[New Updates] I always get the same problems!

Hi!

Every time when a new update is released, the same problems happen. Actually, I don’t know if it’s really a problem, but I think it is because in research I don’t see it happening to anyone else. What happens: The program warns that it is necessary to update the fs2020 because a new update has arrived. So I go to the Microsoft store and install the new update. (In the case of the latter it was 1.50 Gb approximately ok). Well. after installation, I load the FS2020 again and start downloading another 17.5 Gb). After all update downloaded and installed, I restart FS2020 and another 86 Gb appears to be downloaded. And every time I got a new world update same issue appears again and again. Often errors occur in the download and the file goes back to the beginning. In short it usually takes 2 to 3 days to get the simulator in order for use, which to me is ABSURD! I would like to know if I am doing something wrong or if the problem is on the Microsoft server side? Please Help!

You are not doing anything wrong! I have exact the same issues at this moment.

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I have problem like tihs too

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I have this problem too … ever since 1.14.6.0 I’ve had problems - FPS down from 38-52 to 10-12, with stuttering, response delays to inputs, very slow loading (did not have the problems that some had prior to this, with complex airports) … now, with this Benelux world update, these things continue, AND repeated diversions to Microsoft Store to install “required” updates, then get stuck in a loop … combing forums and youtube looking for fixes … thanks, Carl :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Hi. I think I may have “fixed” all my post 1.14.6.0 problems ! I went through this Zendesk recommendation list, and my framerates are back to 28-56 in complex areas, with all settings on Ultra. Stuttering is minimal and control response is good and loading times are short. I have I7 9700K, RTX 2070 Super Mini, 32 GB 3600, 1 TB SSD (Microcenter Power Spec 434). Here is the list:

Was it just increasing the virtual memory (to 48G min - 96G max) that did it ?

Check the System Requirements

A good first step is to check the Minimum, Recommended, and Ideal PC Specifications for Microsoft Flight Simulator

My system meets the minimum requirements:
MSFS will run smoothly with lower graphical settings but higher graphical settings will strain your system.

My system meets recommended requirements:
MSFS will run smoothly in the vast majority of cases but specific graphical settings and setup need a more powerful system

Make sure your system is up to date

Please ensure that your Windows 10 version is 1909 or higher and that your system is fully updated.

  • Make sure Windows is up to date:
    • Select Start, then select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for Updates.
    • For more information/troubleshooting, see: Update Windows 10

Make sure all the updates in the Microsoft Store are installed, especially Gaming Services and Xbox Companion app .

  • In the top right-hand side corner of the Microsoft Store, click on the Arrow icon or the three-dot menu > Downloads and updates. Then click “Get updates” > Update all

Note: You can turn on automatic updates in the Microsoft Store to make sure you won’t miss future updates.

  • Select the Start screen, then select Microsoft Store
  • In Microsoft Store at the upper right, select the account menu (the three dots) and then select Settings.
  • Under App updates, set Update apps automatically to On.

Update the drivers of your GPU

Outdated or corrupted drivers can impact the performance of MSFS. We recommend that when trying this step that you completely remove your old drivers before updating to the latest versions. To remove your old drivers and then update to the latest:

  1. Press the Windows Key
  2. Type Add or Remove Program
  3. Scroll down the list and find your graphics driver
  4. Click the driver once and select uninstall. Confirm this by clicking Uninstall again.
  5. Once complete reboot Windows
  6. Download the latest drivers from here:
  1. Install to the latest driver and then reboot your PC again

Switching to the dedicated Nvidia GPU

  1. Open the Nvidia Control Panel. One way to do that is right-clicking on an empty space on the desktop and choosing Nvidia Control Panel from the menu.
  2. Navigate to 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings.
  3. Open the tab Program Settings and choose Microsoft Flight Simulator from the dropdown menu.
  4. Next, select the preferred graphics processor for this program from the second dropdown. Your Nvidia GPU should show as High performance Nvidia processor.
  5. Save your changes.

