I was one of this SIMS biggest critics when it first released. It has come on so much, through hard work and dedication, great bar rising add-ons in most cases.
But lets just look at all the free content we have been given! Now we approach SIM Update 14 and we are getting a $30-$40 value aircraft for free again, from a top end dev. We have been graced probably the most sophisticated Avionics from WT and just in general Asobo / MS have given a huge amount, and I just want to say Thank you, and cant wait to Board to MS 2024!
It’s kind of a funny, double edge sword for me with MSFS. I started simming with the combat sim Blackshark way back when. I thought that it was the cat’s meow. I mean it really put the hook in me for simming. When the other civilian sim started version 8, I thought that it was just incredible. Both of those sims had their problems and sometimes frustrated me no end. I would take long breaks from them because progress seemed painfully slow with most of the issues. In both cases, there are still unfulfilled promises from several years gone past. Let me be clear on this point: Other sims have promised me certain features in their A.C. , their scenery, and their software that was specified in their purchase ads. “This is what we promise”. In both cases, they fell short. In one case, promises that came with purchases 6 years ago are still not rendered.
MSFS 2020 came along and changed the whole game for me. Of course it had, and still has issues. But none of them are so big that I cannot overcome them. Between the incredible scenery, the diversity of good quality A.C. and the fact that many issues do get fixed. I really do not bother with any other sim at this point. I recently decided to purchase the other civilian sim version 12 and was so sorely disappointed that I just removed it from my computer altogether. Still the same old counterintuitive menus, klunky hardware issues, and scenery straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, that consumes your memory like crazy.
MSFS evolves, these other sims move along making more lateral moves in trying to improve their products but asking more money from the client base. As far as I can see, version 12 of the other sim isn’t much better than version 9. They’re not much different. Yet it consumes so much more resources to run.
MSFS is pretty much the only simulator that I use these days. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s closer than any other product out there.
I have to say, even the quality of what extras they give us has been getting better. I remember a year or so ago, I had a few of the Hawaii addons, so I did a flight around Hawaii, but it was just kind of meh. The ground textures were funny colored blotches, the mountains were much more rounded, it was ok, but it was hard to feel like you were there. This weekend I finally got to doing the Hawaii bush trip from the Oceania World Update, and it was just stunning. The ground textures were great, the mountains felt alive, Honolulu looked amazing. I want to redo the Iceland bush trip again this weekend to see how much things have improved.
During the bush trip this weekend, the wind was blowing, and there were times I would actually struggle with the stick to get back on course. Two years ago, that would never have happened. Despite what people say, the flight model and the environment has changed and gotten better.
And yes, its not just the sim itself. Over time, the 3rd party developers have gotten more experience with the API, and the level of quality for addons has gradually gotten better and better, raising the bar. Their work extending the platform and raising the experience is tremendous.
Now next month, we are getting probably the highest fidelity base aircraft for any flight simulator in history. I get that advancement might not be happening as quickly as some would like, but what started out as a product that revolutionized flight sims 3 years ago has just steady gotten better over time. They have done an incredible job. And not just Asobo, but all the business partners and 3rd party developers too.
There will be a high fidelity version of the A320 Neo. It will exist alongside the original base A320, but the quality on the level of the A310 by IniBuilds.
Inibuilds A320Neo.
Go watch some videos on YouTube. You can even opt into the beta and try it now.
The plane is free and included with SU14 even for Xbox pilots so it is a win all round.
But please lets be respectful to FBW and inibuilds and less we forget FBW gave us all a true and the first semi study level plane before anything else. So let’s not do that if you know what I mean.
Thank you MSFS and Asobo team. Your software is my escape on much needed days. Also MODs especially Jane. Thank you for putting up with all my feedback regarding bugs over the last year.
Hard to believe it’s almost 4 years since we got this sim.
Although I agree mostly, I do feel kind of betrayed by Asobo. You see, before MS2020 was released, I was lead to believe that MS2020 would be improved and keep support for many years to come. With the now anticipated release of MS2024, I feel like it was half a lie from Asobo/MS.
My reasoning for this is that for the past year, we really have not seen MAJOR sim optimizations. Take DX12 for example. We have the ability to use frame generation but then we have to deal with broken ground tiles that we get with DX12. Asobo states this is an Nvidia issue, yet more than a year has gone by and no fix yet.
Right now, the big hype is that MS2024 will have better cores/threads being utilized thus give better performance. It just feels like MS2020 has been abandoned and now we are all supposed to buy again another new MS2024 in order to get these better optimizations and stuff. And trust me, I strongly believe DX12 will never be out of beta in MS2020. Asobo will probably also add this in 2024 as stable to get more people to jump into 2024.
I get it, you need to make money, but again, just feel like we no longer are paying for a single product, but rather we will be paying more and more down the line for what we think is free upgrades.
I remember when Microsoft released their 64-bit OS.
If I wanted to take advantage of the improvements it offered, I had to buy new 64-bit versions of the software my computer ran.
I could still use the 32-bit versions on the new 64-bit OS if I chose.
Similarly, if I want to take advantage of the features of FS2024, I’ll need to buy it.
I’ll still be able to run FS2020 if I choose not to spend money for the new software.
Eventually, support will expire. Nature of the business.
Thank you Microsoft/Asobo, for one of the best games in HISTORY! Flight simulator is my obsession, once VR was introduced I feel like I put on my headset, and never want to take it off. If I get sick of flying the pattern in a C172 I can take Darkstar out for a 9+ Mach excursion into the upper atmosphere. I can fly in Los Angeles in the morning, and Vienna at lunch, at any time of day or weather conditions I choose. I can land a helicopter in a swimming pool. Yep, MS Flight Simulator is the very best indeed.
Asobo has stated many things over the years. The problem is the way textures, shadows and shaders are applied by engine to terrain. They follow a checkerboard pattern and they need to come from the server master source, with shaders and shadows applied to it as required. That results in things like that issue or the following one:
This does not happen to aircraft or building textures, only to terrain. If there was a problem with drivers all textures would have the same issues.
I completely understand but many users have spent much more money on peripherals and addons than on their MSFS 2020 license. For them, paying MS/Asbobo $70-$120 every 4 years is just a drop in the bucket and it funds continued improvements to stability, performance, API, feature set and infrastructure of the sim and its ecosystem.
I thought the same, but to be honest in free content and planes they have given us not to mention the amount of hours they must of used having WT to do the avionics and continue to do so, and IMHO WT are at the top of their game in this department none of that is free.
So another $120 for 2024, bring it on if I am still lucky enough at the time to be able to afford it (always grateful for my employment) and I am sure/hope 2024 will start where 2020 ended but ended isn’t the right right word, maybe I mean 2024 will just carry on from the amazing 2020.
MSFS is great value. Flying anything is expensive (e.g. renting a C172 for just one hour is ~2 times what I paid for MSFS), but I love that I can fly believable VFR in MSFS using all the charts and accoutrements of a real flight and feel satisfied at the end of it. If MSFS 2024 delivers 1/2 of what’s rumored, I will be on it day one like a fly on poo…
Entirely Disagree, i have spent a lot and i have no issues with spending $70 BUT what about the thousands ive spent on addons? Apparently according to Microsoft these will work with the new sim but will they? They also said they would fix atc and numerous other bugs we still have and didn’t so i wont believe a word of anything 2024 until they live upto their word on 2020.
That being said 2020 is on the whole very good and despite the unwanted gifts like WTT avionics that break everything and still do and another A320 for the collection they have given us some wonderful things like the DC3 , the beaver, ATR, helicopters and gliders and a lot of cheaper planes which for the most are ok including 4 flying boats to put with the a320’s
