Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

Although this product has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Developers
	Asobo Studio
Publishers
	Xbox Game Studios
Engines
	Zouna
Release dates
Windows	August 18, 2020
Reception
Metacritic	91
OpenCritic	92
IGDB	82
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Subscription gaming service
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.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is compatible with both windows-based PCs and Xbox X/S consoles. It went VR compatible in December 2020 as part of the free Sim 2 update. On November 18, 2021, the game was upgraded to the Game of the Year Edition for free for all players on all platforms, featuring 5 new aircraft, 8 handcrafted airports, 6 new Discovery Flights, 14 new tutorials, an updated weather system, early access to DX12 and a dev mode replay system. On May 25, 2022, a free expansion was released featuring F/A-18 Super Hornet livery, challenges and missions themed after the film Top Gun: Maverick. On November 11, 2022, the game was further upgraded to the 40th Anniversary Edition for free, with additional aircraft, airports and 24 classic missions from prior titles in the franchise.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Official Forums

Availability

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

All versions require Arxan Anti-Tamper DRM and a Microsoft account for both singleplayer and multiplayer.

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.

Monetization

Type	Notes
DLC	Different editions include additional aircraft and airports; this content is not available separately from their respective editions.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Replace the video files in the game folder (Steam)
Download the replacement files from here and paste them in <path-to-game>\Packages\fs-base-videos\Videos. The location for the files for the Windows Store version is C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.17.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\Packages\fs-base-onboarding\logos, but it is not ideal to edit

Use the -FastLaunch command line argument (Microsoft Store)

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	%APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\ %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\SystemAppData\wgs\<user-id>\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1250410/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows
Microsoft Store
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 and TAA. SSAA is also available between 30 to 200 in increments of 1.
High-fidelity upscaling		FSR 2.1, DLSS 2.0 DLSS Frame Generation is supported.
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)
Ray tracing (RT)
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

Tracked motion 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.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese				Added in 1.26.5.0.
Dutch				Added in 1.15.7.0.
Finnish				Added in 1.17.3.0.
French
German
Italian
Japanese				Added in 1.15.7.0.
Korean				Added in 1.31.22.0.
Norwegian				Added in 1.17.3.0.
Polish
Portuguese				Added in 1.24.5.0.
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish				Added in 1.26.5.0.
Swedish				Added in 1.17.3.0.
Turkish				Added in 1.31.22.0.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play

VR support

3D modes	Native	Notes
vorpX		Z3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Headsets	Native	Notes
HTC Vive		VR support was added in a patch on December 22, 2020.
Oculus Rift		VR support was added in a patch on December 22, 2020.
OSVR
Windows Mixed Reality		VR support was added in a patch on December 22, 2020.
Devices	Native	Notes
Tracked motion controllers
Traditional controller		See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse
TrackIR
Tobii Eye Tracking

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11, 12	DX12 support added as of patch 1.21.13.0 GOTY Edition.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Wwise

System requirements

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

A 64-bit operating system is required.