I finally completed my computer I specifically built for the sim. I obviously need to install it now and am seeing mixed reviews about getting it from the MS store or Steam. Just wondering if anyone has a preference or a reason to get it from one or another. I will not be using it on a Xbox. I will strictly be using the sim on this PC. Any other advice for anything would also be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
(Parts list below for people who care about that stuff)
I’ve downloaded a lot of games on Steam that I seldom play, because all my gaming time is spent on this sim. I got the sim on MS-Store.
Would it have mattered? I don’t know, because I never tried to get the sim on Steam.
I do know that I haven’t had (m)any issues with the MS-Store version. Nor have I had any issues with my other games from Steam.
I did have one pretty rough go when an addons uninstaller trashed my sim install. I mean it wiped it out. It was a real PITA to get it back, because of the phantom Xbox account hoops I had to jump through (and didn’t know about.) Don’t know if the same hoops exist for Steamers.
Nice system, BTW. I would have gone for a 1000W P/S, but I like headroom to handle the inevitable load spikes that modern GPU’s have. You should be OK, though.
Do yourself a favor, if you haven’t already. Get a good 1500VA Sine Wave UPS.
It’s more for power conditioning than anything, but it also gives you peace of mind that your computer can shut down gracefully during an unattended extended power outage.
(Someone will probably come along and tell you they’re an unnecessary waste of money, and that’s fine. You decide. Personally I wouldn’t run an expensive computer system without one.)
Timely topic, becuase I am soon to be faced with the same decision on my new rig. I was initially leaning towards Steam but this PC will be sim dedicated. My other gaming PC currently uses steam and I have a fair few titles there. I’ve never used Steam on multiple machines - if I install Steam on the new dedicated Sim PC will it want to download and update the same games I have installed on the other PC? Or is Steam smart enough to have different installations on different PCs? This would be the deal breaker in my decision becuase I want the sim PC to be MSFS only.
Steam users any idea if you can have different parts of your library installed on different machines? I would use the same Steam Account but I wouldn’t want all the other games loading on the MSFS only machine.
I got mine from MS Store. My experience with steam hasn’t been all that great for flight sim software in general, mainly because of performance issues I had with DCS, so decided to avoid steam for performance heavy games like this - especially when VR can be involved. So, to be safe and avoid any unknowns, I went with MS Store.
No worries! Yeah I have heard that and seen that comment before it honestly has never happened to me and I suspect it may rarely happen, during a beta test period.
Hi @BuzzJungle, you can choose what to install on each machine.
i.e. you could have MSFS and Team Fortress 2 in your library, but install them individually on different computers
I went with Steam, but in my case specifically because Steam puts the game files in a place that doesn’t have the absurd levels of unchangeable file access blocks that the MS Store version has (or had, not sure any more), so I could read and in some cases edit core files. Not the encrypted files, of course.
I get the impression that maybe the Steam cloud sync works a little better, but that’s just an impression from hearing people talk about the Xbox Live app breaking stuff for them.
Anyway, that’s why I did it, and I’m happy with my choice.
As a simmer that is giving a lot of user to user support for 4 years now in msfs, I can testify - that users of the MS Store/DVD Versions have had way more problems than Steam Users.
There would only be one reason I would recommend the Store or DVD Version - that would be, if you intend to use the MSFS also on the XBOX.
Otherwise I would always recommend the Steam Version.
The Store/DVD Version has file protections, a mandatory ms gaming services and ms store login requirement. Especially the gaming services caused alot of problems in the early days of the sim. Also if you want to use the standard installation file locations for content - the folder name is very long and often causes trouble (can be avoided with custom content install location though).
One important thing to consider too - if you already have bought a lot on the msfs marketplace with the ms store/dvd version, you most likely cannot use these addons in the steam version.
