Well the weekend came and went and much more waffling took place lol watched many videos comparing versions and there definitely more Pros than Cons to 2024, but the large caveat is still the uncertainty of "will it run properly".

Plenty of new Steam Reviews from recent sale purchasers still decrying the state of the game, with some of them listing system specs superior to mine, so that doesn't bode well. It does seem to be a case where YMMV depending on your set-up. Some reviews with controller issues, some with VR issues. I understand that, when things work perfectly, there's less inclination to post a review, so the reviews likely contain more negative experiences. Would have been nice to see some positive reviews from accounts with similar PC specs.

Aside from the performance issues, I'd like to also ask about some of the feature upgrades - the biggest main difference between 2020 and 2024 to me seems to be the walkaround/outside the plane work that can be done. That's certainly a big plus, although I see a lot of reviews/comments that people skip that or dislike the walkaround pre-flight checks. I can see that getting repetitive maybe - I like the idea, and really like the get out of the plane stuff, it adds to the exploration/immersion. On the flip side, while the EFB is certainly better, the checklists do not seem to be well integrated - I watched a few 2024 videos for the 208 and the SR50 (IIRC) and there were checklist items that didn't apply the to plane which was odd, but easy enough for the streamer to skip over. Unsure how optional checklists are in career mode, which brings me to my next pain point -

 

- Does 2024 Career mode feel good yet? So many mixed reviews, its hard to get a clear picture of the current state (many old posts refer to broken career mode, but how it is nowadays?). The number 1 criticism for Career Mode I keep coming across isnt so much related to the bugs/long flights CTD and killing your progress, random plane crashes when skipping phases etc. I see more posts saying the Career Mode is 'Too Unforgiving' with things like taxi speed/procedure, overspeed warning from gusts of wind causing loss of points, other dings that hurt your mission score and overall payment. Does Career Feel rewarding - good to progress for the effort put in? Is there a difficulty setting for career to make it more forgiving? How customizable is the difficulty?

I can totally see there is more variety in 2024 - especially the mission types, and medivac and fire fighting, skydiving all look really fun and interesting. Neofly has those missions for 2020 but its awkward and not animated like in 2024. I find myself doing mainly cargo and passenger delivery in 2020 with Neofly and that is rewarding; there's no bugs, a clear progression system, A Save/Backup in case a bug/crash/glitch causes an issue. This weekend I flew into LOWI for the first time and back out, STAR and SID due to the live weather at the time and had such a wonderful experience, everything just clicked right and looked fantastic in 2020, it felt very peak for the game. Like it would be hard to get more out of it without upgrading to 2024.

Hoping some people can speak for the 2024 career - specifically the mission types, if you find it rewarding/worthwhile to do the firefighting, medivac, field spraying (are there others?) or do you stick to the passenger/cargo type missions?

Lastly - I would argue that helicopters are better in 2024. I only have 3 models in the standard edition of 2020 and they all suck. The crane helicopter looks like it could be fun. I assume the Blimp and Hot Air balloon are gimmicks as well

I spoke before but if the 747 wasn’t FS2024 only, I wouldn’t be switching.

Several improvements have made a noticeable difference to the enjoyment that I get from MSFS 2024 when compared to MSFS 2020. No more small islands that only render properly at very close range. No more missing sections of coastal cliffs with trees floating in the air. No more black lakes when I fly from airports like EFIV Ivalo and ESNQ Kiruna. Much more accurate lake and coastline data in Greenland (I can actually fly from Nuuk now). A snow line that advances and retreats on mountains depending on the time of year. Visible changes to tree foliage PER DAY. Much more detailed 3D tree models with far higher resolution textures. No more "land bars" across river mouths and harbours......

Those changes alone would make a return to MSFS 2020 absolutely impossible for me.

I have both 2020 & 2024 installed and fly 90% of my time in 2020 with REX Seasons & Atmos.

The only other things I would add to anyone following this thread and thinking about the two versions of the simulator - you quite often see people say they uninstalled 2020 and went to 2024 on "day one" or "first week" etc etc. Keep in mind that the current state of 2020 is RADICALLY different to the time when 2024 launched. It has gone through a series of stability updates and the global base scenery is identical to 2024 since 2020 service update 16.

Also 2020 is still sold by Microsoft and service update 17 will be delivered later this year, so what I think is more relevant is the type of flying you enjoy, stability (based on your PC specs), the simulator workflow itself - ie is walk around a pro or con for you etc.

 

 

Edited April 21Apr 21 by mfahey

The only problem I have with 2020 is that it is not MSFS 2024.

dd

2024 runs really well.  Whether it's IFR, VFR or back country flying, 2024 is a great place to be.

