Do I have to download the entire game?

[Un]

I only want Nova Scotia and Ireland not the entire world.

[shadowgravy]

Yes, you have to download the entire world.

[Estelyen]

No you don't. The vast majority of the world data only lies on the servers and is streamed to players anyways. The whole world are terabytes of data.

[shadowgravy]

I mean the big orb with terrain mesh, oceans, rivers, airports, buildings, trees, and basic land textures. The Bing maps satellite data and extra regional POI updates are otional.

[Un]

Alright thanks. It's a shame PMDG makes products for only MS flight sims(Prepare3D was MSFSX). They should really develop for X-plane since that game has superior physics and is far less forcing in terms of the content you need to download to run the base game. Hell I'd even prefer if they'd made it for DCS even though it's not an airliner sim and the maps are small. I'm forced to download all this low fidelity trash and unwanted assets just to fly something good.

[Rookie-31st]

Originally posted by Un:

I only want Nova Scotia and Ireland not the entire world.

The base world has to be downloaded. Then, there are additional add-ons with regions and cities updates. You don't have to download them. I fly only in North America and Caribbean and don't have additional content for Europe and Australia downloaded/installed at the moment

[shadowgravy]

Originally posted by Un:

Alright thanks. It's a shame PMDG makes products for only MS flight sims(Prepare3D was MSFSX). They should really develop for X-plane since that game has superior physics and is far less forcing in terms of the content you need to download to run the base game. Hell I'd even prefer if they'd made it for DCS even though it's not an airliner sim and the maps are small. I'm forced to download all this low fidelity trash and unwanted assets just to fly something good.

I've never flown X-Plane, and I really don't like flying jets except Cold War fighters. I do, however, have a long relationship with Microsoft Flight Simulator products from FS98 through FSX DVD version and FSX: Steam Edition. I also made the easy transition to Prepar3D v5 (where I 90% only fly A2A Simulations GA aircraft) prior to MSFS 2020 when MSFS 2020 was going through its early teething. And I have the Sabre jet for DCS as well as most of the World War II content and the Nevada map.

I'm not trying to sell you on MSFS 2020 or 2024 but I think your logic is falsely based on the assumption MSFS 2020 has the same flight modeling as FSX. As for X-Plane vs. the current MSFS, this snippet was recently posted in a similar debate in this forum:

Originally posted by udidwht:

Originally posted by simking:

I actually want to love MSFS because I grew up with it ..the visuals are stunning but it just does not fly even semi realistic as Xplane or a real small plane it is really not good for training and is still unforgettably just a game
I would LOVE to have there visuals in X planes physics..

Simply not true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jhBFHZ45kw&t=10s

As for DCS, if you think the limited maps are sufficient in size and detail for jet liners, I'll concede that. However, even the premium DCS maps are not of a significantly higher resolution than the base MSFS world. Maybe I should fly over some MSFS regions without streaming any Bing map textures and compare the scenery to their DCS equivalents.

Anyhow, I currently only fly MSFS single engine GA aircraft these days. MSFS 2020 surpasses Prepar3D, even with P3D loaded to the rafters with weather and scenery addons. But as I said before, I can't speak to commercial jets or how they compare across any flight simulation platform.

[Un]

@shadowgravy Thanks for the info/video. I didn't know they upgraded/updated FM to that extent, damn. I just jumped in to MSFS to try out the PMDG 737-900. It's better than I expected so far.