MSFS (2020/2024) Tips and Tricks Forum

Since there are so many questions and threads about the avionics in MSFS in the various aircraft, I've been recording some short demos of the buttonology and various screens in the default aircraft avionics based on my real world experience. I thought it might be useful to compile them in one place here in the Tips and Tricks forum, if the moderators deem it helpful. To be sure, there are plenty of missing features and glitches, all of which I've submitted to zendesk. Note that I'm not advanced enough to have done voice-overs, but hopefully you can follow the button clicks easily enough to see the processes. Generally I've covered entering/modifying/deleting a flight plan…

Have a look at VFRMAP if you are flying VFR and the FS map window is just not enough to find your way around. You can find it here: https://github.com/lian/msfs2020-go/releases This small utility connects your browser to FS and projects the position of your aircraft onto Google maps 🙂 . Installation is a breeze (just one small exe to be unzipped), and you can of course run your browser windowed within your FS cockpit. Cockpit commands require FS to have the focus, so you may have to switch the focus between both programs according to your needs.

If you have a yoke and a stick and you eant to keep them both plugged in, you will find that the various axis assignments will conflict and cause you issues. The simple way to get around this is to create NULL profiles for the device you are not using. Create your main profile for the Yoke and name it (ex. Yoke FULL) Create your main profile for the stick and name it (ex Stick FULL) Create your main profile for the Throttle Quadrant and name it (ex TQ Full) Now each one is programmed independently for full control - but they will conflict so now Select Yoke Full - bottom of the page select Profile Manager and duplicate the current(Yoke Full) pr…

TREES GRASSES AND SHRUBS Adjust these until your neigbourhood looks like Bing Aerial View.

After a long hiatus from Flight Simulator, I have found that as much things have changed, they also stay the same. And MSFS 2020 has proven once again it's ability to treat your prized gaming rig like a red headed stepchild. I am running an Intel i5 7400 with 32GB RAM and Radeon RX580 GPU with 4GB VRAM, I am also not running on an SSD, so as you can see, barely above minimums. With my low CPU, I find myself bottlenecked with the CPU, and because it's a Katy Lake, I can't upgrade it without upgrading the MB as well. So I have to make due for the time being. These Tips are primarily written for those of us who may also find ourselves CPU choked, although others …

Hi folks, was running an old i4770K overclocked at 4.4GHz and no hyperthreading. Suffered from heavy stuttering, high CPU temps and the occasional high-temp-induced protective lockup. Then I went into my BIOS: Dropped overclock to 4.2 GHz Enabled hyperthreading Lowered CPU voltage from 1.346 to 1.2. Night and day. Stutters much less severe, occur less frequently than before. last much shorter and the improvement in smoothness is visible. And my old CPU runs much cooler without sacrificing performance at all. My moral : give it threads - not GHz. This one is now a keeper. Thank you Asobo/MS.

I've seen plenty of questions about pausing the sim what with Active Pause having issues and figured I'd submit this tip. This basically sets it up to pause the same was as we're used to in other versions i.e. the old "P" functionality. Go to your Keyboard bindings (or whichever device you want to use) in controls Set the filter to view all commands Search for Pause You're looking for "Set Pause Off" and "Set Pause On" under the "Miscellaneous" heading. Bind a key/button/whatever to each of those (yes you need two, it's not a toggle) This will allow you to hard pause the sim just like the default Esc key but remain in the sim able to lo…

Here are some workarounds I have found to help with the various autopilot bugs on the 747. Flight Plans: Create your flight plan in the main menu, not on the FMC in the aircraft. For long flights don't forget to select "High IFR" routing. This generates more realistic and reasonable flight plans and activates them in the FMC automatically. The FMC generates weird flight plans with some FMC-generated waypoints (symbol USR). AP tries to flip the plane upside down when turning: Set "BANK LIMIT" to anything other than "AUTO". This dial is located on the AP glaresheild controls right below the heading display. Apparently AUTO = infinite bank limit. LNAV c…

One unrealistic point is the rattle and creak noise played when moving control surfaces and changing pitch/roll/yaw. Leave volume controls alone and delete the section of every aircraft's sound.xml file that describes "rattle_kinematic" in the "AlwaysPlaySounds" group. Typical sound file location: C:\Users\(YOUR ACCT)\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Official\OneStore\asobo-aircraft-208b-grand-caravan-ex\SimObjects\Airplanes\Asobo_208B_GRAND_CARAVAN_EX\sound

This is a workaround to get a forward view without instruments. You do this by creating a custom camera beyond the limits of the cockpit. You need to have keys assigned to move around within the cockpit. You move to the center and as far forward as you can, looking forward over the dash. Then create a custom camera (ctrl / alt / 0) . Exit the sim. Then take a look in the aircraft folder created here … C:\Users"Your ID"\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects There should be a folder with your aircraft and a camera.cfg file within Backup this file. Load the file and edit the Init…

