My 2c:
First:
We need a clear definition of “User Data”, just so that everyone is on the same page. For example:
“User Data” is defined as…
- Our Pilot Profile (Statistics & Achievements) and Logbook, plus
- Our Options settings: Everything within General, Assistance & Control Options (Keyboard, Mouse, Joysticks, Gamepads, etc.), plus
- Other things: Friends list(s), completed activities, activities progress… What else? I’m sure I’m missing things.
Secondly:
Improvements to the reliability of the cloud-based services that store our User Data.
This game uses many service providers (for want of a better term). The MS/AS development team does not (AFAIK) manage these services. These providers have a different chain of command & budgets; and their priorities may not always sync. with those of the MS/AS development team. We need to recognize that Mr. Neumann sometimes has only his powers of persuasion to make changes that would address the concerns of his customers (us). I’m not trying to make excuses for MS/AS here. From a user perspective, the internal workings of Microsoft “the company” should be invisble, and as the OP states, the unintentional loss of users data - particularly their Control Options - happens far too frequently.
Recognizing that no cloud-based service is 100% foolproof 100% of the time, and Mr. Neumann’s powers of persuasion are not infinite (no offense intended), the obvious solution would be the ability to create & restore local backups of our “User Data”.
So, is there a wishlist item for this? I looked at the Wishlist section in the March 14th, 2024 Development Update and did not see one listed. If MS/AS is basing enhancements / improvements partly on what we ask for - which appears to be the case - then there appears to be no broad support for the ability to create & restore local backups. Is this born out in fact?
A search of the Wishlist section of the forum shows that there are indeed at least two Wishlist items that request this functionality:
- “Cloud save”, created in April 2021, which has, at time of writing, 4 votes.
and
- “The ability to create a total backup of the entire game locally”, created in June 2023, which has, at time of writing, 14 votes.
There are also requests for more limited forms of backups, such as this one:
- Backup function (export/import) for the controls settings, created in August 2020, which has, at time of writing, 204 votes.
The #1 item on the Development Update Wishlist (Implement Weather & Terrain APIs) has 2652 votes, so 204 votes is ~ 8% of that number. Maybe that is the reason why the MS/AS team have not focused their attention on this issue?
Perhaps the reason that these three items have such low vote counts is that we users consider the issue a “bug” rather than a DCR (Design Change Request). I’d suggest that we would get more traction on this issue if more folks voted for it.
I doubt, at this point, that the ability to create & restore local backups of our user data would be included in 2020. The dev work required to do this is probably considerable, and with 2024 due out (hopefully) sometime later this year, such resources that would be needed to do the coding would be better spent including the functionality in 2024 if it is not already there.