The Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 Guide
by RDPresets
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Let’s begin
Welcome to the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 guide by RDPresets! In this
guide we will help you understand everything that has to do with your
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and get you ready to fly in no time! With the
release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 a lot has changed in the world of
flight simulation and all differences are discussed and explained.
This guide goes into the smallest detail for the most experienced flight
simmers but is also accessible for all of the new flight simulator users that
joined the community in the last couple of weeks with the release of this
brand new simulator.
We highly recommend trying out all of our recommendations and reading
carefully for the best possible result!
We have tested everything mentioned in this guide and we are certain we
will be able to help you improve your simulator experience a lot! So, let’s get
started and make your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 the best it can be!
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Table of Contents
1) Clean Start ............................................................................... 9
1.1) General .............................................................................................................................................................. 9
1.1.1) Steam vs Microsoft Store ............................................................................................................................... 10
1.1.2) Where do I find my PC Specs? ................................................................................................................... 11
1.1.3) PC Specs .................................................................................................................................................................. 13
2)
Installing MSFS 2020 ........................................................ 14
2.1) Steam version ............................................................................................................................................. 14
2.1.1) Install location ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
2.1.2) Access Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 folder .............................................................................. 16
2.1.3) Run as admin ...................................................................................................................................................... 17
2.1.4) Updating ................................................................................................................................................................ 17
2.1.5) Reinstalling ........................................................................................................................................................... 18
2.2) Microsoft store version......................................................................................................................... 19
2.2.1) Install location ..................................................................................................................................................... 19
2.2.2) Access Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 folder ............................................................................. 21
2.2.3) Run as admin .................................................................................................................................................... 23
2.2.4) Updating .............................................................................................................................................................. 23
2.2.5) Reinstalling ......................................................................................................................................................... 24
3)
Things you should know as a P3D / XP user ............25
3.1) Differences .................................................................................................................................................. 25
3.1.1) Settings ................................................................................................................................................................... 25
3.1.2) Looks ........................................................................................................................................................................ 26
3.1.3) The world and airports ................................................................................................................................. 26
3.1.4) Camera ................................................................................................................................................................... 29
3.1.5) Performance ....................................................................................................................................................... 29
4) Windows .............................................................................. 30
4.1) Power plan .................................................................................................................................................. 30
4.1.1) Hard disk ................................................................................................................................................................. 31
4.1.2) Processor power management .............................................................................................................. 31
4.2) Defender ..................................................................................................................................................... 32
4.3) Other anti-virus programs ............................................................................................................... 33
4.4) Windows game mode........................................................................................................................ 33
4.5) Hyper-Threading .................................................................................................................................... 33
5)
Nvidia .................................................................................... 34
5.1) Nvidia control panel .............................................................................................................................. 34
5.2) Nvidia driver version ............................................................................................................................. 35
5.3) Nvidia control panel settings .......................................................................................................... 36
5.3.1) Image sharpening ........................................................................................................................................... 36
5.3.2) Low latency mode .......................................................................................................................................... 36
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5.3.3) OpenGL rendering GPU ............................................................................................................................. 37
5.3.4) Power management mode ..................................................................................................................... 37
5.3.5) Preferred refresh rate ................................................................................................................................... 37
5.3.6) Texture filtering – anisotropic sample option .............................................................................. 37
5.3.7) Texture filtering – negative LOD bias ................................................................................................ 38
5.3.8) Texture filtering - Quality........................................................................................................................... 38
5.3.9) Vertical sync ....................................................................................................................................................... 38
5.4) Shader cache ............................................................................................................................................ 39
5.5) FPS limiter .................................................................................................................................................. 39
5.6) VSync ............................................................................................................................................................. 39
5.7) Updating Nvidia drivers .................................................................................................................... 40
5.8) Nvidia control panel issues ............................................................................................................. 40
5.9) SLI ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41
5.9.1) Configure SLI ....................................................................................................................................................... 41
5.9.2) SLI Rendering mode ...................................................................................................................................... 41
6) AMD ....................................................................................... 42
6.1) Radeon settings ....................................................................................................................................... 42
6.2) Radeon driver version ......................................................................................................................... 43
6.3) FPS limiter .................................................................................................................................................. 43
6.4) Updating Radeon drivers ................................................................................................................. 43
7)
Overclocking for FS2020 ................................................ 44
7.1) Does overclocking benefit your performance in FS2020? .......................................... 44
7.2) CPU overclocking................................................................................................................................... 45
7.3) GPU overclocking .................................................................................................................................. 46
8) Understanding your settings ....................................... 47
8.1) CPU vs GPU heavy settings .............................................................................................................. 47
8.2) VRAM .............................................................................................................................................................48
8.2.1) Texture resolution ...........................................................................................................................................48
8.2.2) Volumetric clouds ..........................................................................................................................................48
8.2.3) Terrain shadows ..............................................................................................................................................48
8.2.4) Screen resolution ...........................................................................................................................................49
8.3) What are our recommendations based on ........................................................................... 50
9) MSFS 2020 General Settings .......................................... 51
9.1) Graphics ......................................................................................................................................................... 51
9.1.1) General ..................................................................................................................................................................... 51
9.1.1.1) Display mode ............................................................................................................................................... 51
9.1.1.2) Full screen resolution ........................................................................................................................... 52
9.1.1.3) HDR10 ............................................................................................................................................................. 52
9.1.1.4) Global rendering Quality ................................................................................................................... 53
9.1.2) Advanced settings .......................................................................................................................................... 54
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9.1.2.1) V-Sync............................................................................................................................................................. 54
9.1.2.2) Render scaling ......................................................................................................................................... 55
9.1.2.3) Anti-Aliasing .............................................................................................................................................. 56
9.1.2.4) Terrain level of detail ........................................................................................................................... 57
9.1.2.5) Terrain vector data ................................................................................................................................ 58
9.1.2.6) Buildings ..................................................................................................................................................... 59
9.1.2.7) Trees ...............................................................................................................................................................60
9.1.2.8) Grass and bushes...................................................................................................................................60
9.1.2.9) Objects level of detail ........................................................................................................................... 61
9.1.2.10) Volumetric clouds ............................................................................................................................... 62
9.1.2.11) Texture resolution ................................................................................................................................. 63
9.1.2.12) Anisotropic filtering ............................................................................................................................64
9.1.2.13) Texture super sampling ................................................................................................................... 65
9.1.2.14) Texture synthesis ................................................................................................................................. 65
9.1.2.15) Water waves ............................................................................................................................................ 66
9.1.2.16) Shadow maps ......................................................................................................................................... 67
9.1.2.17) Terrain shadows .................................................................................................................................... 67
9.1.2.18) Contact shadows.................................................................................................................................. 68
9.1.2.19) Windshield effects ............................................................................................................................... 68
9.1.2.20) Ambient occlusion ............................................................................................................................. 69
9.1.2.21) Reflections ................................................................................................................................................ 70
9.1.2.22) Light shafts ............................................................................................................................................... 71
9.1.2.23) Bloom ........................................................................................................................................................... 71
9.1.2.24) Depth of field ......................................................................................................................................... 72
9.1.2.25) Lens correction ..................................................................................................................................... 72
9.1.2.26) Lens flare ................................................................................................................................................... 73
9.2) Camera ......................................................................................................................................................... 74
9.2.1) Global Settings .................................................................................................................................................. 74
9.2.1.1) Camera selection .................................................................................................................................... 74
9.2.1.2) Quick view function ............................................................................................................................. 74
9.2.1.3) Smart camera ........................................................................................................................................... 75
9.2.1.4) Zoom function ......................................................................................................................................... 75
9.2.1.5) Focus mode ............................................................................................................................................... 76
9.2.2) Cockpit Camera ............................................................................................................................................... 76
9.2.2.1) Cockpit camera selection ................................................................................................................. 76
9.2.2.2) Free look mode ...................................................................................................................................... 77
9.2.2.3) Free look reset......................................................................................................................................... 77
9.2.2.4) Head up mode ....................................................................................................................................... 78
9.2.2.5) Height ........................................................................................................................................................... 78
9.2.2.6) Horizontal position ............................................................................................................................... 79
9.2.2.7) Zoom ............................................................................................................................................................. 79
9.2.2.8) Zoom speed .............................................................................................................................................80
9.2.2.9) Freelook speed .......................................................................................................................................80
9.2.2.10) Freelook momentum ........................................................................................................................ 81
9.2.2.11) Camera shake .......................................................................................................................................... 81
9.2.2.12) Flashlight mode ................................................................................................................................... 82
9.2.3) Instruments ........................................................................................................................................................ 82
9.2.3.1) Instrument view mode ....................................................................................................................... 82
9.2.3.2) Instrument view selection .............................................................................................................. 83
9.2.4) Chase Camera .................................................................................................................................................. 83
9.2.4.1) Instrument heads-up display (HUD) ......................................................................................... 83
9.2.4.2) POV reset ...................................................................................................................................................84
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9.2.4.3) Zoom speed .............................................................................................................................................84
9.2.4.4) External freelook speed ................................................................................................................... 85
9.2.4.5) External freelook momentum ..................................................................................................... 85
9.3) Sound ............................................................................................................................................................ 86
9.3.1) General ................................................................................................................................................................... 86
9.3.1.1) Communications selection .............................................................................................................. 86
9.3.1.2) Warning sound in external view .................................................................................................. 86
9.3.1.3) VHF signal degradation ..................................................................................................................... 87
9.3.1.4) Active windows spatial sound ....................................................................................................... 87
9.3.1.5) Text-to-speech settings .....................................................................................................................88
9.3.1.6) Subtitles .......................................................................................................................................................88
9.3.1.7) Music selection ........................................................................................................................................ 89
9.3.1.8) Mute audio in background ............................................................................................................. 89
9.3.2) Volume levels ....................................................................................................................................................90
9.4) Traffic .............................................................................................................................................................. 91
9.4.1) Aviation traffic .................................................................................................................................................... 91
9.4.1.1) Aircraft traffic type .................................................................................................................................. 91
9.4.1.2) AI Airliners traffic density................................................................................................................... 91
9.4.1.3) AI General aviation traffic density ............................................................................................... 92
9.4.1.4) Show traffic nameplates .................................................................................................................. 92
9.4.2) Airport life ............................................................................................................................................................ 93
9.4.2.1) Airport vehicle density ....................................................................................................................... 93
9.4.2.2) Ground aircraft density ..................................................................................................................... 93
9.4.2.3) Worker density .......................................................................................................................................94
9.4.3) Land and sea traffic ......................................................................................................................................94
9.4.3.1) Leisure boats ............................................................................................................................................94
9.4.3.2) Road vehicles .......................................................................................................................................... 95
9.4.3.3) Ships and ferries .................................................................................................................................... 95
9.5) Data ................................................................................................................................................................ 96
9.5.1) Data connection ............................................................................................................................................... 96
9.5.1.1) Online functionality ............................................................................................................................... 96
9.5.1.2) Bing data world graphics ................................................................................................................. 96
9.5.1.3) Photogrammetry ................................................................................................................................... 97
9.5.1.4) Live real world air traffic .................................................................................................................... 97
9.5.1.5) Live weather .............................................................................................................................................. 98
9.5.1.6) Multiplayer ................................................................................................................................................. 98
9.5.2) Data consumption ......................................................................................................................................... 98
9.5.2.1) Current data consumption .............................................................................................................. 98
9.5.2.2) Data tracking reset day ..................................................................................................................... 99
9.5.2.3) Data limitation ........................................................................................................................................ 99
9.5.3) Data bandwidth usage limit ................................................................................................................. 100
9.5.3.1) Bandwidth ................................................................................................................................................ 100
9.5.4) Rolling cache settings ............................................................................................................................... 100
9.5.4.1) Rolling cache .......................................................................................................................................... 100
9.5.4.2) Rolling cache limit .............................................................................................................................. 101
9.5.4.3) Rolling cache path .............................................................................................................................. 101
9.5.4.4) Delete rolling cache file .................................................................................................................. 101
9.6) Flight Model ............................................................................................................................................ 102
9.6.1) Flight model preset ..................................................................................................................................... 102
9.7) Accessibility ............................................................................................................................................. 103
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9.7.1) User interface ................................................................................................................................................... 103
9.7.1.1) Minimum text size ............................................................................................................................... 103
9.7.1.2) Interface scale ........................................................................................................................................ 103
9.7.1.3) Show tooltips .......................................................................................................................................... 104
9.7.1.4) Background opacity .......................................................................................................................... 104
9.7.1.5) Main color ................................................................................................................................................. 105
9.7.1.6) Menu animations ................................................................................................................................. 105
9.7.1.7) Skip pre-flight cinematics .............................................................................................................. 106
9.7.1.8) Controller vibrations .......................................................................................................................... 106
10) MSFS 2020 Assistance Settings .................................. 107
10.1) Piloting ...................................................................................................................................................... 107
10.2) Aircraft systems................................................................................................................................... 108
10.3) Failure & damage ............................................................................................................................... 108
10.4) Navigation aids ................................................................................................................................... 109
10.5) Notification............................................................................................................................................. 109
10.6) User experience ................................................................................................................................... 110
11) FS2020 must know features ..........................................111
11.1) Flight planning .........................................................................................................................................111
11.2) Toolbar..........................................................................................................................................................113
11.2.1) ATC........................................................................................................................................................................... 114
11.2.2) Camera..................................................................................................................................................................115
11.2.3) Checklist .............................................................................................................................................................. 116
11.2.4) Basic controls .................................................................................................................................................. 117
11.2.5) AI Control ............................................................................................................................................................ 117
11.2.6) Fuel......................................................................................................................................................................... 118
11.2.7) Navlog .................................................................................................................................................................. 119
11.2.8) Objectives .......................................................................................................................................................... 119
11.2.9) VFR Map ............................................................................................................................................................. 120
11.2.10) Weather .............................................................................................................................................................121
11.2.11) Custom toolbar ..............................................................................................................................................122
11.3) Flight Training ........................................................................................................................................ 123
11.4) Activities.................................................................................................................................................... 124
11.5) 2D-Panels .................................................................................................................................................. 125
11.6) Preset views ............................................................................................................................................. 125
12) 3rd party addons and your simulator ....................... 126
12.1) Aircraft ........................................................................................................................................................ 126
12.2) Scenery...................................................................................................................................................... 126
12.3) In-game store vs online store ......................................................................................................127
12.4) Utilities .......................................................................................................................................................127
13) Simulator looks................................................................. 128
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13.1) How to improve the look of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020............................... 128
13.2) Image sharpening ............................................................................................................................. 128
13.3) Nvidia Freestyle ................................................................................................................................... 129
13.4) Reshade .....................................................................................................................................................131
13.5) Low latency mode............................................................................................................................... 132
13.6) 3rd party addons .................................................................................................................................... 133
13.7) More to come ......................................................................................................................................... 133
14) Common issues and fixes MSFS 2020 ...................... 134
14.1) Things you MUST know before using MSFS 2020 .......................................................... 134
14.2) PC Troubles with MSFS 2020 ...................................................................................................... 134
14.2.1) When is my PC ‘Not good enough’.................................................................................................. 134
14.2.2) What can you do about it? ....................................................................................................................135
14.3) Bandwidth / Connection trouble with MSFS 2020 ........................................................ 135
14.4) It looks too ‘Arcady’ for me .......................................................................................................... 136
15) Let’s Fly! .............................................................................. 137
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1. Clean start
1.1
General
Before we start our guide, we recommend you start with a clean simulator.
