What I've done with MSFS-2024 so far

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Note:
I decided to start this thread to discuss my adventures with MSFS-2024.  It is entirely possible that it will overlap with content on other threads describing other peoples experience with MSFS-2024.  This is intentional as I want to describe MY experiences with the sim on MY machine and setup.

Why?

I’ve read a lot of people’s comments which seem to range from “It walks on water and talks to the angels” all the way to “It’s a piece of GAGH!, turned my PC into a smoking ruin, and was released five years too early!!!”

Since this represents an extremely broad range of user experiences, (and as a former software QA analyst who has seen just about everything), “my curiosity was riz”, as they used to say.  So, I bought it to see for myself.

I started this thread because I want to record MY specific system’s configuration, MY setup options, resulting in MY unique experience so that others can compare their systems, configurations, and experiences with mine.  Maybe that will help others get more out of the sim than they have in the past and maybe it will help to improve my own user experience with MSFS-2024.

I am going to break this into multiple parts, (starting with my system’s configuration), so that it doesn’t turn into an on-line novella.

Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Jim

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My System:

My machine was “home-built” specifically to run MSFS-2020 and so far I have an unholy amount of money invested in this machine - to the point where my wife looks at me suspiciously whenever I walk into the house with a package.  :man_facepalming:

Base System
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core Processor 3.39 GHz
Video Card AMD Radeon RX 68000 with 16 gigs of dedicated VRAM
Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. B550M DS3H B550 Gaming X V2
Installed RAM 32 GB, (2x G.Skill Aegis DDR4 16 GB PC 3200 CL16)
Installed Storage WD Black SN850X HS 2000GB M.2 (PCIE) SSD[1]
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Primary Display ASUS WW266H (1920 x 1200) HDMI
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Virtual Reality No VR headset.
Additional displays None, but I have SpaceDesk available (but not installed yet), to use with several Android tablets as sub-screens.
Windows Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎10/‎27/‎2024  (A “wipe-and-reinstall” installation)[2]
OS build 19045.5247
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19060.1000.0
MSFS-2024 Setup
Version Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - 1.2.8.0 (Aviator Edition)
Graphical Setting High  (Default from initial setup)
Assistances Almost everything except for visual assistances
Controller setups Not done yet
Last Aircraft Default - currently Cessna 172
Last Flight Not done yet
Last Location Unknown.  (Whatever the default airport is.)

 
==================== Footnotes ====================

  1. There are other storage devices installed too.

    • I have a second 2T WD Black SSD for X-Plane 11 and 12 mounted as D:.
    • A (hidden) 256G SSD for a “maintenance” Linux Mint install that also includes the boot-manager.
    • A (hidden) 3T “spinning rust” hard drive for my granddaughters that has their own installation of Windows 10 that is completely independent of everything else.
    • And a 5T hard drive as my “Downloads” and storage drive mounted as E:.

  2. The original installation was shared with my granddaughters, (who had their own username/userspace), and they loaded up the system with so many games and so many system add-ons that my flight simulator experience went down the tubes.
     
    I ended up migrating their setup to a different drive, cleaned out the original SSD, and did a brand-new “bare metal” install with an entirely new activation key so that the systems are entirely severable - each and every OS hard drive is set up to be self-booting so that they can be moved to different machines in the future.
     
    I have a special Linux Mint install that, (among other things), uses Grub2 as the boot manager for everything.

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First Boot Experience:

This includes subsequent boot attempts required to get the simulation configured and ready-to-run.

  1. Initial Installation:
    The initial installation after purchase, (within the Microsoft Store App), took about an hour, (maybe 45 minutes or so?), for the initial base package to install.  Note that the installation proceeded much faster after I disabled the VPN I used to make the purchase and completed rather quickly after that.

  2. First Boot:  (From the MS Marketplace app after installation.)

    • Initial boot (from the Microsoft Marketplace App within Windows 10 instead of clicking an icon), aborted, (crashed), part way through the first boot and startup after it got about 10% of the way through the startup animation and loading process.  It stopped with a loud buzzing noise, paused for about 15 seconds and then hard crashed the entire system to a “dead” (halted) state.  No video signal, nothing.
    • It was necessary to force-kill the system, (via a 4-seconds power button press), to restart the computer.  After restarting, (and running a chkdisk on all the hard drives!), I placed the MSFS-2024 icon on my desktop and launched the game again.

  3. Second Boot:  (From the desktop icon after restart as noted above.)
    Note that all subsequent boots use the desktop icon.

