November 12, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
As we’re officially one week away from the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, I though this reader question was somewhat timely and fitting for all. Connor emailed me back in early October and I answered his question and told him to keep an eye out on the website for his question to be made available to all just before the release of MSFS 2024, so let’s dive in.
Jerry, long time reader, first time emailing you. I would like your advice with regards to how best to purchase add-ons for MSFS 2024. When MSFS 2020 launched, I was busy with work and other family commitments and I stayed on P3D v5. But I built a new PC and I’m wanting to move to MSFS 2024 on release but I am curious how best to purchase add-ons. I’ve heard some say it’s best to purchase everything (if available) from the MSFS Marketplace and I’ve heard people state the opposite. Can you tell me what your best practice is for purchasing add-ons? Thank you and best of luck on the move and the next chapter of your life. Connor
This is a very good question, but before I discuss my own process for purchasing/installing add-ons, allow me to go back in history just a bit. As we were nearing the release date for MSFS 2020 and more and more information was made available about the Microsoft in-game Marketplace, I was really excited about it. I thought gone are the days where we need to have multiple installers, from multiple developers….everything we purchased would be right in the MS Marketplace for ever. No longer would I need to keep a spreadsheet of all my purchases. I thought this would be the best thing since a pocket on a shirt. But boy, was I wrong.
Keep in mind that I didn’t make the move to MSFS 2020 until the release of the Fenix A320 in mid 2022. So almost two years went by before I really became serious about MSFS. Yes, it was a day one purchase for me, but without high-fidelity, study-level aircraft….it just wasn’t my cup of tea considering the majority of my sim time is flying airliners. So with almost two years having gone by, I had heard enough horror stories about the in-game Marketplace to steer clear away from it.
On paper, the Microsoft in-game Marketplace should be a no-brainer. But as I previously mentioned, there are issues which in my opinion are enough to stay clear from it. Users have reported their purchases disappearing after a period of time and when they seek out support via Microsoft they are told there’s nothing that can be done. Another key reason to avoid purchases via the in-game Marketplace is the length of time it takes Microsoft to approve a 3rd party update. For example, PMDG might release an update to one of their aircraft types, but that update won’t be available to those who purchased it via the Marketplace for several weeks. Same with new add-ons.
Of course, those who are on a console platform have no other choice but to purchase via the in-game Microsoft Marketplace, but then again….that’s not my target audience for this blog space.
In closing, I avoid and will continue to avoid the Microsoft in-game Marketplace. I have a pretty solid process for how I track my add-on purchases and with the addition of sites like iniBuilds and Contrail, it’s super easy to install and update the vast majority of 3rd party add-ons. As these add-ons are made ready to install on MSFS 2024, it should also be very easy to install them.
That’s my two cents on the matter. I hope everyone has a wonderful MSFS 2024 launch day in one week.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
November 5, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
Well here we are in early November and the past couple of months have flown by. One might think that having an exciting life changing moment would cause time to drag by (sort of like being a kid and counting down the days before Christmas), but time seems to have accelerated on by despite our excitement in beginning this new chapter in our lives.
Looking back to late August when my wife and I completed our journey to Texas, found our new home, then returning back to Colorado to spend almost a month recovering from COVID. This time especially went by quickly. I think because in the back of my mind I was constantly thinking about all the work that needed to be done to ready our Colorado home for market, but just too darn tired and sick to really do anything about it. But since the last update in mid October, we’ve made great progress on both our healing as well as the chores needed to get the house listed.
I’m very happy to report that we managed to meet with our realtor two weeks ago and we’ve officially listed the Denver house. Unfortunately, two months ago when we visited Texas there was only one house on the market in our neighborhood. Today there are nine. But competition can be a good thing and hopefully it will sell fast. But we just don’t know. In addition, I’ve safely packed up the gaming PC and all peripherals. I hated to do this as at the time it was still mid October, but the realtor suggested that we stage my office area to look more like an office versus a game room. So everything has been safely packed and I’ll see it again once we get settled in Texas.
