This message is so annoying. Is it really that hard to fix? I don’t understand why it’s not done yet.
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As with many cross platform titles, when users highlight issues with the Ux, its down to XBox users typical usage being sat several metres away from their television, rather than hunched over their keyboard right in front of their monitor. The interface size helps it be legible at a distance.
This is but one example of an “If this were PC only you wouldn’t see this” across MSFS.
One of the most egregious examples of this, where the platform affects the product, is seen when comparing the original Deus Ex, and its sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War.
We went from this:
To this:
Which interface was designed for a controller? 
Some of us really liked inventory Tetris. Don’t even get me started on “unified ammo”.
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XBOX??! You have got to be kidding me! 
However, the small unobtrusive red/green message in the upper right corner when one disconnects/reconnects to online services blows a hole in your assumption that the ridiculously-obtrusive-takes-all-aircraft-control-away-from-the-user dialog box is the way it is due to Xbox.
It is just poor UI design. It has nothing to do with Xbox. There’s plenty of small UI inputs in the World Map and the aircraft themselves that aren’t enlarged for TVs.
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I don’t use an Xbox for MSFS so can’t comment on that specifically. On PC I get a massive banner in the middle of the screen which has to be cancelled with mouse input.
The UI is designed to be navigated with a joystick I.e. a controllers little thumb sticks. It is what it is, and we are stuck with it.
Fortunately it’s quite rare for me. But I’ve seen it happen on live streams quite often, and on a few occasions just before landing, and it also locked up their controls causing the plane to crash.
Having a smaller indicator somewhere, as you describe, would be better than a giant window that sits slap bang in the middle of your screen.
You are right on one thing though. It isn’t the XBox specifically, only tangentially. The interface is like it is for console controller access, which just happen to be used by consoles as their primary input method.
If you want another example of the “controller” defining the interface, have a look at any interface for digital media streaming. Examples would be Sky boxes, Amazon Fire TV sticks, or smart TV’s. The interfaces are always these boxy affairs, easy to navigate by using simple up/down/left/right/select inputs. Perfect if you have a TV remote, or similar. Pointless if you are using a mouse.
Another example would be the Windows 8 interface that MS tried to shove down our throats. They made an incorrect assumption, half heartedly rolled back on that with 8.1, then gave up entirely with 10, and 11. Not everyone uses Windows on a tablet.
Imagine the interface for MS Word - Controller edition. 
The Xbox also gets the obnoxious message that has to be cleared via mouse click.
What I was referring to is this message and its accompanying red one that just shows up for a short time and then self-clears. (I’d remembered incorrectly, it doesn’t appear in the upper right corner, but is nonetheless not obnoxious or obtrusive and clears shortly after appearing, as does its red counterpart.)
I don’t understand how/why Asobo was able to implement this type of message for this circumstance, yet implemented the large non-self-clearing one for the circumstances that force its appearance.
Sigh.
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Ah, yes, those aren’t too bad, though I would still prefer if they were tucked away at the top right, for example, and not right in the middle.
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those are harmless. It’s this one that just ruins the game (screenshot below). the developer team must be blessed with internet from the gods to only have noticed this a few months ago. appalling to say the least.
I couldn’t care less if the message comes up, but the game needs to be paused while it’s there or not take control of the aircraft away.
image credit to SkipTalbot post #204
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Why hasnt this been fixed yet? Surely its far from a complicated fix.
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Oh, yeah, I’m fully aware of the message in the screenshot you provided.
I posted the smaller one to make the point that Asobo chose to make the message in my screenshot small and not require a mouse click to clear, so why couldn’t/didn’t they make the other one that way?!
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I haven’t had this “connection lost” message now for weeks. I think that MS has beefed up or tuned up their server farm.
i had one yesterday, and its been pretty rare that i get them
On the other hand, a status bar or small message in the main menu when data services are turned off, could help remind users about turning the settings back on after a network or service issue.
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I’ve pritty much stopped using MSFS since December and will not use it until I see some notification that this problem has been solved. There’s no point in trying to use it. I did a short test flight 31. Dec which resulted in the know dialog box appearing after about 10 minutes.
Also I have a feeling that this is a shout in the desert. Unheard by those that could fix it. There is absolutely no mentioning of it on the development update pages.
Lucky there’s P3D and X-Plane…
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I’ve seen it happen on livestreams. You’ve been on a 2 hour flight, your are on short final, the message pops up, your controls lock up then you crash. The few times I’ve had it I was in the air, so could mouse over to close it. but I can see how unbelievably frustrating it can be.
This thing can ruin flights, please add this fix already
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In all honesty it’s crazy. The devs can’t fix a simple message box, the problem dating back to 2020! I agree that connection issue is not so easily fixed, and often isn’t MSFS fault at all. But the message… Come on! Make it appear in the corner and smaller, and everyone will stop nagging.
After all, from the UX point of view: why throwing it in the player’s face?! Tell you what, in 99.99% cases the player can’t or won’t do anything about the “lost” connection. Especially when it usually reconnects by itself. It’s not like “oh, the connection is lost, to hell with the 4 hour flight, I’m off to restart my PC, router, call provider etc”.
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Apart from the obvious intrusiveness of the pop-up, it’s also quite patronising. Telling me to check my internet connection? Really, Asobo? You know full well that it’s nothing to do with our internet connections. It’s happening to multiple people at EXACTLY the same moment. So unless multiple people are losing their internet connection across the globe at exactly the same moment…
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I’m quite certain that they can. Whether or not they intend to is a different matter.
Someone at Microsoft / Asobo had to design and specify the way it works now. Someone intended for it to work the way that it does now. In that sense, it’s not a bug to be fixed, it’s a bad design that needs to be revised. Someone would have to accept and recognise this, and create a change request that would go on the backlog for the dev team. Its position on the backlog - and hence how quickly it would get done - would be dictated by its relative priority versus the other items on the backlog.
The thing about working to a backlog is that if you keep adding things to it faster than you can get existing things done, and the things you are adding tend to be higher priority, there will be some things low down on the list that will just never get done. Ever.
None of this is an indictment of the team, BTW. All software development teams have to make trade-offs. Most large pieces of software have bugs that never get fixed, and features that users hate that never get changed. It’s absolutely par for the course.
First, we don’t know if Microsoft accepts that this is a bad implementation and has the desire or willingness to change it, votes on this post notwithstanding. Second, even if they do, it’s clear that the backlog of work for MSFS is huge. Third, it’s likely that the priority for a change here would be relatively low since this is something that affects a small % of people using the sim at any given time, regardless of how annoying it is for those users.
TL;DR I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for this one.
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If you want to see an potential example of resistance to change, look at the huge effort it took, and persistence on the part of the community, to remove the “Press any key” screen. Someone thought that was a good idea too.
Another parallel to this is looking at some third party developers, where potential change is met with a mixture of stubbornness, and hostility. I guess there is psychology at work there, and messing with someone’s “artistic vision” triggers this.
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