A ID card holder with a really cool miniature airline seatbelt buckle! Maybe I could wear this at work…?
The ID card contains the voucher code for the software.
I flew around in FS2024 last night for 1.5 hours last night in VR, trying the Grand Canyon discovery mission in the Caravan, having finally gotten an upgraded head strap and battery for my Quest 3 sorted. It all went pretty smoothly and what seemed to me a little bit better than FS2020. Like the previous iteration, the latest version of Flight Simulator appears to suffer from a similar color pallet malaise in that the greens and browns are too dark and the whole image has too much contrast. Still, it’s an improvement IMHO, especially in performance. I didn’t note fps, but it felt a bit more refined and comfortable. It feels like it’s coming together.
So after finally downloading and setting up MSFS2020, I am once again in love with it. Yes, it has some problems but still gives lots of thrills.
I have one big problem with “Old Hose Nose”. This Corsair nickname has been cracking me up all week. So the problem is that as soon as I spawn on the runway, my Tail wheel collapses. This is a recurring problem, I think. Still looking for a solution. Otherwise, the Milviz Corsair is an incredible achievement of virtual aviation. Sitting in the Pit the only thing missing is the smell of 120 octane gas and hot oil. It is as nice as the Ironworks Hellcat but twice as hard to fly and 50% more complicated.
My other activity was flying the “Got Friends” Gee Bee R3 around “Gable Field”. It is a racing circuit in Hollywood CA with two tracks. I had been doing the short track months ago. Now I started on the long track. This is an incredible activity. You are inches from death at every moment. Some turns you have to fly inverted to get a good time around it. You sweat, you anticipate, you think you are not going to make it… It is a thrill a minute… and then… you push the Nitrous Oxide button.
This weekend I will get back to the Gee Bee R2 and Gee Bee Z. Maybe even take the Hughes H-1…
Also, there is a limited edition AN-225 in 1/400 scale, but this one isn’t staying with me.
I’ll pass it along to the best alibi-friend a nerdy flightsimmer can have. Every time I get comments on my stash of model kits, simulator stuff, 3D printer gear, I just present a picture of a HMMWV and proclaim that “I could have one of these in the driveway, and yes, there are wives who tolerate that and they’re gorgeous too!”
Patch is out. The changelog is short and indecipherable. Haven’t played and can’t say if it has fixed any of the major outstanding bugs. Until then I’ll continue to wear the diaper and eventually stuff it in Trolls bag when he’s not looking.
Not in the changelog but it appears that they’ve fixed the ground effect bug, making rotary ag and slinging possible.
[EDIT] Nope. Placebo. Still porked.
Soooo… I finally uninstalled MSFS2020, removed everything I could find of it and then I redeemed the code I got with the package yesterday. It comes with the Aviator edition of MSFS2024.
My first install attempt from the MS store was a bust… Apparently I wasn’t logged into the Xbox app and that stopped the entire installation dead in its tracks, no message no nothing.
Ok, logged into the Xbox app and then the installation went smoothly.
2020 took ages to load and its successor follows suit. Once in the menu things started to look more or less familiar. The controller setup is a peculiar beast, but quite powerful, once you get to know it.
VR is its own thing in 2024 as opposed to the afterthought it was in 2020. I just picked a plane and an airfield and into the air I lept…
Wo-o-ow…! 2020 was really impressive and this years version takes things even further. Oh My Dog, this looks great!
My poor busted ribs don’t want me to lean back in my SimBox seat for long periods so I didn’t get to test the depths of MSFS2024, but free flight in a few different aircraft and seasons/weather/time of day was a very pleasant flightsimming experience.
I’m impressed!
Now I’m off to the map room to plot a route to Svalbard, via Bear Island, before the rowdy bunch of pilots at the Svalbar pub consumes all the beer…
Starting a day or so ago, many 2020 planes and airports you may have previously purchased from the store are now available to be activated and used from your 2024 library. After choosing what you want, restart the sim to let them be recognized and set up.
Mainly due to the Career Mode plus some interface and helicopter issues, I’ll reiterate that this is the buggiest release of any major piece of software in my experience. But…
Hole. Lee. Smokes! It’s so bleeding gorgeous! And since the update two days ago, smooth.
Eschewing the all-too-frustrating career, I’ve spent the day as a photographer. So, so much fun looking for wildlife in the glorious Africa. I’ve easily found Zebras, elephants, Cape Buffalo and giraffes. But the elusive lions have evaded me successfully. Their movements are so real now. I would post videos but really it should be experienced. Yes, I know. They’re just the MSFS 2020 animals with richer animation but for my feeble imagination, it works. And landing (or attempting to land) the Cub nearby and walking over for the shot has made me laugh like a kid.
Check out the coastline of some random bit of Spain…
You can see how wave-action has cut little caves in the karst. This is autogen! It’s PF’ingM! On an XBOX no less!
Now watch my attempt to land on the beach. Tundra tires help. But this is a nutty place to land and the sim was probably too kind to be. But still, I was holding on to my little controller for dear life. “Please, PLEASE, don’t flip!” Awesome, awesome, awesome!
No screenshots to share, but I had a fun hour or so last night flying the H225 out of Houma, MS servicing the offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The rigs are very well modeled, although I am sure they are not true representations of each individual platform.
Landing on a rig at night in VR is a recipe for special disorientation if you don’t have a constant instrument scan. It’s quite unnerving if you lose sight of the rig and find yourself over an inky black ocean with no visual references.
Haven’t progressed quite that far yet. @PaulRix, have you had any success with the SAR Hoist missions? I got through the certification with no issues but on the first “gold” hoist mission off Borneo, it seems nothing I do will complete. My SAR guy just lays in the water (dead perhaps?). I get the green queue dialog. I hit the command to commence the op. And I keep the green for a good five minutes. No joy
It may be because I switched to wireless via Virtual Desktop and the PrismXR bridge, but do have you guys noticed that VR is smoother in FS2024 than FS2020?
I haven’t tried VR (or much PC for that matter). But I do find visuals to be both richer and smoother on the XBOX with ‘24 vs ‘20. As for VR, flightsimulator.com is rife with diaper-wearers (@troll) speculating that Asobo has a particular hatred for VR users. It seems they are not happy.
the peaks of some mountains (one such place is around LFNC).
) speculating that Asobo has a particular hatred for VR users. It seems they are not happy.