Need advise on which SIM, 2020 or 2024 to start out with

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
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If I am making my first post in the wrong forum, please switch it for me.

My name is Tom and to say I am old would be an understatement. I am 75 years old and have a new prebuilt gaming PC (3 days old). When it comes to gaming and Flight Simulators I am in the dark. But everyone has to start some where.

This is my PC.
CyberPowerPC
Windows 11 Home
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D up to 5 GHz
AMD Rodeon RX9070 XT 16GB
32 GB DDR5 - 6000MHz RGB Memory
2 TB PCI-E Gen 4 NVME SSD

I also have the Turtle Beach Velocity one flight stick.

I am trying to decide whether I should start learning using MSFS2020 or MSFS2024. It seems that currently, MSFS2020 is more stable.

What is your advise?

If I start with MSFS2020 and after getting a little experience, it would not be an issue to switch over to MSFS2024.

Should I purchase the MSFS program from MS or Steam? Or does it matter?

Thank in advance for any assistance you provide.

Tom

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Hey Tom, I only have 2020 so that may give you pause for thought. Personally if you donā€™t know one from the other then why not just go 2024? While 2020 is more stable itā€™s certainly not bug free so you might feel short changed if you go with it expecting a stable sim. There seems to be more aeroplanes from 3rd parties with 2020 but that canā€™t go on for much longer.

However if money is no object get both, use 2020 first then upgrade to 2024. Youā€™ll then objectively be able to see for yourself which offers the best experience based on you.

Me I am still waiting for a bit more good news re 2024 before I upgrade.

Good luck which ever way you go.

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Thanks for the reply. I have been leaning toward starting with MSFS2020 and trying out the standard section. I think all programs have an issue or two on occasion but MSFS2024 seems to have an excessive amount still. And as I mentioned, I am not a spring chicken. I have learned that although it is nice starting out with the best of things, beginning with older versions tends to make you appreciate the more realistic version when you work your way up to them.

Again, thanks for the reply.

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Hi Tom, If you want the most stable experience, 2020 is probably your best choice. But keep in mind 2024 is fairly stable now for most users. There is a new Sim Update 3 for 2024 that should produce more stability and features. Most of the add on developers are focused on 2024 too. Your PC should handle either version fine.

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Get GamePass for a month and try both.

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Subscribe to PC Game Pass and you can have bothā€¦ the first month for 1 $ I believe, then 9 $.

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Once I know which version I want (2024 vs 2020), whatā€™s the best way to buy it? I know that steam is an online service but have never used it. Are there pros/cons to buying it through steam vs some other route, such as the Microsoft Store?

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Even as a 2020 user only, I would say spend your time and effort with 2024. Thatā€™s where all the future effort will go, from both Asobo and all third party developers. Maybe just hold off on career mode until there is a dedicated sim update to tackle the voluminous bugs there.

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FS2024 is currently very stable for me.
ā€œLook forward, not backā€ is my mantra.
There is some rocky terrain along the path to the future, but the trail is getting smoother.

I havenā€™t run FS2020 in maybe 6 months. I just donā€™t see the need.

I should have mentioned that I do ā€˜Free Flightā€™ only.
Iā€™ve never done anything in ā€˜Career Modeā€™ and donā€™t plan to until the myriad problems have been fixed.

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I want to thank each of you for your replies to my questions. Most replies seemed to suggest going with MSFS2024 because it was workable and the issues were being resolved as changes are made. Getting Game Pass was an interesting thought also. The price for the first month would be a bargain.

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Frank, I donā€™t have any experience at gaming but my understanding is that ā€œSteamā€ does not cost anything to sign up for. The cost of purchasing any individual games is the same as with other sources and it keeps all your games in one location.

Now this may be completely wrong so I hope other will jump in and correct me if I am wrong.

Tom

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Correct. And from what I read I think Steam has less problems. As youā€™re not also relying on the Xbox Gaming app which can sometimes get broken in updates or have unavailable services. Iā€™d go with Steam unless you have a specific reason not to.

