Ein Lebenszeichen vom Fenix zum Jahreswechsel auf Discord.
Happy New Year @everyone! We were really hoping to be pushing something else in an update to you around about now, but for the moment, good news will have to suffice. We do have a rather long list to take to Microsoft of things they might want to resolve for anyone crazy enough to pursue this level of detail in the future - but all in, we have finally cleared the scariest issues and worked around it all, and are moving onto the 'wrapping up' phase. This phase is measured in weeks, not months. We'll have a full report for you soon, but for now, here's 11 screenshots for the 11 weeks of overrun, including - finally, your first look at the IAEs. I don't actually know if I'm allowed to post these, but Aamir is away right now so what's he going to do about it?
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Starting in the cockpit, daytime - I may have fibbed a little when I said don't expect much too change in the cockpit in Block 2. From this angle, you can see the new, thinner, centre window pillar, side windows, and of course a couple of new cockpit configuration options, such as the blanked off DCDUs. The entire cockpit has been remapped to more efficiently utilise texture memory; as it stands, the entire texture set is floating just below the 1GB mark, which is less than half the memory of Block 1.
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Popping outside before the sun goes down, we see something new slung under the wings. Looking further, you'll see the new wing, wingtip fence, nose, and landing gear - if you think you can see the tyres compressing under the weight of the aircraft, you're not imagining it: we spent quite some time building a soft-body physics system for the tyres. They will deform under load, including sidewall deformation on the nose wheel tyres if you make a tight turn at a speed that make even Max Verstappen would wince. We'll have some videos of this coming I'm sure.
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A couple of close ups showing the engine in detail; everything from subtle panel deformation due to the heat cycling of the engine, to the dirt being pushed out of the panel seams by the air-stream in flight. You'll see this a lot around the new exterior in Block 2: physically accurate, physics-driven weathering. The dirt accumulates in the panel seams usually due to rain and water droplets capturing dust and dirt on the aircraft, and drawing it down with gravity until it reaches a seam. This dirt-filled-water is then pushed out of the seams by the high speed airflow in flight, leaving a streak in it's wake. Depending on where the dirt has accumulated, it may contain dust particles or even oil, which will leave a different surface deposit, with oil being a little more reflective and viscous, affecting how it streaks across the surface of the aircraft.
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Having spent 45 minutes explaining how dirt works, the sun has gone down, which brings us onto the the night environment. Under airport lighting, we start to see a lot more surface imperfections. Mmmm. Tasty. You can also see into the new cabin. Are those new seats?
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Boarding the aircraft again, we can see the winglight not just illuminating the mighty/mini V2500, but also correctly casting shadows on the intake and the ground. This is part of the new shadow-casting lights in Block 2, a first in MSFS.
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Diving into the cockpit we start to see some of the new night environment improves. A better dome light, new LCD simulation that makes flying at night a LOT nicer, and some subtle improvements across the materials.
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Despite being called a dome on a daily basis (Thanks Aamir), I prefer flying with it off, leaving just the integrals to illuminate the way. In Block 1, this isn't really possible as the integrals don't bleed any light into the rest of the flightdeck, leaving you to 'guess' your way around. With Block 2, the integral lighting reflect off of and bounce around various cockpit surfaces, switches, and panels, to give you just enough light to fly with.
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And finally, a proper close up of the night experience in Block 2. The combination of shadow-casting lights, new integral lighting system, and LCD simulation makes it feel like a whole new aircraft at night. Seriously cozy.
Anyway, that's all from this loud-mouth for a while, if visuals aren't your thing, I know Aamir is already planning a deep-dive on the new systems and simulation aspects. Again, I wish we were pushing more than just screenshots to you today, but as you can see we are committed to delivering something that you will enjoy flying for the next 5 years and beyond.
oh wait... I promised 11 screenshots didn't I? Fine
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