Microsoft just shared plenty of details about the recently released Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, including an overview of the issues currently affecting the simulator and plans for the future.
During the livestream on Twitch, we heard as usual from Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch, and Executive Producer Martial Bossard, on top of Chris Burnett from Working Title.
We start by hearing from Neumann that the franchise achieved a Monthly Active User record. Over the last three months, two-thirds of users were on MSFS 2024 and one-third were on MSFS 2020.
Interestingly, there are currently more users flying in the Career Mode than in Free Flight. On top of that, many players are brand-new to the flight simulation hobby have joined the sim. The last time Neumann checked it was 1.1 million newcomers, but now it should be around 1.3 to 1.4 million.
That being said, Neumann did not stop at celebrating and acknowledged the issues the simulator suffered and, in part, still suffers from. He admitted that the launch “did not go well at all.”
The launch issues with the CDN triggered “many internal discussions” at Microsoft on how it happened and how to avoid it happening in the future, not just in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 but in all games.
Ultimately, everybody involved needs to understand the “shape of the data” which means what exactly the data is and how it’s streaming. In the future, Microsoft will do much deeper dives to ensure that the infrastructure is configured just right and tailored to the exact type of data that needs to be served.
The second issue is that the simulator launched with too many bugs diminishing the experience of what is otherwise a really great simulation platform.
32,000 bugs were fixed before launch (of 50,000 filed, but many were duplicates, by design, or not reproducible), involving 71 testers at Microsoft and 20 at Asobo. Yet, the simulator was shipped with too many bugs.
Approximately 800 people worked on the project, and the Tech Alpha involving 17,000 users actually reassured the developers were on track for release.
The conclusion is that a product like this will never be shipped again without a proper beta period, on top of a proper alpha lasting months. When down the line Microsoft has to launch a new product like this, it’ll likely spend about a year between alpha and beta testing with thousands of people helping the developers find every issue before release.
Future updates will also be properly tested so their pace may be a little slower, but the stability will be higher.
We then get an update on the feedback snapshot and several of the issues included in it.
The team is working on the VRAM issues that, at times, affect RAM as well. The performance display in the simulator will be improved and it’s going to include both physical and virtual memory. VRAM is included in the virtual memory display.
When VRAM is overcommitted, the framerate collapses. While the developers have not found specific bugs, they have found many assets that need optimization, which will mitigate the occurrence. Work on this optimization of airports and aircraft is ongoing.
The first results are going to be seen in Sim Update 1, with 20 large airports done. By the end of February, this work should be completed.
Speaking of issues with blurry ground textures and overly aggressive LOD, Sim Update 1 will already include some fixes and more will come going forward.
The results of a lot of work on VR will come in Sim Update 2, including fixes to graphical issues like discrepancies between the eyes. That being said, some changes will already come in Sim Update 1.
Incidentally, we hear that 10% of MSFS 2024 users play with a VR headset.
A feature letting us change registration by plane is coming in the future.
The issue with the mouse freelook is going to be fixed in Sim Update 1.
There’s an issue in live weather that causes excessive turbulence, causing excessive shaking. This will be fixed in Sim Update 2 alongside an improvement to thermals updraft.
An issue with too many trees being displayed systematically will also be fixed in Sim Update 2.
Both the PC-12 and the PC-24 will be brought to good shape in Sim Update 2.
Issues with flaps should be completely solved in Sim Update 2, albeit some fixes are coming in Sim Update 1. They’re being fixed gradually per aircraft.
The issue with the sim freezing when returning to the main menu hasn’t been reproduced by the developers on their machines, so they’re still investigating it to fix it.
Some problems with audio are due to a bug with a third-party tool Asobo uses, and they’re working to fix it. Some of the issues with control axes are being fixed in Sim Update 1 but more fixes will also come in Sim Update 2.
Changes to career missions require work both on the services side and the software itself. There will be more night missions and more VIP services with Sim Update 1.
A team at Asobo is working on fixing systematic issues with the visibility of external lights. Some of the issues with this are still under investigation.
Issues with the G1000 are largely fixed for Sim Update 1. Some planes might still display the problem and should be reported.
There is a problem with the Xbox Series X|S’s quick resume mode, which causes issues with memory. Eventually, it fragments and comes short. There is a system that automatically reduces the level of detail when this happens to avoid crashes. The developers need to find a way to fix that. In the meanwhile, if users encounter this issue, they should completely quit the simulator after a flight. A full fix should come in Sim Update 2.
