FS2020 Release Date!

[Kelvinr]

[quote="cowpatz"]That is a shocking rendition of Auckland.[/quote]

Glad it is not just me.

[emfrat]

I didn't get that far - as soon as the "musical accompaniment" started, I shut it down.

[chopper_nut]

How the hell has this guy 'flown' all of those aeroplanes???? Anyway, yeah the rendition of Auckland isn't great but I don't think it's any worse than anything we've seen before. They really need to hire a tree trimmer around some of these airports

[FlyingKiwi]

My initial reaction was wow that looks disappointing but on watching it again if the trees were smaller it wouldn't actually look too bad really and I'm sure there'll be mods/patches to fix that very quickly. The scenery looks so much more immersive than anything that's come before that I'm just looking forward to getting out and exploring the whole world, even if it's not perfectly accurate to real life. Way back in FS2002/2004 I used to love doing long exploration flights where I'd just pick a country or area of the globe and just visit a bunch of airfields in something low and slow and see what I could find over the course of a weekend or afternoon, however the appeal of that started to wear off as the old scenery engine started to increasingly show its limitations - there was only so many times you could land on the same generic runway that 90% of the airports had. In the end I just flew around NZ with the Orbx scenery and never really ventured anywhere else. Let's face it when we're starting to complain about things like the trees being too big or the snow being on the wrong side of a mountain we've got it pretty good really!

[cowpatz]

It's more than the trees. he whole layout is wrong. You would never guess it was an international airport from what Ive seen. Still I will wait see what happens after release. Hopefully Flightbeam aren't too far off with their NZAA scenery.

[jpreou]

Jeff , I may have misunderstood the term "intergrated"

https://support.hp.com/nz-en/document/c04293944

.

You need to check in the mainboard manual and BIOS - it *may* be possible to add a plug-in graphics card and then free up the memory.
Or otherwise check around for a used 'gaming PC' that might be more cost effective

[Splitpin]

Thanks Jeff, Ive been looking at couple at PB Tech ...will keep you posted, thanks again for your help.

[Naki]

I've cancelled my order for the basic version and gone the full hog and ordered the Premium Deluxe.... I have high hopes with this sim after seeing all the videos etc...especially since I'm mainly a VFR flyer!

[jpreou]

I'm waiting on two things before I put my $$ down:
1) my hire and test of the HP Reverb G2
2) real-world usage on a wide scale post-release

The sim I can handle - the VR purchase will give my wife a hernia - so I need to 'plan' this carefully
Of course, I'll only go for it if the VR is up to my high expectations, and I hope it will be this time.

[Kelvinr]

A bit more NZ action starting at 19:20

https://youtu.be/UvnDHpvjndo

[toprob]

A bit more NZ action starting at 19:20

A good time to point out that this sim could really benefit from a custom NZCH...

Is that Forest Field (NZFF) where they do the take off/landings in the 747 and A320? Sad to think that Ian didn't get to see this.

The seamless multiplayer really is amazing, it is great to have another user 'drop in' for a moment when I was flying along the Auckland waterfront, before tearing off again, for instance. (Other users tend to fly faster aircraft than me, so don't hang around long.) And that's without setting anything up, you just share the skies with other simmers.

Jeff -- launch day will be interesting, that's for sure. It might be worthwhile considering the fact that we might not all get to fly straight away, just to avoid any disappointment. Will it bring the internet down? Maybe, maybe not.

[Kelvinr]

[quote="toprob"][quote="Kelvinr"]A bit more NZ action starting at 19:20

[/quote]

A good time to point out that this sim could really benefit from a custom NZCH...

Is that Forest Field (NZFF) where they do the take off/landings in the 747 and A320? Sad to think that Ian didn't get to see this.

The seamless multiplayer really is amazing, it is great to have another user 'drop in' for a moment when I was flying along the Auckland waterfront, before tearing off again, for instance. (Other users tend to fly faster aircraft than me, so don't hang around long.) And that's without setting anything up, you just share the skies with other simmers.

Jeff -- launch day will be interesting, that's for sure. It might be worthwhile considering the fact that we might not all get to fly straight away, just to avoid any disappointment. Will it bring the internet down? Maybe, maybe not.[/quote]

I don't know where they were taking off from there but I'm simply loving the whole msfs2020 concept. It is indeed a pity that Ian won't be able to share in this milestone with the rest of us.

[waka172rg]

[/quote]
Is that Forest Field (NZFF) where they do the take off/landings in the 747 and A320? Sad to think that Ian didn't get to see this.[/quote]

Had to log in and say,..Oh rob how im really going to miss him here. Yes he would of been fizzing so to speak. Tis the first thing i thought of wen pre ordered. He would of been happy that the queen got airborne first!