Microsoft Flight Simulator should now run with the dedicated Nvidia GPU.

Switching to the dedicated AMD GPU

  1. Open Radeon Settings. One way to do that is right-clicking on an empty space on the desktop and choosing Radeon Settings from the menu.
  2. Navigate to Preferences > Additional Settings > Power > Switchable Graphics Application Settings.
  3. Select Microsoft Flight Simulator from the list of applications. If it is not in the list, click the Add Application button and select the *.exe-file of MSFS from the MSFS’s installation directory. This adds MSFS to the list and you’ll be able to select it afterwards.
  4. In the column Graphics Settings, assign the High Performance profile to Microsoft Flight Simulator.
  5. Apply your changes.

Microsoft Flight Simulator should now run with the dedicated AMD GPU.

Use Game Mode

When you’re playing games on Windows 10, Game Mode makes gaming your PC’s top priority, so you get the best possible game performance. For more info, see Use Game Mode while gaming on your Windows 10 device.

Increase the Virtual Memory (Pagefile) on your system

  • In the Windows Search bar, type Advanced system settings and open the Control Panel.
  • Make sure you’re on the Advanced tab.
  • Click the Settings button from under the Performance
  • On the Performance Options box, go to the Advanced tab > Performance
  • Click on Settings
  • On the Virtual Memory box, uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
  • Click to select the drive on which Windows 10 is installed (by default C:)
  • Click to select the Custom size radio button.
  • In the now-enabled fields, type the minimum and maximum size of the Pagefile in megabytes (MB) according to the physical memory present in your computer.
  • Click Set and then click OK.
  • Restart your computer.

Turn off any extra Power monitoring software

Sample of power monitoring software that may cause performance issues:

  • MSI DragonCenter
  • RyzenMaster
  • Gamefast from Dells Killer Control Center
  • Any software installed that may be adjusting or monitoring power settings

Then, make sure that your Power settings are correct

  • Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options
  • Change to High Performance
  • Perform a Full Shutdown (not restart).

Change the graphics settings

An easy way to boost performance is to tweak graphic settings. To reach those:

  1. Open the MAIN MENU, select OPTIONS

  2. Then click on GENERALS

  3. Under the GRAPHICS tab you will find a wealth of options for you to adjust that may allow you to get better performances

  4. Once done, press F11/click to APPLY & SAVE

Don’t hesitate to experiment with the settings under the Graphics tab: each has a different impact on performance, and you might find the perfect sweet spot for your system by tweaking different settings and testing them.

For example, we recommend attempting to alleviate the strain on your CPU and GPU by doing the following:

  1. Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator
  2. Go to Options > General
  3. Select Graphics
  4. Under Advanced Settings and scale down “Render Scaling” to 80 instead of 100 or above.

Was it just increasing the virtual memory (to 48G min - 96G max) that did it ?

P.S. Anyone know why my Drzewiecki Design - Washington Landmarks for MSFS, that I uninstalled then reinstalled during this, still shows uninstalled in Content Manager, but appears to be working ?
Thanks, Carl :nerd_face:

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Anyone disputing my comment are part of the ‘cancel culture’ where the 'customer used to be right". That being said, I continue to put the magnifying glass on MSFS 2020 Project Management. It’s the equivalent of “Common Core” or “Critical Race Thinking” mentality among management. Before accepting their lucrative Early Retirement Package", I had 18+ years employed with the “world’s leading semiconductor company”. I have other work experience which required a ‘Q’ level clearance, so no need to prove my 'bona fide" experience.

On to the main subject, the MSFS 2020 Project Management team continues to push for “new features” rather than focusing on resolving their critical product defects. In other words, stop releasing new features and have your development team focus on resolving critical/high level defects with your product.

