PC simmers should mourn the passing of MSFS 2020

Say a prayer for that game that was released in august 2020, it’s day has passed. Why? Because of changes to the game, starting with SU5, to allow it to run on xbox.
The game was initially coded to run on pc, low and high end, with graphics adjustments to match pc power.

But now a year later, its potential is limited to what the xbox can do. It doesn’t matter if you have a 3090 gpu, or buy whatever is released next such as a 4xxx series gpu or 12th gen alder lake cpu’s. Doesn’t matter if you buy a 16 core cpu, msfs will never fully use them.

SU5 proved that pc users will have to put up with downgrades to their experience in order to accomodate xbox users, this shows how ms/asobo will always approach this going forward. They want 1 code base that can be ran on both platforms, saves a lot of money and attracts lots of users from both platforms. It’s all down to money ultimately.

On the plus side, the game is still very good, still the best flight sim graphics by some margin. I hope xplane and dcs see whats been done here and respond.

A few months ago I very nearly spent several £1000 on a top pc system just for this game (I’ve already spent £1000 on a gpu and upgraded my ram - the latter being a waste of time now), thank god I pulled out at the last minute. My 4 yr old i7 7700k will run this game just fine for the forseeable future now that its being limited by consoles.

Caveats - mid/low end spec pc owners might be glad to see the sim running well on their pc’s, good for you. Also, i’m a VR user and no pc can run the sim at the proper frame rates needed for vr headsets. We have to use various tricks/tools to get a butter smooth gaming experience, but these tools introduce graphical defects. Up and coming gpu’s/cpu’s will make a big difference to vr users who might for example greatly benefit from reaching 90+fps at high resolutions, not so much for 2d simmers with high end pc’s who already get adequate fps rates on their monitors.

TL;DR i’m a bit miffed the pc version of msfs has been nerfed so that its console compatible, but i understand why, money talks.

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Tbh I think FSR will help a lot w/ VR performance once it’s implemented

But WU 6 fixed it? :?

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What we need are not more people moaning about the merge of the PC and Xbox version, but we need people to lobby Asobo to introduce way more options (graphics, performance, etc) to tailor the software to the very different capabilities of the platforms it’s supposed to run on. These options need to cover a much wider range say from low-extreme (inset random term here), so everybody can be happy.

Xboxers and mid-range PC people can then set their options to somewhere in the upper-middle or where ever their hardware can handle and people with high end PCs can set their options to ‘extreme’ (or whatever it can be called).

Win-Win

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I don’t get your post, the xbox is essentially a PC. Why wouldn’t they just dial down the graphics settings on that release. (if needed) They wouldn’t be changing the code base for all. I see this as a hiccup but not a long term downgrade. And as we have seen over time Asabo struggles on the QA/QC front.

Seriously man, this is so boring now.

I bet in 1 year from now you will still be playing.

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I agree wholeheartedly. I just completed my first flight in VR after World Update 6, but sadly not much has improved since the Sim Update 5 disaster. The pop-in is better, but not 100% gone. Flying into KJFK ended in sadness looking out at the blurry, dull, and flat scenery. We used to have such a great view out the window, but now it’s hard to see anything in the distance due to the massive LOD and draw distance reduction after Sim Update 5. This really, really affects the VR experience since everything is life sized. After 1,370 hours played on this sim, it’s depressingly going back into the hangar. Asobo really did ruin the VR experience with the graphical downgrades from Sim Update 5. I’m sad, but there are other games out there I guess :frowning:

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Swell. I probably have about $6k wrapped up in mine, if that’s any consolation.

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Probably. It’s like riding Greyhound Bus. They are the only game in town. XP maybe also…

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SPLUTTER… What! Now there’s coffee everywhere!

On Oculus Rift S - I have noticed a greatly-improved frame rate. I managed to make a flight from KSAN up to KLAX the other day and had no freeze up at all. I pushed it hard using the Extra stunt plane. I was quite impressed. But they have ruined night lighting completely for me. I have no ground building lights, but the ground is glowing. I’m patiently waiting for a fix. Like one person said up there, I’ll still be using it in a year even though Ive complained otherwise in the past. I have found the sim to be frustrating but when it works, it’s really phenomenal. I also find that one day it works great, and the next day, not so much. Then great again another day and so forth. Not sure what causes this. Overall I am happy with this sim even in VR. I know it will only get better. Its not like they are intentionally trying to ruin the sim I suppose.

Rift S has a much lower resolution than my Reverb G2 so I’m sure the graphical downgrades are not as noticeable. Yes, the framerates are better, but for me I had a perfectly smooth setup before with great graphics. It was an overall excellent experience Pre-Sim Update 5.

Now we have better FPS, but with horrendous long distance graphics due to the LOD/draw distance changes. I’d give anything to go back to Sim Update 4. Remember the FPS gains had to come from somewhere, and it definitely was NOT coding optimizations…my experience and own eyes confirms that. It’s simply not the same game nor experience anymore.

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Yeah I have noticed differences now, but not sure what they are. I was always getting 30-second freeze-ups every 2 minutes, but not anymore (so far). Right after I went to SU6, I saw a huge graphics improvement. But within two days, something changed. I havent really changed settings.

I was thinking about getting an Oculus Quest 2. I had a Reverb but sold it.

This hurts:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/important-visual-part-of-the-simulator-clouds-sky-lighting-size-of-streets-and-roads/451281

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Well said!

Before SU5 I often said “WOW!”, where now I say “nice” (as in “nice” being the little sister of sh…).
And I clearly remember them saying that there would be headroom for even better fidelity after XBox release. So it’s back to hoping I guess…

Personally I’ve not seen any downgrade of the sim throughout. Owned from day 1 both on a laptop and then on a better home built machine.

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Me too. Well…I actually did upgrade.

Mourn? No. Not so much. DCS runs exceptionally well on my new hardware and looks stunning. IL-2 in VR, smooth as butter in the middle of the most frenzied dogfights.

So, I’m enjoying my hardware investment. :slight_smile:

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Well, a little peremptory perhaps but Flag you? No, not I.
I broadly agree with you.
But is this notion of an XBox conspiracy a thing?
Oh faux gods, spare me.

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I chuckle every time someone post is negative about the XBox, clearly implying the XBox isn’t a PC. Cleary the XBox is a PC that provides a unique standardized centralized user experience platform design to gain monthly subscriptions. It’s easier for developers to code for the XBox platform than the many variations of PC platforms that are in their environment architecturally speaking. BTW, I do not own an XBox. I play on an Alienware Desktop.

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But users have been repeatedly encouraged to buy better hardware in order to get the best result.