2 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

For instance - I still have MSFS 2020 installed but haven't used it since installing 2024.

I found I was unable to do that.  Though 95% of my 2020 addon sceneries are fine in 2024, I am too attached to aircraft models that do not work yet in 2024.  Most of my flying is at altitudes higher than 20,000 ft where the enhancements of 2024 over 2020 are not as rewarding. I still lack traffic I am accustomed to in 2020, and I had to wait over 45 days for the premier weather engine to emerge for 2024.  I am as well testing new models that to date are still being developed for 2020, with 2024 in sight when Asobo provides needed SDK information.

Currently I find my hours split 60:40 between the two.  Which of the two is 60?  Does it really matter?  Point is I am not interested at this point in favoring one over the other to the point of ignoring or uninstalling.

Caveat Emptor.

3 hours ago, Amrick615 said:

I wish I knew how to make this reply ping all 3 of you who have discussed the topic so far, but does MSFS 2020/2024 feel like a game rather than a sim?

At this point in time, I think it's safe to say that 2024 is more a game than a sim. You only need to see some of the fanciful/fictional sceneries being created on flightsim.to.

*However* 2020 felt more like a sim - and developers have had longer to produce decent/realistic addons.

BUT - you have to remember that both 2020 and 2024 are very much tied in with XBox (and all that it implies) which is *not* the case with P3D or XPlane.

3 hours ago, JBDB-MD80 said:

Sounds like someone has too much time on their hands other than flight gaming.

 

Yeah, real life does tend to get in the way of pixel planes.

I went from P3d to MSFS 2020 about seven months ago and once I had everything configured I didn't want to go back to P3d, and in less than a month I deleted it from my computer. I recommend that you make the transition. You won't regret it. MSFS 2020 is a great simulator.

Edited February 10, 20251 yr by luis70

Just go for it.

I put it off for a while going from P3D to MSFS 2020, lots of investment in P3D, a new platform and yes, it was a bit of a headache to start off with (I couldn't even find the community folder to install a livery!) but after a bit of research and balancing the settings I'd never look back tbh. 

7 hours ago, Amrick615 said:

I'm having the hardest time getting myself to make the big switch from Prepar3dv5 to MSFS2020/24. I have MSFS2020 downloaded and ready to go in its out-of-the-box state, but everytime I load it up, it feels like it's just a game. I think I'm just too used to the way FSX and P3D were, in that they were just raw flight sims that cared about nothing other than flying airplanes and making the world your own.

If you can look past the UI, MSFS 2024 from a technical standpoint is a much superior simulator than P3D in many aspects:

• Much better flight model than P3D. Some real life pilots think the flight model in MSFS 2024 is even better than the flight model in XP 12: 
• MSFS 2024 places rocks and boulders procedurally around the world.  If the rock or boulder is of a minimum size, it can impact the plane's wheels as the plane rolls over it. This feature makes MSFS 2024's ground physics the most advanced simulation of ground physics simulation to me (of course, MSFS 2024 also handles slopes and iced/slippery ground).  The plane being impacted by rocks and boulders procedurally placed on the ground is just next generation technology for me, and it makes bush flying infinitely more realistic.  If you are a bush flyer, the new ground physics with procedurally placed rocks makes MSFS 2024 ground physics closer to real life than any other flight simulator.  And because of this, MSFS 2024's ground physics engine with the procedurally placed rocks makes the other flight simulator ground physics appear gamey and vastly inferior, in my my opinion.
• The default live weather in MSFS 2024 is vastly superior to default P3D live weather. And from a weather data perspective, MSFS 2020/2024 live weather is generally more accurate than even XP 12 live weather because it uses Meteo Blue data versus NOAA GFS:
• The scenery in MSFS 2020/2024 not only looks better than P3D, it is infinitely more accurate than P3D with its use of satellite and photogrammetry.  This is extremely useful if you are practicing VFR flying.  Compare MSFS 2024 vs a real life flight:
• No other flight simulator will look as accurate and as real as the above video shows.

 

We can go on and on.  Like I said, if you can look past the UI, from a technical standpoint, MSFS 2024 is by far the most superior flight simulator out there. 

Finally, you need to think about what plane you like to fly.  I think there are 3 classes of planes for MSFS 2024 now, based on compatibility:

1. Officially compatible MSFS 2024 planes. These are the ideal planes to use as the publisher has made them compatible with MSFS 2024.

2. Officially non compatible MSFS 2024 planes that work very well in MSFS 2024. I think the A2A Comanche is an example of such a plane, it works very well for everyone, but A2A has not announced that the Comanche is officially compatible with MSFS 2024, not have they released a version that is officially compatible with MSFS 2024 either.

3. Officially non compatible MSFS 2024 planes that require workarounds to use in MSFS 2024..  The PMDG 777 would be a good example of this. As per the SU1 beta, if you are willing to do some workarounds, you can get the PMDG 777 to work in MSFS 2024.  But obviously, if PMDG released an official compatible 777 version to MSFS 2024, that would be ideal.

