This is what I’m hoping for and hope that makes it to PC as well. As long as you can get a MINIMUM of 30 fps at all times in all conditions, then it really makes absolutely no difference what it runs at the top end. What’s required is a fluid experience that doesn’t drop below 30 fps. If they can pull this off, I’d be more than happy to not get the near 50 fps I was getting at launch if it meant I had a fluid 30 fps experience. Yeah, more fps is nice, but not necessary for flight simulation.
And of course, getting rid of the annoying stuttering would be a big help as well.
There are the fanboys and flag waivers that would claim this. And they’d be wrong. But only when comparing to high end current gen PC specs - something not a whole lot of people have atm. In fact, that’s an argument that’s been presented with every generation of console since the original XBOX that was based on PC architecture. At launch, they’re better than the average gamer’s computer. At mid-life (3-ish years), they’re about on par, and by the end of life (5-6 years), it’s lagging behind. Never does a new console surpass high end PC hardware of the era though.
If you look at the specs of the XBOX Series X, the CPU is roughly comparable to a Ryzen 3800 and the GPU is based on RDNA2 of the Radeon 6000 series, but more in line spec-wise with the Radeon 5000 series. If you compare that to Steam hardware surveys, that’s better than the vast majority of gaming computers being used out in the wild right now (mostly 6th-9th gen Intel or Ryzen 1000/2000 series CPUs, Radeon 500 series or nVidia 1000 series GPUs). And it uses XBOX GDDR6 RAM when all our computers are still using DDR4 at best. Plus, XBOX doesn’t have to deal with all the overhead and background processes of running Windows, meaning its hardware is fully dedicated to the games it runs.
Seeing what a lot of people have posted here in the forum of their specs, it either matches or outclasses their systems. The more hardcore simmers and gamers with the money to spend, not so much.
So saying it’s better than most gaming PCs out there isn’t a stretch at all. For now… At least until that “average” bar moves to the right over the next 3 years and surpasses what the XBOX has under the hood.
But I’ll agree that people expecting 4K Ultra / 60 fps were WAY too optimistic. But if they can maintain a consistent 30 fps without stutters, then it’s not an issue. Not sure what the console gamers with the “60 fps or it’s ■■■■” attitude will feel about that though. lol
I don’t mind spending $500 and getting 30fps flying into Heathrow without stutters and all the other issues majority of PC users suffer with including those who have $3k+ PC’s.
The fact that it can run the Sim at 30 fps with good settings is amazing considering it’s $600. My 3090 cost 3 times that alone. For the money it’s a beast of a machine for sure.
If I could use third-party software, community add-ons and high-end controllers on an X-box I would have changed system, Xbox is great if you want to avoid CTD’s and all the hassle of tweaking your PC for more fps.
Yes, for that software build, every Xbox has the exact same minimum system architecture and configuration. They can ultra-tweak it knowing that every machine is the same.
Versus the incredibly varied hardware on the PC side.
Yes. The hardware has been optimized for small form factor performance by AMD and the software will have been optimized for this specific hardware set.
Given that it’s core tech is AMD it seems likely that certain optimisations may favour PC’s running that manufacturers hardware.
On a broader note though, PC hardware really isn’t as varied as many seem to believe.
There are only two CPU manufacturers and only 2 GPU manufacturers and there aren’t really very many memory manufacturers either.
(and these 2 manufacturers also design the core chipset that supporting motherboards will use.)
Intel basically sat on their hands for years and their changes have been in small increments. Iterations of what are effectively the same core design.
AMD have made some larger generational changes since the initial launch of Ryzen.
GPU designs change a little more from one generation to the next but while there may be folks out there playing MSFS2020 with a Sandy or an Ivy and a 9x series Nvidia GPU and ddr3 this is going to be a really quite uncommon config in 2020/2021 because that represents a decade old PC.
I’m not too whipped up over stutters. I have been using Ex-Plane for the past 5 years, and even with their flat generic tile scenery, sparse autogen, lego brick airports, and default aircraft that look like a 5 year old learned how to use blender, it still stutters. Even with the “great Vulkan upgrade” of 2020, it still stutters. So, if MFS stutters too, I’m not overly annoyed by it.
I would find that hard to believe; many (most?) games on consoles are locked to 30 fps yet under some conditions will run slower (lots of complex scenery and effects).
It’s understood that 30fps is the best-effort for good conditions, not the minimum under all conditions.
controllers will come(honeycomb) but thats about it yes.
so most serious flightsimmers will be on pc, its so much more flexible.
just earlier today i had to change an aircraft config file, not possible on xbox…
Your pointing out a rather interesting issue, will they now have to enforce certain performance parameters for marketplace add ons?
Because Xbox will be much more strict with performance than on PC.
I doubt that. Also I guess they will have a decision by the creators of the addon to check if the addon shall be available on PC, on XBox, or both.
And as they already confirmed the creators will be able to decide if an addon that is bought for PC will be available on XBox with the same account or not (seemingly the default will be “not”, so it’s an opt-in for the creators).
Anyway, I guess they’ll have some disclaimer in the TOC that the advertised performance will only be achieved (if at all) without addons. That’s the usual way to deal with this.