I suggest those who believe we bought a defective product have legal recourse and could file a class action suit against Microsoft for their continued negligence on a defective product. That will quickly get Microsoft’s Executive Management and legal teams attention. The customers of their product have a legitimate case for compensations of damages as a result of Microsoft’s negligence or due diligence on their product.

Instead, MSFS 2020 Project Management continues to place release of additional content over critical defects of their product to their user base. The product states both a minimum and recommendation system platform for their product. I’ve read complaints from both users with high end gaming platforms to those who meet their minimum requirements.

I’m calling out MSFS2020 Project Management to fix critical issues instead of rolling out new features. It doesn’t do any help to the end users when they can’t use your product because of your incompetency.

I suspect this post will be “shadow banned” because it doesn’t fit their narrative. Doing that will only prove my point because any form of criticism (constructive) that offends fits the agenda of the ‘cancel culture’. In other words, anyone who disagrees with their view or opinion is verboten.

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In the context of IT software development and other areas, a Project Manager has a specific role, to finish a project on time, within budget, and meeting quality criteria. I think you are referring to company line management, the people who define goals and objectives for their company or organization, develop budgets to pay for projects, developing the timeline with the stakeholders, and are responsible for hiring and firing people. Project Managers have a hard enough job without having people confuse them for line managers.

I think there are some who filed for a class action suit against MS for this, but its a long looooong battle. 99% of bug fixes will be fixed until the case even reaches a court date.

I’ve previously posted comparing the MSFS 2020 Development Team to that of Boeing’s 737 Max. Both are using the same cheap inexperienced labor instead of experience engineers with over 10-15 years experience. At least people in real life haven’t died from defects in MSFS 2020, whereas 346 lost souls have died while flying on Boeing’s 737 Max. Again, the common denominator in each project is that Project Management and Corporate Executives place profit over safety and quality.

I will put this in the perspective of my last job role Senior Engineer who led many task forces to successfully resolve critical defects. The first step in resolving critical defects is to rank and rate their impact to the product and customers. This process involved determining the impact (critical to low), amount of resources required on task force, and the schedule to resolve defects. Once that information is determined, it is presented before Project Management at the executive level (Divisional VP or above), They use that information and make the final call as to which defect get priority and resources to resolve based on risk assessment. In reality those decision are based upon the financial impact to the company and its customers. After that, task forces and the resources are assigned with their only focus on working with the customers and development teams to resolve the defects.

The models typically followed were based either upon RAD or AGILE product development SDLC methodologies.

BTW - In addition to my career in the Technology Sector, I was always the “go to” person due to my diverse knowledge, skills, abilities and experience. That’s because management knew that I could got the job done. I’ve held job roles ranging from engineering of software/hardware projects, team lead, project management and even IT Director at Fortune 500 companies. One such assignment as a team lead, I had a NDA disclosure with access to Microsoft’s source code. So I know a little bit about dealing with the people at Redmond, WA along with many other customers and project teams on a global scale.

Final words: Fix the ■■■■ memory leak!

In my opinion, this is a misjudgment. This is by no means an engineering-manufacturing project, it is a fluid creative-technical organism . I purchased the Premium Deluxe edition and a new gaming desktop setup in Aug 2020, with great anticipation. I’ve owned and enjoyed 5-6 different flight simulators since the mid-90’s. I find the learning process of MSFS 2020 stimulating. I did not expect “perfection” (whatever that is) at the onset. It is so immense and complex and evolving, that there will always be glitches. The great thing is that there is such a creative force behind this project, with ongoing interaction between the design leaders and the community (Developer Q & A’s), that there is continuous improvement and growth. I was disappointed in the degradation in performance in my system with 1.14.6.0, but I was able to essentially solve these problems. At this point my continued satisfaction in engaging in this endeavor is well worth it. Thanks.

