40 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

What did it get right? Performance a tad better but that's about it. It's a downgrade from 2020 imo

What did it get right? So you actually have not read what was posted in this thread?

17 minutes ago, Kaboki said:

So what is the downgrade? Enlighten me..

Asobo saying that all my 2020 addons would work when they don't. Notably FSlTL, PMDG, the MD11 and E175/E195. The borked live traffic and sea traffic. Longer loading times...Need I go on?

For me, 2024 seems to have better lighting and better performance. (Haven't experienced stutters while landing. However, its been all GA for me.) I'd like to attribute the fast-loading times of 2024 to the better software, but I'm not sure if that is because I have an empty community folder.

Regardless, if you're a fan of GA, then I believe this to be slightly better than 2020 overall.

25 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

Asobo saying that all my 2020 addons would work when they don't. Notably FSlTL, PMDG, the MD11 and E175/E195. The borked live traffic and sea traffic. Longer loading times...Need I go on?

They said MOST addons should work or needed small changes to work…Many of my addons worked and many didnt, but probably will after devs do the small changes, just as expected… Live traffic in 2020 was a mess too, and I actually never seen boat traffic in 2020, had to install GAIST too see boats… And the sim loads faster than 2020 on my end…

I dont see any of this as a downgrade, I only see upgrades in clouds, weather, flora, fauna, terrain, flightmodel, lightning and performance…

Edited January 6, 20251 yr by Kaboki

6 minutes ago, Kaboki said:

I dont see any of this as a downgrade

I don't either, with the caveat that I expect these issues to be fixed.

I am willing to accept the fact that the GPS screens on some 2020 addons are so dim as to be unusable (a fix is on the way). I am willing to accept 20 schooners in a bathtub lake somewhere (no mention of fixing sea/ship traffic that I have heard). I am willing to accept almost every single bridge in South Florida being underwater (which I personally fixed with a scenery addon - no mention of a global fix yet). I am willing to accept trees where they are not supposed to be and trees that are bigger than real life. I am willing to accept that the airplanes are almost completely locked to modding so I can't even repaint a standard plane.

I am willing to accept all of these things, because I expect and truly believe that they will be fixed, SOON. Not in a few years. My expectation is that FS2024 be brought to a finished standard within ONE year, i.e., the end of 2025. If at the end of 2025 there are still major unresolved issues, then that is just a clear failure of development as a company.

2 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

Asobo saying that all my 2020 addons would work when they don't. Notably FSlTL, PMDG, the MD11 and E175/E195. The borked live traffic and sea traffic. Longer loading times...Need I go on?

this is called compatibility and not downgrade. While third party developers will prepare their addons for MSFS2024, you have many default aircrafts with good systems + Fenix etc to fly. If not then you have the option to stay on 2020. 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, jarmstro said:

What did it get right? Performance a tad better but that's about it. It's a downgrade from 2020 imo.

You missed the improved flight model, sky colours, clouds, cloud colours, ground tesselation, turbulence, ground physics, water physics, walk arounds, EFB / free charts etc. etc.? 

35 minutes ago, scotchegg said:

etc. etc.? 

pebbles, and more pebbles! most pebbles in any flightsim!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by turbomax

I've had 3 or 4 flights that I can only be described as spectacular. When they get past these initial issues, we're going to have a fantastic sim in our hands. 

I just did a Baltimore to Boston flight in the snow in the Fenix. I've flown this route many, many, many times in 2020. The approach into Boston was gorgeous. I dropped through one overcast layer only to find a second one about 1500' below me. Through the gaps in the layer below, the Boston area looked stunning. The lighting is better, the textures are better, and the clouds are better. Hand flying the approach felt great. The airplane had momentum, it felt heavy, but not sluggish, and the Fenix looks beautiful (as it does in 2020). The other flights have been great as well. 

That being said, there are some big issues remaining to be fixed. There's clearly a resource leak, particularly in the UI. Once you start a flight, stay out of the menus and you'll have a better chance of having a good flight. Every time I make a change to a graphic setting, I go from nice and smooth to 3-6 FPS. If you do change settings, restart the sim before you fly.

