So, I understand that the servers have been overwhelmed at launch and still are, and causes these unable to login & streaming issues with half-invisible aircraft and blurry textures. But why is noone talking about what a bad design this is? I think the issues are more fundamentally with their software and not so much about how bad the servers are.
We should be able to launch the sim completely offline (after the initial xbox login, like MSFS2020 has an offline mode). This is obviously not the case, but do I really need to talk to a server successfully to even get to the main menu? This raises serious concerns about their software architecture and about game preservation. If they shut down the servers in 5 years, weâll all be entirely locked out.
If I buy a product, Iâd expect it to be at least so functional that Iâm able to get to the main menu, and start a flight (even just free flight - lock the other modes if you want, but the basics must be functional), without connection. I understand that I cannot save 2.5PB of world data to my harddrive, and itâs fine if the world looks bad. But this is way too reliant on streaming. Even the aircraft and airports, 2 critical parts of the user experience, are streamed by default. If the world is a blurry mess it doesnât technically impact my flying experience, but if thereâs no airport then I cannot land in the first place.
Whatâs worse is that none of this streaming is even mentioned once on the store page.
I fully agree with this, also we often build ourselves extremely high end systems that arenât bound by âsmall HDDâ spaces and can account for this but since using 2024 i canât even get any of the graphics to go higher than what appears to be 1080p graphics even though its saying its 8k and 2020 does 8k with no issues and looks absolutely stunning, 2024 canât even load in airports without it being blocky and no textures loaded, my system is using about 15% capacity yet its rendering it like its Minecraft its absolutely despicable that i canât use my high end system to its capabilities all because Iâm blocked behind a cloud based streaming wall and terrible internet for my current location
The game could do a basic authentication check without much effort to prevent piracy, but agreed way too much streaming is going on. I get that no one is having 20 petabytes of terrain or whatever the number is stored locally, but there should be more of the game engine & aircraft local at least.
Not sure I like a sim that is so dependent on the cloud. What happens when all the folks are home for the holidays and all using their computers to play other web based games.
Oh well there is not much we can do about it I suppose.
The cloud is great for data that changes. Data that is constant and rarely changes but is frequently accessed has no business being hosted in the cloud. It should have the option to be downloaded ONCE and stored locally.
There is an energy and monetary cost for every bit that moves across the internet. Now is not the time to be so callously wasteful. ISPs still cap and throttle data usage. Costs for all these redundant bits will get passed on to us.
We need the option to download sceneries in advance to combat network congestion when flying, and to be less wasteful and not abuse a common resource.
I suspect this was the ham-handed way to get past data storage limitations on XBox. If true, thatâs great, but it imposes an extra burden on PC users to use the same thin client model that isnât appropriate for PCs, ISPs, or the greater internet, especially with the realities of varying throughput and congestion on the web.
We need to be able to download static elements and store them locally.
2020 was also dependent on internet. Doesnât anyone remember when the DRM server wasnât functioning and only Steam users could get in? Or the couple DDS attacks that happened over the 4 years? It still connected for digital rights, and it still connected for streaming of the world. You werenât able to get to the main menu if it couldnât verify you had the digital rights to the software.
Now yes, people will say that 2020 wasnât as dependent because you could download all your content. Eventually you will be able to do this too with 2024. Unfortunately right now you canât because the Marketplace isnât up. (And yes, I do admit that is a terrible dependency to have for management of your addons).
So I get that people are upset about the servers. Yes, that was a bad situation. But ultimately you will be able to set 2024 up just like you had 2020 if you want, where all your addons, planes, and content is downloaded. But you wonât ever get away from a total lack of login off the internet. But 2020 was exactly the same way.
To address the OPâs concerns, I too am sceptical about how well the Cloud can stream the sim and make it properly function. I believe t was mentioned that there will at some point be an option to put certain stuff on our HDs? I think there will have to be as any third-party content that currently has default crafted equivalents simply wonât function without creating conflicts.
On the flip side of the coin, my initial impression is that FS2024 runs a bit smoother than 2020.
It definitely was. Iâm not saying it canât be dependent on the internet. Real world weather, traffic, etc, are reasons for live internet traffic while flying.
I never said ânoâ internet traffic. I just said there should be a way to store the static stuff locally. Only download it once until it gets updated (if it gets updated).
Thereâs a big difference between streaming live data and streaming live data AND lots and lots of static dead data over and over. Downloading the static data once reduces data throughput requirements, network congestion, and saves money on metered connections.
I think most understand the need/desire to stream live data. But why download scenery over day after day if flying around the same area (which many do)?
No, itâs the reason they made flight sim more approachable for any player, and not just hardcore sim players. I used to fly a lot on PC back in the day, now iâm a casual player laying on my couch and flying with my controller.
It really has. Weâve had compromises for XBox impact the PC side various ways over the years. It is an older platform now that has always been limited and is likely the reason for the âthin clientâ model now that streams everything.
Streaming scenery is new and unexpected because it is so wasteful and makes the sim dependent on the internet connection quality and throughput. Any flight sims with scenery until now allowed preloading and storage of scenery. Itâs probably the most glaring example of accommodation for XBox limitations. I canât come up with any other reason for doing it.
Are you entitled to a flight sim of your own? Canât choose from any of the previous 16 sims that were released over the past 20 years? Now the xbox players are at fault for âdumbingâ down your game experience? You donât have to play it. This game is exactly what i and many others needed, if you donât like itâŠ
I was actually responding to the original poster, who did say that he purchased the game, that it needs to be have a completely offline mode so that if the servers ever get shut down he can still fly, and then compared that to 2020. I was just pointing out that 2020 did DRM on the simulator itself and every single piece of content in your OneStore directory.
Worth remembering that we might not have FS2024 had it not been for Xbox â and the 2020 version likely wouldnât have had the support it did.
The assertion that the Xbox is responsible for 2024âs poor performance is speculation, with no solid supporting evidence.
That said, I am beginning to think the streaming âsolutionâ was a bad idea (at least till they can get the infrastructure to a satisfactory level). Allowing us to download some content (which I believe is on the cards) would alleviate some pressure, at least.
It would be nice for those that most often depart from the same airport to have an option to download and store say an area of 30 miles around that airport on their drives.
Once taken off and headed in the direction they wish to fly, the sim could then start streaming terrain 30 miles ahead and give it time to import everything.
Took off from blackpool to leeds in fairly poor weather this morning and entire motorway networks and other areas looked like construction sites because they had not loaded in.
Of course, if you soon favour another airport and are space limited, you could also have the option to delete the original stored terrain. Or keep it as you wish.
MSFS 2020 was not really useable offline either. Technically yes, but a horrible experience. The rolling cache is now your local storage solution. Increase the size if you have the HDD for it. I donât think the asset streaming is as bad as some people are making it out to be. When weâre past the launch woes, it should work well. It opens up an opportunity for Asobo to patch things more quickly without having giant sim updates.
In MSFS 2020, I had many aircraft and sceneries that I never used yet they occupied my hard drive. And if you tried to uninstall them, the next update would download them again. That was not an ideal situation.
Itâs really simple. Having a thin client means that Microsoft must commit to deploying enough server capacity and expertise to ensure that their servers wonât be the source of the problems we will inevitably have. If they do that, this will work. If they donât, weâll never know whether the glitches we get are bugs, server problems, or our own connections. Everything will take forever to fix, and all of the customers will be miserable.