    • The second boot succeeded.
    • The initial startup took about 10 to 15 seconds at the “Loading Game” screen.  Note that the initial loading screen start time was the same across all reboots subsequent to this one.
    • The subsequent loading animation screen, (that corresponds to the “World Update [location]” screen in MSFS-2020), took about five to six minutes to finish loading.
      • The initial iteration of the loading graphic was jankey and stuttered.  Subsequent cycles of the animation during this boot cycle were smooth.
    • The loading screen ended with me at a screen-reader selection page.  (i.e.  Do I need a screen reader or not?)  Though I applaud Microsoft’s desire to make MSFS-2024 as fully accessible as possible, I have to admit that the idea of needing visual acuity assistance with a flight simulator to be somewhat jarring.  :man_shrugging: :man_facepalming:
    • After the screen-reader page, (which I skipped), I was lead to an “initial setup” page where I set things like initial graphics setups, (my default was “high”), my avatar, (professional looking pilot type), my co-pilot’s avatar, (that looks like a bush-pilot), and a few other things that I don’t remember.
    • At the end of the setup pages, I was shown an “I recognize you!  Please restart the simulator to enable your MSFS-2020 content.”  At this point I attempted to exit to the desktop and restart the simulator.
    • Note that exiting the simulator at this point did not exit the simulator.  In fact, though the simulator screen disappeared and I was returned to the desktop, the MSFS-2024 icon on the task bar remained, showed the last screen when “peeked”, and MSFS-2024 would not restart when I double-clicked the desktop icon.  The only way to recover and restart the sim was a full system reboot.

  4. Third Boot:

    • The third boot was much like the second boot except that:
      • The startup animation lasted about three minutes, similar to the length of the “World Update” launcher screen in MSFS-2020.
      • The “Loading” and “Activating” progress bar moved much faster.
      • The startup animation was jankey and stuttered throughout its duration.
    • The startup animation ended with me at the main game screen, which I found a bit confusing as nothing was where I expected it to be.  For example, there’s a strange looking “status bar” in the upper right-hand corner that hides many important settings.
      • The list of installed objects that were normally found in the “Content Manager” are now hidden away in the “Marketplace” tab and you have to do some digging to find them.
    • Once I found the list of installed objects/features I noted two things:
      • Most of the essential features of the game were marked “streaming”.  (God help you if you don’t have a direct connection to your Internet backbone!)
      • Since I bought the super-fancy-insanely-priced edition, (I wanted to see how it reacted with lower-version content), I scrolled through the enabled and disabled features.  I noted that all the sub-version features and aircraft, (Standard, Deluxe, and Premium Deluxe), were all disabled by default, but were available to be enabled if I desired.  I do not know if they were “disabled” because they were already included, however the fact that they offered the opportunity to be enabled leads me to think that sub-edition features are not enabled by default.
    • Once I enabled all the “disabled” sub-version features, I was instructed to restart the simulator again, which I did.
    • Again, as before, exiting the sim did not fully exit the simulator, but rather left me in the “half-shutdown” state I mentioned before.

  5. Forth Boot:

    • The forth boot was much like the second boot - it took about half-again as long, with a significant pause at the “Activating” part of the startup process.
    • The startup animation was jankey at first but subsequent cycles were smooth.
    • The game landed me at the same main game screen as before.
    • Checking the installed feature settings page showed all the sub-version features enabled.
    • I also noted that prior version, (2020), aircraft and scenery were disabled by default, with one marked as “Incompatible!”  I did NOT enable any of the MSFS-2020 purchased scenery or aircraft as I did not know if they would work or screw-up my simulator.  Guidance from anyone with experience with this would be gratefully appreciated.
    • Additionally, certain third-party aircraft were conspicuous by their absence, though at least some third-party scenery was included in the “Disabled” list.  I do not know this for a fact, but I suspect that any third-party aircraft and/or scenery that require a separate installation outside the scope of the simulator, (like PMDG’s DC-6 or Aerosoft’s aircraft), will require re-installation, assuming they work at all.  (I have heard that PMDG is working hard at updating the DC-6 to make it compatible with MSFS–2024.)
    • Unlike prior attempts to reboot the simulator, when I exited the simulation to the desktop it completely exited, no taskbar icon remained, and it would allow me to restart the sim from the desktop icon.  Additionally, subsequent reboots of the simulator successfully exited and allowed a reboot without rebooting the entire system.

