Welcome to PC use of MSFS! With PC, you’ll get access to the VATSIM/IVAO/Pilot Edge networks, you can use add-ons from flightsim.to, FSLTL and AIG, full version of GSX, Fenix A320, FBW A320, etc.
Flightsim.to in particular is a huge, huge, bonus to MSFS. So much freeware there, you can sift through the freeware for days.
Hope you enjoy MSFS on PC!
Tried a friend’s power supply today and the computer now powers on (graphics card lights up, fans start spinning) - but can’t boot into bios. Similar to the issue I was having earlier which was rectified by briefly trying another monitor (?) then taking it back to my primary monitor, but that didn’t fix it this time.
Tried two HDMI outputs on the GPU and three monitors, not getting any indication of BIOS menu. Orange and red LEDs turn on briefly on the mobo, turn off, then are replaced by a green ‘boot’ light that flashes for just a moment then turns off.
Off to another Christmas gathering at the moment - will look deeper into what those motherboard LEDs are indicating. At least there’s power now and I know the PSU failed…I’m just hoping it didn’t take anything with it.
Don’t get a big expensive monitor. Get a cheap monitor and a good VR headset. Once you go VR you won’t go back and it’s way more immersion than a flat panel.
That’s a Be Quiet brand power supply, right? They are of good quality so wouldn’t think it will take anything down - should be well isolated from spiking further into the machine you’d hope but anything can happen I suppose.
Also this is now after having left the CMOS battery out overnight, right? So it will be back to defaults. Can you press F12 or DEL or whatever you need to get in or you mean it’s not even showing anything on screen now?
Have you tried the onboard graphics with a basic monitor?
Motherboard lights going off is a good sign. It’s not staying red! It cycles some checks on RAM, CPU, GPU etc then should beep and continue to boot into Windows.
Be Quiet 12m 1000watt, yes. Forgive the brevity of my response, and thanks for the reassurance with the debug LEDs.
edit - today’s test with the CMOS pull only had the CMOS battery out for 1 minute or so, before I had to leave. It’s currently pulled again, and will stay out longer.
Fingers crossed then. You know the more I think about it the more I’m surprised the PSU died. That brand should be able to cope with the power cutting or spiking back on (the latter being more prone to damaging electrical components) but if your whole house circuit tripped then it would only have been cutting which is really not something that should ever damage it. I guess something with the daisy chaining had caused some bad stuff.
EDIT: do you hear any beeps from the mobo?
No beeping. Thanks so much for your concern and investment 
Okay! Breakthrough! Man, I so much hesitate to turn this into a PC tech support thread, which it has come dangerously close to becoming over the past couple of days and past couple of issues. Particularly with these niche problems I’ve had which likely won’t help anyone who’s trying to switch from their Xbox to a PC, as is the intent of the thread. I’ll commit to posting in a less cluttered way, but maybe even still there’s value to find here; Xbox is so tinker-proof and this PC has been a tinker-fest for me, for better or for worse. We’re gonna get there.
Swapped PSU with a loaner. Thought it wasn’t booting to BIOS. It WAS booting - I was just getting no HDMI/DP out from my GPU. Baracus’ suggestion of trying HDMI out right from the I/O board was a good one - Windows boots. My motherboard is not fried. My CPU is not fried. I still can’t get into BIOS (???) by mashing delete, the way I used to, even though the keyboard I’m using is navigating around Windows just fine once it boots into the OS.
We did have to rig his ROG Thor 850w Platinum up a little differently; my Be Quiet 1000w PSU has a PCIe5.0 16-pin that plays real nice with the 4080 GPU. His PSU does not have that 5.0 output, so we used the three-to-one braided adaptor that came with the 4080 and I suspect that’s the culprit behind no video output.
Getting closer!
Oh great just as I was calming down I read this 
So, which is the best one! One center blob!? 
Watch this…
Or just use one pea sized blob in the middle.
