Long Post Be aware
Glossary: PD = Premium Deluxe Edition
MSFS=MSFS-2020
FSX=Flight Simulator X
XP=X-Plane 11
HC-BTQ=Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant
HC-AFC=Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls
VFX=Virpil VFX Joystick – T-50C Base
All - I have been Plank Owner on this sim, that means I was day one for pre purchase and got the PD edition. On release day, was in the queue to get it downloaded, and I fought that for about week, until I figured out my aftermarket Virus/Firewall was blocking the store from opening and doing the base file download. That alone should have been discovered in Alpha/Beta Testing, again Asobo Failed to follow through and with MS just as culpable. FWIW-This is an ongoing issue, supplier of the AV/Firewall Program was informed, they have no other complaints on their software and this game. It is still blocking the store, so I remove it, prior to any update, then put back on. It also could be MS way of preventing aftermarket suppliers of Antivirus software competing with them and the built-in product. No one else, or few reported this issue since game release. Then waited two days, over 48 hours to get it all downloaded. This was 13 months ago. For WU5, store messed up, tried fix, store messed up, fix still did not work. To get game working, complete OEM USB Drive, low level format of C, complete reinstall of Windows 10, three days to download all the updates, day to get store updated, 48 hours to get game downloaded with WU5, thank you MS and ASOBO, very good distribution model, should be throughout the whole tech industry, only problem, would paralyze what is left of the business community worldwide.
Getting the VFX working was sort of simple, as I knew mostly going in, what I wanted JS to do and how to do it, since had previously used Logitech 3D Pro, and had messed with it lots of times in this sim. Asobo/MS also had the most conflated settings in the game for devices, with very complicated configuration model, think in WU3 or 4, they fixed that, but folks were fighting their devices since release.
HC-BTQ on the other hand works about 98% of the things bound per HC’s software update and Asobo/MS integration of it. Part of that issue is, HC should have put lights in the Autopilot Selector Knob, because if dark those knob positions cannot be seen without flashlight. Bad design on that part. Upon release, the LEDs did not work, and a SU update needed to be released, that took about two weeks. The Throttle #02 bug could have been HC, or could have been game, but had it not been for a real-world pilot and MSFS user, who provided a solution via YouTube, it would still be haunting players. Got to release more FLUFF, we aint got time to fix core issues, keep the money train running. For HC-BTQ, each plane type requires a “profile”, so you might have 5-6 profiles for the various plane types you fly. If you open up game decide on one plane and do not have the correct profile loaded, the game does not figure this out, some reports of not being able to change profile, and if you do, game deletes all other profiles, or resets them all back to defaults, so then you get to rebuild those 5 or 6 all over again, like I keep saying down deep in the code are gremlins, which no one can find or no one wants to fix.
As test on my part, I put FSX w-acceleration pack back on system, and getting VFX and BC-BTQ working in that was much easier than MSFS, including Spoiler “ARM”, which works in FSX, no go in MSFS, still diagnosing that little bug. Keep in Mind, MSFS game on the street for 13 months. Yes, scenery is not nearly as good as MSFS, but, and big BUT, All the planes fly, ATC works, Low/Hi Level Flight Planning work, GPS Flight Plans Work, IFR and ILS Approaches work, yes game is 19 years old, keep in mind, MS sold rights to Steam at a point, and steam kept it up. MS Called back that license agreement, before MSFS was released, and Steam can no longer distribute it I think (keeping the money train in house).
Tonight, I downloaded the trial for XP, now this is a very truncated sim trial (suspect the whole retail version is downloaded, but need key to unlock for complete game). Out of the gate, almost the very first screen, it saw VFX and “demanded” I configure it, took not over 5 minutes. Never found Parking Brake in one plane, so could not take off. So stopped, restarted game, and low and behold, it found the HC-BTQ, and 5 minutes and it’s configured. Plus, a big PLUS, there is a complete user’s manual for the purchased version which can be downloaded and kept on PC. Included in the price, so where is our manual, of which hundreds have asked about, 13 months, still no manual.
