Steam vs Microsoft and Standard vs Deluxe - Premium (Advice)

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Hey guys, I suppose some of you have already gotten you hands dirt with the release version so I wanted to ask for your opinions weighing pros and cons:

  1. Steam or Windows Store?

•Steam I thought may have the advantage of more VR headset compatibility in the future through steamVR (thought I may be wrong),

•Steam always has the client running on the background which takes 200mb+ and on systems like mine which are a bit strapped for ram it’s always good to have it as free as possible.

•I’ve noticed Steam has way more discounts.

•Does the steam workshop work? Will we be able to install freeware on windows version?

•Windows I guess has the advantage of being the owner of the franchise so we may get updates sooner and installs must be smoother. On top of that the store installs and then goes away.

  1. Airplanes on different versions:

•I’m interested in the Baron and the Longitude, are they good enough to justify Premium? Has anyone here flown them yet? It’s quite a jump on price, most of the other planes don’t interest me except from the 787 but that seems to be too basic.

Thanks for any input that may help me decide. :slight_smile:

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I bought it on Steam, and through some experiments it seems that all Steam really knows about with regard to FS is the “launcher” - that is, when I look at the “properties” for the game in Steam, it thinks there is only 1010MB of data installed. Also, when I “verify integrity” on the local files, Steam seems to do this really quickly, and only on a handful of files.

Also, when installing on my hard drive, FS actually installs all its data outside of the steam library.

All of this indicates to me that there is no difference at all in where you buy from, in terms of the install experience, and because Steam seems to me to be managing nothing more than a loader/installer/bootstrapper, there will be no Steam workshop support - you will have to use the Marketplace in FS regardless of where you buy it.

Hope this helps!

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Very very helpful! Steam seems to be nothing more than a loader then.

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Anybody have any further insight buying form Steam vs Microsoft Store?

I am currently playing on Xbox pass but plan to get Premium Deluxe version as soon as September hits.

One thing I’ve ran across is that for no start up video steps creating the shortcut in steam seems to be easier - you can add launch options though then someone posted the command to create one for Microsoft Store version and that was just a simple.

Even though in steam it’s just a launcher I like the idea of having single place for all my licensing of the games I own and I own no Microsoft store games.

Any possible disadvantages to Steam version? I know at launch they had issues getting the any content other than Standard until it was fixed - wondering if issues like that could come up in the future too

I also currently have Game Pass version installed; not sure how transitioning to Steam would look like (full uninstall and reinstall? Will settings/progress carry over?) but with Microsoft Store version I imagine I won’t have to reinstall the Xbox pass version I already have from scratch?

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So, again, I have the Steam version - premium deluxe - and I didn’t experience the issue with not being able to access the extra content at launch. It’s always worked for me. I’m pretty sure that, as mentioned, Steam is not involved in the package, executable, etc. downloading at all. ALL versions (MS Store, XBox Game Pass, Steam) use the same download servers.

So I don’t see how there can be any difference there. Bottom line - if you prefer having it managed with all your other games in Steam, get it from there.

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If you switch from Gamepass to Steam you’ll need to download the core game, but all that stuff that you downloaded in Content Manager you could probably re-use.

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Thanks both of you - I will go with steam looks like!

Re-downloading doesn’t worry me (I am lucky to have gigabit) just as long as all my progress (like bush flights) are kept

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Premium from the Microsoft store.

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15+ years going strong on Steam here. I had no problems at the launch either.

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Steam is just a middle man.

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After almost 2 weeks from premiere mabe can we summarize Stema vs MS Store.
What I read if few places:

Steam plus:

  • unlocked files
  • becouse unloced files, no problem with firewalls, riva tuner, Nve Inspector and other soft
  • possibility to transfer sim to another PC without downloading 90GB
  • shortkut icon direct to sim - fastboot

Steam minus:

  • another soft working at background (Ms store is builded in to Win10)
  • problem with prices at ingame shop

Please for youre pluses and minuses for Steam or Store.
Mabe some of this problems are solved now.

