Microsoft flight simulator 2020

[dimme]

I have always flew flight sims on a computer. I have XPlane 11 on my M1 mac and works great. I do want to give MSFS 2020 a try, from what I have seen the visuals look stunning. I do not have a PC or mac that will run it. so my options is to build a PC or get a Xbox. It's seems like there are some limitations on the Xbox. Looking for options from people who have used it on the Xbox, or both Xbox and PC
Thanks

 

[44267547]

If you’re buying Microsoft flight simulator, do not purchase it on the Xbox Series S, get the X. it’s been discussed quite a few times that the series S just struggles in terms of frame rate drops, glitches and load times are fairly significant. (Of course my recommendation with the Series X, is you will likely have problems finding one, given they are in very high demand with the holidays.)

Microsoft just dropped the latest update, and it’s absolutely amazing. They fixed known issues with shard rendering, lag with imagery in major cities not populating, and airport traffic longer bogs down performance.

Just a few of my stops on Series X in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska with the sunrise, flying the A320.

 

[garnerx]

I have always flew flight sims on a computer. I have XPlane 11 on my M1 mac and works great. I do want to give MSFS 2020 a try, from what I have seen the visuals look stunning. I do not have a PC or mac that will run it. so my options is to build a PC or get a Xbox. It's seems like there are some limitations on the Xbox. Looking for options from people who have used it on the Xbox, or both Xbox and PC
Thanks

I've used it on both formats. It's surprisingly solid on Series X, but really nowhere near what you can get out of a decent PC. Of course a PC that can get the best out of this sim is going to be at least 5x the cost of a Series X, but maybe you already have some USB flight controllers you could reuse from the Mac. Those won't work on Xbox.

Series X is rare and expensive enough that it doesn't make much sense to get one purely to see what MS Flight Simulator is like. Unless you have plenty of spare cash, in which case just build a monster PC and go direct to the high-end version. It would be good for XPlane too.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I am a first time simulator player and have enjoyed flight sim on the Series X since it was released. Absolutely love it and have spent as much time playing as have watching youtube videos on how to improve my skills/knowledge as a pilot.

I play using the controller. There's a learning curve but you eventually get the hang of it. This makes is easy to casually dip in and out of the game while on the couch. Nood need to toggle between mouse and yoke/hotas. Friend and family enjoy watching me fly on the telly.

The biggest limitations on the Xbox is peripheral support and lack of plugin.

 

[Daniel K Colson]

Hi, dimme.

So I've been playing the MSFS 20 for some time now, and I have tried it on both PC and Series X now, my comparison is honestly unfair because I have an RTX 3090 PC, and Flight Simulator will obviously perform better on 3090 than anything else right now.

Now for your question, Xbox Series X or PC for MSFS 20, considering the GPU shortage and skyrocketed price tags, I'd always recommend going with the Series X, but if you have a fair amount of budget to spend and want to get the best experience go with an RTX 3090 or 3080 Ti.

Also, getting a Pre-Built PC is the better way to get your hands on these Monstrous GPUs.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

If you’re buying Microsoft flight simulator, do not purchase it on the Xbox Series S, get the X. it’s been discussed quite a few times that the series S just struggles in terms of frame rate drops, glitches and load times are fairly significant. (Of course my recommendation with the Series X, is you will likely have problems finding one, given they are in very high demand with the holidays.)

Microsoft just dropped the latest update, and it’s absolutely amazing. They fixed known issues with shard rendering, lag with imagery in major cities not populating, and airport traffic longer bogs down performance.

Just a few of my stops on Series X in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska with the sunrise, flying the A320.

View attachment 1916538 View attachment 1916540

Been drooling over this since it was announced ?. I had FS on a Commodore 64 in the 80s and was hooked (so primitive back then...lol). FS 98, 2000, 2002 on my old Windows PC and spent hours with that - modifications were fun also. I just did not have a jacked up PC for this incredible new version.

After looking at a slew YouTube videos of FS2020 for console (X and S), my mind was set. I grabbed Series X on Friday along with this on disc (my very first XBox, I've only has Playstation's since the 90s)

THIS is just mind blowing! Still getting used to controls, but wow I am having a blast with this.
*Of course my first flight was around the Philly suburbs where I live ?

