Throttle_Up

On 1/30/2023 at 11:00 PM, PhrogPhlyer said:

I am personally glad I still have my FSX Gold on disks. Just pop into drive and go. Don't see what the problem with that is. And not dependent on my ISP or modem/router. I think this shows the best part of our community, we have myriad ways to access and enjoy.

A portable DVD RW USB drive costs $20-$30. I get to keep using all the DVDs I've bought through the years.

Of course , nothing is wrong with using DVDs,

 I personally found them a hassle. It seemed no matter how careful I was that they'd get scratched! This was my biggest gripe! I always held them from the middle and the edge, never touching the surface. But the scratch gremlins came anyway.! Same with my music CDs, sold all of them since I can find them all free on YT, all uploaded in high rez.

On another note you can play FSX on Steam even if the net is down. Steam will start in Offline Mode.

On 2/7/2023 at 12:39 PM, ardsur said:

used to fly with FS, 2002/2004/X in the old Windows days. After change to Ubuntu, I left flight sim for a long time, till I found Steam. That worked for a time, though has some deviations from what I remember. Anyway at one point Steam blocked me, from playing FSX_SE and I still have not found a remedy

So I found the old dvd's , tried FS2004, as this was a genuine MS purchase. But the discs were showing a reading error and I could not load. So I got my FSX alternative and that loaded fine. Now playing for the last 3 months FSX and picking up the skills again. Always good to keep the discs, be it that apparently discs do not have the eternal life.. 

 

Why would Steam block you like that? Did you contact them?

On 1/22/2023 at 11:54 PM, mrzippy said:

I'd toss the discs and purchase FSX-SE from the Steam Store!

I held on to the FSX disks for ages but had all my other games on Steam.

When FSX:SE appeared I jumped on it and tossed the discs. That was my last game with DVDs and I cant imagine how I tolerated those fragile shiny things!

I thought the graphics is what makes this so great. They don't look any better than the original FSX.

I feel something has gone wrong in your setup or you have the settings dialled down really low (just a guess). I sense that by now you will have fixed the graphics side of things!

As much as I loved beloved FS9, FSX and X-Plane 11 - none of them can come close visually to this title. I just took these shots.

Finals at Kansai

Departing Manila

Hey there MadMav24 ! When you hook the TV to your computer using the HDMI cable, how is the quality of MSFS on the tv? When I hook my tv to my computer via HDMI, the picture quality is all washed out.

I game on my 60 inch TV and theres no wash out. Did you check the Picture mode settings on your TV? There will be some presets like Movie, Photos, Gaming, Dynamic etc. Also play with the sliders like brightness, contrast, color, gamma etc.

Is yours the case that hinges open? Looks like a big white TicTac?

That is a great spec for a replacement, one of those odd situations where a failure resulted in a win! The game will run awesomely. Even more significant is that you snagged a good gfx card in this day & age of global GPU silicon shortages.

I need to get on the case, this old PC is 13.1 years old.

Enjoy the virtual flying! :)

Where did you buy the game from? Steam or MS Store?

If you got it from Steam just use its Move feature. Instructions here:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4BD4-4528-6B2E-8327

I am not familiar with the MS Store version. I guess you could try just moving the files over to the new drive and then firing up the MS Store to verify them.

However if you have a high speed uncapped internet connection just download and install a fresh copy. Fire up the download at your bedtime and let it go all night. You'll wake up to a new install.

Joystick prefs are saved in the cloud. As long as you use the same account on the new install you will see all your stick prefs there.

1. Go to the MSFS folder

2. Right-click on FlightSimulator.exe

3. In the Details tab you'll see the version #

Try the volume mixer control in Windows. Start the game and then:

1. Right click speaker icon in the system tray

2. Select "Open volume mixer"

3. Adjust the slider for MSFS

Give this video a watch. Its made by a real life A320 pilot

One thing to remember with the Airbus autopilot knobs is that they are push-pull.

You push to give control to the airplane

You pull to take control of the airplane

Just an idea to think about hope its okay to suggest.

You can get monitors for dirt cheap these days, even a basic 1080p one. I got a cheap and happy Dell one exclusively to display LNM on while I fly on the main screen. Once you go multi monitor theres no looking back. Can enjoy fullscreen LNM leaving main one clutter free. The monitors dont have to match in rez. Your main can be 2k or 4k and the 2nd 1080 for example.

Need more details

1. Did you set up the MSFS database as inky160 said?

2. Did you export the plan as MSFS format

3. Does the plan show properly in LNP?

4. What happens when you load the plan from the game?

There is no escape. It has to be done.

I recall reading on the official forums a post that this one guy made that involved disabling internet before launching MSFS, letting it do the checks and then reconnecting the net only when you're in the airplane.

He said it works but I have not confirmed and neither have others. I'm sure MS will find a way around this too. I might however try it just for a laugh before the next update.

This can be caused by scratches or dirt on the disc or a fault in the DVD drive (perhaps theres dirt on the lens, a laser fault, mechanism fault etc).

Carefully clean the disk using chamois or you can buy a disk cleaning kit. If you have a portable DVD drive test it using that. Can also test it on another computer to see if Windows can see it on there.

