Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 lands on PC and Xbox on November 19 and will allow players to exit their aircraft and explore their destinations. Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jörg Neumann shared some exciting new details about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with PCGamer this week and it sounds like players will have a lot more to look forward to than just flying now. From landing on ships to exploring your favorite locations, and a new approach to reducing install sizes, the developers are experimenting with new 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 need 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, a big one by today’s standards, but could quickly grow in size after updates that brought it up to 500 GB. Players who wanted it all could install add ons increasing its footprint to 2 TB. Jörg explains how Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has been redesigned to decrease the install size.
Per Jörg Neumann (via PCGamer):
- “So for Flight Simulator 2024, we’ve changed all that. We basically went for a thin client architecture, and we’re not done yet. We’re shipping in November, but we think we’re going to be… I’d say 50 GB or less, but with tons more data, because we are 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 most accurately detailed flight sims ever. The team behind MSFS 2024 is attempting to add even more world details for the next iteration using machine learning.
- “In [MSFS] 2024, we see every tree on Earth. We have a machine learning look up, essentially, and then we know what the tree is, even down to the point where we know what the species likely is… and then we plant trees, literally trillions of trees, and it’s all done in run time, so it’s pretty damn accurate. And then sometimes we get some bugs where the detection didn’t quite work.”
- “This is all 2024 talk—we made every airport look much better. We added every glider airport. We added every oil rig. We added every lighthouse. It feels like whatever comes to your mind you can actually do now, if you embrace the cloud.”
- “Right now, we have every ship on Earth, right? Every ship on Earth sends us a transponder signal… you can land on every ship, and it looks like a first person shooter environment. I think we’re in a new era of making games that I think are going to break new ground, from a scale and complexity perspective.”
Get out and take in the sights and sounds!
As if adding as many world details as you can see from the sky isn’t enough the team is taking things, literally, a step further. Players will now be able 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, along with locations for family and friends, and how this has inspired the developers to add the new feature.
- “You can now exit the plane, walk around, in 2024. You can literally walk your favorite mountain path to your favorite hut in the mountains. Sit on the lake. See the sunset. It is truly a digital twin you can absorb.”