Hi all I have had the need to move the FS 2020 install to another HD, but I wanted to avoid doing one more endless download I did the following and it worked, pretty fast and easy: 1. copy all the Download (about 100Gb) Package folder to the new destination and rename it 2. uninstall Fly simulator (right click on the FS2020 icon and choose uninstall) 3. reinstall FS 2020 to the new destination 4. start FS 2020 -> it will begin downloading the updates (about 100Gb) -> create a new Download Package folder and name it as you like (i.e. "FSDownloads") 5. pause the download after about 2 min and exit the game 6. delete the new download folder (t…

Hi All I have compiled a PDF based on the figures found in this post https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/how-to-best-practices-to-fly-bonanza-g36/167175 for the Bonanza. The post listed the advised throttle / prop / mixture settings for various altitudes and stages of flight. Hopefully some use for others. Happy to keep updated with any feedback. Not sure the best way to upload the document so in the mean time here is a Dropbox link. https://www.dropbox.com/s/0v51xqifl4ejk6r/Bonanza G36 Speed.pdf?dl=0 (Mod's, hopefully this is ok?)

Found FPS drop from solid 60 to low 50’s mostly around airports (not all major) when GPU was only at 80% and CPU at 40%. After unsuccessful tweaking of sliders in Graphics menu I disabled AI traffic. FPS back to 60. Live traffic does not have this problem. i9700k / RTX2060 super / 32gb Ram

For my own peace of mind I have attempted to collect a list of all the main file location of the new Sim. I thought I would share it here so it might help others: Note: I have not covered all the steps in installation just the structure of my install which resides on my G: SSD G: main install drive. (with a symbolic link junction from C:) AC [14Kb] AppData [empty] LocalCache [mine is now 107Gb] (This appears to be the main MFS folder) LocalState (KHE, Missions, Weather, Flights and Flight plans) [ RoamingState [empty] Settings [contains settings.dat (binary)] TempState [emp…

This is an extensive reference for the many settings and associated performance impacts. In order to access the link below, you need to be a member of the flightsimulator.com forum to read this. https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/how-to-graphics-settings-and-performance-guide-8-18-2020/132407

This option is available in windows if you have windows version 2004 and a nvidia 1000 series or better card. In windows click the start button, type gpu, and select gpu settings. If available enable Enable Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling. Now reboot and enjoy. This gave me 10fps and used 1Gb less vram in msfs with a 2070S. My wife using a 1660 got 10 to 15fps more and less vram usage in skyrim with 600 mods. Option not there for my 980ti system. This option let's the video card manage vram over windows. I hope this can help you.

I think I finally solved the problem and now have good performance and no stutters. Here is what I did: 1 Start the FS in Full Screen mode. 2 After it starts change to Windowed mode. 3 Minimize the FS. 4 Go to the Task Manager. 5 Remove any running programs,except the FS, that may be usuing SimConnect. I had one other program running that I wasn’t aware of that was using SimConnect. 6 Close that program. 7 Restart FS in Full Screen mode. I was really surprised. The frame rate went back to what it was during the Alpha & Beta period and there were no more stutters. Good Luck and I hope this works.

Cheers bs

Hello, You can make a flightplan in PFPX and import in MSFS! When you finished your flightplan in PFPX click the export button. Scroll down to P3D or FSX and export the route as a .pln file. Save this in a folder on your PC. In the route menu of MSFS click on LOAD/SAVE, then LOAD and search for the .pln file PFPX created. Happy flying!

Here is the fix. Takes 10 minutes only! Open your MFS2020 folder… Navigate to OFFICIAL_ONESTORE_FSBASE_VEGETATION Copy / Backup the file “10_Asobo_Species” Then open the XML file " 10_Asobo_Species" with a wordpad. you have to individually reduce the MIN size (in parenthesis), but specially the MAX size (by about 4-5 points). for all the vegation types. Then SAVE. (only the numbers of MIN and MIX between the " " HUGE difference, looks so much more realistic! https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/how-to-fix-the-tree-trees-height-bug-how-to-guide-with-pics/139607

If you want to setup the external pan view to work like all previous iterations of FS: 1. Set your hat on your joystick or throttle as shown below 2. Set your sensitivity settings in Options > General > Camera This results in the external free view to move like in the following video:

It is possible to open cockpit displays (not analog instruments mind you) in a separate window and possibly move them to a second screen. I have none so I cannot verify. To do this, press your right hand Alt key (Alt Gr) and hover over the PFD, MFD, autopilot screen etc. A magnifying glass will show up. Click it to open the display in a new, resizable and moveable window.

If anyone is having trouble getting FS2020 to well...go... here is the solutions that worked for me. My fix: with an Alienware R7 Gaming laptop, Intel Core I7-7820HK CPU @2.90Hz, 16GB ram, with Alienware Graphics Amplifier + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB AMP! Extreme Edition Graphics Card and 3 - Toshiba 43-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV HDR, and Windows 10. I had to reinstall the Microsoft Store app and let it update the out of date apps, reinstall Xbox for PC app, let it update, then update Windows 10 even though it said I was up to date. I restarted the computer after each update, then started FS2020, then alt+F4(d) about 3-times when it would not go …

Courtesy of SimFX as posted in the main forum: Nota Bene: Faster, but this only skips the into videos and begins with the "Press Any Key" screen. For Steam users, here is how to speed loading up"