So what does all this mean with regards of our physical move date? Well…first, in all honesty I’m somewhat glad for the delay as it meant I was able to perform my civic duty and cast my vote in the 2024 US Presidential Election. Had we moved any earlier, I don’t believe I would have had time to get re-registered in Texas. So that’s done!
From way back in late August/early September, it’s been our plan/goal to be moved before the US Thanksgiving holiday. With Thanksgiving falling late in November, this does give us a bit of extra time. At this time I’m not sure if we would consider moving before the Denver house sells. But either way, we still have a house we own that we’re not living in. But we’re fully insured on both fronts and we’ll reach a decision with regards to what happens next in time.
Hopefully the next time I provide an update regarding our move, it will be to announce that everything is packed, loaded in the moving truck and we (my wife and I) are headed down I-25 towards New Mexico and then on across to Texas. But time will tell….
I know my move updates have had nothing to do with simulation gaming. But I wanted to share this journey with someone and well….you who are reading this is that someone. So thank you for reading and thank you for living vicariously through these updates. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey so far. Certainly more to come…
Until next time….
Happy Packing!!!
Jerry
October 29, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
Another reader question which I wanted to share with y’all. So here goes….
Hello Jerry, I have a question regarding the new MSFS 2024 Career Mode. Do you believe this new career mode will replace all the other 3rd party versions such as A Pilot’s Life, Air Hauler etc.? Also, I’m curious why Microsoft decided to add the career mode into the new sim since there are other 3rd party options available. Thank you for all you do for the flight sim community. Bob
Thank you Bob for your question. I suppose we’ve been somewhat lacking in having a built-in career mode system within the simulator for some time and both Microsoft and Asobo seem to have been listening to the voices of the community and as a result have made the decision to add this as one of the core features of the new sim. I also believe one of the key reasons for Microsoft to develop this new career mode is for the console community which makes up a large portion of the overall Microsoft Flight Simulator userbase.
For console players using MSFS 2020, they don’t have access to all of the 3rd party options available to us PC gamers. I believe the only career mode add-on that console players have access to is The Skypark. Other options such as A Pilot’s Life, Air Hauler and Neofly are all PC platform only. So I’m sure the new option in MSFS 2024 will be a welcome addition for console gamers.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any news from the 3rd party developers who currently have options available for MSFS 2020 on their plans for the new sim. My guess is they will all eventually support the new sim as each have a large user base who will want to continue using their applications perhaps in addition to the built in option.
I hope this helps to answer your question regarding the new career mode option in MSFS 2024. I suppose we’ll all learn more once the new sim launches in just a few weeks time.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
October 22, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I’m sure the most recent question I received from one of my loyal readers of this blog is one that we all have contemplated since we first learned about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. To be 1000% honest, this had been a question kicking around in my own head for a period of time. Let’s dive into Joel’s question and I’ll provide some guidance.
Dear Jerry, I’m a fairly long-time flight sim enthusiast like yourself. I first played Microsoft Flight Simulator just after the release of FS2004 (FS9) and moved to FSX for a period of time, then migrated to the various iterations of P3D including P3Dv5. I purchased MSFS 2020 on day one and much like you have mentioned, really didn’t get serious with it until the release of both the Fenix A320 and the PMDG 737. My instance of MSFS 2020 runs really well and again much like you, I only fly tubeliners simulating a few real world airlines. While I am excited about what I’ve heard about MSFS 2024, I’ve really been searching deep into my soul to determine if this is truly something I need to upgrade to based on my flying style. While the missions do look sort of cool and the career mode does as well, I probably won’t spend a great deal of time with these features and believe I would mostly carry own with flying much like I do now in 2020. I value your opinions and input, can you shed any light to help me decide on what to do? As our flying styles are very similar I would really be interested in learning what your plans are? Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and I look forward to hearing back from you. Finally, best of luck with the upcoming move to Texas. Joel
Well Joel, you bring up some very interesting points and yes, it very much sounds like our flying styles and overall interest in flight simulation is the same. It’s always difficult for me to genuinely recommend anyone to reach into their wallet and spend their hard-earned money. That being said, I actually do believe, despite the fact that I also won’t spend a lot of time with the missions and career mode options, that there is significant reasons to upgrade from MSFS 2020 to MSFS 2024.
