MSFS 2024 iniBuilds YBBN Brisbane Released
December 5, 2024
5 Underrated Features in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Every Beginner Should Explore
December 6, 2024
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Honest Review
This one is going to be hard, I think I've had enough time in the simulator to make my judgment on it now.
Message for the hardcore simmers.
Since Asobo announced they were bringing Microsoft Flight Simulator back after 17 years to the current date... they've allowed millions more people to join in and enjoy our hobby on a much bigger global scale. This meant we saw a lot of casual gamers, Xbox users and lots of other people join in too. This is great cause it's made the market for everything much bigger, but it's also brought a large hate mob as well, with some expectations set far too high.
Disclaimer, I've been a flight simmer since FS9 (FS2004) so I am maybe biased in my opinions.
The Launch
The launch or better known as the 97% Club, for Microsoft Flight Simulator was shakey at best - however, those of us who were around for the launch of MSFS 2020 will know it all too well. This was mostly expected for a lot of people, although it would have been smarter on Asobo / Microsoft Flight Simulator to have a larger pool of testers. Thankfully they were able to scale their server to keep up with demand after a few hours, they also kept us in the loop with speaking to the community as well.
Personal note: Personally I don't know a Flight Sim launch that hasn't had its bugs, for example, P3D V4, Xplane 11, Xplane 12 - I mean in Xplane 11 you couldn't even fly through clouds. You had to pay for an addon regardless of personal opinion, it takes time for the simulator to be refined and become its potential.
UI / Interface
This kind of left a lot to be desired I think, it feels more like Microsoft Flight Simulator Xbox edition. Everything is laid out that is clearly optimized for Xbox users rather than PC, which I think is a bit of a letdown. It's not all bad though, in the previous simulator (Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020) in the selection screen of free flight the simulator was rendering 2 worlds, one you saw on the screen to select airports and the one you load into. Now it's 1 world, not to be confused with Oneworld... haha. Either way, now it's combined into 1 which was a great move, if you zoom in on the map it will actually start rendering everything as if you were on the ground, which means seeing addon airports in detail, or just local town and such is better than ever.
It would be nice to see a slimed-down client for the dedicated simmers, similar to what P3D offers, with no cut screen, and no intro - just instantly loads into the selection menu, then it opens the sim once you load in. This would be great for cutting down load times and allowing custom UI would open a whole new level of addons for the market. Whether we will see this, probably not.
Career Mode
I think the addition of career mode, was a great move - (I truly hope they allow SDK access to this for third-party developers) Giving simmers more things to do in the simulator is always a great thing, and for the most part it is done pretty well. Of course, it does have a fair bit of bugs at the moment and I won't lie it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the current bugs can't all be fixed. The ATC would need a complete overhaul, and airports and their path mapping would need to be redone on millions of airports, which is nearly impossible. However it gives a chance for the standard airline simmers to try new things, there is also hope for what third-party developers can do to bring this feature to life.
MSFS 2024 Most Profitable Career Mode
Now let's talk about the bugs in career mode, honestly, there are too many to list - most a small a minor but there are some big ones too. For example, the feature mission/star missions, no matter how well you do, will ruin your reputation after the mission (Even at %100 with no warnings) which can really be annoying. Passenger transport is also much to be desired, for the most part, eh... but ATC coming in clutch again, they'll get to descend 100nm from your destination when you should not be descending. Smaller issues that are annoying, incorrect Taxi speed warnings, wrong spots for hold short at most grass strip airports, overflying an airfield when there is no airfield below the list can go on.
MSFS 2024 Things To Avoid In Career Mode
Lastly one of the most disappointing was that heavy cargo, super heavy, and passenger missions other than the 737 Max aren't in the simulator yet.
The Aircrafts
Honestly, most of them are outstanding, even groundbreaking in some areas, I'm going to steer clear of the clear aces here. The Cessna Caravan has never felt so good before, landing gear feeling like it should - turboprop sounding amazing. A lot of the standard aircraft feel really solid and great now that the new flight model is in, even better on the aircraft hands made for the new simulator. Such as A330, A321, A330XL, A400M, C-17 and may more.
