The recent launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has certainly stirred excitement among aviation enthusiasts and gamers alike. However, the journey has not been entirely smooth. In response to various stability concerns, the developers at Asobo Studio have rolled out a patch aimed at addressing some of the more pressing issues, particularly for PC users.
Patch Details and Recommendations
Asobo Studio has highlighted an important consideration for PC players: outdated packages in the community folder may adversely affect the game’s performance. They recommend relocating any community packages to a different folder prior to relaunching the simulator to mitigate stability issues and reduce loading times.
The hotfix addresses several key areas:
- Stability & Performance
- Resolved a crash that occurred when selecting “As Arrival” in the Electronic Flight Bag (EFB).
- Fixed a crash linked to the Camera menu when changing the Drone focus mode option.
- Addressed various other crashes throughout the game.
- General Bug Fixes
- Corrected a missing cursor issue on the Xbox Live sign-in popup.
- Fixed a focus loss problem when creating a new input profile.
- Aircraft selection is now accessible via the control menu, but changes must be made from the home page.
- Resolved an issue that caused players to get stuck when accessing the menu bar from help pages.
The overwhelming popularity of Flight Simulator 2024 has led to a surge in player activity, resulting in server strain that developers had not fully anticipated. On release day, the game experienced significant challenges, prompting the familiar gaming narrative of servers buckling under unexpected demand. Jorg Neumann, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, acknowledged this oversight, stating, “We knew the excitement was high for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but quite frankly, we completely underestimated how high, and it really has overwhelmed our infrastructure.”
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 utilizes real-time cloud streaming for its game assets, allowing for a smaller install size and reduced system requirements. However, this innovation places additional demands on the servers, which were initially prepared for 200,000 concurrent players during testing. The actual player count exceeded these expectations, leading to the initial instability.
Fortunately, with the recent hotfix, the game is becoming more stable, and the long queues that plagued the launch have now dissipated, allowing players to immerse themselves in the expansive world of flight simulation with greater ease.
