I thought my machine met the minimums, but MSFS 2020 won't run

I get the "doesn't meet minimums" message, running in safe mode it loads, shows opening screens, music, then stops and disappears. Is it my video card? I have a Radeon R7 200.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

I personally would never recommend the minimum specs, but would always try to get the recommended specs at least.

I don’t know a lot about your graphics card but I reckon it is under the minimum requirements. The minimum GPU is the RX570, which I gather is a better card. Certainly not as old as yours.

You haven’t said what the rest of your pc specs are, so it might be more than

just your graphics card. What CPU & Ram do you have? Which version of Windows are you running?

 

Have you bought the sim outright or using the Xbox gamepass? It’s probably too late now, but I always recommend the gamepass (trial) which costs just $1 / £1 for a month, that way you can test it first before buying.

 

Regards

Steve

Edited February 25, 2022 by g7rta

You don't mention which card in the 200 series you own? Even the top model the R7 265 is only about 1/3 the performance of the minimum spec RX 570.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-570-vs-AMD-R7-265/3924vs3296

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-570-vs-AMD-R7-240/3924vsm8608

Edited February 26, 2022 by plainsman

In safe mode graphics drivers don't get loaded.

You will only get a minimal video display. Low resolution an 3:4 ratio.

That is not enough to show MSFS on I think.

 

I don not know if your card is good enough but if it is it will only work in normal mode, with the correct driver installed.

forgot to add link.

 

This may help. Explains it further and mentions a possible solution in case you use a TV as monitor.

https://superuser.com/questions/1531789/enable-graphics-card-or-change-aspect-ratio-in-safe-mode

The r7 200 series cards were released back in 2014 - the minimum required card (RX570) was three years later, so it’s unlikely to work.

Of course we don’t know the OP’s other specs yet. In fact we don’t know exactly which graphics card he has either, as Bob has already pointed out.

I understood it that he was loading MSFS in it’s own safe mode (MSFS sometimes asks if you want to run it in safe mode after a CTD) rather than running Windows in safe mode.. but I might be wrong.

Regards

Steve

Edited February 26, 2022 by g7rta

Thanks for enlightning me.😀 did not know msfs had it's own safe mode.

 

In my answer I did indeed assume he was using Windows safe mode.

No worries. They added safe mode with SU6. I’ve been prompted to use it but never actually tried it.

 

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405893759378-PC-versions-Safe-Mode-FAQ

 

Regards

Steve

All safe mode does is run the sim without the community folder being loaded... its good for figuring out where the problem is, if the sim works fine in safe mode then the problem must be an add-on in the community folder logic Edited February 26, 2022 by daspinall

No worries. They added safe mode with SU6. I’ve been prompted to use it but never actually tried it.

 

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405893759378-PC-versions-Safe-Mode-FAQ

 

Regards

Steve

 

Thanks for that link. Perfectly explains the safe mode and how to make use of it.