How to use the app offline?

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

Is it worth buying the MSFS2020 DVD release(box), since the internet is very often a problem. How to use the app offline?

2

The dvd version is no different to the steam or ms store version
 You would still need to have an Internet connection for updates and world data


You can play any of them offline just by turning off the streaming data, it just means that your terrain quality drops massively to fsx standards

What you can do though is manually download the data of the areas you want to fly to various levels of quality, and they’re stored locally
 So it doesn’t need to download anything while you’re flying

2 Likes
3

If your internet is very often a problem, you would probably struggle with streaming data anyway.

Could you manually cache certain areas you fly/ land in regularly (when your internet is working properly) then turn off streaming?

My assumption is that if you did so, you would then see higher quality terrain for these cached areas, even though streaming data is set to Off?

I presume that this is possible, but I have not tried it and I am no expert


4

You can turn off all the online data functionality.
This stops bing maps satellite imagery, photogrammetry, online data traffic and azure ATC voices.

5

Nope.

Buy Steam version.
Install > update and you can play without internet connection.
https://www.businessinsider.com/can-you-play-steam-games-offline?IR=T

Also important > https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/game-setup-and-play/play-games-offline-on-windows-10-using-offline-mode

6

Okay. In that case, how can I save the files of all the updates that occurred in case I reinstall the application on another computer?

7

Copy/paste essentially.

I have my sim installed into the non-default folder “D:\Flight Simulator”.

If I installed the sim on to a new computer, let’s say to its E drive, I would copy that entire folder across to the target machine, visit the MS Store, download the sim, then when I launch it to install, at the point it asks me where the sim should be installed I would change the default it suggests to “E:\Flight Simulator”. What it should then do is look for missing components, and download those, but skip over items it can find.

Note that I have not actually tried this, but logically it makes sense. I think those users who have often reported they have been forced to download the sim again have for some reason had their installation folder changed to something else, and that’s why they end up downloading it all over again.

One user has confirmed to me that this was the case for them.

8

Okay. Let’s make the task more difficult. Let’s assume that all the folders FSMS2020 and files of paid add-ons are installed on a single hard drive of e.g. 4Tb and it (the drive) failed. We only have a dvd release (box). Where can I find and download the installation files of updates and additions that came out later? Is it possible to download them from the simulator site or copy them from the flight simulator directory without installing, saving them in the archive for reinstallation?

9

If your license allows you to install MSFS from the MS Store, without using the disks at all, you already have your files in your backup. If the MS Store thinks you don’t own the sim, then you have to use the installer on the disks.

But in theory, as long as the source of your sim is the same, disk or store, you may get away with installing from the DVD, and pointing the installer to the location of folder you copied over from the other machine.

10

In the first post I pointed out the problems with the Internet. It takes a very long time, even if the installer is fine. It takes much less time to install the application from the DVD and download updates. So I would like to know: where are the update files on the simulator site, so you can download them separately into your archive and use them in case of unforeseen reinstallation of the simulator?

11

You can’t. As soon as you open the program it checks via the internet if you have the latest versions installed. If not it downloads it automatically and you can’t control this process eg by only selecting a few or some.

If you have bad internet you might not have much fun as some of the updates have several GB plus the game itself needs around 20mbps ideally 50 to work well.

1 Like
12

This is actually the solution. MSFS2020 is basically an always online software as a service. Even with all the online functionality turned off it’s still connecting to validate all the time and you have zero control over update downloads.

13

Surely the difference is negligible. A DVD holds 8GB (depending on layers) so to call it a ‘physical version’ is somewhat fanciful these days when 90% will need downloading anyway, and that’s not to mention the Sim Updates and hotfixes. Assuming I’ve got my numbers right.

14

Sorry for my English and I’m not a programmer. All the answers sent on this topic can be found using search applications of operating systems, but still I am interested in something else. I will try to rephrase my question again.
Some users suffer from installing and reinstalling the simulator for several days due to problems with the Internet or with the simulator itself. Everyone knows that on the page of the purchase manager (the simulator user profile) there are such modules that can be installed or removed, but there is no way to download them separately (!) from the simulator’s website or from somewhere else! I repeat. This can only be done on the simulator manager page.
In this situation, the simulator directory turned out to be faulty, due to the failure of the hard drive.
To quickly reinstall the simulator, it is suggested to consider the Retail disc version ( “Microsoft Flight Simulator - DVD Content”). This is a box of 10 disks of 8 gigabytes each. Convert to. iso files and transfer to one USB flash drive. Thus, the installation of the “Standard version of the flight simulator” will be reduced to about one hour. We download the rest through the Microsoft App. We will also spend about an hour on this. Plus the settings. Thus: it will take us about two to three hours to do everything!
And now about the essence of the question itself.
If at the moment all the installation files of updates and add-ons have been downloaded and are located in the simulator directory, then how can they be copied and saved in a personal archive on some separate hard drive of the user’s computer? Where are they located in the flight simulator directories and with what extension? The proposed idea could reduce the time for installation/reinstallation by transferring the missing files stored in the personal archive of previous working versions.
Please note that this topic did not address the issue of saving and using geo-arrays of maps.

15

Hi @Salexaero, I try to answer this.

First: keep in mind, I am using the steam version. It might be different for the DVD version, and it IS different for the MS store version.

If you download the simulator via steam, its major content is stored in the steam library (common). However it will also store some configuration (as many programs these days) in the Windoes roaming folder (you can ignore this folder for now).

So basically, If you have installed the sim you can simply copy all the contents in the steam library (there it is called MIcrosoft Flight Simulator, copy just this folder, about 190GB) to your desired backup destination. If something went wong, just copy all the stuff back from your backup destination to the steam library.

The main portion of the local data for MSFS is stored in “Microsoft Flight Simulator/packages”, in fact is sufficent to just backup this single directory - it also contains the community folder with all you third party stuff.

1 Like
16

Thanks, I’ll look into it.

17

You don’t want this game if you don’t have a reliable / consistent uncapped minimum 10mbps download connection.

You get downloads sizes ranging up to 30GB with mandatory monthly game updates.

18

I didn’t realise the physical sim had 10 disks. takes me back to my early experiences with Microsoft Office.

On topic, we do live in an increasingly online world, I suspect the long-term solution is more reliable internet, not physical media.

19

Moved topic to Self-Service

20

And I would like to be independent of the Internet, as it was in the days of FS9, FS2004 or FSX.