Still on MSFS 2020. Waiting for all the bugs to be worked out on 2024. From what I see not many of the issues reported in 2020 were addressed, like multi-window support for cameras, which is a huge issue. Also indicating sim rate instead of using a stopwatch to guess it, and defaulting back to normal time. ATC still is not any better…
After 3,070 hours on 2020, I purchased a new computer a week ago for the sole purpose of switching to 2024 now that SU4 is released. After flying 30hrs (airline flights) on 2024, I’ve installed 2020 on the new rig:
- The blurry textures are too frequent on 2024.
- Skylines look far worst in 2024. Chicago and NY look like pine trees unless you’re very close (My TLOD & LOD are maxed). In 2020 the skyline is distinct all the way from ORD as IRL.
- The ground night lights are too frequent. Even outside of cities there is almost constant dots on the ground, whereas 2020 has sparse areas.
- The night lights are too big. Even from +FL300 a house on the ground looks like a big orb. In 2020 they are much smaller as they are IRL.
- Multiplayer constantly connects/disconnects. Impossible to fly with friends and I always feel like I’m in the sim alone. In my 30hrs it’s never been constant like 2020.
If it weren’t for the complaints above, I could live with the smaller complaint’s below:
- The “engine heat blur” effect not being able to be deleted/disabled as it could in 2020.
- I enjoy 1st person mode but wish we didn’t have to start flight in that mode.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 4.3GHz Processor; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32GB GDDR7; 64GB DDR5-6000 RAM; 2TB SSD + My internet connect is a constant +500 mbps.
I haven’t uninstalled 2024, but it will not be my primary sim until the issues above are rectified, and I understand that they may take a while.
Happy new year msfs 2020 !!
With SU4 out and some time for 3rd party developers to patch their planes the only thing holding me back from removing 2020 is the PMDG 737-700. I could probably uninstall it now as I recently got the FlightFX Citation X and the A2A Aerostar 600. But I plan a 737-BBJ MotoGP tour that will start at the end of Febuary so it will be a race to see if PMDG gets the -700 out by then for MSFS 2024.
I was straight 2020 until the SU4 beta and I started to get things working in 2024 but still mostly flew in 2020.
I think I’ve decided to stay on 2020 until MSFS2028. While the 2D side of 2024 seems mostly sorted there seems to still be debate around low level VFR flying of what the actual benefits between the 2 sims are. However the big issue for me is VR it’s all I do and there still appears to be a ton of issues. I also use live weather as much as possible and again there seems to be ongoing issue there. I may be being lead by incorrectly but for my casual use of the forum it seems time and time again 2024 has issue with VR, rendering and weather. TBH I am happy with what I have and don’t feel the challenge of swapping everything over will be worth it.
I hope for 2028 they release a good day one sim and that there are improvements in VFR ATC, I would also love to see integrated VR controller support at/above the level we had with Xplane 11. My experience for how I fly in 2020 is pretty fantastic if you ask me.
I have both versions and still primarily use the 2020 version for several reasons:
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It runs absolutely stable for me. I haven’t had a CTD in a long time.
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It runs with predictable performance. No unpredictable performance drops and no erratic behavior.
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Much of the new graphics are just for show. The glowing instrument lighting on the EFIS displays might be a nice effect, but I’ve never actually seen that in real life.
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Many aircraft have sepia-tinted frosted glass windows—especially those from the 2020 version—why?
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The graphics appear sharper in the 2020 version.
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With the latest update to the 2020 version and the use of new world data, the cartoonish colors of the 2020 version have also disappeared. In contrast, the graphics in the 2024 version still look washed out.
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The walk-around is childish and unfortunately cannot be disabled – and it doesn’t work properly for some aircraft.
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The user interface in the 2024 version doesn’t scale well and looks like a preschool learning program.
I use MSFS as a simulator – not as a game. I don’t need an avatar; my ego is big enough. I exclusively use freeflight mode in both versions and I’m not going to change that. I’m not going to buy a new computer just so the 2024 runs better. I’m past that stage.
A new version isn’t automatically better just because it’s new. MSFS 2024 is better – but that doesn’t make MSFS 2020 bad.
I really hope there is NOT a 2028. Both 2020 and 2024 took a whole year to get to a good state. Id rather see 2024 more refined.
