Unfortunately, the MSFS experience on XBox will always be a “lite” experience. XBox users will never have access to the hardware, software, 3rd party external apps, freeware, and even most Marketplace add-ons that PC users will. The vanilla experience will be the same, but that’s where it ends.
Prior to SU5 / XBox launch, I took a lot of flak from perspective MSFS simmers / gamers convinced of the contrary for saying that, had a lot of my posts flagged, etc. I don’t say any of this out of malice or PC elitism. It’s just the reality of the situation.
That said, the XBox version is still quite new. On the PC side, we’re still dealing with bugs that were present from the alpha and beta releases before launch almost a year and a half ago. These bugs also affect the XBox.
The marketplace is still a mess from the client side. It’s an even bigger mess from the perspective of 3rd party devs who wait weeks to months to have their wares (for PC - the easiest approval path) accepted and processes.
Over time, things will get better for both platforms. But how long that will take is anyone’s guess.
I do feel for you guys on XBox. At least on PC, we have access to tons of freeware add-ons, payware add-ons from 3rd party markets, etc. You guys are really stuck with whatever MS decides to give you.
I can totally understand why many users who started on XBox have since switched to PC. No matter how good the XBox experience ever gets, it won’t be able to touch what we have on PC.
This may very well be true, but that which has already been released for it needs to be supported and functioning.
The complaint here isn’t that we expect to have access to 100% of what the PC has, the complaint is the apparent lack of attention to what we do have, the issues with those and the barriers in play that are affecting more mods being made available — mods that the developers themselves say they want to bring to the Xbox.
It’s also not upgradeable, so for a 10 year FS dev cycle it may look decidedly old tech in 3-5 years. Unless of course they are secretly working on a new XBoxFS? I doubt it though. Any potential XBox X development is also gated by XBox S. They are both XBox and the sim is taylored for squeaking on to the smaller sibling so the X will only ever work to the capability of the S except for 4K output. This I fear may also be hindering the platform for improving/stabilising/expanding/enhancing FS on it.
There will be another Xbox in 3-5 years, with enhancements. Even if it’s still a Series X/S. It happens every generation. I’m not concerned about the hardware.
I completely understand and agree 100%. If it’s being sold in the marketplace, it should work. Period.
We’ve suffered that on PC as well. Asobo release an update that breaks a bunch of planes, and then we have to wait months for the fix to be released, even though the 3rd party has submitted the fix. This was particularly true of Carenado planes. Twice now in the last 13 or so months since the Mooney M20 was released that we’ve had it broken and unusable. The first time last year was 12 weeks. Asobo changed something that broke the planes. By the time Asobo published the Mooney update, they had released another sim update that broke the plane again. And so the cycle went for 3 months. And then after SU5, the Mooney was broken again for another 6 week or so.
So I understand why XBox users who have a very limited selection of add-ons are ■■■■■■ off when they buy something that doesn’t work. I sympathize with your predicament completely.
Man, do I ever hear you on this. I’ve been in communication with Carenado over my two planes’ issues and I seriously feel for them. They get paid once, but have to deal with supporting their aircraft on a sim that seems, for now, to be a moving target for them to support.
As an Xbox user I can definitely conquer with a lot the OP has said. You would think that with the system being a controlled and known quantity that it would be easier for programming. But this system is also really new as is the game, so we have growing pains. Hopefully MS can offer more support and guidance to help programmers.
I do enjoy this game most days and my flights have been for the most part without incident. I do have a couple of add ons that do not work but I am optimistic that they too will be fixed in time.
I think that DX12 will help Xbox in many ways for optimization but that is still a ways off.
I dont think any XBox user in this thread is stating they haven’t accepted that some things just aren’t possible with XBox. We get that. So far, PC users are telling us we need to accept that we just can’t expect that we will get what PC has. That isn’t what this is about.
It’s about GA craft that have been working for months, and then they break on XBox, and no one has a clue what to do about it. Its about something as simple as a group of bush trips suddenly stopping to work on XBox. Its about when you go for support with the developer, they don’t have a clue what the issue is, have no way to see it. It’s about trying different fixes, waiting to have them published on the marketplace, having Microsoft certify in the XBox labs they work, only to be pushed out and find out the fix after 3 weeks didn’t do a thing on a retail XBox, the problem still persists. Its about spending weeks going back and forth having the develper point to Microsoft, Microsoft point to the developer, no one taking ownership, and months later you still have no clue whether what you paid for will ever work. Its about being restricted to only two refunds a year with XBox purchases, so even if you do decide to give up on a product, you only get your money back for a maximum of two, and I have 5 purchased mods that just don’t work, but the other 5 Carenado planes may be in the same position (I have to test after work), so that could be 10 mods. 8 of them if they can never find a solution I just won’t get my money back on. This is about being in the very weird position when you report an XBox problem to the developer, you almost have to console and be empathetic to them. I feel like I should be apologizing for even bringing the issue to them, because they are helpless with XBox issues.