Additional notes:

  • I have not attempted to configure my attached controllers and/or keyboard bindings.
    • It should be noted that all my attached controllers were correctly identified by both type and kind - correctly identifying the manufacturer and model of each attached device - keyboard, mouse, Saitek X52, and my Logitech game controller with the correct illustration for each one.
  • I have not yet attempted to launch any flight-related features, such as selecting an airport, aircraft, or attempting to fly as I want to finish configuring the various controller devices before I take off.

Additional Important Questions:

  • Does anyone know if there is any way to transfer controller assignments from FS-2020 to FS-2024?
  • If that’s not available, is it possible to print out the current MSFS-2020 controller assignments so they can be manually transferred to MSFS-2024?
  • Are there any other important settings and/or “gotcha’s” that I need to know about before I begin using this beastie in earnest?

Thanks!

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Update:

FATAL:
The default installation of MSFS-2024 completely overwrites a pre-existing MSFS-2020 installation resulting in the following dialog when you try to run MSFS-2020:

Balled-up 2020 installation
Balled-up 2020 installation377×167 9.57 KB

I suspect that this means I have to uninstall MSFS-2024 and 2020, and then completely reinstall everything from scratch!

Massive bummer.

Further Update:
Now I cannot launch or re-install either one.  The sprinkles on top of the whipped-cream on top of the icing on the cake is that now even System Restore is thoroughly borked.

I am going to try “The Dynamic Duo” of dism and sfc to see if they help either the installation process or System Restore.

If that doesn’t work I may have no choice but to reinstall a backup and/or a bare-metal reinstall of the OS.

:man_facepalming: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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Note a particular caveat to my reports so far:

When I first built my Flight Simulator system I installed X-Plane 11 and the installer was somewhat screwy and I made the mistake of “trying things” that people suggested before I knew what I was doing.

This resulted in a multitude of re-installs and a few borked systems thrown in just to keep things interesting.

After XP-11 and XP-12 settled down, I migrated them to a separate SSD and reserved the C: drive for Windows and MSFS-2020.

I ended up installing and reinstalling and re-reinstalling, (eventually borking Windows), and I had to do a few system rebuilds.

Now there’s FS-2024, and it looks like the installation fun-and-games begin again.  Except that this time it appears to have borked both versions.

I suspect an installation collision, but there are other possibilities as well so I don’t want to go all hawg-wild until I know more, though I fear there’s a bare-metal rebuild in my future.

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AFAIK, that is not available. I used “FlightControls 2020” application from flightsim.to to export my joystick and rudder configs from MSFS2020.

OUCH, OUCH, OUCH!

(I did not accept the default location, so I guess this prevented losing MSFS2020)

Since all the settings are stored in the MS cloud, you probably have not lost the MSFS2020 settings.

Suggestion: Set up minimum control map for the default Cessna without worrying about FS2020 settings. This will familiarize yourself with the new configuration method. Be sure to use the “search by input” function to see what MS mapped for you that you do not want (there may still be some “issue at launch” dual mappings to get rid of), and just to know what “comes for free”.

The three levels of config is confusing - I still don’t really understand it, but I managed to get my aircraft configured.

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Entertaining writeup. I’ll be following this.

You haven’t even gotten to the fun part yet – wait until you try to configure your peripherals. I know you said they were recognized correctly. Don’t let that fool you.

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Honeycomb Alpha and Bravo work about 85% out of the box for the aircraft I have tried in MSFS 2024

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Ohh, yea. . . .  I did that.  And IBM mainframe JCL is a child’s reading primer by comparison.  //GO.SYSIN DD * anyone?

One thing I’ve said over and over again is that it doesn’t matter how good or bad the system’s back-end is, if the user interface vacuums, nobody will like it.

I have to (grudgingly) admit that the user interface for MSFS-2024 makes about as much sense as IBM’s Job Control Language.  It is obtuse, convoluted, things don’t naturally follow from one to the other, and I am convinced that there is a Minotaur in there somewhere!

And it doesn’t matter what you’re doing.  Trying to fly?  Picking an airport?  Setting a particular controller binding?  Trying to see what’s installed?  It’s all a convoluted mess.

Anyone that studies user interface design for longer than fifteen seconds comes across the fundamental concept of “closure” - which is the ability of a design or specification to help “guide the user along the path of righteousness”, helping him avoid errors and mistakes by presenting correct choices and hiding choices that are potentially invalid - or make it easy for the user to notice, find, and correct mistakes.

