Hello All, so we are all prepping for todays SU5 update. This one is likely to be huge, and its important more than ever to follow the instructions. I have always found it very unhelpful after an update the amount of people complaining how their Sim is now “broken” with very little information, under than its obvious that instructions were not followed, with the excess noise often hiding real issues.
So as a friendly reminder, here is a more detailed instructions on “correctly” installing the update.
First and MOST important
Please read and fully understand the release notes when the update is available. Follow any instructions on the release notes, as well as what i have written below. If anything the release notes conflict with an instruction below, follow the release notes for the conflict.
Before the update
- Backup and clear your community folder. You may also need to backup and remove additional folders created under package folder for individual community acraft, such as the A32NX, WTCJ4. Essentially make your content as “normal” as possible
- Turn off ALL Overclocking before the update, and ensure your computer is adequetly cooled (especially laptops, do not leave on a bed blocking airflow - keep on a flat hard surface such as a table). The update is highly intensive and stresses the GPU/CPU in decompressing its packages. The last thing you want is overclocking causing problems, including corrupting data as its written to disk (It DOES happen)
- Navigraph Subscription users may want to read @gordongreig 's post below for some further considerations (Advice for Todays Update - #50 by gordongreig)
- (optional and potentially harmful). Remove the content.xml file (or rather rename to context.old) if you have previous had a LOT of third party community content. Note I have done this many times, and not faced any problems, buit if you do, please rename it back.
- shutdown other applications before the update (ideally restart the computer) This will clear any links third party applications may have with the simulator, which can interfere with the update.
During the update - both inital from Steam/MSStore and startup
- (from @Jummivana Advice for Todays Update - #54 by Jummivana). If you have MSFS installed in a folder different to the default, please check its installing the simulator in the correct custom folder. This applies especially if you have installed it on a different drive to your main drive. Apparently not checking the path is correct is one of the biggest cause of issues.
- Have patience. Some internet providers (such as mine) seem to restrict bandwidth. No point complaining here, I know its frustrating, but lets have a coffee and chill out!
- If you have modified offical files, or maybe even a third party application modify offical files, you may end up with a larger download than expected. Annoying, but that is what it is.
After update
- Do not run any third party programs just yet
- Go to content Manager and check if there is further updates that need to be downloaded.
- Possibly check Marketplace for anything you may need to download (see instructions when release)
- restart the simulator once all updates are complete.
- You may need to restart your comptuer if you have certain “complex” hardware controlls (thanks @Flying2Night for the suggestion bellow. Please read their post for more info)
- This may happen automatically, but it may be a good idea to clear the rolling/manual cache too at this point. (thanks @Eelis61 for reminding me that)
- (Suggested by @rhumbaflappy below) Make sure you dont have any bandwidth limits set in your simulator (see their post below, hint data section) or by your ISP/router. Advice for Todays Update - #31 by rhumbaflappy
Hopefully if you follow these instructions you should have a successfull update.
Reporting issues
First and foremost, if you have any serious issues it’s best to first read other posts, and see if there is anyone else who may have had similar issues and have a solution. Then file a Zendesk ticket if it is an issue with the sim, or politely raise it with any third party devs. Please dont be rude… Complaining here may not be seen by those who need to see it.
Please do not put posts saying “this is broken/this is unplayable” on the inevitable thread that will appear post release. This is not helpful, as it doesnt explain what the issue is, and at worse is just noise, that is highly distracting. I hope the forum mods can crack down on and removethose sorts of posts on the inevitable update thread.
If you do want to post an issue here, please try and be as detailed as possible, to help others.
If your favourite mod does not work, this is unfortunately highly likely. This update seems to be making a lot of changes, and may break many community content. I strongly advice creating a seperate thread in the third party section for the add on (if one doesnt exist already) to give the third party dev an opportunity to read the issues. Again be polite, and informative. Please be patient, let the third party devs resolve it. No point coming here and blaming Asobo/Microsoft.
Otherwise, good luck, and hope for a successful release!