If the plane you want to fly is in category 1 or category 2, just skip MSFS 2020 and use MSFS 2024 instead. Don't waste time learning the peripherals binding UI for MSFS 2020, just learn the peripherals binding UI of MSFS 2024 instead and save the frustration of trying to learn both.  Only if the plane you want to fly is in category 3, would I say you may need to use MSFS 2020 for the time being.  But I think even for PMDG and iFly, it's probably a matter of months until they convert their planes over to MSFS 2024, because SU1 beta has fixed the problem that was holding them back from converting their planes over to MSFS 2024.

 

Edited February 10, 20251 yr by abrams_tank

9 hours ago, Amrick615 said:

Hello everyone!

This is a rant, but I am looking for some advice from anyone who felt this way before completely moving to MSFS after using FSX/P3D for the last 15 years, like me. 

I'm having the hardest time getting myself to make the big switch from Prepar3dv5 to MSFS2020/24. I have MSFS2020 downloaded and ready to go in its out-of-the-box state, but everytime I load it up, it feels like it's just a game. I think I'm just too used to the way FSX and P3D were, in that they were just raw flight sims that cared about nothing other than flying airplanes and making the world your own. At the same time, the visuals in MSFS are simply too gorgeous to ignore and not smile at. I'm also annoyed at how different the keybinds are as compared to FSX/P3D. I also put so much money into all the addons that make P3D feel life-like, so moving away from it feels pointless, in that regard. 

Does anyone here resonate with what I am saying? What was the switch like for you all? I think I speak for a lot of us when I say we put a good amount of money into the prior generations of flight sims, so switching is easier said than done. I do recognize that MSFS is meant to be cheaper overall given the amount of freeware and stunning sceneries. 

 

Thanks all for reading my incoherent rant. I appreciate any and all responses! 

I can fully understand how you feel and I'm pretty sure that "pain" was felt by most of us (forum members), since most of us came to MSFS from P3D just like you.

That being said, there are a few things that you should keep in mind:

1- I would keep away from MSFS2024 because of its current state. Yes it does work, but it has too much problems right now and it's better to wait for a few updates/patches before considering it peacefully/seriously. So I'll keep MSFS2024 out of this post from now, and focus purely about MSFS2020.

2- The interface in general does feel more like a video game, compared to the obscure UIs we got used to back in the FSX and P3D days. However, after a while you'll notice that the flight creation screen is actually quite nice and intuitive to use. Only the aircraft selection screen are annoying, but even that, you'll quickly get used to it. The main thing is to disable the various "assistance" options and all the little things that are obstructing your external view, and that's it, it will look "familiar" again.

3- All the new "gaming" options are kind of "on the side". You just have one step: click on the "Free Flight" picture of the globe, and you're immediately back in the good old FSX/P3D world, choose a plane, choose a departure point, choose a weather, and you're good to go just like before. It just looks a bit more fancy, that's it. It's a matter of minutes/hours before you feel at home again.

4- About "simply flying airplanes and making the world your own": the world just became bigger. You'll soon find yourself exploring the parts of the world that were not covered by any addon back in the FSX/P3D days. Your free flight experience is just becoming much bigger than it ever was. Most difficult thing will simply be to choose some place to fly today 🙂

10 hours ago, Amrick615 said:

Hello everyone!

This is a rant, but I am looking for some advice from anyone who felt this way before completely moving to MSFS after using FSX/P3D for the last 15 years, like me. 

I'm having the hardest time getting myself to make the big switch from Prepar3dv5 to MSFS2020/24. I have MSFS2020 downloaded and ready to go in its out-of-the-box state, but everytime I load it up, it feels like it's just a game. I think I'm just too used to the way FSX and P3D were, in that they were just raw flight sims that cared about nothing other than flying airplanes and making the world your own. At the same time, the visuals in MSFS are simply too gorgeous to ignore and not smile at. I'm also annoyed at how different the keybinds are as compared to FSX/P3D. I also put so much money into all the addons that make P3D feel life-like, so moving away from it feels pointless, in that regard. 

Does anyone here resonate with what I am saying? What was the switch like for you all? I think I speak for a lot of us when I say we put a good amount of money into the prior generations of flight sims, so switching is easier said than done. I do recognize that MSFS is meant to be cheaper overall given the amount of freeware and stunning sceneries. 

 

Thanks all for reading my incoherent rant. I appreciate any and all responses! 

It takes time to master MSFS 2020. For me it's so easy now, but it took some time via learning and practice. I don't look at it as a game, although there are some game like features. It's well worth the effort. There's no way in hell I will ever go back to P3d v4 or XPlane 11!

I notice a few replies have said to avoid 2024 and go for 2020. Not going to get into a discussion on their relative merits but I would just add that there are differences between the two versions, particulalry in the area of controls and their bindings.

