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Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 lands on PC and Xbox on November 19 and can allow players to exit their aircraft and explore their destinations. Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jörg Neumann shared some exciting latest details about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with PCGamer this week and it appears like players can have loads more to sit up for than simply flying now. From landing on ships to exploring your favorite locations, and a brand new approach to reducing install sizes, the developers are experimenting with latest features for the upcoming flight sim.
While most PC enthusiasts who’ve designed a system for the intensive needs of a flight simulator are somewhat accustomed to hardware and storage requirements for such endeavors, it’s unlikely other PC users would expect to wish upwards of 1 or 2 TB of storage for one game or sim. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 weighed in at ~130 GB for a base install, an enormous one by today’s standards, but could quickly grow in size after updates that brought it as much as 500 GB. Players who wanted all of it could install add ons increasing its footprint to 2 TB. Jörg explains how Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has been redesigned to diminish the install size.
Per Jörg Neumann (via PCGamer):
- “So for Flight Simulator 2024, we’ve modified all that. We mainly went for a skinny client architecture, and we’re not done yet. We’re shipping in November, but we predict we’re going to be… I’d say 50 GB or less, but with tons more data, because we’re offloading more to the cloud.”
MSFS 2020 featured global maps from BING maps, including LIDAR data, satellite, and aerial imagery, plus continued updates as users provided the developers with data regarding bugs or inaccurate information, which led to it becoming one of the vital accurately detailed flight sims ever. The team behind MSFS 2024 is attempting so as to add much more world details for the following iteration using machine learning.
- “In [MSFS] 2024, we see every tree on Earth. Now we have a machine learning look up, essentially, after which we all know what the tree is, even right down to the purpose where we all know what the species likely is… after which we plant trees, literally trillions of trees, and it’s all done in run time, so it’s pretty rattling accurate. After which sometimes we get some bugs where the detection didn’t quite work.”
- “That is all 2024 talk—we made every airport look significantly better. We added every glider airport. We added every oil rig. We added every lighthouse. It looks like whatever involves your mind you may actually do now, when you embrace the cloud.”
- “At once, we’ve got every ship on Earth, right? Every ship on Earth sends us a transponder signal… you may land on every ship, and it looks like a primary person shooter environment. I believe we’re in a brand new era of creating games that I believe are going to interrupt latest ground, from a scale and complexity perspective.”
Get out and absorb the sights and sounds!
As if adding as many world details as you may see from the sky isn’t enough the team is taking things, literally, a step further. Players will now have the ability to exit their aircraft after landing and explore the locale for further immersion. Jörg explains how players shared their experiences in flying to places where they lived or were born, together with locations for family and friends, and the way this has inspired the developers so as to add the brand new feature.
- “You may now exit the plane, walk around, in 2024. You may literally walk your favorite mountain path to your favorite hut within the mountains. Sit on the lake. See the sunset. It is actually a digital twin you may absorb.”
