MDFlier

Storage is cheap. I added a new 1Tb SSD for 2024 and have been using both sims for a few months now. 2020 for the PMDG, and 2024 for the Fenix. I actually installed Star Citizen on my MSFS2020 drive since I don't foresee my 2020 installation growing much in the future. There's no need to "switch". Run both so you can fully enjoy 2020 while getting your 2024 installation up to snuff.

If I recall correctly, the NGXu, which was the last P3D version, also had cockpit windows that opened (it might have only been one of the windows). Ron, go into the FSDT Installer, make sure that "2024 MS Store" is selected on the left hand side below the Release Notes button, and then click on the "Config" button on the GSX Pro line at the top. On the next screen, you will see a block on the lower right hand side that says "Seated Passengers in 2024 MS Store". You should see 4 entries for the 737. Uncheck each row, and then re-check them. From Page 10 of the GSX manual: "Seated Passengers are an Opt-In feature: by default they are not enabled on any airplane. To enable supported airplanes, enter the Config page for GSX Pro in the FSDT Installer, and in the “Seated Passengers”, there will be a list of all supported airplanes which are found to be installed. Click the check-mark to Enable Seated Passengers, which will do the required changes to the airplane model files and folder, which will activate the Seated Pas- sengers feature. Removing the check-mark will Disable Seated Passengers for the selected airplane, and will remove any changes made by the FSDT Installer to the airplane model files." "When you add a new Livery for a supported airplane, you MUST start the FSDT Installer again and enter the GSX Config page, to let GSX modify the airplane files for the Livery variation that has been just added. The list will pause for a few sec- onds, showing “Seated Passengers Loading”, while it’s scanning for your installed airplanes and newly added liveries. Then, exit the page using the Close button"

James, I've got a couple of suggestions for you to try that fixed all of my performance issues with MSFS2024. #1 - If you use it, reset your rolling cache. Go into MSFS2024 settings and set the RC size to 0, note the location of the RC and exit the sim. Then, find the RC file and delete it. When you restart the sim (after performing the rest of these steps), go back to settings and create a new RC file of the size of your choosing. #2 - Delete all of the Nvidia cached shaders. Start the Nvidia Contol Panel. Under Global Settings, set the option for "Shader Cache Size" to "Off". Apply changes, and reboot your system (You can't do the next step if the driver is still using the cache folders). Start File Explorer and type "%localappdata%" into the address bar and press enter. You should end up in a folder called "C:\Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Local". Scroll down to the NVIDIA folder and delete any folders you see in there (mine has DXCache and GLCache in it - both can be deleted as they will recreate automatically whenever the Nvidia driver needs them in the future). Go to your "C:\Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Roaming\NVIDIA" folder and delete the entire ComputeCache folder. #3 - Start the Nvidia Contol Panel again. Go to Global Settings, and set the option for "Shader Cache Size" to "Unlimited" (or pick the size of your preference). Apply changes, and reboot your system to create the new Nvidia caches and start using them. #4 - Test the sim to see if your issue is resolved. (Remember to create a new rolling cache if you want to use one).

+1 - I usually get an answer from them in about 2 minutes whenever I post a question about an issue on there. Just make sure to state the problem clearly.

Sir, please don't ask Umberto to stop one of the best things about GSX, the lack of stagnation. It's been getting consistently better and better over time. Do you want him to be like PMDG and charge us every time he sneezes at his product, or go long stretches without anything at all happening? He could post 12 page long posts about how he waxed his keyboard while describing his thinking about how to make a GSX character jump out of the emergency exit during pre-flight sometime in the next 3 years. Just let the man work. Please.

duplicate

Sanitized for your protection.

Why did I hear the sound of spaceship engines whining like they do right before the quantum drives kick in when I read that?

