A new simulator means a new user interface to get used to. Luckily, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 doesn’t stray too far from its predecessor in terms of the user interface. Most of what you are familiar with is very similar in MSFS 2024, however, we know many of you are keen to get a really good look at the UI itself.
To start, let us take a look at the main menu itself. This is perhaps the most significant of changes compared to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
As you can see here, the home menu has a huge focus on the world itself, whilst updating the UI itself. The new modes with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 have a nice big focus, whilst the older activities menu and free flight options are still easily accessible.
In the top-right corner, you can see the new profile area that features your username, a shortcut to your settings, notifications, the in-sim Marketplace, and a messaging service. Clicking your username brings up your pilot profile.
Here, you are able to get an overview of your career progression, and your ranking in the challenge league and also view other valuable stats to your virtual pilot log.
The activities menu itself is largely unchanged from before, with a horizontal scroll taking you through the options of flight training, rally races, low altitude challenges, and all types of other activity content.
The free flight area also remains mostly the same from MSFS 2020, but with plenty of areas much tidier than before.
When selecting aircraft, you can scroll between them all, search, sort and filter depending on what you’re looking for. A new addition is the ability to filter based on whether they were purchased through the in-sim Marketplace. Clicking ‘configure’ allows you to select livery, change weight and balance and other familiar options.
From the free flight menu, you can change the flight conditions, in a similar way to the previous title. You can change the weather and time to either live, a preset or custom, along with adjusting the air traffic and multiplayer sessions. What is new is the ability to set the weather to live, or within a period of the past 24 hours – something the developer has said they would look at in the past. This is also true for the air traffic in the past day.
Moving around the world map remains the same, with key airports showing as icons and smaller airfields, helipads and other POIs having more focus the closer you get.
Back to the aircraft selection screen now, and clicking on ‘Configure’ will allow you to see the liveries, adjust the variant, see aircraft stats, adjust payload, and more. You will also see things like engine covers, chocks, etc, which can all be adjusted during your walk-around mode when in free flight.
One major addition to the new simulator is the arrival of this universal EFB that works across all aircraft. It is designed by Working Title as a way to get flight information straight into your aircraft, including procedures, flight number, payload, and more.
Once you have finished picking all your options for your flight, it is time to load everything. With Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, once you click on ‘Fly’, you will see a nice transition into the world as it zooms to your starting location.
Once you’re in the sim, the in-sim toolbar is very much the same, just with some design differences. The colour and style match the more modern and mature UI elements found in the main menu areas.
In the career modes, the UI has its own unique elements such as the career progress tree and the ability to view missions happening around the world.
In short, most of the user interface and menu system for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 remains mostly the same as in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. It feels a lot cleaner and more mature in comparison, and the slick loading screen makes everything feel snappier than it did before.
Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Note: All images shown are work in progress and may not represent the final release.
