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Microsoft Flight Simulator's next update focuses on the UK

by Mark Tyson on 27 November 2020, 12:11

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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Earlier this week a big US content update arrived for free for Microsoft Flight Simulator owners. That update included four new handcrafted US airports as well as nearly 50 new high-fidelity points of interest (places like Mount Rushmore, the Las Vegas Strip, and the Airport Graveyard in Tucson). Now developers Asobo Studio have revealed there's a similar content pack on the way early next year – which will single out the UK for attention.

The UK content news was revealed in a live Q&A session where the studio revealed its latest content roadmaps. The Twitch session hasn't made its way to YouTube at the time of writing. However, you can watch the 1hr+ recording on Twitch if you wish (UK content discussed from about 45 mins in).

"We have awesome data for England, Wales, and Scotland," Jorg Neumann, head of MSFS told Twitchers. Moreover, the studio is trying hard to get similar data for the whole of Ireland. On the topic of new handcrafted UK airports the following were mentioned; Manchester Barton, Liverpool EEGP, Land’s End – and there will be others.

Unfortunately you can't see any POIs due to cloud

As with the US update there will be some high-definition imagery updates on the way for "roughly 50-60 POIs," and as none were specified it will be very interesting to see what locations get this attention. What UK POIs would you all like to see? In addition to the content, Asobo promises some new landing challenges, procedural buildings updates and more. Going further along the roadmap, Neumann said that MSFS flyers can expect a world update every two or three months.

Another point to note is that MSFS VR HMD compatibility is going to go live sometime in December.

Recap of the US 1.11.6.0 World Update II from earlier in the week

Airports added: KATL – Atlanta International, KFHR – Friday Harbor, KDFW – Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), and KSWF – New York Stewart International Airport.

High def US points of interest which were added in 1.11.6.0 are tabulated below.

Chimney Rock

Crazy Horse Memorial

Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown MA

Fort Jefferson

Washington Monument, Washington DC

Capitol, Washington DC

White House, Washington DC

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Mount Rushmore

Biltmore Estate

Devils Tower

New River Gorge Bridge

United States National Arboretum

Bixby Creek Bridge

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Mackinac Bridge

Navajo Bridge

Astoria-Megler Bridge

U.S. Grant Bridge

Lowry Avenue Bridge

Lewis and Clark Bridge

The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge

Fort Knox

Monument Rocks National Natural

Coronado Heights Castle

Ellis County Courthouse

Monument Valley

Yosemite El Capitan

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde, Colorado

Shiprock, New Mexico

Haystack Rock at Canon, Oregon

Half Dome, Yosemite

Dworshak Dam

Hoover Dam

Oroville Dam

Alcatraz (water tower and lighthouse only)

Fort McHenry, Baltimore

Rainbow Bridge, Niagara Falls

Glen Canyon Dam

Las Vegas Strip (Night)

Confederation Bridge

Johnson Space Center Houston (visitor’s center)

Kennedy Space Center Florida (visitors center)

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (memorial site)

Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Gulf of Mexico, Oil Rigs

Airport Graveyard, Tucson

 

 


HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Still waiting on availability of new graphics cards before getting this - or I'll be watching a slide show..
I know someone who built a complete sim pit from an actual scrap Cessna fuselage. I imagine I'll be getting a call to help upgrade his rig at some point!
kalniel
Still waiting on availability of new graphics cards before getting this - or I'll be watching a slide show..

No harm in waiting as it still seems to have tons of issues.

Isn't it currently very much CPU limited too running mostly on one main thread?

Actually, while the game is meant to be very unfinished or unpolished, getting good performance seems to be a balancing act as there are lots of bottlenecks and wants it all!

GPU with lots of VRAM, fast NVME drive, lots of system RAM, fast Internet connection, fast CPU especially ST.
kompukare
No harm in waiting as it still seems to have tons of issues.

Isn't it currently very much CPU limited too running mostly on one main thread?

Actually, while the game is meant to be very unfinished or unpolished, getting good performance seems to be a balancing act as there are lots of bottlenecks and wants it all!

GPU with lots of VRAM, fast NVME drive, lots of system RAM, fast Internet connection, fast CPU especially ST.

Yep it's generally found to be CPU limited, as apparently it can only use 4 cores at present (plus it's a very CPU-intensive game, especially when flying the airliners).

That said, I just did a quick test, flying low over New York in the 787 Dreamliner - and GPU utilisation is 92%, VRAM utilisation is 10.7GB, CPU was 48% and RAM 20.7GB. So it does seem more GPU limited for me.

Looking at that VRAM usage I'm relieved I couldn't get hold of a 3080 now.

edit: P.S. my specs are i7 8700, 32GB 3200MHz, 1080Ti 11GB
dannyboy75
Yep it's generally found to be CPU limited, as apparently it can only use 4 cores at present (plus it's a very CPU-intensive game, especially when flying the airliners).

That said, I just did a quick test, flying low over New York in the 787 Dreamliner - and GPU utilisation is 92%, VRAM utilisation is 10.7GB, CPU was 48% and RAM 20.7GB. So it does seem more GPU limited for me.

Looking at that VRAM usage I'm relieved I couldn't get hold of a 3080 now.

edit: P.S. my specs are i7 8700, 32GB 3200MHz, 1080Ti 11GB

A 4 thread workload will never approach 100% utilisation on a 12 thread CPU. What was the utilisation of the highest loaded thread?