So, how many of us are trying the MSFS alpha at the moment?

[toprob]

This is certainly looking like it'll be great, although take all I say with a grain of salt -- this is just an alpha test of servers, so nothing like the finished sim.

My first flight in any new sim is always Hokitika to NZCH, but this time I did it the other way around -- who says I'm not open to trying new things?! I just aimed my Cessna westish and managed to come out of the mountains just a few kms from Hokitika. Quite fun, although flying with controller/mouse, because my joystick isn't set up -- a feature of the alpha. I had done the NZHK-NZCH flight a few days ago in 2020, and took a couple of screenshots so I could compare it with 2024. Very similar visuals, although the alpha obviously is an early build, and the mountains need plenty of work. Not as many pointy bits as I'd hoped for, but then again the grand canyon is pin-sharp, and breath-taking.

One thing which pleased me with the visuals was the lighting improvements -- I took a photo from my deck and compared it with a screenshot (from both sims). Although 2020 has photogrammetry and 2024 doesn't here, 2024 matched the photo in tone/colour very well. This image shows the photo in the middle.



And I couldn't resist this shot, on the outskirts of Kapiti Airport. I hope we get a way to use these procedural ground textures!



We lose access to the alpha tomorrow.

[Charl]

Well, glad SOMEONE is, didn't even know there was an alpha.
Although: how "Alpha" can it really be? It's looking pretty spectacular, as you show.
They don't have a whole lotta time to DO stuff before launch, do they now?

[toprob]

The 'alpha' label isn't quite what people expect, this seems to be a scaled-down reasonably stable early version, packaged as an alpha simply to allow them to see how the servers perform. I would expect that they're a long way ahead of this version.

[toprob]

Just a few random thoughts on the alpha -- mainly performance. I know we can't gauge the finished product, but what they have done seems miraculous. The sim loads in a couple of minutes, then a couple more to load a flight. I've been zooming the drone around the country, and this is just butter-smooth. I can drop down to any point on the ground and it'll take half a second to resolve everything. Sometimes it gets overwhelmed, and the frame-rate drops, but that's just it's way of telling me to start over. Memory management is much improved, and I don't get that incessant whining from my GPU that I have with 2020. On setup it did choose High, but of course I switched it to Ultra at the first opportunity. And unlike 2020, I used 4K for most flights.

We are really getting to Uncanny Valley territory -- things look great, but not 'New Zealand' exactly. The flight instructor at West Melton was very keen and helpful when I tried the career mode, but I'd prefer a kiwi accent and shorts.

I still wonder if we will get the ability for someone to add real New Zealand trees at some point. There are lots of different trees, and yes, they do react to the wind, and change with the seasons, but they aren't the real West Coast bush.

While I remember, just a note about the addon scenery screenshots I posted. It was made clear that the alpha shouldn't be used to test these, and I was surprised that when I dropped a folder into the rather hidden Community folder it actually worked. But there are some issues, mainly with elevations, I trust them to get this sorted for release, as we have been promised compatibility.

I watched a live stream last night, twotonemurphy, and he answers most questions that anyone would have about the new sim, as he explores the world. Ok, it's over nine hours, but you can fast-forward... He tries an addon aircraft at one point, but it won't start, and doesn't display properly. The alpha comes with 3 aircraft only, no heli unfortunately, as there are a LOT of helipads included.

https://www.youtube.com/live/4RjAFaJY3b ... bqWsqVVvuS

[Adamski]

Thanks for the detailed update! I must say it's going to be hard not to be tempted - even for the Alpha. I often think I'll wait and let the community do all the initial debugging legwork, but end up being suckered into getting the newer version(s) straight away. I never can resist an "upgrade" LOL!

However - I have a few questions, if that's OK by you:

1) What version did you pre-order (or is that relevant for the Alpha)?
2) How/where did you buy/download the Alpha?
3) Do we still have that insanely long install path - that's given us so much grief in 2020 (even with the long pathnames registry tweak)?

I'm delighted you couldn't help but try some of your scenery. Who knows, you could be coming out of retirement!!

Adam.

[JMBIII]

Thanks for the info on MSFS 2024, Rob.

I have preordered the "deluxe pro" or whatever it is (US$ 129) but don't plan on D/L and install tli after the early birds find the worm, so to speak.
It looks fascinating. New flight sim versions attract me like a moth to a flame.

[toprob]

The alpha was only available for one weekend, as a quick test of the servers. I can remember a beta of 2020, but I'm not sure we'll see a public beta with 2024. Currently only marketplace third parties have access to a beta to test the SDK, which rules me out.

I did accept the default path for the alpha, whatever that was, but I did originally choose the install location for 2020 -- D:\MSFS. Can't get a lot simpler than that. I'm sure you'll be able to choose the install location in 2024 the same way. Well, with 2020 the actual sim data went in my chosen location, the smaller 'app' install is separate, and normally goes where other Windows apps live. But you can change the default app install drive if you wish.

Since the early days, I've always tried to install any sim in my own location, it saves a lot of bother down the track.

I notice these days I refer to MSFS as '2020', I've never done this, because that was never it's name. However as MS have succumbed to the community and named the new version '2024', I'll go with the flow. In the old days, new MSFS versions were normally named for the year after the release, so I'm surprised this isn't MSFS 2025. This doesn't leave them much wriggle room!

