Sudden 80GB Install Required?

Yesterday something strange happened. I launched FS2020 (after having Premium for a year with no issues) and I was asked to sign into Xbox again (I’m on PC). After that it told me I had a mandatory 80GB install. Why? All my files haven’t changed. I keep all my addons in an “Addon Folder” outside of MSFS and use Addon Linker to activate whatever I need… airports, aircraft, etc This is concerning because I have FS2020 on an external SSD which had over 100GB free but now, adding 80GB, it is getting pretty full. What is also weird is that when I go to Content Manager it shows a bunch of things that are “available to install” that I had purchased as addons and put in my Addons Folder.. Airports that were not free installs previously, like UK SceneG or SamceneD Vancouver… they didn’t used to show in Content Manager and I have them alresady in my external addons folder. How would the sim know I purchased them previously outside of the Marketplace? So of course I won’t install them through Content Manager since they are alreay available in my Addons Folder and can be activated with Addons Linker. One thing that I did install was the Premium upgrade, which I had already installed but it said Install Available!

Now, to free up some space on the SSD, I plan to gio through all the content in Content Manager and uninstall the sceneries, etc. that I never, or rarely, use. I had aleady done that before this new situation but for some reason the sim reinstalled them. That’s the only thing I can think of as to why such a huge mandatory install was necessary. If anyone has experienced something like this or can suggest how to avoid this ever happening again, it will be appreciated.

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When it told you about the 80GB installation, was the loading message (lower screen) pointing to where your 2024 is installed? The clue maybe was the need to sign in to Xbox. I’ve seen that once or twice.

I’m on 2020, not 2024. It did show the correct path of my sim install.

Hi @Roadspider ,

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After running the sim (after the big additional install) everything is fine. All controller settings were saved (fortunately!) but assistance and general options were reset to default. I uninstalled all the aircraft and sceneries that I had uninstalled when I first got the sim, to get extra room on my SSD.

It seems like, for some reason, the sim thought I had done a new install after having to re-sign into XBox, saw all the content I had uninstalled and therefore thought it had never completely installed the game. That’s the only thing that makes sense. I still don’t know why, after a year, this happened.

I did have this occasionally with FS2020, but it was always a case of Windows registry forgetting where FS was installed. Point the installer to the previous installation and then continued the installation….and it would work again for a while.

You say the path was correct in your case, and I am not sure if it was in my occurrences or not. I think it wasn’t always showing the correct path.