MSFS has not got a manual, and if you want one, you get to PURCHASE an aftermarket one at about 20 - 30 Dollars us. Like I said, this is a money train, and the money seems to be leaving my pocket and going into MS/Asobo pocket assumed, some back fed money for all those developers and kick back to MS/Asobo since not provided for in game.
As a caveat, XP has been on street for several years. However, the BC-BTQ is a relativity new flight device (mine delivered Dec 2020), and in MSFS, the integration is still causing issues, in XP excellent setup, and config, remember, exact same amount of time on the street for the device. If you check issues for HC-BTQ and HC-AFC, several posts on devices not working, or problems being generated due to profile issues of which game seems to be causing. Keep in mind, Honeycomb announced AFC and BTQ, while MSFS was in development, and they announced working with MS-Asobo on the drivers and integration for the sim over 13 months ago, and in MSFS, folks still having problems. Down deep, where the little gremlins live, there is code, baddddd code, and it still aint fixed after 13 months.
I have not, since release of MSFS successfully completed any ATC Directed Instrument Landing Approach or flight plans, every single time, the games ATC or NAV messes up my plan and I usually crash, or violate the instructions and land anyway. I have repeatedly tested 787 and 747 at PMDY, to figure out what I am doing wrong, and nothing is apparently repeatable. The flight dynamics are not anywhere close to what FSX’s 747 flies like. I cannot compare the C-17, because there is not plane at any level which can be compared to it, in MSFS. But in reading the threads on flight characteristics for all the planes, none, not one, is even 50% close to study level, and were not advertised as such, but they should really work and none of them do, LNAV/VNAV, Auto Throttle, FMC’s, all are not properly coded. Combine with broken ATC/Navigation processes and the game is seriously busted. YES, VFR is working in all, but I quit playing in any flight sim, after my neighbor, qualified MD-11 Delta Airlines Captain, provided approach/navigation documents and sat down with me and showed me the correct and proper way to fly planes. So no going back to kids’ stuff, want the real world now.
In FSX, (please note FS user since FS-98 and thousands of hours in 737-747-C-17, flew all over western USA, doing STAR and ILS approaches by thousands). In MSFS, after 13 months, I can count on my fingers the number of successful ATC/ILS/NAV flight I have completed in this sim. This is after 13 months. Recently in FSX, Spawned C-17 at Kabul, Afghanistan, and flew it all way to USA and landed in Squadrons Assigned Base, Jackson, MS. Not one time, did ATC mis direct, cancel, change, give me spurious call, not once. Did run into B-52 at PMDY (downloaded new scenery-new plane there), but that is a lot of flying to get home.
To MS/Asobo’s defense, the video processes the internet connection process and the audio process are different from FSX and XP. Routinely, azure goes down, routinely the Latest Charts/Approach Data is implemented into the sim, and yet, it doesn’t work. People are bugging it, to no avail.
As a plus for MSFS, it’s a NEW sim on the block, bugs are expected, and in the course of “normal time”, and normal development process, those bugs should have been addressed, investigated, and solved. (We should figure out what normal time is, sure is less than 13 months) Nope, many if not 95% of all the bugs reported since release are still acting up, “some alpha testers say, hey this was bugged in testing, it still is not fixed?”. Yet, MS is telling Asobo put out world updates, and fluff releases, so more people will want to buy this so the money train don’t stop. People, at the rate of “fixes being done” it will take the 10 years MS/Asobo have said is the life of the game before the game is flyable, and the money train is still chugging along.
This development update cycle “is possibly excluding, every single long term Flight Simulator pilot”, of which I am one, from enjoying this sim, not talking about you people who fly a GA plane through the mountains for fun, nope. I am talking about those people who want to REALLY fly, serious flight planning, serious Flight Navigation, serious IFR/ILS approaches, we are well past playing. “Maybe” the state of art processes being used are at the root cause and why bugs just sit there with no resolution.
The only plane in this sim which works at 100% reliability is the DC Designs F-14-A/B model. Every single programed button, switch, now (which is supposed to work) really works. But to date, 13 Months, the check lists in the game for almost every plane I have flown leave out things which really should be activated or turned on. Now, NONE of the planes are “study level”, yet, the simulators hot advertisement is “AS REAL AS IT GETS”, question to you, if the systems are not on or activated, how can it be real?
