Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 running in Windows Virtual Desktop
(EN)
I usually design and implement Windows Virtual Desktop environments for customers to provide them with Published Applications and Desktops from the Cloud, the serious stuff. But occasionally I like to use that same WVD for some fun stuff as well!
If you did not see it before, previously I ran the Command and Conquer Remastered Game inside WVD.
And recently I also performed an experiment with running and using a WVD Windows 10 Multi Session Desktop from within Minecraft!
Although the Command and Conquer Remastered game leverages the GPU as expected and ran pretty smooth it was not a super graphics intensive game. So, with the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, it was time for another fun experiment!
How well does Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 perform on a GPU powered Windows 10 machine published by WVD?
For this experiment I went all in and deployed the NV24 Series VM inside my GPU host pool, just because I could! This series contains 24 vCPU’s and 4 dedicated Nvidia M60 GPU’s, but based on the requirements of the game, a NV6 should also be sufficient.
To start installing Flight Simulator I went to the Microsoft Store and signed in. Upon purchase and installing I ran into the error below. The VM was deployed with a default OS disk size, which is not enough for the Flight Simulator 2020 install, so I had to resize the OS disk first :)
![](/media/os-disk-wortell/medium/50x50/os-disk-wortell.png)
But, after that the install launched successfully.
![](/media/flight-simulator-wortell/medium/50x50/flight-simulator-wortell.png)
After the installing, a “few” updates needed to be downloaded and installed, which took quite some resources and time!
![](/media/wvd-cpu-wortell/medium/50x50/wvd-cpu-wortell.png)
I selected Satellite experience (recommended for the best experience).
![](/media/set-experience-wortell/medium/50x50/set-experience-wortell.png)
And then it was time for my first flight! Below is a screenshot of the full screen experience with the performance metrics from the WVD session. the Round Trip Latency to Azure West Europe was 12ms and I had 118Mbps available.
![](/media/remote-desktop-wvd-flight-simulator-wortell/medium/31x96/remote-desktop-wvd-flight-simulator-wortell.png)
Below is a more detailed screenshot of the WVDsession details.
![](/media/wvd-session-details-wortell/medium/50x50/wvd-session-details-wortell.png)
I have not yet been able to compare the experience with a local install, but the overall performance was really great! Below is a screenshot of running it full screen on my Ultra Wide curved 34'’ monitor.
![](/media/running-flight-simulator-wvd/medium/50x50/running-flight-simulator-wvd.png)
And guess what, here is the same session running on an iPhone, using the RD Client from the store, also running smoothly!
![](/media/iphone-flight/medium/50x50/iphone-flight.png)
And finally, here is a link to the full video on YouTube that shows launching the client and the in game experience!
Happy watching!