Microsoft flight simulator user interface

Official Microsoft Flight Simulator Wishlist
1

Hello,

Could MSFS Team review the UI of MSFS to be in line with the previous FS2004 and FS2010?
A light, solid and simple local (on the PC) interface, not a full screen transparent overlay internet interface. Once the flight is loaded then the sim runs full screen like FS9 and FS10 and the sim connects to internet for satellite data streaming and real weather etc.

But the interface loading should be like FS9 or FS10, windowed, without flashing 4 credits for about 1min before even starting to load the interface which takes another 1 to 3min (?) to show updates, world japan is there etc to (finally) show the interface? The funny (?) thing is that there is the NEWS tab alright which present the updates development details so why putting it in the loading, once the UI is loaded we’ll surely see it right? If we want see credits we click on an about section then credits etc should be there, likewise with development or updates, a section should be there on the UI (remember the FS10 one?).
Every single time we launch the sim, we get flashed 4 credits full screen, not a brainwash is it, maybe the very first time after initial install ok, but not on every single sim launch.

Once we click on the MSFS icon on the desktop (or wherever it is on our PC) we should get to the MSFS UI as soon as possible, given the sim the time to load its raw data, then if we want see some credits we click on about section in the Ui, if we want see what’s going on with MSFS development and updates etc then we click on the corresponding section in the UI etc.

I believe this overlay thing is what causes performances and stability issues with MSFS, and make the fans go noisy when it could run easily and more performant like FS9 and FS10 and most of all SILENTLY , without all this layer on top of the running.

I checked my CPU and GPU performances when running MSFS and compared them to the performances I used to have when running FS9 and FS10 and they are about the same but I can hear the fans now, before I barely heard them for same use. Of course MSFS uses more memory on the GPU but using more memory doesn’t make the fan go crazy. The overlay does


MSFS should run silent or near silent
fan whisper is ok.

Also no menu bar on top like before, that we can hide with ALT long press then make it reappear by ALT press, then we could EASILY navigate to where we wanted in the sim, even quit the sim directly, not having to go through 2 or 3 layers before being able to do so or navigate in the sim
?

What about the famous V screenshot, now replaced with VFR map? I don’t understand why MSFS has no take screenshot shortcut, instead of having to use third party to take screenshot?

REMEMBER THOSE?:

FS9

fs9
fs9806×684 91.4 KB

FS10

fs10
fs101202×895 169 KB

Not the same now:

FS20

Screenshot (70)
Screenshot (70)3840×2160 555 KB

2

I agree with your suggestions for the most part. Not trying to be dismissive, but most of these changes are never going to happen. Flight Simulator’s UI is drawn using Direct3D and runs on the same game loop as when you’re in the cockpit. That’s why your fans are cranking in the menus. I wish they had a lightweight, responsive, and native Windows UI instead, but making this change now is going to involve a massive rewrite of large parts of the game. Basically ripping out a core component of the software and redoing it from scratch. Probably a major reason it was done this way is so that it mostly works as is on the XBox platform.

3 Likes
3

Yes yes, it is not too late, it is only couple months since launch, so they can definitely scratch that and get back to legacy core. Windows UI doesn’t mean it can’t interact with XBOX
Windows is the solution and that will fix most of the hickups we see in the forum. They trying to make MSFS coexist on both Windows and XBOX, not working.

MSFS belongs in Windows not XBOX


Life is EASY, making the impossible makes life difficult


4

Ahhhhh! the lightbulb goes on.

5

Not according to the first splash screen. Microsoft is probably intending this to be a flagship title for the Series X. It’s standard practice that any game being ported to/from a console shares the UI because it saves work not having to develop and maintain two seperate versions of the same game

Meanwhile, Asobo is already underwater trying to finish major features of this game including the autopilot, live weather, avionics, flight model
 The airliners don’t have contrails, and the Icon doesn’t have a wake. There’s just basic stuff they haven’t even finished yet. They’re not going to redo what was probably thousands of hours of UI development in the midst of this.

How about this for a solution instead: Asobo opens up whatever functionality the UI has via the SDK or an API to third party developers and provides a -noUI start-up option. Then Asobo doesn’t have to redo all of their work, and third party developers can implement their own custom user interfaces using native Windows controls. You could get an extremely minimalist UI that just launches you straight into the cockpit cold and dark. Another could be a retro version that returns the FSX interface. Or a highly technical one that interfaces with a flight planning app for airliner pilots while skipping the splash screens, and gamey graphical menus.

6

I meant MSFS as built in, no third party involved, Asobo could return to FS9/FSX interface that would be nice, and make the fans silent again, if they can make the fans go loud they certainly can make them quiet.

7

Well I find the Ui to be fresh, modern and easy to navigate [go figure]!
I simply limit the max frame rate from within the NVIDIA CP to avoid any ‘runaway’.

Cheers.

1 Like
8

Yeah go figure


9

Never imagined I would say this; but now it’s such a soothing experience every time I navigate within the user interface of X Plane :sweat_smile:

3 Likes
10

:smirk: :clap:t2: :clap:t2: :+1:t2:

11

Limiting the framerate on 2D menu screens is definitely an issue they need to fix.

They could. But they won’t. Returning the UI to a 15-20 year old version just isn’t a realistic option. It should be pretty obvious by now that this isn’t your “daddy’s simulator”. It’s a “next gen” and folks need to get used to the new way they’re doing things (or play something else). Any requests for a return to how things were done in the past have been shot down or ignored.

1 Like
12

Oh come on! When discussing [or at least trying to] matters of taste, is there any
need to be facetious.

13

They could and they should, they make a 2020 UI not a 2005 UI, they just keep the legacy. It is next gen not daddy’s sim but make it nice. New ways to make things doesn’t mean better ways to make things, as we ALL know?

14

No offense mate, just trying to understand your logic.

1 Like
15

Everyone in this thread has a different opinion on what this means. That’s why I suggested opening this up to third parties so people can skin the sim however they like. Because if they make the UI just how you want it, the next guy is going to come on here and start this same thread, complaining about the change and how they want the old UI back.

1 Like
16

It is not ME, it’s on behalf of everybody I wrote this, not me personally


17

Not so much a case of logic as a simple matter of taste.
But your reply has pleasently disarmed me!
No offence taken.

1 Like
18

I actually don’t mind the loading times or look of it.
But I constantly run into the issue that when hovering a button with the mouse and immediately clicking, the click is not registered. I first need to hover the mouse to have the highlight animation finished and then I can click it. It’s even worse in game with lower framerate, but the way buttons work in the menus is very weird.

19

Hang on a minute there!

Well I didn’t vote for you!

20

Lol, maybe I didn’t use the right phrase then :sweat_smile:

I should had written, I wrote this as general thoughts not me personally