As Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 improves with each patch, "error accessing live air traffic data" and other bugs remain. So, is it worth playing, or should you wait?

Las Vegas Sphere in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

Las Vegas' Sphere is comically animated in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. (Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)

What you need to know

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launched with game-breaking issues on November 19, 2024, on Xbox and PC.
Limited server capacity and constant crashes kept many players from playing the game within its first few days, but patches and fixes followed later.
Developers at Asobo Studios have recently focused on the game's career mode to relieve the most frustrating errors.

Two weeks since Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launched to 'mostly negative' reviews, its development team at Asobo Studio has been hard at work on patching crashes and fixing bugs that plagued expectant MSFS 2024 fans on November 19. While it's an undoubtedly colossal task to offer a real-time rendering of the entire globe, launch day still proved problematic and left the game as an unplayable mess that I couldn't properly review.

Thankfully, as server capacity improves, the game's development team, led by Jorg Neumann, has pushed a variety of mode-specific improvements. While 'free flight' was partially functional at launch, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024's long-awaited career mode was mostly an inaccessible feature due to game-breaking bugs and other errors that barred players from progressing. Recently, a maintenance period patched some of the most problematic offenders.

Maintenance has now concluded. The fixes included in this maintenance period were as follows:✅ Fixed a crash that could occur when accessing the career if certain conditions were met.✅ Fixed passive income generating negative amounts when a passive aircraft is out of order… https://t.co/PTS3jvgL8uDecember 3, 2024

So, did the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 patch actually improve the game enough that previously discouraged onlookers and disgruntled enthusiasts should consider trying it again? I had kept the game installed on my Xbox Series X since launch, automatically applying whichever fixes might appear, and booted it up earlier to see how it performs. Here's what I found in my experience.

A vast improvement with more work to do

Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 — Challenges focused on the Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet are now playable and look fantastic in motion. (Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)

Immediately, the "activating packages" message still appears for a little while on the initial loading screen, but it's a far cry from the endless launch-day hangtime and makes sense for a game loading the entire globe ready for real-time streaming. Similarly, zooming in and out of the virtual planet Earth in 'free flight' exhibits a minor amount of slow texture loading, but it's nothing worse than I've seen in some modern games built in Unreal Engine 5.

In line with the recent patch, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024's career mode manages to load without crashing, and I can finally start taking my 'Private Pilot License' to progress in this customizable adventure. Design-wise, the text-to-speech voices used for NPCs like your copilot are unconvincing and even disappointing, considering how much Microsoft Copilot's AI assistant voice has improved on Windows 11, but it's still more interesting than reading plain text.

Training within Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024's career mode — Career mode finally works, with training classes functioning without crashes. (Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)

Some unfortunate issues remain in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, though some aren't as severe as others. Selecting 'fly now' is when the game exhibits its first evidence of unresolved bugs, as the bird's eye view often lingers for around 30 seconds or more before zooming into your chosen plane and the framerate on Xbox Series X divebombs while the world loads its higher-resolution assets around you.

Everything rendered with a 3D model and textures has this 'first-time load' effect, where I'll always be presented with an ultra-low-quality blocked-out version of my plane's dashboard and controls. However, it's soon replaced by high-resolution counterparts, and the frame pacing calms itself down to something that resembles a more consistent pace, but I'd appreciate at least a locked 30 FPS.

New York City in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with "Error accessing live air traffic data, retrying..." message — "Error accessing live air traffic data, retrying..." messages didn't seriously affect my flight over New York City. (Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)

An unfortunate, repetitive bug removes all engine sounds of my Cessna, or any other plane, for that matter, but a helpful comment on Bluesky points me in the right direction of fixing it by clearing the cache. Otherwise, a relatively new message frequently appears in some modes to report "Error accessing live air traffic data, retrying..." but it doesn't interrupt your flight or become much of a serious problem.

Above all, the post-patch trend for the game seems to follow a pattern of loading into a scenario, sitting through some frame drops as the assets and world load around you, and then you can begin flying in peace. The framerate on a third-person-view flight on Xbox Series X is somewhat inconsistent, but it's not so bad that you can't enjoy the sights, and it seems to be improving with its patches and server expansion.

The marketplace is still listed as 'coming soon' with no changes there. However, the challenges menu features new scenarios, and the Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet actually loads without broken textures, and I'm able to fly it around a slice of the United Kingdom at incredible speeds. The game is functional enough for some real fun, and I'm glad to see it — revisiting my review to award a score soon.