Jase

14 hours ago, Kristofski said:

- Does 2024 Career mode feel good yet? So many mixed reviews, its hard to get a clear picture of the current state (many old posts refer to broken career mode, but how it is nowadays?). The number 1 criticism for Career Mode I keep coming across isnt so much related to the bugs/long flights CTD and killing your progress, random plane crashes when skipping phases etc. I see more posts saying the Career Mode is 'Too Unforgiving' with things like taxi speed/procedure, overspeed warning from gusts of wind causing loss of points, other dings that hurt your mission score and overall payment. Does Career Feel rewarding - good to progress for the effort put in? Is there a difficulty setting for career to make it more forgiving? How customizable is the difficulty?

"Good" is subjective 🙂 A wrote a bunch about career mode over a year ago. Most of those points still hold true (some of the mission-breaking bugs like broken refueling have been fixed).

I enjoy career mode but will be the first to admit it can be a test of patience. The "dings" you mention still happen on occasion, but are a small annoyance compared to the occasional mission-breaking bugs. I have landed at my destination airport only to have my parking spot jump 2000nm to another location, forcing me to abort. I have arrived at an airport at night only to find it doesn't have any lights (my fault for not checking in advance), forcing me to abort. I have walked too far from my aircraft to admire the scenery, causing me to fail the mission for abandoning my aircraft. A price to pay when the scenery on the ground looks this good.

I still fly in career mode, because the positives outweigh the negatives, for me. It gives me a goal to achieve in the sim and sends me to airports I would never discover on my own. I fly mostly cargo missions in the PC-12 and VIP passenger missions in the Vision Jet. I hope to fly more skydiving missions in the future, but the Kodiak isn't completely compatible yet. I would fly the aerial advertising and ag spraying missions more often if their scoring wasn't a bit bugged, but honestly, if you're not buying a 787, your money and score don't mean much once you start making bank with cargo missions.

As for whether to pick up the sim now or wait, it will likely have the same discount during the Steam summer sale. SU5 should be dropping this week, and SU6 may still be in beta testing when the summer sale arrives. So, you'll basically be facing the same question come summer and the sim will be in the same state unless SU6 drops early. You're not really losing anything by going to 2024... you can continue to use Neofly, and you'll be gaining all the improvements that 2024 brings to the table.

You can always do a Game Pass trial or use the return option in Steam if you're worried about performance. But I write all this as a guy who accidentally uninstalled 2020 during the 2024 alpha test, never reinstalled 2020, and never regretted that decision.

@mfahey Is the night lighting the same as in 2024, especially that “glow” in the cities?

  Hey @Funky D Thanks for the detail and link to your previous post; A few points I wanted to touch on from that post to ask if its still an issue or not:

5 hours ago, Funky D said:

A wrote a bunch about career mode over a year ago. Most of those points still hold true (some of the mission-breaking bugs like broken refueling have been fixed).

On 1/24/2025 at 8:27 PM, Funky D said:

Buying fuel is bugged and will not refuel your aircraft. Create a keybind to add fuel to get around this (I use Ctrl+Shift+F). Avoid the option to both add fuel and repair your aircraft, as folks on the official forums mentioned this can cause issues.

So this is fixed now? I read that initially and was very concerned that something easy like that is still lingering 2 years later. How different is the weight and balance from 2020? I always used the in-game fuel/weight menu not the main menu one, as it works easier for tuning weights to match Neofly missions. Which brings me to my next question:

On 1/24/2025 at 8:27 PM, Funky D said:

Zoom in on the world map to check out your departure and destination airports before accepting a mission. The detail is high enough that you can see buildings or trees that may lead to issues when your aircraft spawns in at parking. The mission generator will also happily ask you to land at a strip too small for the plane you are flying.

I assume you need to go back to the world map every time between missions? Is there an in-game mission window? One of the nice things about Neofly and 2020 is that you can stay in parking or at a gate after a mission, shut down everything, but remain in the plane while selecting the next mission, setting up your route etc. You never need to back out to the main menu which is really nice for loading times and immersion.

On 1/24/2025 at 8:27 PM, Funky D said:

I made my credits back on the Vision Jet after flying 3-4 missions, so I can buy another one if it spawns in a building and gets wrecked.

MY biggest fear! This happened to me a few times in my Neofly career where the plane bugged and 'crashed' and really set me back on the rental deposit lol. If I crash the plane, it feels bad but its my fault and I need to learn the hard way not to do space shuttle landings 😞 But if the game crashes the plane through no fault of my own, that's a really bad feeling and drains your endurance for continuing on (what if it happens again? you think) The example you give where you spawn in a building and automatically lose progress is just stunningly unacceptable to me, like, that should be a number 1 priority to fix if that's happening. You should not lose points, money, progress, XP etc if the game crashes to desktop, or otherwise bugs out. 

