Microsoft Flight Simulator - Post launch impressions

Anyway i agree with ST0RM, nothing goes close to what you can get with addons like traffic global for xp11 or p3d. Its a kind of sad and shame to a simulator that was hyped as if you with msfs not need nothing more and have all better than all others.

I dunno’…

I see planes all over the place.

You must be mistaken @Aginor, it’s empty and was over-hyped. Uninstall and move on.

Forget the new Live Traffic, the free AIRAC last cycle nav data, the SID/STAR aware ATC, the AI voice output, the 37,000 airports, the 2 million cities with new scenery, the 4 PB of streamed ortho/mesh, the multiplayer, the 4K texture provided 21 stock aircraft, the Discovery Flights, the live fauna (bears!), the weather engine with live updates that merges between zones, the 15,000 new mod downloads, the 3 million person player base (including consoles), the native VR support, the cheaper payware, the regular World Updates, the $1 monthly trial. Apart from that, what did the Romans really ever do for us? :slight_smile:

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Like a lot of things MSFS, it’s buggy - perhaps @ST0RM and @stavka’s aren’t working? I didn’t change any settings, and I kept getting photo bomb’d by live traffic lots of times recently:

There’s a big ol patch coming out tomorrow (?) I believe and I’ve been using that and things look good (NDA combo-breaker!)

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Clouds… They made really nice clouds. :wink:
One thing with MSFS that I can’t decide if is awful or pure genius is the installation.
First you install the base app. Feel free to put it on C: or wherever. Then start the app and decide where to install the rest. Then start it again and decide which updates you want. The last part is good for people with limited storage. But the initial install… Are there any advantages to install the base on the same drive as the packages, or what? And what about this community folder, for installing add ons?
Now, I’m not complaining because I have a sneaky suspicion that it all comes down to my limited comprehension and not the design of the MSFS file structure. :wink:

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It’s not you, the installation sucks. This is a bit weird for me because in the year+ I’ve been updating MSFS I’ve never had an issue, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok as it is obviously not. So many people have had troubles that as a feature you have to conclude the installer is a terrible implementation.

The complication around is really a bit of ā€˜Microsoft Org Tax’, in that they wanted to make it a UWP app, so that the PC and console version would share the same base from the get-go. So when you install the ā€˜.exe’ it goes somewhere sandbox’d and odd. Part of that is how the DRM licensing works, so when you buy something on the store it’s locked down (so you can’t just zip it up and give it to someone else).

For the bulk of the content (the bit where you can put it on C:\MSFS) it’s because they didn’t want to deliver it via the Microsoft Store but via the Azure storage, so that has it’s own location. This allows them to update/version it without updating via the store org, so a split between the ā€˜program’ and the ā€˜data’. You’d have an exe build (1.20.6.0) and then you have the offline content that sync up with the online services (World Updates etc) coming from two places underneath.

The Community folder I quite like. The app uses the /Official folder for all the content, but then also trawls through /Community on start-up. Anything in there will be applied on top, so it’s the version independent way to do mods without overwriting official content.

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image
Reinvigorate the flight sim peripheral market and drive more interest in flight sims for the general public?

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One of the most fascinating things about the Xbox launch over the last few months was how truly disingenuous the flight sim communities reaction has been to new console players. The whole ā€˜It will be great that more people join our hobby!’ in reality turned into more of a ā€˜Ugh, they don’t play exactly like me, idiots…’. Watching the two worlds collide at the official forums has been an education for sure. Definitely a bit of Planck’s Principle going on… :slight_smile:

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Thank you!
Any thoughts on how one should install MSFS? I have a C: that contains just the Windows install, and smaller apps. I put the sims and the Steam library on D:
So MSFS now resides on C: with the packages on D:

I can’t possibly have been the only one who saw this coming…? :wink:
Actually, I saw MSFS going console as a way to attract new PC Flightsim nerds. Now, I guess most of the console users are reluctant about getting a PC and get a full DCS or IL-2 library, but there’s bound to be a few who swallow the whole hook, line and sinker, and a few is better than none…
But, we flightsimmers truly are our worst enemies, sometimes. I hope some of those console convertites find their way to Mudspike :mudspike:

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That’s good, as the program install on C is about 6 GB but the content side can be pretty big (mine is about 223 GB right now with /community as well). The only thing to look at is probably the ā€˜Rolling Cache’ setting as that will by default put it under your user profile on the Windows install drive. You can either turn that off (if you have great network) or make it 16GB (8 to 32 is fine) and then delete it / recreate it on somewhere on D:. It effectively caches stuff that is streamed, so save you having to download it again. I think it’s under General Options / Network Data or round about there.

For the console people the hardest thing right now is the lack of community folder and mods. It was rumored that Asobo asked for it on that side, on external storage mounts etc, but it does introduce a whole bunch of security (RE:piracy) vectors, in that if MSFS has a bug (:cowboy_hat_face:) then compromising the Xbox OS is no fun for that group. The in-sim Store has been very slow in approving things, and that’s really the only way for the xboxen to get free (or paid) stuff. Mind you, you can get two consoles for the price of a 3080 Ti, so that’s proving a good deal on that side of things.

