Just to chime in on this i have msfs2020 and the reserved storage installed on a removable storage drive when i plug it into my series x or s i ha e access to the game and my downloaded stuff. I some how set this to happen on series s. When i move to series x when the base game was installed on the series x id launch the game no matter if it was from the internal or external it would always load my internal game and that had no doenloads. Once i deleted the game off my internal and ran the game i had access to the downloads again.
Thats only the case if the base game is installed on the internal, install the base game on the external and you will be able to bounce back and forth no re downloading. I willntestbthisnfor certain tomorrow though as i just had a memory of flying a heli on my series x but then when i went back to my series s i had to download it again i will double check though
Pardon my ignorance of such matters.My simple question is that I am on Xbox series X.
At this point in time my memory or usage stands at 356 GB out of 804GB 56% free.I trust remaining storage would be enough to install MSFS 2024 that being my first concern.if I choose to go for it?
At what point must one begin to consider some sort of expansion of memory and enhancement of storage.
What would be easiest method to achieve such memory expansion/ storage.
Wouldnāt uninstalling restore some of my storage.I may not be interested in many of the World Country/City updates.However I have tried ticking those to delete but nothing happens though they are not the mandatory ones.
Perhaps close following of this topic will give me better insight to understand how to handle Xbox Storage/usage/free space but any tips for enhancement of storage/ memory in a quick,easy and relatively cheap way may help immensely in coming days.
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One of the ongoing issues with MSFS and Xbox is how storage is utilized.
When you install MSFS, itās presence will consist of five parts:
ā¢ The application (game)
ā¢ Add-on Support (for WASM-based add-ons)
ā¢ Offline Map Data
ā¢ User save data
ā¢ Base, Deluxe and/or Premium sim content (installed after launching the sim)
The first four items are stored individually and clearly labeled when examining the storage contents of MSFS.
The last item of the 5 is where the storage of the sim on Xbox gets tricky.
All the Base, Deluxe and/or Premium content is stored in a universal storage container called āReserved Spaceā. In addition to the Base, Deluxe and/or Premium content; the Rolling Cache (on by default at 8GB), all Marketplace downloads (purchases both free and paid for), and some user settings are also stored within this āReserved Spaceā.
As you download purchases from the Marketplace or enlarge the Rolling Cache size, this Reserved Space will grow in size and take up more storage space on your Xbox.
It is this Reserved Space storage use that is tricky to manage. Once the Reserved Space grows as you install content, it doesnāt shrink back down again if you uninstall content. If you change your Rolling Cache size to 16GB (up from the default 8GB) the Reserved Space will grow by 8GB. If you change it back to 8GB, the Reserved Space will not shrink back down by 8GB, but will retain its larger size. However, you could then download 8GB of Marketplace content and it will fill that allocated 8GB and then grow larger to accommodate any further download that surpasses that 8GB.
If you decide to cull downloaded content that you arenāt using, or donāt want any longer, the Reserved Space remains at its allocated storage size as though you still had all that content installed.
You can reset the Reserved Space to get it shrunk back down to its initial size again, but in so doing you will have to redownload all the Base, Deluxe and/or Premium content the sim requires upon first launch after the reset and then redownload any Marketplace content you still wish to use.
What does this mean for 2024? Basically, we donāt know the size of 2024, yet, and how it will grow and how it is stored. Knowing how the Reserved Space works for 2020, we know how we can manage that space to allow the Xbox to reclaim storage if we remove content from 2020 (as Iāve outlined previously).
You do have the option of purchasing Storage Expansion Cards for the Xbox that will provide you with more storage should you need it:
Let me first of all thank you in kind of personal way for taking out time and making the effort to make it as simple as possible for a layman like me.You couldnāt have explained it better.I will surely need time to fully assimilate the information provided and may have follow up questions.
I guess best way to save on āreserved spaceāwould be to purchase only those add-ones which one considers game changers.Should we then not download various Country/City updates if one is not interested.
The two kinds of expansion cards you have forwarded pictures of are simple plug-ins or those are installed inside the Xbox body like we sometimes do with computers.And would they serve the purpose essentially increasing size of Reserved Space as you have highlighted.
Thank you once again for your patience.
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I would suggest that the real issue is the lack of a traditional addressable file system on Xbox itself. It is the basis of Microsoftās security strategy for Xbox.
If I understand correctly (if I had to guess) I think instead of traditional folder directories and files, they are using containers (virtual disks, or separate volumes) that are opened and mounted when needed, and can expand when more data is added to them - up to a āmaximum sizeā
The issue would then be, when the containers/volumes are created they must have had a maximum size set of 500 GB - and there was no thought given to the possibility of the containers going beyond 500GB. Or perhaps there was, and they wanted to ensure other games would still have room to runā¦ a compromise decision.
This type of container (on Mac they are called SparseBundle) automatically expand up to the maximum size, but also do NOT automatically contract when content is deleted. You can however run a terminal command to manually compact after content is deleted, but that itself is risky as things can fail. Microsoft would have to accept risk of data corruption to implement a container resizing script.
Also, the only way to increase the default 500 GB limit would be to change the original container to have a larger maximum size at the time it was created (ie, new install) - and again that would be a decision by the Xbox team, based on risk of filling the disk on Xbox with MSFS and not leaving room for other gamesā¦
The best compromise would be to really test a script that can reliably compact the Reserved Space containers / volumes when content is deletedā¦ but it would mean messages on screen saying āDo not power off your deviceā and of course people ignore messagesā¦
Iām not sure how Windows deals with this concept. On Mac, you can simply copy a container as if it was a file, from one place to another. However, if Windows is doing this as partitions on the main volume, then ātransferringā to the expansion card is more involved at the OS level, creating a volume on the expansion, copying the content, removing the originalā¦
You are more than welcome!
The Xbox OS system is simplified to be relatively easy for the end user, and this is the case for 99.9% of games one might install on their Xbox. However, MSFS is that .1% and is complex enough that it breaks through that simplicity paradigm.
They are simple plug-in devices. There is a slot on the back of the Xbox for this purpose. They can even be installed/removed āhotā and donāt require a shutdown of the Xbox.
Iād say this is accurate. Additionally, there hasnāt really been a need for an addressable file system until MSFS (or maybe Farming Simulator and its ilk, but their mods (add-ons) are significantly smaller then those of MSFS).
To get around that, Clean Up could occur at the launch of the sim during the Checking for Updates phase.