I know. I was just saying how much ■■■■ I took leading up to the XBox release from people (XBox fanboys) who were basically dissiminating incorrect information about what the sim would be like on XBox. And it left a lot of people who got an XBox for MSFS based on that bad information very disappointed as a result.
I read your OP, and I’m completely onboard with you and agree. It’s happened to us on PC as well if you scroll up to my second last post in this thread which details that experience we’ve had.
It sucks worse for you guys though, because you’re 100% dependent on the marketplace.
I’d just be happy if it didn’t stutter in large cities on my series X lol. I feel they’ve let Xbox down if the game can’t maintain a consistent frame rate
I’m not a console gamer, but many of my friends are and I’ve played most versions of PS and XBox over the years. I’ve always preferred the XBox out of the 2. It’s always been the superior console as far as I’m concerned.
Isn’t sad I’m now looking at a Razer gaming laptop (that’ll run this sim right?). I never imagined I’d be making this decision just for MSFS. I don’t have room for a desktop (I figure I can still hook this up to my big screen) but I’m deathly afraid of going back to a PC/Windows with all the tweaking I see people dealing with.
Yeah I can only imagine based on my company granted work laptop running excel… I grew up with consoles and everything is just easy. And I have gamepass from the Series X purchase so there would some cross over with that.
But you’re right, you wouldn’t know the Series X was on and running MSFS if it weren’t for the logo light. And it’s not like the sim looks terrible on it either, far from it.
The royal problem is that Asobo is not talking about every change in the patch notes. They are changing things without saying a word. In the past it was quite a pain when they made changes to AI traffic without any notes and we had to trial and error our way through the whole thing.
Just thought I’d put my 2 cents in. I’m a retired airline worker and I’ve been around aircraft my whole life. Started simming in the 80s with Flight Simulator 2 on an Atari 800 computer, and went through almost every iteration since then up to Flight Sim X on the PC.
My last PC is now 12 years old, and cannot run FS2020. I’ve been into console gaming for quite a few years, so I was extremely excited when Flight Simulator was anounced for the Xbox Series X. I could afford an xbox for $600, but could not justify spending $2000 for a new PC just for one piece of software. (Canadian prices)
I was in awe the first time I loaded up the sim on my Xbox, couldn’t believe how good it looked compared to FSX on my old PC. I knew going into it that there would be limitations on what the Xbox could do compared to a modern high end PC, but I’m ok with that. I don’t need study level expensive aircraft any more, but the aircraft that are available to me should at least work. For the most part they do.
The marketplace should also work, hasn’t for me since day one, always need Zen Desk to manually complete the purchase every time. Very frustrating, as nobody has any idea what the problem is, and I’m not the only one that this happens to.
Errors with 3rd party addons - YXU from FSimStudios CTDs, YVR by FSDreamTeam no jetways (since August), main sim aircraft and canopies icing up even when that option is turned off both functionally and visually.
I DO think that Asobo has done an amazing job in what they’ve achieved on the xbox, and hopefully with some patience things will be fixed. Not willing to give up on the Xbox, I just hope that the developers feel the same way.
given that MFS is a ‘signature’ title for the Xbox - heck, even GOTY credentialed - it would seem likely that MFS will be getting plenty of attention from Asobo/MS,
& of note, MFS Xbox has only been around for maybe 6 months…
personally, getting good value from both the PC & Xbox versions & of course, anticipating improvements for both versions - see no reason why it will be not delivered in time…
@Pug66 I reckon whipping this into shape the way it ought to be, there should be newfound confidence among the developers. Other Devs will probably be more willing to come to the table. I bet there are more than a few that are highly hesitant of getting in on this. You bet ya they’ll be watching from the sidelines.
@craigeaglefire You make a good point. I doubt they’ll just give up, all this can’t be for nothing. It would be an embarrassment if they shut it down. Way too much money at stake here. This game is pretty much a reference quality example of what the console can now achieve. If they can knuckle down once and for all, this could easily be one of the best exclusives for this generation period.