What’s funny is after successfully booting my new build, I tried some overclocking profiles using Ryzen Master software and proceeded to nearly brick my setup even after reading what you had gone through haha. Ended up rolling back Windows and disabling Expo for now, and it’s back up and running. So I imagine this stuff is helpful for other Xbox simmers who are interested in PC!
Thats a great vid, shows thats theres hardly any difference (except for the tiny one at the end)!
I noticed this immediately too. Just one of many things I am excite about with this PC migration!
The correct way is to follow the thermal paste manufacturer’s recommendation for your type of CPU.
Ryzen really likes (and benefits from) fast RAM, so I would turn EXPO back on. The profiles are on the RAM chips, so it should run with that.
Overclocking otherwise? If you’re not sure what you’re doing, best to simply not do it. the CPU’s are incredibly well optimized out of the box, so it’s not like it’ll give any big benefits anyways generally.
Yeah, but some folks with those chips experience instability even with expo absent fine tuning the voltages manually, as I discovered doing more research on my Windows crashes.
I’m getting good performance under demanding conditions so far, but I may try it again at some point or swap out the RAM and see if that works better (I made sure the RAM is under QVL for the Motherboard but who knows!).
Wellllll lordy, I suppose it’s time for a proper update, amidst all of the tech support hubbub this has turned into. Sorry about that; this thread felt like a good aggregate of folks cheering me on and willing to help, which was a great vibe and was definitely a game-changer in terms of my troubleshooting of issues and also my growth in comprehension of all of these new concepts. Thanks everyone! Sheesh.
Long story short, I put the thing together, got it assembled into my desk, downloaded MSFS and went all in on it by selling the Xbox which I ended up almost immediately regretting. Virgin Windows does NOT feel like home to a Mac guy and I immediately bit off more than I could chew by trying to mess with MSFS’s native Marketplace folder and AddOnLinker, resulting in missing files and an eventual re-install of MSFS. I hadn’t even spawned into the actual game yet, I’m basically just feeling way out of my element when I’m used to Xbox where everything is organized and updated right where I want it by virtue of the easy Marketplace, and I’m trying to reconcile that feeling of wanting everything set up just right alongside this feeling of wanting to explore all the new things that the PC version of MSFS has to offer.
Got AddOnLinker set up, just for third party content; decided not to use the beta??? feature that allows for MP content management, got a few controller profiles mapped for a couple of planes and took an immensely satisfying test flight in PMDG’s 737.
Mapping controls is SO easy on PC. I used Honeycomb and Turtle Beach equipment on Xbox, and by virtue of Honeycomb’s hacky Xbox adaptation with the need to use the Xbox hub, as well as other just general latency issues with that console, I always found the need to map controls by arcane and oddly-labeled controller button numbers that I’d keep in a note on my Mac and map manually. It just wasn’t possible to ‘map by input’ because everything would register an axis event if I were to push a button on the yoke, for example. Hard to explain but mapping controls by input using MSFS’s native Controls Settings menu, on PC, was a very quick experience thanks to Window’s common-sense recognition of hardware inputs versus the maniacal twitchiness on Xbox.
Before I inadvertently turned this thread into an inward-facing examination of my own burgeoning flight sim-flavored OCD, I’d intended for it to hopefully be an interesting read for a) PC players wondering what it’s like to start on console and move over to a decently high-powered rig, and b) Xbox players either looking for a “yeah that’s what I thought” reason to stick to console and not migrate over, or else looking for a firsthand account of what it’s like to have to launch this game from a PC. For any and all of the above audiences, I gotta say that first flight in the 738 was incredible. Graphically and performance and all of that speaks for itself, I almost laughed a couple of times because I don’t feel like anyone needs a machine that can do all of this just sitting on their desk tbh - but more than that just the free feeling that a game that runs this good is not about to crash on me at any given point. That was awesome cause that’s kinda the whole thing that spawned this, I just wanted to know that I could complete a full planned flight at any time. Real sweet feeling!