Again, I am grudgingly compelled to admit that, (at the present time), just about every user interface part of MSFS-2024 I have seen so far is a classic case-study in how NOT to write a user interface.  This is amazing!  For decades and decades Microsoft’s claim to fame has been their user interface and the consistent approach to performing a task from program to program, window to window, task to task.  With MSFS-2024 that’s all gone out the window - no pun intended.

It’s as if they delegated the UI design to Chat GPT. :man_facepalming:

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Sorry to see you’re having all these issues @Jimrh1993… :pensive:

Honestly, sometimes I wonder, has my PC been part of a voodoo ceremony without my knowledge? I never experienced any of this. And really, after having never fully reinstalled Windows since the Windows 7 days, switching CPUs from Intel to AMD, motherboard and GPU, and installing Lord knows how many gizmos and gubbins as part of my IT degree days, my PC shouldn’t even POST. :rofl:

I’ve got 2020 and 2024 on separate SSDs, the SATA kind, yep, I’m still in the 2010s, and honestly apart from the sim forcing my 3070 into exile, it’s been great for me. Sure, I might get the odd CTD when I’ve been abusing the drone cam or loading up multiple toolbar programs, or the odd stutter here and there, and literally hundreds of rib cage breaking bugs (unless on a 2 mile final from an 8hr flight, then I’m not happy), but for the most part, it’s been fairly stable and without issue.

Only thing I have done is reinstall twice, mainly due to strange and mysterious issues during launch week related to streaming, aircraft without textures, wings, the Chinook just been a couple of seats. Also, a shirtless co-pilot!! Reinstalling seemed to fix that.

It really is mindblowing how different the experiences are from user to user. :thinking:

Oh and fully agreed on the peripherals, who designed this, what did they smoke? I mean, now I’m semi used to it, I can kind of make it work… but RIP anybody coming into this game as of now…

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This is why I “made the big bucks” (:wink:) as a Software QA Analyst - I’m cursed!  I seem to have a talent for “bringing out the worst” in software - mostly because I just blindly go where I’m told to go without any pre-conceived notions or biases.  If the software wants to install five things into the same place, then I’ll play along - fat, dumb, and happy - letting it paint itself into a corner with a cheerful grin.  And the developers gasp, “HOW did you DO that?!!” when I write the bug.  Easy.  I followed your instructions!  (Dev’s hate that. . .)

No disrespect intended, but I wonder if I put more thought into the UI of a CLI based craps simulator on the Raspberry Pi than these people did here.
(shakes head in wonder. . .)

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Comparing with FS2020, all they needed to do was have it linked to specific aircraft when they are selected, or add a tag to the .cfg files, just like custom cameras. I’m not really sure what they were aiming for here, unless it was just a ‘brute force’ “you want custom bindings… have your custom bindings and eat them” approach. I’m still learning things with it after 4 weeks. :sweat_smile:

I’d really like to see someone from Asobo do a livestream demonstrating how to use it properly. These days, you have to get your ‘manual’ from a YouTuber.

Anyway, I don’t want to turn this into another one of those threads. We’ve read them, drank the coffee and picked up the free newspaper on the way out. Leaves mic on the stand

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Sat on the runway trying to get a decent VR on my quest 3 for hours . Now on super smooth 2020 and 2024 in the recycle bin. 3090 and ryzen x3d processor plus VD and high capacity link 2.4ghz . CPU bound for some reason . Brought the best on the market 2 months ago.

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Amazed I managed to assigned keybinds to the transponder in the default Max, because the buttons don’t work. :rofl:

#doingwhatyouhavetodo

20241223_190747
20241223_1907471920×4260 392 KB

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Well, good news so far.  I’ve seemed to have avoided a total nuke-and-restore on my system.

What I did:

  1. Ran the system file checker by executing the following in an elevated command window:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
sfc /scannow

DISM is a necessary prerequisite for SFC, as it creates a coherent “recovery” source library that SFC can use to actually fix things.

  1. Temporarily disabled my anti-virus and ran a System Restore to a restore point made about three days ago.

  2. Re-ran the commands at #1 after the system restore successfully completed.  It found things to fix. . .

  3. Reinstalled the anti-virus.  (Anti-virus programs are particularly allergic to system-restore-type operations and it confuses them terribly.)

  4. Removed and reinstalled the X-Box app and Microsoft store as noted at:
    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-uninstall-and-reinstal-microsoft-store/ddb7e1e0-5b65-45dc-9921-1f2784351265

  1. Restarted and re-installed the X-Box App installer downloaded above.

  2. Reinstalled both certain X-Box dependencies and the Microsoft Store from with the X-Box app.

  3. Reinstalled MSFS-2020 from within the store and launched it to verify it would launch and take me to the updates screen.

