Game Discussions Microsoft Flight Simulator

[Fnord Velkor]

As slow as a snake in a fridge would be a more accurate description

The install wasn't so bad but this hanging-up on loading is crazy. The servers are swamped - you would think they would have anticipated the huge demand when they decided to do a simultaneous world-wide release. The "thin client" and "download as required" is looking very shaky at the moment. I'm leaving further attempts until tomorrow as that music just does my head in.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

Just noticed this (MSFS forum is equally scathing) ..

 

[Mole HD]

Just noticed this (MSFS forum is equally scathing) ..


View attachment 409010

The download servers puked and died when my download was halfway done. That was 6 hours ago, they still won't resume so I've given up.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

The download servers puked and died when my download was halfway done. That was 6 hours ago, they still won't resume so I've given up.

Had no trouble this morning, hopefully they have sorted their issues (fingers crossed).

This from their website:

"...
but we encountered an issue with one of our services handling the new systems in the game like career mode and various missions. The server responsible for handling data requests got overloaded, causing delays and errors.

As a result, players are experiencing long loading times and missing content like aircraft. We have solved the issues and are now bringing players in at a steady pace. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience... "

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Launch Day Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

We have worked hard with our partners, including Asobo and others, to bring you an amazing sim experience. The excitement for the sim today has been overwhelming, but we encountered an issue with one…

www.flightsimulator.com

Quote from their video update .. " ... we completely underestimated how high and it really has overwhelmed our infrastructure ..."



BTW, my CPU is below their min spec (it is an old i7 6700K 4GHz) and the sim seems to run fine so I can delay that replacement PC purchase for now.

 

[Garix]

I may of giggled a little:

"Launch days can be bumpy for some titles, and services overwhelming servers is not isolated to the gaming industry, as anyone who has attempted to purchase tickets for certain events can attest. However, the surge could have been easily predicted, and the load testing was clearly inadequate. In addition, being unable to scale to handle the load is inexcusable. Particularly when the game's publisher also operates the second-largest cloud provider."

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 hits launch day turbulence

If only the company in the title knew how to scale servers in the cloud

www.theregister.com

 

[Macky]

Doesn't seem much better yet, although I have been promoted from '97%' to 'Customise Identity' which seems to be the latest logjam - stuck there for a couple of hours now.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

I just did an install on my laptop - took a few minutes to download the 11+GB. Starting the game it took less than 5 minutes to fully load, no hang-up at 97% - straight through to aircraft selection and world map, no delays. So I think they have it sorted now.

I am not too happy with the "hangar" replacement, all my aircraft are there just not great layout, no doubt I'll get used to it, time will tell.

BTW Runs lovely on the laptop too (Intel i7-11370H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060).

 

[Fnord Velkor]

I don't want to come across as a shill for MSFS but I thought that the latest dev update post is of interest:

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 November 27 Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

We are happy to report that the issues regarding access and streaming have been resolved. The distribution layer capacity has been increased to handle the immense interest in the simulator and the…

www.flightsimulator.com

Including: "... some 3rd party add-ons are causing significant issues, including preventing some users from entering the simulator. Until we identify which content is causing these issues, we will temporarily deactivate all MSFS 2020 non-aircraft content from MSFS 2024..."

Overall I think the sim is doing quite well, it runs really great on my sub-min-spec PC [i7-6700K @ 4GHz (not OC’d) - 32GB DDR4 - RTX 3070ti 8GB GDDR6X (GFX upgrade 2 years ago)]. It loads quicker than 2020 and once I get used to the UI I think I will be very happy with it.

It has even recovered a bit on Steam, up to "mixed" from its launch " ****ing awful" rating.



At least I can put-off building the new PC for a while.

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi All

I'd like some advice please.
I was thinking of getting MS Flight Simulator 2024, but seeing reviews about it at the moment I'm a bit wary of purchasing it!
One of the main things putting me off is having to be online all the time?...plus some reviews are saying this aspect of it is not very good in the sense of the server overload.
Can you play the 2020 version offline, and if so is there a great difference between the two games in relation to terrain detail, aircraft content etc. I've also been looking at the 40th Anniversary edition it's about £38 on Steam at the moment.
Any advice welcome!