This means all of the essential files that your simulator uses to run are ‘reset’
to the default setting. We recommend you follow the steps below before
continuing with the guide to set-up your simulator.
Important to note is that when deinstalling most but not all of the files
related to your version of Microsoft flight simulator 2020 are deleted. This can
influence your performance, and we want to make sure you start with a
completely fresh install of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 before you start
setting everything up using our guide.
We will differentiate between the Steam version and the Microsoft store a lot
in this guide because the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 files are saved in a
different location on your PC hard drive when using one version or the other.
Make sure the following files are deleted
This is important before continuing to chapter 2 about installing and
updating your version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Steam version:
► X:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Local\FlightSimulator
► X:\SteamLibary\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (Or your own selected
install folder)
► X:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_xxxxxx_x64__xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_8wekyb3d8bbwe
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe
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Microsoft store version:
► X:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Local\FlightSimulator
► X:\MSFS 2020 (Or your own selected install folder)
► X:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_xxxxxx_x64__xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_8wekyb3d8bbwe
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe
1.1.1
Steam vs Microsoft Store
When it comes to the differences between the 2, there is only one big
difference, accessibility. When it comes to the Microsoft Store version, it is
very difficult to access any of the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 files, and
you have almost no choice on when the data related to Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 is installed on your PC.
With the Steam version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, you have a lot and
easier access to all of your simulator files and a lot more choice when it comes
to the install location of your simulator.
If you haven’t already bought Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (We assume
you have already done so), we highly recommend the steam version.
However, if you did buy your version of the simulator via the Microsoft Store,
no worries. We have a lot of tricks to still be able to access all of the files
needed.
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1.1.2 Where do I find my PC specs?
Before we start, it is important to know the specifications of your PC. this
because, in chapter 1.1.3, we give you four different PC specification classes so
you can determine which settings are the best for you to use! But what if you
don’t know what your PC specifications are? Don’t worry, we will explain
where to find them.
How to find your CPU and RAM specifications:
► Go to File Explorer
► Right-click on the This PC
► Click on Properties
► Here you can see your CPU and RAM information
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How to find your GPU specification:
► To go Search
► Search for Device Manager and click on the application
► Expand Display Adapters
► Here you can see what GPU is in your PC (In this example a NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 1080Ti)
We recommend writing down or saving your PC specifications somewhere
on your PC so you can easily find it. It is important to have access to your PC
specifications when using out Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Guide.
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1.1.3 PC Specs
Before we start with everything related to your Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020, we want to make clear what we mean when we talk about a Low-end,
Medium-end, or High-end PC’s. We have listed baseline PC specifications
below so you can compare your PC specifications with the baselines stated
and determine where your PC fits in.
Keep in mind that with every version of a new flight simulator, the minimum
specification to run the software is getting better and better, meaning with
every new flight simulator that is released, you need an even better PC to
even be able to run it. This is especially the case with Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 compared to other flight simulators like Prepar3D or X-Plane.
We have adapted our PC spec classes to these recommendations by
Microsoft / Asobo while also combining it with our personal experience and
testing.
Low-end
Med-end
High-end
Ultra
CPU
I3 8XXX Series
/
Ryzen 3 3XXX
I5-7XXX series
/
Ryzen 5 3XXX
I7-6XXX Series
/
Ryzen 7 2XXX
I9-9XXX Series
/
Ryzen 9 3XXX
GPU
GTX 1650 /
GTX 1050TI /
RX 5500 XT
GTX 980 /
GTX 1660TI /
RX 5600 XT
GTX 1080TI /
RTX 2070 /
RX 5700 XT
RTX 2080
/
Better
RAM
8 GB
16 GB
16 GB
16+ GB
Storage
Slow/Fast HDD
Fast HDD / SSD
Fast SSD
Fast SSD
Also, keep in mind that your PC may fall in the middle of 2 of these classes. In
that case, you can try some different settings from the two classes your PC is
in the middle of to see what works the best for you.
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2. Installing FS2020
The process of installing and updating Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is
quite straightforward, but there are some things you can do to improve the
way your simulator runs on your PC with the tricks we will discuss in this
chapter. These things are things that everybody should know when using
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
2.1
Steam Version
2.1.1 Install location
To start the Installation, we click on the big blue button install.
How to Install Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 in a different location:
(Note: This install location will only affect the content folders. The application folder
will always be installed in the same windows apps folder)
► If you want a desktop/start menu shortcut, you can select it here.
► Click on the drop-down menu
► Here you can select your install location
► We can now choose between locations that already exist, or you can create
a new folder for installation
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We recommend creating a separate folder for Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020
► Select the: Create new steam library on the drive X:\
► Here we have the option to select any folder or any disk to Install on. If you
found your location, you can click on New folder and name the folder to your
liking. Now click next, and the install will commence
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2.1.2 Access Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 folder
There are a few ways to access your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 folder the
easiest one is as follows:
► Open steam.
► Right-click on Microsoft Flight simulator 2020
► Click on properties.
► Select the LOCAL FILES tap.
► Select: browse local files.
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2.1.3 Run as admin
You must always run Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 as admin. This will give
the simulator the necessary permissions in windows to do what it has to do
and use the files it has to use without being held back by windows because
it’s not running as admin. There is an easy way to set run as admin as default
for MSFS 2020, Follow the steps below.
► Find your FlightSimulator.Exe
(See chapters 3.1.2 & 3.2.2 for location)
► Right-click on the FlightSimulator.Exe
► Click on Properties
► Now click on Compatibility
► Look for the Run this program as an administrator setting
► Make sure the box in front of Run this program as an administrator is
ticked
► Now click Apply
► And now click OK
Now every time you launch your simulator, it will, by default, run as admin,
and it will always have the necessary permission it needs without you having
to think about launching as an admin every time you want to start a flight.
2.1.4 Updating
Updating Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be done by steam
automatically. Updating MSFS 2020 is a lot easier compared to the older
version of the flight simulator, no need to fully uninstall and reinstall your
simulator for every update.
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2.1.5 Reinstalling
Sometimes when your simulator gets corrupt or isn’t working properly, a
reinstall might be the best solution. The reinstalling process has been made a
lot more simple than the previous version of the flight simulator because of
the stores (Steam & Microsoft Store) that the new MSFS 2020 uses. Most of
the uninstall reinstall process goes via these stores. However, you do have to
check if all the folders and files related to the simulator are deleted after the
uninstall. Sometimes files and folders can be left behind, and with these files
and folders left behind, your reinstall will be useless if these files and folders
are the cause of your problems.
How to reinstall Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (Steam edition):
► Open steam.
► Right-click on Microsoft Flight simulator
► Click on properties
► Select LOCAL FILES
► Click on the Uninstall game button.
When uninstalled, please check if the following folders are no longer present:
► X:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Local\FlightSimulator
► X:\SteamLibary\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (Or your own selected
install folder)
► X:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_xxxxxx_x64__xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_8wekyb3d8bbwe
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe
If 1 of these folders are still on your computer, please delete them manually
before you start the installation process.
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2.2 Microsoft Store Version
2.2.1 Install location
When installing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 using the Microsoft Store,
you don’t have much choice when it comes to the install location (compared
to Prepar3D or the steam edition of MSFS 2020). We recommend installing
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on a Solid-State Drive (SSD). This because of
the faster loading times you can achieve when using an SSD. After selecting a
drive to install Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on you can find your main
simulator folder in the following location:
► Usually X:/WindowsApps
After installing, you will be able to start up your simulator. You still have 90 GB
left to download and install. This will be done when first starting up your
simulator, and the speed of this task obviously depends on your internet
speed.
Before installing the rest of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 you can choose a
different install location for the simulator content, we recommend creating a
separate folder on your disk for this data so you and your simulator can get
easy access to this data.
19
Click on browse… to select the folder you have created for Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020. When done, select update, and the full installation will
start.
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2.2.2 Access Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 folder
To get access to the Microsoft Flight Simulator roots folder is more difficult
than with any previous flight simulator you may have used (When using
the Microsoft Store version). The simulator has two main folders. One for
the application data and 1 for the content in your simulator
(Airports/aircraft).
The content folder is easily accessible without any hurdles. The application
folder, on the other hand, is protected and not accessible by default.
However, it can be the case that you want to access your application folder
regardless. We have found a way to do this and change the permission of
the folder so our users can access the main application folder and
customize your simulator like you are used to with other flight simulators
How to access the application folder:
► Find your WindowsApps folder (Usually C:/WindowsApps)
► Right-click on the folder
► Now click on Properties
► Go to security
► Click on advanced
► Now click on change
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► Find the Enter the object name to select section (White box)
► In that box, type: users
► Now click on check names, and if all goes well your PC name will appear
► Now click on OK until you have closed all of the windows.
► Now you have access to the WindowsApps folder. This is where the
application folder of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is located.
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2.2.3 Run as admin
You must always run Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 as admin. This will give
the simulator the necessary permissions in windows to do what it has to do
and use the files it has to use without being held back by windows because
it’s not running as admin. There is an easy way to set run as admin as default
for MSFS 2020, Follow the steps below.
► Find your FlightSimulator.Exe
(See chapters 3.1.2 & 3.2.2 for location)
► Right-click on the FlightSimulator.Exe
► Click on Properties
► Now click on Compatibility
► Look for the Run this program as an administrator setting
► Make sure the box in front of Run this program as an administrator is
ticked
► Now click Apply
► And now click OK
Now every time you launch your simulator, it will, by default, run as admin,
and it will always have the necessary permission it needs without you having
to think about launching as an admin every time you want to start a flight.
2.2.4 Updating
Updating Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be done by the Microsoft store
automatically. Updating MSFS 2020 is a lot easier compared to the older
version of the flight simulator, no need to fully uninstall and reinstall your
simulator for every update.
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2.2.5 Reinstalling
Sometimes when your simulator gets corrupt or isn’t working properly, a
reinstall might be the best solution. The reinstalling process has been made a
lot more simple than the previous version of Microsoft Flight Simulator
because of the stores (Steam & Microsoft Store) that the new MSFS 2020 uses.
Most of the uninstall reinstall process goes via these stores. However, you do
have to check if all the folders and files related to the simulator are deleted
after the uninstall. Sometimes files and folders can be left behind, and with
these files and folders left behind, your reinstall will be useless if these files
and folders are the cause of your problems.
How to reinstall Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (Microsoft Store edition):
► Use the search function in windows to find ‘Add or remove programs’
► Find Microsoft Flight Simulator
► Click on Microsoft Flight Simulator
► Click Uninstall
When uninstalled, please check if the following folders are no longer present:
► X:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Local\FlightSimulator
► X:\MSFS 2020 (Or your own selected install folder)
► X:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_xxxxxx_x64__xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_8wekyb3d8bbwe
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe
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3. Things you should know as a P3D /
XP user
Most of our users have probably used either Prepar3D or X-Plane in the past
when flying in the virtual skies. These 2 are great simulators in their own right.
There are a lot of changes made in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 compared
to these previous simulators. In this chapter, we will go over the main
differences you need to know about when using Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020.
3.1
Differences
3.1.1 Settings
When it comes to settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, there has been
a big change compared to Prepar3D / X-Plane. These settings are easier to
understand and use. This because almost all of the settings are configurable
from Off to Ultra. Compared to Prepar3D / X-Plane, where there were a lot
more names for the different settings you could choose, the ground texture
resolution went from 60 cm to 5 cm compared to the low to ultra-settings in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Behind the low to ultra presets, the settings
are still as complex as they were in Prepar3D / X-Plane but easier for the users
to understand (Although the low to ultra-settings still have a lot of secrets, we
go over these in detail in chapter 10).
Another thing to remember is that the settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 are more based on ‘How good does something look’ than ‘How much of
it is rendered in your simulator.’ Let’s take the buildings setting as an example
so you get a good view of what we mean by this. The amount of buildings
that will be rendered is not controlled by the ‘Buildings’ setting like you
would expect if you come from the world or Prepar3D / X-Plane, where the
autogen setting does increase the number of buildings seen out of the
window.
Instead, the buildings setting in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 controls the
sharpness of the edges and the resolution at which the buildings are
displayed in your simulator. This is a different we have obviously worked with
a lot when writing and designing this guide, nothing for you as a pilot to
worry about. But something to keep in mind when working with the settings
in chapter 10.
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3.1.2 Looks
The look of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is different from anything we have
seen before, it looks very good, and a lot of features we have wished for years
in Prepar3D / X-Plane are default features in this brand-new simulator. The
new lighting engine is amazing, and you can survive a cruise from
Amsterdam to Los Angeles, just looking at the beautiful clouds out of the
window. This is a huge step from Prepar3D / X-Plane where you had to use a
lot of addons to get a better and realistic looking simulator, this is no longer
the case, and we think they did a great job when it comes to the graphics
engine of the new simulator.
Some people have been complaining that the simulator looks too ‘Arcady’
and want to find a way to make it look more realistic. We see the point these
people want to make, and if at RDPresets we find a way to change/improve
the look of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, we will undoubtedly make use of
this and start making ‘Presets’ for the new simulator. For now, we have not
found a real way to change the look of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, but
when we do, our customers will be the first to know.