Looking forward to seeing where we end up in the next 3 months. 

What they got right with respect to new features and changes, which I care about:

- revamped ground handling physics and ground<->air transition that goes hand in hand with the much more detailed terrain modelling, best I've experienced in any sim

- flight dynamics improvements, and it shows clearly in the default aircraft as well as 2024 versions of 3rd party aircraft

- revamped photometric lighting engine, atmospheric and cloud lighting 

- clouds improvements and new types.. weather is definitely improved IMO as is the atmospheric airflow modelling, turbulence and interactions with flight dynamics, etc

- sophisticated flight planner

- overall twin earth visual fidelity 

- 3D trees, biomes, seasons

- much better multi-threading and use of CPU resources

- default A330, C172, Citation Longitude, Xcub, etc 

 

Yes the bugs are annoying but far from experience-breaking, on my system.. and quite frankly the situation and stability is pretty ok for free flight scenarios, 1+ month after release.

As some others have said the overall flight experience and immersion is just incredible and leaves all other platform alternatives in the dust.. 2020 paired with the right aircraft was/is also, but 2024 takes it to whole new levels.

9 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

What Asobo got right IMHO is redesigning the sim to take advantage of modern multi core computers

plus unprecedented use of parallel GPU programming which is essential for increased fps, particle effects, weather, computational fluid dynamics CFD etc. that explains why we now see in MSFS 2024 up to 99% GPU load even on the latest 4090s. and this increase to 99% is NOT due to graphics rendering.

...................................................

"We’ve compared CPU vs GPU performance (in seconds) by using integer addition for 100x100, 500x500, 1000x1000, 7500x7500 and 10000x10000 two-dimensional matrices. The GPU starts to significantly outpace CPU when large enough matrices are used.

integer addition runs many times faster on a GPU. For instance, GPU runs integer addition ~ 1294 times faster when 10000x10000 matrix is being used."

 

GPU vs. CPU processing performance example:

......................

What is GPU Programming?

GPU Programming is a method of running highly parallel general-purpose computations on GPU accelerators.

While the past GPUs were designed exclusively for computer graphics, today they are being used extensively for general-purpose computing (GPGPU computing) as well. In addition to graphical rendering, GPU-driven parallel computing is used for scientific modelling, machine learning, and other parallelization-prone jobs today.

#CPU vs. GPU Computing Differences

A Central Processing Unit (CPU) is a latency-optimized general-purpose processor that is designed to handle a wide range of distinct tasks sequentially, while a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a throughput-optimized specialized processor designed for high-end parallel computing.

 

https://www.cherryservers.com/blog/introduction-to-gpu-programming-with-cuda-and-python

 

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by turbomax

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/dlss4-multi-frame-generation-ray-tracing-rtx-games/

 

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/dlss4-multi-frame-generation-ai-innovations/

 

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by Seth2021

6 hours ago, turbomax said:

pebbles, and more pebbles! most pebbles in any flightsim!

 

Nice photos! It's amazing what they did at ground level.  I didn't expect such a jump in graphics from MSFS 2020 after 4 years, but they really nailed the ground level graphics!

8 hours ago, turbomax said:

plus unprecedented use of parallel GPU programming which is essential for increased fps, particle effects, weather, computational fluid dynamics CFD etc. that explains why we now see in MSFS 2024 up to 99% GPU load even on the latest 4090s. and this increase to 99% is NOT due to graphics rendering.

Interesting. Do you have any source details for MSFS's use of this? And that's not some sort of argumentative question, I'd just like to know more. 2024 certainly seems to run more smoothly for me (most of the time) and I have noticed my 3090 running at higher percentages also.

They got a lot of things right but my top one is absolutely the improvements to the feel of flight. Also the main reason why I could never go back to 2020 under any circumstance. Planes finally have some inertia, planes feel more alive than before.