Are there save slots? Can you backup progression in anyway? You said Abort (Ctrl+Alt+Del) is better than landing in bad conditions or at poor runways for your aircraft - are you able to filter destinations? In Neofly, for example, I can select only 'Controlled Airports' with 'Hard Surface' and 'Lights' and it will stop spawning field strips and all the missions will generate at larger airports. Do you get such luxury with 2024 Career Mode?

And is there a difficulty slider/settings to customize the career difficulty? Or does Asobo/Microsoft force Career mode at 100% realistic? Like, weather settings for example, Are you forced to fly in Live Weather after you get the IFR certification (I think I read that elsewhere)? Or can you still choose clear skies and progress?

 

To the OP - All of this hand-holding is a waste of everyones time.  Install MSFS 2024 and give it a go.  You will be glad you did.

dd

Edited April 21Apr 21 by Sky_Pilot071

33 minutes ago, Sky_Pilot071 said:

Install MSFS 2024 and give it a go.  You will be glad you did.

Or like the 25% of steam users from the past 3 months that have left negative reviews, I could end up regretting my decision to spend close to 100$ on software that doesn't run well enough on my system, or doesn't have enough bug-free features to justify the expense and time to make the switch.

If the game was free, or 20-30$ it would be a no brainer, sure. But not everyone is flush with cash. I like to make informed purchase decisions, and asking questions is the best way to do that. I apologize if I'm wasting anyone's time.

1 hour ago, Kristofski said:

I could end up regretting my decision to spend close to 100$ on software

You can always sign up for the $1 Xbox Game Pass for 10 days (which includes the PC version of 2024). That's what I did, to satisfy my curiosity. Then I went back to enjoy what I have with 2020.

And for the record, 2024 performs way worse on my system (i7-9700K, RX6700XT, 64GB RAM, 4K) while 2020 runs just fine at a fixed 30fps at similar settings. I have to scale my display to 50% with 2024 to account for the graphic "improvements" (like trees, which admittedly are nice, and the displacement mapping ground textures, which are just fake anyway).

Edited April 21Apr 21 by gunther
fixed specs

If the decision is too challenging and potentially life changing for you, then just stick with 2020 and be happy. Life is too short to worry about it that much. Both give you access to good airplanes, both look pretty good, neither is anything like flying for real. 

Let us know what you decide, maybe in another 12 months? 

4 hours ago, gunther said:

And for the record, 2024 performs way worse on my system (i7-9700K, RX6700XT, 64GB RAM, 4K) while 2020 runs just fine at a fixed 30fps at similar settings.

I'm seeing a lot of these comments elsewhere, on Reddit and Steam forums. That 2024 performs worse, at lower settings, than 2020. Its a big point of hesitation for me.
 

4 hours ago, gunther said:

ou can always sign up for the $1 Xbox Game Pass for 10 days (which includes the PC version of 2024)

I'll look into this. I was googling quickly and only saw the Xbox Console pass, so I'll have to try and find this 1$ deal. Unsure if its regional? I'm a Playstation/PC guy so I've never looked into Xbox and the cloud gaming very much.

4 hours ago, St Mawgan said:

If the decision is too challenging and potentially life changing for you, then just stick with 2020 and be happy. Life is too short to worry about it that much.

This is flight simulation we're talking about here 😉 I thought fretting over the little details is part of the experience LMAO 

UPDATE: I did find the 1$ 14-day trial, and will give that a try tonight. Its not really well advertised, but for others like me who might benefit, google "PC Xbox Game Pass Premium" as the 'essential' version does not include MSFS2024, you need the Premium Pass.

Edited April 21Apr 21 by Kristofski
updated info

2 hours ago, gunther said:

You can always sign up for the $1 Xbox Game Pass for 10 days (which includes the PC version of 2024). That's what I did, to satisfy my curiosity. Then I went back to enjoy what I have with 2020.

And for the record, 2024 performs way worse on my system (i7-9700K, RX6700XT, 64GB RAM, 4K) while 2020 runs just fine at a fixed 30fps at similar settings. I have to scale my display to 50% with 2024 to account for the graphic "improvements" (like trees, which admittedly are nice, and the displacement mapping ground textures, which are just fake anyway).

You do not need displacement mapping enabled to get decent graphics in MSFS 2024. I switched it off to save some VRAM, and I have not really missed it.