Why are moderators closing threads related to this … saying it was resolved in SU6? The most important aspect of manual caching and rolling caches does NOT work! The ability to pre-cache an area while online … and then take your PC offline, fire up the sim and fly those same pre-cached areas and see high fidelity scenery (photogrammetry AND aerial imagery).
The act of firing up the sim offline (and thereby not going through the authentication process) DISABLES the pre-cached data functionality. WHY?!
What if a user does NOT have internet … wants to install the sim on another persons internet connection … pre-cache some areas with that connection … and then go home and enjoy the sim offline? (having great terrain visuals in those pre-cached areas only of course). It’s not an unreasonable scenario.
I appeal to Microsoft/Asobo to fix this … and give offline users some hope. They will still have to authenticate whenever they want to connect online to receive updates.
I think you are suggesting a new feature which is great, so maybe have a post that asks folks to vote on that specific new feature as a way to get interest levels and get this into the voted items on the development wishlist. The exiting cache options are not meant to do what you are suggesting and that’s perhaps why the thread gets closed. I could see a lot of benefits to keeping the existing manual and rolling cache for what they do today and adding the idea you are suggesting for offline play. There may also be other reasons why the live internet connection is needed that make coding something like that feature more complicated than simply downloading scenery data, but perhaps if enough votes come in for this it might be discussed at one of the live QA sessions with the developers. One reason I might surmise why ms/Asobo would not support this even if it was possible is that the scenery data is such a core part of what they are selling with the sim that they don’t want folks downloading all of that due to intellectual property concerns or things like lots of users simply trying to download the globe (or at least the big cities and more popular areas) and overwhelming their servers. I’m speculating of course, but there may be lots of reasons why they didn’t build the feature into the sim as of now.
I thinl you’re absolutely right tempest. I believe Asobo coded this great caching feature and then Microsoft stepped in and said “ok … but let’s disable it if the user can’t be authenticated”. Either that or it was an oversight. I like to think (hope?) it’s the latter. And that it can be fixed.
Here’s the rub … you can launch the sim with internet connection … then disconnect internet at Welcome screen … then, if you have any manual cached or rolling cached areas from ealier flights, you can fly those same areas again and see great scenery. Soooo … the way around Microsoft/Asobo’s little oversight is to just launch the sim online and then disconnect your internet (or take your laptop to a remote area with no internet) and viola! … your sim stills works and you get great scenery. Just don’t close down the sim or shut down your computer.
Seems to me the “offline” feature is already there (to utilize manual/rolling cache) … it just gets cocked up by Microsoft’s authenticate process. Please, Microsoft, remove this and untie the hands of offline users everywhere!
I think you’re exactly correct. Except, it’s possible there’s a step that’s missing.
In the Microsoft Store is a, I forget exactly its name, but Flight Simulator Digital Authentication or something like that. That has to be installed before you’re supposed to be able to run the sim offline. It’s job is to bring the authentication tools offline. It may be that is broken if you have done this step already.
I remember trying it back in September 2020, and it wasn’t straightforward getting it to work.
Funny you mention that Flyings … cuz I have (or had) MSFS on 2 PC’s … Mine, which is Steam Version … and my dad’s, which was MS Store version (with Digital Signature or whatever it’s called). I’ve since uninstalled MS Store from my dad’s PC cuz it got into a process whereby if I tried to launch sim offline it would ask for a game disk. This is also a known issue with lots of threads online. So much for digital authentication. But I digress …
In both instances, MS Store version and Steam version the lack of offline functionality is the same (no manual/rolling cache support if launched without internet). The only benefit to the Steam version is that you CAN at least launch the sim and fly with generic landclass textures (it gives a “switching to offline mode” message but it does launch. The MS Store version wouldn’t even launch offline (couldn’t get past the “insert game disk”). Now … maybe this is a weird Xbox companion app/MS Store login thing but I didn’t feel like working it out. Just asked for refund and I’m gonna put Steam version on my dad’s PC (who will be offline). Too bad he’ll suffer bad graphics … unless I launch him online (with cell phone hotspot) and then tell never to turn his PC off.