I know there’s a lot of discussions taking place in various forums and communities regarding why Microsoft and Asobo made the decision to create a brand new sim just four years after 2020 was launched. I’ve talked about these in the past and won’t spend any additional time on this other than to say that Microsoft felt they had reach the full potential of 2020 and much of the things the community was interested in would require a brand new platform. So that is what we have with MSFS 2024.
From my own style of flying which I would classify as 80% tubeliner and 20% GA flying, the advancements we’re learning about in the new sim WILL be beneficial to us. As it’s been announced we should experience far better flight dynamics with MSFS 2024 and the weather engine has also been completely re-worked. I suppose I’m also excited (and nervous) about the “Thin Client” concept of how visual content will be delivered in the sim. As previously stated, 80% of what I do in the sim is airline simulation. I tend to mostly fly in North America. So I suppose not having the rest of the world installed on my PC when I’m not flying there is a good thing. When I do venture cross the pond, that data will be streamed into my PC. But like I said, I’m also nervous about this concept as well. Several times Microsoft has experienced server issues which have had a significant impact on our ability to use MSFS 2020, so these issues certainly need to addressed. But if any company has the resources to make this happen, it’s Microsoft. So I’ll remain optimistic on this concept for now.
There is also something to be said with regards to supporting the further development of our hobby. This is not to say that we have an obligation to sent Microsoft money just to keep our hobby alive, but I certainly remember the dark days after Microsoft announced ending Flight Simulator and not really knowing what the future held. MSFS 2020 has reinvigorated our hobby at never before seen levels and the future of flight simulation is very bright in my opinion.
But like I already stated, I really don’t like to tell anyone what to spend their money on. So with that said, I’m planning on upgrading and plan to purchase the premium deluxe version of MSFS 2024. I believe, as I’ve believed since I first saw MSFS 2020 four years ago, that Microsoft Flight Simulator is the future and is the absolute best home based simulator that you can buy.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
October 15, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
My wife and I have recovered from Covid which we picked up somewhere during our trip to Texas in late August. I know everyone has different symptoms with this virus, with some experiencing no symptoms to cold-like all the way to more flu-like symptoms. What we experienced was closer to flu-like symptoms. We both ran a low-grade fever for about 48 hours and experienced a complete drain of our energy levels. Our initial plan upon returning from Texas was to take a few days to recuperate from the long drive and then dive into the few projects we needed to complete in order to ready our home in Denver to go on the market. Contracting Covid was not on our Bingo card and needless to say, we’re about two weeks behind.
However, in mid September I began the more physical efforts needed to ready the house. This included a small sheetrock repair in the basement along with repainting two small rooms. We’ve also begun staging the spare bedrooms and other areas of the house to have it ready for the Realtor when they want to take pictures.
We close on the Texas property in about 3 days and thankfully we can do it electronically and I believe we’re only days away from being ready for our Realtor to do their thing. The housing market in Denver and specifically in our neighborhood is extremely hot at the moment. Houses have typically sold within two weeks after being listed. So we’re hoping for the same experience.
Also this week or early next week we plan to meet with our Denver Realtor and start the process of getting our home listed for sale. This entire process has been a long, long time in the making. But we felt we needed to truly go above and beyond in all the prep work and cleaning to bring the house up to a point where we can get maximum value for it.
Unfortunately at this point in time I’m not exactly sure when we will officially move. If our Denver house sells quickly, then obviously we will need to move prior to closing. However, in just a few days we will officially own two houses. Which of these two houses we leave empty is the big question which we’ve not answered at this time. Traditionally the housing market seems to slow down around the holidays and our illness has unfortunately thrown us behind. But I’m sure it will all work out and I’ll be certain to keep you updated on the progress. However, we’re still shooting to be moved into the Texas house before Thanksgiving.
Until next time…
More Happy Packing!
Jerry
October 11, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I figured it wouldn’t take long before someone would write to be about the recent release of the Aerosoft Airbus A330 and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve had several readers email me in the past 24-48 hours about this and here are my thoughts on the matter. But first, let me show you the email from Joseph.
