MSFS 2020 Updated

[deaneb]

For those who are running MSFS you have probably by now installed the bid SU5 update. Whilst forums seem to be full of people cussing Asobo for a poor update, I am finding it has given me big framerate improvements with few downsides.

Interested to find out other peoples experience on here.

[Johnwag]

Pretty good for me also but I miss not being able to have AI traffic - hopefully, that will get fixed with the hot-fix tomorrow. The only other significant issues I’ve got are that the flight planning in the world map is corrupted and in the Controls Options I can’t expand any of the sub-menus, I can only expand/collapse them all or nothing. Also hoping that Just Flight get their PA28s updated soon.
Have fun….
John

[toprob]

I've not had any major issues, and I suspect that the vast majority are the same, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the negative feedback on the forums....
However I can see how some people would be annoyed at some of the changes. I have been waiting for this update as it allows developers to 'see' their scenery as it would appear on the Xbox, allowing them to tweak it for compatibility. The only real tool to control visibility is LODs, so I'm busy adding LODs to everything. The official recommendation is to have 4 LODs for each object, which is bit of an overkill for a lot of mine, which are basically just a textured box -- there's only so far you can optimise a simple box, but if you have only one or two LODs then smaller objects will disappear often. I need to think things over and see if there's a better way. I'm still awaiting the promised SDK update for some final features to allow me to release Taieri. I'm really pleased with the performance gain since the update, but I can certainly see what was traded to get there.
The Xbox LOD preview option within the sim is meant to be temporary, eventually it'll just be part of the PC sim, so a lot of developers will be scrambling to optimise their scenery.
For some reason, now the development camera won't stay level, although it's easy to reset it all the time, but I get very frustrated tearing around adding and tweaking models until my head is just about sideways, and I fall off my chair!
I do think there's a change to the lighting, I notice it mostly at dusk, I heard the cloud rendering called 'cartoony' since the update, and that's how I see it sometimes. Still, we've been through a lot of tweaking of this sort of thing over the last year, so I am sure that if people really find this an issue then there'll be a fix at some point. Or else that's just the way it is now that the sim needs to work on an Xbox. I have nothing against the Xbox, I may buy one again (I had the original and the 360 previously) but the need to have both PC and Xbox versions of the sim the very same seems asking for trouble.
As I said, though, performance is a lot better, which is no small thing.

[Naki]

I'm happy with the update...I've cranked it up from high to ultra for most settings as the increased FPS has allowed me to do it. Hard to compare but the graphics look more than okay to me. Clouds look different but I'm okay with it, especially with the increased smoothness and FPS. No CTDs touch wood , so I'm a happy camper. Just some tweaking to do like getting rid of the white tool bar.

[Radar88]

Microsoft Flight Simulator Tips and Guides - How to Update your Sim Smoothly!

Microsoft Flight Simulator on Xbox Series X|S - An Excellent Port Of An Ultra-Spec PC Experience

Inside Microsoft Flight Simulator - Xbox Ports, Performance, PC Optimisations - The Asobo Breakdown!

[FlyingKiwi]

I've just done one flight since the update but it was fine. Not sure if they've made any adjustments to the flight model (I remember there was some discussion about drag model changes?), the addon Mooney I have mostly been flying lately appeared to be able to fly a slightly more realistic approach profile without requiring unusually large amounts of power to maintain a reasonable descent rate with full flap set. Might have been imagining it but I don't think so. I really like the changes to the world map, it's super useful being able to see the satellite image for spotting unlisted airfields and other points of interest. I did have one CTD while zooming in and out on the world map so hopefully that won't be a regular thing. Performance didn't seem too different but I am running a very high end system so it was ok before the update, I'll have to try flying around London again, that was the only place so far prior to the update I did get a few moments of brief stuttering.

[toprob]

This morning I took a wee break to fly over my new home, which I've done before, but I wanted to see it with the new place labels. This really helps give an idea of the relationship between towns etc, and I've certainly recommend having this turned on to explore new areas. (I took the Robin up for a change, I still can't figure out why it keeps on wanting to fall out of the sky, so I might stick with the Cessna.)
While I was doing this flight (and after seeing Lionel's interview on the changes which contributed to SU5) I realised that performance was rock-steady, not a single stutter or fluctuation, so I had a crack at upping the settings. From a mix of ultra and high I just set everything to ultra, although retained the render scale of 70%, as I fly in 4K but don't really have the eyesight to take advantage:) The result was still rock-steady, I haven't tried it in built-up parts of the world, but I'm happy just to potter around NZ.
As I've said, I do see some deterioration with this update, but it's hard to put my finger on it, so I'm undecided how I feel about them changing the Windows version performance to fit the Xbox.... Hopefully the market will decide whether it stays that way, and I'm happy to go along with that.

[chopper_nut]

With all of the talk of improved performance, I'm downloading it again to have another go. If I can get another 5 to 10 fps then it might be usable.

[deaneb]

With all of the talk of improved performance, I'm downloading it again to have another go. If I can get another 5 to 10 fps then it might be usable.

You should see that and more I would think. I have not even bothered to look at frames. Its just so much smoother. That said I'm running a 3 month old PC with a 3070 graphics card.
Glad to see everybody is seeing an increase in frames.

[chopper_nut]

Just downloaded it again... four days. No improvement really. 22 to 25fps around Motueka in the 152 but with some quite bad stutters at times. Probably usable though. Default Wellington in the Kingair, 14 to 17fps and completely unusable. Played with the settings a bit and even dragging them down to the minimum, still ran like poo. My CPU is the issue but it's a laptop so I don't think I can change it and when I'm getting a beautiful fluid 40fps on XP and could probably run VR on Aerofly, it's not worth me worrying about it. I may get an XBox further down the road but we'll see.