I’ve been watching the rollout of MSFS2024 from the sidelines over the past 6 months while I’ve been happily flying my stable and optimised 2020 install. I was waiting for a few add-ons to be ready before diving in (Rex Atmos, PMDG 777 etc).

But once SU2 dropped, after reading all the good things about it, I decided to jump in anyway and finally give it a go.

I wanted to write down my initial experiences for all of those other users who, like me, were holding out until it was stable enough to use. Bear in mind I’ve spent most of my time in it using Free Flight mode. The other things, like career mode, while neat, aren’t really important to me.

• Download and install were quick and easy. Start-up is massively quicker than 2020.
• I’ve got a 7800X3D and an RTX4090. Performance before was good, but now with 2024 it’s noticeably better. I’m also able to use TAA with frame gen, and then lossless scaling on top to get me around 100-144fps. All of which, FINALLY without stutters*! (*On my first proper Fenix flight. Yesterday though, maybe due to network conditions, I did have a some stutters, but still a much smoother experience than in 2020).
• As I said above, I use and love Rex Atmos. When used well, the whole skyscape can look unbelievably real (for me, this is a really important aspect of simming - I understand lots of people don’t feel this way). The atmospheric lighting in 2024 is better than 2020 but still has a long way to go to match what’s possible with Atmos or what they did with the latest XPlane betas. I’m looking forward to Atmos being available for 2024.
• The clouds are more varied, better performing and better defined than in 2020. Flying through clouds (and especially emerging out of the other side of one) is a joy now! There’s definitely more definition and variation to the cloud types as well, even in a single layer. You get a sense of speed flying by clouds now that just wasn’t there in 2020. In some ways (certain angles, lighting conditions) the clouds do actually look worse than they did in 2020, but I think/hope this is something that Atmos can improve. I’m secretly hoping that MS/Asobo look at what other sims (XPlane/DCS) are doing with clouds/lighting and revisit this part of the sim at a later stage.
• The violent effect of minor wind gusts/direction changes appears to be fixed! Shifting winds of a couple of knots/degrees just make the plane bobble around a little and gives a much better sense of flying through a medium than 2020 ever did. I wasn’t expecting this improvement but it turned out to be one of my favourites so far.
• High resolution ground textures! Honestly - before trying it, I didn’t care at all about this. But taxi and takeoff at higher than 60fps with clear markings and concrete/asphalt textures makes all the difference.
• Trees and ground textures up-close look amazing. From a distance they don’t appear much different from 2020.
• The sounds on foot are great (Not sure why they didn’t include a jump command for First Person movement, though).
• Night lighting is lovely. The illuminated street lights are so good looking. Distant runway and taxiway lights are a fuzzy hot mess at the moment but I read they’ve got a fix for those in SU3.
• I tried the default iniBuilds A330, and was pleasantly surprised to see it perform so well. Strange that it doesn’t seem to be integrated at all into the WorkingTitle EFB/nav/mapping solution which is a core part of 2024, though.
• Control assignment is, as many before me have pointed out, a complete cluster****. I have no idea how they managed to mess it up so badly. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole system (I use Spad as well, so am trying to defer as much as possible to that. But the different keyboard assignments for different aircraft is proving to be a real pain - much of which is probably because I don’t fully understand it yet.

And a couple of notes about third-party tools (that I’ve noticed so far):

• GSX is also causing me grief by apparently crashing on departure each time. When I arrive at an airport, the GSX menu still shows the “Confirm good engine start” options from pushback and I’m unable to restart it from within the sim.
• BATC is working nicely, and the live traffic that I’ve seen so far appears marginally better behaved than in 2020 (though I’m pretty sure this isn’t a real thing - I expect it controls them just the same between the two platforms).
• I have an OpenCockpits PnP “Fighter Radio” unit which isn’t working with MSFS2024. Not sure if anyone here knows how to get it working?

I did have a couple of crashes along the way - but a lot I think were because I was too eager to install many (unsupported?) addons at once. Since removing and re-adding verified addons one-by-one it’s been very stable. What started as a quick project this weekend to just give MSFS2024 a try, has by the end of the weekend, led me to think I might be able to make the switch over to it almost immediately.

Good to read!  Something like this is a great reference, as most people's judgement can be somewhat clouded now,  6 months in.  