Bucks, Montgomery County PA (also a severe storm over Manhattan)

Sunset flight - F-15 from Andrews AF Base to Philly, Doylestown, PA...*ended up stalling crashed, doh!
(Real Time weather...it was overcast here last night)

 

[PhillyGuy72]

I am a first time simulator player and have enjoyed flight sim on the Series X since it was released. Absolutely love it and have spent as much time playing as have watching youtube videos on how to improve my skills/knowledge as a pilot.

I play using the controller. There's a learning curve but you eventually get the hang of it. This makes is easy to casually dip in and out of the game while on the couch. Nood need to toggle between mouse and yoke/hotas. Friend and family enjoy watching me fly on the telly.

The biggest limitations on the Xbox is peripheral support and lack of plugin.

I'm totally new to XBox, just got it Fri. along with FS2020. Controller takes getting used to, the sensitivity part especially - which can be customized.

I saw in the console setting you can hook up keyboard, mouse with this. (Wired, MAYBE BT?? IDK yet) I have to test it myself, I THINK I still - should have old wired mouse/keyboard somewhere. But that will certainly help I think.

 

[44267547]

Been drooling over this since it was announced 😆. I had FS on a Commodore 64 in the 80s and was hooked (so primitive back then...lol). FS 98, 2000, 2002 on my old Windows PC and spent hours with that - modifications were fun also. I just did not have a jacked up PC for this incredible new version.

After looking at a slew YouTube videos of FS2020 for console (X and S), my mind was set. I grabbed Series X on Friday along with this on disc (my very first XBox, I've only has Playstation's since the 90s)

THIS is just mind blowing! Still getting used to controls, but wow I am having a blast with this.
*Of course my first flight was around the Philly suburbs where I live 😄

Bucks, Montgomery County PA (also a severe storm over Manhattan)

Sunset flight - F-15 from Andrews AF Base to Philly, Doylestown, PA...*ended up stalling crashed, doh!
(Real Time weather...it was overcast here last night)

Well, I’m surprised I didn’t pass you in the skies, as I was just playing about four hours ago flying into Akron, Ohio from Pittsburgh, PA.

Airbus A320. The raytracing is amazing.

This is the same photo as above, but opposite side of where the sun was rising with a reflection of the plane. Just nutty. This was all ‘Live weather’ in real time.

 

[44267547]

Air France over Rochester, N.Y. in the Embraer 175.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Air France over Rochester, N.Y. in the Embraer 175.

View attachment 1996223

Amazing! I did fly from Philly to Pittsburgh a few nights ago 😃
Yesterday was a military flight from ANK to Seattle to Mt. Rainier.

Last night I was messing with time/date change...and manual adjustments to weather to fly during solar eclipses! (MIND BLOWN!)

The partial sunrise eclipse last June 10th (5:31am Philly time) appears, I woke up to watch, photograph that. Another adjustment is scale back the time/date to July 11, 1991...near sunset in Russia. Messing with cloud layers to fully see this is needed. This Sim continues to amaze me!

*I have to chose another plane, not this shaky Cessna next time, LOL.

Having too much fun with this!

June 10, 2021 (Flight out of JFK, NYC)

July 11, 1991 (St. Petersberg, Russia)

 

[dimme]

Amazing! I did fly from Philly to Pittsburgh a few nights ago ?
Yesterday was a military flight from ANK to Seattle to Mt. Rainier.

Last night I was messing with time/date change...and manual adjustments to weather to fly during solar eclipses! (MIND BLOWN!)

The partial sunrise eclipse last June 10th (5:31am Philly time) appears, I woke up to watch, photograph that. Another adjustment is scale back the time/date to July 11, 1991...near sunset in Russia. Messing with cloud layers to fully see this is needed. This Sim continues to amaze me!

*I have to chose another plane, not this shaky Cessna next time, LOL.

Having too much fun with this!

June 10, 2021 (Flight out of JFK, NYC)

July 11, 1991 (St. Petersberg, Russia)

Be carefull looking at the eclipse it can hurt your eyes!

