Why No DVD For MS2020??

[Aharon 606]

Question for all of you:

Why is Microsoft offering DVD versions of MS2020 ONLY to Europe BUT is offering ONLY download to America??  Do not want to spend 4 hours downloading!! I want to buy DVD version!!

Regards,

Aharon

[devgrp 1,233]

Order from EU and have them ship it to you. 

[Der Zeitgeist 1,575]

5 minutes ago, Aharon said:

Do not want to spend 4 hours downloading!!

Would you rather spend 4 hours swapping a dozen DVDs around?

[overspeed3 410]

FYI - You will have to put  the execution file disc in the DVD player. and must keep it in ANY time you load-up Flightsim 2020  (That is unless someone develops a work-around someday?)

[carlito777 712]

3 minutes ago, overspeed3 said:

FYI - You will have to put  the execution file disc in the DVD player. and must keep it in ANY time you load-up Flightsim 2020  (That is unless someone develops a work-around someday?)

Easy work-around is to generate an ISO file from the DVD and mount this one. Problem solved. 

[DPSimulation 235]

48 minutes ago, Aharon said:

Question for all of you:

Why is Microsoft offering DVD versions of MS2020 ONLY to Europe BUT is offering ONLY download to America??  Do not want to spend 4 hours downloading!! I want to buy DVD version!!

Regards,

Aharon

I think the question you really need to ask is why no partners want to get involved and both produce and sell physical copies in America. Because that is what has happened in Europe.

[phdelft 0]

Simple workaround: Create an ISO file from DVD1 and put ONLY the file 0x0409.INI (22k) there. Then mount the DVD 1 by right-clicking, choose "open with" and select Explorer ... close window, that's it!

[Chock 17,769]

Largely it is because it'll be fairly redundant after a few months when all the patches, fixes, upgrades and such occur. It's nice for collectors to have a box, if that's their thing I suppose, but it's the same reason why downloading you Steam version of FSX is infinitely preferable to digging out your old FSX installation disks, then your Acceleration add-on disks, then downloading and installing three service packs, then applying all the config tweaks, then registering it all.

Clicking on a download button and then going doing something else while it downloads is a much easier option and is far less logistics for the makers too.

[CJ1045 469]

Pretty sure it is still quite a download after using the DVDs

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

The same reason the music industry doesn't produce tapes anymore.... They're ancient and no one purchases them. (Ok, not quite no-one, but less than 99% of people) 

[SierraHotel 980]

2 hours ago, Aharon said:

Question for all of you:

Why is Microsoft offering DVD versions of MS2020 ONLY to Europe BUT is offering ONLY download to America??  Do not want to spend 4 hours downloading!! I want to buy DVD version!!

Regards,

Aharon

Answer: Because the cave where I live in Europe doesn't have Internet, it's in the middle of a wood, I think! Can't see because of the trees.

[greggerm 312]

Steps to Happiness:

• Purchase MSFS via Steam or from the MS Store and let it install the "launcher".
• When you run MSFS for the first time, it will prompt you to install the bulk of the simulation "packages" to either a default location or a location of your choosing. Make a note of the location - either the default or the custom location you selected.
• (Wait while the data downloads - it's a rite of passage)
• Once complete, resist the urge to jump in and fly, and instead EXIT the sim and make a copy of the all the data you just downloaded to a different hard drive. Yes, it's 100GB+, but by doing this, you will probably not have to download it all again.
• If something happens to your drive or installation which requires you to do a full blown reinstall, just copy this bulk data back into position and when the launcher asks you where to place the packages, point to the directory you just "restored" with your copy.

I used this method to perform a fully "clean" reinstall of my whole computer specifically to test if this would work.  Bing-bang-boom, I was right back in business, and it took care of the recent patch update at the same time. I can't guarantee that this is a supported method as we move forward, but it certainly worked.

I am going to assume that after your "reinstall" and the packages update to the latest and greatest versions, you could simply take another copy of the directory and hold it for safekeeping to be that much farther ahead of the game once again.

It's not perfect and it does require that initial big download, but it spares you from having to repeat it.

[jcomm 5,928]

I first bought through steam, then asked for refund and bough €10 less the dvd version. Converted to ISOs it takes less than half an hour to install. Then it still fetches an additional 16 or so GB from the cloud.

 

[Nedo68 533]

2 hours ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

The same reason the music industry doesn't produce tapes anymore.... They're ancient and no one purchases them. (Ok, not quite no-one, but less than 99% of people) 

the dilemma of our high tech culture, all digital,
what should people find out about our civilization in the future through excavations? nothing 😉

Btw. i have also the premium deluxe DVD version (bought it just for collecting, have fast internet) but I went a different way of installation.
I didn't install anything from the DVD's (not even unpacked) had the game already in the gamepass and entered the digital code in the MS store, voila! now it says "you own it". everything starts without the need of a DVD.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

Friends,

One of the reasons is that many places in Europe still have very slow Internet speeds and often that is due to infrastructure rather than a matter of choice to purchase faster service.  The infrastructure in some places also causes errors during downloads and even with download managers and checksum the downloads can take even longer. So the hope was that offering a 10 DVD set would relieve some of the download burden. There is still a fairly good download required after the DVD install, but from my understanding it's not as bad as it would have been for those with slow Internet.

For most places in the US internet speed is a matter of choice/cost.

It's telling that some who purchased the DVD sets complained about having to keep a DVD inserted and babysitting the installation process to swap DVDs, and some who purchased the download version complained they couldn't get the disk version, but that's life I guess!  😉

Hope you are all doing well.

Best wishes!