kerosene31

Windows 10 mainstream support ends in Oct 2025. That's when security patches will stop being released for Win 10. So, you have a little under 2 years to figure out a plan.

I just keep a simple spreadsheet. Airport code, airport name, state (if needed) and country/region. Honestly I've never used an add-on manager. I've installed tons of freeware (most of which I'll never use) and I've not had a problem.

I was flying this weekend, doing some landing practice at St Barths. I go to do another flight with the same plane, and when I drop the flaps, the plane starts to roll to one side. I looked out, and only one wing had flaps down. I must have broken them! (probably extended way too fast). I learned 2 lessons - follow procedures, and don't skip the walk-around, even in the sim. I just put the flaps back up and was able to land fine. Such a cool detail. As soon as I saw it I realized what I did. Lesson learned. I'm enjoying flying this plane so much.

I've had zero problems with Navigraph. As a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time it made me re-authenticate.

Absolutely, but remember, you are only talking to your fellow simmers, not MS. (I know, Asobo mentioned this forum one time, but I don't think they regularly visit here). You're "preaching to the choir" so to speak.

I never understand why people choose to play a sim that makes them unhappy. All those older sims people seem to love to bring up still exist. It is great that we have so many sim options. More options are always better for everyone. All I can say is that as a mostly GA flyer, MSFS 2020 has brought me back to the hobby I loved. I had given up on FSX ever running well, no matter how much hardware you threw at it. I was enjoying X-Plane, but there was a long time I didn't even have a PC capable of playing games. I get that not everyone flies the same way and will have different opinions. Some prefer the big iron and I get that. I used to fly those back in the day. I will say that MSFS 2020 has brought more people and much more resources back into the hobby that was stagnating. I mean, we're seeing MSFS at mainstream gaming shows. I don't remember something like that ever happening. There was a time we thought MS Flight Sim was finished.

I've basically set everything on 1 level below ultra since launch. The only thing I have turned up is the clouds, everything else is just "high". I get fps well above 60+ on my older system (granted I only fly GA planes, none of the complex airliners that are much more taxing). While I won't win any screenshot competitions, the sim still looks amazing. I spend zero time tweaking and I've never been happier. I remember the pain of trying to get 30fps in FSX. I can never go back to that. Now that we've got the A2A Comanche, I've got to enjoy that flight model at 60+ frames.

For what it is worth, I found this plane very easy to learn. I picked it up last weekend and didn't have a lot of time to go digging through the manual. I was up and flying in no time. You can download the manual ahead of time and look it over. All you need is the normal procedure checklist, which are 2 pages (really 1.5 with an image). There's just a few little things you need to learn, like plugs fouling. If you just set the plugs to "fine", you don't even need to worry about that. I shy away from the complex aircraft, just because of the time to learn them (and how easy it is to forget so I need to re-learn), but even I was able to get up and running with this no problem. It is realistic, but it is also just a small, single engine piper. Pretty much any other complex aircraft I've tried to fly the first time ends in (virtual) tragedy. This was really easy, and more importantly, rewarding.

I finally picked this up and I love it! One quick question - do I need to learn the jpi engine monitor? I watched their video on how to lean the engine by ear. Is the thing doing anything to control the engine rpm or power? (it feels like it is, but it could be my throttle calibration). I can't seem to just set the throttle and rpm at a number and fly. I'm still going through that part of the manual. If anyone finds a good video tutorial on just the JPI too that would be great. I'm having a blast flying this around. It is such a joy to hand fly and so stable in trim. Most planes, you trim for climb and take a look out the window, and you're either pointing straight up or down.

The big thing for me is seeing what 3rd party aircraft makers are doing. We know things will be compatible, but with the physics and flight changes, I'm guessing most add-ons are going to need some tweaking. What I don't want is to buy 2024 and then be sitting around waiting for 3rd party a/c updates. Hopefully MS gets them involved in testing and everything is smooth, but who knows. Either way, I am never a "day 1" type. More like day 4+.

I would never trust some random 3rd party program to do something like this. Some of what people call "bloat" is actually security. So, you should know what you're turning off. There's a popular Win 11 tweak that helps performance quite a bit, but you want to make sure you know that you are turning off some security. Many of us choose to take on that risk, but you should look into it yourself and make that determination. If you want to tweak, learn it yourself. There's so much "snake oil" out there. Also, back in the days of FSX, we were stuck running 20fps into busy airports at times, so every frame was precious. Today with 2020? I honestly spend very little time tweaking Windows. With a monster PC, you should be flying and not tweaking.

I will still buy as much as I did before (which isn't a lot anyway). I'm assuming FS2024 will be later in the year next year, so that's well over a year away most likely (and delays happen). Even then, as many have said, MS has a FAQ up addressing this specifically. It isn't like 2024 is starting all over. Now, the only thing I may be more hesitant to buy is something like a weather or ATC add-on. Something like that might get changed in this new sim, but again, I didn't buy those anyway. If a great payware plane comes out, I wouldn't hesitate to buy. Scenery should be no problem as well. Basically, nothing has changed for me. I fly 2020, I look at the roadmap every week. Their FAQ addresses this clearly.

I wish people realized that they are just "preaching to the choir" here. Whatever your opinions, large corporations are going to do what they are going to do. This game is officially announced and it isn't going anywhere. Take a deep breath. I'm guessing that MS2020 will go forward, because they do not want to see active users plummet. As many others have said (but it is worth repeating), it is the same code base, not a start from square one thing (starting over would be a mess). We'll get another regular update today and I doubt the roadmap for this game changes much, if at all. Anything they add/fix now will carry forward.

2d monitor. I tried using a Playstation VR and I get super queasy after just a couple of minutes. I was surprised by that seeing as I never get motion sickness in real life. Maybe it is something specific to the Sony setup, but I haven't invested in VR at all since. I get the value of VR, but it just isn't for me. A nice 2D monitor that I can sit close to is immersion enough for me. I customize my views for each plane and can do what I need.

The default airports are so much better than in the past. In past FS games, you'd sometimes just get grey rectangles for buildings and nothing else. In MSFS 2020, I'm impressed at the detail of even the really small GA airports. In past sims, flying to a default airport was not a good experience. What I do is browse the library and look for sales. I add a lot of things to my wishlist and check the sales. Regular price can get expensive, but often I find airports 50% off or even more at times. There's a lot of good deals out there if you keep an eye out. I rarely pay full price for an airport. If you use the wishlist, you can just open it up anytime and quick scroll through things you might want. I only fly GA anymore, so I'm only buying the small to medium sized airports, so the price isn't too high anyway. There's a lot of great freeware out there too of course. Still, a lot of payware airports are great quality and worth buying for me. Again, I wait for sales and don't ever feel like I have to buy them.