How does Microsoft Flight Simulator not lag on intermediate devices [REPOST]

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#1

Hello Developers! My post got taken down last time for being in the wrong category so I’m reposting it in a category that would more suit the question.

I am currently working on a flight simulator game and I was wondering how Microsoft Flight Simulator doesn’t seem to lag on intermediate quality devices. I know the game uses Bing Maps to display a map of the world but it doesn’t lag, even though anything that a Roblox developer tried they would not be able to create a map anywhere near that size without the game severely lagging and crashing the device running the game. Another thing to mention is that the view distance is insane.

I want my flight simulator to have a very large map so that players can explore multiple regions and have fun playing the game, obviously not the size of Microsoft Flight Simulator, but creating a terrain map 32000 x 4 x 32000 lags very badly on my computer (specs are GeForce GT 1030 and i7 3820 which isn’t too great but should lag with basic 3D renderings). If anyone knows how Microsoft achieved the smoothness of there game please reply as I would very much like to hear people opinions/answers.

Last time I posted this I got some great answers like using LevelOfDetail, Streaming Enabled and Derendering objects that are not in the player’s view (which I’m not sure is currently possible on Roblox. Please respond with some more answers as it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading :+1:

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#2

Microsoft Flight Simulator can achieve a lot of things that we can’t on ROBLOX for multiple reasons. MFS is an 100 gb game so most of it is running off your computer storage unlike roblox, MFS is a multi threaded game unlike roblox which is single threaded so MFS can run much more code at a faster rate. And in general MFS uses an engine that is very well optimized for a computer and it takes every bit of power a computer has to run the game. Roblox is a pretty limited game when it comes to this stuff.

But if you do want to, I do believe that everyone who gives you an answer will say the same answers you got before, LevelOfDetail, Streaming Enabled and derendering objects that aren’t in view.

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#3

Thanks for the reply, would you happen to know why Roblox isn’t multi-threaded?

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#4

Not really sure why exactly but I do believe they are working to make it multi threated. https://twitter.com/sleitnick/status/1299708466441990144

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#5

Microsoft is able to achieve the smoothness they get is because the game is over 100GB and it is able to store the data locally on the users PC. If you were to recreate something of similar size on roblox you have to provide said data from the server which can be incredibly demanding on lower end devices. MFS also streams live data from bing maps in order to achieve the realistic level of detail they are able to achieve but this requires a strong and reliable internet connection along with a reliable connection between MFS and bing which Microsoft is fluidly able to achieve since they own both products.

I would however suggest looking into AirX by widgeon. He has been developing this game for a while and has achieved a lot so far. I would look into how he has done it for some inspiration:

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#6

Microsoft has a lot more technology then roblox. Roblox is still growing and I believe that we will soon be able to do better things.

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#11

Your right Roblox is definitely upgrading their technology at a faster rate than ever before and I really am excited for the rest if this years roadmap and next years roadmap. I do also believe that Roblox should heavily work on optimisation as the current optimisation is terrible.

Hopefully Roblox will catch up to the software used to create MFS in the next few years.

#12

I checked it out and the least I can say is that it is amazing! Would you know how they managed to generate the whole earth?

#13

Widgeon used online data, and wrote a script to turn that into the terrain and buildings that you see in the game. It’s really cool.

paricdil made an Open Source City Explorer Game, which is very similar and inspired by AirX. It’s open-source, so if you want to know a bit more about how all this stuff works, make sure to check it out!

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#14

Roblox is a cloud platform, meaning that anything we put in our games will be transferred to a server, which means that the server and client have to continuously trade information. MFS uses 100GB, and is run on the computer, meaning that it is not under constant stress to gather data and send data to a server a couple hundred miles away. I’m also pretty sure it uses some way of loading different chunks.

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