mfahey

I have both 2020 & 2024 installed and fly 90% of my time in 2020 with REX Seasons & Atmos. The only other things I would add to anyone following this thread and thinking about the two versions of the simulator - you quite often see people say they uninstalled 2020 and went to 2024 on "day one" or "first week" etc etc. Keep in mind that the current state of 2020 is RADICALLY different to the time when 2024 launched. It has gone through a series of stability updates and the global base scenery is identical to 2024 since 2020 service update 16. Also 2020 is still sold by Microsoft and service update 17 will be delivered later this year, so what I think is more relevant is the type of flying you enjoy, stability (based on your PC specs), the simulator workflow itself - ie is walk around a pro or con for you etc.

NO WAY!!!!! I have only use FSLTL Injector to place static aircraft. The injector should NOT DIE, it should at the minimum remain as a way of intelligently placing static aircraft.

I am in the final stretch of preparing a submission (in two weeks or so) to markcellis a really massive Oceania update. A big focus is Australian CTAF traffic which for the first time chatter at uncontrolled airports and airfields (via the Unicom classification) . I'm right now working through cleaning up the file names and metadata before the submission.

Thank you for providing MSFS 2020 & 2024 versions. BEST!

Interesting discussion! For those who are new (ie started simming in the last 10 years or so) PMDG was a company that originally published and sold manuals, ie detailed documentation to use with flight simulators (I think for the 747?). It was only later when they were well known for their manuals that they started to build aircraft for the simulator.

Ha maybe!!! It could be true!!!🙂 One thing maybe long time 2024 users (particularly ones that shifted to 2024 at the time of release or soon after) may not realise is that now both 2020 and 2024 are served with identical scenery and photogramatry. So 2020 looks quite different to when you deleted it at the launch of 2024. Atmos and Aceuseason on 2020 delivers what many feel in a more realistic visual expirence. I don't think 2020 has that many followers here at AVSIM, but in other forums and reddit there are always very active topics annoyed at how now after SU16 last year 2020 is now served the 2024 visuals. Comments typically centre on what is described as the "cartoon" look of 2024, which to many looks like those HDR oversaturated photos you see in used in real estate or holiday resort photos. Also a frequent diffrence commented on is that 2024 has a glaze or vaseline over the image look compared to 2020. SU17 is coming to 2020 soon, it will be interesting to see what happens then. My wish would be that the 2020 engine can display 2024 3rd party native airport freeware and payware, but that said I have never found a product I want to buy that didn't have a 2020 build - even in 2026. 2020 receives all the world updates, city updates and the upcoming scenery gateway, (plus it is still sold by Microsoft) so it is far from finished. In the last development stream Jorg touched on that their analytics show that 2020 users use the sim differently to the type of user growth users that 2024 is experiencing. It was an interesting comment, he didnt go into much detail but one big difference is that in 2020 there is no career mode, but also in 2024 there is no Bush Trip engine at the moment. It's all good, I own both 2020 and 2024, but if I was to uninstal one it would be 2020 that remained.

I own both 2020 and 2024 - but all my flying is in 2020 with Rex Acuseason and Atmos. I take a look at 2024 occasionally after each major update is released but for me it doesn't meet my 2020 experience. The major advantages for me of 2020 is the ability to edit and the tune aircraft config files to exactly how I like them (I fly only the DA-62 - IFR usually around 8,000 or 9,000 feet always live time and weather), the ability to have flights and starting locations saved as files, the ability to start in the cockpit cold and dark without work arounds, and the biggest issue for me I think is the 2024 is the user interface - for me thats the showstopper. If 2024 ever has a sim update addressing the user interface and allowing to start directly in the cockpit I would be more tempted to shift - but until then 2024 sits on my system unused.

Just a heads up for anyone reading this thread that uses MSFS 2020... Sim Update 16 (SU16) in August 2025 unified the base global scenery for both 2020 & 2024 - so now the MSFS 2024 China scenery is also served in MSFS 2020.

MSFS 2020 is still a current product - it’s still sold worldwide. Many countries in the world (including mine) have laws which demand a minimum support period. So 2020 is certainly going to be available (ie photography and scenery streamed) for a long time. In the case of my country I think it is for 7 years after it becomes unavailable to purchase so the timer to non-support hasn’t even started yet. Jorg explained the usage of 2020 and 2024 in his interview with FSElete a few days ago. Microsoft analytics show that the users of 2020 and 2024 are different. Watch or listen to the interview.

For MSFS 4 (ie FS4) I created and published regional scenery (including every airport and even small airstrips) for the south east of Australia. 3 products, first Sydney, then Melbourne and finally Canberra. With the 3 products you could fly from the Hunter region all the way to King Island Tasmania, with every VOR, NDB and airfield. The software included a thick manual, charts etc and floppy disks. Available in stores. Ha, those were the days! 🙂

Thats unlikely to happen! MSFS (2020 version) is still sold in the Microsoft Store (as a one off purchase). Most countries have consumer laws that require a product to function as described/promoted/intended for a reasonable lifetime after a purchase. In my country that would be considered at the minimum being 5 years. MSFS 2020 and 2024 are are now essentially different application layers fed by a common datasource (the digital twin). Many users of 2020 consider their application layer to be mature, and there are many calls in the Microsoft forums for the developers not to make any further changes to the 2020 application layer due to the risk of the developers "messing up" the working sim - most of the current complaints from 2020 users relating to the digital twin quality rather than the MSFS2020 application layer itself.

MSFS (the 2020 version) is still being sold by Microsoft. It's in the store, the marketing pages are all still up. It's still being sold around the world and in my country (and many more) it's against consumer law to sell something without a reasonable product lifespan. People saying 2020 is "dead", "unsupported" etc are really misinformed. I've even seem people concerned that Microsoft will "turn off" the 2020 servers - huh, what??? A key reason for 2020's upcoming update (16) is to complete 2020's use of the unified cloud content - ie 2020 uses the same digital twin, the same weather data from the same servers. It's the simulator user application layer and to what extent and data elements the two generations of the application (2020 or 2024) interacts and renders the Azure cloud content (digital twin, weather data) that is different between 2020 & 2024. So what do people mean when they fear Microsoft is going to "turn off" the 2020 servers - after application update 16 they are exactly the same servers that are serving 2024. I myself own both 2020 and 2024. To me both have a different feel and even targeted to slightly different markets. I never use 2024 (apart from occasionally looking to see if it's improving). I use 2020 every day.

Scenery Gateway is planed to return soon (next 6-12 months?). It was suspended after it's trial and will move to being reintroduced once MSFS 2024 and 2020 are served from the same digital twin scenery (ie the planet we fly over). At the moment MSFS 2024 is using a later version of the world than 2020. Around the time of the 2024 launch Jorg mentioned that 2020 would eventually be fed from the same digital twin as the new 2024 version. The two versions of the world would have duplicated the communities effort to work on the gateway scenery due to slight terrain differences, alignments etc, once both 2020 and 2024's worlds are the same then a Scenery Gateway mod created in either sim will seamlessly flow to the other. The upcoming Service Pack for 2020 is expected to deliver to 2020 the new world (2024's digital twin).

Hey thanks for testing! That's great!

It's a shame this debate isn't in a psychology forum! 🙂 There is an excellent essay by Jonathan Hadith, Social Psychologist, NYU Stern School of Business published on The Atlantic... https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/ If a nutshell "when critics go silent, groups get stupid". Criticism by some of MSFS 2024 is not only justified, but should be encouraged (assuming their argument holds merit) to ensure the long term viability of our flight simulation hobby!