Sell me on MSFS!

C

CybrSlydr

Charter Member
I've not played a MSFS since FSX (and this was before all the crazy stuff came out for it). Don't get me wrong, I like flight sims (hence why we're all here!), but I've waited on this one as it seemed it was quite resource intensive (FSX... FS9... etc. lol Pattern?) and to let the ecosystem mature.

I like twin-engine GA planes (turbo-twins and non-turbo twins), warbirds, and corporate jets. Is there a good selection of high-quality free/payware out there for those categories? I've seen the milviz 310R, which looks right up my alley.

What kind of "expansion" have people come up with? I remember there used to be some program that let you simulate flying your own airline and graded your flights and maintenance. If you pitched past 30 degrees, it upset the "occupants", etc. Was a great way to roleplay rather than strictly use the sim as a "sight seeing" sim.

How has performance come around? I have an 8700k, 32GB RAM, and a 6800XT. Play at 1440p. Any must-have/see sceneries out there? How is the weather simulation?

Basically, I'm trying to convince myself to get this - maybe wait for a sale if that happens. Is the Premium Deluxe really worth it? Are helos in the near future?

Give me your favorite stories of what makes you love this sim, and what you're stoked to see in the future!
 
If only there were hundreds of YouTube videos and thousands of messages here showing MSFS. :)

But seriously, sign up here for Game Pass for $1, then go to your Microsoft account and turn off Automatic Renewal for Game Pass, and you can try MSFS on your system for $1 for a month.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass

Because MSFS is a single-threaded game and MSFS can take better advantage of your hardware's capabilities, you may find that despite looking a lot more like reality and less like a cartoon, you get as good or better performance than you'd get from MSFS/P3D with add-ons to enhance the ancient stock imagery.

Flightsim.to is the de facto destination for add-ons.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 8_18_2022 7_59_38 PM.jpg
 
Oooo. Game pass for $1 - that's a great idea!

Yeah, hundreds of vids and posts - but if I ask for them here, I don't have to look for them, they come to me. :)
 
There is plenty of Youtube clips out there, you can watch and study, and you will regret if you take anything but the Ultra Deluxe version :)
 
I bought the standard version and never missed the deluxe additions. In fact, I removed most of the default aircraft anyway.
Warbirds is my main interest, and there are a few nice ones, like the P-38, F6F and Spitfire from Flying Iron & the Corsair from Milviz.
I love the PMDG DC-6, the 310 by Milviz is nice, as is the Goose by Big Radials and the Beech 18. Don't forget the Boeing 247 if you like twins! I hear nice stories about the 414, but it is too similar to the 310 for me..
Everything runs just fine on my rig, default scenery is already very nice, lots of other stuff available, often freeware, so really, what's stopping you?
 
Nevermind graphics card and memory, how much storage do you have? SSD or HDD?!!

MSFS consumes vast amounts of drive space if you load all the default bells and whistles. Just something worth bearing in mind!
 
You def. want to put the main sim files on an SSD read speed is critical. You can use the default location or pick a custom, but either way, you'll want to put a link to your "Packages" folder in the Quick Access list on the left side of the file folder window. If you have a rig with decent heft, you'll get good frames. I have a laptop with a 1650 mobile graphics card and I still get frames that average around 30. You just have to go through the list of graphics options and tweak a few things. There are some things that are resource hogs that have very little visual impact, so those get reduced, but that leaves resources available to run stuff like clouds on ultra.

If you like twin props, the visual model of the Diamond DA62 is superb, but the flight dynamics are sketchy. Luckily, there's a free package at the aforementioned .to site that vastly improves performance and brings the numbers very close to the published specs from Diamond. It gives very similar performance to the Baron, but uses half the fuel to do it. So if you like those virtual economy programs, that's a big advantage. For payware, I love the BN Islander (there is also a Trislander from the same group), and the Kodiak. Both are extremely well done. There's also a pretty nice Twotter available, but I find myself going back to the other two. Stock airports are hit and miss. For the most part, the "bespoke" fields are pretty nice. Some of those are done by well-known 3rd parties - KAVX (Catalina Island) is a "lite" version of the Orbx payware.

As for the rest of the world, the scenery is streamed online as you fly, so the detail is orders of magnitude better than you'll ever see on any of the competitors. Their installers would have to be multiple terabytes in order to contain the same detail. You can also download a manual cache of any area that you fly frequently to avoid some of the pop-in that you might see with the streaming data.

Weather... Well, the visuals are spectacular, but some of the modeling can be (and often is) hotly debated over at the official forum. Since day one, the only dewpoint you'll ever hear from any ATIS is 10°C. You even hear it when the ambient temp is below that, which is supposed to be physically impossible.

All in all, I'd say it's worth the price. Addons run the gamut from point-and-shoot high-horsepower bushies to full-on study level stuff from PMDG and others.
 
