I am one of many who got both happy AND frustrated at the same time when FS2020 was launched. I loved the initial visuals but the flight dynamics made me frustrated and I went back to X-plane after a few updates with no improvements (or even more bugs). I gave the FBW a go and it was better than the crappy built-in planes but still far behind X-plane. I've checked in a few times on the forum and pretty much the same discussions still exist today. Performance issues, visual degrades (nooo!!), new addons (yaaay), VR problems and so on.

I thought...ok...I'll give it a go. I will install it again and see if there are any improvements for me. For starters, the download manager has NOT improved. Still useless download speed which I had to tweak 10 times before my native speed could be used.

As for the sim itself. Well...the latest FBW A320 rocks. Really really good. And the sound is sublime. So at least there is one solid bird to fly. But what happened to the sim visuals? I mean...sure...it is the same DNA as launchday but I get the feeling that ASOBO has reduced the quality? The runway looks way oversharpened and grainy on my monitor (probably to look better on TV screens - ie Xbox). The clouds now lack definition and feel more like "The Simpsons clouds". Also, didn't we have different clouds and formation when the sim was launched?

As for performance, I think it was smoother initially but I might be wrong.

In many scenarios the sim looks great of course, but I feel it is worse now than it originally was. Sliders are maxed out more or less.

Are my observations correct? 

I don't have the same observations. I think the sim is better now than when it launched.

14 minutes ago, flightsim1818 said:

Are my observations correct? 

Some will say yes, some will say no. Observations of flight sims are never correct or wrong, they are subjective and can only by correct or wrong for you. I personally wouldn't care if my own observations are agreed upon or not by a bunch of forum members I don't really know: my observations are MY observations and I don't need anyone to tell me if they are correct or not. If you think MSFS looks worse, who am I to argue with that? I think MSFS looks splendid so... does that change your mind? 😉

And here we go again! Popcorn anyone?

1 hour ago, flightsim1818 said:

I am one of many who got both happy AND frustrated at the same time when FS2020 was launched. I loved the initial visuals but the flight dynamics made me frustrated and I went back to X-plane after a few updates with no improvements (or even more bugs). I gave the FBW a go and it was better than the crappy built-in planes but still far behind X-plane. I've checked in a few times on the forum and pretty much the same discussions still exist today. Performance issues, visual degrades (nooo!!), new addons (yaaay), VR problems and so on.

I thought...ok...I'll give it a go. I will install it again and see if there are any improvements for me. For starters, the download manager has NOT improved. Still useless download speed which I had to tweak 10 times before my native speed could be used.

As for the sim itself. Well...the latest FBW A320 rocks. Really really good. And the sound is sublime. So at least there is one solid bird to fly. But what happened to the sim visuals? I mean...sure...it is the same DNA as launchday but I get the feeling that ASOBO has reduced the quality? The runway looks way oversharpened and grainy on my monitor (probably to look better on TV screens - ie Xbox). The clouds now lack definition and feel more like "The Simpsons clouds". Also, didn't we have different clouds and formation when the sim was launched?

As for performance, I think it was smoother initially but I might be wrong.

In many scenarios the sim looks great of course, but I feel it is worse now than it originally was. Sliders are maxed out more or less.

Are my observations correct? 

Pretty much accurate.

There are quite a few good 3rd party addons now.

Ground and flight dynamics are pretty much problematic. The weather and the wind/turbulence effects, while better than in the initial release are also a glaring weakness.

ATC and AI need fixing.

Oh yeah, the visuals are really nice in most parts.

Quote

Some will say yes, some will say no. Observations of flight sims are never correct or wrong, they are subjective and can only by correct or wrong for you.

Welcome to La La Land, where reality is anything you want it to be.

1 hour ago, flightsim1818 said:

I am one of many who got both happy AND frustrated at the same time when FS2020 was launched. I loved the initial visuals but the flight dynamics made me frustrated and I went back to X-plane after a few updates with no improvements (or even more bugs). I gave the FBW a go and it was better than the crappy built-in planes but still far behind X-plane. I've checked in a few times on the forum and pretty much the same discussions still exist today. Performance issues, visual degrades (nooo!!), new addons (yaaay), VR problems and so on.

I thought...ok...I'll give it a go. I will install it again and see if there are any improvements for me. For starters, the download manager has NOT improved. Still useless download speed which I had to tweak 10 times before my native speed could be used.

As for the sim itself. Well...the latest FBW A320 rocks. Really really good. And the sound is sublime. So at least there is one solid bird to fly. But what happened to the sim visuals? I mean...sure...it is the same DNA as launchday but I get the feeling that ASOBO has reduced the quality? The runway looks way oversharpened and grainy on my monitor (probably to look better on TV screens - ie Xbox). The clouds now lack definition and feel more like "The Simpsons clouds". Also, didn't we have different clouds and formation when the sim was launched?

As for performance, I think it was smoother initially but I might be wrong.

In many scenarios the sim looks great of course, but I feel it is worse now than it originally was. Sliders are maxed out more or less.

Are my observations correct? 

No it is much better now, and miles ahead of XP, that's for sure. 

Just about everything is far better now.

I got MSFS at launch and loved it, but I did have some issues. There were things like live weather (particularly wind) that were totally broken, and the satellite imagery over my state was horrible. Performance was a bit hit or miss. Other things felt unfinished, like cockpit glass and various other INOP buttons. I also wasn't impressed with how photogrammetry handled things like bridges. But all in all, I was pleased. My last sim was FSX, and launch day MSFS was miles ahead of that sim, at least visually, IMO.

Then the updates started coming, and for me they broke more than they fixed, to the point where things were so broken that I just gave up and uninstalled the sim. It remained uninstalled for a long, long time. A year or later (it's been so long I can't remember exactly), a friend prompted me to try it again, so last week I reinstalled MSFS.

I will say, like an uncle who hasn't seen his brother's kids in over a year, the sim has "grown" remarkably since I last used it. Performance is way better for me, autogen trees are way better, autogen building choices have improved (the local grocery store actually looks like a store instead of a bunch of apartment buildings), and most importantly, Bing has updated the satellite imagery of my home state, so the aerial views have vastly improved (though unfortunately this terrible green tint remains). Oh, and not a single CTD! My only complaint is that clouds feel like they've been downgraded since I first played, but they still look pretty darn good, so maybe "observation" is a better word than "complaint".

All in all, I'm very impressed with the improvements made to MSFS since I last used it. It's still has a ways to go, and I'm using some 3rd party addons (of which there are way more since launch) to fill in a lot of missing features from the base sim, but at least it feels like everything is going in the right direction. I'm definitely enjoying flying again!

2 hours ago, flightsim1818 said:

Are my observations correct? 

No, they are not.

2 hours ago, flightsim1818 said:

(probably to look better on TV screens - ie Xbox).

Bait detected.

Just now, Krakin said:

Bait detected.

Especially since TV screens these days tend to be HDR 4K. I fly on my TV (sitting right in front of it like my ma warned me not to do) and I'm a PC gamer. I just find a big screen TV way more immersive that my tiny 15 inch laptop screen. And no, the TV does not make the clouds look better, LOL.

2 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

... and miles ahead of XP, that's for sure. 

Can you explain that in more detail please? 🤔🙃

So, 17 hours already elapsed, but still no details. Does that mean that MSFS isn't THIS much ahead as claimed? Or maybe even way behind?

17 hours later, this is still a "my feelings are better than yours" repeat topic which is entirely subjective.
Closing it would probably be the best thing to do before someone who cannot bear to be disagreed with gets really upset.

Edited July 13, 20223 yr by Reader