Is it possible to make a local copy/backup of those MSFS settings that are backed up to the MSFS/X-box cloud servers?
Why I ask:
My friend @cyclicalobsessv, installed an update to MSFS this last Friday, (June 23), and he noticed that after the update was completed and the game started, all his carefully crafted settings were completely obliterated and replaced with the out-of-the-box defaults.
This included all his specific game, graphic, and controller settings - all nuked back to the Stone Age.
So. . . .
Are these settings able to be saved and restored if something untoward happens to them?
You can copy it to another location (e.g. your desktop) as a backup.
Standard disclaimer about messing with config files:
You do so at your own risk.
You can break stuff or cause it to not work properly.
If you want to copy this config back after an update you can, but it would be safer to let the update reset the graphics config file. Then change your settings back from inside the sim (reading your backup as a reference for your settings), or by editing the new UserCfg file (if you had previously done this) in case the ordering/formatting of the file has been changed by the update
WGS (folder and all files & sub folders and files)
usercfg.opt (file)
Worlmapfilters.xml (file)
– then you stand a good change of being able to recover most of your MSFS settings, if you have a “Cloud Hiccup”
Note: backing up is easy.
Restoring any of this Data can be a bit tricky, as your restore fights with the cloud data – but you need only worry about the restore IF you need it.
If you do not backup, then you do not have any restore option.
Manual restoring has no risks. As soon as you launch game with any custom local data the new settings that may be missing inside your files (if any) will be created by game, overwriting your recently pasted files in accordance. If there´s any missing file in your pasted files pack then it´s also downloaded by game from the most recent cloud saving you have.
The former is also done when any new official update modifies the old config you had prior to update. The later is also done when you install game from scratch (as uninstallation deletes all local content indeed).
Cloud sync updating (upload from your local files to server) happens after you exit game, so that any manual configuration changes you have made in the menus are saved to the server for the next time.
I’ve had this sync process fail quite often. When I’m testing things out I don’t always exit the sim cleanly, so I’ll just ALT+F4.
When I launch the sim, and the splash screen appears, I sometimes get a message that states that the local, and cloud data are out of sync, and it asks me which one I would like to use.
Given my use, and a healthy amount of paranoia, I always choose the cloud save, just in case the local one is a wiped profile.
I have created another wishlist item requesting the ability to completely save the entire game context and data such that it can be reinstalled locally without having to re-download everything.
– and probably could have been if MSFS had been coded to have a local user backup-restore system.