MicrosoftMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2020 - Premium Deluxe

I had purchased the DVD box set.The DVD,s took ages t load and then the system updated through the web another 302Gb, which took all night.This is a great programme with amazing graphics.

My husband purchased this a few weeks ago and has yet been able to use it. After spending a frustrating nine hours loading ten DVDs the computer crashed. He started again and spent a further nine hours loading the ten DVDs still without success.After sifting through several reviews on the Flight Simulator forums it appears that two files were missing which he downloaded from Microsoft. The program still while not start and the screen displays the following “something is not compatible with Direct X and also there is a problem in some form of renderer Z”. Yet on first installation the first screen from Microsoft confirmed that the Simulator would run perfectly on his laptop.What a waste of time, effort and money.

To be honest for me the very long install went very well followed by a 19gb upgrade to the deluxe edition. Running on an i7 processor and a 1070 nvidia Graphics card with SSD and 32gb of ram I thought I was going to need to upgrade my system to get the best out of this software. I have to say without altering any settings the software runs very well at 4k with high settings. Very happy about that. One annoyance is after the install it linked the game to the wrong email address, I had no other options so next week I will speak to Microsoft about this, but I’m not expecting any help about this.One thing that has made me angry, I have used my Microsoft Sidewinder Pro for many years, it’s a controller that is perfect for this sim having a throttle on a rolling control and a twist on the stick ideal for rudder. Plenty of buttons for a lot of your needed switches to hand. NOT COMPATIBLE, it feels like Microsoft doing what they have done over the years when they stop support on many very good bits of hardware.Due to this I decided I would buy the Honeycomb yoke and some pedals. As of 30/08/20 there are no Honeycombe yokes or pedals available anywhere in the uk, and I believe this is the same problem in Canada.Some slight problems in the game but this is to be expected. I think over the coming months there will be lots of fixes and updates. Nothing in my issues would have stopped me buying this and I would recommend buying this superb graphically accurate bit of software

Soo, some tips for the brave.Ideally do a fresh install of Win11, reformatted drive for a clean install. Run all updates.Make sure any AV software is not set to scan optical media or it will be VERY slow.Open Windows Defender/AV and turn off real-time protection.1/ you need to install xbox/game pass software, and let it update xbox services. Make sure its set up with same ac as MS Store.2/ Next set up MS store ac.3/ Install US English language pack, game does not support UK English and install may fail. No need to activate it just install.4/Check pc clock is syncronizing to time server and is correct time/date.5/Clean each disk carefully with a microfibre cloth, they are very soft and the packaging scratches them so be careful.6/ Open xbox and store app and login to both using SAME account. Once you get to disk 10 fill in the code in the store app.7/Click on Library and filter for games.8/ Click Get updates..9/In the list, select Microsoft Flight Simulator.Once the app is installed, click on Open to launch Microsoft Flight Simulator.10/In xbox app, using the checkboxes, select the additional content you want to download and install.11/ If downloads are slow check router/PC is set to DHCP and not static IP.12/ Use a VPN if still slow. If the download does not progress, see Packages installation & decompressing issues - Basic troubleshooting instead.13/Wait, wait some more, wait even more. Cry, wait some more.I had to return first set of disks as disk 10 gave a cyclic redundancy error, cant be read due to scratches. All the disks had fallen out during transport as they are only in a card sleeve, really poor packaging.Anyway good luck!!Update: So I have now installed it all and is updated and game is playing. Yay!Overall it is worth the grief but there are a few bugs in it ive experienced.Most annoying is the vastly oversensitive trim wheel settings which i cant seem to change.You will definitely want a joystick or yolk, throttle assembly and foot rudder/brake pedals.I went for the Thrustmaster TWCS throttle and joystick and the Logitech pedals as im a noob setting out..Currently flying the A300 but unfortunately all my passengers died as I crashed into a mountain. OoopsJust to also mention, my pc has a Intel Gen11 CPU - RTX 3080 12GB - 128GB RAM - PCIE4 2TB M.2 SSDso fairly highend but not silly specs and it runs in 4k very well. Not tried VR with Vive yet though.I upgraded to Virgins Volt2 so am getting over 120MB/s yes MB from MS as download speed so MS servers are pretty quick now.Even still it took from 9AM to 1430 to install.