You also get drive-cleaning discs that have a row of very soft bristles or other material on the playing side to gently clean the drive lens.

Have you played less than 2 hours?

If so you can refund the game on Steam. Check your playtime and if its under 2hr immediately submit the refund request.

We need to know your system specs. Its best to put them in your forum sig, that way you wont have to keep posting them when you need to, see my sig for example.

You should not have any problems running any of those titles on a modern system. I was running FSX Steam Edition until April this year (I got MSFS in May) on this Win10 Pro computer.

I had zero issues installing and running MSFS.

If you have tried everything then a totally fresh Windows install will fix things. Heres the steps I followed if you're interested:

1. Backup your data using free software like Macrium Reflect (excellent program)
   
2. Download the Windows Media Creation Tool, you need a USB stick with 8GB or more
   
3. See point #1
   
4. Boot from the USB stick and do a fresh windows install (not upgrade) it will wipe everything.
   
5. Once done update Windows till you have all updates
   
6. Restore your data (you can mount Macrium as a virtual drive. It will appear in file explorer and you can just copy your documents, photos etc.)
   
7. Log into MS account, begin the MSFS download and go to bed
   
8. You will wake up to a fully installed game ready to roll.
   

On another note - you have 40 years of real world flying experience. If its something that would interest you - you could make yourself known to 3rd party addon devs because you would be able to greatly assist and advise them :) No doubt you use the Zibo 737 mod in XP11 which is amazing for freeware.

Global PCs number in their billions and add to that the different configurations and this = a headache.

Even two identical PCs - one could run MSFS no issues and the other could have problems. Its the nature of the beast.

To give you an idea of just how crazy the scene is - I see many people with powerful new gaming rigs having problems.

Yet here I am playing MSFS on an ancient 14 year old PC and I have never had a SINGLE problem.

Not one. It works a 100 times better than FSX on this old system even. Installation was flawless, all updates flawless, no CTDs. Yes I cannot run the sim maxed out like the new systems and have to make compromises (I cant fly airliners or fly over dense urban areas because the FPS tanks) but thats due to system age only. Outside of airliners and away from large metro areas I can get upto 47FPS with graphics settings on High and some on Ultra.

So its really all over the place and depends so much on Windows management, hardware management, IT knowledge, so many factors :)

Go here:

OPTIONS>GENERAL>CAMERA>CHASE CAMERA>INSTRUMENT HEADS-UP DISPLAY

If you are in Drone mode then just toggle HUD by pressing INSERT key.

See this link which explains it well along with a nice graphic. It mentions FSX but the same thing applies to MSFS:

https://my737ng.com/scenery-exposed/

That's one of my major irks with MSFS2020. FSX (and FS2004) had some amazing freeware (and please no lectures on "freeware" versus "shareware" etc etc) aircraft. I specifically recall a beautiful F-86 Sabrejet by Section8 Software, a Tupolev Tu-114 (?) that had a fully replicated virtual cockpit and cabin, an eye-popping Dassault Mirage IV and so many others. I had dozens and dozens of amazing and accurate planes. Now, if you want aircraft besides the default ones you have to pay up and there are only a handful available, and they are nice but very few. If it remains like this within the next few months I may go back to FSX.

Keep both games. I fly MSFS, X-Plane 11 and DCS.

Use MSFS for the low and slow sight seeing and then jump into FSX for your fav planes. Yes its painful going back and seeing the ancient visuals but even then - visuals are not everything. Just enjoy the airplanes.

I use MSFS for low and slow, XP11 for airliner flying and DCS for cannon runs :cool:

I'm not exactly happy with the ridiculous purchase process of this sim.

 

Is there any other way to download this? not Steam that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down.

Only 3 options: DVD set, MS Store & Steam

I have the Steam version, it downloaded and installed flawlessly. Zero issues. I also hear it leaves the files accessible (apparently MS version encrypts some files) and so tweaking and modding files is easier on it vs the MS Store one.

However an MS Store user could perhaps update us on wether this is still the case. I had read this a while ago.

I dont like the MS Store, I find it so clunkily designed, will never buy anything from there.

There is one scenario where it would be preferable to Steam - do you own an Xbox? If so you'll get both versions for the price of one.

Ensure Community folder is deactivated (just rename it) to test the base game with nothing third party.

The firewall has been mentioned, also check security software to be sure the MSFS.exe is allowed, sometimes 3rd party AV have a freak out and get a bit block-happy.

I dont know if it will work but would picking a previous Restore Point remove the update?

If you have a full system backup on an ext hard drive (image backup) then you can use that to go back.

The only thing is you would have to do is block the game from accessing the internet. So essentially we are screwed. By making these updates mandatory there is no escape.

The ocean looked amazing when the game was revealed in 2020 but as we all know how that turned out (specially with masking in the tropics).

Right now the ocean is like smooth glass. Even more ridiculous are stationary rivers, no flow even. I hope they fix this because it ruins the immersion for low and slow flying.

This game does not like overlocked systems. I had to back down from 3.8Ghz to 3.5 and now its rock solid with no problems at all.

Play some other demanding game on your system. There are also lots of synthetic tests you can do. Check the article below. Scroll down a bit till you see "CPU Benchmarking"

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-free-benchmark-programs/