3.1.3 The world and airports
The scenery is something that has changed dramatically but has also
remained the same in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. We world and
everything apart from the airports are directly loaded from Bing Maps. This is
an amazing feature (Maybe the best feature of the simulator). It gives you the
feeling you are in the real world. You are now able to do REAL VFR flying via
points of interest and use the VFR charts that are used in real life in your
simulator.
However, there is one very important thing to remember about this world
you see out of the window. The data that is used to create this beautiful world
is from 2003. This means that a lot of things in the world are very outdated.
This is something you have to keep in mind when flying, especially for the
VFR pilots. If you do want the most accurate and up-to-date cities, you have
to buy a 3rd party addon to implement this into your Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020.
Speaking of 3rd party sceneries, this brings us the airports in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020. In total, 40 airports in the world are handcrafted by the Asobo
team, the rest of the airports are auto-generated and are far from ‘True to
real-life.’
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The following handcrafted airports are included in your version of MSFS 2020:
Standard edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 includes:
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The extra five handcrafted airports included in the Deluxe edition are:
The extra five handcrafted airports included in the Premium edition are:
When it comes to the airports, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is quite similar
to the other simulators. If you want to fly to an airport you don’t own, you can
either fly to the default version of that airport (Which is automatically
generated and doesn’t look good) or you will have to you the airport you want
to fly to separately from a 3rd Party developer. More and more handcrafted
airports will be available when time progresses, and more developers release
their sceneries for MSFS 2020.
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3.1.4 Camera
The camera system in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is very different from
the default camera systems from any of the simulators you are used to. It is
very much focused on switching views using shortcuts.
The camera system in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has a lot more features
than any previous camera system in other simulators, which is great. You do,
however, have to configure everything properly to have a camera that feels
good and is nice to use. We go into much more detail about the camera
system in chapter 10.2, make sure you follow the instructions in chapter 10.2
closely. This because camera settings can make a huge difference in your
MSFS 2020 experience.
3.1.5 Performance
Performance is a big subject when it comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 and probably 1 of the reasons why you bought this guide. Important to
remember when it comes to performance is that you shouldn’t expect any
big FPS numbers from the new simulator. It is modern software, which is a
big step in the right direction, but with this come a lot of new features and
graphic enhancement that will take up the extra resources now available for
the simulator to use. Expect your CPU and GPU to be driven to the max when
running Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
When it comes to what to expect around the subject of performance in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, it is quite simple. About the same as with the
older simulators. The important things haven’t changed. Smoothness, FPS
and VRAM are the most important factors when it comes to your
performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and doesn’t think you have a
‘bad performing’ PC when you are flying around with 30 FPS, this is
completely normal because all of the new visuals take their toll on your PC. In
conclusion, the FPS numbers will be the same compared to the older
simulators, but you will have a lot more beautiful visuals to look at. The
Visuals/performance ratio has increased dramatically with this brand new
simulator.
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4. Windows
Windows settings can also play a massive part in the performance of your
simulator. Because everything you do runs on windows, you have to make
sure that your windows settings are optimal for your use, in this case, running
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 with the best performance possible.
In this chapter, we will make sure that all the settings in your windows are the
optimal ones for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and make sure Windows will
not hold your simulator back from giving you the best possible experience.
4.1
Power plan
Setting the right Power plan in for your operating system can help improve
performance in your simulator by making sure the components in your PC
get the maximum amount of power so they can provide the best possible
performance.
By default, your operating system will try to turn down the power supply
when it thinks it’s not needed. But in our case, we never want windows to
turn down the power and, as an effect, turn down the performance in
Prepar3D. To prevent this from happening, we will switch to a different power
plan in windows. Follow the steps below.
► Open search
► Search for Choose a Power Plan
► Choose the Power plan called: High Performance
After selecting High Performance as your new power plan, we can edit this
plan in detail to optimize it even more for Prepar3D. Follow the steps below
► Click on change plan settings
► Click on Change advanced power settings
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4.1.1 Hard disk
To prevent windows from turning down your hard disk, make sure the
setting is as followed:
4.1.2 Processor power management
To make sure your CPU is running on 100% and not be turned down by
windows so it can to provide the best performance in your sim match the
following settings:
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4.2 Defender
To people who use Windows Defender as an Anti-Virus program, we
recommend adding an exception for Prepar3D.exe and other folders related
to Prepar3D V5. The defender can cause your simulator to stutter when
Defender is scanning for viruses in your simulator folders. Follow the steps
below to add exceptions to Defender for Prepar3D. We recommend the
following folders/programs you exclude from the defender.
► Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Installation main folder (Folder)
► Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 content folder
How to add an exception to Windows Defender:
► Open search
► Search for Windows Defender Settings
► Click on Virus & Threat protection
► Click on Virus & Threat protection settings
► Scroll down to Exclusions and click on Add or remove exclusions
► Click on Add an exclusion and select the type of thing you want to exclude
(File, Folder, Process)
► Now locate one of the three things above that we recommend you exclude
► When found, click on the folder to mark it blue as ‘selected.’
► Then click open in the right lower corner
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4.3 Other anti-virus programs
To people who use other Anti-Virus programs to protect their PC. We
recommend you too to exclude Prepar3D and the following folder from your
anti-virus program.
► Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Installation main folder (Folder)
► Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 content folder
This because of the same reasons mentioned above, preventing your
simulator from stuttering while flying because your anti-virus program is
scanning the files in your Prepar3D folder
4.4 Windows game mode
We at RDPresets get a lot of questions regarding Windows Game Mode.
People ask if they should use it with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to boost
performance in their simulator.
We don’t recommend the use of game mode with Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 because we think game mode isn’t optimized for use with a program
like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and you are better off not using game
mode and running the settings for windows that can be found in this guide.
4.5 Hyper-threading
There are a lot of myths about hyper-threading in the flight simulator
community. We will explain what it does, and if you should use hyperthreading with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 or not, Processors that have
the hyper-threading feature will use processor resources more efficiently and
will enable multiple threads to be run on a single core.
This will result in improved performance. In the 32-bit period of Flight
Simulators like FSX or FS2004, some people were suggesting that running
without hyper-threading would improve performance in-sim. However, this
may have been the case for a few back in the 32-bit days.
With the very modern software that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is, there
is no reason not to use hyper-threading. We recommend running hyperthreading if your processor is equipped with this feature.
33
5. Nvidia
GPU drivers and settings can play a significant role in the performance of
your simulator. However, in the last few years, with the new generation of
flight simulators, the Nvidia drivers have become less critical.
This, however, does not mean there is nothing to gain in the Nvidia settings
department, as some people suggest. There are still quite some
tricks/settings you need to apply to your system to get the most out of your
GPU.
5.1
Nvidia control panel
Nvidia control panel is the software on your PC that controls most settings
when it comes to your GPU drivers. Here you are able to change the settings
of your GPU when running Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This will give you
better performance when flying.
How to find/open the Nvidia control panel:
► Right‐click the Windows desktop
► click NVIDIA Control Panel from the menu
► Manage 3D settings
► Select program: FlightSimulator.Exe
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5.2 Nvidia driver version
We recommend the use of the latest version of the Nvidia drivers available.
This because the latest Nvidia drivers are created for use with the modern
software that is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Nvidia driver version 452,06 is
a driver optimized for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Make sure
when checking your Nvidia driver version, you have version 452,06 or newer.
In the past older Nvidia drivers may have performed better when used
together with the older simulator like FSX, but nowadays, the latest Nvidia
drivers are the best ones to use.
35
5.3 Nvidia Control Panel settings
The Nvidia control panel can add a lot to your simulator when it comes to
performance and visuals. We have put a lot of hours into testing different
settings in the control panel to improve the simulator in most areas possible,
and we think we have found setting that really well when it comes to
performance as well as visuals. Not all of the settings we discuss in this
chapter are available for every GPU. Don’t worry if 1 or 2 of the settings don’t
appear in your Nvidia control panel. Make sure you apply all of the settings
that do appear in your Nvidia control panel
5.3.1 Image sharpening
The Image Sharpening filter that was first released in NVIDIA Freestyle has
now been added to the NVIDIA Control Panel. This addition provides an easy
one-click method of applying Image Sharpening globally to all DirectX 9, 10,
11, 12, Vulkan, and OpenGL games. Sharpness can be adjusted, and it is a great
extra sharpening to have in your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
5.3.2 Low latency mode
Low latency mode reduces latency by limiting the number of frames the CPU
can prepare before the frames are processed by the GPU. This improves FPS
in your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
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5.3.3 OpenGL rendering GPU
OpenGL rendering GPU lets you select which GPU to use for OpenGL
applications. If one GPU from an SLI or Mosaic group is selected, then all
GPUs in that group are used. It improves performance when you select your
own GPU from the list.
5.3.4 Power management mode
Power management mode lets you set how your graphics card's
performance level changes when running most DirectX or OpenGL 3D
applications. This way, Nvidia will give priority to giving you the best
performance possible, and this is obviously what we want when flying.
5.3.5 Preferred refresh rate
The preferred refresh rate setting lets you override the refresh rate limitations
imposed by the 3D application for the indicated monitor. This is particularly
useful when viewing games in 3D stereo. We obviously want the highest
refresh rate possible in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and this setting helps
with achieving just that.
5.3.6 Texture filtering – Anisotropic sample option
Anisotropic sample option improves performance by limiting trilinear filtering
to the primary texture stage where the general appearance and color of
objects is determined. This improves performance with minimal loss in image
quality. This setting only affects DirectX programs. With this setting on, we
improve the FPS in your flight simulator with a minimal loss in image quality,
which is great!
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5.3.7 Texture filtering – negative LOD bias
Negative LOD bias determines if a negative level of detail bias is used to
sharpen texture filtering. This setting on allow will determine what is best
when running Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and does a great job at
improving performance.
5.3.8 Texture filtering - Quality
Texture filtering quality allows you to decide if you would prefer performance,
quality, or a balance between the two. The NVIDIA Control Panel will make all
of the appropriate 3D image adjustments based on your preference. High
performance offers the highest frame rate possible, resulting in the best
performance for your applications. This setting in the Nvidia control panel
improves performance with the minimal amount of visuals quality loss (Not
noticeable)
5.3.9 Vertical sync
We don’t want to use Vertical sync with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
because it only limits performance in our case, it may have provided you with
a smooth gaming experience in other software, but we highly recommend
not using it with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 because it only limits
performance.
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5.4 Shader cache
When using older flight simulator software like FSX, there was a benefit in
turning shader cache off because it reduced VAS and decreased the risk of
OOM. Because all software nowadays is 64 bit, turning shader cache off has
no real benefit for PCs with enough RAM.
The minimum VRAM for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is 2 GB. It is.
However, a real struggle staying below this 2 GB and avoiding an out of
memory error during flight. If you are struggling with out of memory errors,
you can turn this setting OFF and save some VRAM when flying. (Important
to note is that this setting does help a little bit with saving VRAM, but if you
are really struggling with this subject, you should continue to chapters: 9.2
and 14.2 to find out more to fix your issues).
5.5 FPS limiter
Together with Vsync, FPS limiters are something from the past and not useful
anymore in the current generation of flight simulators.
There is not much more to say about FPS limiters than that without the use
together with Vsync, and syncing it with your monitors refresh rate only limits
your performance, and we obviously don’t want that. So stay away from FPS
limiters when using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
5.6 VSync
In the past, with the older software flight simulators and lower FPS numbers,
using Vsync was a good thing to do, so the FPS you were getting was more
synced up with your monitor resulting in a better and smoother looking
simulator.
However, with the higher FPS numbers and modern software that is Flight
Simulator 2020, this is no longer necessary. We recommend not using Vsync.
Avoid both the NVidia control panel Vsync as well as the in-game VSync. This
only limits your in-sim performance
39
5.7 Updating Nvidia drivers
When updating your Nvidia drivers, we recommend you use the DDU tool,
short for Display Driver Uninstaller. This tool will make sure everything to do
with the driver is removed before you install the new driver.
This tool will give you the best possible install and will prevent any corruption
or issues you might otherwise have. Which can result in weird performance
drops in your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
You can download this freeware tool on the Guru3D site when you search for
the DDU tool on Google. When you have downloaded the DDU tool, we
recommend you use the ‘Clean and restart’ setting.
To get the best possible result. One last tip, make sure you download the new
Nvidia driver before you uninstall your old driver, without any drivers installed
after the uninstall it can be challenging to navigate on the internet and
download the driver.
5.8 Nvidia control panel issues
Adjust image settings with preview is a setting in the Nvidia control panel
that, in the past, could give you some extra FPS in your flight simulator. When
testing this setting in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, we noticed that
everything becomes blurry in the simulator.
This is a tweak you shouldn’t be used with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, so
if you were running this setting with your previous simulator, make sure you
select ‘Use the advanced 3D image settings’ setting.
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5.9 SLI
For people running more than one GPU (using SLI) in their system, it’s key to
get the most out of both GPU’s so you get the best possible performance in
your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
There are a few key settings and features in the Nvidia control panel that will
help you achieve this and get the most out of your SLI setup
5.9.1 Configure SLI
In the Nvidia control panel under the Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX tab, you
will find some significant settings regarding SLI. Make sure that the SLI
configuration is set to Maximize 3D performance.
Otherwise, your simulator will not get the most out of your SLI setup. And for
PhysX settings, we recommend you set it to auto-select as this is the
recommended setting and works well
Recommended setting:
[SLI configuration]: Maximize 3D performance
[PhysX settings]: Auto-select (recommended)
5.9.2 SLI Rendering mode
Another setting that is important for you as an SLI user is to make sure that
the SLI rending mode is set to Nvidia recommended. You will find this setting
in the Nvidia control panel when you go to Manage 3D settings and in the
global settings list.
Recommended setting:
[SLI Rendering mode]: Nvidia recommended
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6. AMD
Radeon drivers and settings can also play a significant role in the
performance of your simulator. However, in the last year with the new version
of Prepar3D, the Radeon drivers have become less critical, there are still some
tricks/settings to get the most out of your Radeon GPU drivers.