If you are going to make a slow switch to either one, it strikes me that 2024 would be a better choice. Yes, there are issues with it, but they will mostly be fixed during the period you are likely to be getting to grips with it. And this way, you won't have to go through all the frustration of learning a new system twice in short succession. Particularly as finding differences in 2024 will be even more annoying if you've only just gotten used to 2020.

I'm definitely getting a 'paid promotion' vibe again in parts of this thread. I used fsx for many years. Took a 4 year break 2020 to 2024 due to illness. Started up again with new pc and 2020. After a month I missed so much about fsx I installed and tweaked it again to run perfectly with custom w11 power plan settings. 

After a few weeks of using 2 sims I wanted more and found all my orbx scenery would work in p3dv5 so I paid 500 bucks for the pro version and all the pmdg planes plus several a2a (texan /mustang) that are missing in the latest sims. 

My favourite sim is now p3d followed by msfs 2020 and I only use fsx for the pmdg Md11. 

9 hours ago, Noel said:

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT start with MSFS 2024.

Have to disagree here. If you go from P3D to MSFS2020 you will have to get used to a LOT if things. It can be hard (at first). Once you are used to MSFS2020 there will be a very big chance you will want to move to MSFS2024 one day. This will be a far smaller step than going from P3D to MSFS2020 but still... seeing how some (not all!) have had troubles with this smaller step it's still quite a step.

So I think it is wiser and better to go from P3D to MSFS2024 immediately. Going from P3D to MSFS2024 will be just as a big step for you as going from P3D to MSFS2020: you won't know the difference. It will be just as hard. But this way you will only have to go through all this pain ONCE.

Although I myself usually burn all my ships behind me and never keep a previous sim when installing a new one I do think it's wise advice in your case to keep P3D installed for whenever you get really frustrated with the migration or in case some beloved addons won't work with MSFS2024 (for now): in that case you can blow off steam by going back to P3D for a while.

Having said all this: I myself perhaps had troubles with going from P3D to MSFS2020 (back when it was released) for a few days, perhaps a week or so... Going from MSFS2020 to MSFS2024 wasn't a very big deal for me: also took me a few days but then all was well already. So while it may seem like a very big and scary thing: don't overthink it and don't let anyone scare you off. It isn't that bad. Within a week you'll be using the new sim without too many problems.

EDIT
Oh, well, what andy1252 said with fewer words LOL

Edited February 10, 20251 yr by mistolip

33 minutes ago, mistolip said:

This will be a far smaller step than going from P3D to MSFS2020 but still... seeing how some (not all!) have had troubles with this smaller step it's still quite a step.

That 'smaller step' seemed that way to people super familiar with 2020.  But someone not at all familiar with MSFS?  And if you're a Game-o-Phobe I have to give the grand prize to 2024 for feeling much more so.  That being said I can certainly appreciate where 2024 is going and look forward to its progress.  And this too:  just because there are game-like features does not detract at all from the base, core sim.  It only adds, and all of that voluntarily.  Even so I see 2020 for the OP as a perfect, complete transition product well worth the pittance to get it up and running while 2024 gets up to speed in terms of full compatibility with cherished 3rd party planes.

And this is probably way more important even than frustrating:  the completeness, the full compatibility with PMDG/Fenix/FBW320A/FSLTL for traffic models is nothing to sneeze at.  After a lovely first flight into KTEX yesterday started my day back in 2020 and was again struck by how clean, how excellent performance is and really the visual differences as someone focusing on piloting airliners aren't all that stark.  Seems odd to address someone who's initial words were, "How do I make the switch from P3Dv5 to MSFS feel easier" by directing them straight into 2024.  

If OP goes there most important will be finding the best overview of controller setup (I found one half decent, but the rest didn't really address places where one might get mixed up).  It also took me a couple of days to get 2024 setup as I prefer and all of that having to do with controller bindings.  2020, is 2024 'lite'.

12 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

2024 is still a work in progress with many bugs, 2020, is pretty reliable the way it is. 

Pre SU1 beta maybe, but it is much more stable now.

2 hours ago, andy1252 said:

I notice a few replies have said to avoid 2024 and go for 2020.

Probably mostly from simmers who haven't used SU1 Beta, or are stuck in their ways and stick with 2020.

2 hours ago, Daube said:

1- I would keep away from MSFS2024 because of its current state. Yes it does work, but it has too much problems right now and it's better to wait for a few updates/patches before considering it peacefully/seriously. So I'll keep MSFS2024 out of this post from now, and focus purely about MSFS2020.

I would stay away from this type of negativity about 2024.  SU1 has cleared up a lot of the initial problems and is now much more stable.  I think it would be counter productive to spend money on 2020 when 2024 is clearly the better sim.  2020 has been a wonderful sim, but there are just too many upgrades in 2024 to suggest now is the time to invest in 2020.