First report back...

I bought the Aviators edition from the Xbox app.  It, all went well and it installed in about 7 or 8 minutes now I have my new Fibre 500 connection.
The Xbox app asked where I wanted to install it, and the F drive was already listed as I have MSFS2020 on there already.
It also allowed me to enable 'offline permissions' from this device (my PC).  I suppose it must use data from the cache if that happens (mine is now set at 16 GB and also on the F drive).

Initial startup was quick, and my first flight set up - nothing special, just the default C172 from my local airport.
Unfortunately just 1 second in it crashed straight to desktop.   So I went to the Xbox insider app, and triggered the SU1 beta to see if that would solve it (as it apparently solves some crashes), and once again it installed very quickly.
Unfortunately, after following exactly the same startup process, there was a crash to desktop 1 second into the flight again. 

So, I found a code in Event Viewer showing MSFS2024 crashing with Exception code: 0x80000003, and I searched for help online.  I found some in the MSFS official forums.
Suggestions were... Increase the windows virtual memory (which I did from 4 to 8 GB); Install .net Framework 3.5 SP1, which I did and took about 3 minutes.  The final piece of advice was to reboot of course.

Pleased to say, I don't know which one fixed it, but I have since flown in MSFS2024 for nearly two hours now under various conditions / scenarios and no more CTD!  All good! 

Initial impressions: -

Yes, the control setup is a bit cumbersome, but I am getting used to it.  It recognised my Velocity One Flight Stick and Logitech Throttle Quadrant, and I am still gradually setting them up.
I am struggling with my Tobii eye tracker though, so I might have to turn it off for a while and go back to using the joystick thumb control to pan around (which it does by default anyway).

As for the sim itself, I set it up similarly to MSFS2020.  4k,  DLSS Quality, all ultimate settings.  I could easily hold 60 FPS in MSFS2020 with this setup, and I kind of could in 2024, but there was a bit of stuttering / skipping.
So I have found turning trees down to medium, turning off raytraced shadows, and setting vehicle traffic to low has helped largely with this, and there still seems to be easily enough trees and vehicles in the sim.

My general view is that the interface can be gotten used to, and the control setup, although awkward, can be learnt. I also select 'use for other aircraft' and 'set as default' every time I set a control, so that should shorten the process.
Loading to start of flight in general is now about half the time of MSFS2020 for me, which is a massive bonus.
Also, there is no doubting the graphics are much better (as stated, I am using SU1 beta).

I am surprised some new features haven't been mentioned more.
My second flight was from northern Norway in the evening.  The stars are now superb - proper points of light at the right intensity and colour.  No more ugly blobs like in 2020. 
I can easily make out all of the constellations now, like Orion and the Pleiades (Amateur astronomer here! ).  Everything just looks right and is in the right place.  The best night sky I have seen in a sim.
The milky way is very realistic now also.  But my biggest surprise was the Aurora and how it moves - absolutely beautiful. 
I was surprised by that, and the improved night lighting from a village that passed below in the snow, and improved vehicle traffic lights. Very atmospheric and beautiful to look at.
Amazing, and a vast improvement. The new environmental lighting model for a start is a vast improvement, and cannot be matched by what REX Atmos does in MSFS2020 (in my opinion).

As for the dynamics themselves, ground handling is definitely improved as people say, and in the air, it actually feels very similar to 2020 to me, but there is nothing that makes it feel objectionable.

So, I will continue to rack up the hours and gradually tweak my controller settings and sensitivities, I know it may take a few days.
Then I will experiment with bringing some of my third party addons in (the ones confirmed working).  
I intend to ignore any issues for now where I can, and just try to enjoy it for what it is, but as everyone says, there is lots of potential here, and it can be stunning, enjoyable, and immersive when it all goes right. 

As my old Dad used to say (he was Royal Air Force), "Per Ardua ad Astra".  It's a shame he is not around to see this.  He would have loved it.

12 hours ago, Funky D said:

The symlinks won't cause any issue unless folders are manually deleted or edited.