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Today, not as sure about how great I am doing … flying Paris then DC add-on … still all settings Ultra, render scaling appropriate (I7 9700K, RTX 2070 Super Mini, 32G 3600) … but, initially Paris low 20s then mid-upper teens with stuttering, the other day it was 30s-40s … DC now 25-35 … sometimes things “smoothen out” with continued flying … possibly some unquantifiable cosmic variables? … :thinking:

I agree with several points in your reply. Most of programming is primarily based upon science and logic. However, the majority of Software Engineers (myself included) is also part ‘art’. In the early days of programming was done using IBM 360 or DEC mainframes. Loading software required using either TTY (teletype) or stacks of card punch into a job and scheduled typically with JCL.

The continuous improvement and growth you mention describes the AGILE development methodology.

What workaround to you use to resolve the problems you experienced?

I agree with some of your statement. If you’ve ever read the comic “Dilbert” that gives a humorous approach to how accurate project work in large technical corporations :

Executive Management including Divisional VP analyze market data for demand and trends. That determines what projects will get funded and release time frame. Once a project is approved, it moves on to the Project Management.

Project Management including Senior Engineers determine the project requirements, release criteria, development schedules and team assignments. Once the project is in development, Project Management Team (aka Stakeholders) give Executive Management updates (typically weekly) on the status of the project.

Somewhere along development, meddling by Executive Management in what I’ve experienced impacts the project requirements and schedule. So now Project Management has to revise and reprioritize the project priorities, resources and schedule. That is precisely where the snowball effect commonly starts taking effect on the project. The end result is a product that is released with missing features and contains defects (critical to minor). Most minor defects can be temporarily resolved with workarounds until resolved in next product release.

In the case of MSFS2020 they need to either add more resources or pause releasing new features and have existing development team dedicated to resolving the critical defects.

It appears to have been simply increasing virtual memory.

Offloading from DDR to page file will kill performance. Even users with 32gb DDR experience same thing only takes longer for memory usage to reach point where it has to swap chucks on memory between DDR and paging file (virtual memory). Even with fast SSD memory it results in “thrashing” between the CPU and MMU with swapping so many pages of memory. That just goes to show more evidence of MSFS has a memory leak as the root cause for FPS performance (Main Thread Limit CPU) degradation to slide slow FPS.

What effect would doubling RAM from 32 GB to 64 GB have ? Not that we should do that just to remediate their software, hopefully correctable, issues.

I think I’m beginning to understand this a bit better, after trying Paris for the 4th time and now Amsterdam. Seeing lots of red on the CPU graph and the “FPS” being low out of proportion to the CPU frametime, eg frametime 30 ms and FPS down to 15-18 with lots of stuttering. Also noticing that their are many undifferentiated blocky shapes in the city, until right over them.

I have a question. Is there anyway to turn off updates. This is getting to` the point of being ridiculous. For the past two weeks I’ve had to make so many changes to my computer to finally get things running without the stuttering, the CTD’s and the freeze ups, you then come up with yet another upgrade and now, I am back to where I started, which is the game freezes up or CTD’s. What I don’t understand is when I want help, the first line in your response is “do you have any addons in the community folder”. If I’m not allowed to put anything in there, why have it in the first place? That being said, I was told that Mod”, and “addon” get used interchangeably. That they should only sit in the ‘Community’ folder, though some addons have been released where files update/replace core files, which is not recommended. So if I can’t put mod’s in the “SIMULATOR”, what’s the point of having the market place on the “SIMULATOR” for things to purchase if I shouldn’t put them in the simulator? Come on, you can’t have it both ways. Either fix the problem with the updates and the Community folder or give us the ability to not take updates, because sooner than later, I’m going to have to purchase another tera bite hard drive for this brand new computer because this one is going to be filled with all the updates.
As I stated before, I’ve been a fan of Microsoft Flight simulator since the beginning, but if this is the way you’re going to treat your customers, I think I will go back to Xplane. At least I can fly and not have to worry about the sim CTDings or stuttering.

Very disappointed with the developers here.