I know the “suckyness” of the missions has been discussed to death on these forums, but what actually happened!?
I just loved the original missions in FSX, and when MSFS 2020 was coming out I was so excited, but was only greeted with the lack-luster “Bush Trips”. Don’t get me wrong, the Bush Trips were good at what they did, but they’re not “FSX style missions”. Then, for the 40th edition, they discussed bringing 20 of the original FSX missions to MSFS 2020 and I eagerly awaited there arrival, quite literally counting down the days, then when they finally arrived they were just more “Bush Trips” with no sense of excitement or fun.
Then MSFS 2024 was announced with a “Career mode” containing “Missions”, which I thought sounded great, but again when it arrived they were just autogenerated slop! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the Bush Trips and Career modes for what they are, but they’re in no way a substitute for the original FSX missions of 2 DECADES AGO!
Anyway, my purpose of starting this thread is not to request, yet again, that the missions be brought back, but more to understand what on Earth happened and why it seems they’re not. It sure seems that Microsoft and Asobo put a staggering amount of effort into developing and maintaining this sim but they then just leave out what was the most accessible part. I just don’t get it???
Hi, Please describe what these missions were about. I never played FSX so i would like to know what you are enthusing about. How did they make it exciting?
Oh, there was a whole range. If you look them up you’ll find them…
But by way of example:
There was one where you’d start in a Bell-206B helicopter and have to fly out to rescue a rhino in South Africa that had been shot by poachers. You’d fly across the countryside until you reached the site and set down next to the rhino. You had to get there quickly in order to save it.
Once you landed there was a cut scene of the rhino getting loaded into a vehicle, then you were given the option to head off to the cabin where the poachers were staying and you’d fly over there, but just as you get there the poachers would speed away in a car and you had to chase the car. While chasing you couldn’t get too close or they’d shoot at you from the moving car, and you couldn’t hang too far back lest they get away all together. At one point you had to fly ahead and block off a side road so as to herd them toward a road block where eventually they’d be detained.
After that there was an even more ridiculous scene where you then had to fly the sedated rhino in a DC-3 to a hospital but the rhino wakes up mid-flight and starts romping about the cabin throwing the plane all over the place. An NPC who’s flying with you eventually shoots it with a tranquiliser dart and you’re able to land. It really was an absurd mission, but it sure was fun to fly:
While I acknowledge the FSX missions were somewhat “cringe” on occasion there is no doubt they were fun to fly and the challenge of completing them really did give a since of an achievement that is totally lacking now. In fact, as it is I actually find myself setting aside MSFS 2020 and 2024 and returning to good old FSX simply for the missions it had. Call me an uncouth gamer if you like but honestly I find MSFS 2024 all but completely with out direction and I just wish they had these kinds of missions available, and I don’t understand why they haven’t.
I still have FSX installed and fly it with either FlyInside in VR or “pancake” even though I have VR - it just seems to fit with the age.
Anyway, main thing I do with it is the missions. I also downloaded a huge amount of them (unfortunately most trurned out to be just flights, incorrectly presented as missions) - got a folder full of over a hundred still unflown.
This is good for fun factor factor flying, when I’m not in the mood for proper procedures etc - though they can certainly be used in many of the missions.
Also have many payware ones and some 3rd party aircraft suppliers (like Aerosoft) also provided mission packs for their aircraft (Beaver and Twotter in that case - think they had one for the Catalina, too).
PS - if you like SAR type stuff, I’d recommend Neofly - it has SAR and medevac flights which can be a lot of fun. Both marine style (need an ambhib or float plane for that) and overland, where they range from finding crash sites to delivering medical teams.
You find the site, then have to find somewhere to safely land to deliver the medic and then return if you wish. For some you just have to find the crash site.
Yeah, is should work with modern gear.
I use a Saitek x56-Rhino and it works fine.
It should be available on Steam for pretty cheap, but be aware it’s a 20 year old sim now and as soon as you open it you’ll really get an appreciation of just how far graphics have come in the last 20 years:
Believe it or not, those FSX graphics were just jaw-dropping at the time, and the realism was unparalleled:
Yeah, I have Neofly but again it’s really not the same. The Neofly environment is good at what it does but it’s more of an enhanced career mode where you have to grind for advancement, and mistakes cost you dearly, which is good for what it is, but is a different type of discipline.
Some of the FSX missions were actually quite hard to fly, often taking dozens and dozens of attempts to pass. While NeoFly (and OnAir and A Pilots Life) are all a lot more realistic than the FSX missions there really is something to be said for just strapping in to a Piper Cub and trying to land on the roof of a jet bus as it burns down a runway:
(I have no idea how many attempts it took for me to get that one right by the way, but possibly 100 or so: )
So while there is definitely satisfaction to be had in grinding for a career, there is also a different type of satisfaction in hitting reset and finally “shooting the gap” on your 100th attempt, which is really what the FSX missions were about.
I loved the FSX missions and progressing through them all. The cheesiness of the missions is what made them cool… The old guy in the Midwest Fly-In or the Lost in the Triangle mission with the lost squadron and the ghost ship . Brings back so many fond flight sim memories.
These were amazing missions! I think a big part of why 2024 didn’t contain the Bush Trips 2020 did is because the team agreed that they needed to be more interesting and dynamic, so they are working to bring it back but in a better form. I do hope to see something like FSX missions in the future myself. Appreciate the feedback!
But then they added a Career mode with AI voice-overs, which are absolutely horrible! The amount of effort and time put into these quality FSX missions is still unmatched. These were truly a labor of love. Would be ecstatic to see FSX-esque missions return.
. I’ll be aware of the graphics issue. I have seen it advertised on Steam which is what I use for 2024. 
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