  4. Updated my AMD Radeon RX 68000 video driver, restarted, and tried the MSFS launcher again.  It worked.

  5. Reinstalled MSFS-2024 from the Microsoft Store.  (It’s an 10-or-so gigabyte download! and is taking forever!)

Side note:
Watching the loading animation of a helicopter carrying a huge honkin’ rooftop AC unit that’s swinging around at the end of what appears to be a thin thread always puts a knot in my stomach.  “It’s only a movie.  It’s only a movie  It’s only a movie. . .”

Note:
First boot of MSFS-2024 buzzed and crashed to the BIOS in exactly the same way it did before.

  1. MSDS-2020 started up successfully.  What I’m going to do now is fully install MSFS-2020, (letting it run overnight and then most of tomorrow), move it somewhere safe, and then install MSFS-2024.

More later,

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Do I detect another dinosaur on here?

I’ve been working on IBM mainframes (now called servers) since 1988, both as an application programmer and a sysprog. Hence I can write JCL probably better than English. And 90% of the app I support today (mortgage banking) is still in COBOL. Chances are every time you pull cash out of an ATM machine, you’re talking to a COBOL program running under CICS in the background.

Back to MSFS 2024…

The real fun begins once you’ve spent 4 hours getting your controller configuration set up just the way you want it only to launch the sim again the next day to find it has disappeared. This happened to me again last night for the fourth time. The keyboard profile I’ve been using since launch no longer exists. I had it programmed for a 9-key 36-function keypad for ATC responses, quick views, cockpit slewing and other miscellaneous functions. Now I get to do it all over again. Grrrr!

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Why? Just install MSFS24 to its own new folder, no?

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Ahhh!  COBOL.  You haven’t lived until you try APL.  JCL thinks it’s Egyptian Hieroglyphics, APL IS Egyptian Hieroglyphics!

Note that the line of numbers and strange characters at the bottom of a U.S. bank check is actually a, (very simple), one-line APL program.
 

Why?

Because I didn’t notice the second prompt for the game’s location AND I want the 2024 install to be as close to stock as possible. This is why I am going to avoid importing third-party scenery, aircraft, airports, or whatever into 2024 for the time being because I suspect MSFS-2024 will be a “target rich environment” for bug hunting - and I want things as “standard” as possible for the time being.

Also, (silly me), since MSobo knows that there’s an earlier version that many people are likely to already have, I assumed that the two program installers would “play nice in the sandbox together” and not step on each other.  After all, if you release multiple versions of the same game, and you know the prior version of that game has a huge following, it makes perfect sense to believe that the programs can detect what’s already there and not step on each other, right?
 

This is something I am SOOO not looking forward to.
 

Have you considered going to the nearest church, lighting the largest candle they have, buying a 30 meter long rosary, and saying a 24-hour Novena to The Blessed Mother? :wink:

In my case I tend to experiment.  That’s 99% of the problem right there. :rofl:

Actually I am both sorry and not so sorry.

  • I’m sorry the game is in such punk shape.
  • I’m not sorry that this is a target-rich environment for a dedicated SQA masochist like myself.

At least I can’t say “They fooled me!”  I went into this knowing full well that it was likely a balled-up mess from day one - and it hasn’t disappointed me yet.

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Another update:

(I was REALLY tempted to put this into the “And what did YOU do in MSFS Today?” thread, but then I’d probably get the moderators upset with me for trolling the thread!)

What did I do in MSFS (2020) today?
I watched the progress bar ooze slowly from left to right. . .
And this is at (almost) my internet connection’s maximum!

Screenshot (9)
Screenshot (9)1920×1200 136 KB

Note the timestamp at the bottom right - 6:36 PM.  I started this at 8:30 AM this morning and have been doing other things all day - wherein I periodically check in on it.

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It will be interesting when you do get MSFS24 going again - I stopped by UUMO tonight - very low ceiling, dusting of snow on the ground but runways and taxiways were clear. Radio had ATIS and Tower. I listened to ATIS, then switched to tower. Nothing possible but “Enable Ignore Weather, and Disable Ignore Weather”? I had to use the EFB tablet to switch the radio back to ATIS to see if the airport was closed or something.

I checked MSFS2020, tower had taxi and takeoff options, and I could easily switch the radio and manage the comms. Weird.