Are Microsoft/ASOBO pushing MSFS in the wrong direction?

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81

I wonder though. Since the launch, I’ve got 3, maybe 4 CTDs, mainly related to third party community content.
I’ve never encountered an fps dropping issue after an hour and I’ve done 5-6 hours flights - all very stable so far, including ones which use complex aircraft (FENIX A320/PMDG 737).
I’ve also done 2.5 hour low altitude VFR flights with the Milviz 310R at some photogrammetry areas in Europe - and the experience was quite stable for me.

Once, I had a very serious stuttering problem, diagnosed it and found the guilty party - a free 3rd party mesh addon which covered Israel. Removed it - and all stutters were completely gone.

My specs are: AMD-5900X (at stock clocks), 32 GB RAM, RTX 3090. Sim library files are installed on a separate 1TB NVME.2 SSD. Currently 352GB of it are used to store MSFS Official and Community addons. I do not have either Reno or Maverick DLCs installed (I just do not like fighter jets/air races/stuff which makes me feel like playing a flying arcade. To be honest, I prefer civil aviation simulation to the military one, so I do not have DCS installed).

I always update my NVIDIA drivers almost as soon as they launch, and so far I’ve had performance issues with only one version (half a year ago, I think), which prompted me to revert to an earlier build, but after this one and only case - never encountered it again. I use the full 2K res of my display in the sim(165 Hz refresh rate, HDR On, most settings on ULTRA, except Texture Synthesis (its on High), Motion Blur (I hate this effect, so I’ve turned it off) and Depth of Field (Low).

I do not use VR or TrackIR. I personally do not think that VR is there yet in flight simulation, maybe in 2-3 generations it will be just right. Thinking maybe to invest in TrackIR or similar hardware, for more pleasant and realistic VFR flights (to look for visual cues).

Maybe, according to everything I’ve listed above , one can assume that the sim is simply not optimized enough. Given time, though, I believe that DX12 will make the sim enjoyable for many users, who currently have hardware related problems. So far I do not use DX12, at in its’ current state it’s not even half-baked IMHO.

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So far I’ve only had a few problems with real crashes… until I started using route plans 3 days ago… unbelievable. Finishing route, loading a new one… Crrrrrash

I have often stutters when the Azure servers have a coffee break. If you notice that then you switch off various online things (weather, users), everything suddenly runs as smooth as butter.

The FPS drop of 30-50% since SU09 is another, but no longer funny story.

83

That is interesting because I hardly ever get stutters and I have a very low end system ( AMD 3800x running at 3.9 gig, 32 gig mem and a GTX 1050i) Pretty low end.
BUT… I run at a lower demand too…only Ultra I have is volumetric Clouds rest is High. and … I have NOTHING in my Community Folder (NOTHING ). LOD at 150 All seems pretty smooth.

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I have often stutters when the Azure servers have a coffee break. If you notice that then you switch off various online things (weather, users), everything suddenly runs as smooth as butter.

I do not encounter these, the only thing that happens to me, maybe once or twice a month - is that the Azure TTS gets disconnected. But ATC is very far from being realistic, so I rarely use it in flights. I believe that the only solution to provide a viable ATC is to use some AI engine, which I feel is going to be extremely hard to develop (or even to plan one), and it probably won’t arrive in this version of MSFS.

The FPS drop of 30-50% since SU09 is another, but no longer funny story.

I have stable 30-40 fps (with texture synthesis on high, and not ultra - an important point for my system/setup) even on ground at large airports, such as Madrid Barajas or London Gatwick. Which is still enough for my personal experience, but yes, I agree that it used to be higher.

What I do not understand though - is the aspect of “XBOX cloud gaming” for MSFS. I mean, unless you are located in the same area/country/region as the datacenter - how is it possible to achieve extremely low latencies (40-60ms max) for control inputs? For example - you need to achieve linear response curves to joystick or control column deflections in order to hand-fly fly-by-wire aircraft (such as the current Airbus family or Boeing 777/787) correctly and I do not think that these are possible with high latency connections. Otherwise - its just plain gaming and not simming (which is obviously fine for those who want to use this platform for pure gaming).

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85

TLOD seemed to help a little, especially with Innsbruck.
But when I’m flying to Paris-Orly for example, it’s unflyable even with TLOD around 100.