[Radar88]

To prevent the length of this posting being inundated with lot's of video link's.

I created another posting in the FS Video's section as a collection of You Tube videos, so that they are all gathered in one place for members to look at. In order to get an initial impression of the NZ Scenery that will likely be available as seen out of the box upon release of MSFS in a couple of weeks.

NZFF Link Posting of the repository collection of YT Video's related to all NZ Scenery seen in MS Flight Simulator 2020

Feel free to add any other videos that you see to the above link, that maybe of interest to fellow NZ community members.

As another one has appeared from the Drawyah Youtube channel with his 1st look at the Nelson Golden Bay area with a 40 minute coastal scenic VFR flight from Nelson NZNS to Takaka NZTK.

Looks like Nelson could do with a bit of TLC from some of Rob's Godzone scenery magic, who would've thought Nelson as being the Gold Coast of NZ in the tropic's with Palm Tree's.

Fly-by of Motueka township @ 16:00 check it out in the link above.

[toprob]

The main things which are apparent from that Nelson video -- the scenery is the real star here, seeing the mountain range off in the distance, and the detail of Motueka, this is something which I've always wanted, but never come close to before.
At the airports/airfields all I see is potential! Takaka is quite a good example of the issues you can face at default airfields. We'll need some Kiwi hangars, and the very flash taxi signs need to go.... But all the way from take-off to sitting at Takaka parking, this sim is just one visual experience.
The changeable realistic weather is another part of the total package.
Might be time for a local to start a Youtube channel to showcase NZ, and at the same time sneak in some Maori pronunciation lessons:)
The trees are great, but NZ really needs a proper bush/plantation replacement. I don't think I'll be attempting this, as it really needs to be put together by an artist, who can do the trees justice.

[cowpatz]

Rob is the structure of MSFS such that your scenery could be relatively (yes not a definitive word I know) easily modded then recompiled with the new SDK tools?

[toprob]

Rob is the structure of MSFS such that your scenery could be relatively (yes not a definitive word I know) easily modded then recompiled with the new SDK tools?

As far as 3D models are concerned, then the existing models would be a good starting point. Really, I'd be looking at airports only for the moment, as the new photoscenery/'autogen' is better than I could ever do:) But I am thinking of revamping the development process to bring it into the 21st century... I've always used GMAX, which hasn't been supported or updated for a long, long time. Luckily we have Arno's tools to convert old FSX output to Prepar3d, but I can't really rely on this forever, so now is probably the time to take a deep breath and get 3DS Max. This has always been an expensive tool, almost NZ$4000 per year, but now there's an 'indie' version, which is a lot more manageable for people like me who don't make a lot of money.

Optimising models is a bit different in MFS, and textures are very different, so it makes sense to start over from scratch. For NZCH and NZDN I will probably use the existing photo resources, but I have been thinking of revisiting Nelson, mainly for the new terminal. I was considering this when I started planning for Prepar3d v5 installers, although I don't normally rush to update simply because airports change -- airports are always changing, so this would mean running to keep up, and not getting to anything new. Nelson is a nice place, though, I could drive there in the spring, just to clear out the cobwebs.

I would also like to try a few smaller airports, like my local NZTU, which I've done before, up to FSX. Since I've flown a lot of the country in MFS, I have a good idea of what is a priority, but I know I can't over-extend -- I've done that a few times too many, which is not fair on the customers.

I do like to daydream about having my airports running on the Xbox one day, it was something I first thought about back at the beginning of the century, but I never thought it could possibly come about in my lifetime.

[goingboeing]

I agree with cowpatz on this one, Auckland looks really wrong, way too many trees and they seem really tall. the approach for 23l is mostly open paddocks etc in real life with some small trees scattered around.

The sim itself especially the payware quality airports looks amazing and with robs awesome scenery and orbx etc I’m sure it will look incredible given some time like fsx did.

The most important thing for me is it has rekindled my interest in the sim especially as I’m on furlough and would like to retain some basic IFR skills for one day when I can hopefully return to the sky.

[toprob]

Wellington is another MFS airport which is lacking, but since I read that Orbx have been helping Asobo to do the default airports, that probably makes sense, as any areas where they've released regions previously might be 'put aside' for a future Orbx upgrade. Of course it could also be because Flightbeam have NZAA and NZWN coming up....
I've tried to sign up as a development partner, but unable to complete the process because of one annoying little issue. Maybe next year. If anything, it'll give time to get the hang of it all.

[cowpatz]

I've tried to sign up as a development partner, but unable to complete the process because of one annoying little issue.

If you don't mind my asking what might that issue be? Is there a cost to being a development partner?