I installed MSFS 2020 on the windows bootcamp side of my Mac when it came out.
Back then the install was around 90 GB and my bootcamp partition is 225 GB or so. With 15 GB for windows back then that’s still plenty of head room I thought.
Haven’t touched it for 3 years due to a broken joystick. Now I want to play it again but it stops at a mandatory update that won’t fit on my remaining disk space. It now needs 157GB to install and despite having cleaned out everything else I’m 3 GB short.
First I find it ridiculous that windows need around 75 GB (including 25 for hibernation which I never use). But that the minimum hardware requirements to run the sim have increased with 50%?!?!
I mean: I payed for the software. I installed on a computer that met the requirements. Now 3 years later I can’t play it because of a mandatory +50GB update?!? I would be fine without the update. Just bring me what I payed for.
Apart from buying another computer then what can I do?
I only have a 250gb c drive. I have Community folder on a different drive and I use Add on Linker which us free from flightsim.to to link the contents of it to MSFS.
In the time you’ve been away, a tremendous number of updates have happened and a lot of content has been added. Buying an online game, as annoying as it can be, means you are not guaranteed that the file size won’t change. It certainly doesn’t come with such a guarantee, anyway. MSFS 2024 is expected to do even more online streaming of content than just Bing map data to free up disk space because they realize it’s a huge file size now.
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Thanks y’all. I will try to remove the hibernation thing, but I probably have to increase size on my window boot camp partition. Which again means that I have to clean up on the MacOS side of the SSD and most likely also reinstall windows.
Unless one can smoothly run MSFS from an external SSD (Samsung T7, USB-C) then I have no option to expand the current storage space. It’s a Mac and the SSD is soldered in.
I still think it’s unfair from MS to make such a massive update mandatory. If it was optional or you could pick a minimal install somehow I would be fine with it. They basically broke the stuff I bought.
Your issue is with mandatory updates.
I kind of agree that they should be optional.
But the fact is that hardware and software are locked in a kind of dirty dancing tête-à-tête. There’s no getting around the fact that software evolution forces hardware evolution, and conversely, hardware evolution enables software evolution.
But the choice to evolve (and forego official support) should probably remain with the end user.
As a rule 250 GB is nowhere near big enough to install games on these days. When one game already has 50 to 200 GB in install size and you have to accommodate the OS and other programs as well there is bound to be trouble. For that reason I wouldn’t recommend installing games on the C: or boot drive.
You might consider streaming the game via gamepass ultimate.
Yes it means a monthly fee despite you having already bought it, but no hardware issues and free upgrade to MSFS24 when it releases. I suspect the game barely runs adequate on your mac anyways TBH.
When I installed MSFS the first time in 2020 the official minimum system requirements said it needed 150GB of free disk space, and my installation at that time was around 120GB (Premium Deluxe). So I don’t know where you got the 90GB from.
Do you have room for an addition disk (SSD hopefully)
I have all the addons I don’t use constantly on a separate disk and just active them with “MSFS Addons Linker”
Or simply throw out the 500GB and replace it with a 4TB when you can. Then reinstall MSFS on the new disk and have everything together again. Moving the MSFS installation to a different drive is quite easy since you can simply copy most of the data (Official and Community folder) over and only have to reinstall about 1.5 GB of data.
Not so easy on a Mac that has the SSD soldered in. and ,may even have a Bios that cannot support a much large SSD
You could always try taking it to the APPLE STORE, and see how they can (or Can’t) help you.
NOTE:
From 2016 onwards Apple began the rollout of two hardware ‘features’ in their laptops that hamper data recovery attempts: soldered SSD’s and the T2 security chip.
I’m gonna give the Samsung T7 a try this afternoon. It’s 1 TB, USB-C 3.2 2nd gen and claims to have 1000 MB/s read/write speed. iMacs USB-C ports is 3.1 and claims 10 Gb/s
Well… It was based on my memory Which apparently isn’t perfect. And then I did a search yesterday where I found some old reviews saying 90 GB and that fitted with the 87 GB or so I have currently for the standard version until I deleted it.
Going to the official page today wouldn’t help me because of course it would say 150 GB. Glad you found the screenshot from old days.
Still I think such a massive update should not be mandatory.
Maybe I sized the partition back then based on 150 GB + 20GB for windows + 50 GB extra. And then windows + its “system stuff” like hibenate and page files eats it all? I have no other things installed apart from drivers. And no documents/downloads anything.
Doesn’t help me that I have 64 GB ram because windows just loves to create massive page files to match that
Edit: still the min requirement says 150. And it wants to install 157. I knows it’s nitpicking, but when I’m 3 GB short of being able to install
Interesting, my MSFS folder takes 380 GB of space. Of which 275 GB in the ‘official’ folder. Premium de luxe version, and no cache in use at the moment.
I realise it is bigger than the standard version, but I would still have the impression that you would quickly run out of space again if you’re allocating no more than 200 GB.
Unless of course there is some reason why the sim is taking up much more of my disk space than it should?
Which apparently isn’t perfect. And then I did a search yesterday where I found some old reviews saying 90 GB and that fitted with the 87 GB or so I have currently for the standard version until I deleted it.