Hello Jerry, I’m a long-time reader, but this is the first time I’ve contacted you. BTW, I always find your “Reader Question” blog postings interesting as most of the time I’ve asked myself those same questions. Anyway, I wanted to ask you your opinion on the Aerosoft A330 and additional get your opinion on why developers release products before they are ready for prime time? It seems Aerosoft should have known the state of this aircraft and continued working on it before launching it to the masses. Thank you for your time and I hope you’ll use this email on your blog. Sincerely, Joseph.
Well Joseph, the short answer is NO! I don’t have any first-hand experience with the Aerosoft Airbus A330 as it wasn’t on my radar to actually buy the aircraft (at least not at this time) and to be honest, I probably won’t purchase this aircraft ever. The only Aerosoft aircraft purchase I’ve ever made was back in the late FSX and early P3D days when they released their Airbus A320 family of aircraft. I purchased and used their A318/A319/A320/A321 suite of aircraft. While these models were lacking to some degree, they served me well until I moved to FSLabs in P3D. But Aerosoft was a very different developer back then to what they are today.
To move to your second question about why developers release products before they are well and truly ready for prime time is a very valid question. It’s a question that I’m sure many have pondered, especially if they’ve found themselves making a purchase of this type to find out later it’s junk in the present state.
At 58 years old, I consider myself a “Man of a Certain Age” and I remember the Paul Masson wine advertisements from the late ’70’s where Orson Welles closes the advert with the famous line “We will sell no wine before its time.” Obviously I wasn’t drinking wine at this time of my life, but that advert has stuck with me over the years and is very much applicable today as it was back then.
The general consensus around the flight simulation community with respect to the recent Aerosoft Airbus A330 release is it comes down to competition. It is well known that iniBuilds is working on an Airbus A330 that is rumored to be included with MSFS 2024. Of course iniBuilds is also working on an A350 and an A380. When these release is not known at this time. But as we’re just a little over a month from the release of MSFS 2024, this feels like Aerosoft rushed their A330 to market as nothing more than a money grab. They priced it low enough that people rushed to purchase it to find out afterwards that it’s crap and a long ways away from bring anything but crap. Most likely it will remain just that….CRAP!
Aerosoft lost me as a customer (at least a customer of their aircraft) when they sold they sold the Twin Otter for MSFS then revoked it sometime later. I loved their Twin Otter in FSX/P3D and thought it would be a great aircraft to have in my MSFS hangar. I was disappointed from the first moment and then they decide to pull it. So, while I may purchase Aerosoft add-on airport sceneries….I most likely will never purchase another aircraft from them. At least not until such time as they can prove they are capable of releasing a quality aircraft that works from day one.
I get frustrated at reading comments around the flight simulation community about how long it takes PMDG or Fenix to release and aircraft. But you know something? When a new Fenix or PMDG aircraft hits the market, it’s solid and any weakness is generally addressed and resolved in a very short manner. So this my friends is why I will never complain about the time it takes for a quality developer like Fenix or PMDG to bring an aircraft to market.
Well…I hope that explains a few things. It absolutely sucks for those who did spend their hard earned money on the Aerosoft A330. Because while it may get an update, I doubt it will ever be as solid as what iniBuilds will bring to MSFS 2024.
In closing, I will say this. Before spending money on something, DO YOUR RESEARCH! There are many videos from some of the top content creators showcasing new aircraft releases. I haven’t found a single video (and I’ve watched several) who have anything good to say about this A330 from Aerosoft. So my advice…if you haven’t purchased it. Don’t! You won’t be happy!
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
October 8, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I’m sure you’ve all heard the news from PMDG. Late last week, PMDG provided a development update to the flight simulation community. In this update they talked about their upcoming Boeing 777-200LR and 200ER releases. They mentioned their hope is the 777-200LR will release before the end of the year. PMDG continued by stating “The highly anticipated Boeing 737 MAX for MSFS might leave simmers waiting for a little while longer.”
PMDG stated they have “deprioritized” the 737 MAX project due to the fact that their “Enterprise Division” has taken on work for a large, commercial aircraft manufacture that has a higher priority for the developer”. They continued by stating “Once the enterprise project work is wrapped up, the developer will work on bringing back resources to continue to 737 MAX for MSFS.”