The mods side is interesting, in that broken liveries etc from earlier versions account for a good chunk of crash to desktop issues, and I don’t think Asobo or Microsoft were expecting people to be so mad at both having crashes and having mods that could cause crashes. They are sandboxing the /community side more and more, just to try to keep things more stable/isolated.

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Any advantages in going bigger, or is 32 more than enough…?

It sort of depends on how often you go to the same place :slight_smile:

If you move around a lot then a cache is just a drag on writing it to disk, but if you revisit the same place a lot then it’s worth it. For the longest time I just turned it off, but I think it just settles at 8 GB by default and on recently. It’s first in first out cache, so 32 GB would store a fair amount of coverage and if you have room then go for that.

Originally Rolling Cache was part of the ā€˜You can play offline!’ feature, where you could plan a flight on the world map, get the data downloaded in advance and then disconnect. Given that you’ll lose live weather, traffic, AI ATC voices, photogram/streaming to somewhere you’ve not been before etc, I’m not sure if people use it a lot though. It was a nice idea but personally not tried it much.

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I guess how one views MSFS is very situational.

At the launch last year, I wasn’t particularly interested. I had XP11 for civilian stuff and DCS for military.

I also didn’t have the PC to make use of the graphics, so it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

One year on, I’ve upgraded my PC, got an extremely busy life situation but still like a bit of flight simming to take my mind off things when it’s possible.

I got MSFS after purchasing the new PC. Initial thoughts were - it’s pretty but I hate the installer and the fact it keeps updating when I don’t want it to.

Got going with the Xmas flight, flew to PNG on a jet. Meh, it’s okay. Took off from Port Moresby into the mountains and the thunderstorms in a Cessna Caravan, getting amongst the weather doing stupid stuff.

Holy moly, the penny dropped.

The weather and the standard of the default ground graphics really makes a difference.

You can basically go for an adventure anywhere in the world without anything but the base game and it’s so much fun, especially when coupled with the weather. ā€œLet’s go that way, who knows what lies there!ā€

I will definitely still play XP11, especially on areas I have Orbx terrain for, because I have some wonderful modules in that sim…but right now, certainly as a global adventuring platform, I am getting so much out of MSFS with basically zero tweaking, even on the default G1000 aircraft.

It’s just amazing that you can rock up somewhere, anywhere, and it feels like you’re there and it looks good…and the weather effects are a huge part of it.

Sure, if you plan your route, download the terrain overlays and the airports, get a third party weather effects engine etc. then you can get an XP11 experience that’s visually equivalent and get to enjoy the better flight model and choice of quality aircraft. No question.

I just don’t have the commitment for that - so I’m super stoked that MSFS enables me to have an equivalent visual journey out of the box. It’s a completely new way to enjoy simming for me and I find it wonderful.

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I used to be that way too. Then I began flying the Reflected Simulations DCS campaigns, where all engine starts are cold and dark, the channel crossings force you to learn and properly use fuel and engine management, you need to be on the correct radio channels to lead your flight and talk to other elements, and the missions are historically based. I learned more about how to fly and fight in the Mustang in 14 missions than any previous sim. The Jug was the same way.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the heck out of GB. But those RS campaigns really make you appreciate a fully system modeled warbird and cockpits that are beautifully detailed in VR. Having to strain your spine and neck muscles to check that fuselage tank gauge in the Stang is a pain. But you know that if you don’t burn that off first, your kite will handle like a pig at altitude makes it all the more real.

Maybe it’s a performance issue too fearless. I really feel sorry for dudes and dudettes stuck with 1000 and 2000 series cards. I’m hearing that Ethereum 2 conversion will be into Q3 next year and maybe Q4.

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The cost to do that, from scratch. There’s no hope for me of course as this affliction is well established :thinking: ā€œCan’t take it with you and all thatā€ā€¦

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Yeah, as I mentioned elsewhere, in the Hornet/Harrier I’m constantly counting on my fingers and toes to cypher if I’ll make it back. Takes a special kind of Geek to get into it this deep.

Part of thinks they’ll improve it (and they have a little) such that I can hold out another year? Maybe? X-Mas is coming and I’ve been good though. Honest :wink:

PS: I’m cooking up some more goodies for our project. Been traveling for a while and the break has reinvigorated the amateur AI coder in me…

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The Ethereum 2 post London fork will never happen, at least not in our lifetimes. POS is a PoS to keep the people happy until we cash out. :wink:

Yep, if I can grab a 3080 Ti (hopefully this week) I look forward to revisiting the DCS WWII campaigns for sure.

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Never make something you love something you do for work…oh wait…hey…

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The stock MD-82 or whatever it was was pretty good… And the 172 wasn’t bad. But yeah…I haven’t touched them in years…

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Been there. Got the T-Shirt…I LOVE[d] fishing. Thought guiding would be wonderful. Not so much.

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