The Seasons Change and So Do I

[K5083]

It being September, P3D changed its textures and vegetation 3 days ago from summer green to the peak of fall color in vast swaths of the northern hemisphere, including many where, in reality, there will be no sign of the leaves turning for another six weeks. I have to set the sim date back to August to make my neighborhood look like what's out my window.

So, question for you FS2020 users. How does the new sim handle change of seasons? Anyone tried flying in a few different sim dates and seeing if the change of seasons is a little more subtle than BAM! all at once 4x per year?

August

[Bomber_12th]

There is no season implementation yet, but it is high among the top 10 features that Asobo/MS are working on adding at some point down the road. The Asobo developers, in a Q&A, have discussed a little about how they might go about doing that with layers.

In the sim, as it stands, you'll find different seasonal depictions around the globe, as the photo scenery, for any given location, is as it was the day it was taken, and the whole of the globe wasn't all photographed at the same time of the year. I can tell my local area was photographed likely around June, as it looks very green and lush. Another section of the Bing aerials nearby, however, out in the country, looks very brown and with snow still lining the edges of fields that hadn't melted yet when the aerials were made for that section, so those aerials were likely taken around April. A few other rare areas I've been to in the US the colors are sometimes very fall-like, and the aerials there were likely taken in September/October time frame. I kind of like the mismatch though, as it adds to the character of the different locations you fly over.

[K5083]

Thanks for that, John. I had seen news items about seasons in FS2020 back in January, and assumed it would be implemented by the time of release.

August

[FlyingsCool]

There is no season implementation yet, but it is high among the top 10 features that Asobo/MS are working on adding at some point down the road. The Asobo developers, in a Q&A, have discussed a little about how they might go about doing that with layers.

In the sim, as it stands, you'll find different seasonal depictions around the globe, as the photo scenery, for any given location, is as it was the day it was taken, and the whole of the globe wasn't all photographed at the same time of the year. I can tell my local area was photographed likely around June, as it looks very green and lush. Another section of the Bing aerials nearby, however, out in the country, looks very brown and with snow still lining the edges of fields that hadn't melted yet when the aerials were made for that section, so those aerials were likely taken around April. A few other rare areas I've been to in the US the colors are sometimes very fall-like, and the aerials there were likely taken in September/October time frame. I kind of like the mismatch though, as it adds to the character of the different locations you fly over.

I saw a video with snow?

[Bomber_12th]

There is snow, but only via the weather system. In order to properly depict winter, there is going to have to be trees missing leaves in certain regions and snow that stays on the ground for months in certain regions.

There is so much that the Asobo developers have talked about wanting to add in the future - on top of seasons, for instance, they have also thought about adding migratory birds as well, that would regionally change based on time of year.

[K5083]

And of course, the snow has to be not just an appearance, but also a distinct surface (landclass?), so it acts like snow when you land on skis. Bonus points if there are a few different types of snow depending on ambient temperature etc. I assume some of this is already implemented for high altitudes and latitudes. The seasons are quite a project, but important enough that the sim won't really be finished until it's implemented.

I"m glad that the sim apparently has sold well in its first few weeks, so there's justification for the periodic, Minecraft-like game-transforming updates that apparently are planned.

August

[Snaker]

There is no season implementation yet, but it is high among the top 10 features that Asobo/MS are working on adding at some point down the road. The Asobo developers, in a Q&A, have discussed a little about how they might go about doing that with layers.


It will be a nice feature for sure. My home town has snow on the ground and ice on the rivers in September. I am not quiet ready for winter yet. :)