In lieu of the current, as of this writing, issues with Servers, many forum users are suggesting we “switch servers”.
Other forum users are saying that all that does is change which Multiplayer server we are connected to.
May we please have some official clarification as to what switches servers actually does and if it has any bearing whatsoever on what data servers we are connecting to.
Thank you.
I think that switching servers changes who you see, and based on the ping can impact your performance. Sometimes, a server may be down which is why people suggest to switch servers.
“I think” doesn’t fill me with the 100% assurance that I’m seeking. I’ve got a whole forum full of theories.
I’m looking for the final word on it.
Thanks for the input, though!
Personal Comments and Observations Only
Disclaimer added.
Since switching servers only becomes a possibility by enabling Multiplayer, the server infrastructure is partly intended to facilitate game management for players seeking to fly together in the same session.
I suspect you’re asking more from a single-player perspective. From what I know, the Content Delivery Network is session and IP aware, and will default you to the nearest Geographic Server to your Region (i.e., USA West, USA East, Asia etc). So you don’t need to have Multiplayer enabled unless you deliberately want to switch servers.
Understand that the FS services are centrally hosted (i.e., Bing Maps, Live WX, Live Traffic etc.) on Azure. Playfab provides session management (i.e., Multiplayer among others) and XBox Live is authentication and provisioning/entitlement (i.e., Login/Logout, what content are you entitled to - Marketplace purchases, FS License type etc.)
All those services are routed to you via Content Delivery Network which aims to find most efficient and bandwidth appropriate route. MS has a CDN but see next paragraph.
As I said in other threads, it not all on Microsoft. National Telcos and your own ISP play a role in determining the quality and speed of the FS services to your end point. There is a large and ongoing interaction between Content Providers like MS and Telcos/ISPs, all who have competing interests in CDN strategy and delivery.
Not an official statement - just what I know of the infrastructure from spending time here. Your Mileage Will Vary.
You can definitely try to change servers, players do that all the time. I personally haven’t found a big benefit to it, because when centralized services are impacted (i.e., Live WX, Live Traffic and the like), generally all geographic player servers are also impacted. I recall chasing down a weekend where the Firehose API from FlightAware stopped feeding the sim - it didn’t matter which server you were on then - if there’s no feed from the data provider, everyone was impacted equally.
The funny thing about my starting this thread is I’ve already got my own ideas (that mirror yours), but I really would like a CM to provide an official statement for us.
I love this forum, but there is an awful lot of theory bandied about with few places to see facts laid out clearly about many aspects of the sim. Too many of these are left for us to guess about.
Agreed, some sort of statement describing exactly what the servers do would be wonderful. There is a lot of conjecture about switching servers versus photogrammetry etc etc but no actual facts.
So anyway … one obvious thing is if a particular server is struggling to access the central servers due to local network issues at that servers end, switching servers MIGHT do something.
TBH the only useful thing I ever found switching servers is if your multiplayer is missing people you know from real life discussions SHOULD be visible, switching servers and then coming back again to your initial server often refreshes the multiplayer and their aircraft will suddenly pop up.
this is helpful and i wish more people understood that just because Microsoft has it’s name attached doesn’t mean the folks there are entirely responsible for every aspect of the game.
But then again, MS kinda owns Azure, Playfab, XBL…
Hello @NixonRedgrave,
Switching servers only affects which other human-controlled planes you see in multiplayer mode. It has no effect on Live Weather, AI traffic, or other live services.
Thanks,
MSFS Team
Thank you for the prompt clarification.
Cheers, Seedy.
I’m glad I saw this thread. Now I know that the “Due to an unexpected error your license cannot be authenticated” message relates to Xbox Live servers.