You sound like me. Every computer I have ever had was built with making Flight Simulator "flyable" as the purpose. I started simming back in the Sublogic days, and have actually played every version of Flight Simulator (and on every platform - TRS80s, Apple IIs, every Intel x86, but never AMD). At each new release, I would go the the computer show at the fair grounds and buy upgrades with the intention of improving Flight Simulator performance (my basement could be a museum of computer technology. I could probably go down there right now and build a working Intel 8086 based system with the parts I still have). Sadly, that process repeated itself every couple years until Steam released their version of FSX. That was the very first version that loaded up on a system that I already had and got what I considered to be acceptable performance. The "chase" pretty much ended at that point and ever since I've felt that my upgrades are simply allowing me to enhance an already good experience by giving me more headroom to add features and functionality. We live in exciting times to be sure. To be honest, I was blown out of the water when MSFS 2020 was announced. Since I was 12 years old, I've always known and expected that we would be able to fly over an exact replica of the real world. I just didn't expect MS to start working on that as "early" they did (I had figured it would have been right about now). The 2080 Ti did run "very well", but I must say that the 5080 does much better. Primarily because it allows me to use the newer technologies. Ray tracing being one of them. If I enabled that with the 2080, my performance tanked because the CPU was doing some of the work. The 5080 has the circuitry to do ray tracing, so it handles it with no performance impact. The 2080 ran at more than 80% utilization most of the time, and the 5080 is running in the 40% range.

The number one reason that understanding the technical design of the AMD architecture matters to me is that I am able to use that knowledge to make more intelligent part selections when building the system. You can give me all of the parts for a 350 Chevy engine in the back of a pickup truck, and in 2 days I'll have you on the road. Fill the bed of that truck with Mazda rotary engine parts, and you'll be walking for months. Sure, they're both engines, but they operate in radically different ways. That's how I feel about Intel vs AMD.

My only hesitation is that I am wholly unfamiliar with the AMD architecture. I guess I need to start reading because it is clearly the way to go these days. I've been immersed in Intel for over 40 years. Time for this old dog to learn some new tricks. I don't plan on going into giant screens or 4k at this time, so I think a nice AMD rig with this 5080 would be the bees knees at 3440x1440.

Thank you, Ryan. I had the 2020 version of Stevensvile, so I'll be sure to grab the new one shortly. My father worked at KMTN, so the trip to Stevensville for the "$100 hamburger" is a a very fond memory (although we always ended up getting grab crab cakes instead). I believe the place was called Henderson's at the time.

Hey everyone. I hope y'all had a nice summer. My usual routine is to spend as much time as I can boating on the Chesapeake Bay from April through October. This year, i went that entire time with no time in MSFS of either version. I started flying again about 2 weeks ago. It took quite a while to update everything in both sims. Lots of changes everywhere. There were new versions of the Fenix, the PMDG 737s. GSX, AIG, Navigraph, as well as both simulators. 2020, for the most part, ran pretty well right from the start. 2024, on the other hand was a stuttery, jittery, sluggish, mess. I deleted all of the caches (simulator and Nvidia) for both sims, and that greatly improved the performance of both. From then on, both have been running fantastically. I'm very impressed with 2024 now. It had never been usable before for me for my type of flying. That is no longer the case. My flights in the Fenix in 2024 have been superb. I like the ATC changes. No more getting 25 altitude changes before TOC. Seems like they are living up to "expect XX,XXX 10 minutes after departure" line and clearing me to TOC on the 2nd or 3rd altitude change. I was getting pretty smooth performance, but my 10850K CPU was getting mainthread limited which was causing some stuttering at 3rd party airports (during ground ops, departure , and arrival, as well as the GSX animations). I started perusing Micro Center's web site looking for an AMD bundle to upgrade my system. I was still running a 2080Ti w/12Gb, which I really hadn't planned on upgrading for a while, when I caught lightning in a bottle. MC listed an open box 5080 w/16Gb for $899, which was exactly $100 less than I paid for my 2080 Ti back in 2019. I put in my cart to reserve it and, drove to the store to ask why it had been opened. The guy in the build it center said that a customer had called them asking a question about adjusting the included bracket that holds up the end of the card to prevent it from sagging, and they needed to open a box to look at one. They only removed the shrink wrap from the box to open it, and never even took the card out of the anti static bag. I apparently put it in my cart 5 minutes after they put it on the web site at the open box price. MC has great warranty and return policies, so I took the plunge. Well, all I can say is that I was wrong. My 2080 Ti was a huge contributing factor to the performance issues I was having. Far more than I had previously thought. Upon installing the 5080, which also required a new case, since it would not fit in my old one despite being listed as a "small form factor" (SFF) card, I saw significant improvements in sim performance in both sims. I do not check frames within MSFS. I simply go by how it looks and feels, so I do not have any numbers. HWINFO is showing high 40s, but I do not know if that is accurate. I run 3440x1440, so I can believe that is in the ball park. I do know that I can land with total and complete smoothness in both sims at the one airport that always caused major stutters for me, Verticalsim's KTPA Tampa. It's night and day. I've done landings in both the Fenix in 2024 and the PMDG 737 in 2020 that have been consistently exceeded my expectations. I'm happy. The CPU upgrade is now on hold. As to both simulators, I think MS & Asobo have done a very good job with both over the summer. I'm amazed at how many things have changed for the better. Fenix, AIG, Navigraph (love the in game Simbrief), and FSDT have all also improved for the better. I'm glad that I stepped away for a while. I had been getting frustrated with the little nits in both sims destroying my experience. I'm really looking forward to a nice winter full of flight simming. I'm glad that both versions are performing well now as I am keeping 2020 around to be my 737 simulator. I'm not buying the PMDGs for 2024 unless they add substantial new functionality or improvements that make it worth while. Who knows? I might just end up giving myself that AMD bundle for Christmas... I've been (mostly) good this year.

