I haven’t played FS2024 for a couple of months and when I went to it yesterday there was a lot of updates.
The ‘Core Content’ update was 171Gb and took several times to complete. I kept getting errors such as ‘Cloud issue’ and ‘download failed’. eventually it completed after about 16 hours of trying.
I then find that I have no space on my SSD. The main game is showing as 503Gb…AND…the save game data shows as 463Gb!!!
WTF?!?!?
Any idea’s what on earth is going on?
I have the Premium and the Deluxe upgrades.
Currently my SSD is showing as 100% Full…
I’m tempted to delete and reinstall the whole thing, it seems such a mess.
That is weird, playing on PC here so I can’t compare but the volume it takes is minimal compared to previous MSFS2020 since most content is streamed unless you choose to download individual components.
Thanks for the reply. I wonder if I should delete the save game data… guess that’ll also wipe my career save game data too though, although that wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Any idea how big the install should be these days?
Well on PC at least your career is saved on the cloud as well as your controllers settings etc, so I guess it’s exactly the same on XBOX, I don’t see why it would be any different. Anyways best to let another XBOX user confirm.
For me here the program itself takes 9 GBs and then my community folder (so all the addon stuff) an extra 85 GBs, so roughly 100 GBs. Compared to my DCS that is taking 600 GBs that is peanuts.
Many thanks again. I think I’ll look at how to reinstall the whole thing.
Although that said, I do have 463Gb in my ‘Save game’ data. If I reinstall I wonder if I’ll end up keeping this???
What “Save Game Data” are you referring to? Where is it located?
Edit:
Ah, I see your on xbox
On console probably the “save game” data remains unless you delete it.
When I go into ‘Manage game’ it has the game ‘save data’
That’s what I’m thinking. Might have to just delete everything.
From AI:
No, it is not completely safe to delete your MSFS 2024 cloud save data if you wish to keep your configurations, but your core Career mode progress is protected.
[1, 2]
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 splits your data into different backend systems, meaning a total wipe reacts differently depending on what you are trying to delete. [1, 2]
Data Storage Breakdown
- Career Mode Progress & Marketplace Purchases: Completely Safe. Your career status, certifications, aircraft fleet, and credits are securely tied server-side directly to your Xbox/Microsoft account. Deleting your system’s save files or reinstalling the simulator will not wipe this progress; it automatically reloads from online servers when you boot up with an active internet connection. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- Settings, Controls, and Logbook: Not Safe. Your control keybindings, custom graphics configurations, assistance choices, and flight logbook are housed inside your core platform cloud save profile. Wiping your cloud save will permanently erase these data points. [1, 2, 3]
Still I wonder why you have so much storage used with saved data
Many thanks for that!
I’m guessing there’s no way to back up ‘control settings’…?
From AI again so take it with a pinch of salt:
The Xbox operating system handles data storage differently than a PC, classifying a massive chunk of MSFS files as “Reserved Space”, which is why it is displaying as 463 GB of “Save Game Data.”
[1]
The 16-hour download looping you experienced triggered a critical bug on the Xbox Series X/S storage allocation system. During the “download failed” cycles, the console continuously provisioned storage blocks for the Deluxe/Premium content updates but failed to release or overwrite the failed chunks. [1, 2, 3, 4]
You can clear that entire 463 GB block safely without losing your career progress. [1]
The Xbox Fix: Clearing the Glitched Storage Block
- Completely close the game. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide, highlight MSFS 2024, press the Menu button (three horizontal lines), and select Quit. [1, 2]
- Go to My games & apps > See all > Games. [1, 2]
- Highlight Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and press the Menu button on your controller. [1, 2]
- Select Manage game and add-ons. [1, 2]
- Scroll down to Saved data. [1, 2]
- You will see two categories here:
- Your Profile Save Data (Small size / Gamertag): Do not touch this if you want to keep your custom controller layouts and options.
- Reserved Space (The massive 463 GB block): Select this, press A, and choose Clear Reserved Space. [1, 2, 3]
What happens when you do this?
- Your SSD space will instantly return. This forcibly purges the corrupted, bloated installation loop file caches. [1]
- Your Career and Profile are 100% safe. Because your Career Mode, pilot logs, and marketplace licensing live on the Xbox Network cloud servers, none of that profile progress is stored in the local Reserved Space block. [1, 2]
- The Caveat: This block is where the game temporarily caches heavily detailed local scenery (World Updates) and marketplace add-on assets. Because MSFS 2024 is heavily cloud-streamed by design, it will simply re-stream the clean scenery data automatically as you fly. If you have downloaded specific localized offline packages from the marketplace, you will just need to redownload those individual clean files inside the game’s profile Content Manager later. [1, 2, 3]
Once you clear the Reserved Space, restart your Xbox console completely, and then launch the game. The initial boot-up will take a few minutes longer than usual as it re-syncs your cloud profile, but your drive will finally be un-choked.
Awesome! Many thanks for the this, I’ll give this a go.
Do not install this game, it’s a useless endeavor. Just keep the base game installed along with the default RC size and add-on support. If your internet is decent everything will stream just fine.
You probably have a lot of MSFS 2024 content downloaded and installed rather than streamed, which is why you had such a huge amount of data to update.
If you’re low on disk space, go to My Library and uninstall content you don’t use, for example World Updates or aircraft you don’t fly.
I went to ‘Manage game’ and deleted the ‘reserved space’, all 463Gb disappeared (which is good).
The main game is now something like 30Gb. Seemed much snappier too in the menus.
BIG thanks again to ALL who responded.
Much appreciated