Microsoft Flight Simulator has a ton of stuff going on. With all the complex flight modeling, real-time data updates, and more settings than you can shake a stick at, there’s so much to take in. New players might feel a bit overwhelmed, so we’re here with some helpful guides on how to master the basics of the new sim.
One of the more impressive things about this game is how visually stunning it is. There’s even a full photo mode. But you don’t want all that UI clutter getting in the way of your shots. So when you want to take some of those beautiful shots, you might want to hide the HUD in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Here’s how to do that.
If you hit the Insert key, the camera will instantly switch to the Drone camera that follows your aircraft, giving you an external view of your plane, but it will also instantly remove all the HUD elements that you can normally see when using this camera.
By default, when you switch to external view, various gauges and other UI elements will still show up. There will be gauges and dials on the screen during a normal external view, so you can still keep an eye on the plane’s altitude, speed, and other important elements, mostly so you don’t crash. The Insert key bypasses this normal view and hides the UI totally.
The HUD can be hidden both internally and when you’re in external view on the plane. This means it’s probably a good idea to turn on auto-pilot before you do this. You may have to peek into your Assistance menu to make sure that option is enabled.
There are plenty of other settings that can be tweaked as well. Within these settings menus you can delegate ATC to AI, meaning it will be automatically managed for you, instead of having to manually respond to squawks. You will find that and many other helpful settings under the “Assistance” tab within Options. From this menu you can control the realism of the flight model, making it easier or harder to fly your plane. You can also manage the fuel mixture for your plane’s engine, toggle automatic handling of landing gear and lights, and so much more.
Another thing you might want to do, especially if your rig is a bit old, is to disable the AI data feeds. The developers pipe in real-world flight data and location information to control in-game weather and many other systems. This will help reduce the amount of information you have to track, as well as what your CPU has to process.
