MSFS 2024 Compatibility

Discussion Hub MSFS 2024
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I see all the threads that have been opened have all been locked. I understand the team wants to come up and do a presentation on the next generation. And thats fine, I can wait for that. HOWEVER, one thing we do need to know is, will current addons be compatible with the new simulator. It might 1-3 weeks before we get the presentation, however during that time, I need to know if I should be buying any addons. I see in the current addon planes, so I presume they are ok to purchase. But what about scenery, such as airports? What about environmental addons such as SeaFront Simulations packages? What about utilities such as Strpr?

I dont want to go on purchasing addons and then be presented that they only have a 6-12 month lifespan. All other questions, yes, they can wait. We are all interested in hearing about the new simulator. But for the financial considerations, we should be told as early as possible if there will be no backward compatibility with certain types of addons, so we can make wise financial purchases.

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These are the question that everyone wants the answer to, and the complete lack of answers to these questions as of this moment is the reason why today is the biggest PR fail in the history of the MSFS product. Someone should probably get fired over this.

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Itā€™s ridiculous to drop announcements like this without promptly laying down answers to the big questions like this. Iā€™m not feeling this very fair atm. I really hope this is apart of the ā€œGrand Planā€ for the next 10yrs and we wonā€™t have anything to worry about as everything will work together within the same app or something. Kinda like a much more significant than 40th annv upgrade enhancement, the ā€œtrueā€ next gen update made for greater compatibility and harmony. Iā€™m all for it if it weā€™re not expected to pay for add ons all over again. There are study level planes that currently wonā€™t release for another year, so itā€™s hardly fair if these efforts are going to be automatically redundant as of now.

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Iā€™m not worrying about anything until the next dev stream. No sense in being anything other than stoic until then. I have the same questions as everyone, but weā€™ll have to sit tight for answers and until then, thereā€™s flying to do. Iā€™ll also be holding off on buying any other addons until we know about this one though, I think thatā€™s completely fair. Weā€™re coming up on a Local Legend and Famous Flyer next month, and Iā€™ll be really keen on knowing what the roadmap is for integration into 2024.

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Oh, I am fine on the other questions waiting. However, next dev stream of however they are going to handle this, it may be weeks off. I routinely spend $60-$300 a week on addons. So if I donā€™t alter my spending habits, say I did the max and it was three weeks we get answers. And then I find out things arenā€™t compatible. That would be nearly $1000 for something that will have a very limited lifespan. So that one question does have relevance presnetly, because we need to know if we should alter our current sim behavior.

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Woo! Awesome news and what I expected to hear.

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Someone was faster than me to post this. I hope it makes anxious minds sleep better :slight_smile:

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Now just where to put all these kittens people have been having?
:joy:

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if you believe itā€¦

Right now aircraft often are not even compatible with a new sim update.

But they will all miraculously work in the next MSFS version.

Sure they willā€¦I believe it when I see it.

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That is not Microsofts Problemā€¦that is a Problem you have to workout with the ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  dev that refuses to support his Product and even more reason to think twice which dev to support by buying his product,

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12

Oh I donā€™t trust third party devs to upgrade their products for MSF2020 after MSFS 2024 was released and I donā€™t trust them to offer free upgrades for their MSFS2020 products for MSFS024. I mean why would they.

My wallet stays closed until next year when one can evaluate how the situation really presents itself.

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13

The are several subsystems in MSFS, such as

  1. User Interface
  2. Core flight rules and physics
  3. Content Manager
  4. World Content Streaming
  5. Weather

I expect based on what is being said, that #2, #3, and #5 are going to be relatively stable and probably to some point shared between MSFS 2020 and 2024. Keep in mind when MSFS 2020 was launched, #2 was actually the FSX core. WU 5 replaced that with new modern code.

Based upon what we see in the trailer, the LOD for Los Angeles was better. The environment could be interacted with (dumping water on the fire actually impacts the fire, so not just a water animation). Other than the LOD we didnā€™t really get to see much of city rendering etc, but I have been keeping up with Blackshark.AI and they have made considerable advances since 2019. I am expecting that some of those advances will be included in #4. The new mission/career will probably be its own new subsystem.

So basically, if the core is the same, I would expect most the addons to react to API calls the same as they do now. But with improved graphics, LOD, ability to interact with the environment, etc I can see where a developer would want to perhaps upgrade functionality. However, those would be 2024 updates, and wouldnā€™t reflect back to 2020 because 2020 would not have the same updates to #1 and #4. In which case, they would have to branch off a 2024 version of the product. So your 2020 version of the product will still work, but for products that have been enhanced for new graphics, features, ability to interact with the environment (like, Roland Laborie right now on his CanadAir 500 drops water which is just an animation, but if he wanted to actually imprement the new water drop that effects a fire, that would probably then be a 2024 specific version). It would have to be a new product in the marketplace because 2020 would not support the enhancements.

So will everyone charge an upgrade cost? Iā€™m not sure. I have to believe it would be based upon how extensive the effort to upgrade was. Of if you have initials such as CS, you might want to release new versions of even your liveries. But based on comparability being backwards compatible but not forward, I expect that you will have the choice whether to upgrade or not, and if it is worth it to you.

No these are all guesses of course. But they are based upon what has been said so far, and based upon what can be seen in the trailer.

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Mine too. I donĀ“t want to repeat the same blind trust mistakes again. LetĀ“s see what they bring and then I will decide if this is really a long term commitment or just another unfinished experiment. I can accept a second chance but not a third one anymore if they fail again.

Cheers

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Hilarious!

Several ā€œmy walletā€™s staying closedā€ on here from folk who by their own admission never or rarely buy from the marketplace because the files are encypted anyway ā€¦ Iā€™m guessing they must mean theoretically.
:joy:

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Why on earth would people want to keep their wallets tight and heavily invest in MSFS2024 instead, when MSFS 2026 could be around the corner? (or 2028 for that matter).

Remember, weā€™re not talking about Reno/Dune arcade users who buy a console to play MSFS with a gamepad. Weā€™re talking about people who have and will invest thousands of dollars on decade-long hardware/software projects to be able to experience a sim as realistically as possible. But I understand, the latter are just the minority.

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Compatability for this gen is 99% assured which is more than can be said for other flight simulators that ā€˜evolveā€™.

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Plenty of addons in flightsim.to and other 3rd party sites (payware or not) tend to break even after simple SU updates.

Imagine what will happen if devs donā€™t care to update (or are slow to do so or, worse, want us to re-buy) when MSFS2024 is out.

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Same answer as always, the tail does not wag the dog. If some 3PDs canā€™t be bothered why on earth should Microsoft worry about their products?

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Because it was MS/Asobo who originally pledged on a decade-long support and continuous development of the title. Without saying anything about potential new titles after a few years, which might cause disruptions (potentially bigger than the ones caused by the regular SU updates).

And all that, without even fulfilling what had been promised for MSFS2020 more 3-4 years ago (lots of that stuff remains broken or incomplete).

Guess weā€™ll find out when MSFS2024 is out. Until then Iā€™m not investing a single penny more in MSFS2020.

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