So what does everybody think of the state of MSFS 2020 freeware after 4 years, on the cusp of MSFS 2024 coming out?  Some notable freeware for MSFS 2020 are the FBW A380, FBW A320, FSLTL, AIG, and Headwind A330.  And then there is the plethora of freeware at flightsim.to. And yeah, flightsim.to has a lot of freeware for MSFS!

How does the state of MSFS 2020 freeware after 4 years, compare to the freeware of past flight simulators? Would you say MSFS 2020 freeware is stronger than past flight simulators, including FSX?

Some of the best freeware for any sim, and I think honestly one of the major contributing factors to FS2020s success

The aircraft you've already mentioned but also scenery.

Before flying to any new airport I'll pop over to flightsim.to and see if there's a freeware mod for it. Some of the airports found there are as good if not better than payware. Ones which immediately spring to mind to me are Gatwick, and anything by Superspud - he's done some amazing island airports around the UK including the Channel Islands, Isles of Scilly, Isle of Man and a few airports in Cornwall which are all amazing. Duxford near Cambridge is another good one - they've modelled not only the airfield but the aviation museum in full detail - as is Compton Abbas, a small grass strip in Dorset. There's also a new freeware Palma airport in Majorca which looks awesome that I need to check out.

Edited November 12, 20241 yr by Tom Wright

P3D did not have much freeware development. I suspect the confusion over licenses and the fact that the user base was quite small contributed to that; but FS2004 and FSX had a healthy freeware ecosystem; just look at how large the library here is on AVSIM; and it was not the only place to get freeware. For the time it was good stuff, it does not compare to the quality of what we have now but so much has changed, from what a simulator can do to the kind of development tools available, that I am not sure a sound comparison can be made. 

I still believe FS9 was the golden era regarding freeware aircraft, regarding variety (I even use some of them in my laptop, 19 years after I started simming). I'll let FSX and MSFS2020 kill themselves for the silver. But yes, P3D was very poor regarding freeware, and the majority of stuff available was ported from FSX. The only exception I can recall is AIG OCI.

Edited November 13, 20241 yr by Luis Hernandez

9 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

I still believe FS9 was the golden era regarding freeware aircraft, regarding variety (I even use some of them in my laptop, 19 years after I started simming). I'll let FSX and MSFS2020 kill themselves for the silver. But yes, P3D was very poor regarding freeware, and the majority of stuff available was ported from FSX. The only exception I can recall is AIG OCI.

I skipped FS9 and started simming again with FSX.  I didn't know FS9 had all that freeware! 

FS9 was awesome. Specifically in the area of freeware aircraft, we were spoiled for choice in a way that we aren't with MSFS 2020 - Dave Maltby and Rick Piper are just two legendary names that come to mind.

Of course, the standards of the time made it easier - 2D panels were the norm, and an FBW A380 would not have been even remotely possible. But the vibrancy of the freeware community is something I still remember fondly.

11 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

I skipped FS9 and started simming again with FSX.  I didn't know FS9 had all that freeware! 

Wow this is a first...😳  Many FS9 users (myself included) skipped FSX as it totally missed the mark as to where hardware was going.  In the midst of the fix Aces studios closed and FSX was left as is with the add-on community taking years to mod it to get it to function properly.  If became the going accepted wisdom that a Flightsim by it's very nature could never perform like over gaming software on the market. Many of us weren't buying it and MSFS came along and dispelled that belief.  Add to that Microsoft made a mandate that the sim be adopted for XBOX which further forced Asobo's hand to focus on performance on lower end hardware.  It was a great for PC's now we have fluid VR among other things.  FSX goes down in history of this franchise as the worst performing version ever released. P3D came along and addressed some of that but for the visuals you got and what hardware was needed it still was unreasonable.  As always Microsoft had to reset the standard for visuals/performance of the hobby that even XPLANE had to follow or get left in the dust pin of history.  If FSX is where you started I feel sorry for you.😔  So much came before it but FS9 was the gold standard that had the best performance for the era.  Now MSFS (hopefully MS2024) has taken that goal post and ran with it. 👍 

I stayed on fs9 and skipped fsx also due to performance 

26 minutes ago, Dillon said:

FSX goes down in history of this franchise as the worst performing version ever released.

I remember installing it, with great anticipation, and being shocked at how badly it performed on my system (which ran FS9 great). I got 2 or 3 fps - not exaggerating. I had to buy a new PC before I was able to move to FSX.

2020 may prove to be peak freeware. 

A pandemic sure helps one's productivity. Ideally there won't be another one. 

To brush up existing 2020 scenery, it sounds like 2024 will require the complete redoing of almost all ground elements, some or all custom elevations and most 3d models. 

 I expect a lot of creators won't have the time to address all that even if they want to. 

And of course there may be less need for it in 2024. 

Time will tell. 

1 hour ago, superspud said:

2020 may prove to be peak freeware. 

A pandemic sure helps one's productivity. Ideally there won't be another one.

Yup, I think MSFS 2020 is probably the peak of freeware.  Too bad flightsim.to doesn't show the number of add-ons available to download.  The best I can see is the most popular downloads for all time, which would be the HPG H135 at 651K downloads.  I would love to see the total number of add-ons available for download at flightsim.to though.

Edited November 13, 20241 yr by abrams_tank

Upgrading from FS9 to FSX was like upgrading Windows XP to Vista. But Vista quickly became Windows 7 while FSX carried on chugging and crashing and required constant tinkering. I seem to remember a guide someone setup to optimise performance that was about 20 pages long.

As for my freeware paints, I think they'll need to be redone.  I heard even the vision jet will have different modelling which affects my vision jet paints.

Thankfully I've done my paints mostly in 3d so I hope it's not a lot of work.

11 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

As for my freeware paints, I think they'll need to be redone.  I heard even the vision jet will have different modelling which affects my vision jet paints.

Thankfully I've done my paints mostly in 3d so I hope it's not a lot of work.

I was wondering about this. Need to learn how to do this as well. Seems - complicated lol.

3 hours ago, martinboehme said:

I remember installing it, with great anticipation, and being shocked at how badly it performed on my system (which ran FS9 great). I got 2 or 3 fps - not exaggerating. I had to buy a new PC before I was able to move to FSX.

 

4 hours ago, Dillon said:

FSX goes down in history of this franchise as the worst performing version ever released.

I have to totally disagree. I had an average system, and once the initial glitches were overcome I found FSX to be a great sim, superseded only by MSFS2020 which of course launched a new era. For the last several years of use, I had virtually no problems with FSX. Sorry if you had a different experience, but that was not mine.