So then yeah a couple days later I walked into my office to a tripped breaker and what ended up being a blown PSU. I RMA’d it and while I was waiting for it to show up a buddy brought over a ROG Thor and it looked decent and while it was only 850w to my Pure Power’s 1000, I’m kind of in “why did I blow a breaker” mode and read up on how much PSU power I really need (i know it doesn’t pull full power I’m just sayin) - I saw I could get one of them faster and decided to switch to that.
I ended up redoing my whole desk, for a second time, as well - was super spooked by the surge of power that blew the breaker and fried my PSU, or whatever happened. I went like 3 solid days not knowing whether I just fried my motherboard or blew my CPU and when I’m talking about the immediate regret of moving over from Xbox, this is kinda the feeling I’m talking about.
Quick side note here: I was in here looking for panicky help and on Discord and stuff and everyone was so cool, thanks for offering up help and suggestions. I feel a lot more confident with a lot of aspects of my build thanks to your help and through identifying things that could go wrong and testing and ruling things out. Trying to figure out AddOnLinker btw, I’ll say it again, I was talkin on Discord with @Baracus250 and he’s basically explaining the whole Windows file structure to me and i’m just so appreciative of all the coolness and kindness, thanks everyone
I think it was a freak thing, I’ve heard of PSUs just going bad, but I still wanted to redo everything again to make sure the PC was going through a surge protector and I could rule out other things on the home office circuit (random chargers etc). So I redid everything with neat cable management and this and that and here’s the rig now, in cockpit mode. Work mode is a little more boring. Just swing the side monitor over to the center position when you’re flying and everything else can pretty much stay static:
SO!! I’m all up and running now with a PC that’s played nice with my electrical system thus far. I’ve had some great, great times flying, which is why I haven’t been posting much in here 
I grabbed the 14 day trial of SPAD.NeXt and that blew my mind as far as how granularly I could control each plane with the dev’s use of LVARs and events. It was lot to wrap my head around but I’m getting pretty efficient at copy pasting snippets of profiles and using them to make each aircraft feel unique. I really like respecting the ergonomics and the differences of every aircraft with how agile you can be with Bravo axes and SPAD makes it really easy to explore other people’s ideas of cockpit-realistic mappings, and incorporate them into a profile that helps a plane to feel like home. There’s a lot of good information on YouTube on how to work with this, and Les O’Reilly’s videos in particular are obviously incredible and of great value if you’re doing this for the first time. I don’t know that I’ll ever look at MSFS Controls Settings menu again, and lord knows I’ve spent a lot of time in there.
Did two flights in VR too - took the 182RG up around my local muni for some pattern work, and took the Vision Jet from Orlando to Tampa. I rolled with every single default VR setting there is, both in the Oculus app (I used Link, wirelessly, with a Meta Quest 2 and the Oculus app) as well as MSFS VR graphics settings. It was insane. All of the dumb parts about VR were obviously present, and annoying - reaching out blindly for a drink or something in front of me, having to take off the headset and re-draw a guardian boundary thing if I got up out of my desk for any reason - but maaaaan I set up a view for the passenger cabin in the Vision Jet, looking out over the right wing from the seat, and pretty much every phase of this flight in the SF50 was just amazing. I had such an incredible VR experience but it’s tough to say when I can carve out the time for that type of immersion.
VATSIM. Signed up, installed the client, installed VatSpy to see who’s on, and I quickly learned I have a lot to learn. Mapped a PTT button on my Alpha and got everything connected, held short of the runway at Orlando and tower tells me I shoulda been talking to em way earlier. Sorry dude! He was real nice about it. Top down on VATSIM. Gotta get some of that tightened up as well as my radio voice. See yuhhhhhhhh
VATSIM does look super rad though and is a main driving factor as far as things that had me coveting the PC guys back on Xbox. I’d like to get better at identifying when my own free time coincides with certain locales’ controllers being online and available and I don’t know how often that’s going to line up, realistically, but when it does I’m sure it will make for some cool experiences and in the meantime I’ll be monitoring traffic to try and get comfier with it.