Good on them. The rest of us appreciate them defending our liberties.

Another 34" curved monitor at 3440x1440 here. One benefit I see is that the curve seems to helps reduce glare significantly compared to my 2nd monitor, which is flat.

Wow. That stinks. The government must be saving you from inflicting some kind of harm upon yourself. I hope my government never cares that much. Now the rest of the world can save our UK invasion plans as .BMPs and share them on Imagur instead of spending lots of money on encryption and equipment to hide them. 🤣

For IFR flying, a Simbrief account is invaluable. If you are in the US, use Flightaware to find real world flights to duplicate. You can use the Simbrief app from inside of MSFS to plug in the information about the flight from FA, and then use it to import your route into the simulator and into the Fenix. There's no need to come up with any information on your own. Use the checklists, and for the Fenix, DIFSRIP is your friend (that's the order to fill in the pages in the CDU - Google it). You'll get it. Good luck!

There were many discussions about stutters on landings back in the FSX days that revolved around the touchdown sound and smoke effects loading up just prior to TD and causing them. I believe that I was deleting both effects back when I had my 1st 4 core processor. IIRC, it helped, and I didn't care because external views weren't that important to me back then.

I'm baffled by most of these responses. I think GSX is one of the best addons I own. To me, it is absolutely worth the price I paid. It can be complicated, but what in flight simulation isn't? Everything is complicated, from setting keyboard and joystick assignments to the actual flights. I wouldn't fly without it. Great work Umberto (and team - if there is one). . Thank you for the continued updates and improvements.

Yep. If the air is still, there's gonna be trouble. 😊 I was actually editing my post to mention that while you were typing. We use the clouds as navigation aids sometimes. They're usually above land.

That's a great example. The clouds are forming over the dark areas where the land is the most dense. Not sure which island that is, but it looks like there's some marshland, and some areas with some sort of light colored vegetation in the middle that stays cooler. Fortunately, there appears to be a breeze blowing the tops off of the clouds off to the right, so they won't get towering thunderstorm clouds out of that.

Worst one I ever saw was over Barbuda. Fortunately, I was 20 miles away on land in Antigua at the time. Beautiful day, about one hour after sundown I saw a small cumulus cloud hovering over the center of the island, I went to visit a friend in Boons Bay, and when I came out of his house an hour and a half later, there was a full blown thunderstorm in progress over Barbuda. Where I was standing, there was a strong breeze, but otherwise it was perfect. Not sure why Antigua didn't get one too. Edit: I don't know if it was the "worst" one I ever saw because I wasn't in it. I meant that from the perspective that I had never seen one develop from a tiny cloud to a giant storm in such a short time frame.

As a boater, I can tell you that this is a very realistic and common occurrence. The thunderstorm happens because the surface of the island heats up from the sun significantly during the day, and then at night when the air cools the heat will rise up in a thermal, taking water vapor with it until the storm forms. High humidity is required, as shown in the pic. Doesn't happen every time, thank God. I've seen these things wreak havoc on anchorages full of boats. They tend to be very powerful, and thankfully, short lived.

Not a "holy cow", but a cow that can be trusted.

Didn't notice that search results sort order defaulted to "relevancy" instead of date. I missed the earlier thread reading the irrelevant thread titles that were boosted to the top because Avsim thought that they were more relevant. Oops. Thought it was strange no one mentioned it. 🙃