Jack

 

[Fnord Velkor]

...
I was thinking of getting MS Flight Simulator 2024, but seeing reviews about it at the moment I'm a bit wary of purchasing it!
One of the main things putting me off is having to be online all the time?...plus some reviews are saying this aspect of it is not very good in the sense of the server overload.
Can you play the 2020 version offline, and if so is there a great difference between the two games in relation to terrain detail, aircraft content etc. I've also been looking at the 40th Anniversary edition it's about £38 on Steam at the moment.
....

Well for sure they made a big boo-boo over the 2024 release. It is amazing that the world's second-largest web service provider didn't provide enough (or enough of a particular function) capacity for world-wide simultaneous release. I had issues on the release day purely because one particular function on the launching of the sim got swamped (hence the "97% simulator" memes) but since then I have had no trouble launching the game. So that is the reason for the initial poor reviews.

That said, even though the sim looks amazing and runs like a dream (and I have a sub-min-spec PC) there are still issues. In the main these are little annoyances but added together they make me reluctant to say "go get it".

Yes you do need to have an always-on internet connection (so does ED of course) because a lot of stuff is streamed as required, so there is no hundreds of gigabytes of scenery stored on your PC for example (30GB vs 445GB on my PC), it loads what you need as you need it. So far that has not caused me any issues, maybe a small wait on initial loading of scenery on actually starting a flight (delay in the server providing those files, download is ultra-fast once it decides to serve you) - that too is less of an issue.

So, MSFS 2020 on the other hand - no need for internet connection (unless you want live weather, live traffic, etc). The sim is to my mind very robust, I have never had any CTDs or suchlike and I have not had to tweak any settings to get a good experience (as opposed to FSX which was "fiddly", shall we say).

The included aircraft vary by which version you buy but the basic version has a good range of aircraft. That said, if you want the "steam gauge" Cessna 172 as per older MSFS then you need at least the DeLuxe as the basic sim comes with the glass panel cockpit.

A list of aircraft per version can be seen on the wiki here:

EDIT: Deleted the wiki link, the wiki is very out of date, see post below for aircraft...

Scenery - the MSFS2020 scenery is really very good, the world is well modelled and there have been a whole series of free world updates each of which enhances a particular country or group of countries (you can chose which ones you want to download) - some of the cities look really impressive.

Airports - there are thousands of these and there are a goodly number of hand-crafted ones (the number of those included depend on sim version bought).

There are lots of other features in MSFS 2020 that are worth knowing - free "Top Gun: Maverick" , "Dune" free expansion (fly an ornithopter in Arrakis), lots of activities - too many to list.

Another thing to note is that anything you buy for MSFS2020 (in the game "marketplace" - aircraft, etc) is supposed to be able to be used in MSFS2024 too although there again that is showing initial "porting issues".

That went on too long, sorry.

For now, my flying is done in 2020 - the little issues in 2024 just happen to be ones that annoy me.

TL/DR - I would recommend buying MSFS2020 for now, in a few months (hopefully) all the niggles will be sorted in MSFS2024.

BTW I am surprised that they have not reduced the MSFS2020 price more than they have, I have the Premium DeLuxe but is it worth nearly double the cost of the basic?

Finally! (lol) ...

To get an idea of MSFS2020 you could look at some of the stuff created by "Squirrel", for example his tutorials playlist is useful:

Microsoft Flight Simulator - Tutorials

Learn how to play Microsoft Flight Sim from the beginning!

www.youtube.com

Enjoy...

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi

That went on too long, sorry.

No need to say sorry!....I'm grateful you took the time to answer my questions, thank you.
Ah, I think for now I'll just get the basic MS 2020 edition as it's on the Steam sale / reduction lists....and go on from there.

Jack

 

[Fnord Velkor]

Hi


No need to say sorry!....I'm grateful you took the time to answer my questions, thank you.
Ah, I think for now I'll just get the basic MS 2020 edition as it's on the Steam sale / reduction lists....and go on from there.

Jack

No worries...

There was something niggling me and I realised what it was ... the wiki is well out of date, it doesn't cover the 2020 "40th anniversary" (the current) version. So here is a definitive list of the 2020 aircraft:



I hope you enjoy it.


P.S. Ensure you download the World Update XVII UK and Ireland:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xGlXW3-xYs

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi All
Okay, sorry to resurrect a fairly old post but I thought it would be prudent to keep to the most recent topic?....anyway, I've just purchased MS Flight simulator at last, (40th Anniversary) from Steam. It's supposedly half price so I thought with the sales 'time limit' I'd better get it now, (just under £30)
I've installed it on one of my 'gaming' computers yesterday and I'm in the process of installing it on my other PC whilst I'm typing this.