EDIT: I've yet to pre-order, but I will this week. I did mention earlier that I'd been using Bing to earn points to spend on vouchers, and I tick over another $5 tomorrow. That'll probably mean the standard version for just under NZ$100. With 2020, there weren't enough aircraft in the other versions to justify the extra cost, and now with 2024 we'll be able to buy individual aircraft anyway. What can I say, I'm a pensioner...

[Charl]

I have the soopadelux 2020 but frankly have never touched half the offerings within.
Is there any indicator that 2024 barebones is inferior in any way, save for sheer volume of content?
I am an aftermarket patsy.

[toprob]

I have the soopadelux 2020 but frankly have never touched half the offerings within.
Is there any indicator that 2024 barebones is inferior in any way, save for sheer volume of content?
I am an aftermarket patsy.

What you see is what you get, really. It's all the same sim/servers. It would be nice to show my support and go for the top tier, but I'm sure that MS will survive without my extra $220. And I don't really use a lot of different aircraft.

[Charl]

On projected sales of a few billion NZD I guess you'd get away with it.

I guess the addons will continue apace.
And as I understand, most 2020 stuff will transplant.
Crikey who has time for all that...

[toprob]

One thing to bear in mind is that MS have stated that if you own the higher tiers for 2020, you'll continue to have access to the extra aircraft in 2024, even if you have the standard edition.

EDIT: Ouch, just pre-ordered and did the pre-install, although it offers the option to change the install drive/path, I can't seem to change the drive at all. Never had any issues with 2020. I can install it to my folder of choice, but only on C: drive. I'll see what happens on release, I may be able to shift it by then, but at the moment I'm annoyed.

[Adamski]

EDIT: Ouch, just pre-ordered and did the pre-install, although it offers the option to change the install drive/path, I can't seem to change the drive at all. Never had any issues with 2020. I can install it to my folder of choice, but only on C: drive. I'll see what happens on release, I may be able to shift it by then, but at the moment I'm annoyed.

Grrr. Either in the pre-install or your Alpha version, is the Community Folder location path that insanely long WpSystem/blah blah blah one? I can understand the need for MSFS files to be protected/encrypted, but these long paths are just ludicrous - and a constant source of trouble (even with the registry hack).

[toprob]

Ok, this will get a big rambling...
The alpha community path was similar to your 2020 experience, but it was not meant to be accessed, so I didn't worry about that. I had just left the default install path, as it was only 50GB, but I did get the option to change it.

When the alpha ended, people were having trouble deleting it, it seemed to affect some 2020 installs as well, so I didn't uninstall mine. However it looks like either the pre-install deleted it, or something which kicked in at the end of the alpha. I have no idea what happened here, although it seems to have worked, I would have liked a bit more control

As I said, I hope 2024 is similar to 2020 when it comes to installation. I use the MS Store, so 2020 was first installed as a Windows app, which opened the sim and proceeded to install all the data. However it did let me change the install location at that point. So my install has always been a smallish windows app on C: drive, and all the data, including the Community folder, on D: drive. I'm hoping that 2024 will work the same, but at the moment there does appear to be a community folder with a nasty long folder name.

Looking at my 2020 installation, although I don't remember why I did it this way, there's a folder called 'MSFS' on both drives, the actual files are on D:, and symbolically linked to C:. However the community folder on each is Drive:\MSFS\community, which gives a tidy path name.

All I can suggest is that when you install 2024 for the first time, look for and use any button which allows you to change the location. That'll save a lot of bother later.

[Adamski]

All I can suggest is that when you install 2024 for the first time, look for and use any button which allows you to change the location. That'll save a lot of bother later.

Thanks again for all the useful info. It appears we're likely to be stuck with this pathname madness.

I installed MSFS 2020 on my E drive - so it created all the usual symbolic links from C. I use [the amazing] Addons Linker for all my Community stuff - which means it can all live on other drives, but I get annoyed when payware addons insist on installing directly into the Community Folder. Yes, they can usually be moved but it's a bit of a nuisance!

Looks like I'll be pre-ordering the Standard version (70 aircraft, of which 30 are new) but may go for Deluxe if only for the C-172 and C-152.

[Splitpin]

Good God, after reading all this, I think I'll stick with X-Plane and P3D for now.

[Adamski]

:blink: Good God, after reading all this, I think I'll stick with X-Plane and P3D for now.

After having owned every flight sim known to mankind, I can honestly say MSFS isn't bad. Most Microsoft products do weird things (IMHO) and MSFS is no exception. However - if you're an eye-candy simmer you'll love it. MSFS 2024 promises to have a smaller footprint on your PC and [gasp!] offers better performance (over 2020) ... supposedly.

It really is swings & roundabouts. I have XP12 but rarely go into it now. The GUI is excellent, but the graphics ... arrrrgh! As to actual *aircraft* I think nothing beats DCS though the GUI is insane - and the terrain is crude by comparison to either MSFS or XPlane.

I think the only things I miss in P3D are the A2A Accusim warbirds.

[toprob]

I certainly wouldn't judge 2024 on the alpha, that's one of the dangers of this sort of post. We'll have a much better idea in 3 weeks. I'll just repeat my main tip, which has applied to all sims I've used since 2000 -- never install to the default location.

As Adam says, MSFS has been a good choice so far. I loved the look of the alpha and the performance, but I also noticed a few weird things which hopefully the release version will have fixed. I have P3D v6, X-plane 11 and 12, FSX and MSFS installed, but I only fly in MSFS. I think that 2024 will be my go-to from day 1 (being the day I manage to install it, rather than the release date) and I'll keep the others just in case I ever build any more scenery, and wish to port it.