Microsoft Flight Simulator: How To Fix Common Issues

Microsoft's newest game, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, is off to a strong start with very positive review scores that make it one of the most highly rated titles of the year. It's available on Xbox Game Pass for PC, boosting the number of people who have access to it, but there has been some turbulence, as players have notified Microsoft about bugs and other issues.

Microsoft has now launched an official bug-tracking website for Flight Simulator that houses the top reported issues and provides temporary workarounds. As of August 18, some of the top issues that don't have fixes yet include the game getting stuck on the loading screen, slow download times, and the game failing to launch on some versions of Windows. Separate from this, there have also been some hilarious instances of in-game locations looking less than realistic.

You can see the temporary workarounds for these issues below, as posted on the site.

Stuck Loading on Blue Bar

• Exit out of Microsoft Flight Simulator (alt+F4) and relaunch the title one or two times
• Try running the sim as an Administrator

Unable to Launch Sim on Insider/Pre-release Version of Windows

This is an error where the launcher will produce an error code when trying to begin installation. We are working with the Windows Store team to resolve this issue.

Workaround: Try installing the Xbox App to launch the sim instead.

1. In the Windows Search Bar, type in Microsoft Store and click to open the Microsoft Store App
2. Search ‘Xbox’ in the search bar of the store and click on the Xbox (Beta) App.
3. Install this app, sign in, and try to launch Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Slow Download Times

• We are aware that many users are experiencing slow download times. We recommend following directions outlined here to help increase speeds.

Steam Premium Deluxe Content Missing

An issue with users on Steam not seeing their Premium Deluxe content has been fixed. To see your Premium Deluxe content please do the following:

1. Completely logout of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Steam
2. Relaunch Steam
3. Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator
4. Go to the marketplace and you should see the Deluxe or Premium content checked as owned
5. Click on ‘Download’

An issue with users on Steam not seeing their Premium Deluxe content has been fixed. To see your Premium Deluxe content please do the following:

1. Completely logout of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Steam
2. Relaunch Steam
3. Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator
4. Go to the marketplace and you should see the Deluxe or Premium content checked as owned
5. Click on ‘Download’

Microsoft Flight Simulator uses data pulled from Bing Maps that is streamed into the game using Azure cloud technology, and this allows you to fly to basically anywhere in the world. The game is currently only available on PC, but it's coming to the Xbox family of devices later on.

GameSpot's own review for Microsoft Flight Simulator is in progress and will be published soon.