'Microsoft Flight Simulator': Active Pause and 2 more ways to stop your game

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has landed on Xbox consoles, giving you a new way to explore the entire planet from the comfort of your home.

It’s a stunning achievement from a technical standpoint, with systems in place that simulate real-time weather effects, terrain, and the general layout of the land. Since this is the most robust flying simulator ever made, there’s a lot you can do in it. Beyond that, there is an overwhelming amount of options and settings you can spend hours tinkering with to the point that it can be hard to sift through.

For some reason, even just pausing the game is surprisingly complicated, especially if you want to utilize different camera angles to view the world around you. In this guide, we’ll show you three different ways you can pause Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on Xbox consoles.

How to use standard pause in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

The most basic form of pause in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is done by pressing the Menu button on your Xbox controller. This is something you’ve probably already done before, but we wanted to distinguish it from the Active Pause option, which we’ll get into below.

By pressing the Menu button, the entire game will stop, so you’ll no longer be able to explore or look at your surroundings. From here, you can change settings and toggle various options on or off just like you’d expect from a pause menu.

How to use active pause in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

What if you just want to pause the movement of the plane while still being able to look around? You can do this! It’s called Active Pause, and it stops your plane in place, letting you explore the inside of your cockpit, the outside of the plane, or the entire planet — without worrying about crashing.

To do this, you need to ensure all of the Piloting, Navigation Aids, and User Experience options are set to easy. These are all found under the Assistance Options within the main pause menu. Expert fliers might opt to disable the Active Pause option entirely, which removes it from the menu at the top of the screen.

Once you’re in your plane, click on the left stick, which will open the aforementioned menu. So long as you haven’t changed the order of things, the option on the far left features a start and pause icon. This is the Active Pause button, so press it to test things out.

You can now utilize the free camera drone under the Camera option from the Showcase submenu to take stunning pictures like you would in photo mode. Just make sure you click the left stick in again to make the menu disappear so you can control the free camera.

How to use autopilot in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Finally, let’s touch on how you can utilize autopilot during a flight. This allows you to step away without actually having to pause the game. Once again, make sure your Piloting, Navigation Aids, and User Experience options are set to easy.

Then, click on the left stick top open up the menu, and enable Active Pause. This step is optional, but it’s a good idea to do so, to ensure you don’t crash while changing the settings. Then, navigate to the Flight Assistance option, which is indicated by a character with a hat.

Select this, which will open up another menu. Then, scroll down to the AI Piloting toggle and enable it. From here, you can exit out of the menu and watch as your plane flies itself. You’re now free to step away without worrying about your plane falling out of the sky.