Tuesday, October 15th 2024
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Uses up to 180 Mbit/s of Internet Bandwidth in Flight
Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty demanding title. From the very high-performance system needed for ideal system specifications, the game now uses up to 180 Mbit/s of internet bandwidth while the user is in flight and the terrain is loading. This is equivalent to as much as 81 GB per hour of internet data, which is a nightmare for users with a data cap. Data caps are often standard in US homes, with internet providers imposing their own rules on up to 1 TB of uncapped traffic, which considerably slows down after that. The new Flight Simulator 2024 may be a bit much for users who don't have powerful systems and data plans.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 requires 30 GB of storage for the game. The alpha version comes in at only 9 GB, meaning that it is pulling much of its resources from Microsoft's servers, thus requiring this massive bandwidth to operate smoothly. Microsoft recommends a 50 Mbit/s internet connection for the final game, meaning that the final 30 GB install will pack more textures, thus lowering the massive load on Microsoft's servers. Of course, the 180 Mbit/s is the peak load, and the lowest measured load is around 10 Mbit/s. The game typically runs below 50 Mb/s, but this peak value is quite noticeable.
Sources:
Compusemble (YouTube), via Tom's Hardware
The Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 requires 30 GB of storage for the game. The alpha version comes in at only 9 GB, meaning that it is pulling much of its resources from Microsoft's servers, thus requiring this massive bandwidth to operate smoothly. Microsoft recommends a 50 Mbit/s internet connection for the final game, meaning that the final 30 GB install will pack more textures, thus lowering the massive load on Microsoft's servers. Of course, the 180 Mbit/s is the peak load, and the lowest measured load is around 10 Mbit/s. The game typically runs below 50 Mb/s, but this peak value is quite noticeable.
59 Comments on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Uses up to 180 Mbit/s of Internet Bandwidth in Flight
It's important to understand that broadband offerings vary wildly between providers and markets. Before Xfinity NOW, Comcast was capping data for some customers.
My previous ISP (a DSL provider) also had uncapped data but the network was a fraction of what the new service offers. In the 25+ years I've had broadband connectivity at home, sometimes it's capped, other times it is not.
You certainly don't need a huge boatload of broadband data for streaming 1080p gaming though.
See for yourself:
www.xfinity.com/now/internet
It is highly inadvisable to compare broadband plans between different countries. Every market is different. There are many other countries that have far faster consumer broadband offerings. For sure 3.3 Mbps per dollar is not going to be the rock bottom price if you are looking performance-per-dollar metrics.
In the plan details Comcast says the typical download speed is 115.59 Mbps and typical upload speed is 11.68 Mbps. Shockingly the cable company's claims are accurate. I just did an Ookla speedtest on my iPhone (nothing else in the house downloading anything) and my download speed is 119 Mbps and upload speed is 11.7 Mbps.
Anyhow back to the discussion topic.
Even my 100 Mbps connection would be saturated by Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024's peak bandwidth requirements. However, it should be able to handle a 4K cloud gaming stream.
MSFS 2024 is an ideal candidate for cloud gaming. No huge broadband requirements, serious storage requirements, no spendy GPU necessary. Hell, there's a GeForce NOW client for my LG smart TV. I don't even need a computer or videogame console for this.
I kid of course, but the serious MSFS gamer... (are they really 'gaming' at this point?)... they'll probably think differently.
I do have a sneaky feeling that the game will probably have a few tiers of downloadable / streamable assets that will fit different user requirements - I mean if someone is playing on a 1080p single display with maybe a 3060/4060 class GPU will they really need the same level of detail textures, etc., vs someone playing on a triple-screen 4k rig with their 5090 TI Super Titan CEO Ultra edition?
of course we can compare pricing (within 1st world countries), the same way we do for everthing else.
and its not so much anything making a "difference" (perf/cap/price) than regulations and consumer (protection) laws, easily seen when comparing places in europe to east/west coast (as in not in the middle of nowhere).
e.g. sat tv is free to receive in europe, short of ppv or premium channels for decades, how about murica?
I think the pricing in the US is just fine, relatively speaking. I personally pay $0.065/mbps, or $65 for gigabit FTTH.