Today, Microsoft and Asobo Studio released the beta of Sim Update 3 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, following yesterday’s official launch of Sim Update 2.
The beta comes packed with fixes and changes, including stability upgrades and bug fixes.
We also get another large round of updates for many of the aircraft included in the simulator, their core systems, the avionics, physics, the EFB tablet, ATC, and much more.
You can find the full patch notes on the official forums.
If you want to participate in the beta testing, you can opt in on the Xbox Insider Hub app both on PC and on Xbox Series X|S. Keep in mind that this is a beta, so there may be unforeseen issues. On top of that, you won’t be able to progress your career in the beta.
While the patch notes are already full of welcome changes, there is one that is undocumented, and it’s a big feature that many have been requesting. You can now download and install on your local storage manually any of the aircraft, missions, or airports that come with the simulator.
This bypasses the cloud streaming if you have storage space to spare and want to load certain elements faster and avoid the data usage for repeated streaming of the assets.
You can see the options in the gallery below.
Do keep in mind that we hear that the feature is not documented in the patch notes because it’s “not quite fully functional in the Beta yet,” although I was able to use it effectively for several aircraft and airports. Do keep in mind that this is a beta and use it at your own risk, but it’s great to see that the option is there and will certainly be perfected by when Sim Update 3 is officially released.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is available for PC and Xbox Series X|S (albeit Sydney is only available for PC for now; it’ll likely come for Xbox when it releases on the official marketplace down the line). following its recent release in November. If you want to see the massive visual difference against MSFS 2020, you can enjoy our video and screenshot comparison.
A few weeks ago, we published an extensive interview with Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann about the present situation of the sim and the plans for the future.