I know that several streamers are suffering the same, I’ve seen the same stutters in Fabio’s and Chewwy’s streams.

86

Oh, I forgot to mention, one thing that really improved the FPS for me was to increase the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ndu Start registry value from 2 to 4, as mentioned in other posts on this forum.

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87

I’ve made a habit of flying a default route in VR after each update since the transition from SU05 to 06. Identical settings, same airport, same time, weather only clear skies, multiplayer off.

With the last SU, the frame rate dropped from the previous average of 45 FPS to 30 FPS, with short-term dips of up to 16 FPS.
Since Maverick i become around 33.

Luckily I’m not the only one affected. As a result, the error is guaranteed not to be on my system side.

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88

And thats completely fine. Casual gamers have as much right to enjoy the sim as you do. The sim has to have mass appeal. It has to be commercially successful or whats going to pay the wages of all the developers who ‘serious’ simmers want spending endless man hours implementing features only a relative handful of them will enjoy?

The sim already has an F-14 from DC Designs and Asobo have said they understandably don’t want to tread on third party developers toes by developing planes that are already out there for sale. They did bring out an F-18. Its not anywhere near study level of course but thats never been Asobo’s thing anyway.

To be fair to them they have said the carriers will come to free roam. Why they didn’t in time for the Top Gun release is a bit of a mystery considering they will have sat on the DLC since last year and functional aircraft carriers have been a hot topic of conversation on this forum for a while now. They definitely should have done some expectation management there.

People shouldn’t get so caught up on the whole sim versus game thing. Computer gaming is a really wide spectrum of experiences that has something relatively serious like flight simming on one end and Candy Crush Saga on the other. Flight sims have always been reviewed in gaming magazines and sold in gaming stores right from early days of the 80’s. People can enjoy it as a game or a simulator. Its up to them.

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89

Which didn’t bother her at all with the Porter.
Well ok, the 4 weeks were probably too late to cancel the ongoing porting.

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Yeah I think they did discuss that in one of the dev Q+A’s

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I don’t think currently there is a way to create hard decks and launch catapults in sim. They seem to have deactivated this stuff from FSX intentionally and have some workaround in place for this single mission.

Probably carriers and hard decks for ships will come after helicopters - I don’t know Asobos plans but probably in combination with some water physics overhaul (which is also pure FSX - basically no physics are there). Regarding water some massive code changes are needed I guess to enable stuff like rolling motion which suites the 3D waves :wink: so imho much more is needed than having the carrier driving from a to b somewhere.

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92

The best thing I’ve ever read on here. He made sure to be constructive and not offend them into their little corners. Thank you.

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93

increase the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ndu Start registry value from 2 to 4

@FurnishedBird22 , I had not seen that suggestion until just now. I just did a fairly lengthy flight around Las Vegas, NV in a Cessna at fairly low altitude in VR, and man, what a difference. Smooth as butter.

I even cranked every graphics setting up to Ultra and I didn’t see a single stutter. I’m using an RTX 2080 Super and a 10 core I-9 CPU with 32 GB ram. Thank you for the tip.

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94

Thank you for that update. I will have to try Paris-Orly.
Since I, generally, fly in the Gulf Coast, US area, maybe I am not seeing the sim demands you are.
You have made a good point to me and I will try those areas. Thank you…!

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95

Mine is stable, and I’m on Series S
Had some issues with the Kodiak and a few avionics blackouts months ago but nothing recently. Odd how it is affecting some but not all. I have steered away from the WU other than USA, I don’t know maybe that’s why I don’t have any issues.

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That’s potentially part of the problem but I’ve had the issues going through my normal ISP and also using a VPN, and the actual amount of downloaded information on any given flight according to my Glasswire monitor isn’t much. 150 megs give or take over 2.5 hours or so.

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Precisely.

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Thank you! That was my intent and I’m glad you read it the same way!

Cheers!

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99

Glad that it helped :slight_smile:

100

For you. I can’t complete a flight. And that’s the problem - what works for you doesn’t work for me. What works for me doesn’t work for the next person. And yet you have no problems. That leads to two conclusions:

  1. I’m happy for you that you aren’t suffering from these issues. Please continue to enjoy the sim and it’s stability on your system. Seriously - I’m glad you don’t have these issues.
  2. The sim isn’t stable for all. That’s what we’re focusing on.
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