Using MSFS Linker - can I use it on the OneStore folder?

User Support Hub Install, Performance & Graphics
,
1

My community folder is empty. But I have about 486 packages installed, all are in OneStore folder.
Can I use linker on the onestore folder to load the game faster?

2

Yes and no. You can move files out of the OneStore official folder and link them - so could help with disk space/organisation etc. However, if you don’t link them once moved, so deselect some, the sim will redownload them as it thinks they are missing.

So I don’t think it will improve loading times because you effectively need to have them installed.

You can uninstall them through the content manager, but then you will have to redownload if you want to use them again in the fture.

1 Like
3

So what really goes into the community folder?
I downloaded so much content, I thought all of it will be there.
Watching youtube videos about Linker, I see people copy airports, bushtrips, etc, things that are in their community folder but are in my OneStore folder.

Additionally, my filghtsim.exe sits in C:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Content and not in the AppData folder… very strange

4

OneStore is where things go that you buy through the marketplace and includes all the main sim files/folders etc

Don’t worry about where the flightsim.exe sits as I believe this is some kind of mirror of the actual folder it sits in

5

Regarding the .exe file - Windows doesn’t allow me to add it to my Oculus Tray Tool profiler. Seems like I don’t have ownership over that file. Is that normal?

About the OneStore folder - what are my options to get the game to load faster? how can I get all the content I downloaded inside the game to be part of the community folder?

6

Yes, if you bought through the MS Store, then that is totally normal. There are ways to take control and ownership, but I would suggest only going down that route if you really need to. I’m no expert, so not really sure what the logn term consequences are (if any) of doing that.

Short answer is there isn’t really an option other than using the content manager to uninstall stuff you rarely use. If you but from the marketplace, the purchases go in the onestore. If you buy from third party sites or freeware (flightsim.to etc) then those go in the community folder. The content manager has a list of the things that it thinks are installed (i.e. what you’ve bought from the marketplace). If you just delete the files, move them (and not link them back), then the content manager will just assume they are missing when you start the sim and start downloading them. It won’t do that if you uninstall from the content manager.

Thinking about it, I guess one option would be to copy those files to a different folder, then uninstall from the content manager. Then, if you want to use those add one, you could copy them back (or link them in), and when you tell content manager to download them, it might realise they are already there and not do the dowload. Never tried it, so may not work - proceed at your own risk! Also very clunky.

1 Like
7

Thank you. I’ll try to that and see how it goes.

8

Good luck!

9

I found this out. The sim expects to find files in the Official folder, and if it doesn’t see them (or the links to them) it will download them for you without your permission.

1 Like
10

I tried that yesterday. I removed some challenges flights and tutorials and then I linked them using the linker app.
The game wanted to download 11GB of data.

So it didn’t work for me.

11

Re your last paragraph, I think that would work.

After all, if you want to reinstall the sim after (say) a Windows reinstall, you can use that method for the whole Packages folder; I’ve done it myself.

1 Like
12

Hi all.

Using Add-on Linker for my Official folder has significantly improved the MSFS start up time for me. It was 7 minutes, and it reduced to less than 2 minutes. Seems like I have a lot of purchases that impacted MSFS startup time :unamused:.

I started with MSFS on Xbox prior to going PC, so my purchases have been / still are mainly through the MS Marketplace (not ideal, but portable and convenient, sort of).

With some small tests first, I moved all my Purchases out of the “Official” folder also using the Add-on Linker “Advanced” tab option.

NOTE: I left all the standard “asobo-…” and “ms-…” items in the Official folder, otherwise it will detect they are “missing” and re-download them automatically at start up :unamused:.

It takes some effort and curating to use Addon Linker, but I am really pleased with the MSFS Startup and the flight load times now. It had become a real slug and is now back to being really quite fast.

I hope this helps others.