I tend to play older/less powerful games too, I was fine playing CODMW2, age of empires 2/3 and L4D2 which played beautifully at quite high resolutions - although they are all old now.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Compatibility
- Thread starter PilotTiny
- Start date
-
- Tags
- boot camp flight sim imac
- Sort by reaction score
I tend to play older/less powerful games too, I was fine playing CODMW2, age of empires 2/3 and L4D2 which played beautifully at quite high resolutions - although they are all old now.
No idea, its not a feature that I need or want, as the clear majority of games I play are single player. Fallout 76 is really the only exception and with that, I play that on steam since I bought the game before it arrived on the game pass.
I researched, its only a few games. Though I did toss MS $1 to try Flight Simulator for a month on Xbox Pass.
I'm running the release version in Bootcamp on a 2019 i9 w/ Vega 48 and it's great. Things to watch out for
From what I understand, there may also be more optimisations to be had when new drivers come out, or updates to the game.
- The entire machine crashes if you try 5K, but 1440p looks almost identical and doesn't cause any problems. N.B. it's always better to select something which fits an exact integer number of times into your screen's resolution if possible
- 'Ultra' settings cause a lot of juddering/lerching, but the 'High' settings look great. I've not actually measured the frame rates, but it's OK - you get some lerching when banking sharply at low altitudes, or e.g. threading your plane between the sky scrapers on 7th Ave in New York, but otherwise it's smooth enough.
- There are also videos on youtube explaining how to optimise the Game Centre settings in windows which seem to have been helpful.
From what I understand, there may also be more optimisations to be had when new drivers come out, or updates to the game.
Thanks for the advice about the resolution. How is the heat and fan noise? Have you measured the temps with Macs fan control?
That's good to read. Now if I could only get Bootcamp to install on a 2017.It'll run on a late 2012 iMac.
Thanks for posting this thread. Been playing with FS since the days of Commodore 64 
, The 98, 2000, 2002 version on my old ancient PCs....but have been looking forward to THIS mind blowing release for a longtime!. Heck, I didnt even know it was released until I saw clips of people flying though Hurricane Laura a few days ago
Trying to figure out like many if our Macs can handle this? My 2017 MIGHT...it might be pushing it though, ugh.
But I am kinda new with BootCamp (have to see how that works first) - B.C. apparently seems to work the best from what I've seen on YouTube. Also downloading from Steam is more reliable than grabbing it from MS.
Also, I suppose a portable far faster SSD strictly used for Windows 10 would work connected to iMac.
RAM and speed of my Mac - doesn't look like it would be my issue, the graphics card however could be a problem.
I may look around for a "cheaper" gaming PC...maybe I can jack it up if needed. If I didnt have so many darn bills hitting me all at once right now, honestly would pick up a fast PC (even though I swore I'd never buy a PC again) just for FS 2020. Maxed out graphics, whoa...It just looks insane!
If it does in fact work on my iMac, this would make my month....heck year!
, The 98, 2000, 2002 version on my old ancient PCs....but have been looking forward to THIS mind blowing release for a longtime!. Heck, I didnt even know it was released until I saw clips of people flying though Hurricane Laura a few days agoTrying to figure out like many if our Macs can handle this? My 2017 MIGHT...it might be pushing it though, ugh.
But I am kinda new with BootCamp (have to see how that works first) - B.C. apparently seems to work the best from what I've seen on YouTube. Also downloading from Steam is more reliable than grabbing it from MS.
Also, I suppose a portable far faster SSD strictly used for Windows 10 would work connected to iMac.
RAM and speed of my Mac - doesn't look like it would be my issue, the graphics card however could be a problem.
I may look around for a "cheaper" gaming PC...maybe I can jack it up if needed. If I didnt have so many darn bills hitting me all at once right now, honestly would pick up a fast PC (even though I swore I'd never buy a PC again) just for FS 2020. Maxed out graphics, whoa...It just looks insane!
If it does in fact work on my iMac, this would make my month....heck year!
i'm looking as well.
Maybe this can help...it could help me. (Im new to this!)