So what does all this mean for us? Well, simply put what we had been told many weeks ago that PMDG planned to release the 737 MAX between the 777-300ER and 777F products simply isn’t going to happen. Furthermore, it’s become apparent that once again (just like it happened way back in the FSX days), iFly will beat PMDG on their release of the 737 MAX.
Back In Time
If you were around the flight simulation community in the FSX days, you might remember that both iFly and PMDG were working hard to release their 737NG products to the community. iFly beat PMDG by a few weeks (if memory serves me correctly). I actually purchased the iFly when it released but was disappointed and once the PMDG released a few weeks later, I purchased the PMDG 737NG.
My Plans
From what I can tell, iFly must be very, very close to releasing their 737 MAX. A pre-release version is already in the hands of several YouTube/Twitch Content Creators. It truly appears that iFly have upped their game and their 737 MAX for MSFS is looking and flying pretty darn good. However, as I’m currently still in the process of packing for the move to Texas which is perhaps about a month away at this point, I’m going to keep my money in my pocket for now.
I have no doubt that the PMDG version of the 737 MAX will be exceptional. At this stage, and mainly because of my move I’m OK with waiting a little while to see what additional news comes out of PMDG with regards to the MAX. However, once I get settled in Texas and perhaps around the new year if the PMDG MAX still looks to be months away, then I may be persuaded to go the route of iFly. But time will tell.
As for what you should do? Well….do your homework and watch the previews and judge for yourself if you wait or go with iFly. As they say, competition is always a good thing in any market and it’s going to be good for us in the flight simulation community. Could iFly become like Fenix and prove they are fully capable of releasing a top-tier product? I think that very well could be the case.
Until next time….
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
October 1, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
By now I’m sure you’ve all heard that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is now officially available for pre-order. The actual release date, pending no issues is set for 19 November which is less than two months away. Like you, I’ve been diving into all the various purchase options to try and determine which option suits me best.
When MSFS 2020 released, I decided to purchase the Premium Deluxe version. I made this decision primarily due to the hand-crafted airports option and thinking these would fulfill my requirements. While some did, sadly many didn’t and I ended up purchasing third party versions. This was especially true for airports I tend to visit frequently including KDEN, KORD, KSFO, KJFK, KSEA, EGLL etc. Of course, I’m thankful I made that purchase decision as it did allow me to leverage the 787 Dreamliner mods which allowed me to conduct some awesome long-haul flights while waiting for the PMDG 777-300ER.
In reviewing the various fact sheets and videos which have surfaced regarding the purchase options for MSFS 2024, I’m still weighing my options to determine which direction I want to go. What I have ruled out is the Aviator’s Edition. While the Aviator’s Edition includes 30 additional aircraft, these are Microsoft published aircraft i.e. “Local Legends” and I never used those with 2020. In my opinion these aircraft are not worth the extra $70. At least not to me!
I suppose the direction I’m leaning at this very moment (and I don’t plan to pre-order in the near future) is to once again go with the Premium Deluxe Edition. Priced at $129.99 it offers the largest selection of hand-crafted airports (160) and the same amount of new and upgraded aircraft (45/50). I don’t necessarily hold out any faith that any of the hand-crafted airports will meet my expectations, everything I’ve purchased for 2020 should work in 2024 and perhaps some such as KDFW will have been fixed as I talked about here a week or so ago. Unfortunately, at the time I’m writing this article Microsoft hasn’t published any details regarding the hand-crafted airports for 2024.
But bottom line, I’m OK with the $129.99 price for the Premium Deluxe Edition and who knows, perhaps Microsoft/Asobo have updated these hand-crafted airports to modern specs and those that I haven’t already purchased will meet my needs.
Final Thoughts
As I’ve been providing frequent updates about my upcoming move from Colorado to Texas, most likely around the time of the release of MSFS 2024 I will be knee deep in trying to get boxes unpacked, getting my man-cave setup and then we have Thanksgiving the very next week. What I’m actually trying to say is I doubt very seriously if my gaming machine will be setup and ready to install and use MSFS 2024 until sometime in early December. So the hype of the initial release of MSFS 2024 will not be something I’ll have the time to enjoy as the priority of getting settled into the new house must be #1.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
September 24, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
It’s been a little while since I’ve blogged about anything other than flight simulation and with the quickly approaching release date for the new version of GIANTS Farming Simulator I thought I would put a few thoughts down.