I think things changed around SU4 time for me and ever since I have required an internet connection to start MSFS. Prior to that I could start it without internet.
I just tried a different track and launched MSFS with internet connected. I then went to data and turned off Online Functionality, saved and closed the sim. I then disconnected internet and re-ran MSFS and I now see this:
Clicking OK with internet disconnected does nothing I just sit with the background picture… as soon as internet connection is restored then the sim launches as normal.
It seems that even with the suggestions in the article I quoted above for playing windows games “offline” and in setting my windows store to the correct settings (which they actually were, anyway!)
I still cannot get MSFS to load without an internet connection.
I can find no official statement anywhere to say that MSFS either supports or doesn’t support the ability to launch without an internet connection on the PC.
There is information available for the xbox, on how to use MSFS successfully without any internet connection, but I can’t find any equivalent information for PC in terms of getting things to initially run without an internet connection.
Thank you all for replies … we’re really getting into the ‘meat’ of this now.
Yes, I have no doubt that the sim WILL launch offline. It’s just easier with the Steam version. The MS Store version has too many dependencies on that Digital Ownership App and it can become corrupt. Also MS Store version needs to have XBox companion app login AND MS Store login be the same or no go. Too many convoluted anti-piracy steps that seem to be crippling the legit owners
But, back to the topic at hand, Why oh Why is the manual / rolling cache functionality disabled if launched offline? Can some intrepid programmer introduce a hack hotfix that we can all put in our community folders? Or is that some kind of copyright violation? If it is … please Forum Moderators, feel free to speak up.
This is pure speculation on my part and I don’t think I know any more about this than you do @MBrowne99.
I suspect that the manual cache only working when in online mode is a design choice. Its purpose seems to be (primarily) to save downloading photogrammetry data, which would assume that one has photogrammetry enabled. And photogrammetry seems to be only available while in online mode. So it may be a case of dependencies.
With that being said, there are add ons available that introduce photogrammetry into the sim that do not require online services to be active as the data (quite large) is stored in the add on’s folder installed in the community folder.
I searched for a wishlist topic to see if I could find a request to make manual cache available for photogrammetry offline and I couldn’t find one. It might be worth while creating such a wishlist topic. However, I suspect that a significant majority of MSFS users prefer using the sim in online mode due to all the other online services that are available, e.g. weather and traffic. Hence I am not sure what the demand would be for such a request.
For those who are just checking this out, yes, you must have the Xbox app loaded on your PC (it hadn’t even occurred to me somebody might have different logins. I imagine, however, if you do, just log out of the Xbox app one and log in with your MS Store login.). Then, make sure you not only install the Digital ownership app from the store, but, then you must also install it from the Xbox app.
I think there is then also some setup you have to do. It’s been a long time since I read the instructions on doing it. It was such a pain, I never bothered finishing the process.
tamalien … yes, I’m aware that a user can just grab a bunch of photogrammetry and ortho sceneries from flightsim.to or whereever and use those (at least there’s THAT!) but the kicker is … how come I can launch the sim online, then disconnect the internet, get a flight going in a pre-cached area and it WORKS!?
That’s what makes me think it’s not so much a design thing (Asobo) but a Microsoft thing that imposes unnecessary restrictions on legit offline users. I implore them to rectify this … for my dad’s sake (and offline users everywhere) … who is old school and will NEVER get internet.
Flyings …I agree completely … such a pain! Why oh why does Microsoft always have to make a simple thing so complicated. It’s no wonder so many users have given up on MS Store purchase and re-purchased from Steam. Steam believes in KISS (keep it simple and straightforward)
Or is that some kind of copyright violation? If it is … please Forum Moderators, feel free to speak up.