Initial observations....It takes quite a long time to download all the game files to the PC!
I'm obviously not familiar with all the set up procedures yet, though the game seems to recognise my Thrustmaster T16000m straight away, so that's a plus. It also displays an 'arial' picture of the joystick showing the standard functions of the various buttons...though I'm probably going to customise those & standard keyboard settings at some point.

I took a couple of short flights yesterday, all on the easy / unrealistic mode settings. One small problem there...I landed at an airfield, managed (finally) to switch off the engine, and, named the file, and saved that game file to my computer. On booting up that game save file later the throttle setting seems to have been corrupted. The throttle axis is 'partially' recognised but it's not recognising the throttle movements in the cockpit view, it 'judders about' graphically, and the actual throttle range is also all over the place.
If I start a completely new game in that game session (not using the previous game save) then the throttle seems to work ok again.
As I've said, I'm only just finding out all the features and cockpit / game settings at the moment so it might be that I'm inadvertently doing some stuff wrong, so I'll continue with getting myself acquainted with the game in more detail!
A bit of a niggle with that previous game save though
Oh, and one more thing...on the game installation I had to enter my MS account...which was annoying... to allow the game to install, plus an X Box procedure / login screen, which totally confused me as I don't have an X Box!

Any tips, info...especially any ongoing game bugs / quirks would be most welcome, so any information, personal experiences with this game etc. and the most reliable set ups you've experienced too. All information at this point (including hardware set ups) is useful!

I'l probably be playing the game on one or the other of my computers at anyone time so just thought to include the specs. below

1st Computer.
Intel i5 12600S Cpu
Asus Rog Strix Z690 A Gaming wifi D4
Corsair 16GB DDR 4 Ram
1 TB Crucial SSD
Asus Geforce 4060Ti 8GB OC Tuf (3 Fan) GPU.
Windows 11 (Free Microsoft Update from Win 10)

2nd Computer.
AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3D Cpu.
Asus Rog Strix B650E-F gaming wifi
Corsair 32 GB DDR5 Ram.
1TB M2 drive (WD850x).
Sapphire Radeon RX 7700 xt Nitro 12Gb (3 Fan) GPU.
Windows 11 Home Premium (clean Install)

Jack

 

[Fnord Velkor]

Hi All
Okay, sorry to resurrect a fairly old post but I thought it would be prudent to keep to the most recent topic?....anyway, I've just purchased MS Flight simulator at last, (40th Anniversary) from Steam. It's supposedly half price so I thought with the sales 'time limit' I'd better get it now, (just under £30)
I've installed it on one of my 'gaming' computers yesterday and I'm in the process of installing it on my other PC whilst I'm typing this.

Initial observations....It takes quite a long time to download all the game files to the PC!
I'm obviously not familiar with all the set up procedures yet, though the game seems to recognise my Thrustmaster T16000m straight away, so that's a plus. It also displays an 'arial' picture of the joystick showing the standard functions of the various buttons...though I'm probably going to customise those & standard keyboard settings at some point.

I took a couple of short flights yesterday, all on the easy / unrealistic mode settings. One small problem there...I landed at an airfield, managed (finally) to switch off the engine, and, named the file, and saved that game file to my computer. On booting up that game save file later the throttle setting seems to have been corrupted. The throttle axis is 'partially' recognised but it's not recognising the throttle movements in the cockpit view, it 'judders about' graphically, and the actual throttle range is also all over the place.
If I start a completely new game in that game session (not using the previous game save) then the throttle seems to work ok again.
As I've said, I'm only just finding out all the features and cockpit / game settings at the moment so it might be that I'm inadvertently doing some stuff wrong, so I'll continue with getting myself acquainted with the game in more detail!
A bit of a niggle with that previous game save though
Oh, and one more thing...on the game installation I had to enter my MS account...which was annoying... to allow the game to install, plus an X Box procedure / login screen, which totally confused me as I don't have an X Box!

Any tips, info...especially any ongoing game bugs / quirks would be most welcome, so any information, personal experiences with this game etc. and the most reliable set ups you've experienced too. All information at this point (including hardware set ups) is useful!

