So, this is the update process any time an update is released:
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Community Mod Removal - This is good practice and should be done before any update to the core sim, as new mods and add-ons may not be compatible with the new version of the sim. Not particularly difficult by any means.
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Store update (MS Store / Steam) - This updates the executables and primary support libraries for the sim. This one is typically quick, painless for most users, and in some cases, utterly transparent. Although it seems that due to the Xbox / MS Store ecosystem built around multiple loosely connected applications and services, this has been a problematic thing for some. There are users out there that still haven’t been able to update to SU5 because their MS Store isn’t seeing the update.
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Main in-sim updater - When an udpate is pushed, this is the second updater we encounter, and the most problematic, frustraing one that seems to cause the most grief. Won’t go into details, as there are already myriad threads about these issues from slow downloads, freezes, download loops, decompression loops, etc. This is not good work.
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Marketplace - When a World Update is released, a user still doesn’t have the World Update after going through steps 1 -3. The user must then manually go into the marketplace, filter by free updates, located the new World Update, and download install it. The volume of “I don’t see any difference in Region X after the update” threads after every World Update should really illustrate how poorly conceived this is.
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Content Manager - Once all of the above are done, a user then needs to manually hop over to the Content Manager and download potentially another metric crapton of updates for any marketplace addons, sim assets, DLCs, etc. This can be a rather crucial step to ensure that particularly DLC content from Microsobo (Premium, Deluxe, and liveries) are updated. This one was particularly problematic with SU5, as it’s kind of buried away, the notification of udpates required rarely fires, and it’s been the cause of many issues for many people, particularly with the Premium and Deluxe planes with SU5.
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Manual update of community mods - Not necessarily a fault of the sim itself here. Of course, 3rd party add-ons not from the store need to be manually updated from their respective sources. An annoyance for sure, but this is pretty standard for mods to any title.
To me, this just seems to be an over-complicated multi-step process for the singular purpose of updating the sim to the latest version so one can play. Miss any of these steps and you can find yourself with anything from minor issues to game-breaking crashes.
When I look at this, to me 2, 3 and 5 should all be incorporated into 1 step - a singular installer from the MS Store or Steam. This would likely solve the vast majority of issues that we see after every update cycle.
It’s 2021. We live in a world of automation and AI. In the gaming world, we haven’t had to go through steps like this to update games since Steam came out nearly 20 years ago. Updates, no matter how major, are a 1 click thing, and often even transparent to the end user as the stores will download and install udpates in the background when the user isn’t at their computer.
I’m interested in hearing what your thoughts are on this. Am I asking for too much by thinking this process could be simplified and streamlined?
EDIT: For those for whom English may not be their first language or never heard of it, this is the definition of a Rube Goldberg machine. We all know what they are and have seen them…
"A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption whose ultimate goal is to perform a very simple task in an indirect and overly complicated way. This is done via a series of simple, unrelated, but interconnected devices where the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal. The ridiculousness of it is that should any one of the intermediary steps fail, the whole process fails and is pointless. "
