I wanted to share my ongoing experience with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020) and get your thoughts on whether it’s worth continuing the struggle. Here’s my setup:
Hardware Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3800x
GPU: RTX 4070
RAM: 48GB
Motherboard: MSI System Board
VR Headset: Varjo Aero
Storage: M.2 drives with additional SSD drives
OS: Windows 10/11
My Journey with MSFS2020
It’s been a while since I first installed MSFS2020, and I have to admit, it’s visually stunning. The level of detail and realism in the simulator is unmatched. However, my primary use case is flying in VR, and that’s where the troubles begin. Reflecting on my time with the sim, I’d estimate that 90% of it has been spent troubleshooting bugs and tweaking settings to optimize performance in VR over the years.
Issues and Frustrations
Despite the beauty of the sim, the experience has been marred by persistent issues:
Missing “Ready to Fly” Button: A strange and frustrating issue that sometimes prevents me from starting a flight.
Server Connection Drops: Losing connection to the server during flight is not only disruptive but also breaks the immersion.
CTDs with Airliners: This is a major problem for me. When I select the Approach (APR) button or engage the ILS, I frequently experience Crash to Desktop (CTD).
Attempts to Fix
I’ve spent countless hours trying to fix these issues. Recently, I reset everything to default settings, hoping for a fresh start. Here’s what happened:
First Flight: I used the default A320 Neo with all settings on “Low End.” The visuals were passable, but the flight ended in a CTD when I pressed the APR button.
Second Flight: Another CTD occurred on the ILS approach after toggling the autopilot.
Considering Giving Up
After years of trying to fix these issues and spending over 12 hours recently resetting everything, I’m at a crossroads. The frustration of dealing with these persistent bugs is starting to outweigh the enjoyment of the sim.
Seeking Advice
I’m reaching out to the community to get your perspective:
Is anyone else facing similar issues with VR and airliners?
Have you found any reliable fixes or workarounds?
At what point do you decide it’s time to move on from the sim?
Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. I love the potential of MSFS2020, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth the continued effort.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your thoughts.
Varjo aero on 4070 with 3800x is a weak combo. I run 5800x3d 4090 in vr. So you are already pushing it. The no ready to fly button, don’t go in vr until you are on the runway or ready to taxi. Wait for ready to fly before switching to VR. Sorry but that’s the reality. Also 48gb of ram is an unstable config on am4. How are you doing that? Run 32gb on 2 sticks. Ctd can be memory problems.
I am sure the ram config is not the issue as my original setup was 2 x 8mb = 16mb and I still had the same problems.
my MB is B450M BAZOOKA, and I upgraded with another 2 x 16mb + the original 16mb to give me a total of 48mb.
Just checked the manual and no problem with this config.
I am sure the ram config is not the issue as my original setup was 2 x 8mb = 16mb and I still had the same problems.
my MB is B450M BAZOOKA, and I upgraded with another 2 x 16mb + the original 16mb to give me a total of 48mb.
When I was running 16mb I checked and the total ram used was only ~14megs but I upgraded the ram anyway.
You are indeed correct the 4070 is a bit pushed when running this on high but the sim should run without issue when the settings are on “Low” no mods and the community folder empty.
I don’t fancy pulling out another £1700 for a RTX4090.
Mind you it might be a hardware issue. However, I have run both online and offline diags for 3 or 4 days without any issues and other VR titles run without problem.
Thinking on this, have you tried eliminating all your add-on content (with the exception of the airliner you’re having this issue with, provided it’s 3rd party), run in 2D mode and just seen if you don’t get the CTDs?
In other words, are you able to strip your sim down to a basic config and have some modicum of success with it?
Yes, that isn’t how you want to use it, but by establishing a baseline of performance/stability, you will be better able to determine what aspects of your full config could be the source of the issues.
Running unbalanced ranks can be a problem with sim. Run you 2x16gb and see. 4 sticks are a problem, and 2x8+2x16 is just asking for errors. Run without add-ons. And mbuccia apps? Beyond this hardware setup, and other software?
That’s a weird RAM setup. I’d let Memtest have at it just to know if it’s working correctly. Maybe it is, but it would always be a question mark for me until it passed the Memtest default test suite. It’s trivial to run. Just takes a little while and if it passes, they can have actual confidence it’s not the memory.
It may well not be the RAM causing your issues but not testing it and just taking some out may not be a solution. If you were down to 16GB and still having problems, you could have been seeing issues from not enough RAM. The only real way to clear the RAM being a cause is to test it. Second best would be to buy 32GB of matched sticks but without testing, you don’t know if it’s even necessary.
Your mismatched sticks may be fine but board manufacturers caution strongly against it. Since you did it anyway and are seeing problems, it’s an added complexity that could even be distracting from finding the root issue if it’s not RAM.
Hi @G0EMF sorry to hear you are having these issues. I don’t own a Varjo Aero myself. Of course it’s a demanding VR headset which does need to be respected. Sounds like overall users of the Varjo have had very stable setups so that shouldn’t be a cause. Needless to say I would update the Varjo base software and any other software connected to the OS, GPU and system components.
I can only echo what folks have said here, trying to isolate the issue by ruling stuff out which could mean changes on.both the software and hardware side. For me the core of MSFS is pretty stable, but I appreciate that’s something I know is different for folks with different hardware configurations.
However the principles issues you’ve mentioned with missing ready to fly, server connection drops and CTD with airlines I think the majority of us have experienced at some point in time, but thankfully for me at least with my Quest 3 they are very rare.
It sounds like the MCDU could be a direct cause though. I know in the Airbus 320Neo v2 if I mess up the flight plan, I’ll end up finding a edge case which can cause the simulator to crash, and that’s been reported on these forums, but isn’t common as probably folks know what that are doing!
If you are going to diagnose this, these would be my tips.
Ensure drivers of all hardware components are up to date.
Try to balance use of CPU and GPU. Putting graphics on low is a bad idea in MSFS as that overloads other components and makes them work harder - you can use the MSFS in built performance monitor for this.
Rule out MSFS changes but using default settings, empty community and/or run in safe mode.
Check your PSU is able to cope with the power up of the GPU - I would say 500Ws is minimum.
Validate it’s a resource issue by flying without the Varjo. If that’s ok then use motion reprojection which is excellent on the Varjo and try limiting the resolution.
Anyway keep trying and keep isolating. There is millions of folks who have crash free flying experiences in airlines and using the Varjo and I truly believe that in 99.99% of CTD cases, these crashes are due to edge cases with the system configuration instead of directly related to the simulator itself and unfortunately adding VR to the mix just magnifies these issues.
After a full Windows build and update to BIOS, running with 32gb known good ram and replacing my PSU, I am still getting CTD in VR only with airliners.
BIOS to defaults & CPU / machine cooling is fine
Even with the settings in MSFS set to low, CPU and GPU having an easy day.
Checking the MSFS log & event logs didn’t help me
Just nailed a fix for me, works for me
Don’t use Direct X 12 !
Yes Direct X 12 gives me more fps but it’s unstable in VR
Reverting to Direct X 11 and it settled down, no more CTD.
Re-adding my add-ons but I am confident Direct x 12 is the problem.
Please read this article before you give up on msfs! Follow all the instructions to a t and you should be in good shape. I was at your point a couple weeks ago. But then I found this article and I did everything that it said to do and I’m flying again. I think one of my my problems was the power button was not totally shutting the machine down. But I believe I had many more that this article helped with. Godspeed to you.
