Is the game beginner friendly?

[sanh 823]

Yes msfs is far more new-player friendly than x-plane.

[CFIJose 5,485]

10 hours ago, A38083 said:

Hi all,

a few years ago I played XP11. I liked this simulator, but gave it up  because the game required a lot of add-ons to be playable, which did not always work well and were unintuitive. I am a novice in the subject of aviation so the lack of any lessons, missions or guidance in the game was also problematic. If you wanted to make a flight, you had to spend a huge amount of time searching for the airports data, aircraft servicing, etc. However, the satisfaction with the first successful A320 (Flight Factor) flight  (with an amazing sound package from Turbine Sound Studios) was huge. But it all took a little too much time ...
Of course, I realize that this is what simulators are all about, and this is not an arcade game. However, I just missed the learning curve instead of being thrown into the deep end.

Does MFS treat it differently? Does it have extensive flying lessons as in the previous edition? (or at least the possibility that some of the operations in the plane could be taken over by the program itself). Does it have missions / tasks? Are there any plans to create planes for it at a level similar to those paid for the XP11 (eg FF A320)?

Thank you in advance for your help!

It's SO user friendly that it doesn't come with a manual. 😀 You will have to rely on watching YT videos to learn how to get around what I call the most complex and non-user friendly UI I have ever encountered and I've been using flight sims since Flight Unlimited.

The reason why I love it and it has replaced my fully loaded versions of P3D & X-Plane 11 is because the atmosphere and visuals are second to none. The entire world is covered with photo ground texture and you get summer & winter seasonal textures. Night lighting is spectacular and so far the airplanes feel alive. Live weather is still a WIP but ASOBO has promised improvements with a10 year plan. It's fascinating to watch all this unfold.The MSFS community is also delivering daily mods that will keep you busy and AVSIM is always here to help.

User friendly, hell NO. But, if you are willing to take the time (one step at a time) to learn, you will be WOWed to death daily by this amazing new sim.

You might want to start by asking yourself, do I have the minimum required computer specs to run MSFS 2020?

[Car147 2,278]

I had not used a sim since the original MSFs, and even then just flew around without a clue how to get to places and runways other than luck .. lol. Since MSFS2020 launched i can now fly VFR, IFR. actually land where intended, and have had some fantastic experiances in a couple of months. Yes there's annoying issues at times, but wow, given time this sim is  a game changer...

[mtr75 653]

Depends on what you mean. I wouldn't consider an A320 to be in any way associated with the word "beginner". But if you want to start out in the 152 and learn how to fly, absolutely it is!

[regis9 4,014]

I would say that MSFS is more user friendly out of the box than any other flightsim in recent history (maybe ever?).

Jump in, have fun, and be sure to ask around here if you have any questions.

Edited October 24, 2020 by regis9

[Manny 1,293]

And if you still have issues, post it here..you could get help!

[odourboy 1,289]

11 hours ago, DJJose said:

what I call the most complex and non-user friendly UI I have ever encountered and I've been using flight sims since Flight Unlimited.

Seriously? I find it very intuitive. A few things are less then obvious, but to get a plane into the air... easy peasy my friend. Except for one thing... parking brakes.

Edited October 24, 2020 by odourboy

[DAD 2,650]

12 hours ago, DJJose said:

and I've been using flight sims since Flight Unlimited.

You started late my friend 😉

[CFIJose 5,485]

1 hour ago, odourboy said:

Seriously? I find it very intuitive. A few things are less then obvious, but to get a plane into the air... easy peasy my friend. Except for one thing... parking brakes.

It became easy when I read all the articles and watched all the YT Videos. Some of the information in the UI seemed like a different language to me.

[HPG 403]

Yes, if you can't figure something out for yourself there's many YouTube channels that offer tutorials, and the official Discord as well as this forum are full of people willing to help as long as you're respectful and do try to search and learn how to do things yourself.

I highly recommend letting folks know what you've already researched and found before asking for help 🙂 o7

[ivng 57]

Here is my worry as a newcomer: I don't know what I don't know and wouldn't be able to say whether something isn't working as expected.  Even if I did know behaviour is off, wouldn't be able to say if it's me doing something wrong or if it's the software.  

The reason this is important is that it's a little discouraging to start learning new intricacies and not having the sim work properly - makes for a frustrating experience. 

Part of this way of thinking comes from youtube tutorials where glitches come up, but also mostly from reading this forum.  The general takeway I got from Avsim is that C152 might be the ony plane done 'well', 'many others don't behave as they should',  'instrumentation generally doesn't work as it should, but things are manageable with workarounds IF you're experienced and already know what's what" <- MY general impression of what's being said on this forum.

On the other hand, what I think from actually using the sim is: all planes work, they take off, I manage to keep them airborne, looks beautiful, able to land some of the time (single propellers most of the time), it's good fun.  All this is by manual hand-flying, no idea about system-assisted flying yet.  From negatives: buggy bush trips, few CTDs. 

Committed to a multi-hour tour of Japan flight and CTD happened after good portion of the tour was completed.  Tried again thinking I'll quicksave as I go.  No such option... gave up on the tour.  This is what's 'game'-breaking to me.  Uncertainty of a random CTD during a long flight without the ability to load it back to last save causes more 'excitement' than the actual flight. 

If game basics like quicksave don't exist or don't work as should, ideas about the state of airplane systems come to mind themselves. 

Then again, does someone new really need all the complexity?  For reference, during Japan tour, I wasn't able to get rid of the 'landing gear' alarm sounding off every time I flew lower to look at POIs.

Did all the usual things in the sim many here predicted newcomers would - own house, followed roads to places I know, all kinds of craziness between skyscrapers in cities, 'can this airplane fly upside down, etc'.  All of this with all damage systems turned on in the menu - seeing how far things can be pushed.  Getting to the point where it either becomes boring or I dive in deeper.

Have to admit most of my flying was done from 3rd person POV.  Lately I find myself pulled into cockpit more and more.  It's interesting to go through the checklist, get the thing started and stay in cockpit view during flight to use mouse for controls of actual switches, etc from inside.  C152 is a blast to control this way.  However, it's overwhelming in cockpits that are more advanced. 

Would need to invest serious time and effort to learn more.  Wish in-game tutorials went a little further.   Especially interested in flight-automation, basic IFR (is there such thing as basic IFR?). 

Is there a default plane definitely good enough to start with?

How do you, experienced simmers, see this situation?  Are default airplanes exactly what noobs need or is there a critical mass of issues that would make learning process of anything more involved not worth it yet? 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by ivng