The issue with the Cessna Caravan wobbling on autopilot and the disappearing toolbar in VR have already been fixed, and they’re currently being tested. Incidentally, the wobbling issue may be caused not by the autopilot but by a system that simulates the flexibility of the fuselage. For instance, this was present on the 737 MAX and has been fixed.
Neumann gave a shoutout to the partner companies that are working on the simulator, as they’re continuously hard at wrk to fix bugs and to address issues on top of providing reports so that things can be improved.
The right pace for Sim Updates according to Microsoft is now about four per year. Sim Update 2 should come at the end of April. Sim Update 3 should come by FS Expo at the end of June.
The current plan for the official Marketplace is to launch it by February 18, but that’s not 100% set in stone, as it needs to be fully bug-free when it launches and things are being tested. The current plan for World Update Brazil is March 11. This might also change.
The Red Bull Racing feature is in progress, but development (which was initially done by a partner) has returned to Asobo, so it’s still ongoing.
DLSS4 and multi-frame generation will be included natively with Sim Update 2.
Asobo is working on cleaning up the trees from the photogrammetry of cities (the technique is internally named “tree flattening”). This has been applied only in the countryside for now and it’s very much in the R&D phase.
The team has new photogrammetry (TIN) for the Dolomites and it needs to be cleaned up and tested before implementation. More is coming.
The feature to let players download aircraft and scenery manually is still being worked on and should come with Sim Update 2. Before that comes, users are still encouraged to set up a larger rolling cache. Wloch himself uses 32 Gigabytes, but 64 or 128 is also possible.
Speaking of encryption of aircraft, there was never a plan for Microsoft to charge for liveries, which was mentioned in response to some speculation within the community.
Bossard clarified that everything should be moddable in the simulator today. The tool that enables it was a bit buggy, but it should be solved. That being said, the developers want to give users a more direct and simple way to export the packages and gain access. They’ll spend some time on this once the other issues are fixed.
Dark mode for the charts is something Working Title is talking to LIDO about. The next release will also include the missing airspace data and the missing SID procedure text data.
The feature that allowed players to use their own voice for ATC responses (which we saw during the preview event in Arizona) has been disabled because the quality wasn’t good. That being said, it’s still in the works.
Burnett admitted that there have been some regressions from ATC in 2020 and they’re being prioritized to fix in Sim Update 2 with some fixes already included in Sum Update 1. Some new ATC features are planned for Sim Update 3. The goal is to solve the existing issues first and then add new features to make the feature better. The developer has “quite the roadmap for ATC.”
Microsoft talked with some third-party developers about possible collaborations on ATC but the timing didn’t work out.
Super Heavy cargo missions are being worked on and should come separately from a sim update (with a server-side update). The Airbus aircraft are being enabled for the career and are currently in testing.
The developers plan to do a quality-of-life pass on the peripheral configuration and it should come in Sim Update 2.
The display distance of multiplayer tags is going to be fixed in Sim Update 1.
The career will be improved, and Microsoft is talking to several parties, like firefighters, the Coast Guard, and more, to make it even more exciting.
Below you can check out an updated roadmap for 2025.
We also get to see the Famous Flyer 11, the Cessna 185F Skywagon, and we get to see the trailer for the first time. While it says “available now,” that’s just because we’re seeing the trailer ahead of time as a sneak peek. It’ll come out for free when Sim Update 1 launches in “a couple of weeks.”
The CAP-4 Paulistinha will be released at the same time as the Brazil World Update, and it’ll also be free, as both aircraft will be provided to all users to apologize for the launch issues.
Incidentally, going forward, not all World Updates and City Updates for Microsoft Flight Simulator will have an accompanying Local Legend, simply because some regions have no aircraft associated with them.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is currently available for PC and Xbox Series X following its recent release in November. if you want to see the visual difference against Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, you can enjoy our video and screenshot comparison.
You can also check out our in-depth analysis of how much data the simulator downloads from the cloud, clearing the air from some widespread misinformation that made the rounds over the past few weeks.
You can also watch our latest interview with Jorg Neumann, the previous interview with Neumann himself and Sebastian Wloch, another with Asobo CCO David Dedeine, and one featuring Chris Burnett of Working Title and Brandon Yaeger of Got Friends about their work on MSFS 2024.