 

[PhillyGuy72]

By the way, I need to get one of those XBox controller rechargeable battery packs. I killed off 2 AA's in about 38 hours. Coming from PS3, PS4 standard rechargeable controllers ..I didn't know these controllers had to take batteries. ??‍♂️

 

[44267547]

By the way, I need to get one of those XBox controller rechargeable battery packs. I killed off 2 AA's in about 38 hours. Coming from PS3, PS4 standard rechargeable controllers ..I didn't know these controllers had to take batteries. 🤷🏻‍♂️

What I would suggest if it’s doable for your situation, is purchase an extended USB-Type-C cable, which you plugs directly into the front of the Xbox X and then obviously into your controller. They make different lengths from 3ft/6ft/10ft. That way it eliminates batteries, and I never have the cord become being obtrusive when gaming. Amazon sells them for about ~$10.00.

If you don’t like the corded route, I would suggest turning off haptic controls, which will mitigate some of the battery drain.

If you like rechargeable AAs, I would recommend the ‘Sanyo Eneloop’ batteries. They’re pricey, but they hold an excellent charge and have a very low failure rate.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I don't know whether I should uninstall and reinstall Flight Sim on my XSX. Since a big upgrade 2 months ago, the game is prone to stutter/crashing during approach to land. Highly annoying!

Other than that I'm super comfortable playing with the controller and consistently succeed at landings.

By the way, I need to get one of those XBox controller rechargeable battery packs. I killed off 2 AA's in about 38 hours. Coming from PS3, PS4 standard rechargeable controllers ..I didn't know these controllers had to take batteries. ??‍♂️

Hello and welcome to flight simulator! Like @Relentless Power mentioned, you can use high capacity rechargeable AA batteries which is what I do. Bought a pack with a charger from Amazon. Only have to swap/recharge the batteries once a month.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

What I would suggest if it’s doable for your situation, is purchase an extended USB-Type-C cable, which you plugs directly into the front of the Xbox X and then obviously into your controller. They make different lengths from 3ft/6ft/10ft. That way it eliminates batteries, and I never have the cord become being obtrusive when gaming. Amazon sells them for about ~$10.00.

If you don’t like the corded route, I would suggest turning off haptic controls, which will mitigate some of the battery drain.

If you like rechargeable AAs, I would recommend the ‘Sanyo Eneloop’ batteries. They’re pricey, but they hold an excellent charge and have a very low failure rate.

Thanks! I don't mind cords. I had a 3ft cord that wasn't going to work, I found a 6ft cord in a bag...didn't realize I had that. This works just fine.

 

[andy2141]

I don't know whether I should uninstall and reinstall Flight Sim on my XSX. Since a big upgrade 2 months ago, the game is prone to stutter/crashing during approach to land. Highly annoying!

Same issue here. I was hoping they would have sorted it by now. I too was thinking of a re-install but haven’t got round to it yet.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Same issue here. I was hoping they would have sorted it by now. I too was thinking of a re-install but haven’t got round to it yet.

I didn't have a problem LAST Friday,...entire weekend. Seemed to run flawlessly - brand new system, fresh install, etc.

There was a big update on Monday I think. Since then I have run into some frames dropping, some stuttering. Game totally froze a few nights ago as I approached Miami area, had to force quit the Sim-App. Paris Discovery Flight wouldn't even load the first few tries also, finally got it to boot up. (Choppy at times, it is a very detailed city)

Then loading up the Globe map, it froze...unfroze. I chose my airport and the game crashed - back to XBox home screen. *The game keeps giving me a notification that "Downloads are complete."

This "Rolling Cache" trick - option I saw doesn't seem to do much on my end. ?

 

[Macalicious2011]

I didn't have a problem LAST Friday,...entire weekend. Seemed to run flawlessly - brand new system, fresh install, etc.

There was a big update on Monday I think. Since then I have run into some frames dropping, some stuttering. Game totally froze a few nights ago as I approached Miami area, had to force quit the Sim-App. Paris Discovery Flight wouldn't even load the first few tries also, finally got it to boot up. (Choppy at times, it is a very detailed city)

Then loading up the Globe map, it froze...unfroze. I chose my airport and the game crashed - back to XBox home screen. *The game keeps giving me a notification that "Downloads are complete."

This "Rolling Cache" trick - option I saw doesn't seem to do much on my end. ?

Super annoying. Flight sim worked flawlessly between Aug-Nov. Since then I have played less because the stuttering and frame drop during approach takes the fun out of it - especially since there is no way to rewind.

A temporary remedy is to occasionally pause during approach.

