Humble Jim

I was late to the Win11 party compared to some (I'd seen early adopters hit issues). But a month ago, I let my laptop upgrade itself to Win11 first. No issues. I let a few weeks pass then let my main PC do the same. Again all good. I was half-expecting issues with some very old apps (with dependencies on some very old C++ runtime redistributables) but no, everything worked fine afterwards. And MSFS exhibited no performance wobbles at all. Sweet.

Windows 11 is becoming more widespread but (as an IT sort) I have to say it remains very much a work in progress. I have deferred upgrading to it on my home machines several times. I have done so on the grounds that principally it isn't a done thing yet. New, often "experimental", features are being introduced all the time. And Microsoft are regularly introducing problems with the rolling feature updates to Windows 11. This is fine if you're part of a closed beta group but can problematic for members of the public who suddenly hit printer problems or OS features that break. I've absolutely no doubt Windows 11 can run efficiently executables on modern processors, including MSFS, and that for some people it serves their needs just fine but the Windows 11 environment is still changing too much for me to commit to it. I'll await a more feature complete and more mature version than exists now. If you want an idea on how Windows 11 is evolving (the good and the bad) just keep an eye on this site. https://www.windowslatest.com/

Agree with the above. Have been happily plane spotting at EGCC. Seeing good looking liveries, push and starts, take offs, landings, with plenty contrails high in the sky. I know there's a built-in delay but correspondence with real world is the closest I have seen yet. And no sign of pointy noses anywhere. This is one of those great sim leaps for me 😀.

Amazing effort by the look. Currently I am running with a blend of Simple Traffic with lvfr static aircraft. I didn't go for AIG which - for me - seemed too complicated to set up. Will try FSTL as soon as I can. I'll be very interested to see how the injector performs. The ease of install is a big draw as is the likelihood of ongoing development from a great pool of devs.

Must admit even with my old cynical jaded eyes I was much hooked by the original trailer video (below, remember that?). I never expected that I would actually get that lush quality off my own kit...though it's come real close way more often than I expected. But mostly I've been delighted over and over by how much I've enjoyed what the community has contributed (FBW, et al). Turned off all my add-ons recently. The difference was like night and day. And no other software can I remember spending so much time with. A rough measure I do of "value for money" is taking hours spent using software divided by what it cost to purchase. In those terms MSFS is great VFM from my perspective. Roll on the next several years...

Macco Simulations. Manchester, Birmingham and Cancun. Only one in my list.

Remember, too, to check for dust clog on the filters fitted to your PC case. I do this at about 6 month intervals. Whatever your CPU cooling method, MSFS will generate heat in your case and will exercise case fans. A lot of dust on filters will often cause those fans to work even harder...and more dust builds up. Don't just stop at the main case fans front and back. Most tower type PC cases have a filter on the underside of the case (below the PSU). Many don't know it's even there. If you have one, keep that clean too. Aside from the basic cooling benefit to your system as a whole, filter cleaning can help keep the general PC noise down.

For me, very good first impressions with Macco's Cancun. I have their EGBB and EGCC too. Quality of those gave me high confidence that MMUN would be a good 'un. Really happy to support these developers who punch so far above their weight. I've tried the freeware hotel zone mentioned already. Agree with above sentiments, looks excellent and complements the airport well.

People obsess with this sim at many different levels and intensities. It shows engagement, that people are interested in how the product evolves and want to influence how it improves. It leaves Asobo endlessly triaging new stuff and bug fixes, which is fine, but I do wonder if they could deck two very long running "features" that many new users will sooner or later notice as bugs. The first is the music. If you specify the music to be "off" it still bursts through twice - for a second or so - as the sim loads. It's been doing this ever since being able to turn off the music was an option. The second is the marshalling guy whose right hand baton disappears every time you just get to stopping at a gate. Slightly frustrating by itself but also because in the first iteration of MSFS this didn't happen; the marshal never lost a baton. I honestly don't know if these items would be quickly & easily fixable i.e. if they're "low hanging fruit" type items from a developer perspective. If they are I just wish Asobo would get to them as I experience them continually. Don't get me wrong, for me these are just niggles (albeit frequently occurring ones). I'm really loving the sim experience still 😀.

Thanks for you observations. I've checked and realised, yes, there was something I'd missed. In AI OFFLINE mode parked traffic is filled via Simple Traffic flight plan data; hence they recommend Ground Traffic Density is set to 0 for this mode (which I did at the outset after installing ST). But if you use REAL TIME ONLINE you can and should raise Ground Traffic Density to above 0 because the real time live feed doesn't include parked aircraft. Raising Ground Traffic Density to above 0 will make MSFS populate the gates with parked aircraft but there might be some randomness in liveries for parked planes. Cheers Noel.

Agree with the above comment. I like Simple Traffic. Suits me just fine. Difference is like the difference between a bland looking generated generic type airport and a good custom made one. I would hate to go back to MSFS default liveries. If I have a criticism it's that Simple Traffic says that the AIRCRAFT TRAFFIC TYPE setting can be set to REAL TIME or AI OFFLINE but using the former with ST leaves you with all but empty airports in my experience. But that might be an MSFS traffic injection issue rather than Simple Traffic's problem as such. So I use AI OFFLINE for AIRCRAFT TRAFFIC TYPE and that gives me best results. Going to different places seems to produce the right majorities of airlines. Dubai International is loaded with many Emirates planes as you would hope. At US airports you'll see US planes. At London you'll find lots of BA aircraft and so on. It may not be 100% accurate (odd exceptions, not accurately reflect live actual situations at real airports) but Simple Traffic does what it says on the tin. For me that's enough, at least for now. Want more? Go to AIG. It's great that there are choices!

My experience of small payware highly-dedicated developer sorts has been very positive too. Looking at you, Macco Simulations....😀 I'm also big fan of some freeware devs whose extraordinary efforts have boosted the sim experience for so many of us.

Agree with sentiments above. No reason. I'm on 21H1 and I've got the latest "Patch Tuesday" update from Microsoft fixing the Game mode issue (not that I particularly noticed I was afflicted TBH). Also running with latest NVidia Game Ready drivers. All is good. I fly the FBW A320 mostly and running happily with that in the environment I've described.

que sera sera...

It's not that the keyboard assignment has got lost; the "toggle spoilers" functionality, or linkage to it, is broken / flaky at its core. So if you find the keyboard assignment is failing then trying to assign "toggle spoilers" to a button on a joystick will manifest the exact same problem. Confirmed with various aircraft.