MSFS patch

[cowpatz]

At the risk of being called a wet blanket
Looking at the contents list of the coming patch should not all of this have been discovered with the most basic of Beta (if not Alpha) testing?

[toprob]

Well, that kind of implies that the testers said 'yep, it's all working fine, good job! You can release it now.' That didn't happen. Neither were they mostly silent, so MS assumed it was ready to go. I'm not entirely sure which part of the patch notes you are mainly referring to, but a lot of it is related to installation. With the alpha I recall getting a message before getting access outlining how to prepare my system, which involved updating to Windows 2004, adding/updating Xbox stuff, and making sure the install machine was connected to my Xbox account. I don't think the release version covered any of this, which seems like an oversight.

Although I haven't had any problems, and I guess that most people haven't, I do think that the install process is not that user-friendly, compared to any other major software I've installed. I know it's a lot more complicated, in that there are a lot of different servers etc, so it may make sense that it'll need some ongoing work.

Really, though, I can't see that a service update this early is anything but a good thing.

[cowpatz]

I'm not implying that the Beta testers didn't do their work but more that MS didn't really seem to listen...at least that's the feeling from what I have read. Is a 3 week Beta period sufficient for a product with that degree of complexity?
Really the delivery/ installation process should have been rigorously tested before release. After all that is the first point of contact with the customer and therefore forms the first impression. For many it wasn't a pleasant experience.
The issue is that this patch only amends the program to bring it to what it really should have been at point of release. Instead that time and energy could have been used improving the base product (EA, AI and ATC etc).
Practically all software has bugs but should it really be released to market with known bugs?

[ZKIWI]

I initially wasn't going to bother with MSFS and stick to P3Dv5 but got caught up in the hype and got it on launch day. My first impressions were pretty favourable but the more i fly it the more i come to the conclusion it is not a flight simulator but rather a flying game.

The flight models are not the greatest and far from realistic. For a start all turns are coordinated and even with a severe 90 degree bank the ball sits smack dab in the middle with no slip whatsoever. Live weather is anything but live. I loaded Wellington today and ATC told me the airfield was IFR only and that pretty much ties in with what i was seeing out the window. Unfortunately the weather in the sim was blue skies with the odd cloud. Then ATC cleared me to line up on Rwy 34. I was a little surprised given the wind was 164 at 35 on the ATIS but hey, i'll give anything a go.

I'm yet to use half of my flight sim setup while i wait for the patch to hopefully fix the Simconnect issue. No VATSIM, SPAD or moving map until that is sorted.

Don't get me wrong, the game shows potential and i am enjoying the scenery and have flown all of the single prop GA aircraft on legs from Wellington to Kaitaia up the west coast. I'm about to turn around and head south down the east coast next. It is going to take time to fix the bugs, improve the game to make it a simulator and while i'm waiting for that i'll use it for when i just want some eye candy and i don't care that a stall just results in a full power, nose high descent.

[deaneb]

The flight models are not the greatest and far from realistic. For a start all turns are coordinated and even with a severe 90 degree bank the ball sits smack dab in the middle with no slip whatsoever.

Have you checked your settings. It seems like you have auto rudder enabled.

[ZKIWI]

No autorudder is off. (well according to the menu it is but who knows with MSFS at present). This morning I started it and all my aircraft were there, did a quick flight and went to change aircraft and all the Premium ones had disappeared.

[hoki1185]

I am just doing an update in MSFS 2020.86gigabytes!!!!Won't let me continue in the sim without doing the upgrade.The official website does say it might be easier to reinstall the whole sim.Seems a bit much.Would there have been an easier way to get the changelog onto the computer.Any thoughts?

[cowpatz]

86 Gb patch ?? You must be kidding surely.

[hoki1185]

It seems to be basically a reinstall.The word patch is very prominent in the download.Tried running the sim without the internet but it wouldn't finish loading.The upgrade text mainly refers to voice recognition.I tried to bypass the download/upgrade but no way around it.I did earlier load the livery updates but don't think that should have any bearing.Wet day here and i would rather be on the sim than watching it download again.Could not find any comments on the net relating to this.Is it only a Microsoft Store purchase issue ?

