XBox vs PC - Why the huge loading time difference?

[Bilbosmeggins 217]

I’ve had MSFS on PC since launch, and have accepted the crazy-long loading time as being a necessary evil for such a complex piece of software. I have a very powerful PC with a 3090, 5950X, super fast hard drive etc. However, I recently got my hands on an Xbox X, and was astonished to discover that it offers a “Quick Resume” option, which means I can go from Xbox dashboard to MSFS in about 2 seconds!  Even without using the Quick Resume I can be in the sim in hardly anytime at all. To get into the PC version is probably well in excess of a minute.

Now I appreciate that the Xbox is utilising a very streamlined OS, but even so…..  The loading times aren’t even on the same page.  Does this mean that MS/Asobo have had to do a much better job for the, generally, more impatient console crowd? And, if so, are PC users going to get this level of efficiency further down the line? Or is it some other reason?

[NZ255 309]

It might get faster with 'DirectStorage' but I can't remember if that's to do with loading, or rendering.

[Bilbosmeggins 217]

Haven’t heard of that. I’ll have to have a Google session. 

[wim123 758]

the ram is much faster on console, its ddr6 and ofcourse a good fast ssd, no community folder.

i am on the series s, i do not see such  aquick startup, i never use quickresume, it can cause ctd's and i always completely

shut down.

it is still faster than on pc by a good amount. mayeb a minute sstartup, a lil longer.

[G-RFRY 1,708]

That`s how XBOX was designed to work and they are working on Game Pass instant access no need to download the game. And some time in the future they can then give smart TV`s instant access with a Game Pass premium account with the XBOX app installed.  Think of it more than a billion people will have access to Game Pass. Game Pass will be as common as Netflix. 

Edited February 12, 2022 by G-RFRY

[Bilbosmeggins 217]

10 minutes ago, G-RFRY said:

That`s how XBOX was designed to work and they are working on Game Pass instant access no need to download the game. And some time in the future they can then give smart TV`s instant access with a Game Pass premium account with the XBOX app installed.  Think of it more than a billion people will have access to Game Pass. Game Pass will be as common as Netflix. 

If only the Xbox was VR capable I’d jump ship in a heartbeat, and put the whole PC headache behind me. 

[March Hare 720]

It's all about the system architecture, OS and faster NVMe drive and memory, as well as the memory being unified for the system. GPU-wise it's on a par with a RTX2080 Super, I believe, and the system architecture is better than you'll find on a home PC, because it's custom designed, eliminating buses, etc. Faster drive access, and faster memory access.

If I had a PC with a RTX2080 GPU -- the top-end card the sim was designed for -- the Xbox Series X would be superior to my home PC in many ways.

[pmb 5,137]

That's all good and fine, and I would be tempted too, but the downsides are 

- no VR (at this time),

- no Home Cockpit Builders support, 

- no possibilities to install addons from flightsim.to and friends,

- no possibility to transfer items bought directly from the PC Marketplace to the X-Box, let alone use those bought from external vendors.

Plus, in the future no support for Fenix Bus and maybe others going that route.

And I doubt those will be remedied soon as they are at the base of the system.

Kind regards, Michael

[Bilbosmeggins 217]

58 minutes ago, pmb said:

That's all good and fine, and I would be tempted too, but the downsides are 

- no VR (at this time),

- no Home Cockpit Builders support, 

- no possibilities to install addons from flightsim.to and friends,

- no possibility to transfer items bought directly from the PC Marketplace to the X-Box, let alone use those bought from external vendors.

Plus, in the future no support for Fenix Bus and maybe others going that route.

And I doubt those will be remedied soon as they are at the base of the system.

Kind regards, Michael

Those are all good points, with maybe, the home cockpit builder’s being a moot point for a VR user.  Oh, and I was surprised that PC Market Place purchases do seem to move across, as I had my Powersolo 103, and 3 airports waiting for me. 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Bilbosmeggins
Omission

[wim123 758]

2 hours ago, pmb said:

That's all good and fine, and I would be tempted too, but the downsides are 

- no VR (at this time),

- no Home Cockpit Builders support, 

- no possibilities to install addons from flightsim.to and friends,

- no possibility to transfer items bought directly from the PC Marketplace to the X-Box, let alone use those bought from external vendors.

Plus, in the future no support for Fenix Bus and maybe others going that route.

And I doubt those will be remedied soon as they are at the base of the system.

Kind regards, Michael

absolutely, for serious flightsimming pc is absolutely first choice, but for the peeps like me without all the money needed.

i am happy with xbox series s, absolutely a pity we have no access sofar to those fantastic usermods.

i dont have a different choice for now.

[DylanM 1,069]

5 hours ago, NZ255 said:

It might get faster with 'DirectStorage' but I can't remember if that's to do with loading, or rendering.

You got it - this is why many of us have been pushing to get this supported on the PC (DS is part of the architecture on the Xbox). This, along with formal support of Resizable BAR would be literal game changers…

[pmb 5,137]

1 hour ago, Bilbosmeggins said:

Those are all good points, with maybe, the home cockpit builder’s being a moot point for a VR user.  

Don't say this. I am in both camps with perhaps 50/50 of usage time. I hope those will make a good couple one fine day but I doubt I will live up to that.

Kind regards, Michael

[sightseer 895]

2 hours ago, pmb said:

no possibility to transfer items bought directly from the PC Marketplace to the X-Box,

maybe I misunderstand you here but if you buy from the Marketplace  then its up to the developer whether or not its available on XBox.  I routinely find more and more of my PC purchased items showing up in the XBox Content manager.

Of course I bought MSFS from the MS Store.  I guess that matters maybe?

[MegaRiceBall 99]

It simply comes down to random read speed and how many smaller objects do you have in each installation.

On PC, you could ask yourself

• Do you have an SSD? What's the rating of 4K random read speed?
• Do you have addons? Some addons (especially non optimized ones) can increase # of object to read by multiple times compared to the base sim and therefore, could increase your loading time substantially

On Xbox, could you try a cold restart and see what's the "actual" loading time of MSFS? There's way more caching going on in Xbox

[ThrottleUp 617]

It is a really impressive machine and I'm totally gonna get one in the coming months. That Resume function was one of their primary missions when they were designing the XBSX and I remember that making a lot of gamers sit up and take notice. Great feature.

You might find this interesting:

https://kotaku.com/how-the-xbox-series-x-s-quick-resume-feature-works-and-1845578017