6.1
Radeon settings
How to open the AMD Radeon Settings Panel:
► Right-click the Windows desktop
► Click AMD Radeon Settings from the menu
► Click on the Gaming tab
► Click on the add button
► Click on the Browse button
► Now search for your FlightSimulator.exe
► Click on the open button
► And now you can click on the FlightSimulator.exe profile
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6.2 Radeon driver version
We recommend the use of the latest version of the Radeon drivers available.
This because the latest Radeon drivers are created for use with the modern
software that is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
In the past older Radeon drivers may have performed better when used
together with the older simulator like FSX, but nowadays, the latest Radeon
drivers are the best ones to use.
6.3 FPS limiter
Together with VSync, FPS limiters are something from the past and not
useful anymore in the current generation of flight simulators. There is not
much more to say about FPS limiters than that without the use together with
VSync, and syncing it with your monitors refresh rate only limits your
performance, and we obviously don’t want that. So, stay away from FPS
limiters when using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
6.4 Updating Radeon drivers
When updating your Radeon drivers, we recommend you use the DDU tool,
short for Display Driver Uninstaller. This tool will make sure everything to do
with the driver is removed before you install the new driver. This will give you
the best possible install and will prevent any corruption or issues you might
otherwise have.
Which can result in weird performance drops in your Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020. You can download this freeware tool on the Guru3D website
when you search for ‘the DDU tool’ on Google.
When you have downloaded the DDU tool, we recommend you use the
‘Clean and restart’ setting to get the best possible result. And last but not
least, make sure you downloaded the new Radeon driver before you uninstall
your old driver, without any drivers installed after the uninstall it can be
complicated to navigate on the internet and download the driver.
43
7. Overclocking for FS2020
Overclocking is a heavily discussed subject in the Flight Simulation
community. There are a lot of myths out there about the effect of
overclocking on Flight Simulation software and how you should be or should
not be doing it. We will give you all of this information in this chapter.
However, overclocking is a difficult subject for us at RDPresets, we have tried
to expand this chapter as much as possible throughout the version of our
guides, but we will never be able to go in too much specific detail when it
comes to overclocking.
This because every component (Even your PC case) influences how your PC
performances with different kinds of overclocks and the fact that the
combination of components our users are using are endless means we can’t
go into as much detail as we may have wanted in this chapter. Nevertheless,
this chapter is still very useful if you are trying to decide if you even should
consider overclocking your PC when it comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020.
7.1
Does overclocking benefit your performance in
MSFS 2020
Yes, but the extent to which it improves framerates will depend on the CPU
and GPU. The overclocking of the CPU is likely to give the right amount of
boost to your fps (The FPS increase depends on the GPU in your PC).
But don’t forget the GPU, the GPU was a less important part of your PC in
other flight simulators like Prepar3D, but with the new graphics introduced in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 The GPU overclock will for sure give you an
FPS boost (The FPS increase depends on the GPU in your PC). Keep in mind
that not all CPU or GPU’s can be overclocked. Also, keep in mind you can if
you’re not careful enough, you will damage your CPU / GPU.
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7.2 CPU overclocking
Overclocking your CPU can give your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 a boost
in performance. But when you overclock a CPU, a couple of things happen.
The chip runs hotter and uses more power. Both factors can lead to problems
if you are using the stock cooler supplied with the CPU. We DON’T
recommend using the overclock feature in this guide if you use a stock
cooler.
Overclocking your CPU can void its warranty. AMD and Intel typically don`t
cover overclocking. Motherboard manufacturers may or may not cover
overclocking. If you`re concerned, check the warranty wording before trying.
Before you start overclocking, you need to determine what you have. The
CPU may not even support overclocking. Most recent CPU`s from AMD,
especially Ryzen can overclock. For Intel, you can only overclock if there is a ‘K’
or an ‘X’ at the end of the CPU name. For example, if the name of the CPU is:
I7-9700K, you can overclock it. If the name is like I5-9600, you can`t overclock
it.
Because there are so many variables when it comes to CPU overclocking, we
will not go into detail in this guide. We can’t give
recommendations/suggestions that will work for everybody and on every
system. We do recommend you keep within the logical limits of your
hardware not to damage your hardware because that’s not worth to potential
few extra FPS you will see in your simulator.
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7.3 GPU overclocking
Overclocking your GPU can give your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 a boost
in performance and faster loading times on textures. The effect of a GPU
overclock is less noticeable than a CPU overclock but can still be relevant for
you if your GPU is capable of being overclocked. When you overclock a GPU, a
couple of things happen. The chip in the GPU runs hotter and uses more
power. Both factors can lead to problems if you are not careful, and you use
too much power. Your GPU can crash and the same thing for the heat.
But don’t worry. Its failsafe mechanism will kick in before it burst into flames.
The worst that can happen is crashes, freezes, or black screens. Overclocking
your GPU can void its warranty. If you`re concerned, check the warranty
wording before trying. Every GPU is different. For example, your GTX 1080
may be able to safely overclock to a higher speed than your friend’s GTX 1080.
As a result, you must test your overclocking speeds to find the sweet spot.
Like we said in the CPU overclocking section, we will not go into detail in this
guide. We can’t give recommendations/suggestions that will work for
everybody and on every system. We do recommend you keep within the
logical limits of your hardware not to damage your hardware because that’s
not worth to potential few extra FPS you will see in your simulator.
Most GPU’s can easily be overclocked via the tools/drivers that come with the
GPU from the GPUs brand (MSI, ASUS, etc.), we highly recommend using
those tools when overclocking your GPU and maybe even select the
‘Overclock’ profile that is already saved and provided in that tool, so you don’t
have to worry about it yourself and still be able to enjoy the extra bit of
performance that comes from overclocking your GPU
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8. Understanding your settings
8.1
CPU vs GPU heavy settings
In this chapter, we show you which settings depend on what part of your PC.
Some of the settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 depend/use the GPU
others the CPU, and some use both equally, we have used these test results
when determining the recommended settings for the different PC classes, so
you yourself don’t have to worry about this. However, we thought this
information is still very much worth sharing.
One general pattern we saw when testing is that the GPU is more important
with this brand new flight simulator than ever seen before in any other flight
simulator (Prepar3D, X-Plane), other simulators are usually much more CPU
dependent.
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8.2 VRAM
8.2.1 Texture resolution
The texture resolution setting is another one of those sets where you can
easily the same some VRAM by turning the setting down without sacrificing
too much of the great visuals Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has to offer. If
you are having issues with VRAM usage, we recommend turning this setting
down to easily save in the hundreds of MB’s of VRAM
Recommended setting:
[VRAM save setting]: 1 setting below your recommended setting in chapter 10
8.2.2 Volumetric clouds
The volumetric clouds in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 do impact your
performance as well as your VRAM. Luckily the clouds in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 always look good no matter what setting you are running.
Only when you get up close and personal with the clouds, you start to see a
big difference between the settings. We recommend if you are having issues
with VRAM usage, you turn this setting to down.
Recommended setting:
[VRAM save setting]: 1 setting below your recommended setting in chapter 10
8.2.3 Terrain shadows
Terrain shadows can also save you some VRAM when flying. This setting sets
the resolution at which the terrain shadows are drawn. If you are having
VRAM issues, this is a setting you get lower to get rid of your out of memory
errors
Recommended setting:
[VRAM save setting]: 1 setting below your recommended setting in chapter 10
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8.2.4 Screen resolution
Last but not least is your screen resolution. If you are running Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 on anything above the 1K resolution and after tying every
VRAM save setting stated below, you should consider running your simulator
with a lower resolution. By reducing the number of pixels, your GPU has to
render. It also reduces the amount of VRAM your GPU needs to do so.
Recommended setting:
[VRAM save setting]: 1080p
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8.3 What are our recommendations based on?
Our recommendations in chapter 10 are based on a balance between visuals
and performance. Keep in mind that we did not take VRAM into account in
chapter 10, this is something that is discussed in chapter 9 separately
because VRAM is something that differs from PC to PC within PC classes. This
is why if you have issues with running out of VRAM when using our
recommended settings for your PC class in chapter 10, you can use the
recommendations in chapter 9 on top of the settings you set following the
chapter 10 recommendations.
Back to the subject, ‘What our recommendations are based on.’ We aim to
have to best balance between performance and visuals by looking at when
the performance loss is for a setting and what you get in return when it
comes to the extra visuals. Some settings don’t impact FPS at all but help to
improve your visuals a lot, and other settings have a significant impact on
your FPS but add so little to the visuals of your simulator that it is not worth
running with this setting in a high category.
Apart from the performance/visual’s ratio, we use for our recommendations.
We also use the information we shared with you in chapter 9.1. To determine
what settings have to be turned down when running Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 with a lower spec PC compared to running with a higher spec
PC. Users of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 often make the mistake that
users with a lower-end PC think they have to turn down every setting to
make their simulator run well, this isn’t the case. Some settings have more of
an impact on performance than others. This means that some settings don’t
have to be run on a minimum when using a lower-end PC; this has all been
taken into account in our recommendations in chapter 10.
And maybe most importantly is all of the testing with the different PC specs
to see what works and what doesn’t work! After hundreds of hours of testing,
we are confident we can provide our users with the best settings to use with
their PC and enjoy their Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to the maximum.
These factors, together with a lot of others, are the base for our
recommendations. Now you know what our recommendations are based on
continue to chapter 10 and enjoy our recommendations in your Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020!
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9. MSFS 2020 General Settings
9.1
Graphics
9.1.1 General
IMPORTANT NOTE: When changing any settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020, you have to restart your simulator to have your new settings
implemented. Not all settings can be changed when the software is running.
So if you want to check the results of your new settings, restart your Microsoft
Flight Simulator after you have changed the settings.
VFR vs IFR
In the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, we recommend different settings for
flying IFR or VFR. This because something settings are more important than
others when it comes to these two different flight rules. Also, we have taken
into account that when flying IFR, you most likely are flying a complex airliner
into a busy international airport, which is a lot harder on your PC than flying
VFR with a Cessna into a local airport.
This gives you the best possible visuals during your low altitude VFR flights
and the best combination of visuals and performance when flying your
complex airliners into big-name destinations such as Los Angeles. We also
recommend you switch between these settings when switching between
these 2 flight rules. Or choosing one you do the most and fly with those
settings, both VFR and IFR.
9.1.1.1
Display mode
When it comes to display mode, it is all up to your own preference. There is no
performance difference between the settings anymore like there was in
Prepar3D or FSX. So, you can choose what you like best with this setting. We
do recommend and use windowed mode ourselves. This because it is much
easier to switch to other applications when flying (Looking at charts as an
example)
Recommended setting:
[All users]: Own preference
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9.1.1.2
Fullscreen resolution
To have your Microsoft Flight Simulator display in the same resolution as your
monitor, you have to select your monitor's native resolution, going higher has
no visual gain but only a big performance loss. One thing for the 4K users to
keep in mind is that running a 4K resolution in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 has a big influence on the performance in-sim. And during testing, we
found no ‘Big’ gain in visuals when using 4K. So, if you are running MSFS 2020
and you struggle with FPS (Not reaching numbers above 30 fps), consider
lowering your resolution to 2K. This will easily save you a few frames per
second.
These are the numbered resolutions used in most monitors:
‘1k monitor’ = 1920x1080
‘2k monitor’ = 2048x1440
‘4k monitor’ = 3840x2160
Recommended setting:
[All users]: Native Monitor Resolution
9.1.1.3
HDR10
One of the latest graphics enhancements is High Dynamic Range (HDR). This
feature affects your gaming experience in multiple ways: manifold color
performance, deeper saturation, more diverse contrast, brighter highlights,
and darker shadows. All these individual tweaks upgrade your immersive
experience to the next level with more realistic and lifelike pictures. But not
only does the improved quality result in an immersive feeling and eye candy,
but it can also give you a cutting edge in-game, too. HDR can’t be switched
off in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and if you could, we still would highly
recommend running with HDR on.
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9.1.1.4
Global rendering quality
Here you can select global setting presets from low to ultra and this will give
you a preset of settings when it comes to the advanced settings below
because these settings are far from optimal we will be changing the
advanced settings extensively, meaning you don’t need this global rendering
quality setting and should continue to the advanced settings.
When changing any setting in the advanced settings, tap this setting will
automatically be switched to Custom, which is the setting we want.
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9.1.2 Advanced settings
The advanced settings tab in Microsoft Flight simulator 2020 is where it gets
interesting, and we get a lot of freedom to change whatever we want. This is
also where visuals/performance is gained and very much lost.
We will go through every setting extensively and tell you everything you need
to know and what setting to use, starting with V-Sync.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When changing any settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020, you have to restart your simulator to have your new settings
implemented. Not all settings can be changed when the software is running.
So, if you want to check the results of your new settings, restart your
Microsoft Flight Simulator after you have changed the settings.
9.1.2.1
V-Sync
V-Sync was an interesting setting to use in older simulators but when it
comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, we recommend everybody to turn
it off.
It only limits the performance in your simulator, and without your FPS being 1
to 1 synced with your monitors refresh rate, it has no use being ON and will
only decrease the amount of FPS you will get in your Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020.
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9.1.2.2
Rendering scaling
Render Scaling is a strange setting. Put simply. This modifies the resolution at
which Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 renders the graphics you see relative
to the native resolution you've selected. So if you're playing at 1080p and
choose 50 percent scaling, the actual render resolution is 960 x 540 or is you
are playing on 1080p and select 150, your actual render resolution will
increase to 2048x1440.
This setting can go up to 200%, but we have found that the performance in
your simulator drops dramatically when setting anything above 100 without
any real visual difference. We recommend never exceeding that no matter
how good your PC is. If you want to use a higher resolution, do it via your PC
itself and not via scaling up rendering in-simulator. The 100% setting will give
you rendering at your native monitor resolution.
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9.1.2.3
Anti-Aliasing
Anti-Aliasing is another interesting setting. We have done a lot of testing with
this setting because it can be very annoying when your Flight Simulator is full
of shimmers and blocky lines.
Aliasing in images can be described as stair-stepping lines or jagged edges
that are often found in lower-resolution displays. The jagged edges are visible
because the monitor or other output device isn't using a high enough
resolution to show the smooth line.
Anti-aliasing, then, is a technology that attempts to resolve the aliasing found
in the image. What we have noticed is that there is no performance
difference between any of the settings, meaning you should always run this
setting on its maximum of TAA. This will give you the best possible look
without any performance impact!