[toprob]

Doesn't sound right to me, I have a store-bought version, and haven't had any updates after the initial patch, which was small.

[hoki1185]

I have had a few small updates that were done in a few seconds.Not to worry.Only 60gb remaining!!!It is all within the sim 'Content Manager' "to complete the installation MSF simulator will now download and install recommeded content" so Iam just going to bite the bullet.I noticed on loading that the sim went straight to the TBM 'Welcome,set your experience',seemed a little odd.

[jpreou]

...and this is another reason some are still waiting.
I am -- I don't have room on my SSD for P3D+all *and* MSFS !!

[FlyingKiwi]

That doesn't seem right, the patch for me installed yesterday and admittedly I didn't look at how big it was but it only took 5 minutes or so to install and while my internet connection is decent it's not crazy fast either.

[hoki1185]

The new download worked fine but now I have the old problem again and it I believe it relates to to installing the addon liveries.On startup the sim jumps straight to the TBM screen by passing the Cessna screen and opens 'Welcome,set your experience' and then the Content Manager.Then 'install package path which is the path to the Community folder of MSFS 2020.The next options are browse and the other update.Selecting browse brings up the the community and official folders on my computer,Selecting community results in error message-you can't select this folderit is already part another package installation.Selecting update just starts afull download 86gb of the im.Is there any button or command i can activate to bypass this whole page?

[hoki1185]

PS to above.I updated Windows 10 and Microsoft Store downloads and checked that computer time and date were current as recommended on an installation problems feed.

[tanken2]

Doesn't sound right to me, I have a store-bought version, and haven't had any updates after the initial patch, which was small.

same , been away for couple of weeks , turned it on and patch done in couple of mins then good to go

[Radar88]

Microsoft Flight Simulator has been updated to build 1.8.3.0. This new update delivers on the promise from Microsoft to address numerous areas such as performance, aircraft handling, the environment and much more. The hugely extensive update is free to download and can be updated by running the simulator from your desktop.

Microsoft Flight Simulator Patch Build 1.8.3.0 Changelog

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

Optimized cockpit screen display when screens are not displayed on screen.

New option available to control cockpit screen update frequency.

Tweaked CPU thread priorities to reduce interruption of frame critical threads.

Optimized loading system to reduce overall loading times.

Optimized heavy airport scenes impact on CPU.

Reduced the amount of GPU overdraw to improve GPU performance.

Memory optimizations to reduce software memory footprint and improve performance on memory limited computers.

Overall performance optimizations.


ATC

Incoming ATC Azure speech has now three different voices.

ATC voice gender is now based on the avatar of the pilot/copilot.

Fix for the incorrect voice pack being used if the game is not localized in English and if the Windows Offline Text-to-Speech option is used.


UI

Filters and sorting have been improved in the marketplace.

Manual cache layout has been improved and the download estimated time should now be correct.

Improved support for gamepad navigation in many menus.
Case sensitive search is now working properly in control screen.
Search by axis in control screen has been fixed.

Active pause button has been added in the toolbar.

Pause button has been fixed in the Content manager.


AERODYNAMICS

Improved wind turbulence simulation to reduce horizontal turbulences.

Added simulation of low rpm piston engine vibrations on cockpit.
Added simulation of water particles (rain/clouds) density in aerodynamics => generates vibrations flying through clouds or rain.

Fixed wet surface friction and braking distances.
Fixed live weather wind offset in higher latitude areas (America, Asia…) that was causing the 3kts Wind bug.


AIRCRAFT
COCKPITS VISUALS AND ANIMATIONS

Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX: AP buttons animations have been fixed.

Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX, Beechcraft Bonanza G36, ICON A5: placards have been updated.
Cessna 172 Skyhawk : compass texture have been improved.

Zlin Savage Cub : tail wheel blur effect is now correctly triggered.

Zlin Shock Ultra : arcs on airspeed indicator is correctly set.

Zlin Shock Ultra : turbo mode has been removed from dashboard.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : MCP buttons visual improvements.


GENERAL AVIATION SYSTEMS

Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX : propeller sound has been improved when RPM is changing.

Cessna Longitude : AP altitude and speed management improvements.