Unfortantuntly a few of the aircraft I was excited about, were ones that aren't working or finished fully yet - which can be a theme in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 sadly. Like the Saab 340B, it works.. kind of but the FMS doesn't function the display doesn't work correctly, and a lot of buttons aren't working or labeled correctly. Along with the 747 Supertanker, which is sadly completely broken at the moment with controls even being inverted - it's a mess at the moment.
Other than those few, the rest are amazing - they work and function perfectly for the most part.
VR
Quest 3
My old friend virtual reality, I've been using VR since all the way back to the Oculus DK1 and I've had a lot of headsets since, currently rocking the Meta Quest 3. Now again Microsoft Flight Simulator has never been an easy task to run in very, with a lot of setting up and configuring needed to get it to work, if it does work. With that said my experience in VR is FAR better than what I had in MSFS 2020 - This seems to be different for some people though with a lot of people reporting worse performance.
With current Nvidia drivers and updated DLSS files, I find it amazing. Just like with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, we see a dedicated menu for VR settings, which feature fairly much the same settings which is fine. However trying to turn on Nvidia reflex onto "On+Boost" appears to be broken, you can set it and save but when you go back to check it'll switch to on - same with Reprojection mode being on Depth. However, VR has never felt better in a flight simulator before. Works flawlessly across all the game modes including Career mode and even in the walk-around mode so props to the team for that.
Flight Model
The flight model includes the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, which is amazing I love it - it changes the feeling completely from the old simulator especially while on the ground, taxing is now much easier and the aircraft feels heavier, requiring a lot more power and time to slow down and stop - in the air turbulence feels great. For the most part, all the aircraft included in the simulator feel very welcome with the new flight model, everything feels - as it should.
Visuals
This is where the simulator comes to light, pun intended - the new lighting system that comes in MSFS 2024 is truly groundbreaking. It changes the way the simulator looks completely and makes it feel so much more real and alive. Not only that but we've seen some massive improvements to the clouds, now with high-level clouds and clouds feeling much more real and fluffy like they should. We also see the world from a new perspective which means a lot of the new aircraft included in the sim have been given a major texture overhaul compared to what we are used to. Asobo's own 737 takes the cake in my personal opinion, even better than payware PMDG 737 and iFly 737 (At least on the outside). Now we can see the world from a person's point of view and being able to walk and explore aircraft, towns, and airports a lot more time and effort have gone into the small details which you can see right up close.
The Bad
Let's get the big one out of the way, cloud streaming - I do see where the team was trying to go, and keeping the payload as small as possible for end users will also make it simple for cross-compatibility, however again this feels like an Xbox move. It wouldn't have taken much or hurt to allow users to have the option of downloading the core sim, aircraft, and even scenery at their own choice. I know a lot of people are complaining saying that the team has "gamer-fied" the simulator, i really don't think that is the case - at its core, it is a very good flight simulator, with A LOT of potential. However, it's just sad to see a PC simulator lose its priority to its hardcore fans to Xbox users.
The Good
This is a ground-breaking Flight Simulator, to the point where it can almost be a life simulator, we can walk around - the potential for this to be used with third-party developers is crazy, along with the water and wave system boats kind of work in the simulator and feel decent. Maybe we'll have study study-level cruise ship? That would be cool! Microsoft Flight Simulator has never looked so good before, it feels amazing and even with its downfalls and bugs - it works and it works very well.
Overall Thoughts
While there is a long ride ahead, it took 3 years for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to become as good as it is now, there was a lot of pain - broken updates that made things worse and so on. I'm ready and expecting the same for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - there has never been more potential in a flight simulator than now, it is all in the hands of third-party developers to make the most of it - and for the team to bring out more access in the SDK for things like Chaseplane!
