This post is about the evolution of persistence in add-on MSFS aircraft. By "persistence" I mean the inheriting of some aircraft characteristics from session to session, including aircraft state and accumulated wear. There have been threads on this subject on various forums ever since MSFS released, and add-on aircraft have incorporated persistence going back at least to FSX and X-Plane, but the new Milviz Cessna 310R seems to break new ground in a way that makes me consider the role of persistence in the future of simming. This post is not mainly about the 310, I'm just using that as a jumping-off point.
For those unfamiliar, the nature of the persistence built into the 310 is described under the headings on the Milviz C-310R Product Page and in the product user guide which can be downloaded from that page even if you don't own the plane. The TL;DR summary of it is as follows. Milviz lets you create an identity for each 310 livery and/or tail number. It's not exactly clear how this works, but it appears to be keyed to tail number, so you have a different identity for each tail number hard-coded into a livery (presumably through the atc_id parameter) and also one for each tail number you create in the Customization field of the in-game aircraft selection screen. Separately for each identity, if enabled, the following persist from session to session:
- Cockpit state (switch positions etc.)
- Wear and tear state of 236 different components
- Visual dirt/clutter, both exterior and interior
- Oil levels (NOT fuel, O2 or other fluids as far as I can tell)
Wear and tear on the components progresses during operation and even during extended idle periods, especially if you did not put the covers on the aircraft. The impact of this is reduced efficiency and/or the chance of failure of various components. Visual dirtiness also progresses. You can use a virtual maintenance shop to fix/clean these items piecemeal (not each of the 236 components, but 28 different systems) or overhaul all at once.
An additional "rental" as opposed to "owner" mode changes the cockpit state to simulate some idiot having flown the plane since your last trip and leaving the switches in different positions. I don't know whether it also adds operational wear by said idiot; I don't think so.
Saving your avatar's condition and appearance is an old and common thing in video games, and is present in any RPG or similar game that you're not expected to finish in one sitting. It has been much less of a thing in flight sims than I would have expected. Prior to MSFS, A2A was the leader in this in FSX/P3D. In their Accu-Sim products, there was session-to-session persistence of component wear state and levels of fuel, O2 and other fluids, but not appearance or cockpit state. Also, you only got one identity for the aircraft, or in some cases for each of a few different versions of the aircraft, but not a new one for each skin, and you couldn't just make a fresh aircraft by assigning a new tail number as you can with the 310. Despite these limitations it was a feature that had a lot of ardent fans. I understand there is a Daher TBM in XP11 with persistence also. There have been only a few planes with any degree of persistence in MSFS to date. Persistence of an aircraft in a flight sim has the following gameplay enjoyment benefits:
IMMERSION - The Milviz product page and this YouTube review do a better job of laying this out than I can here. Basically the individuality of the aircraft having its characteristic quirks that progress over time, increases immersion by giving you an avatar that is "your" plane, not exactly like anyone else's, just like in the real world, and the systems failures that happen are not just random but are related to your history with the aircraft.
STAKES - When an aircraft is persistent, proper operation has consequences both in the short and long run. In the short run (single mission), the aircraft being in an uncertain condition when you get into it requires more attention to preflight inspection and checklists. This increases your investment in the flight because you have spent more time on the ground getting ready, so maybe you think twice about that marginal crosswind takeoff. In the long run, your care of the aircraft matters because it will result in fewer problems in future flights, and ultimately delay the humiliating trip to the shop to have your plane rebuilt. (The A2A planes used to pop up a window of a maintenance shop where it wrote out an itemized list of what work it needed - which could be quite comprehensive if you had just spun in.)
There are drawbacks. From my time with A2A Accu-Sim planes, the worst was when I would write off a plane through no fault of my own, like hitting an invisible obstacle from a bug in some addon scenery, and have to get it zero-timed, wiping out my logged hours and wear levels. On such occasions I wished for the ability to reset the plane to its state at the start of that flight, and I may find myself wishing for that in MSFS too, when I happen upon one of those airports like Flabob KRIR that has a 2-foot cliff running across the runway where the elevations between scenery tiles don't align.
There may also be times when you don't want the headaches of airplane ownership and just want a perfectly functioning machine to play with. For a lot of folks that is all the time. At least Milfiz addresses that by letting you have as many airplane identities as you want, so you can choose between a pristine one or your well-used beater.
I would like it if the release of the Milviz 310 is a watershed event that awakens the MSFS player base to the new dimensions of enjoyment of the sim that persistence offers. It would be nice if some degree of persistence became an expectation for any first-rate addon plane, or at least something that reviewers felt as important to call out as whether the ribbing on the floor mats is modeled in 3D.
What do you all think?
August
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Originally Posted by K5083
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