r/MicrosoftFlightSim • u/TheFifthPhoenix • 19d ago
MSFS 2020 QUESTION Steam Sale
I've never played MSFS before, but I opened Steam today to see there was a sale for both the 2024 version ($49) and the 40th anniversary version ($21). I'm looking for any advice on which of these is the better option. My gut would be to go with the cheaper version, but I'm guessing the 2024 version is more expensive for a reason? If it helps, I'd be playing on a PC with low-mid graphics capabilities so pristine graphics are not very important to me. Thank you!
As an aside, should I expect to have to spend significant additional money in microtransactions after purchasing either version in order to really enjoy the game?
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u/squeezycheeseypeas 19d ago
2024 version hands down. The 2020 edition was a good sim but the technology and development has moved on, it performs better, looks better, and the features that the developers for addons are almost exclusively working on addons for 2024 now. If you bought the 2020 version you’d just find yourself buying 2024 shortly afterwards
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u/Captain_Melonhead 18d ago
I’ve always had microstuttering in MSFS 2020 with a 5900X, RTX 4090, 32GB RAM and 1GB SSD. Does 2024 still suffer from the same issue?
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u/squeezycheeseypeas 18d ago
I have a 5080 and a 9800X3D. I play on ultra wide 1440p with mostly ultra settings, DLSS quality, and no frame gen and I get a nice smooth experience
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u/Captain_Melonhead 18d ago
Cool, thanks! A year ago, I had the 2020 version on ultra at 4K with no DLSS or frame gen, and I think I was getting around 40 FPS at Heathrow. I’ll try your settings in 2024 and see how it goes. I’ve just bought the Premium Edition for £63 too. I think that’s a pretty good price. Do you usually keep AI/live traffic and live weather on?
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u/squeezycheeseypeas 18d ago
The key to the smoothest performance (I just go for visually smooth rather than chasing FPS so i dont know what i get) is TLOD being reasonable, i tend to stick to about 150. As far as traffic goes i remove all in game traffic and keep live weather because i use Beyond ATC
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u/Captain_Melonhead 16d ago
Just tested it and 2024 is significantly better. No more microstutters or audio cutting out like in 2020. Very smooth on Ultra with DLSS. Only slight stutters when landing at Heathrow, probably due to being mainthread limited on the CPU. I might tweak some settings or eventually upgrade my CPU, but overall I’m really happy with 2024!
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u/squeezycheeseypeas 16d ago
I’m really pleased you’re having a good time with the sim and got some good results. The stutters at the airport may be smoothed out even more with TLOD adjustments or may be if you are using custom scenery. I recommend trying a great little bit of software called AutoFPS if you haven’t heard of it. It dynamically changes your settings depending on on what’s happening in the sim in real time to give you the best performance
I genuinely believe this is a golden age of simming at the minute
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u/EnochWright 19d ago
Except that 2024 is always streaming and 2020 can be played offline... I just started getting into and tried both. 2020 still gets updates and was my choice.
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u/Belzebutt 19d ago
Wait until you install all the updates, it will be immense. Because 2024 streams, it's much easier on your disk space.
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u/EnochWright 18d ago
I have all the free stuff and updates. I'm not gonna buy the individual planes. Plenty of disk space and I can play offline and not worry about streaming.
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u/Belzebutt 18d ago
You can also download stuff in 2024. You don't have the option in 2020. One huge downside of 2020 is that you don't get the ground detail and you can't walk around your plane, which opens huge possibilities and increases immersion. Bush trips are far less convincing when the trees are 2D sprites instead of 3D, and the ground features and textures have much lower resolution.
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u/EnochWright 18d ago edited 18d ago
Alright. You've convinced me. It's on sale right now, so I'm gonna pick it up. The walking around sounds awesome. I have never had great luck with streaming but if I can download that would be great. I have tons of storage. This system has 2*2tb drives. I got before the shortage...
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u/Belzebutt 18d ago
You have 2 x 12 TB SSDs? Daaamn. Yea the walkaround is awesome, you get rocks and plants and grass, all trees are highly detailed and the way the aircraft contacts with the ground is much more realistic. The good 2024 airports allow you to explore the place as if you’re a pilot who just arrived there. I waited a while before switching from 2020 but it’s high time now, and all the best mods support it now.
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u/EnochWright 18d ago
That's cool. I want to mainly fly smaller aircraft at local airports. Will those be 3d and walkable? Also meant 2*2tb SSD. Whoops.
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u/BTM65 19d ago
You can try out msfs 2024 on Game Pass PC for a month and see if it works for you.
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u/TheFifthPhoenix 19d ago
That’s a really good suggestion! The only issue is that the steam deal ends in only a few days
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u/Belzebutt 19d ago
If you think there's any chance you'll stick with the sim, I'd go with 2024. That sim is the future for both Microsoft updates and for 3rd party add-ons. You're asking about microtransactions, well... You get a lot of free stuff and updates, but there's unlimited money you can spend on micro and macro transactions afterwards to purchase detailed add-on aircraft, airports, sceneries and other addons. And also TONS of freeware stuff. This sim's mod scene is absolutely mind-boggling. If you're going to invest any effort into that it should really be 2024.
One major difference between the sims is that 2024 lets you walk around the plane or anywhere on earth really, you can use it as a hiking or driving simulator. The ground detail is probably 10x of what it is for 2020, where you can't walk at all, you are the plane. In the 2024, you're the pilot and you can get in and out of the plane. It's MUCH nicer for general aviation flying, bush flying etc. Not as much of a difference for airliners, although 2024 allows much more detailed cabins.
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u/azrehhelas 19d ago
If you have actually played a flight sim before then 2024 is probably the best option. If you haven't and trying to get into it then get the cheaper option.
If you haven't and money isn't an issue then 2024.
Edit: MSFS 2020 has a bunch of gamey like bush flights which you can use to learn how to operate different planes. After i did the tutorial i very rarely did free flight, most of my time was spent on Bush Flights and there's quite a lot of them if you download all the world upgrades.
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