MSFS2024 is becoming my regular sim, with FS20 taking a step back towards retirement. MSFS2028 ? Yes please!

4 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

When it dropped, I figured 6 months was a reasonable amount of time to get it working properly. Since we are coming up on month four, I think I may have been too optimistic. 

At the moment they're basically trying to unpick all the things that were wrong with the sim at launch.

2024 has many superior features to 2020 but also comes with an enormous amount of regressions from 2020 plus a great deal of these superior features are bugged anyway:

The new, built in dynamic lod setting? Nah, turning it off reduces stutters. The new lighting scheme? Fantastic but they still haven't worked out a light balance that doesn't give either a too dark cockpit or a too bright cockpit. The really amazing ground lod we got with the first SU1 beta? It's been coming and going with each further beta release....

...and of course the hit and miss nature of their streaming system. Is it going to work today? Will I fire up the sim today and find that an aircraft I flew yesterday won't load or won't load its cockpit or I simply can't load into an airport at all.

A lot of this seems unacknowledged or is lost in the sheer amount of bugs being logged. To be sure; what I know about programming and game development could be comfortably accommodated in a matchbox but it seems obvious that Asobo and Microsoft simply don't have a full understanding of their own code. 

I'm quite sure that there's an enormous amount of work going at Asobo to sort these problems out but there doesn't seem to be much evidence of urgency.  A case in point; Jorge has said they are giving away free the first four new aircraft they were developing for 2024 as an atonement for the very poor launch. We have received the first of these in the SU1 beta....and of course - it's got it's own bugs too!

If everything had gone to (the original) plan at this moment - three months in - we should have been enjoying some minor, post launch bug fixes, refinements to weather, flight modelling, etc. and looking forward to more features and development. Right now we're still grappling with the basics on a depressingly familiar 'two steps forward, one step back' arrangement.

I do agree with the view that the next few months are going to be crucial for the future of this sim and third party development. Microsoft and Asobo really do have to pull their finger out and get on with it.

 

I built a new computer in January, and decided I'd only install one sim on it. I picked 2024 on the basis of some opinions from people who use MSFS the way I typically do, and I knew from the first 5 mins that 2024 was the way to go for me. Now, a month later, I don't regret the decision at all. 2024 has been simply... better. 

Sure there have been some growing pains. For example, I've had exactly three CTDs after many hours; two were when I was binding a key to one of the Pause features, and the third was random, but it was like 3 weeks ago and it hasn't happened again. I usually run a number of other apps at the some time on other monitors, and I think that 3rd CTD happened when I was doing something with another app, so it may be some kind of compatibility issue or even user error, I don't know. The point is, it hasn't happened again.

There are other issues, of course, but as a simulator, it's better IMO. The ground looks better, the clouds look better, the performance is better... so my enjoyment is better, while I'm eagerly awaiting whatever updates are on the way.

Let me state the obvious: Not everyone uses MSFS the way I do, and not everyone prioritizes things the way I do. So I fully understand that other people will be happier on 2020 or something else. That's perfectly fine. I wish everyone many happy hours on the sim that meets their needs the best.

As to the original point of the post, I'm happy with trying something new in 2028. If it's worse, I'll stick with 2024. I will agree though that it's a bit cringe to call the sims "2020" and "2024" etc. The branding feels instantly outdated.

 

Edited March 2, 20251 yr by prolixindec

A few posts have mentioned the sim title, I won't single them out here, but I will point out that MS never called their sim 'MSFS 2020', it was always just 'Microsoft Flight Simulator'. The community added the year, for whatever reason. MS picked up on that and I guess decided that if the community wanted that, they'd go along.

In the past, when they included the year in the title, it was normally the year following the release. 

1 hour ago, Paul K said:

MSFS2024 is becoming my regular sim, with FS20 taking a step back towards retirement. MSFS2028 ? Yes please!

2020 uninstalled Dec 2024.  2024 is great.  Bring em on every four years!  Absolutely!

Jase

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Asobo/Microsoft is actually paying ME to use MSFS 2024!

Price of the MSFS 2024 Deluxe Edition:     $120

Free flight planner and LIDO charts            $80 saved on a Navigraph subscription

Great weather engine                                  $30 saved on an "external" weather program

Cirrus Vision Jet, Longitude                        $70 saved on addon planes (at least)

Epic 2 avionics                                             $50 saved on an addon avionics package

Numerous freeware airports, many of them at payware level

To me, most of the critics of MSFS 2024 are still "stuck" at the November release date. 

Needless, MSFS 2024 still needs significant improvements, which will come through regular Sim Updates. 

If we are going by every four years I've got 5 maybe 6 more simulators left in me. A sobering thought for a Sunday morning 💀

4 hours ago, Ricardo41 said:

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Asobo/Microsoft is actually paying ME to use MSFS 2024

Are you a car salesman? 😉. "The savings on the new model are so high you can't afford NOT to buy it!! We're practically paying you to take it off our hands! "

I'm joking of course I get the logic you are pointing out 😎

 

8 hours ago, prolixindec said:

Now, a month later, I don't regret the decision at all. 2024 has been simply... better. 

Just to point out here you built a new pc and only installed one sim on there. Not sure how you can compare it with sims not installed? I totally get that 2024 on your brand new upgraded pc is better than 2020 or older sims on your older slower pcs. 

On 2/28/2025 at 8:43 PM, jymp said:

And like you, he has a right to his opinion, end.

He sure does, but at some point when the same opinion is posted over and over and over again it ceases to be public discourse and becomes what the kids on Reddit call "s--posting." Can't be too upset when someone gets tired of it and calls him out for it.

The guy doesn't even own the sim. This isn't any different than when 2020 came out and a bunch of rabblerousers from the Xplane forum came over here to dunk on the sim they didn't own. He has no idea if he likes 2024 or not because he's never used it.

I don't think anyone here disagrees that 2024 was a bad launch or that it has lots of problems, but "I hate this thing I don't use!" 300 times isn't productive, it won't change anything, and it amounts to nothing more than repetitive manufactured anger, presumably just to get attention.  Well, now he's got it — he's irritated half the forum. Good work, I guess?

 

 

3 minutes ago, eslader said:

He sure does, but at some point when the same opinion is posted over and over and over again it ceases to be public discourse and becomes what the kids on Reddit call "s--posting.

Oh yes. Although I agree with some of our dear OP's sentiments, he could have realized they all have been discussed ad nauseam already since the troubled release of MSF 2024. However, when stirring the pot is concerned, we can trust him with that.

I don't care how many times a new version is released. Just release a version which has a modicum of functionality comparative to the previous one by enhanced standards and quality. They released an obvious pre-alpha product at best with not even a functioning market place. This is almost fraudulent. If the new version is released preface all by stating its actual state, ex. alpha, etc. build complete with all the warnings  necessary that the purchaser is trying out a developing product.

Hey, as long I am not downloading and color-correcting satellite imagery for hours-on-end for a previous simulator to make it look better. Nah. Just hop in a fly these days.

Ok. Maybe just tweak a little...download this.....update activesky beta, maybe some more traffic....