Hi @dagwit00001
I don’t think the game can tell you how big the download’s going to be on the “Checking for Updates” screen, as (AFAIK) it is while on that screen that it is determining what is installed on your system, and therefore what needs to be updated. Once that is done, the subsequent screens provide the required disk space, etc.
I agree that because the “Checking for Updates” screen can be displayed for quite some time, letting us know what is going on in the background would be useful. Many think that the game has hung when the screen has not progressed for a while.
There is a wishlist item similar to your idea:
But you might consider creating a new one specifically for when updates are applied.
Hi Hester, thanks for the prompt response. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any reference to a June 2 update in any of the links you supplied.
Look, I don’t have a problem with short - or no - notice maintenance updates. I realise they’re sometimes necessary.
But as @SmotheryVase665 observed above, there is a problem if the game is stalled, and we’re not properly informed as to why.
For example, this evening I had another program complain that my internet was broken; it wasn’t of course, it’s just that your stealth update was hogging all the bandwidth.
Luckily, having been here before, I was watching the data stream in on Task Manager. Otherwise, between that warning and your spinning wheel, I might indeed have come to the conclusion there was something wrong with my internet and been sent off on a wild goose chase,
And that’s why better information when you do one of these unannounced updates is important.
I think the problem is deeper than is discussed above.
Twice I’ve been stuck on the “checking for updates” screen, with a download taking place at full speed. Task manager indicated the download was occuring in FS2020. This surprised me as downloads normally occur immediately on starting the sim, or later in the start-up process, when it shows what is needed to be downloaded. On both occasions (for security reasons, as this went on for over 5 minutes), I eventually decided to exit the process, restart the computer and restart the sim. Both times, the sim loaded normally, no hesitation in the “checking for downloads” screen at all. On neither occasion was there a notice of an available download in the forum.
So it seems to be one of two possible occurences:
The sim noticed I had a problem with some files, and decided to re-download them for me. In both cases I would have interrupted the download at the exact point when the downloads had finished.
There is yet another bug in the sim.
I find the first option quite unlikely, so must conclude there is indeed a bug in the sim.
This would be another bug which is annoying (taking up a large part of the time I have available to fly), but not significant enough for Asobo to look into. I currently have several bugs elsewhere in the sim falling into the same category, requiring a restart of a flight, or of the sim, or even of the computer.
Not really a good position, nearly four years into the life of the product.
Being stuck on the “Checking For Updates” screen does not necessarily mean there is a pending update, especially one that we have not made any notice about.
Please exit the simulator, and try to manually sync your Date/Time in the Windows settings before relaunching the simulator to see if this fixes your issue.
Network usage in Task Manager does not mean there is a download occurring. The Checking For Updates screen does not download anything. It is used for a variety of other purposes such as sanity checks etc.
Please take the above steps of manually syncing your Time and Date in the Windows settings to see if this resolves your issue.
Whatever it was doing (and all the symptoms in task manager pointed to a download), it did not happen after the restart. The fact that it happened twice in exactly the same way, and for an extended period, to me indicates a problem. I have done the date/time resync, but it hasn’t happened before, and it may well be years before it happens again, so I’m not holding my breath!
I can assure you that on the Checking For Updates screen there are no downloads. As noted already high Network usage in Task Manager does not mean the simulator is downloading anything. It seems that for this incidence where users are getting stuck on the Checking For Update screen, it is linked to the Windows operating system Time/Date being out of sync. When these are manually synced by the user, I’m seeing many reports and have confirmed in my own personal sim, that this fixes the issue.
Press the Start button on the taskbar, type settings, and select Settings.
Select Date & Time and toggle the “Set time automatically setting" and “Set time zone automatically” to ON.
Click on Synchronize your clock to synchronize your system’s clock with an Internet time server.
Then click Region, and double-check that your country or region is correctly set up (for example if you live in Canada, make sure that the region didn’t switch to USA or vice-versa)
We are aware of the increase in reports from users experiencing this issue, and I have escalated it for investigation.
If you mean the Windows Resource Monitor, this will show the same information as the Task Manager in terms of network usage. Resource Monitor can indicate an increase in the network usage whilst using Microsoft Flight Simulator, but does not indicate a download in progress when on the Checking For Updates screen.
Your original post was removed by a moderator as it was inappropriate. Please ensure you abide by our Code of Conduct when giving feedback on the Microsoft Flight Simulator forums.
Please try the step I have listed already on this thread of manually syncing your Time and Date in Windows settings before relaunching the simulator to see if this will fix your issue.
I can confirm since this morning a few of my friends and myself have this issue,
What gets me is the blatant denial by Community Managers that are supposed to help everyone, just default generic replies …
I had to disconnect my ethernet to get it to get past the checking for updates screen.
I can assure you that there are no default generic replies here. So far users who have reported this issue in recent days have been able to get past the Checking For Updates screen by manually syncing their Date and Time. I’ve responded to a number of users on this post asking for them to test the same to see if this helps! If it isn’t helping you, you can see our online Zendesk portal for more troubleshooting steps that may help:
For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:
