So, Asobo; now that you have made a small fortune from the success of Flight Simulator, when will you be updating your 56k modem for the server downloads?
It’s been months now, with a vocal community discussing issues with download speeds, and yet here we are, still taking 4 days to download the sim, on a 100mbps home broadband. I am literally getting between 18 and 20Mbits/s from your server, with a fresh install of Windows 10.
This is not a niche issue, it’s all over the internet in one form or another. People advising others about how to change the core operating parameters of their OS, just to bypass some odd choice in your game engine. Often the same advice doesn’t do anything and has people wasting time, potentially destabilizing their OS installation.
Do you think it’s perhaps time you stepped up to the mark and fixed the issue, or will you continue to ignore the posts that pop up, with the attitude that we will simply go away and shut up once our awful wait for the download has finished?
People blame Microsoft for the servers, but I think as the developer that has chosen how to distribute your game, the buck stops with you.
I apologize if this post sounds harsh, but after 3 installations of this game since release, the straw has finally broken the camels back. Please at least do something!
[EDIT] After a lot of help from the community, the issue was solved (for me at least) and ended up being unrelated to Asobo. With that in mind, I feel a need to apologize for my initial sarcasm and angst towards the developers and Microsoft. Frustration can be a powerful negative emotion. Thanks for all the assistance from all that were involved!
The problem is not so simple as you depict. Lots of people don’t have an issue with the download speeds. (I’ve seen statistics that around 99.3% does not have an issue)
For the sake of experiment:
Do you have both IPv6 and IPv4 connectivity? (both your PC and router WAN port)
I always can download with 300+ Mbit during updates (never had to re-install it)
So stating that Asobo should “be updating your 56k modem for the server downloads” is simply wrong. The download speeds are fine. It’s some sort of weird setting/situation/combination which isn’t directly trivial to solve.
While I appreciate your response and the advice given, this is exactly the issue many people are having. Basically being told their PC is at fault. Without intending to be aggressive, almost all posts complaining about this problem are followed up by some moderator saying what you have said, even as people continue to swear blind that it’s not on their end.
I am not new to PC’s. I have been building them for over 20 years. Networking is something I have functional knowledge of. I have run down the rabbit hole of disabling IPv6, disabling netsh autotuning, and generally troubleshot anything that might have a positive effect. Nothing worked!
Yet; Steam downloads at full speed, general downloads from browsers and other games download at full speed… In fact, to save some time listing all the things that work, I can instead list the things that aren’t downloading at full speed: Microsoft Flight Simulator.
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”
Just stating the obvious… If you don’t have an absolute solution to the problem, please don’t just repeat the same thing that everyone is getting annoyed at. It’s not productive. We need solutions!
Yes everyone’s having issues with downloads, the speed is extremely slow. Partially it’s due to nature how downloads are managed. It downloads content in packages then disconnects, unpacks them and reconnects again which slows the speed. But even when you’re downloading a big package the speeds are really low. I’ve only seen it go up to 250-300mbps and then just stops there. Microsoft really need to upgrade the servers.
And then when the new update comes out and everyone is downloading it the speed could go down to 100-150mbps.
Steam is doing fine at 800mbps.
I have run down the rabbit hole of disabling IPv6, disabling netsh autotuning, and generally troubleshot anything that might have a positive effect. Nothing worked!
Unfortunately the only issue I have (speed) is still using the same “netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled” solution. I don’t have the looping problem.
It’s not the server speed that needs to change. The server speed has no issue and they’re generally very fast already.
It’s the way the files are being distributed. It’s distributed in batches, download one file, unpacks, install, then download the next file, unpacks, install, etc etc etc. There’s a lot of overhead of pre-processing the file, transferring the file, then post-processing the file. That’s just the limitations of a batch file delivery.
It would be faster if they send the update in a huge single file, so there’s only one pre-processing, then full transfer of the entire gigabytes of files in one go, and one unpacking and post-processing.
Downloading 1x 100 GB file is significantly faster than downloading 100x 1 GB file. Even if it’s exactly the same file size, through the same download speed.
My setup is a Netgear router that has the main PC’s connected via Cat6 and it also has 2, 5G signals for our wireless equipment. This, in-turn, connects to the 4G+ router that the ISP installed.
Most routers enable UPnP by default, which is kind of the same thing, but automatic. My ports are simply being directed from the Netgear router to the Telia router, via the Netgear address, so that the ports flow through. Hence why the internal address for the port is always the address for the Netgear.
In other words, I don’t think the ports are opening for outside traffic. I believe they are simply preventing a bottleneck between routers. The ISP router is also firewalled and has added. Although I might be wrong, but I’ve not had any issues yet.
I also monitor traffic and suspicious network activity. So far, no attacks and no problems. Realistically, if a hacker wants in to your network, they’ll get in.
Both are up-to-date. In fact I did a firmware update an hour ago on the Nighthawk.
I’m connected to the Telia one via WAN using it as an access point. The Telia router is assigning all addresses dynamically. The firewall is on the Telia router, not the Netgear.
It flies; I get about 95Mbps on Speedtest, which is great out here in the countryside. Like I mentioned, I have zero issues with any other form of networking, just MSFS.
I would disable UPnP, but it’s not caused me any issues in the last 4 years on the Nighthawk. Without it I have had problems with certain Steam games needing various ports. If I get hacked, I’ll lock it down.
That would be an interesting case of traffic management.
I know that in the UK, ISPs need to clearly provide their traffic management policies on their website. Is this also the case in Denmark/Norway/Sweden/wherever you’re using Telia in?
The root issue always tends to be something between the MSFS servers and people’s PCs, rather than the servers themselves, and sometimes it’s totally out of people’s control, like ISP throttling, which makes it even more difficult to diagnose.
Generally speaking, all companies follow much stricter rules because of the state’s personal human rights policies. To the point that when our car was broken into at the local supermarket, we were unable to get access to CCTV footage to find the culprit, because no filming is allowed. Restricting people’s access for services paid, would infringe significantly on that sort of individual rights.
Although, on saying that, I might be looking through rose-tinted glasses. It seems that many corporate industries violate consumers with dodgy secret policies all the time and get away with it.
I will definitely be trying the VPN to test this theory.