"As for the rest of the world, the scenery is streamed online as you fly, so the detail is orders of magnitude better than you'll ever see on any of the competitors. Their installers would have to be multiple terabytes in order to contain the same detail. You can also download a manual cache of any area that you fly frequently to avoid some of the pop-in that you might see with the streaming data."


I seem to remeber Asobo quoting 2 Petabytes when it was first released but I bet its grown a bit since then.
 
I do have an SSD, only a Gen3 WD. It's pretty full with my Steam games. How much storage do I really need to think about?

Also - better to buy it on Steam or the MS Store?
 
Version: I got the Premium Deluxe or whatever it's called. In hindsight, not sure it was worth the extra. I do fly the Longitude from time to time, and I like to visit KSFO and KDEN from time to time. But, I'm not sure I'd use those if I hadn't bought that version. I'd recommend the Deluxe, for the Baron. The model was a bit messed up for a while, but they've fixed most of the issues and, with the new G1000 NXi it's a great model, for a default, IMO.

Performance: I've been pleasantly surprised at how well MSFS runs on modest hardware. I'm running on a 7-year old i7-6700 16GB, run-of-the-mill 1GB SSD, a modest GPU (GTX 1660) at 2K, and I get 25-30 fps at most locations (save the big custom-made airports) with a mix of "Ultra" and "High" settings . I've been saving up for a higher end rig, but so far, I don't have a strong need for it, quite happy with the latest release too.

Payware Add-ons: Unlike past FS version, the seasons are not as well represented visually. There are two payware season packages out there that will change the ground and tree colors with the seasons. I think this has been one of my favorite add-ons, in that it really helps when flying in real-time at locations that are not experiencing summer. I certainly recommend the P-38L from Flying Iron. :untroubled:

With the sim being 2+ years old now, there are tons of quality payware offerings out there. Some of the old FS9/FSX era development houses are still producing, and there are many fine newcomers putting out great work.

Freeware: I've d/ld many great freeware liveries, utilities and airports from flightsim.to. That site has revolutionized FS how add-ons are distributed. There's some freeware stuff on there that is easily payware quality, IMO. Installing and managing add-on packages is pretty easy, but creating or modifying them them is a whole new 'paradigm' compared to previous FS versions.

Finally, you may know, but if not, they're releasing a major update (for FS' 40th anniversary) in November that will include a bunch of planes, including a DC-3 from Aeroplane Heaven, Hughes' H-4 Hercules, Spirit of St. Louis, Wright Flyer, historic Meigs field, and lots more, all for free). I'm looking forward to this quite a bit. So much, that I've postponed purchasing a few planes I was contemplating, as I think I'll have a plenty of new ones for the holidays from that update.

Before I got MSFS I was still flying FS9. I flew both for close to a year, but haven't flown FS9 since the P-38L was released a year ago.

Despite some of the bumps in the road (and it has been bumpy!), and despite some areas that are quite under-developed (e.g. ATC, SDK), MSFS is a great sim and getting better and better with time.

- dcc
 
CybrSlydr said:
I do have an SSD, only a Gen3 WD. It's pretty full with my Steam games. How much storage do I really need to think about?

Also - better to buy it on Steam or the MS Store?
Click to expand...

The base sim will only use about 150GB. However, after using the sim for a couple of years, I have over a terabyte of add-ons. I have a 2TB drive devoted purely to MSFS and it's 75% full. But if you can find about 200GB of free space for it, you'll be good until the collecting kicks in. :)

IMHO I'd suggest buying it on the MS Store. If you have any issues with a purchase, you can deal directly with MS, instead of having to go through Steam's support and then to MS. Plus you won't have to run Steam while running the sim. Why add a middle-man unnecessarily? (Also, if you use Bing Rewards, you can get stuff free. I just got the $14.95 Cessna 195 for $4.95 because I had $10 in Bing Rewards credit.)

My recommendations:

1) Buy direct from MS

2) Choose an easy to find custom folder (such as D:\MSFS) for the files it downloads. Not only easier to find and less chance of a beta upgrade nuking your downloaded files, but also a shorter path to add-ons.

3) Put any add-ons in a custom folder, organized in subfolders by type (Planes, scenery, libraries, etc) and use MSFS Addons Linker (available on flightsim.to) to activate the areas you'll be flying in and ignore the others. Faster loading and less chance of conflicts. I can easily enable, say, European airports, West Coast US airports, etc.
 
Fnerg said:
This could be you! Come and join the fun!


http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/120679-Screenshots
Click to expand...

Ok, you folks convinced me. lol

Decided to get it on the MS Store, even though Steam is my gaming environment of choice.

Can I buy the airports and stuff in the higher tier versions separately? Living in Casper, it'd be nice to have that Denver airport upgrade to fly into.

Even pulled out the old MS FFB2 that still has FFB. What an amazing joystick this thing has been over the years.

EDIT: THIS GAME HAS A CONCORDE???? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME!!!

Please tell me it's a high-quality add-on and worth a purchase!!!
 