 

[44267547]

I didn't have a problem LAST Friday,...entire weekend. Seemed to run flawlessly - brand new system, fresh install, etc.

There was a big update on Monday I think. Since then I have run into some frames dropping, some stuttering. Game totally froze a few nights ago as I approached Miami area, had to force quit the Sim-App. Paris Discovery Flight wouldn't even load the first few tries also, finally got it to boot up. (Choppy at times, it is a very detailed city)

Then loading up the Globe map, it froze...unfroze. I chose my airport and the game crashed - back to XBox home screen. *The game keeps giving me a notification that "Downloads are complete."

This "Rolling Cache" trick - option I saw doesn't seem to do much on my end. 😖

I’m noticing a few issues to, (I.e.Map stuttering, minor lag, one crash, but that’s been it for me.)

Pro Tip:

Disable ‘Live air traffic’ and ‘photogrammetry mode’, which should lessen some of the lag.

Also, if you go to ‘Microsoft flight simulator’s website’, you’ll see a roadmap of a trajectory of updates upcoming of what’s expected to be installed. Usually with that, significant patches follow.

Flying out Boston on the Boeing 777 with the sunrise over Atlantic behind me:

 

[dimme]

Is this just a temporary setback for the Xbox? Are these issues on the s and x models?

 

[andy2141]

Is this just a temporary setback for the Xbox? Are these issues on the s and x models?

Hope so. For me I’m on a series X. It’s still playable just a bit frustrating when it crashes on a nice approach.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

I’m noticing a few issues to, (I.e.Map stuttering, minor lag, one crash, but that’s been it for me.)

Pro Tip:

Disable ‘Live air traffic’ and ‘photogrammetry mode’, which should lessen some of the lag.

Also, if you go to ‘Microsoft flight simulator’s website’, you’ll see a roadmap of a trajectory of updates upcoming of what’s expected to be installed. Usually with that, significant patches follow.

Flying out Boston on the Boeing 777 with the sunrise over Atlantic behind me:

View attachment 1999370

I'll try that. It crashed again last night - back to home screen in mid-flight.
Hoping for a major bug fix soon. Going by this thread, there's a big problem.

Severe Problems on Xbox After Sim Update 9

UPDATE: The patch v1.25.9.0 fixed none of the below issues. UPDATE 2: Updated the bug titles that have improved or possibly been fixed server-side. UPDATE 3 (SEPTEMBER 23): Deleted the embedded videos from YouTube as they are no longer relevant. I have to say, in advance, that Sim Update 9...

forums.flightsimulator.com

 

[44267547]

I'll try that. It crashed again last night - back to home screen in mid-flight.
Hoping for a major bug fix soon. Going by this thread, there's a big problem.

Severe Problems on Xbox After Sim Update 9

UPDATE: The patch v1.25.9.0 fixed none of the below issues. UPDATE 2: Updated the bug titles that have improved or possibly been fixed server-side. UPDATE 3 (SEPTEMBER 23): Deleted the embedded videos from YouTube as they are no longer relevant. I have to say, in advance, that Sim Update 9...

forums.flightsimulator.com

Yup, crashed on me as well when I was trying to fly out of JFK in New York yesterday.

Also, they made some cringing changes to the voices with ATC from the pilot to the tower, so hopefully they revert back.

Flight simulator was playing perfect two weekends ago, and now within the last 10 days, something is definitely wrong with their servers, and it’s causing a lot of buffering, which then causes lag and then results in crashes when the server finally responds, which overloads connection.

I’ll keep you posted when If I see any updates.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Some people crack me up. Posted this edit on IG, story to friends yesterday. (Thankfully not public)
Few replies, "WOW", then..." Holy *, you really took your drone way up!!" to "This is so dangerous and irresponsible!!" "Cant believe you put your drone this high up, what were you thinking!" Explaining to them...'it's computer generated, it's not real!" LOL!

So..the first few seconds is real drone footage, but the 'zooming up' through clouds to the edge of space - like a consumer drone can do this - is Flight Simulator "drone/Showcase view".

One one hand, love the realism it apparently showed for many along with the custom clouds...on the other hand, some people are umm.. oh never mind.

https://imgur.com/zbGVKDR

 

[44267547]

Take-off at Logan International.

First time ever seeing a rainbow with the ‘live weather’ effects and the sun rising.