Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024: Best Settings To Use
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 enters the series with a bang, encapsulating some of the most advanced visuals and mechanics you'll ever see. As a title geared toward enthusiasts, however, it's geared towards an audience with sophisticated taste and expertise, preferably with a dedicated HOTAS (Hands On Throttle and Stick) controller and a high-end PC.
Related10 Best Games That Use HOTAS
Reaching new heights with the hands on throttle-and-stick.
PostsFortunately, the game doesn't lack technical customization, letting you personalize every detail for a seamless flight. You can go into any category you want — visuals, controls, audio, and more — only to find a boatload of settings you can toggle. Still, it may seem daunting at first, but a quick navigation through them can definitely help you craft a fine-tuned experience.
This guide does not include settings for Controls and Accessibility as these highly depend on your environment, hardware, and personal preferences.
Best General Settings To Make A Smooth Flight
Most of your experience rests in the General Settings, including aspects like visuals, interface, camera, and so on. Although some of these aspects, like camera movement and audio, solely rely on preference, there are several settings you can toggle for a net positive, regardless of your specifications or personal needs.
Graphics
Setting
Recommended Value
Description
Display Mode
Full Screen
Determines how the game is displayed on your monitor.
HDR10
On (If available)
Enable for enhanced brightness and contrast.
Full Screen Resolution
Variable (Depends on PC)
Adjust sharpness according to your monitor. Pick the highest option.
Anti-Aliasing
AMD FSR 2 (Quality)
Smooth out jagged edges on objects to improve visual quality. Pick NVIDIA DLSS for RTX GPUs.
Render Scaling
100
Adjusts the internal rendering resolution of the game.
AMD FidelityFX Sharpening
100
Adjusts image sharpness without significantly impacting performance.
V-Sync
On
Synchronizes the game’s frame rate with the monitor's refresh rate.
NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency
On+Boost
Reduces system latency to provide a more responsive experience.
Frame Rate Limit
100%
Caps the game’s frame rate to a specified value.
Dynamic Settings
Off
Manually adjusts frame limit cap.
Global Rendering Quality
Custom
Allows toggling visual quality of finer in-game elements (see below).
Global Rendering Quality Settings
Setting
Recommended Value
Impact On FPS
Terrain Level Of Detail
160
High
Off-Screen Terrain Pre-Caching
Medium
Low
Displacement Mapping
On
Low
Buildings
High
Medium
Trees
Medium
High
Plants
Low
Medium
Rocks
Low
Medium
Grass
High
Medium
Objects Level Of Detail
80
Medium
Volumetric Clouds
Ultra
High
Texture Resolution
High
High
Anisotropic Filtering
8x
High
Texture Supersampling
4x4
Medium
Water Waves
High
Medium
Raytraced Shadows
Off
High
Shadow Maps
1536
Medium
Terrain Shadows
128
Medium
Contact Shadows
Medium
Medium
Windshield Effects
Medium
Low
Ambient Occlusion
High
Low
Cubemap Reflections
Medium
Medium–High
Raymarched Reflections
Low
High
Light Shafts
Low
Medium
Depth Of Field
High
Medium
Motion Blur
Off
Low
Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate
Medium
Medium
Characters Quality
Low
Low
Traffic Airport Quality
Off
Medium
Air Traffic
High
High
Road Traffic
Off
Low
Sea Traffic
Low
Low
Fauna
Medium
Low
You can only adjust these settings in the Graphics tab if you have Global Rendering Settings set to 'Custom'.
Flight Model
Setting
Recommended Value
Description
Flight Model
Modern
Adjusts flight model options (Modern = allows third-party add-ons).
Global Preset
Realistic
Sets overall flight realism.
Generals
80
Controls overall flight dynamics sensitivity (like inertia and drag).
Crash Realism
65
Determines how realistic crash impacts are simulated.
Gyro
100
Sets the gyro effect for tilting the aircraft according to the controller's positioning.
P-Factor
100
Adjusts engine torque and propeller effects to simulate real-world behavior.
Torque
100
Controls torque-based flight handling.