I'l probably be playing the game on one or the other of my computers at anyone time so just thought to include the specs. below

1st Computer.
Intel i5 12600S Cpu
Asus Rog Strix Z690 A Gaming wifi D4
Corsair 16GB DDR 4 Ram
1 TB Crucial SSD
Asus Geforce 4060Ti 8GB OC Tuf (3 Fan) GPU.
Windows 11 (Free Microsoft Update from Win 10)

2nd Computer.
AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3D Cpu.
Asus Rog Strix B650E-F gaming wifi
Corsair 32 GB DDR5 Ram.
1TB M2 drive (WD850x).
Sapphire Radeon RX 7700 xt Nitro 12Gb (3 Fan) GPU.
Windows 11 Home Premium (clean Install)

Jack

Never had that throttle issue. However, I have never saved a completed flight and tried to reload it, on multi-hops I do each leg individually.

The x-box thingie really confused me at first too, basically it needs the Xbox ap to actually install the game, I don't think it does anything from the MSStore page (the MSAccount you log in to). I don't have the XBox app (or MSStore) loaded / running to load the game.

It takes an age to start up, the more you add to the game the longer it takes and of course it checks for updates every time it starts.

One little annoyance is that the MSFS Forum covers both 2020 and 2024 - so it can be a bit of a bu@@er to sort out issues - thankfully their tags and search functions work well.

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi All
I've been getting to grips with MSFS 40th Anniversary edition (Downloaded from Steam). I'm definitely enjoying it at the moment though of course I've still got all settings on the 'easy mode' presently.

Never had that throttle issue. However, I have never saved a completed flight and tried to reload it, on multi-hops I do each leg individually.

Hi

Okay, I'm getting the same bug whichever game save I do, When I use the throttle the in game graphics throttle lever 'dithers', if I use the mouse lock function to control it that's the same, and I can't set the throttle with that either, so yeah, I'm also doing each leg of my journey individually most times now, just keeping to the same aircraft (and using the save game option just to remind me where I last landed . and starting a completely new game with the same start points and aircraft works fine, so basically a saved game is the main problem. I'm still plowing through all the menu options though, so it's going to take me some time to get fully acquainted with all the different set up's etc.
It might be that I'll solve it at some point later.

P.S. Ensure you download the World Update XVII UK and Ireland:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xGlXW3-xYs

I'm also looking in the mean time at where I can download this World Update, bearing in mind I have the Steam Version of MSFS 40th Anniversary. As you mentioned earlier, in my searches on the web I keep getting side-tracked with links to MSFS 2024!...so at the moment I'm not sure where to look, it's probably just me, but it's slightly confusing. I'm just also wondering when I downloaded the game from Steam (and subsequent auto updates) whether this particular update (XVII UK & Ireland) has already been (Auto) installed? ...there's a list of updates in one of the game menu's (in the game), but I can't immediately see it there though currently.
I'm presently thinking it probably hasn't been, I presume this download / update is free?
Anyhow, the best 'starter aircraft' I've found to suit me at the moment is the ICON A5...it seems to be a more 'basic' aircraft and I can control it okayish....if I completely miss the runway I can always land on a lake / sea if there's one nearby with this little aircraft!

Jack

 

[Fnord Velkor]

...
I'm also looking in the mean time at where I can download this World Update, bearing in mind I have the Steam Version of MSFS 40th Anniversary. As you mentioned earlier, in my searches on the web I keep getting side-tracked with links to MSFS 2024!...so at the moment I'm not sure where to look, it's probably just me, but it's slightly confusing. I'm just also wondering when I downloaded the game from Steam (and subsequent auto updates) whether this particular update (XVII UK & Ireland) has already been (Auto) installed? ...there's a list of updates in one of the game menu's (in the game), but I can't immediately see it there though currently.
...

Profile - Content Manager - there is the stuffz, scroll down ...

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Cheers!

Seems there was / is several updates that I hadn't got. Terrains and some aircraft too.
Edit...Whoa!...I'm gonna have to ease up on these updates / addons, I'm running out of HD space!

Jack

 

[Dougie]

MSFS 2024 Sim Update 1 is now available to download

Release Notes – Sim Update 1 [1.3.23.0] Available Now | MSFS 2024 - Microsoft Flight Simulator

A major Sim Update is available to download for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on all platforms.

www.flightsimulator.com

Seems to have made some improvements in performance on my system but I have not done a lot of flights with it yet, here's hoping it is a good one.


From the patch notes:

Added profanity check on Callsign and FlightNumber in aircraft configurator

LOL.