MSFS Tutorial or Set-Up Guide

[jcjimmy 150]

HI,

Across the various topics there are many questions about setting up the new flight simulator. I hope that a guide can be produced to ease the confusion of installing this entirely new program with the minimum of agita. While I am looking forward to the flying, the install may be not so much fun. A pre-release video to assist would be advantageous.

[bonchie 2,305]

Install it. Play it.

Really, it's that simple. I'm in the alpha and my GPU is two generations behind and even then was mid-level (i.e. not a x80 or ti series). It's runs great for me.

Edited July 14, 2020 by bonchie

[Brandon01110 407]

Install is really not different than any other software. Not difficult. 

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

1 hour ago, Brandon01110 said:

Install is really not different than any other software. Not difficult. 

UHmmm... that is not really true..

Other flightsims have installation location options, and file structures that you can examine and customize..

MS in their wisdom are installing this "app" in their own protected location to which you as the user and owner of the PC are not granted access..

Just install and play... sure... if you have tons of space on your C drive.. and are happy to have it make its home there..

An installation guide would very welcome indeed.. lets hope someone provides it.. preferably prior to August 17 🙂

Where is Poppet when we need her? 🙃

Edited July 14, 2020 by Bert Pieke

[SierraDelta 1,333]

10 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

An installation guide would very welcome indeed.. lets hope someone provides it.. preferably prior to August 17

Not that difficult.

Before installing:

Go to Win 10 Settings
Type "storage" in the search box
From the results, select Storage settings
Locate the "Change where new content is saved" link and select your preferred drive.

Edited July 14, 2020 by SierraDelta

[jlund 380]

6 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

MS in their wisdom are installing this "app" in their own protected location to which you as the user and owner of the PC are not granted access..

I'm not a fan of X-Plane, BUT that's one thing they have done right. You can pick where you want the sim installed, and that's where it will be, and not scattered all over your PC, in hidden folders and locations. And if you chose to delete it you just delete the folder and that's it. I don't have ANY knowledge of programming, but it's a mystery why MS can't do the same.

[jlund 380]

1 minute ago, SierraDelta said:

Locate the "Change where new content is saved" link and select your preferred drive.

Won't it still place something on the C:\ Drive in systems folders etc?

[SierraDelta 1,333]

1 minute ago, jlund said:

Won't it still place something on the C:\ Drive in systems folders etc?

Very likely, so what?

LM places quite a few things on C:\ drive when you install P3D.

[jlund 380]

Yes, and I'm not a big fan of that.

Besides my C:\ M2 ssd is almost full, and I'll hate to have to buy a bigger drive and have to reinstall Win10 all start all over again., That's why!

[LHookins 3,102]

57 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

MS in their wisdom are installing this "app" in their own protected location to which you as the user and owner of the PC are not granted access..

I don't know about that.

I wanted to test something with the C152 and found the necessary files.  Made a quick change, test worked as expected, and I changed the files back to default.

Hook

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

4 minutes ago, LHookins said:

I don't know about that.

I wanted to test something with the C152 and found the necessary files.  Made a quick change, test worked as expected, and I changed the files back to default.

Hook

The release version is installed into the Windows Apps folder, based on my Preorder install.

Maybe the Alpha version was installed differently... 😉

[Brandon01110 407]

How you all manage your storage is up to you but its not rocket science.  I agree that it would be great (and expected) to be asked the location of the installed app in the windows store before you install, BUT here we all are. The fault here is the Microsoft store.  If/when its available via Steam, I might suggest that for you.  I have said in another post that you can just move the install files from the Apps and Features page in Windows 10 (the MSFS app from the store is small).  I have first hand knowledge of the install/customization of MSFS and its fine.  3 different folder locations can be utilized by the software: 1. Initial app download 2. main large component download. 3. Rolling cache location. (chosen when in the simulator menu).  

[LHookins 3,102]

1 minute ago, Bert Pieke said:

The release version is installed into the Windows Apps folder, based on my Preorder install.

Maybe the Alpha version was installed differently...

If I can't access the aircraft files and make adjustments, this does not bode well. 😄 Let's hope it is only the installer that's hidden away.  I was able to chose the installation path when I downloaded the main part of the Alpha.

Hook

[Brandon01110 407]

47 minutes ago, jlund said:

Besides my C:\ M2 ssd is almost full, and I'll hate to have to buy a bigger drive and have to reinstall Win10 all start all over again

I use a normal SSD (cheap these days) for my o.s.  I use nvme for stuff I need more performance for.

[devgrp 1,233]

1 minute ago, Bert Pieke said:

The release version is installed into the Windows Apps folder, based on my Preorder install.

Maybe the Alpha version was installed differently... 😉

I installed my alpha on my g drive, but like fsx it installs other stuff elsewhere