Is the Steam Version Multiplayer? Should I Buy from the Website or Steam? And Which Version Should I Get?

[Apollo]

My first question makes me sound dumb, but on the list of what it says about the game it says singleplayer so I am curious. Should I buy from here or the website? Does the website offer different things, etc. And should I get standard, premium or deluxe? Is the premium and deluxe worth it?

[Narf]

There is no difference between the Steam version and the MS Store version except for one being able to use the Steam Wallet for ingame store payments and the other isn't.

The game is limited multiplayer - you can see other players in the world (given that both sites have the setting enabled to see and be seen), but you cannot fly a plane together and there is no chat.

As for which edition, the description lays out which extras are in the premium and deluxe editions. Do you absolutely want one of the aircraft, or is one of the handcrafted airports a must-have where you cannot possibly live with the auto-generated version, then get the version that offers it. If not, then the standard edition will do just fine, and the saved money could go into an airport or an aircraft from 3rd party devs that you want instead.

[Apollo]

Originally posted by Narf:

There is no difference between the Steam version and the MS Store version except for one being able to use the Steam Wallet for ingame store payments and the other isn't.

The game is limited multiplayer - you can see other players in the world (given that both sites have the setting enabled to see and be seen), but you cannot fly a plane together and there is no chat.

As for which edition, the description lays out which extras are in the premium and deluxe editions. Do you absolutely want one of the aircraft, or is one of the handcrafted airports a must-have where you cannot possibly live with the auto-generated version, then get the version that offers it. If not, then the standard edition will do just fine, and the saved money could go into an airport or an aircraft from 3rd party devs that you want instead.

Thank you!

[Drevin]

Let me add something but, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I find Frankfurt international airport as horrible. I haven't found a single stretch of taxiway that is straight. And it is part of the Premium Deluxe edition of the game. So it's an airport that the devs focused on, and for me it still sucks. I paid extra for it and I don't use it. I overfly it and land in Cologne, because I bought a 3rd party airport scenery there.

So, you have to think hard if you think you're going to enjoy this game enough for you to consider purchasing all the planes and/or the custom airports that come with the premium editions. As Narf said, you can see the additions on the Store page. People tend to buy 3rd party custom airports, and regarding the planes, depends what you are interested in. The Cessna 152 with steam gauges and the Cessna 172 with G1000 can be found in the default edition of the game, so you can start your flying with these. If you want airliners, you can get a study level A310 in the default edition, and you can get an A320 Neo for free from a company called Fly By Wire. These are just a few examples, I'm a relatively new simmer and I don't know anything about other types of planes. If you know what you intend to fly, then carefully check the different additions of the different versions to see which one has the plane you want.

[Rever]

You should also note that there is a significant discount to buy the upgrades with game. If you upgrade later the cost is almost twice as much.

Personally I have spent quite a few hours flying extra planes and the premium deluxe has been worth it for me

[Twelvefield]

Originally posted by Drevin:

I find Frankfurt international airport as horrible.

I've been to the real Frankfurt, I can't recommend it either. It's like being inside a real world game of Donkey Kong, except there's your luggage on fire instead of barrels. Sometimes, though, it's just barrels if the luggage has been delayed too long.

When MSFS was first released, the different versions made more sense. Today, you'd have to really want what's in those packages, and as has been mentioned, pull the trigger on one of them at the outset because it's expensive to upgrade later. Still, there are gamers who have buckets of money, so you never know.

[Apollo]

Originally posted by Rever:

You should also note that there is a significant discount to buy the upgrades with game.
/quote]
So if I buy the premium deluxe there is a discount to buy the other aircraft?

[Schmegg]

Originally posted by Apollo:

Originally posted by Rever:

You should also note that there is a significant discount to buy the upgrades with game.

So if I buy the premium deluxe there is a discount to buy the other aircraft?

Yes. If you purchase on the in-game marketplace.

https://msfsaddons.com/2023/03/27/microsoft-flight-simulator-introduces-marketplace-discount-for-deluxe-and-premium-deluxe-users/

[Narf]

Originally posted by Apollo:

So if I buy the premium deluxe there is a discount to buy the other aircraft?

Not everything, just the first party aircraft published by Asobo/MS themselves.

[Θωμάς76]

I have some questions too. I wanted to buy the game in Microsoft Store so that the pc doesn't have to run Steam too.
But the 1st thing that is troubling me is if I can easily backup the downloaded game as in Steam because I would definetily need the 150G space sometime or I might need to restore Windows.
And is there a game time registration in Microsoft Store?
If I understood correctly Steam has also the chat feature advantage.

[Rever]

Originally posted by Θωμάς76:

I have some questions too. I wanted to buy the game in Microsoft Store so that the pc doesn't have to run Steam too.
But the 1st thing that is troubling me is if I can easily backup the downloaded game as in Steam because I would definetily need the 150G space sometime or I might need to restore Windows.
And is there a game time registration in Microsoft Store?
If I understood correctly Steam has also the chat feature advantage.

There really isn't much difference where you buy it.

The only thing steam is downloading is an installer. You need to login to MS servers like you would any online game. You need and MS or XBox account (same thing for this purpose).

You should have more like 200Gb min and if you want a bunch of mods people through 400-600Gb numbers around.

[Θωμάς76]

Originally posted by Rever:

You should have more like 200Gb min and if you want a bunch of mods people through 400-600Gb numbers around.

Wow I wasn't expecting it takes this much space!
So what you are saying is that I can back up the files and it is easy to restore these 400G if I buy the game in Microsoft Store?

[Maki Nishikino]

When you start to pile on addons / mods your install can become quite large quickly. I personally have MSFS on it's own drive that is 2TB. I also use Addons Linker and store many addons / mods on a drive that is 4TB.

[Θωμάς76]

I googled if I can backup the games in Microsoft Store and they say currently there is no such feature and that I should use a separate drive. I don't know how Addons linker works but I guess only a fragment of the game is backed up so Steam seems the best option until they fix this.