The highly anticipated Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has hit the headlines in a bad way with a report flagging up that it can chomp your bandwidth when streaming the in-game world to the tune of up to 180Mbps.
Tom’s Hardware observes that this works out at something like 81GB of data per hour of gameplay when flying over densely populated areas with high detail settings, and that’s a figure that has understandably put some frowns on the faces of PC gamers.
The data is drawn from a YouTube video uploaded by Compusemble (see below) which comprises four test flights taken in the technical alpha of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, measuring both performance and internet bandwidth.
And here’s where we need to take a flight over (the densely populated) Caveat City.
The first and most glaring point is that Tom’s notes that data can ‘reach as high as’ a streaming rate of 180Mbps, but of course that’s a worst-case scenario, and it doesn’t get up anywhere near there most of the time.
Indeed, in the video, we can see that when flying over New York, the bandwidth is more like 30 to 50Mbps in the main, with spikes over 100Mbps (up to 180Mbps) which are very much the exception, not the rule. It’s more like 10 to 30Mbps when the level of detail is turned down a bit more, the vast majority of the time.
Similarly, in the Grand Canyon gameplay, we’re looking at 60 to 90Mbps (or 40 to 70Mbps with the details lowered somewhat).
We should also point out that this is in 4K resolution, Ultra details, which not everyone will be running at either – these levels of detail are obviously going to be quite a bit more intense for streaming.
We’re also looking at an alpha of the game, not the finished product, as Tom’s acknowledges – this may not be optimal performance in any given department (in fact, it almost certainly won’t be). The alpha is only a 9GB install compared to the full 30GB size of the game as stated by Microsoft recently (though it’ll require 50GB of free space, we should note).
So, is this all a bit of a storm in a teacup? We feel that it is, in many respects – though at the same time, bandwidth concerns are not unwarranted. Let’s discuss the ins and outs a bit further.
Analysis: Caching out
As we saw when the game’s specs were revealed, Microsoft has trimmed the installation of Flight Simulator 2024 down to 30GB (compared to 130GB minimum for Flight Simulator 2020), while observing that: “By tapping into the latest cloud streaming technology, installation size has been trimmed down to about 30GB to get you in your seat and flying as quickly as possible, streaming in the higher detailed areas that are only necessary for your flight path.”
So, we guess that this talk of tapping cloud streaming, combined with the bandwidth spec for the 2024 version – which ups the recommended connection bandwidth to 50Mbps, and 100Mbps is now the ideal spec (compared to 20Mbps and 50Mbps respectively with FS 2020) – is causing some definite concern.
And that’s fair enough – we don’t all have the fastest internet connection, or the best router, after all – but Tom’s is rather fanning the flames here by picking out a figure of 80GB odd of hourly usage, when the real story is not remotely close to that (even in the unfinished alpha). This is a misleading way to present FS 2024’s demands, particularly as it also doesn’t take into account the game’s settings.
You can download Flight Simulator content to your drive, and there’s a manual cache you can set (to store world data locally, rather than streaming), and a rolling cache to boot (that stores frequently visited areas). With those measures in play, in theory, your Flight Simulator 2024 bandwidth needs should be much more modest. Generally speaking, anyway, but that said, there are complaints from FS 2020 players that the rolling cache can have serious issues (including causing the game to crash), but we can hardly judge the 2024 incarnation on that basis.
It comes back to that rusty old phrase ‘let’s not leap to conclusions’ here as there are too many undetermined factors floating around. Still, we’ve got to say, Microsoft upping the bandwidth requirements is a little ominous, so we get it – particularly those gamers in the US hamstrung by a data allowance on their internet pipe might well be worrying. But let’s wait for the full picture here, because it most definitely won’t be anywhere near as bad as some reports are painting it.
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