Microsoft Flight Simulator Xbox Version Gets New Details; Massive Performance Upgrade on PC Revealed

Microsoft providing new information about the Xbox Series X|S version of Microsoft Flight Simulator and improvements to the PC version.

[NeoGamer232]

This is how things should be done. Promise 30+ FPS... Deliver just under 60.

[Fntastic]

Yeah anyone using a 3080 card and a CPU better than a 9700k will get even better performance. That's an impressive upgrade for a game like this, looks like It's pretty well optimized now.

[Bender6502]

For me, this is one of the very few titles where 30fps is almost acceptable on console, mainly due to the games complexity. One thing I'm not sure about though is how the PC will fair when loading all that global data. I mean, all X|S have NVMe SSD, right. But a lot of PC's still don't, how will that pan out I wonder.

[Anomander]

PCs will support it. That's the beauty of having the PC it will just fall under the High-end Specs. I'm just looking forward to the DX 12 integration for the game on PC.

[WhiteHawk]

Yeah, I don’t know what you guys are on about, you are talking like this wasn’t released about 11 months ago on PC with the global streaming feature and works fine on a hard drive. On a side note, if anyone is really interested in flight simulation, a console isn’t the way to go, there’s already hundred and hundreds of free and payware addons for this sim, which apart from a small selection of payware isn’t going to be available on console, plus far more hardware limitations too.

[Abriael]

The PC version is already out and has been for a year.

It has absolutely no issue loading global data. It's a lot of data in bulk, but it's actually rather small at any specific moment, and it loads a LOT before it gets into view.

An SSD is useful for MSFS basically only in initial load times. For the rest, it's basically not relevant, so much that many who do have a fast SSD (me included) load additional scenery on an HDD instead, because it can very easily balloon over a terabyte or more if you download/buy a lot of it. My addon folder is currently at 1.3 terabytes and growing.

When that additional scenery loads in from the HDD there's no difference at all. It's small data compared to say an open-world game in which you actually have to walk and needs to be a lot more detailed from up close.

Of the many AAA games on Xbox at the moment, this is likely what'll use the SSD the least. The highest demand isn't on the I/O and storage speed, but on your internet. You need a fast connection, and you better hope it's unlimited if you fly a lot.

this is impressive on Xbox, but there's zero doubt that the sim is at its best on PC, regardless of the drive.

[Bender6502]

Yeah, I know it's been out on PC awhile, I tried it on Game pass, a service that came from consoles to PC I believe :) Anyway, your'e fine, PC will have better version by virtue of PC's power of diminishing returns and brute force . But honestly, how many people buy 3080's? assuming they can get one.

My point. MS and Sony didn't spend a large chunk of the console budget on NVMe SSD's , because they barely make a difference. As for flight sim, who knows? Firstly, we haven't seen the Series X version yet, and secondly, it's quite feasible the PC version would run better with NVme SSd's.

With the inclusion of DX12 ultimate and the Direct storage API it's quite reasonable I Think, to suggest the the PC will hold back game design in this particular area since All NVMe on console Vs some NVMe on PC obviously restricts developers. Further, suggesting only initial load times benefit from such fast storage is maybe a tad disingenuous, is it not.

[Abriael]

@Bender6502: listen. It's extremely well-known how MSFS works in terms of storage and the volume of data it moves at any given time due to how much it's modded. It's simply too little to benefit in any form from direct storage. You may say we don't know all you want, but we simply do.

As for why the sim will always be superior on PC, it's not even due to that. It's due to user-made content which the Xbox version does not support, as it supports only what is included in the official marketplace, which is 99% payware and only very few select free things.

While users on Xbox will be stuck with additional airports and aircraft you have to pay for and a few "select" freeware, PC users can access literally thousands of quality user-created airports, liveries, and more.

While for most of the airports xbox users are stuck with the default procedurally-generated ones unless they buy an add-on (and for 90% of airports payware add-ons don't exist), PC users can find a much, much better looking (and more realistic) user-made version.

For instance (an example among thousands) if you go to Vilnius airport, on Xbox it'll look like this (nothing like the real one besides the general horizontal shape of the building and the approximate position of the gates).
https://i.imgur.com/AcLCZK3...

On PC, you can download a small package and it'll look like this. For free.
https://i.imgur.com/RahcMvI...

Let's not talk about the many external utilities that are exclusive to PC, like Navigraph, LittleNavMap and many others.

This may be new for console players, but there certainly are many who knows MSFS in and out. It's not really a mystery anymore.

[Jericho1337]

Can’t wait to give this a try. Hope the Top Gun expansion is like Combat Flight Simulator back in the day.

[King_Noctis]

This is a good time to jump (or fly) in, as the game’s file size on PC has heavily decreased.

[Deathdeliverer]

Comments on here are all over the place. All I know is I’ll be downloading this and looking for my house day one. Don’t know how long it’ll be fun, but for the cost of my subscription I’m willing to find out.

[CrimsonIdol]

Very cool, especially if they have managed to decrease the insane CPU hit (and distribute the load more evenly) without losing any tangible detail or physics calculations.

[Abriael]

That is exactly what they have done.

[Zeref]

Pretty cool that Xbox One will be getting this via Cloud streaming. It's such an awesome way to keep supporting the older consoles through this transition.

And for Series X/S owners we don't even have to download the game to play it, we can just stream it, A game like this doesn't require millisecond precision, so I definitely see myself just playing this via cloud instead of downloading it, especially since the file is probably huge and i'm not that into flight sims but i definitely wanna try this.

[DJStotty]

Some great info here for the Series S and X version.

Xbox one support via xcloud, not native.
locked at 30fps, but displays that support it can take advantage of VRR, unlocking the framerate
Cross-platform purchases
Cross-platform saves