I felt a great watershed event arriving. One filled with boundless optimism and hope for the future. Then, crushing waves of despair followed by high hopes. Hopes then dashed again. Yet, also hopes rising.
This is the story of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
I see the might and majesty of MSFS24. “Soaring through nature’s finest show you will see Denali – the Great One – soaring under the midnight sun.”
When it works, the visuals are amazing. Especially the clouds. Gone are the weird cotton candy volcanic ash clouds. Now, we have depth, variation, and a greater sense of flying into weather conditions. The flight model and ground handling are indeed better.
When it works.
When it works.
I am going to guess that probably 5/8th of my time in MSFS24 was spent in existential dismay as I struggled not only to figure out what was broken, but find something to try to fix it. That’s not even counting the 3 full nights spent trying to coerce the controls scheme into reality. That part, at least, I expected.
Jorg Neumann, Head of MSFS, famously said something along the lines of: virtually all your add ons will work. Much the same way Obi Wan Kenobi tried to cover the plot hole with Vader/Luke’s Dad’s death with “It’s true from a certain point of view.” Jorg is correct. I have had fabulous success moving my 2020 airports over to 2024. Yes, indeed, virtually all of them work.
Unfortunately, during one of the last dev live streams before launch they also mentioned a legacy mode where your airplanes would still work with the old 2020 flight model.
This, my friends, has not survived contact with the enemy. For those of us who love the commercial airliners it has been a path of pain. Yet, in a lot of ways we were where I expected to be, yet wrong about all the details.
For example, with everyone thinking you could just drag and drop your airliners, I thought the PMDG 737 would be the airliner that worked. Even in 2020 it’s pretty much a drag and drop. Not only does it not work, but the 737 and 777 are mired in a mud fest because first Asobo/MS didn’t ship the tools they need. When they did, a long-reported bug in the 2020 SDK is still preset and they are stuck in the mud. FSExpo is at the end of June and I am taking the over for if PMDG will have a product in 24 by then.
Instead, it’s the Fenix a320 that works fine(ish). Having most of the fight model external saved their bacon.
Here are the planes I fly the most and their status:
- Fenix a320 family (working)
- JustFlight AvroRJ (working)
- IniBuilds a300 (working)
- PMDG 737 family (not working)
- PMDG 777 family (not working)
- iFly 737 MAX (Not working)
- Honorable mention: IniBuilds a310 default (working)
So, half my planes work fine in 2024. What’s the problem? Frankly it’s this half here, half not that is the maddening part of the problem. Add one more to the working pile and I could probably separate fully from 2020. Remove one, and it would be easy to kick 2024 to the curb. Instead, I’m that person at the beach up to their waist in the water but unwilling to fully jump in.1
The problem, really, is that working is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The Fenix is in an “experimental” state with 24. It works fine, but patches to 24 break it. The IniBuilds a300 locks up the sim when you go back to the main menu. The AvroRJ I have found the most resistant to the quirks of MSFS24. As Steve Jobs once said, “It just works.”
I do not regret purchasing MSFS24. I am also so, so very glad I only bought the Standard Edition. Past me also had present me’s back by insisting I do not uninstall MSFS20. Believe me, I came close. I am bullish on MSFS24’s future, but I need a break.
In fairness, some of the issues I had were own goals. I had a hell of a time with the a300 when it was updated. Turns out, I had some conflicting bindings support worked me through.
If someone asked me right now, should they buy (or even jump in) to MSFS24, I’d have to say no.
Which is all the answer I need for if I should just use MSFS20 until the growing pains in MSFS24 are reduced.
When it works.
- What is really bonkers is the livery situation. There aren’t official paint kits, yet folks have cobbled them together. However on the main sharing site, there just aren’t a lot of them coming out. And with the IniBuilds a300, all new liveries have to be created. ↩
Mark Crump 