Cessna Longitude : auto throttle is now inhibited during take off and until 400 feet AGL.

Daher TBM 930 : yaw damper is now automatically turned on when the AP is enabled.

Beechcraft King Air 350i : windshield deicing is now working.

ICON A5 : « incorrect heading indicator » notification is now correctly triggered.

Zlin Shock Ultra : flaps now operate mechanically instead of electrically.

Zlin Shock Ultra : trim management improvements.

Cessna Citation CJ4 : reverse thrust has been removed.

Cub Crafter X Cub : IAS AP mode is now working properly.

Daher TBM 930 and Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX : PT6 engines shutdown duration has been increased.


GENERAL AVIATION AVIONICS

Cessna Longitude : several knobs of the G5000 are now working.

Beachcraft Baron G58, Beechcraft Bonanza G36, Cessna 172 Skyhawk G1000, Diamond DA40 NG : fixed missing ALT knob.

Beechcraft King Air 350i : « menu » key is now working properly.

Cessna 152 and 152 Aerobat : avionics state have been fixed using Honeycomb device battery switch.

GNS 530 : flight plan display alignment has been fixed on the Garmin GNS 530.

G1000 : automatically switches from NAV to LOC when needed.

G1000 : ETE and ETA fixed wrong values.

G1000/3000/3x : AP setup is no longer reset when enabling AP.

G1000/3000/3x : fixed missing flight plan when the selected departure is coordinates on the world map.

G3x : text size in « approach box » has been increased.

G3x : approaches can now be selected and loaded.

G3x : fixed bad information in nearest VOR page when unknown VOR is selected.


AIRLINER SYSTEMS

General : AP behavior improvements.
Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : rear wheels steering has been fixed.
Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : pressing the battery button now always display the ON part.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : improved flaps deployment and retraction sequences.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : fixed auto–throttle not giving back control to the pilot when disabled.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : center tanks drain first when decreasing fuel quantity via fuel and payload menu.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : auto–throttle is now automatically disengaged when landing.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : auto–throttle now engages correctly during take off roll when conditions are met.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : alt intervention no longer needs to be pressed again when not needed.

Airbus A320neo : automatic speed management improvements.

Airbus A320neo : alpha floor condition is now correctly triggered.


AIRLINER AVIONICS

General : weight is better taken into account for V speed calculations.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : FMC now allows to activate approach without going to route page.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : approach VREF speeds are fixed.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : empty rectangles no longer displayed on the FMA.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : runways are now displayed in correct order in the FMC.

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : cruise altitude no longer automatically filled in the FMC.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : LNAV and VNAV correctly displayed as armed in FMA when conditions are met.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : altitude target on MCP can no longer be set to negative values.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : auto–throttle mode no longer displayed on FMA when auto–throttle is disabled.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : fixed wrong flaps value displayed in the FMC take off page.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : target heading line on ND is no longer reset while in heading mode.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : direct-to flight plans can now be entered in the FMC.

Airbus A320neo : target altitude can now be changed when AP is disabled.

Airbus A320neo : armed modes no longer appear in boxes on the FMA.

Airbus A320neo : flaps « FULL » indication instead of « F » on ECAM.

Airbus A320neo : FMGS message « INVALID ENTRY » replaced by « NOT ALLOWED ».

Airbus A320neo : FMGS now only displays arrival procedures corresponding to the selected runway.

Airbus A320neo : FMGS now correctly displays ETA for approach points.

Airbus A320neo : removed remaining waypoints on ND after selecting different approach procedures.

Airbus A320neo : fixed heading bug alignment offset issue.

Airbus A320neo : fixed missing runway in the perf page of FMGS when a departure runway is already selected.

Airbus A320neo : fixed constraints flickering on ND.

Airbus A320neo : FMGS block fuel indication now correctly initialized.


MISCELLANEOUS

Fixed freezes caused by glass cockpits.

Travel to feature no longer disengages autopilot when used.


WEATHER

Fixed 225°/3kt issue with inconsistent wind in game.

Fixed issue with weather persistency on flight restart.


SERVICES

Upgraded multiplayer servers.


MARKETPLACE

Rating display on bundles has been improved.