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9.1.2.4
Terrain level of detail
Terrain level of detail is a very important setting in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020, What it does is it sets how detailed the edges of terrain will be in your
simulator, this means that terrain and the rest of the world (Borders between
water and land, etc.) are sharp and defined like in the real world. However,
there are two things you need to know about this setting.
The first thing is that buildings are also included in the ‘Terrain.’ Meaning that
the higher this setting, the sharper and more defined your building in the
world will be (This makes a huge difference).
The second thing you need to know is that up until 100%, there is a big
difference between the settings and an acceptable decrease in performance
when increasing the setting.
When going past 100, there is almost no visual difference and a huge
performance decrease. We recommend never going above 100% with this
setting. When running 100%, you get an amazing looking world out of the
window without losing too much in-sim performance / FPS.
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9.1.2.5
Terrain vector data
When testing the Terrain vector data setting, we have discovered quite a few
weird things. We noticed that modern GPU’s 900/1000 series of GPU’s there
was no impact on the performance in the simulator when running the Ultra
setting here. But when looking at the lower end machines, we noticed that
there was a huge impact on the performance in-sim.
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9.1.2.6
Buildings
The building's setting is very different from the building settings you are used
to from other flight simulators like Prepar3D, X-Plane, or any other. The
number of buildings will always be the same in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020. Some of you may expect that this setting changes that.
The only thing this setting changes are the objects, extra details, and shading
on the buildings. It does not influence the number of buildings you see out of
the window. If you want to know how to change the sharpness of the
buildings, you should go back to 10.1.2.4 Terrain level of detail because this
setting changes nothing to do with the amount of definition the buildings
have.
When flying VFR, this setting is more important than when flying IFR
because you can more clearly see the difference and extra detail on the
buildings when flying VFR, this is why we have chosen for different
recommendations for the different flying types when it comes to this setting.
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9.1.2.7
Trees
The Trees setting in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has a lot in common with
the building's setting. Meaning the number of trees you see in your simulator
will always be the same no matter what setting you are running. But the
quality of the Trees increases when you increase this setting. When running
the low settings, the trees look weird and flat, but when switching to
medium, the trees become 3D a much more good look. The ultra-setting
increases the amount of 3D elements even more compared to medium, but
we don’t think you notice that when flying and we rather save some
performance with this setting.
9.1.2.8
Grass and bushes
This setting affects the amount of grass and bushes visible next to the
runway and other areas of the airports. It’s a nice little detail when flying but
not worth the FPS drop when going any further than the ‘High’ setting. This is
why we also recommend turning it off completely when your PC is on the
lower end.
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9.1.2.9
Objects level of detail
This is a setting that works hand in hand with Terrain level of detail, and we
recommend using the same value you have set for the Terrain level of detail
here as well. We recommend not going above 100% because of the same
reasons we discussed with other settings. The visual doesn’t change much/ at
all above 100, but there is a big performance hit, so keep it at or below 100,
and it will look and perform perfectly.
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9.1.2.10
Volumetric clouds
Volumetric clouds in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is something that sets
this new simulator apart from any other than has come before it. With all of
this new technology and innovation, the clouds have never looked so good,
and we enjoy looking at them every flight. However, the volumetric clouds
also have a big influence on your performance in the simulator, as well as a
negative influence on your VRAM usage.
When turning this setting to the max, the texture resolution of the clouds
change, meaning you get a lot more definition in the clouds compared to the
lower settings, this is the cause of the VRAM increase. When it comes to the
performance decrease, it is down to the GPU having to render all of the fluffy
clouds in the sky. This takes a lot of power and effort from your GPU.
We have chosen our recommendations based on these facts, and with these
settings, you can still enjoy the new good-looking clouds Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 has to offer without turning your Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 into a stop motion video.
If you are struggling with out of memory errors and you don’t have enough
VRAM, this is one of the settings you really want to turn down. You can read
more about this in chapter 9.2.
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9.1.2.11 Texture resolution
When it comes to the Texture resolution setting, we have found that it
doesn’t have any influence on your performance, but it does make your
cockpit textures A LOT sharper than with this setting on low.
There is only one thing that is affected by this setting on ultra, and that is your
VRAM usage. In our testing, the difference between low and ultra is about 1
GB of VRAM. If you are struggling with VRAM and out of memory errors, turn
this setting down. If not, set it to ultra.
For more info on VRAM usage go to chapter 9.2
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9.1.2.12 Anisotropic filtering
With the Anisotropic filtering option, you indicate how sharp your land and
water textures should be. The higher the value, the better the filtering. This
Filtering ensures that all textures in the distance are also clearly displayed.
The method behind this works as follows, if a texture in the distance is not
sharp enough, then Anisotropic Filtering ensures that the values of the
texture are changed. The surface stretches like this, but because your field of
vision also extends in the distance, the texture is sharper.
Again, we have tested this extensively, but there is no difference between any
of the settings, so we recommend running 16x because of the increased
beauty without any performance loss.
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9.1.2.13 Texture super sampling
Texture super sampling makes the lines in your Microsoft Flight Simulator
less laggy and blocky. This way, the textures in your simulator look smooth.
But this setting does have a huge impact on your performance, and the AntiAliasing setting discussed in chapter 10.1.2.3 achieves the same result without
any impact on your in-simulator performance.
We recommend running Anti-Aliasing on TAA like in chapter 10.1.2.3 and
Texture super sampling off to prevent any performance loss without visual
gain.
9.1.2.14 Texture synthesis
Texture synthesis is the process of algorithmically constructing a large digital
image from a small digital sample image by taking advantage of its structural
content. This is a modern game feature you really want to have on ultra.
Texture synthesis doesn’t have any effect on your performance but does
improve your visuals. We recommend everybody running this setting on
ultra.
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9.1.2.15 Water waves
As the name suggests, this setting determines the number of waves drawn
on the water in the simulator. In the past, water in a flight simulator could
really impact your performance. In this new version of Microsoft Flight
Simulator, this is still sort of true but not as much as in the past version.
Running Water waves on the medium setting will make the water look good
and natural without any performance hit. Going above medium and you find
out that there is not much to gain in terms of visuals, but you will lose quite a
few frames per second. We recommend running this setting on medium, no
need to go any higher.
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9.1.2.16 Shadow maps
Shadow maps determine in which resolution the aircraft shadows are drawn
on the ground. Shadows are less of a problem now in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020, so you can now enjoy much better-looking shadows at a
lower performance cost.
The 768, 1024 and 1536 all gave us the same performance result, stepping up
to 2048 will give you an extra loss (On average) of 4 fps. Based on this, the
difference between 2048 and 1536 is not big enough to take that step and
lose an extra four fps, so we recommend staying at 1536.
9.1.2.17 Terrain shadows
The terrain shadows setting has a lot in common with the shadow maps
setting. This setting determines the resolution shadows will be drawn on the
terrain by other terrain or clouds. In this case, there is not too much difference
when it comes to visuals between the option except the sharpness of the
edges. Follow the recommendations below for the best results.
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9.1.2.18 Contact shadows
Contact shadows add great extra visuals and depth to your simulator without
almost any impact on your performance. We noticed a drop of 1 FPS when
testing between the off and Ultra settings.
We recommend selecting Ultra because of this. There is no use in setting
anything lower than Ultra. You only lose visual without any performance gain.
9.1.2.19 Windshield effects
This setting increases the density of the raindrops and other effects/visuals on
your windshield during flight. The low medium and high settings gave us
almost the same performance but with high looking much better than low.
This is why we recommend everybody using at least high. The ultra-setting
adds even more drops and detail to effects on the windshield but does really
affect performance. Only try ultra is you really want, and you are using a very
good PC, otherwise, keep this setting at the high preset.
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9.1.2.20
Ambient occlusion
In 3D computer graphics, modeling, and animation, ambient occlusion is a
shading and rendering technique used to calculate how exposed each point
in a scene is to ambient lighting.
This setting can really impact your performance by using up all of your GPU
recourses. This effect makes using the ultra-setting for most PC’s impossible
(Tests showed a decrease of 25% when it comes to FPS compared to the off
setting).
We recommend not going higher than the High setting. When it comes to
the other settings, we FPS impact is not as extreme as with the ultra-setting.
If you are still experiencing FPS using when using our recommendation
below, select one setting lower (From High to Medium as an example). This
can help you relieve some load from your GPU, and by that, make your
simulator run smoother.
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9.1.2.21
Reflections
Reflections are an important part of the visuals in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020. It makes it look very realistic and alive. This setting influences the
quality of the reflections everywhere in the simulator, most notable are
aircraft reflections and water reflections.
But all of this reflection greatness comes at a price. This setting mostly
influences the GPU usage and will lose you around 4/5 FPS (On the
medium/high setting). If we start with the low-end users, we don’t
recommend turning on this setting at all. You will lose a lot of FPS that is
better spent elsewhere (Implemented in our recommendations). For the
other user, be careful with this setting.
If your PC is in between 2 PC classes, we recommend you try both and see
(Make sure you restart your simulator between changing settings) to see if
your GPU can handle the reflections.
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9.1.2.22
Light shafts
Light shafts are the light beams you see coming out of, for example, the
landing lights. This setting seems to be an on/off switch. Nothing changes
when changing from low to the ultra-setting.
You can turn this setting off if you are a low-end user really struggling with
GPU usage and FPS, but otherwise, we recommend setting light shafts to
ultra and enjoy the extra visuals.
9.1.2.23
Bloom
Bloom is a graphics effect that attempts to recreate the effect bright light has
on vision. The bloom setting has no impact on your performance in Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020, and we leave it up to our users to decide if they want
to use bloom or turn it off
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9.1.2.24
Depth of field
The depth of field setting only affects your view in the main menus and drone
mode. We have noticed no performance impact at all when using this
setting, but when in drone mode and trying to make a great screenshot, it
looks very good to have this on, so we recommend setting the depth of field
to ultra, so your screenshots look even better.
9.1.2.25
Lens correction
We have found no real purpose when using lens correction other than it
making your camera look cleaner from time to time, but there is no real visual
gain when using lens correction nor a performance impact, so we
recommend having lens correction off so you are sure it doesn’t affect your
simulator at all.
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9.1.2.26
Lens flare
Lens flare is a setting that was also present in Prepar3D, and it simulates the
camera lens artifact when looking at bright objects (Sun as an example). It
depends on your own preference if you want to use Lens flare or not.
We recommend turning it off because we want to simulate what you see as a
pilot out of the cockpit window and when looking at the sun with your own
eyes (With hopefully sunglasses), you wouldn’t see any lens flare. So, for the
most realistic look, we recommend turning it on, if you think it looks better on
you can also do so without any performance impact.
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9.2 Camera
9.2.1 Global settings
9.2.1.1 Camera selection
This is the camera you start off in when starting any flight (You can also look
at this as your ‘default view’. This is obviously your own preference, but we
recommend the Cockpit for the most realistic experience.
9.2.1.2
Quick view function
If you use the quick view buttons on your joystick or keyboard, you can
choose if the view returns to the default position when releasing the button,
or you have to select the button again to go back to the default view. We
recommend Hold because you can look at different things and take your
mouse of the hold press button to do other things in the cockpit without the
view automatically switching back when you release your quick view button.
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9.2.1.3
Smart camera
This setting is the same as the quick view function setting, but for the smart
camera in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, We recommend the same
settings as with quick view function.
9.2.1.4
Zoom function
The zoom function is a weird one. In manual mode, you can zoom in and out
using the scroll wheel on your mouse. This is the most natural way of zoom in
and out. In the focus mode, this changes, now you can zoom into the middle
of your screen when clicking on your right mouse button. This feels very
unnatural when testing, and we recommend to always have this setting on
manual to be able to control the amount of zoom yourself.
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9.2.1.5
Focus mode
With this setting, you can focus on 1 part of the cockpit. Here you have two
options, toggle. We recommend using the toggle setting here so you can use
your mouse for using different instruments in focus mode. When you are
done in that view, you can again select your focus mode toggle switch to
switch back to your previous / default POV.
9.2.2 Cockpit camera
9.2.2.1 Cockpit camera selection
Here you can choose what view you want to start off as a default in the
cockpit. This is obviously all your own preference and doesn’t need much
explanation.
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9.2.2.2 Freelook mode
With the free look mode setting, you can again choose between the toggle or
hold settings. For this one, we recommend using toggle so you can look
around in free look mode, and when done, you can switch back to your
previous / default POV. In hold mode, you have to hold your free look mode
key down while using this feature, which isn’t ideal.
9.2.2.3 Freelook reset
Here you can choose if you want your view to reset to your previous POV
before using free look mode or you want the view to return to your default
view when exiting free look mode. We recommend the Manual setting. We
find it very weird and annoying when this setting is in the auto position, and it
automatically resets you back to the default POV when you just want to look
around the cockpit. Always choose manual in our opinion
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9.2.2.4 Head up mode
Again you can choose between toggle and hold mode when it comes to the
head-up mode setting. Here we like to use the hold mode so we can just look
at what’s in front of the aircraft, and when done, just release the switch, and
your POV is reset.
9.2.2.5 Height
Now we have arrived in very interesting settings. When it comes to the next
couple of settings, we can change values related to the default view in the
cockpit. We have done a lot of testing with this with a lot of different aircraft,
and we have tried to make the default position as realistic as possible. This
means you will sit in the aircraft like a real pilot would sit in the aircraft. This
makes flying a lot easier because you will be able to see outside properly and
read of your instruments at the same time. When it comes to the camera
height, we have gone a little bit higher compared to default because we
found that you are too much in front of the screens with the default height of
50, and now with this setting at 60, you are in a much more realistic POV.
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9.2.2.6 Horizontal position
The horizontal position in the cockpit is correct by default in all aircraft, so
there is no need to change this based on a realism point of view. If you like to
sit in the middle of the cockpit by default, you can by setting this setting at
100, but we recommend 50 for the most realistic view.
9.2.2.7 Zoom
The default zoom is 50 in MSFS 2020. We have looked at this setting in
different aircraft and found that 55 just looks a little bit more realistic, in our
opinion. This setting also depends on the size of your monitor, when you have
a bigger monitor, you may want to zoom out a bit more for a more realistic
look. But on most of our test screens, the zoom level 55 by default looks best.