That being said I get that a there needs to be a revenue stream and if something major needs changed it could be prohibitively difficult to do as an update.
Also I can’t see them supporting three sim versions. I’m willing to bet that whatever the next big update is (major version or R2 type update) will be near or when support for 2020 ends.
Yeah I’ve no idea, just a wild guess what with 2020 and then 2024 I suspect the next will be 2028. Perhaps we will see next year as I am sure 2024 was rumoured/discussed in 2023??
I have been back and forth with this but 2024 feels good enough now. It is great to see that future updates can focus on new features rather than patching wounds.
If nothing else. The 747 will be 2024 only release so I wouldn’t have much choice anyway. This is the Plane I have been waiting for.
Don’t even get me started on the mouse cursor on X box … not only is it pixelated and over large , it auto presses buttons and switches with no input making it almost impossible to control . Clearly was never tested .
Just a typo there - the poster mentions the UI of 2020 looking like a preschool learning project (not scalable) - of course he accidentally typed 2020 instead of 2024.
Beautiful screenshots, so realistic and excellent sharpness
Intelligence is characterized by the ability to recognize errors and still extract the correct content.
Thanks for the feedback, it will be corrected.
As a follow up to my recent post to the lighting issue, it seems that 80% of my problem was caused by having light shafts enabled. I suppose every light source was kicking out oversaturated fogginess with that enabled. Disabling it cured the issue for now. Waiting for a moonless night to see how dark it actually gets.
It is not surprising that the figures for 2024 are rising after word got around that it is running reasonably stable with SU4. But: downloading the simulator and performing a few questionable flights doesn’t mean you’re actually using it – but it’s good for the statistics. Microsoft and Asobo don’t live off flashes in the pan – they live off people who stick around and buy add-ons. The most important customers are the ones who stay.
Divide the statistics into Gamers and Simmers:
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Gamers: Download the game, play for a while, do loops in the 747 or landing it at Lukla, and think they’re great pilots…. until a new game comes along that captures their attention.
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Simmers: Primarily use the Freeflight mode and see the game as a simulator. They have dozens of add-ons, and their desktop looks like NASA’s hobby room.
Or, more simply:
Only count “couch potato pilots” as users with more than 100 virtual flight hours in the statistics. The results might look different….
There ist a lot of traffic currently in 2020 - more than in MSFS 2024 in the same area, same server and same time last time i launched it. Counting the visible users of MSFS 2020 there was a significant drop in Nov’24 but rises and came back to nearby the old count - until today.
The most common aircraft seen in the sim in my private statistics is the A320Neo which can be the Asobo, the iniBuilds or the FBW; followed by Fenix A320 on second place and the C172 on third place.
Based of prior timetables the Navigraph survey should be announced soon. By spring we should have a decent idea of what the number are.
I’ve added to this thread before but want to update my input after the apparently successful and massive update to 2024.
Considering I’m running MSFS 2020 on a 10 year old CPU (i7-6700) – that is below min spec for 2024 – with a 5 year old GPU (RTX 2060 Super) and getting 30fps under most conditions with most settings on High, and considering I’ve got a few hundred $ invested in add-ons that likely don’t work too well in 2024, plus lots of custom tweaks I’ve made over the years to cfg files, liveries, etc why would I spend a bunch of money for new hardware and updated addons and time (to get everything running smoothly, including control bindings, etc) when I am only interested in free flight?
I am very glad MS gave us a choice and have kept MSFS 2020 going. Had they forced all to upgrade I probably would have, but I’m very glad they did not, and it’s great that those who could and wanted to upgrade seem to have a great sim now.
I know I will eventually upgrade to 2024 or what comes after it, because they can’t keep 2020 running forever, but as of this new year, I don’t have any reason to update and I’m not making any plans to do so in the foreseeable future. But as soon as they announce some sort of sundown to 2020 I will revise my plans. Meanwhile I’m saving for new hardware etc so when the time comes I can get something decent to run it.
This all reminds me a bit of when FSX came out. I tried it, but I found that I had FS9 running so well with all the add-ons I wanted (that didn’t work so well in FSX), I abandoned FSX and flew FS9 for about 15 years until MSFS 2020 came out.