Thanks for the feedback.

I currently use 2024 for the occasional GA flight, landing at a dirt strip surrounded by trees with long grass rising up either side is simply amazing. I had a quick try of FSR3 over the weekend, and it looks like I'll be able to park Lossless Scaling.

I'm waiting for either the FSL A321 or PMDG 737 release for 2024 before I switch sims. The night time airport lights is a major put off, so hopefully it will all come together with the SU3 release.

 

2 hours ago, flyingscampi said:

The night time airport lights is a major put off, so hopefully it will all come together with the SU3 release.

Yeah, I expect that'll be a quick one, as it was apparently introduced in SU2. With MS/Asobo, half the battle is getting them to notice an issue. Lately, once it's they've noticed it and added it to some release notes, it should be fixed fairly quickly.

One other graphical glitch I forgot to mention, is the skylight "leaking" through cloud layers on the horizon over mountains etc. I remember 2020 used to have this as well. If I interpreted this fix item for SU3 correctly, then a fix for this should also be incoming as well:

Quote

• Reduced occurence of fireflies through clouds around trees and a line leak above the mountains

 

Excellent feedback, good read! Thanks for sharing!!!

Very good description. These are also the things that have kept me engaged with 2024 and prevented me from going back to 2020, although I was tempted a good number of times.

Redge,

I'm in the same position you were before going for 2024. I have a well evolved 2020 and will not be removing it. My system is the 7800x3d, 5070ti 16 gigs VRAM, 64gigs ram, and multiple 4tb m.2. Monitor is a MSI 49". Works well.

I have been awaiting for reports such as yours with SU2 before jumping into 2024. Which version of 2024 did you go with? I'm leaning to the base version as I mainly go with add-on scenery and aircraft.

I really appreciate your 2024 review as a new adopter of it. I may buy it next weekend and plan to take my time learning its ins and outs and building it to my satisfaction over time.

I hope unlike 2020 that there eventually is some sort of guide with it.....even a very basic one.

1 hour ago, dbw1 said:

I have been awaiting for reports such as yours with SU2 before jumping into 2024. Which version of 2024 did you go with? I'm leaning to the base version as I mainly go with add-on scenery and aircraft.

I went for the Standard Edition. The main reason being that I don't ever use the airports that came with MSFS2020 Premium Edition. Aircraft-wise I was really only keen on the Longitude, which I'd read I could pay separately to upgrade to in the sim afterwards. However, after I upgraded I found that the Longitude was already included, cabin and all, so I'm not quite sure what happened there.

There's no guide that I could find, I'm afraid. And as well as the new controls mapping system, the keyboard assignments have all changed (unless I'd changed them all to be closer to FSS2004 back when I first got 2020 - I really can't remember!) so it'll take you some time to get used to all of that before being able to fly affectively, I'm afraid. But in my case, I definitely feel it was worth it.

I don't use all the addons that the OP does. But reading through his report, it sure does agree with what I'm seeing. I like what he does and don't like what he doesn't.

This is the guide which MSFS provided for controller assignments:

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/16459737949980-Controller-Settings-FAQ

30 minutes ago, Redge said:

However, after I upgraded I found that the Longitude was already included, cabin and all, so I'm not quite sure what happened there.

If you have the PD version of 2020 you get the 2020 Deluxe and Premium aircraft in 2024 even if you just buy the Standard version. You don't get the new aircraft that were introduced in the 2024 PD version such as the Sky courier or Albatross.

9 hours ago, Redge said:

I’ve been watching the rollout of MSFS2024 from the sidelines over the past 6 months while I’ve been happily flying my stable and optimised 2020 install. I was waiting for a few add-ons to be ready before diving in (Rex Atmos, PMDG 777 etc).

But once SU2 dropped, after reading all the good things about it, I decided to jump in anyway and finally give it a go.

I wanted to write down my initial experiences for all of those other users who, like me, were holding out until it was stable enough to use. Bear in mind I’ve spent most of my time in it using Free Flight mode. The other things, like career mode, while neat, aren’t really important to me.