Install Windows 10 "Boot Camp" on a Mac External Drive - 2020 edition
** OR this, he states he's going to install this on a 2017 iMac, but "it will install on ANY Macs"
I am in a similar situation, I ran the alpha and beta on my 2019 iMac but did not care for the performance and the fact the sim was baking my machine. I'm waiting until the new Xbox comes out to see if that will be a better solution that building a PC just for the sim. For now I am quite happy with X-plane running on my imac. IMHO you may not be happy with a "cheaper" gaming PC.Thanks for posting this thread. Been playing with FS since the days of Commodore 64
Trying to figure out like many if our Macs can handle this? My 2017 MIGHT...it might be pushing it though, ugh.
But I am kinda new with BootCamp (have to see how that works first) - B.C. apparently seems to work the best from what I've seen on YouTube. Also downloading from Steam is more reliable than grabbing it from MS.
Also, I suppose a portable far faster SSD strictly used for Windows 10 would work connected to iMac.
RAM and speed of my Mac - doesn't look like it would be my issue, the graphics card however could be a problem.
I may look around for a "cheaper" gaming PC...maybe I can jack it up if needed. If I didnt have so many darn bills hitting me all at once right now, honestly would pick up a fast PC (even though I swore I'd never buy a PC again) just for FS 2020. Maxed out graphics, whoa...It just looks insane!
If it does in fact work on my iMac, this would make my month....heck year!
I was reading more on it, yeah the cheaper gaming PC doesn't look like a great option. found my old PC tower in another room..that's from 2011 and a very basic PC that sure won't handle this sim. And yeah, I was also reading about running this on iMacs and big time heating issues. Whoa, no thanks!!
Originally my idea was "heck, get the Xbox" (I have PS4), so I may just do that. I have to think smart and not buy just to buy (a big flaw I have...no willpower..LOL) , I have 3 computers here all Macs, do I REALLY want to drop a bunch of money on a PC..something I know I'll barely use...except FS2020.
I'd rather spend the $ on the new iPhone Pro Max..but I'm up in the air about that also. I'll decide after the keynote.
It might run, but I hope you aren't setting expectations that performance will be smooth over anything that is remotely dense territory. The game is very taxing on the latest hardware. Anyone who thinks they are going to get 25-40 fps with any decent settings over any scenery that is remotely dense, is going to be disappointed.
It'll run on a late 2012 iMac.
My expectations are pretty darn low if I even got it working. I figured choosing the most detailed, dense scenery, weather, clouds...etc...it would be stressful to my Mac.
I'm using a 2020 iMac with the 5700 graphics card. I found midrange graphics settings work reasonably well. If you’re looking for the active pause on your Apple keyboard it seems to be mapped to the y key.Thanks for posting this thread. Been playing with FS since the days of Commodore 64
Trying to figure out like many if our Macs can handle this? My 2017 MIGHT...it might be pushing it though, ugh.
But I am kinda new with BootCamp (have to see how that works first) - B.C. apparently seems to work the best from what I've seen on YouTube. Also downloading from Steam is more reliable than grabbing it from MS.
Also, I suppose a portable far faster SSD strictly used for Windows 10 would work connected to iMac.
RAM and speed of my Mac - doesn't look like it would be my issue, the graphics card however could be a problem.
I may look around for a "cheaper" gaming PC...maybe I can jack it up if needed. If I didnt have so many darn bills hitting me all at once right now, honestly would pick up a fast PC (even though I swore I'd never buy a PC again) just for FS 2020. Maxed out graphics, whoa...It just looks insane!
If it does in fact work on my iMac, this would make my month....heck year!
Last edited:
Oh, I never had any positive expectations for it on my iMac. I only did it due to a request from a sub of mine. If I could use an eGPU, it wouldn't be bad at all really.
I have a 2019 16" MacBook Pro, Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of vram, ie the previous best gfx option on a apple laptop.
The game was so buggy up until its latest release so I could barely run it at all.
Now since about a week it does start but rather soon just dies. I am glad I just tried it using the XBOX on PC try out instead of buying the game.
The game was so buggy up until its latest release so I could barely run it at all.
Now since about a week it does start but rather soon just dies. I am glad I just tried it using the XBOX on PC try out instead of buying the game.
My attempts to install always fail with a network connection error downloading Windows support files. I've tried safe boot and external ssd install, always same error msg. I've read many other same complaints online.