Game bought through Steam
Had to create an Xbox Live login (for DRM?)
Neither Steam nor this Xbox Live account have any record of purchases made through Marketplace.
Steam logs that I have bought and spent microsoft credits but it does not appear to log what modules I have purchased and installed through that marketplace.
Steam also logs my game progress (achievements) but does it log profile hours? Does reinstalling result in a complete profile wipe?
Xbox Live account appears to log nothing at all.
No game hours (profile log)
No achievements
No transaction history
Nothing is logged there. It’s as if it doesn’t even know I own this game despite it being required for me to log in and use the game.
So what happens when I do a fresh wipe and OS reinstall? Am I going to lose everything?
As long as once you purchased the sim from Steam, you have logged in as both Steam and the Xbox account you’ll be logging in. After that, your copy of the sim will be activated to your microsoft account as well, so both Steam and Xbox account will get synchronised. After that, even after reinstalling Windows, as long as you’re logged in as the same account between Steam and the Xbox, you should be fine and have access to everything you have purchased.
I’ve reinstall fresh windows 3x since release. And all my contents are still there. Even my settings are synced.
Good to know, but where does all of that information sync to? Where is it presented?
I see no record of the extra modules purchased through marketplace on Steam.
I see absolutely no record of anything at all at my Xbox Live login.
I already have 6 transactions visible in Steam but apparently only own 4 modules when viewed through the marketplace. My gut feeling here is that there are a lot of holes in this cheese that could easily line up and let things fall right through.
Well, I’m not sure I have a better answer. I’ve only purchased one thing from the marketplace, and it was an airport. I can see in the marketplace as Owned. And I have the transaction record in Steam as “In-Game purchase”
I also bought the sim complete with the Premium Deluxe Bundle from the start, and I have that transaction history in my Steam transaction as well. On Steam, the only DLC I have is the Premium Deluxe Bundle which is reflected in the marketplace as well. But the marketplace has the one additional addon that I purchased there.
Everything else especially my free claims are also in my marketplace under “Owned” as well. And I can just use the content manager to download whichever content that I owned but haven’t installed.
So since I use my Windows with my Microsoft Account and it’s synced to my Xbox profile. My whole account is connected. So when I reinstall windows, I just logged back in using my Microsoft account on Windows and the Xbox account is automatically synced. Then I log in on Steam with my usual account. Reinstall the MSFS, and when it runs the first time, just login using my same account, and everything is there.
Are you having data inconsistencies like you already paid for a purchased addon, but you’re not getting it in your marketplace list as “owned”?
“So since I use my Windows with my Microsoft Account and it’s synced to my Xbox profile. My whole account is connected”
So, do you see any history of those in game purchases at either your xbox profile or your microsoft profile?
As a Steam user I see none. nothing. nada.
All I have are the Steam transactions for microsoft credits purchased and microsoft credits used as “in game purchase” - no actual info regarding what I have actually purchased from the in game marketplace anywhere.
Yeah, my Steam transactions only records the in-game purchases. But to check which ones I bought, I just open the Marketplace, and filter the one under “Owned”, and it will show me the marketplace items that I have bought.
Based on my 15 years experience in the IT industry, there’s only a handful of scenarios that could make your purchases suddenly “disappears”.
The content become deemed as offensive and violating their agreements. In that case, it’s usually known well in advance. If the content itself is to be removed from the marketplace and prevents the users from ever using them again, there should be a procedures in place to determine which Microsoft/Xbox account that has purchased this DLC. They would then notify everyone who purchased this DLC either through Email or somewhere that their purchased add-on will no longer be usable, and certain compensation should be given. Records are kept electronically in the server.
Data disaster. natural or accidental disasters can occur to the Microsoft server which may result in them losing valuable data such as purchase history. But such a case always have protocols in place as well called Disaster Recovery Plan. This is usually done by having multiple redundant copies of data being stored at multiple separated and isolated locations worldwide. In case of one of these servers are offline, the backup kicks in and it will take over the offline server. This can be done in real time. So you won’t lose anything. There’s also another layer of offline backup storage which will also restores data in the unlikely event of all the backup servers are offline.
Electronic records like these are bound to a specific standards to ensure data loss would never happen, or if it ever did happen, the mitigation plans are in place to reduce the risks are. Records are stored, and transactions are always audited. Any discrepancies, they would be able to trace it.
Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. If you’re worried, you can always copy the file and store it yourself as backup. That would add another layer of security specific for you.
This is the first game I have played where transactions of significant value have not also resulted in a record of the transaction. (Itemized receipt via email and/or transaction record in off-game profile for example.)
There are numerous posts in this forum of folks who have had issues with marketplace purchases and the lack of such a record puts them into a difficult position.
Ahh I see what you mean.. I only purchased one item from the marketplace and there was no issues with it at all. So I’m pretty happy with it. But I won’t be buying any new addon from the marketplace anymore. Not because of the lack of transaction record or anything. But because of the DRM locked content. It also means the content has to go through so many steps of approval before it’s released.
In the meantime, other stores already sell the addons earlier, and they’re installed DRM-free into the community folder. So that’s a win for me. Now, I buy addons from external stores like ORBX Central and the likes, which I have the receipts in my email.