Here are some hints and tips to help your update go more smoothly today (whenever the update drops - usually around 8am Pacific Time or 4pm in the UK where I am - but no guarantees!).
These tips are based on previous experience of the last year+ of updates and moght help those of you who are new to the (perhaps less that straightforward) process.
Disclaimer - none of this guarantees you won’t have issues - but it might help!
BEFORE the update do the following:
Ensure you’ve undone any modifications to your config file, and especially make sure it is not set to read only - and especially make sure the file location at the bottom of the file matches where your MSFS installation is (where the “Official” folder is)
Make sure you’ve set your internet bandwidth in the sim to “unlimited” to avoid file looping during the install
Uninstall Navigraph beta data using the Navigraph uninstaller to avoid sim nav data problems - DO NOT just move or delete the Navigraph data folder in your community folder - moving it back CAN cause problems, so an uninstall/reinstall is needed (and very quick/easy to do)
Empty your community folder using any of the possible methods including:
Moving everything to somewhere else (cut/paste)
Renaming the folder temporarily (a new one is created automatically if “Community” doesn’t exist)
Using an add on linker (such as here - other add-on linkers are available) - probably by far the easiest way if you have large numbers of add-ons
Make any back ups of settings etc in the C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache you feel necessary
DURING the update
If the installer tells you it needs to download the whole sim (125Gb+) make sure that the installer has found the correct path to where your sim files are stored - if not, make sure you change that path before you click update - if you do this, it should then scan the path with the correct files and only download the ones it actually needs by way of update. This can happen if the file path in your config.opt file (right at the bottom of the file) isn’t correct - maybe something messed up from step 1 in the “before update” list above or somethign random. Note - as highligted in the officialt announcement,m those in the SU6 Beta with default install path will probably have to fully reinstall.
AFTER the update but BEFORE flying:
Delete your rolling cache if you use it
Check the Content Manager for any additional packages that must be downloaded or updated
Check all settings in the sim - especially data settings (can be switched to offline) and graphics settings (can be reset to medium) as well as rolling cache has been known to turn on if you have it off)
A sim restart (and indeed a full PC reboot) are also recommended good practice before actually flying
AFTER Flying
Once you are sure the sim is working “clean” you can add back your community folder stuff (reverse the process you used above)
If you then have problems/CTDs/lock ups etc, at least you know that it is most likely down to some conflict with the stuff in your community folder
If the sim is CTD etc even with an empty community folder, conflicts have also been known to happen with 3rd party marketplace purchases - so an extra troubleshooting step would be to remove those from the Content Manager and see if the issues are resolved before zendesking the problem
Additional notes:
AFC_Bridge, Aerosoft-CRJ, PMDG DC-6, lorbysi-content-hooks are believed safe to “just move/remove” from the community folder and can be simply put back [but obviously they won’t work until you put them back]
At the time of release, the servers will be VERY busy - you may be better to wait a few hours before attempting to download if the update is very big and you have a generally slow internet connection (or even a fast one…it doesn’t always help )
Also, especially for big or slow updates, I usually set an FPS cap for MSFS so that my power bill is kept in check during the update. This can be done either in game, by turning on VSYNC and capping the FPS to 30 or 60, or externally such as with nVidia control panel Max FPS setting.
These two need to be set before the update starts, but if you have already started and have MSI afterburner you can hobble FPS by setting a GPU power limit like 40% and significantly lighten the load on the system.
Good advice for the people who have had problems after a sim update,
For me iv never took anything out of my Community folder while updating, All i do after the update has installed is exit the sim and do a PC Reboot… Iv never had a problem doing it that way
Never experienced any of the issues you address here. My install usually detects the update, and I simply hit the Update button without touching any add-ons or moving stuff around. Never had a problem.
I’m sure most of those tips are not needed, else Asobo would have given such guidance on what to do prior to and after installing the updates.
To me too. Easy and without any black magic spell.
I think posts like that let people start touching folders and files and break up the game.
Click the button update and take a coffee
That’s totally fine - you don’t need to use these of course. All I would say is that if you come here later on today, after the update, I guarantee a lot of people will be saying they gave issues because they’ve got stuff in their community folder that crashes the sim, or they’ve forgotten to remove the read-only flag from their config file etc etc. It happens every time.
Appreciate the effort.
well OR… MS/Asobo could work on how this game updates, instead of making everyone jump through hoops just to get a basic obligatory update?
And coming from the last dev stream, the amount of times they mentioned “old code from FSX” made me realise why this game is where it is.
Good, worthwhile comments and well accepted hopefully
I also think it’s worthwhile doing a Windows and Microsoft update just before the MSFS update as sometimes XBOX, for example, has an update that just maybe might affect things…
Just a precision: the folder where the settings file is located can vary depending on the version of MSFS. For the Steam version, it can be located elsewhere: for instance in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\
)