• Download and install were quick and easy. Start-up is massively quicker than 2020.
• I’ve got a 7800X3D and an RTX4090. Performance before was good, but now with 2024 it’s noticeably better. I’m also able to use TAA with frame gen, and then lossless scaling on top to get me around 100-144fps. All of which, FINALLY without stutters*! (*On my first proper Fenix flight. Yesterday though, maybe due to network conditions, I did have a some stutters, but still a much smoother experience than in 2020).
• As I said above, I use and love Rex Atmos. When used well, the whole skyscape can look unbelievably real (for me, this is a really important aspect of simming - I understand lots of people don’t feel this way). The atmospheric lighting in 2024 is better than 2020 but still has a long way to go to match what’s possible with Atmos or what they did with the latest XPlane betas. I’m looking forward to Atmos being available for 2024.
• The clouds are more varied, better performing and better defined than in 2020. Flying through clouds (and especially emerging out of the other side of one) is a joy now! There’s definitely more definition and variation to the cloud types as well, even in a single layer. You get a sense of speed flying by clouds now that just wasn’t there in 2020. In some ways (certain angles, lighting conditions) the clouds do actually look worse than they did in 2020, but I think/hope this is something that Atmos can improve. I’m secretly hoping that MS/Asobo look at what other sims (XPlane/DCS) are doing with clouds/lighting and revisit this part of the sim at a later stage.
• The violent effect of minor wind gusts/direction changes appears to be fixed! Shifting winds of a couple of knots/degrees just make the plane bobble around a little and gives a much better sense of flying through a medium than 2020 ever did. I wasn’t expecting this improvement but it turned out to be one of my favourites so far.
• High resolution ground textures! Honestly - before trying it, I didn’t care at all about this. But taxi and takeoff at higher than 60fps with clear markings and concrete/asphalt textures makes all the difference.
• Trees and ground textures up-close look amazing. From a distance they don’t appear much different from 2020.
• The sounds on foot are great (Not sure why they didn’t include a jump command for First Person movement, though).
• Night lighting is lovely. The illuminated street lights are so good looking. Distant runway and taxiway lights are a fuzzy hot mess at the moment but I read they’ve got a fix for those in SU3.
• I tried the default iniBuilds A330, and was pleasantly surprised to see it perform so well. Strange that it doesn’t seem to be integrated at all into the WorkingTitle EFB/nav/mapping solution which is a core part of 2024, though.
• Control assignment is, as many before me have pointed out, a complete cluster****. I have no idea how they managed to mess it up so badly. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole system (I use Spad as well, so am trying to defer as much as possible to that. But the different keyboard assignments for different aircraft is proving to be a real pain - much of which is probably because I don’t fully understand it yet.

And a couple of notes about third-party tools (that I’ve noticed so far):

• GSX is also causing me grief by apparently crashing on departure each time. When I arrive at an airport, the GSX menu still shows the “Confirm good engine start” options from pushback and I’m unable to restart it from within the sim.
• BATC is working nicely, and the live traffic that I’ve seen so far appears marginally better behaved than in 2020 (though I’m pretty sure this isn’t a real thing - I expect it controls them just the same between the two platforms).
• I have an OpenCockpits PnP “Fighter Radio” unit which isn’t working with MSFS2024. Not sure if anyone here knows how to get it working?

I did have a couple of crashes along the way - but a lot I think were because I was too eager to install many (unsupported?) addons at once. Since removing and re-adding verified addons one-by-one it’s been very stable. What started as a quick project this weekend to just give MSFS2024 a try, has by the end of the weekend, led me to think I might be able to make the switch over to it almost immediately.

Thanks for the detailed impressions and glad that v2024 is at a good place for you. 👍

On the controls profiles, stick with it. It will click for you after a few tries, and can be a huge time saver once it does.

I'd never go back to the previous v2020 setup!

9 hours ago, Redge said:

I tried the default iniBuilds A330, and was pleasantly surprised to see it perform so well

Guess I'll finally give 2024 another try. Does this mean that the best A330-200 available anywhere is the default 2024 one?

I appreciate the answers to my comments/questions. i think 2024 is coming along good and will get it in the next week when i have some uninterrupted spare time.

Dave

9 hours ago, Redge said:

But once SU2 dropped, after reading all the good things about it, I decided to jump in anyway and finally give it a go.

Glad you are enjoying 2024 - get SU3 beta installed!