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9.2.2.8
Zoom speed
Zoom speed is a very interesting setting because this allows you like the
name suggests changing the speed at which you zoom in and out in the
cockpit. We tested a few different options and liked 80 the best. It is quite a
bit faster than the default value of 50, but we think it is great that when you
are ‘working’ in the aircraft, you can easily zoom in and out quickly so you can
manage and fly the aircraft at the same time without any problems.
9.2.2.9
Freelook speed
Freelook speed is the speed at which your view moves when using your
mouse to look around the cockpit. We have found that this setting at 40
gives you a good balance between speed and precision. It can be very
annoying when you are struggling with your view. You want your view to be
direct, fast, and precise. Especially in stressful moments in the air, and you
quickly have to check, change, or look are something. 40 is by far the best
setting when it comes to freelook speed.
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9.2.2.10
Freelook momentum
Freelook momentum is the amount your view will continue to move when
you let go of your button you use to look around the cockpit. With freelook
momentum at a high setting, your view gets a lot of ‘Weight,’ meaning your
view will continue to move when you have stopped moving your view around
the cockpit. We have set this setting to 10 to get a very direct and modern feel
to your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This is one of the most important
settings when it comes to the in-sim camera and really changes how your
simulator feels.
9.2.2.11
Camera shake
This is a feature that wasn’t included with any of the previous flight
simulators (Without any 3rd party camera addons). We are glad this setting is
now in the simulator by default. It looks very realistic when you move around
in the cockpit in turbulence or when taxing on the apron. We do recommend
turning this setting off if you are suffering from motion sickness when using
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
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9.2.2.12
Flashlight mode
With this setting in auto, it will automatically switch on the flashlight mode if
you are, for example, in a cold and dark cockpit at night, and you need to find
the battery switch. We find this a very useful option and recommend having
it in auto.
9.2.3 Instruments
9.2.3.1 Instrument view mode
Instrument view mode is a camera mode that automatically zooms in on your
aircraft’s instruments. This can be useful if you want to use a shortcut on your
hardware to look at your instruments in more detail or train IFR flying. We
recommend using toggle mode, so you don’t have to hold down your
instrument view mode switch when you want to use it, instead, you press it
once, and your view will stay zoomed in on your instruments until you press it
again and it will return to your default POV.
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9.2.3.2 Instrument view selection
In instrument view mode, you can choose which instrument to zoom in on.
When instrument view selection is in the auto setting, it will automatically
switch to the instruments your cursor is closest to. We don’t think this is very
useful and recommend switching though the different instrument views
manually.
9.2.4 Chase Camera
9.2.4.1 Instrument heads-up display (HUD)
With this setting, it is quite obvious what it does. It turns on and off the
instrument HUD in the external camera. This setting is part of many
discussions within the flight simulation community. We leave you to decide if
you want to use it or not. From a ‘realism’ point of view, we recommend
turning it off and enjoying the world around you when in the external view
and focusing on the instruments within the cockpit.
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9.2.4.2 POV reset
Here you can choose if you want your view to reset to your previous POV
before using free look mode or you want the view to return to your default
view when exiting free look mode. We recommend the Manual setting. We
find it very weird and annoying when this setting is in the auto position, and it
automatically resets you back to the default POV when you just want to look
around the aircraft. Always choose manual in our opinion
9.2.4.3 Zoom speed
This is the same as the zoom speed, the ones that controls zoom speed in the
cockpit. We have again tested a lot of different settings for the cockpit
camera as well as for the external camera, and we think that is the best zoom
speed to use in the chase camera.
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9.2.4.4 External freelook speed
Like zoom speed, freelook speed is the same setting as freelook speed in the
cockpit, but this second one controls the value of freelook speed in the chase
camera. The same value used in the cockpit is also applied in the chase
camera because we feel it’s nice to have the same speed and response from
your camera on the inside and outside.
9.2.4.5 External freelook momentum
Freelook momentum is also the same setting in the internal and external
camera. Like freelook speed, we have kept this value the same for both the
internal and external settings because 10 is the best freelook momentum
setting for both the internal and external camera.
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9.3 Sound
9.3.1 General
9.3.1.1 Communications selection
Communications selection is a very interesting setting. A brand new feature
in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is headphone simulation. And it sounds a
bit saying a headphone will be simulated, but that’s exactly what happens,
and we love it. When turning communications selection to headphone
simulation, MSFS 2020 will simulate as if you are sitting in the cockpit with
noise-canceling headphones on your head.
This is normal practice in real life to use a noise-canceling headphone, and
this setting will give you the most realistic sound experience in your
simulator. We love this feature and very much recommend it.
9.3.1.2
Warning sound in external view
With the communications selection setting in the headphone simulation
mode, this setting will be grayed out and not be available for you to change.
This because in real life, you don’t hear the warning sounds outside of the
aircraft, and you can’t enable this in the headphone simulation mode.
If you do choose to use default as your communications selection setting, you
can choose your own setting here. We recommend turning it off because it is
unrealistic to have this setting on, but if you are a pilot that controls the
aircraft from outside a lot, you might consider leaving this setting on so you
know/hear when something is not right in the cockpit.
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9.3.1.3
VHF signal degradation
With this setting on, the VHF signals will degrade with distance from the
transmitter. This is very much the case in real life, and we recommend you to
fly with this setting on for an extra bit of realism.
9.3.1.4
Active windows spatial sound
Windows spatial sound is the windows surround sound system and enables
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to give you the illusion that sounds are all
around you like in the real aircraft. This is a very good feature to have enabled
to, for example, notice when one of the engines is spooling down.
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9.3.1.5
Text-to-speech settings
The text-to-speech setting has everything to do with the simulator
converting text to speech when it comes to ATC. You have different options
here, but the best quality of text-to-speech is azure (Which is an online
platform). If you are flying offline, windows offline will automatically switch on,
but we recommend you use Azure for the best quality of text-to-speech.
9.3.1.6
Subtitles
We wouldn’t go into subtitles because it’s straight forward on and off. We do
recommend if you don’t use the subtitles to turn them off because of it
blocking your screen when flying.
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9.3.1.7
Music selection
We don’t recommend running with any music on in your simulator (See
chapter 10.3.2), but if we have to choose 1 of the tunes available, we have to go
with the legacy tune from the old days. Apart from that, this is obviously your
own preference.
9.3.1.8
Mute audio in background
When mute audio in background is on, all audio from your simulator will be
muted as soon as you click on a different application. We recommend
turning this setting off because you don’t want the sound of your simulator to
disappear every time you look at your charts in a different application or
doing anything else on your PC.
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9.3.2 Volume levels
We have tested a lot of different combinations and settings when it comes to
the sound levels in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. We have found that the
following settings are the most realistic and enable you to differentiate
between all the different sounds in the cockpit without one being too loud
and over the top. When flying in real life, it is very common to use a noisecanceling head seat this is one of the reasons why we turned the engine
sounds down, to prevent them from overruling a lot of other sounds you
would otherwise not be able to hear.
When it comes to the user interface and music, we think that there is no
need for any music or user interface sounds in a flight simulator. If you do
enjoy those sounds and music, then, of course, go ahead and turn them on,
but when it comes to our recommendations, we recommend turning them
both to 0.
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9.4 Traffic
When it comes to traffic, a lot has changed compared to other flight
simulators. The traffic in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is more advanced
than ever before. However, traffic in your simulator can still cost you a lot on
performance. We recommend being careful with traffic in your simulator
because it can easily become to cause of stutters and lower FPS than
expected.
9.4.1
9.4.1.1
Aviation traffic
Aircraft type traffic
When it comes to the type of traffic, you have three options, 1 is no traffic at
all, 1 is offline AI that is generated by the simulator, and one which is the most
popular is real-time traffic based on real-life traffic movement at the time you
are flying. You can choose which model suits you best and switch between
the modes when doing different types of flights. Keep in mind that if you
want to use real-time traffic, you need a good and stable internet connection
for the best result.
9.4.1.2
AI airliners traffic density
Here you can select how much % of the max 100% of the airliners will be flying
in your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 world. This setting really affects your
performance, and we recommend the following max values. (When Realtime online is selected for aircraft type traffic this option is not available)
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9.4.1.3
AI general aviation traffic density
Here you can select how much % of the max 100% of the general aviation
traffic will be flying in your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 world. This setting
really affects your performance, and we recommend the following max
values. (When Real-time online is selected for aircraft type traffic this option is
not available).
9.4.1.4 Show traffic nameplates
With this setting, you can enable or disable the nameplates above all of your
traffic. We recommend turning this off because of the ‘Arcady’ look it gives to
your simulator. If you personally like this setting, you can always turn this on.
There is no performance difference between the options here.
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9.4.2 Airport life
9.4.2.1 Airport vehicle density
This setting controls the number of vehicles driving around at the airport. This
setting makes the airports feel much more alive, but it comes at a
performance impact. We recommend the same maximums as the previous
settings so you can enjoy airport vehicle traffic if you want to this an
acceptable amount of FPS decrease.
9.4.2.2 Ground aircraft density
As the name suggests, this setting controls the amount of aircraft on the
ground at airports. These are static aircraft and wouldn’t move. This can add
to the immersion of operating out of big busy airports, and you can use this
setting if you want to do so with the recommended max values below. We do
recommend turning this setting off completely when using real-time online
traffic or when flying on Vatsim.
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9.4.2.3 Worker density
Worker density controls the number of people walking around at the airport.
This obviously improves the feel of your simulator but also decreases
performance quite a bit. We recommend the following max values if you do
want to use this setting. However, our choice would be to turn this setting off
completely to save some FPS.
9.4.3 Land and sea density
9.4.3.1 Leisure boats
This setting controls the number of leisure boats that will be displayed in your
simulator. It can be cool to fly over private yachts when coming into land at
an airport near the water. We recommend the same max. Values as with the
previous settings, but keep in mind you can always save FPS by not running
this setting at all.
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9.4.3.2 Road vehicles
This setting controls the number of road vehicles that will be displayed in
your simulator. It’s nice to have highways with cars driving up and down. This
makes the world feel alive and real. For road vehicles, we recommend the
same max. Values as with the previous settings, but keep in mind you can
always save FPS by not running this setting at all.
9.4.3.3 Ships and ferries
This setting controls the number of ships and ferries that will be displayed in
your simulator. This setting will, however, be less noticeable than the previous
traffic settings. We recommend the same max. Values as with the previous
settings, but keep in mind you can always save FPS by not running this
setting at all.
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9.5 Data
9.5.1 Data connection
9.5.1.1 Online functionality
This setting controls all of the settings below, with online functionality off you
can’t use any of the online-based features below. We highly recommend
running with this setting on because it makes your Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 the best it can be. With the online functionality on, you can use all of the
beautiful new features introduces with the brand new simulator.
9.5.1.2
Bing data world graphics
This feature enables your simulator to download the beautiful world from
Bing to make it as accurate as possible when you choose to run with this off
an offline version will be loaded, which is of lower quality. This setting controls
the 2D aspect of the world (The photo-realistic ground textures). We highly
recommend running with this setting on.
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9.5.1.3
Photogrammetry
This feature enables your simulator to download the beautiful world from
Bing to make it as accurate as possible when you choose to run with this off
an offline version will be loaded, which is of lower quality. This setting controls
the 3D aspect of the world (Buildings. Trees and other 3D objects in the
world). We highly recommend running with this setting on.
9.5.1.4
Live real-world air traffic
With this setting enabled, you will be able to run online real-world traffic in
your simulator. You don’t enable the real-world traffic with this setting. You
only give the simulator permission to download the necessary data to do so
when you switch on the real-world air traffic in the traffics tap (See chapter
10.4.1.1)
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9.5.1.5
Live weather
This setting enables you to give your simulator permission to download data
when you turn on live weather. Like the previous setting, this online enables
the simulator to be allowed to download data related to the setting. You still
have to manually select live weather if you want to enable live weather in
your simulator.
9.5.1.6
Multiplayer
This setting enables you to give your simulator permission to download data
related to multiplayer activity in your simulator. Like the previous setting, this
online enables the simulator to be allowed to download data related to the
setting. You still have to manually select multiplayer mode if you want to fly
around with your friends.
9.5.2 Data consumption
9.5.2.1 Current data consumption
Here you can see how much data is stored on your PC when it comes to data
used by all of the features mentioned in chapter 10.5.1. This is a temporary
number and will change a lot when flying.
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9.5.2.2 Data tracking reset day
With this setting, you can select the day of the month your data used for
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will be reset. This is to prevent any data not
being used, taking up space on your PC.
9.5.2.3 Data limitation
With data limitation, you can select a maximum limit to the data you
simulator can store on your PC. When it reaches this limit, the oldest data will
be deleted and replaced by the newest data. We recommend not having a
limit set on the data to prevent your simulator from having to download the
scenery data over and over again, which can cause stutters. It will improve
loading times with this setting in the unlimited position.
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9.5.3 Data bandwidth usage limit
9.5.3.1 Bandwidth
Here you can limit the bandwidth Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 can use
when flying and downloading the world from Bing. If you have limited
internet bandwidth, you can limit it here. However, the recommended
internet speed to be used with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is at least 50
Mb/s. We recommend running with this setting in unlimited for the best
possible visuals in your simulator.
9.5.4 Rolling cache settings
9.5.4.1 Rolling cache
Rolling cache limit is the amount of RAM that can be used by Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020,
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9.5.4.2 Rolling cache limit
Rolling cache limit is the amount of RAM that can be used by Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020, This obviously depends on the amount of RAM in your PC
and how many different programs you are running while flying. We
recommend keeping this at the default value or setting a higher value if you
have more than 16 GB of RAM (Users with 32 or more RAM may increase this
value to 16.)
9.5.4.3 Rolling cache path
Here you can choose where all the temporary data used by Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 will be stored. We highly recommend leaving this unchanged
to prevent any issues.
9.5.4.4 Delete rolling cache files
With this setting, you can delete all the rolling cache currently on your PC to
let your simulator start all over again with downloading this data.
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9.6 Flight model
9.6.1 Flight Model preset
We are a bit disappointed when it comes to this setting. We wanted to
customize the flight model settings ourselves to make it more usable for our
users, but Microsoft has made this setting in a way that we are unable to do
so. We can only edit the parameters in ‘Legacy.’ We do want all of our users to
use the modern flight model, but this means that we have to deal with the
fact that crashes can’t be turned off.
