more "casual", then is it really that interesting for the console crowd? I suppose they could Euro Truck Simulator it to make it interesting, but unlike driving, once you're up in the air, there's not that much to do.
The visuals are stunning, and maybe that accelerates the Vulcan/Metal improvements promised in X Plane.
Curious why they made it an Xbox exclusive...
It's also Win 10.
Balthezor wrote:Curious why they made it an Xbox exclusive...
It's also Win 10.
I was confused by this, too.
The beginning of that video says "Xbox exclusive". However, the RPS article from which I got that video says:
Microsoft Flight Simulator is headed to Windows 10 in 2020, and will be one of those games covered by the Xbox Game Pass subscription doodad.
Either way, it seems that it will either be too simple for a PC with all of the extra functionality a mouse/keyboard/HOTAS has, or too complex for an Xbox controller.
So MS invited a bunch of well known flight sim streamers to an event in Seattle, and it looks pretty incredible. Any footage you see was provided by MS even though the streamers were able to play, but not record their play. Definitely something I will be looking into as it gets closer to release. I have much less doubts than I had originally.
Laminar and Xplane are going to have to figure out something quick if they want to remain relevant. While Xplane has amazing flight dynamics, the developers are so keen on getting the last 1% for 100% accurate flight dynamics (just watch their developer video on their latest release)and they forget improving the graphics engines or simple quality of life stuff like working ATC or decent ground traffic.
Yes, eye candy is all we see in these videos, but the streamers I follow are pretty hardcore simmers (not game reviewers), and they seem to all walk away incredibly impressed. If it plays as well as it looks and they do a good job opening it up to the community for free and payware addons and utilities this is going to be an amazing experience.
I don't follow a lot of FS-specific sites anymore, but one of my more general gaming/news sites recently carried a similar article (with photos & no video, though).
I've only watched the first few minutes of the video you posted. I'll be paying attention to this, and I suspect that I'll be needing a new computer by 2020 or 2021.
Edit: OK, apparently I was compelled to watch the rest of this video rather than going back to what I had planned to do. Yeah, I will definitely be keeping an eye on this. I would start watching other FS 2020 videos, but for now they are all no doubt showing the same footage that they got from MS.
In News Only for Flight Sim Geeks, VATSIM, the real life online ATC service, just upgraded its voice codec after I don't know how many years (maybe ever).
While I haven't had a chance to try it out I was on a beta test for a flight and it is a night and day improvement over the previous. It simulates VHF distance (so the further you are from the radio the more "crackly" it sounds), and the overall sound quality is vastly improved. There is also supposed to be voice CTAF for uncontrolled airports...not sure how excited I am over that as undoubtedly there will be some knuckleheads screaming profanities into it, so we'll see how that goes.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to try it out on a test flight then I'm hoping to join in on a big Philadelphia to Boston short hop event on Thursday which I will try to stream.
Saw that gameplay trailer. The most exciting part is the variety of aircraft.. but I am curious how many of those aircraft come with the game or are expected to be payware.
I have a hard time believing FS2020 developer can make such a great looking game and the underlying technology to support it all while making that diverse of aircraft be super accurate vs. real world counterparts.
For example I saw a 737-800NG, Diamond DA62, Airbus 320, 747-800, and a TBM900 just to name a few. All of those aircraft are separate purchases in xplane and p3d. PMDG just came out with their latest 737-800 and it costs a whopping $100! The flight factor Airbus 320 in Xplane will set you back $90 and the Hotstart TBM 900 $65. These 3 are considered best in class study-level aircraft, with extremely accurate systems and flight dynamics.
People who spend hours in flight sims want those study level aircraft (and are willing to pay it), but curious how this will work with the monthly model that I keep hearing about for this. I spend $100 on the 737 but if for whatever reason I stop paying for MS Game Pass, what happens to my addon?
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