I have no idea for now what version (Stema or MS Store) should I get

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I bought the Steam version. For the only reason that I am usually working on Mac and all my game purchases have been done in Steam.

So yes, I am currently running FS2020 on an iMac 27" 2018 (with an i7, 32GB RAM and an “AMD Pro 580” with 8 GB VRAM). Windows 10 (and of course FS2020) is installed on an affordable, external 1 TB SSD. Runs pretty decent in “Full HD” resolution and with “High” settings. Yes, I get occasional stutters, and flying over New York reduces the framerate - but I am coming from “1 FPS flight sims” back in the days of the C64 - so ANYTHING above 20 FPS pleases me nowadays :slight_smile: (But most of the time my estimation is that I get 30+ FPS, specifically over “rural areas” or “up in the sky” - absolutely flyable and enjoyable!).

But back to the topic: as others have mentioned Steam simply downloaded some installer, which then started the actual installation process (specifically the download of 90+ GB - which even with my fast internet connection took half a day, or even more). From this point onwards the “installation experience” and everything else should be pretty much the same like when purchasing from the Microsoft Store.

But now the game is registered together with all my other games, so there you have it. I don’t use any Steam-specific funtionality (such as chat, teaming up with others or even voice chat, or whatever there is…).

Then I bought the “Premium Deluxe” version, but simply because 1) I had my birthday and 2) I wanted to “properly fund this ongoing project”. I am a flight sim noob (coming from Falcon 3.0 - if you know what I mean ;)) and for me it wasn’t necessarily about those extra airplanes. In fact, I am currently mostly flying IFR with the A320neo (which apparently works best when it comes to autopilot - the other two airlines: not so much - but personally I havent’ tried them just yet).

Oh, and one should also mention the 3rd option: the “Xbox game pass” (or whatever it is called): the “Basic” version of FS2020 is included there, and there is apparently some discount currently, where you can try it for 1 EUR per months (otherwise 4 or 5 EUR only). You can’t get it much cheaper :slight_smile:

And regardless of what you read here on the forum: for me the FS2020 is absolutely fantastic and meets and surpasses all my expectations! Especially visually.

Yes, there are some glitches, some textures are “not quite there yet”, the flight models may need some tweaking, flight sytems are sometimes only partially implemented or not behaving as expected (from a profesional point of view), there are a few “crashes”. But given the sheer size of this project for me the simulation runs very stable already (the crashes only happened for me after several hours of operation - so if you want to be sure before a longer flight: simply reboot the FS2020. Yes, I know, doesn’t sound very promising, but in the worst case you can “slew” (position) your airplane to the last known location and resume your flight.

I am writing this while flying from Frankfurt to Moscow :slight_smile: (So yes, in my case browsing this forum while flying - running a browser besides FS2020 - is absolutely no problem, performance wise - except that I sometimes get a chilling “Overspeed! Overspeed!” warning in the background :wink: Yes, the autopilot is not perfect yet (especially after having been “hit” by a gust of wind, my suspicion…)

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I am new with Steam and MS Store. One concern is what happens if I have to change my PC or only a part of it (processor, cidéo card, etc.) in the future. I think Steam asks to confirm the change and, et voila, I can play with the new computer with the game previously bought. Will I be able to make the change with MS Store without having to buy the game one more time?

I have paid $1 for a new subscription with the XBOX PC Pass and I have to decide if I buy it with Steam or MS Store. I would like to buy it from MS Store, because they did a great job and I want to buy directely from them, considering that will give them a few bucks more.

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That concern should only apply to your Windows operating system license (*), but not to purchases done in any store.

(*) Depending on your license - e.g. OEM or Retail - your license may or may not be “bound” to your current hardware. Also refer to e.g. here:

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Windows Store files are also unlocked, only the core 900 Mb installer is locked.
You can also transfer the files to another PC, only the 900 Mb installer has to be re downloaded. When you launch it, it’ll ask about where you want to install the game, just put the path of your existing files and it’ll auto detect them.

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