As I’ve mentioned before, my first experience with any sort of agricultural based simulation game was with Farming Simulator 15 and I’ve owned/played all the versions since. When I first started hearing about the future release of FS25 I honestly had mixed emotions. In recent months, I really haven’t spent a lot of time playing FS22. For me, my main simulation interest has always been flight simulation and I sort of intermix Farming and Trucking when the boredom starts to sit in. I had made the decision to take a “wait and see” approach to FS25. Wait until it was released and then watch some game play on Youtube to see what really has changed and go from there. After all, I figured my upcoming move to Texas which will be happening in the late October to early November timeframe would keep me far to busy to worry about doing any sort of gaming and certainly not a lot of time for virtual farming.
But, best laid plans and all that…I did decide to go ahead and pre-order Farming Simulator 25 yesterday on Steam. Everything mentioned above is still true. Most likely I won’t have much time to spend with FS25 until we’re settled into the new home as that must be my priority in life during this time. But what changed my mind?
I suppose I was feeling a bit sorry for myself as both my wife and I picked up Covid during our trip to Texas and we’re both feeling like we’ve been run over with a tractor. Plus while I must honestly say that there really isn’t a whole lot of new in FS25, there is some new features that interest me to make the purchase. I’m not going to go into all the details about FS25 as I’m sure you’ve watched and read all that has been mentioned about the new title. But bottom line is I’m looking forward to being able to spend a few hours with the new version when time permits and I’ll be sure to provide my opinions here at a later time.
Until then….
Happy Farming!!!
Jerry
September 17, 2024 / admin / 1 Comment
Anyone who knows me in the flight simulation community knows that the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) is one of my absolute favorite airports in the real world. I have very fond memories of visiting DFW as a child in the mid to late 70’s. Watching the airplanes/airlines including American, Braniff and seeing the awesome Concorde all fill my awesome memories of this incredible airport. As a young adult living in the DFW area, I spent many hours in this airport awaiting flights when I traveled for personal and business in the early to mid 90’s.
When MSFS 2020 released, DFW was one of their included hand-crafted airports. While it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t too terrible until the summer of 2022 when Microsoft/Asobo released their US Cities Photogrammetry package. As the city of Arlington, Texas was included in this package, it messed up the terrain in and around the DFW airport to an almost unusable condition. Now two years on and even though there is a rather lengthy forum post about these issues on the MSFS forums, DFW airport is still an airport in shambles unless you remove the US Cities Photogrammetry package. Once removed, the airport is functional once again but still not perfect.
In previous versions including FSX and P3D, the DFW airport had been available as a payware add-on from FSDreamTeam. I’m not sure why FSDreamTeam has been reluctant to release their version for MSFS, but four years in there’s no chatter about it on their forums. But for the past few months there have been rumors that Imaginsim (creator of KATL, WSSS) was working on a version of DFW. Just a few days ago these rumors were proven to be true as it was announced on FSElite that Imaginesim would release DFW for MSFS in the future. But hold the horses….I’m just not impressed with their previews and I’m not the only one.
It appears Imaginsim has lost credibility within the flight sim community as they have all but abandoned both their KATL and WSSS offerings which are both in need of some continued development and polish.
T-Minus Two Months and Counting
As we’re just about two months away from the release of MSFS 2024, I’m personally going to hold off on purchasing the Imaginsim version of DFW (even if it releases before) and see if Microsoft/Asobo have finally resolved the issues with DFW in the new sim. Of course, I have been rather reserved in what I’ve purchased in the past few weeks just as I mentioned here a few months ago. And while we assume most, if not all add-ons for MSFS 2020 will work in MSFS 2024, I’m just not going to spend my money on the Imaginsim version of DFW until I see how things look/act in MSFS 2024.
What are your thoughts on DFW and the future release of the Imaginsim version of the airport?
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
