UPHILL3

I had ALL the MS flight sim versions, of course starting with Ver. 1 and 2 on floppies - skipped FS95 (which as it turned out was a real turkey). Now it's the fabulous Ver. 2020, which hopefully will be perfected before the end of 2021...

Personally, I would not purchase a Dell PC for a gaming rig for various reasons, mainly for what was stated above: They tend to skimp on some of the hardware requirements - However, they bought the company that makes Alienware several years back, and that's a much better gaming rig, although somewhat pricey (plus they feature the coolest looking cases around).

I actually signed-up in early December myself on the XBox/PC one buck deal just to see if my 5 year-old PC could handle this beast: Intel 6700k @4.00Ghz - Gforce GTX 970 & 32G Ram. Also wanted to see if my cable internet could handle it. I must say I was amazed by MSFS right off the bat, plus no stutters & decent FPS. The biggest challenge was learning all the new key assignments. But unfortunately, my GPU temperature went thru the roof (even with minimum settings - close to 80 c. after a very short bit of flying - So I did not want to burn it out, and won't fly again until I get a new gaming rig this Spring. I'll be baack...

I believe Dell's intergrated graphics card is probably not going to meet the high resolution demands of MSFS 2020...

I'll bet the flight attendants are chatting among themselves saying "See, this is what happens when men don't ask for directions!"

I recommend FSX-Steam - I've had it for 5 years and it's almost hassle-free. (It may be cheaper than a external DVD player). My PC crashed recently and Win 10 had to be re-installed - plus the registry was toast - very few apps would load anymore without a re-install, including FSX. So I went to my Steam account and it reinstalled FSX relatively quickly. Of, course, I had to copy many files from my FSX backup such as non-default aircraft and scenery (plus CFG files, etc.) which you will also probably have to do in any case.

Did the GEICO lizard show up to take your claim?

Simming since 1985 - MSFS Version 1, and on every MS release since, (except FS95). Plan to purchase MS2020 in late January after most of the bugs are exterminated, plus a new rig to handle this Beast...

I started with a floppy disc Version 1 of MSFS back in 1985, and bought every version since (except that turkey, FS95). I only began using FSX in late 2015, but still have FS9 in my PC. Now I probably need a new rig if I want to run MSFS2020, which will have to wait until early 2021... Speaking of things I don't want to give up yet, I own a 2005 Nissan Maxima. I love that car and I dread the day I might have to give it up for a new computer-riddled auto, with a faux sporty-looking tin body...

As mentioned, Project Open Sky, and PA flew the coop long ago. I too have D/L'd numerous aircraft from both sites. Sure, they may not be the finest visual models, or have the greatest flight dynamics. But I think it's really not cool to to nitpick or complain about freeware in general: The operative word is "free". I also D/L many CamSim offerings - not the greatest visually looking aircraft around. But they have some other features that make them interesting. I also have spent a small fortune on payware over the past 6 or 7 years to get quality products. I guess that actually might give me a right to nitpick if I so choose to do so? Compesh?

Actually, I do not see one Boeing executive serving time in the Big House for their participation in the flawed MCAS system...

No disrespect to you but FS98 is about 6 or 7 MS flight sim generations ago! It's as if you were still using an IBM Selectric typewriter... Sorry for that jab. But perhaps you could find a copy of a somewhat later FS version on Ebay or somewhere?

How many patches will there have to be to fix 2020? Only Heaven knows... But I've already spent untold hours tweeking FSX over the past five hears, and I be darned if I'm going thru that again. In fact, I have NOT purchased this new Microsoft FS product yet. (Yes, the same company that keeps updating Win 10 without my consent, and that has deleted files in my PC they deem not worthy of Win 10, or added or changed files I can't delete, that are "crucial" to Win 10). So, I'm going to bid my time and hopefully by January 2021 or so, the Asobo Team or whoever will give us the flight sim they promised everyone a year ago (or not) . It was supposed to be a innovative flight simulator, not just an eye candy simulator. So if all hopefully goes well, I will buy into it...

I'm sure everyone here would agree that the name Manfred Jahn is legendary in the flight sim world. So I also know we are all ticked-off re: Your notice of this blatant piracy...

I repeat once again: What was the big show for almost a year employing Beta and Alpha volunteer testers? Were any problems they reported back the Asobo Team ignored? Discounted? Fixed? Well, remember the dreaded NDA? I guess now that there was a really, really good reason to impose that on all those testers... And perhaps it was also more like: "Well, we'll fix a lot of those bugs and problems after release". "Those simmers out there are so anxious to get this baby, that won't mind - they understand every new flight sim has some issues on the first release" "Plus we left out a lot of features that were in FSX." We'll put them all back in due time" "No worries - after all, it's a 10 year commitment". "Hey, great job everybody"!

Yeah, but someone's used Starbuck's coffee container! I mean, c'mon. :)

Yes, I also vote for "FS2020" This name/designation avoids current and future confusion....

There's also a free desktop app that I use called Speecy - it will give you very detailed information on each of your PC specs and peripherals. Plus, it gives constant temperatures readouts for any PC hardware that require cooling...

That's a lot of trouble to go thru to view the WIN-APPS folder - you have to wonder why MS would want to bury it so deep in the woods...

ANYBODY OUT THERE KNOW: If I bought a new gaming PC in the future, does the whole digital MSFS version have to be downloaded all again, or can the previously installed files be copied to the new PC????????

Assuming you have malware, or virus apps, quarantined sounds they found suspicious files in the Users directories... Could be false positives or real trouble?

WOW! I live in Florida, and I've visited the Keys several times, including by air. That is an amazing rendering of the real Keys...

Martha's Vineyard: Let us all remember it was once the ill-fated destination of John Kennedy Jr. - his wife, and his sister-in-law, 21 years ago.

I installed FSX late in the day - at the end of 2015 after flying with FS2004 from the time it it was released. But after installing FSX, I never went back to FS9. I have not purchased 2020 yet because I just knew it would probably be full of bugs and I did not want to rush into it. But actually, the main reason is I probably need a new gaming PC, and I am now checking out the rigs of current players to get some idea of what I'll need. But I'm sure after I do install MSFSXX, I'll probably never look back once again...

Does this problem happen in default aircraft? If so, perhaps backup the original FS.cfg file - (put it somewhere else safe) - then go back and delete the original. Then start FSX - it will re-build a new Config file - see if that works as a fix. If it does, you can copy-back any tweaks you might have added to the FS.cfg in the past...