Hi,

Indeed, a Concorde is available: https://www.justflight.com/in-development/concorde-microsoft-flight-simulator And DC Designs is one of the better designers for MSFS addons. I don't have the Concorde, but I pretty much own the rest of his catalogue.

And IMHO the addon Denver is better than the included one: https://secure.simmarket.com/flightbeam-studios-denver-international-airport-for-msfs.phtml

I have the premium deluxe version, and quite frankly, that was a waste of money, as so much is available now.

Cheers,

Priller
 
Hi, I'm a current private pilot and ATCer in the real world. I've used Microsoft sims since FS5.0 - I've also heavily used X plane 10 and 11 (and own 12 but it has some ways to go yet).

I use MSFS often - it's almost the only sim I fly. With XP12 released I have been tinkering in that and doing some beta work. I also once in a blue moon fly DCS - F16 and AH64.

There are a few quirks and annoyances still with MSFS. Ground handling is still not good. The moment you touch down it still feels like paper airplanes....especially in a crosswind. I feel like one has to be on the rudder pedals so much in MSFS that for me it would almost compare to real world tail dragger ops. It's literally a dance even with a small crosswind like 10 knots in almost every addon I own (and yes that is a lot haha - I'm all in when it comes to MSFS). There are a few addons like the highly regarded SWS Kodiak that seem to handle it fine. You should buy this one lol.

Weather - generally speaking, pretty good. Has gotten a LOT better in recent months. Especially when they started implementing METARs. Before this you'd get a cloud "layer" that doesn't at all represent the real world. Or just in general the weather was way off from real world. It's closer now. Clouds look decent from medium ranges -up close can be a little detail lacking but it's fine.

ATC - frankly the AI and ATC is step back from FSX/P3D. I never use in-sim ATC because I work ATC and I can't stand how terrible it is. (It wasn't great in FSX but I believe it was better than this). Just recently a freeware pack for basic AI was released and it's decent: https://www.fslivetrafficliveries.com/

Addon aircraft - yes there are quite a few but there is a WIDE range of quality hehe. Highest end would be Fenix A320, PMDG 737's, Milviz C310, Flysimware C414, SWS Kodiak and RV14, (freeware FBW A320). Carenado is in the middle again - their Mooney and Seneca are okay - fun for exploring....pretty much like FSX standards but visually nicer. Just Flight Arrows maybe more on the high end. Tons of aircraft on this list. Typically the higher on the list the better: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/your-current-top-5-aircraft/507204/1763

Plenty of freeware aircraft, and scenery and other misc addons here: https://flightsim.to/ (it'll be your go-to site once you buy MSFS)

Yeah as I said I'm all in - I love supporting the developers and have spent a lot of my hard earned income so far on addons. You don't have to spend money on anything if you don't want to. I'd recommend the Premium Deluxe which will contain a few extra aircraft but also the Citation Longitude which will be getting a freeware mod shortly to make it quite detailed.

Get all the Working Title stuff too (google that)

Just wanted to add 5 of my very favorite screenshots (all mine)

xpqtthl0skb91 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Untitled-24 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

(The TDS GTN 750 Xi which I highly recommend in the FSW C414)
Untitled-18 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Untitled-12 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Untitled-15 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr
 
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CybrSlydr said:
Ok, you folks convinced me. lol

Decided to get it on the MS Store, even though Steam is my gaming environment of choice.

Can I buy the airports and stuff in the higher tier versions separately? Living in Casper, it'd be nice to have that Denver airport upgrade to fly into.

Even pulled out the old MS FFB2 that still has FFB. What an amazing joystick this thing has been over the years.

EDIT: THIS GAME HAS A CONCORDE???? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME!!!

Please tell me it's a high-quality add-on and worth a purchase!!!
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard Captain!

I'll just add that, buying MSFS from the MS store in my experience, has been great. Updates go smooth, purchases no problems. The only issue, and there is a work around, we have discovered that files from the MS store are locked. If you try to copy or move them you are denied. Once you put an addon package into the Community folder, you can only delete it.
The workaround is to get this clever program from www.Flightsim.TO called - MSFS AddonsLinker . The program uses the, "create shortcut" method which adds shortcuts into your community folder referencing the addons you have, which are safe in a folder you created, in a place of your choosing, where you have full permissions. Think, creating a folder system outside of the MS folders to put your downloaded third party addons into.
All of your addons can be stored and categorized, and when an update comes out, you can simply just turn your addons off temporarily. It will become clear when you read through the manual how the program works, it's a must for me who likes to create liveries and scenery, and needs access to those MS files.

Happy landings!
 
So, what's with the propeller animations? They look like crap.

I'm getting very good frames at Ultra settings 1440p, but the propellers look like they're running at 10fps.
 
Indeed you won't be disappointed with MSFS20. It runs well on my old system see signature for full specs. well as in 40+ fps in southern California region.

I too recommend installing it to a separate SSD drive.
 
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