I have found in the past, that these links work great initially, but can become corrupted if you have to do a "Restore" after a systems problem..  Since then, I tend to avoid them wherever possible.

28 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

As for the sim itself, I set it up similarly to MSFS2020.  4k,  DLSS Quality, all ultimate settings.  I could easily hold 60 FPS in MSFS2020 with this setup, and I kind of could in 2024, but there was a bit of stuttering / skipping.

You might just back off Ultra to High... There is so much detail in the sim that it still looks great and the stuttering may well disappear.. at least it did for me.

14 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

That is why the manual method of editing the usercfg.opt file comes in handy.  Nice and tidy 🙂

Yes.  I found it for 2024 and changed my shadows to 6144 (as I did in 2020). 
I now have nice sharp shadows in the cockpit and no noticeable performance hit. 
Raytraced shadows are now turned off giving a nice little performance boost. 

14 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

You might just back off Ultra to High... There is so much detail in the sim that it still looks great and the stuttering may well disappear.. at least it did for me.

60 FPS solid and no stuttering now by backing off just a bit as you say.
I tested it right over New York last night and it held at the same - amazing!  PG as well, which I don't normally use.

I think having this new 500 fibre connection is helping.  

The only thing that induced stuttering was trying to use Frame Generation, which is strange, so I turned it back off.  I can get 60 FPS steady without it, so not needed.

CPU and GPU are cool, and quiet on the fans as well - it seems unreal.  I am on DLSS balanced.  TAA and the enhanced DLSS (DLAA?) made it start hitching again, so I will leave them.  I can't wait to try DLSS4 when it is properly implemented.  Although It is fine enough now, its always nice to have a bit more headroom. 

Regarding the install, I am gradually finishing off on setting up my controls, and I have found a work-around for the Tobii online. (Involves editing a text file).
I am impressed by a lot of things so far.  Not sure why people are complaining about the interface - it seems fine (apart from the controls setup of course).
The aircraft selection screen with variants seems much better, and the new world map is great.

I like the new generic pad - very useful.  I wonder if there is a way to take it off view and just bring it up when you need it. 
I thought I heard somewhere that Asobo may look to make it moveable at least.

9 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

I like the new generic pad - very useful.  I wonder if there is a way to take it off view and just bring it up when you need it. 

Is it the EFB you are referring to?  You can toggle it with the TAB key..

1 hour ago, Bert Pieke said:

Is it the EFB you are referring to?  You can toggle it with the TAB key..

Doh!  Thanks Bert.  I think I actually saw that somewhere and then forgot it!  

On 1/26/2025 at 10:25 AM, bobcat999 said:

I suppose it must use data from the cache if that happens (mine is now set at 16 GB and also on the F drive)

Can't recall where I read this but some said increasing cache to 125GB or so improved performance in some ways quite significantly.

4 hours ago, Noel said:

Can't recall where I read this but some said increasing cache to 125GB or so improved performance in some ways quite significantly.

Hmmm...  Maybe it does, but 125GB is quite a chunk out of my SSD.  Anyway it is ticking along just nicely at where I am now.  60 FPS and no stutters.  Good enough for me, as I can't go above 60 Hz at 4k anyway due to the limitations of my monitor.

Just to be clear Noel, is this the Windows Cache (virtual RAM) you are talking about, or the MSFS rolling cache?  Mine are set at 16 and 8 GB respectively, and all seems good at the moment. 
It was low Windows Cache that caused my initial problem (CTD), and increasing it was reported as a confirmed fix on the official forums. 
I had it set at a miniscule amount originally, because 32GB of RAM used to be more than enough for anything.
I used to set a small amount just for compatibility reasons, as some old Windows apps I used needed to see some VRAM there, otherwise I would have set it to zero before now.

Over all these years since I have had 32GB of RAM, I certainly never needed to increase it until now, when using MSFS2024.
I guess things have changed with MSFS2024, and that is why Asobo have said 64GB of RAM can help in some cases.

13 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Just to be clear Noel, is this the Windows Cache (virtual RAM) you are talking about, or the MSFS rolling cache?