Performance drop after downloading an item in marketplace has been removed.

An addon purchased outside of the marketplace no longer has an impact on the “Installed” filter in the marketplace as it is considered as a “community” content.


CONTENT MANAGER

Addon purchased outside of the marketplace now also visible in the Content manager when online, and offline if downloaded in the community folder.

3rd Party content thumbnail display improved.

Pause download during installation is fixed.


LOCALIZATION

Various typo fixes in multiple languages.


ACCESSIBILITY

Subtitles are now enabled by default.

Subtitle option has been moved from Sound menu to Accessibility so users can set it during initial install.


CAMERAS

Remove rotation clamp on “Instrument cameras”.

Pilot camera position can now be saved or reset.


BUSH TRIPS

Fix leg completion trigger.

Completionist achievement should now unlock when all activities have been completed.


WORLD

Detected buildings that intersect roads are now excluded.

Longer bridges are less prone to having a gap.

UK city houses models should no longer appear in US suburbs.

“In The Wild” Achievement can now be unlocked

[Adamski]

I'm part way through the update now.

Though I've been delighted with the sim so far (it really is a HUGE step forward - and a great foundation for future development) I found the install process ludicrous.

Firstly, my MS Store was totally borked - with all app downloads or updates failing. Googling produced thousands of people with the same problem. I tried every fix known - all to no avail. Realising that I couldn't install the sim without a working MS Store, I ended up having to *completely re-install Windows 10* - losing all my apps in the process [sigh].

OK ... so I have now have a clean system, but with a small partition on C:drive for the O/S and all my MS apps on E:drive. Changing the default path for MS Apps simply puts a symlink to the final location, but the initial location is still "C:\users\et. etc.", which is what shows both during installation and any further updates - and always frightens the pants off me, as I know I simply don't have the room on C. Yes - I know it all ends up in E: (eventually) but none of that is explained anywhere - and it always catches me out!!!

As to the sim itself. I'm not entirely sure that flight models etc. for *default* aircraft were any better for FSX or P3D. Most people that are into realism/hardcore end up buying a 3rd party aircraft (PMDG, Aerosoft A2A etc.) anyway. I'm sure they'll follow pretty soon - each with their exorbitant prices.

Normally, I'd be highly critical of a release of a major piece of software with [apparently] so much "unfinished business". But in this case, I think MS made the right choice. The take up for MS 2020 has been massive (and quite rightly so IMHO) which simply extends the beta testers by a million or two. Yes - the cynics amongst us have always riled against that, but I don't think I've ever used a single app or sim that was 100% finished at any stage. What is important is what happens to all that feedback *after release*. If communication is good, then we all benefit.

The big question is: "Is the product of marketable quality?" - and this is a *legal* requirement. IMHO, MS 2020 passes that criterion - easily.

Sure - it isn't perfect - and was released in an imperfect state, but it's still an amazing sim and a massive step forward. I'm sure it will do well and will continue to be developed/updated.

[FlyingKiwi]

The Microsoft store is easily the worst part of the whole experience for me - I seem to have about three different possible accounts, it's never clear what I need to be logged in as so half the time when I try to do an update or something it prompts me to download the whole game because it doesn't think it's installed. I guess that might be related to the issue you mentioned about it always defaulting to C drive. I eventually got the patch to install but for a while I was worried it was going to lock me out completely as it wouldn't let me download it because it was indicating the sim wasn't installed despite the update button literally being next to the "play" button which clearly indicates it is installed!

Out of interest, if you bought the game through Steam, do you still have to login through the MS Store? Most of my games I purchase through Steam and I'm beginning to regret not doing the same with FS.

It's a shame the installation/update process is designed to be as aggravating as possible because once I'm actually in the sim it's truly awesome, I have never had as many "oh wow" moments in a game as I've had in this.

[deaneb]

Out of interest, if you bought the game through Steam, do you still have to login through the MS Store?

No, but you need an Xbox account. As far as the updates, I launch FS from the desktop shortcut and then the update pops up upon load.

So far no problems with the update. But I still wish they would fix the stupid "press any key to continue" on load. Which by the way only responds to a mouse click on my machine!