In this past, when flying in Prepar3D or FSX, you could, by accident, drive into
a bugged scenery file or a pole on the apron you weren’t ware off. This is why
we always turned crashes off in the older simulators, to prevent your flight
being ruined by a silly crash. We unfortunately, cannot change this in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. We hope this will be changed/updated in the
future. As soon as that is the case, the guide will also receive the updated
flight model settings.
If you do experience issues with crashes during your flights, you can turn the
flight model preset to legacy mode and turn crash realism down to 0, so you
wouldn’t have these issues.
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9.7 Accessibility
9.7.1 User interface
9.7.1.1 Minimum text size
This is a setting for people that have difficulties when reading the fonts in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. 18 is the smallest font size selectable. For
users with reading difficulties, you can select a bigger font here. Otherwise,
we recommend leaving 18 as your selected setting.
9.7.1.2
Interface scale
This is a new feature that was added with the full release version of the
simulator, enabling you to scale the interface down to your liking. We think
the default interface is too big and ‘In your face,’ so we recommend scaling it
down to 80. This will give the UI a more modern look and make it easier to
navigate!
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9.7.1.3
Show tooltips
Show tooltips with adjusting the placing and spacing of the elements in your
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. We weren’t able to detect any big changes
between on and off. We recommend turning it off to prevent any issues.
9.7.1.4 Background opacity
The opacity property controls how opaque an element is on a scale of 20 to
90. The lower the value, the more transparent the element is. We find the
default setting of 20 to be a bit too much transparency and recommend
turning this setting up to 40 to still have some transparency but also be able
to use the menu’s effectively and quickly when flying and setting up.
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9.7.1.5
Main color
This setting is only meant for people with a form of color blindness so you can
change the color set to be able to see all of the different colors in Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020. The users that don’t suffer from color blindness can
look through the settings to see how it looks but recommend leaving this
setting in the default position when flying.
9.7.1.6
Menu animations
New with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are the menu animations, these
can look great and make the software look like more modern software.
However, when using the menu’s and settings during flight or pre-flight, we
feel like turning menu animations off makes the menu more responsive and
easier to use. This is up to your own preference, but our choice at RDPresets is
to turn it off.
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9.7.1.7
Skip pre-flight cinematics
At RDPresets, we don’t really see the point in having a preflight cinematic
before every flight. We think it can sometimes be annoying when you want to
go flying, and you have to wait and look at the pre-flight cinematics. If you
like the pre-flight cinematics, you can, of course, turn this off and have them
enable, but our RDPresets choice is to skip the pre-flight cinematics
9.7.1.8
Controller vibrations
When using a controller that supports vibrations when flying, this can be a
very useful setting. It gives you more of a feel for the aircraft, and this is why
we highly recommend if you are using something like an XBOX controller to
have this setting on 100%. For users using Saitek / Logitech yoke as an
example wouldn’t notice any difference with this setting on 0% or 100%
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10. MSFS 2020 Assistance settings
Assistance settings in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are very different from
any other simulator you have used before. There are many more assistance
settings included in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to enable beginners to
use the simulator and help them with their start in flight simulation. These
settings are based heavily on personal preferences and skills. If you have been
using flight simulators for years or are a pilot in real life, you don’t need any
assistance from your simulator to help you.
But if you are new to flight simulation and are struggling with having to do
everything at the same time and need some assistance, you can turn on the
settings you want to use. We have included recommended settings below for
the pilots that do have experience and want the most realistic experience. If
you do want to use the assistance settings, we recommend to first select our
settings, and when you have done so, turn the on the assistance settings you
think will help you during your flights.
10.1 Piloting
The piloting assistance settings have everything to do with controlling the
aircraft and procedures related to it. If you are very new to flight simulation
and have never flown an aircraft before you can use these assistance settings
to get started and learn to fly, we do, however, recommend switching to all of
these settings off as soon as possible to really learn how to fly. Flying with
assistance is great to start with, but make sure you turn these settings down
the more flight hours you accumulate (For all of our experienced users, please
copy the settings below).
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10.2 Aircraft systems
The assistance settings related to aircraft systems can be very useful even for
experienced flight simmers. Four systems that are sometimes annoying
systems to deal with during flight can be automated here. If you just want to
fly and don’t want to worry about gyro drift in little aircraft or worry about the
fuel mixture during the flight but just want to look out of the window you
can. The settings listed below are the most realistic settings, but don’t
hesitate to turn the settings on that you think help you enjoy Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 even more.
10.3 Failure & damage
Failures & damage have always been a weird one in flight simulation. Most of
the time, the failures and damage are annoying and don’t add anything to
the experience. Damage and failures are quite unrealistic out of the box, and
when flying around on a daily basis, we recommend turning them off except
for the icing effect. If you want to look at the failures and damage in Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020, you can always turn it on for a change and see what
happens, but as we did in previous flight simulators, we recommend not
messing with the default failures and damage and leaving them disabled.
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10.4 Navigation aids
The navigation aid assistance helps you navigate around the world in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. There will be nameplates displayed where
airports are located. And also cities, points of interest will be shown to the
pilot using fictional nameplates.
If you want to use these settings, you can. If you are struggling with
navigation and want to reach your destination without any problems, the
route & waypoints option can help you out. The most realistic is to obviously
turn everything off. That is what we have done and recommend, but these
assistance settings will always be determined mostly by your own preference
and experience in the world of flight simulation or real-world flying.
10.5 Notification
Notifications in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will help you with many
different things during the flight. They will, for example, notify you when you
are exceeding 250 knots below FL100 or any other flying tips will be displayed
with these settings enabled. If you are a beginner, we recommend turning
these settings on so the simulator will notify you if you are doing something
you shouldn’t be doing. If you are experienced with other flight simulators or
have real-world experience, the most realistic experience will be achieved
with all of these settings off.
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10.6 User experience
User experience settings are settings heavily dependent on your own
preference. Do you want the ATC UI panel to be automatically opened when
you start a flight or do you prefer to do it yourself? We recommend looking at
these settings for yourself and configure these based on your own
preference. The user experience settings used by the RDPresets team are the
ones you can see below in the picture for reference.
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11. MSFS 2020 Must know features
With the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, there are A LOT of
featured added you have never seen before in any other simulator before.
This because Microsoft / Asobo has tried to make the world of flight
simulation more accessible for everybody. We will explain the features
everybody should know how to find and use. Some are practical, and others
are more for fun.
11.1 Flight planning
The flight planning menu in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is one of the best
features for beginners to flight simulation. Most experienced flight sim users
are used to using flight planning software like PFPX or Simbrief, and we
highly recommend these tools for the most realistic way of flight planning,
but the default flight planning menu can be very useful for people starting
out.
In this window you can select the type of flight you are planning to do, there
are a few different options here:
► VFR Direct
► VFR VOR to VOR
► IFR (Low-altitude airways)
► IFR (High-altitude airways)
Select the one you are planning to fly before doing anything else. When you
have chosen the type of flight you want to do, you can now select your
departure and arrival airports. You can also select the departure/arrival
runway and departures/arrivals (Departures and arrivals are only available for
IFR flights).
When you have finished putting in all of the information related to your flight,
you can now look at your flight plan and how your route will take you to your
destination. Below is an example of an IFR (High-altitude airways) route from
EHAM to LPMA.
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Here you find all of the runways and airways you will be using to reach your
destination.
When you click ‘Fly now,’ you will start loading in. When the loading process
is completed, the flight plan you have just created in the flight planning
phase will automatically be loaded in your FMS system when it comes to
airliners or your GPS system when it comes to smaller aircraft. When using
this method, your aircraft is ready to go (When it comes to navigation) from
the moment you enter the aircraft.
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11.2 Toolbar
The toolbar in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is your go-to menu when in
flight, here you can find everything you will ever need when flying. You can
find the toolbar in the upper half of your monitor in the middle (A triangle
with a white bar below it is the indication of a closed toolbar when you move
your cursor over it the toolbar will expand) We will go over all of the features
included in the toolbar and explain them in more detail. This style is
something we haven’t seen before in any flight simulator and may get some
getting used to.
You can compare this menu with the menu in the top bar of the screen in
Prepar3D and X-Plane, where you could manage everything related to your
simulator. This is the same menu but in a different style.
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11.2.1
ATC
The ATC window is something all experienced flight simmers will be familiar
with as this is a window that was also included in Prepar3D and X-Plane, here
you can control the ATC transmission and talk with the generated ATC in
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. The frequencies you see in this window are
linked to the frequencies you have set in your aircraft's radio panel so you can
use both at the same time.
The amount of communication frequencies that are available to you is
dependent on what aircraft you are flying; modern airliners have three
communication radio transmitters/receivers that can all be active at the same
time. Most VFR aircraft have only one communication radio. This means
when flying smaller aircraft, only one frequencies tap will appear in the ATC
window.
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11.2.2
Camera
Here you find all of the controls related to your camera in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020. This is quite different from what you may have been used to
when flying in other simulators. We don’t think flying using this tap works
very well and highly recommend using shortcuts on your
keyboard/yoke/joystick to easily zoom in / out and change between the
cockpit and external camera’s.
One interesting feature new to flight simulators is the showcase mode. This is
a mode you can use to freely move your camera around your aircraft (Like a
drone flying around). This way, you are able to create gorgeous screenshots
from every angle.
To unlock your drone from being centered around your aircraft, select the
drone follow mode to the off position so the drone wouldn’t move together
with your aircraft, and you are able to freely look around the beautiful world
of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
We recommend leaving the cockpit and external settings, as is this because
you have already changed these in the main settings menu during your read
in chapter 10. You can, however, change the settings of the showcase mode
to your liking, these settings are not included in the main settings menu.
These settings related to the showcase mode are only accessible via the
camera window.
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11.2.3
Checklist
The checklist tap is a new feature in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, which
allows you to use a digital checklist while flying. This can be very helpful for
beginners if you want to make sure you are doing everything correctly. But
this feature can also be very useful for experienced pilots to make sure you
haven’t forgotten anything.
For the time being, you are not able to manually add or remove any items
from the checklists. We hope we will be able to create our own custom
checklists in the future based on real procedures.
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11.2.4 Basic controls
Basic controls shows you which of your hardware is currently being used for
your main aircraft controls. You can’t change controls here or change
anything else that we have found.
11.2.5
Ai control
Ai control is a new feature in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and works a bit
like a first officer. You can enable multiple AI processes to help you during
your flight. With the checklist assist enabled, your virtual first officer will
check every item on the checklist and complete the tasks if they haven’t
been completed by you. When you enable the manage radio comms feature,
your virtual first officer will automatically switch the radio frequencies to the
correct/next frequencies you will be in contact with via the ATC window.
The last feature available when it comes to AI is the control aircraft option.
With the control, aircraft enabled your virtual first officer will fly the route
programmed in the flight management computer and continue the
climb/descent via the flight planned route.
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11.2.6
Fuel
Via the fuel window, you can customize the amount of fuel loaded into the
aircraft. This window is quite straight forward, but we recommend checking
the fuel display unit (Gal or LB). The last thing to keep in mind when it comes
to the fuel window is that you can always change the amount of fuel loaded
in the aircraft.
There is no confirmation message or lock on the amount of fuel during flight.
We recommend leaving this window alone during flight because the aircraft
doesn’t respond well to sudden load changes in the air.
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11.2.7
Navlog
The Navlog is a tool used mainly by VFR pilots to determine their position
based on the reference points chosen during the flight planning phase. Like
in real life in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, it works the same way. During
the flight planning phase of you flying, you can choose VFR ‘Waypoints’ along
the route. The ‘Waypoints’ you have selected will appear in this Navlog
window automatically.
You will be able to determine your position based on the heading, distance
and ETE information given in this window (Navlogs are mostly used when
flying without the use of GPS or as redundancy during VFR flight)
11.2.8
Objectives
The objectives window is mostly used during flight training or other activities
besides free flight. Here you can find what your next objective is for your
flight. This can be very useful if you forgot what to do next. We recommend
having this window open in the corner of your screen during your flight
training and other activity flights. During your own flights, this window can be
hidden because nothing useful will be displayed.
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11.2.9
VFR map
The VFR map is another new feature in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and
like the name suggests, great for VFR flight. In real life, it is common to have
an iPad with GPS onboard to help you determine your position. This is the
integrated map for all of the VFR pilots to use during their flight. The isoline
map option will enable the lines on the map that add depth to the map. By
adding these lines, you can easily see terrain/mountains on the map.
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11.2.10
Weather
Here you can find everything related to the weather in your Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020. The weather engine in the new simulator is amazing. The
weather and clouds look better than ever before in a flight simulator. In this
window, you can customize the weather and change the weather currently
displayed in your simulator during flight.
If you feel like looking at some overcast clouds, you can. If you want to fly in
clear skies and look at the scenery, you can, without any loading screens in
between changes. Keep in mind that your aircraft may respond to
weather/wind changes, and you will have to correct for these weather
changes yourself.
Apart from all the preset weather settings, you can also customize everything
related to the weather by yourself. Temperature, snow depth, and cloud high
are some of the parameters you can change in this window.
At RDPresets, we mostly use the real-life/live weather option when it comes
to weather to have a realistic experience during our flights. However, these
different settings and all of the customization possible is great if you have a
specific weather situation in mind or want to make the ultimate screenshot!
One thing to keep in mind with the weather is Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 is that the ‘live’ feature isn’t really ‘live’ there is quite a big delay between
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the weather in your simulator and real-life (This isn’t the case with weather
engines you are used with other flight simulators like HIFI Active Sky). This
means that you can’t always look at the real-life METAR & TAF and expect
them to be the same in your simulator like you may have been used when
flying in Prepar3D or X-Plane. We hope the ‘Live’ weather will be more up to
date in the future by Microsoft updating the simulator or a weather engine
becoming compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
11.2.11 Custom toolbar
With the custom toolbar option, you can choose what of the menu options
mentioned above will be displayed in your toolbar. We recommend removing
the toolbar options you don’t use to make the toolbar a little bit smaller and
being able to easily find the items you want to use instead of selecting the
wrong item from your toolbar.