Since the only plane I can reliability fly is the F-14, and some little bit the 747, mostly I am going to leave this sim. A plane developer, of whom I respect, has completely abandoned MSFS, and has told me, you will enjoy XP and FSX with scenery updates way more and way less problems. He is correct. After I finish working on a few projects with others in this sim for the most part it will lie dormant, still on PC, but not used much, because it is broken, down deep broken, and the developers cannot or will not, stop development of “FLUFF STUFF” and get the core unit working like it should. I urge all who still are experiencing this mess, not working to stop playing it. Leave it on your machine, just don’t use it, keep it updated, occasionally fly something in it, but my suspicion once the number of active users’ tank, they will get this thing on track and fixed, when that happens, I will be the first to come home.
My absolute, LARGEST COMPLAINT and many others share my view, is the way this software is distributed, the arcane process we have to go through for a simple update. It took me 3 hours to figure out what steps I had to take last week to get the little fix. Absolutely the stupidest distribution method possible with that process as broken if not worse than this game. That alone is reason enough to throw in the towel. People just today, still trying to get WU5 to update. Ridiculous, way past that.
I have not mentioned the fact, the logbook is seriously not correct, it drops flights, does not record flights unless you close that little window correctly, i.e., exit to desktop, not “continue” if you continue, it starts a new flight. The inability to delete actions which were for testing a switch/knob and plane never left ground, started engines, or pushed back from ramp. I have logged about 50 hours according to log, I know for a fact it’s at least triple that number. Or the fiasco with the VFR map causing CTD for weeks if not months. Or the fact I still to this day cannot get rid of the spurious tail number calls from ATC. I put in MS71 and the game adds 1123 or some such thing. I have searched and searched to get rid of that, no joy.
All – lots of folks are using this game and successfully, and for sure we only see the ones who post in this forum. We do not know how many have just given up, quit this and either quit flying all together or went back to whatever they were using before. Every day, I check this forum, why, first to see if I can help anyone, second to see if something has happened and one of my devices is going to choke, or to see if developments have occurred which may have a solution I can use. I actually spend more time in forum than using sim, or turn it on to check a setting or change a setting per someone’s recommendation who says it fixes this or that.
Now, my hardware is not suspect – it’s listed below.
ASUS Scar Strix III – Intel I-7-9750 – 6 Cores-12 logical cores - Device Manager listing
Nvidia RTX-2070 w-8GB Video Ram
32GB System Memory
1TB SSD Primary Drive @ with 1/3rd used
1TB Secondary HDD – NO MSFS files here period
8TB USB Backup HDD – No MSFS files here.
ASUS Claymore II Wireless/wired keyboard – 2 months old
Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball- year old or so
USB-C port 10GB Transfer which feeds TOTU 13-Ports HUB, 3 HDMI, 4USB 3.0 Ports
Keyboard, 8TB Drive, Virpil VFX-T-50 Base, HC-BTQ plugged into hub
I experience NO stutters, NO Video card dropouts, and for life of game maybe 4 CTD total, two of those from trying to load .PLN file which game will not load, regardless what developers say. When I start game, it takes 3-5 minutes to get to main screen. MS/Asobo could take out all the “fluff advertisements and pulling their own chain screen shots to shorten that. XP trial, less than 30 seconds or so tops. FSX maybe minute or so, yeah, lots different code, different delivery process, and code handles, but if windows 10 or 11 takes 5 minutes to get to desktop, well Apple will the be the winner. Clean up the start process so game is loading faster.
Always end on a positive, the graphics and scenery are the best around, nothing compares to it, at least the clarity is 90%+ in all the world. Sure, some artifacts, some shadows, some weird stuff here and there, but, for the most part, the scenery is perfect. Nothing out now compares to it period. From a pretty standpoint, nothing comes close period. The clarity at airports, on the ramps, so clear you can see the airport service vehicle coming right down the runway you are taking off on and have to avoid while taking off. Clear as a bell, when I splatter him and myself all over the field.