Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Developers
	Asobo Studio
Publishers
	Xbox Game Studios
Engines
	Asobo Conception Engine
Release dates
Windows	August 18, 2020
Reception
Metacritic	94
OpenCritic	92
IGDB	90
Taxonomy
Monetization	DLC
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time, Relaxed
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Simulation, Open world, Vehicle simulator
Vehicles	Flight
Art styles	Realistic
Series	Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person simulation, open world and vehicle simulator game in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Official Forums

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		10 dual layer DVDs. Europe only.
Microsoft Store		Xbox Game Pass for PC
Steam

All versions require a Microsoft account for both singleplayer and multiplayer^{[citation needed]}.

Version differences

Deluxe Edition includes everything from the standard edition plus an additional five aircraft and five international airports.

Premium Edition includes everything from the standard and deluxe editions and adding an additional 10 planes and 10 international airports.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Replace the video files in the game folder Download the replacement files from here and paste them in <path-to-game>\Packages\fs-base-onboarding\logos.

Use the -FastLaunch command line argument For the Microsoft Store version, right-click the desktop and create a new shortcut. In the item location field, paste powershell.exe -Command "Start-Process 'shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App' -ArgumentList '-FastLaunch'". Change the default name from 'powershell.exe' to something more descriptive, e.g. 'Microsoft Flight Simulator (Skip Intro)'. Opening the newly created shortcut will launch the game without intro videos.

Using the SDK for the Microsoft Store version Launch the game as you normally would and enable the developer mode (options menu > general > developers > toggle developer mode on. Towards the top left of the screen, select 'Help' and then select 'SDK Installer'. This will open up a new tab on your browser and prompt you to download the SDK installer. Once the installation is complete, navigate to MSFS SDK\Tools\bin (located in your root C:\ drive folder by default). Opening 'fsdevmodelauncher.exe' will launch the game without intro videos. You can also create a shortcut from it.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1250410/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1250410/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Graphics settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Hor+ gameplay and menus.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Camera X, Y and Z axis can be changed in Camera settings.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Fullscreen option is borderless windowed, there is no exclusive fullscreen option.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Off, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Off, FXAA, DLAA, TAA. Super-sampling is also available between 30 to 200 in increments of 1.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Frames can be locked with V-sync. 20 FPS, 30 FPS, 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Color blind mode		Protanopia, Deuteranopia and Tritanopia with high contrast variants

• 

  Camera settings

Input

Mouse sensitivity

Controller sensitivity

Controller vibration found in Accessibility settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		0% to 100% in increments of 1.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Can be done through binding.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		-100% to 100% for both sticks in increments of 1.
Controller Y-axis inversion		Left stick can be inverted for both Y & X, right stick can inverted through binding it to different camera angles.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers		Supports flight sticks and rudder pedals.
Button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		Found in Accessibility, 0 and 100 in increments of 1.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

• 

  Keyboard bindings

• 

  Mouse bindings

• 

  Controller bindings

Audio

Sound settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Voices, Aircraft engines, Aircraft miscellaneous, Cockpit, Warnings, Other aircraft, Environment, User interface, Music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Option to turn ON or OFF.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play

VR support

Devices	Native	Notes
TrackIR

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11, 12

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Wwise

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10 (1903)
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Intel Core i5-4460	AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Intel Core i5-8400
System memory (RAM)	8 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	150 GB
Video card (GPU)	AMD Radeon RX 570 Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	AMD Radeon RX 590 Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible

A 64-bit operating system is required.