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11.3 Flight training
Flight training is a brand-new feature in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This
new ‘game mode’ is very useful for the new pilots who joined the virtual skies
with this brand-new simulator (A lot). In-flight training, you will learn
everything you would during a private pilot license training course (In
Europe). You will fly eight different flights, all with the same Cessna 152.
Everything from your first take off to your first ‘solo’ flight from A to B. We
highly recommend completing all 8 flight training flights successfully as a
beginner in the world of flight simulation to get up to speed with how
everything works in aircraft.
For the more experienced flight simmers, Flight training is mostly focused on
VFR flight and not on using your instruments as you would during IFR. If you
don’t have too much experience with VFR flight and want to learn, you can
still use this training to get up to speed with VFR (Which is worth doing with
this beautiful world of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 around you). However,
if you want to practice IFR flight, we recommend reading 12.4 about activities
in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
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11.4 Activities
For the people that have used FSX in the past, activities in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 is the modern version of missions you may have flow /
completed in FSX. There is a big list of activities available in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 for you to improve your flying skills or to just have some fun if
you don’t feel like doing a complete flight.
Activities are very useful if you want to improve your flying skills in different
areas, there is a specific list of challenges when it comes to landing with
strong winds. You can also choose a challenge using an airliner to train flying
using your instruments. The flight training discussed in chapter 12.3 is mostly
focused on VFR flight like you do in the activities with the smaller aircraft, but
the landing at KJFK (New York) with a Boeing 747-8 is great for flying the
approach only using instruments as IFR practice.
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11.5 2D-panels
Like in other flight simulators you are able to have a 2D pop-up of any screen
in the cockpit, there is a little trick related to this you have to know to be able
to use these 2D panels.
One thing to keep in mind with these 2D-Panels is that our testers reported a
significant performance of up to 5 FPS when using 2D-Panels. We will explain
how to get these 2D screens, but keep this in mind.
► Get the screen you want to pop out on your screen
► Hold right ALT key on your keyboard
► When hovering your cursor over cockpit displays, a cyclops will appear
► Left-click to pop up that specific screen
11.6 Preset views
A new and very useful feature in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is being able
to save preset views in the cockpit and switch between them while flying.
This is very useful and by far the easiest way to switch between views.
You can save a preset view by moving your camera to the view you want to
save, and selecting CTRL + ALT + a number from 1 to 9. When you have done
so, you have saved that specific view to the number you selected. You can
save up to 9 different views in the cockpit. You can select the view you want
by selecting ATL + the number of the view. This way, you can easily and
quickly switch between views in the cockpit and have easy access to every
panel.
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12. 3rd party addons and your simulator
12.1 Aircraft
Although there are any aircraft yet available for Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020, we can expect lots of them to come in the future. Lots of developers
have already started the development of their flagship aircraft for this brand
new simulator, and we can’t wait to fly with these masterpieces in Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020.
When it comes to these 3rd party aircraft, a lot will be the same compared to
the other simulators you may have been used to. They will be installed into
your ‘Simobjects’ folder and will work the same as you are used to. We have
to wait and see how these realistic and PC heavy aircraft perform in Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020, but we will test every single aircraft that releases and
provide free updates to this chapter with all the information you need to
know about 3rd party aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
12.2 Scenery
Not many sceneries are yet available for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Most
that are available are converted from other simulators to this brand new
simulator. However, these seem to perform very well with minimal effect on
performance.
We highly recommend buying your addons directly from the developer's
website. This way, all of the money you spend on addons goes directly to the
developer of your scenery. This will support them in the future when
developing even more and better sceneries.
We will continue to expand and upgrade this chapter when more sceneries
become available, and we find more useful information for our users to use
when it comes to 3rd party sceneries.
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12.3 In-game store vs online store
When buying scenery via the in-game store, payment is handled by the
Microsoft Store, and the scenery will be downloaded and installed via
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. When via the developer's online store, you
will download a separate installer that installs the scenery for you.
Most add-ons you buy will be installed in the following location:
► X:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2465596884-3737215462-15205706641001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Lo
calCache\Packages
When sceneries are installed, they will be automatically added to your library,
and you can load up the specific airport and start flying.
When more sceneries release in the future and more ways to install sceneries
become available (Developers choose other ways to install their products), we
will update this chapter immediately to always provide you with the latest
information when it comes to 3rd party addons in your Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020.
12.4 Utilities
At the moment of writing, there are almost no utilities available for Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020. We do, however, expect a lot of utilities to come for
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to improve numerous things in the simulator.
We would love to see a camera addon like Chaseplane or Ezdok for Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020.
As soon as these utilities release, we will test them into the greatest detail
and tell you everything you need to know about them in a future version of
this guide.
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13. Simulator looks
13.1 How to improve the look of Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020
At RDPresets, we love making your simulator look as realistic as possible, we
have done this in the past, and we will continue to do so in the future. There
are, however, not too many ways we can change the look of Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 at this moment in time.
This is because, for one, the simulator already looks very realistic out of the
box, and number 2 is that we don’t have too many ways (On the technical
side of things) to be able to change much in the simulator. We have found a
few ways you can improve the look of your simulator for now, and we will
continue to update this chapter with new findings and features to improve
the looks of your simulator over time. For now, the methods we discuss in this
chapter will improve your Microsoft Flight Simulator experience.
13.2 Image sharpening
Image sharpening is available to be used with some Nvidia GPU’s and can be
enabled in the Nvidia control panel. This feature will add some sharpness to
your simulator without any performance decrease. Unfortunately, this feature
is not available for everybody, but if this option is available in your NVidia
control panel, we highly recommend using it. (Discussed in more detail in
chapter 6.3.1)
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13.3 Nvidia freestyle
When searching for a way to improve the look of Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020. We have discovered a brand new way to do so. With the latest Nvidia
drivers being compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 comes the
possibility to use Nvidia Freestyle with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Nvidia
Freestyle is the modern and more stable version or Reshade and can be used
with compatible software only.
We have created a great preset for our users to use with Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020, which will dramatically improve the look of your simulator.
This is a must-try! Our testers don’t want to fly without it anymore.
How to open Nvidia Freestyle?
► Open Nvidia Experience
► Click on open in-game overlay
► And click on Game filter
*Note that you can only open Nvidia Freestyle if you are in a supported game
(Meaning you have to have Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 running in order
to open Nvidia Freestyle)
Now you have opened Nvidia Freestyle. You can add four different filters to
the first preset.
► Details
► Color
► Brightness / contrast
► Sharpen
Now you have added all four filters we will give you the values you need to
put in to achieve the RDPresets Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 preset for
Nvidia Freestyle.
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► Details:
► Color:
► Brightness / contrast:
► Sharpen:
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It is very difficult to give you an idea of the difference in your simulator. You
have to apply it and see it for yourself. With Nvidia Freestyle, your simulator
looks even better and more amazing!
You can always turn it off by clicking on OFF next to the preset numbers in
Nvidia Freestyle. Give it a try and send us your best screenshots using our
Nvidia Freestyle preset via Facebook.
13.4 Reshade
Reshade is a post-processing injector that can change colors and depth and
much more in your simulator. At RDPresets, we have used Reshade quite a
lot in other flight simulators to change the look. This is, however, only possible
when using the Steam version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. The .EXE
file present on your PC when you are using the Microsoft Store version is
locked, and we haven’t yet found a way to install Reshade into the Microsoft
Store version of MSFS 2020. But when it comes to the steam version owners,
Reshade can be a possibility.
One important thing before we explain more about Reshade. If you have an
NVIDIA graphics card and you are able to use Nvidia freestyle, we
recommend using Nvidia freestyle over Reshade every day of the week.
Nvidia freestyle does the same thing but in a much more stable way.
We have seen no evidence that Nvidia freestyle has any negative impact on
your simulator. When it comes to Reshade, however, Reshade can sometimes
make your simulator a little less stable and more exposed to crash to
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desktops. This is, however, not always the case, so if you are unable to use
Nvidia freestyle because you are an AMD user or your GPU isn’t strong
enough to run Nvidia freestyle we recommend trying out Reshade and
seeing if the simulator runs stable enough for you to be able to use it.
How to delete Reshade?
This is something many people don’t know and struggle with because when
installing Reshade files are dropped into your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
main folder, and people don’t know what files to delete to remove Reshade,
we have listed all the files you need to delete below so when Reshade is not
working for you, and you want to get rid of it, you can.
Delete the following files and folder:
► Go to your main Prepar3D folder
► Delete the following
► Reshade-shaders (Folder)
► Both ‘.ini.’ (Files)
► All related ‘dxgi’ (Files)
► Launch Prepar3D to check if Reshade is indeed not starting up.
13.5 Low latency mode
Low latency mode can be selected/enabled via the Nvidia control panel and
helps you with a smoother experience in games that are running on 80 FPS
or lower. We have found that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 runs smoother
with this setting on ultra (When flying with around 20 – 35 fps).
We highly recommend using this setting (Discussed in more detail in chapter
6.3.2). This will improve the look of your simulator when it comes to
smoothness.
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13.6 3rd party addons
3rd party addons are a different way to improve the look of your simulator.
Your experience when flying to an airport can be dramatically improved by
the use of a 3rd party handcrafted airport. Or by using a 3rd party aircraft to fly
in the most realistic aircraft available. These addons are available via many
channels. They are available to be bought via the developer’s website or
sometimes via the in-game store. We discuss 3rd party addons in more detail
in chapter 13.
13.7 More to come
We have discussed all of the possibilities at the moment of writing that
enables you to modify the look and realism of your Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020. We think we have already improved the look of Microsoft Flight
Simulator a lot, but there is still more to come. During the lifecycle of this
brand-new simulator, new methods and ways will be discovered to
improve/change the look. All of these new ways/methods will be added to the
guide as soon as they become available!
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14. Common issues and fixes MSFS
2020
14.1 Things you MUST know before using MSFS 2020
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is a brand-new simulator and comes with its
own challenges when it comes to the technical side of things. There are quite
some issues we discuss in this guide, and we are convinced that we have
been able to solve many of these issues for you in this guide. However, there
are still some issues we have less control over. We will discuss these common
issues and fixes in this chapter.
Important to know when switching to / using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
is that in the past, flight simulators were mostly based on old software, which
resulted in the simulator not utilizing all of the resources your PC had to offer.
This is far from the case with this brand-new simulator because this brandnew software will easily use up all of your PC’s recourses. Meaning that the
visuals you are able to achieve in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are much
greater than ever seen before. This, however, means that the limitations of
your PC or bandwidth are now limiting your performance instead of the
software not being able to use your hardware to its fullest potential.
14.2 PC Troubles with MSFS 2020
14.2.1
When is my pc ‘not good enough’?
This is a very difficult question to answer, but we have some ideas on when
your PC is not ‘good enough.’ At RDPresets, we feel that flying around with 20
FPS is the absolute minimum when it comes to FPS in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020. If your PC is not able to run Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 at
least a stable 19/20 fps (Using everything you have applied to your settings
and PC when using this guide), we feel your PC is not good enough to run
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. We are convinced that almost everybody is
able to run at least a stable 20 fps in their simulator after they have applied
everything suggested in this guide. If not, you must consider upgrading your
PC or buying a completely new PC to start logging flight hours in Microsoft
Flight Simulator 2020.
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14.2.2
What can you do about it?
When you are not happy with the performance in Microsoft Flight Simulator
2020 and your PC is not good enough, we highly recommend upgrading your
graphics card. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is more graphics card
dependent than any flight simulator ever before.
In other flight simulators, the CPU is the component that is stressed the
most when flying, but with all of the brand-new eye candy in Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020, your graphics card is almost always the issue when it comes
to low FPS. This doesn’t have to be the case for everybody, and we highly
recommend your check the CPU and GPU usage during your flight to see
which of the two components is constantly used up to 100%.
14.3 Bandwidth / Connection trouble with MSFS 2020
Bandwidth/connection problems are something we haven’t really seen
before in the flight simulator community, and I quite difficult to fix. When you
want to use all of the online features of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
(Highly recommended). The minimum internet speed recommended by
Microsoft / Asobo is 50 Mb/s download speed.
When you have at least 50 Mb/s download speed, you shouldn’t be
experiencing any connections/internet troubles with MSFS 2020. If you are
below this number, you could be experiencing issues like blurry ground
textures, low detailed buildings, or lagging online traffic.
There aren’t too many ways to fix connection issues without simply
upgrading your internet speed to achieve 50 Mb/s+ download speed. There
are, however, two ways you can save on your bandwidth being completely
used up by the scenery loading in. One is to use the offline data available for
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (Not recommended). This will disable your
simulator from downloading the earth data and using the local data stored
on your hard drive.
The second way to improve your connection is to download the world data
before you go flying. This is a feature in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 that
allows you to download the world data to your PC before you commence
your flight. This way, your connection can be used for other things when
flying. This will, however, take up a lot of hard drive space.
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Some users were suggesting that loading times would decrease when the
scenery data is downloaded locally. During our testing, we found no evidence
that this is the case. And if there was any difference (Which there wasn’t in
our tests), it would have been so small that all of the extra hard drive space
taken up by all of this data is not worth it for this small difference.
14.4 It looks too ‘Arcady’ for me
We can agree with you here. At RDPresets, we think Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2020 looks really good, and it is by far the best look flight simulator
ever released. But we can’t help but feel like the simulator looks a bit ‘Arcady’
/ game-like. We put a lot of hours into finding solutions to fix this ‘Problem.’
The solution came with the latest Nvidia drivers being compatible with
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 gave us the possibility to change the look of
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 via Nvidia Freestyle. We HIGHLY recommend
trying out Nvidia Freestyle preset in your simulator discussed and explained
in chapter 14.3, so your version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 looks much
better and more realistic.
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15. Let’s fly!
You have come to the end of the RDPresets Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
We hope we have helped you with setting up your simulator the best way
possible, and you have learned a lot from our guide! If everything went as it
should, you now have a Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 you can be very
pleased with and use with confidence. If you still have any questions or issues.
You can always contact us via the RDPresets.com website, and we will be
happy to assist you with any questions or concerns you have with your
simulator.
We want to thank you very much for buying our product.
And now it is time to start flying! After all of this tweaking and working on
your simulator, it’s time to enjoy and fly higher than ever before!
Happy flying!
– RDPresets
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