I downloaded and installed the Comanche and put her down nicely in a field after forgetting pitot heat, flying into icing conditions and losing any ability to horizontally orient myself in IMC. There are many planes that probably accurately simulate that level of “nice job, bonehead”, but a few quick test flights has been enough to show me that the Comanche has to be among the most realistic of them all, the sounds and the feel of it are incredible, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know this plane better.
So yeah it’s been shaky kinda, overall! I didn’t think I’d be this far into my holiday break while still looking with a crooked eyebrow at my PC, thinking that it still doesn’t quite feel like home, as far as my simming world is concerned. And also thinking that it might just randomly pop a breaker and kill a power supply? That’s all a little fresh.
But I’ve made this thing do a heck of a lot of cool little tricks to try and push it, while I’m testing and trying to get comfortable with all of it again. Particularly the order of operations, all of these little auxiliary programs that are running to keep my controls mapped and my add-ons linked and my traffic injected. Oh yeah! FSLTL through the FlyByWire app. Absolutely amazing. The sky is just dotted with traffic and ATC is bumpin and all the liveries are correct. Xbox bros - this is what you wanted!!
A fuss-free experience is on the horizon I think, but I’m just so over the moon happy with all of it, and really grateful for how well the sim is running, and grateful for all of the help to try and get all this up and going. It’s such a great way to spend time, loading up pretty weather with a cool plane and just knowing it’s all going to work - it was a great move.
Right on. I think only users that have experienced the xbox instability first hand, to the point where you’ve actually put MSFS away for a time, can really appreciate how liberating this is. It results in a totally different flying experience IMO and was worth the cost of entry for that alone.
I’m glad you started this thread. I meant to do something like this myself, document some kind of conversion steps, for people not new to MSFS but are new to running it on PC. I never did, because after the initial time investment of getting up and running I was having so much fun flying I just didn’t find time to write it all down!
FSLTL makes the biggest impact to realism in the game. I believe that MS are planning to implement something along these lines natively for 2024 so hopefully xbox users can experience some of what we have in the future.
Great wrap up, OP!
You certainly dove in head first to this PC thing. I did the same, and also learned so much from all the helpful folks on this forum. Nice cockpit you’ve got there.
I was going to suggest getting into SPAD when you really felt ready for a new challenge. It is an amazing tool. The only downside for me is that I find myself mapping controls almost as much as actually flying. Fortunately, I get a lot of satisfaction from that process. It’s extremely satisfying to kick the mouse to the curb when flying.
I’ve just started programming my new Streamdecks (XL and Plus) using SPAD, and that by itself opens up a whole new world. The Streamdeck is an amazing peripheral, and SPAD integrates beautifully with it. I don’t need it for the simpler GA aircraft like the Bonanza and the Comanche, but for more complex planes they are quickly becoming de riguer for 2D flying. I held off on programming mine for a while, thinking they were too complicated. Once I started I quickly became enamored with them. I was doing things the first day that had me wishing I’d started a month ago.
If you fly a lot of different planes, you should check out this little hack I made for my Bravo.
I haven’t tiptoed into the VATSIM world yet. I’m actually waiting for Beyond ATC to hit the market.
Not wanting to hijack what was an interesting read. For me, it confirmed that I will not get into a PC for the SIM ( also into Mac like yourself so a PC is out of the picture ). I am sure when everything works and nothing is modified a PC provides a superior experience and allows for all those add-ons ( Vatsim, Traffic ) that so far we miss on console. Still I feel that what I want most is to fly and the ability and quality of the SIM on Xbox using PMDG 737 and well tested add-ons without having suffered CTD or black screen since I can remember does it for me. Thanks for sharing the experience.