Flight Interface
Setting
Recommended Value
Description
Aerodynamic Visualization
Off
Shows airflow visualization to understand lift and drag forces.
Show The White Dot Cursor In Freelook
Off
Enable or disable a cursor when freelooking.
Landmark Markers
On
Displays markers for key landmarks.
City Markers
On
Displays markers for nearby cities.
Airport Markers
On
Displays markers for nearby airports.
Show Preflight Pins
On
Shows pre-flight configuration markers, highlighting critical parts for inspection.
Display Labels For All On-Screen POIs
Off
Shows on-screen labels for all nearby Points of Interest.
Show Traffic Nameplates
Off
Shows nameplates for other nearby aircraft.
HUD In Cockpit View
Yes
Shows information regarding critical instruments while in Cockpit Camera mode.
Cockpit Interaction System
Lock
Adjusts how you interact with cockpit instruments.
Instrument Name Tooltips
Delayed
Adjusts how a cockpit instrument's name appears when hovering over it.
Instrument Instruction Tooltips
Delayed
Adjusts how a cockpit instrument's description appears when hovering over it.
HUD In External View
Off
Shows complete HUD while in External HUD mode.
Best Assistance Settings For Balance
The Assistance settings determine how much of the experience you want to handle compared to the game itself. Generally, these depend on your familiarity with the mechanics — the more you know, the less assistance you need.
Nonetheless, finding a solid middle ground, beginner or not, ensures you're neither reducing the experience too much nor overwhelming yourself by it.
Piloting Assistance
Setting
Recommended Value
Description
Auto-Rudder
On
Assists in leveling flights while in the air and steering while on the ground.
Assisted Yoke
Off
Assists in maintaining flight levels when you leave the controller for too long.
AI Auto-Trim
Off
Assists in maintaining flight levels all the time.
Gliders: Tow plane take-off assistance
On
Assists in yoke controls (like pitch and roll) for glider planes.
Helicopters: Assisted Cyclic
Off
Assists in cyclic controls (like altitude, airspeed, and direction) for rotorcraft.
Helicopters: Assisted Tail Rotor
Off
Assists in tail rotor controls (like heading) for rotorcraft.
Helicopters: Assisted Collective
On
Assists in collective controls (like pitch control) for rotorcraft.
Assisted Controller Sensitivity
On
For Xbox Controller: Allows better control over yoke commands.
Hot air balloon: Accelerated Envelope Inflation
Off
Adjust whether you want the envelope of hot air balloons to be inflated.
Hot air balloon: Moored Basket
Off
Moores the basket of hot air balloons.
Automixture
On
Engine fuel mixture is automatically adjusted in the appropriate aircraft.
Gyro Drift
On
Gyro drift occurs during a flight.
Visual Assistance
Setting
Recommended Value
Description
Display Active Waypoint Marker
On
Shows the location of the waypoint in your active Flight Plan.
Flight Path
Off
Shows on-screen gates that lead you to your destination.
Taxi Ribbon
Off
Shows an on-screen ribbon for the optimum taxi route.
Piloting and Controls Notifications
Off
Displays an always-on notification for flight controls.
Realism
Setting
Recommended Value
Description
Disable Crash Damage
Off
Nullifies any damage taken to the aircraft.
Disable Aircraft Stress Damage
Off
Nullifies any damage taken to the aircraft via a high G-Force.
Disable Engine Stress Damage
Off
Nullifies any damage taken to the engine via a high G-Force.
Icing Effect
Visuals Only
Implements the physical and/or visual effects of icing in colder regions.
Unlimited Fuel
Off
Lets you have unlimited fuel for a flight.
Turbulence
Realistic
Lets you experience turbulence when flying.
G-Effect
Off
Simulates loss of pilot consciousness.
G-Suit
On
Simulates the effect of a G-Suit when flying at an extreme G-Force.
AI Radio Communications (ATC)
On
Let an AI communicate with the Air Traffic Control.
ATC Enforce Flight Plan
Off
Let Air Traffic Control judge whether to consider weather conditions during departures, arrivals, and so on.
NextBeautiful Places To Fly To In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Players can go almost anywhere in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 but some places are more breathtaking than others.
Posts