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Hi and Welcome!
Iā€˜d definitely start out with FS24. Keep out of the beta and you should have a quite good experience (although the state of the sim is still shocking).
But FS2020 is a dying game, they will try to push on one last patch and thatā€™s it. They donā€™t even get FS24 under control with their crew, so no way they keep on investing their time in 2020

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For me 2024 started very bad. With almost minimum requirements unplayable.
Now i have a new laptop with better requirements. And while msfs2024 still has issues, from my view it has already made a big step forwards and is stable. With the new update coming up (watch out, something always breaks with msfs updates) it can only get better. Esp. looking to the future.

With your specs, and if your internet connection is good, i would go for 2024 to be honest.

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I would recommend steam. Iā€™ve read of more buying problems through Microsoft than with steam. I use steam and Iā€™ve never had problems. Iā€™ve stopped using 2020 and have only been flying 2024 now. Itā€™s been stable for me. If you want to play with career mode you have to use 2024. Career mode still has glitches with its missions, but free flight works just fine for me. I like how 2024ā€™s flight planner works better than the world map in 2020. ATC has always sucked in 2020 and itā€™s no better with 2024. However you can get 3rd party apps that do very well. Iā€™ve been using BeyondATC for that.

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Hi, one option would be to try it using PC Gamepass. You will not only be able to use Flight Simulator but many other games and they have a $1 trial for first two weeks.

Personally I would suggest 2020 as, as you said 2024 is far from reliable for me.

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Tom, there have already been a bunch of good replies to your question. All I can add is that I have almost the exact AMD rig as you, same RAM, etc. I run 2020 and have had no crashes, very good frame rates (smooth flying) at even major airports, and the selection of available aircraft and addons is way more than Iā€™ll never need.

I am on Steam and, again, have had not one problem.

My hesitation with 2024, even though many people obviously are using it sucessfully, comes from browsing this Forum. This is not my opinion, just math- the number of posts talking about big stability issues (2024 also relies heavily on your internet speed/connection) and immersion-killing bugs in 2024 greatly outweighs the amount of folks saying it runs and looks better than 2020. At least thatā€™s the current situation.

Yes, Iā€™m sure it will change and thereā€™s a good chance you will be one of those who has no more problems with 2024 than 2020. But, just rerading the Forum, it sure is not happening yet.

The big addition that Microsoft advertises for 2024 is the career mode, which I have no interest in and apparently is the most bug-ridden feature of 2024, so I have little motivation to take the risk. If someone here can honestly say 2024 looks significantly better and runs significantly better and the ratio of positive reviews over negative reviews increases, Iā€™ll be switching to 2024.

So Iā€™m sticking with 2020, which runs great, looks great,and folks are saying has an easier to use hardware (like your flight stick) setup and User Interface until I hear differently.

As others have said, 2024 is the future and at some point will be the only choice. If you are able to try both, as someone suggested, that is obviously the definitive way to choose. In any case, whichever one you end up with, it is an amazxing piece of software and getting better all the time.
Oh, by the way- Iā€™m also 75!
Pete

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This exactly. I have read many posts from users of 2024 that the interface for binding controllers is a bit of a nightmare.
Also just think of the $ factor, we spend thousands on hardware but anguish over $100 or so for the sim?
I am staying with 2020 for the foreseeable future because I am enjoying it so much.
Oh yeah, I am 73.

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I heard the same about 2024 control bindings being a nightmare before I bought it. Now that I have it I donā€™t understand what the fuss is about. Yeah, some of the bindings have changed keystroke locations from 2020, but configuring bindings still works the same way. It also looks like there have been more choices for bindings added. I think the main reason people were complaining is they expected all their previous bindings in 2020 to be exactly the same in 2024. It took me about 15 mins to re-config my plane. No big deal. Iā€™m 72.

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Just to add. There is also an option to use the 2020 binding keyboard scheme if you choose to. That could have been added later, I donā€™t know because I bought 2024 a few months ago.