My only concern here is will we need a quantum computer to run this.
You will probably need to pay Microsoft a monthly fee to utilise a cloud computing service. And I mean literally a service that does the cloud simulation computations.
Well, this is a massive jump towards photo realism. The first "game" in quite a while where screenshots actually made me utter the word "wow" when seeing them in regards to graphic fidelity.
Well, FSX was capable of nearly this level of detail with custom cities, airports, etc ("Scenery" IIRC). I highly doubt the game will be nearly this detailed when it has to generate the map if there's no custom scenery present at that location.
Obviously like before, the most famous flight locations like the Grand Canyon or most major cities will have some default scenery included with the base game, but unless they made a deal with Google for official GoogleMaps support, I doubt places like rural Eastern Europe or the middle of the US will have anything other than some procedurally generated towns that are located in the same place as their real world counterparts, but there's no other resemblance.
Any news about Google Maps support? If they can import the 3D version of GMaps into the game, and replace some stuff like trees, then I would start believing these screenshots are representative of the entire game world.
If Microsoft allows modding it won't be a problem. Sooner or later modders will release mods that increase the detail level. We'll see. It would take a decade for MS to add every town and city in the world. I agree with your sentiment though and I also wonder where they've gotten their scenery data.
Looking at 4:30, trees and parking lots look terrible. Awfully terrible. Like looking at Apple or Google maps in 3D and flying there. This is so obviously visible to users. I do hope they focus more on that. If the system analyzes terrain data from satellite imagery, it should be able to figure out position of flora and parking lots, and replace those with high quality assets, designed by people. We've seen better looking models by many sims in the past, some decade old. (Not the entire engine, just models.) I have to wonder how many of the previously posted shots are bullshots, seeing these assets.
Vehicles, too, seem very badly modeled, and worse, seem to navigate the terrain in a terrible manner. Notice the two trucks going through each other in 8:56 on the bottom left.
Other than that, materials and general lighting seems good; a modern PBR engine with some sort of GI system. Clouds seem well done, as is the weather system.
Reflections are SSR based, rather than planer, which is terrible, and artifacts are visible throughout, where the aircraft causes water reflections to fade in and out. Also dashboard reflections that make no sense, etc. They seem to be using SSAO for many shadows, which too is terrible (plane going over buildings and shadows disappear). This rendering generation is absolutely abhorrent. RT can't come soon enough.
The mode realistic something looks, the more apparent these become. (Uncanny valley and so on.)
Looking at 4:30, trees and parking lots look terrible. Awfully terrible. Like looking at Apple or Google maps in 3D and flying there. This is so obviously visible to users. I do hope they focus more on that. If the system analyzes terrain data from satellite imagery, it should be able to figure out position of flora and parking lots, and replace those with high quality assets, designed by people. We've seen better looking models by many sims in the past, some decade old. (Not the entire engine, just models.)
Signature/Avatar nuking: none (can be changed in your profile)
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
