My download problem solved

[jimcarrel 688]

You are maybe familiar with computers and the "I can make this work" syndrome. If not, here is how this syndrome works. One of the minimum requirements for the Install and Running of MSFS2020 stated is internet download speed of 5/mbs.

Well, my internet access speed was 3.2/mbs, but "I can make this work!" Using Steam, 427 hours later, I still couldn't get past the 18 gig download landmark. Spent hours reading anything google would pull up about conning the download dilemma. A total of 7 times involving un-installing and clearing all traces of MSFS2020 (not to mention trying countless, really weird suggestions). Over a terabyte written to the new SSD it was to install on.

Finally, I gave in and paid another 15 - 16 USD a month for going up to download speed of 5.2/mbs over the 3.2/mbs. My connection to the Microsoft servers turned out to be very good. Download speed was showing as about 6.1/mbs. I did have to finally limit the speed to 550 kb/s. After about 28 hours with the bit faster connection speed ( I started the new download speed with that 18gigs I always could complete) I now have a couple more hours to get to the finish. Not much longer now. Soon I can join the multitudes who are constantly wondering "why is this doing this?" and other oddities. Yahoo - I think.

[airlinejets 709]

Glad to see this will work out for you. Happy flying!

[fppilot 4,335]

Wow. Where are you located?

[jimcarrel 688]

1 minute ago, fppilot said:

Wow. Where are you located?

Central USA

[fppilot 4,335]

1 hour ago, jimcarrel said:

Central USA

Just wondering.  I have not had download speeds that slow since the late 1990's.

[Elvensmith 165]

The current problems are not due to end user speed - I regularly download at 8MB/s from Steam and we stream 4K content to the TV on Netfix etc. without any issues. No the issue is that something either in FS20, what it talks to on your PC and/or the FS servers are collapsing if you try and download at more than 500KB/s, sending files into a constant start/stop loop that never completes.

[jimcarrel 688]

Install is finished and now I'm gimping through the non-documented setup. Time for more utube vids. But the download and install is accomplished. Boredom is already setting in, guess I was OCD with the download. Kinda funny. 

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

23 minutes ago, jimcarrel said:

Install is finished and now I'm gimping through the non-documented setup. Time for more utube vids. But the download and install is accomplished. Boredom is already setting in, guess I was OCD with the download. Kinda funny. 

Welcome to the club!

Sounds like a terrible journey, and it is not over.. since updates also need to be downloaded.

I have an 8 Mbps internet connection, which is not much faster, but at least I could let it run at full speed overnight.. Not clear to me why you cannot do the same..

Either way.. find Squirrel's youtube videos, they will tell you what you need to know.

And then power up the C172 or the Savage Cub and fly to some interesting locations, before attempting the ATC / Garmin route which is currently buggy and is causing lots of heartburn..

[wthomas33065 994]

2 hours ago, Elvensmith said:

The current problems are not due to end user speed

I would disagree.  I had some issues downloading updates through the marketplace and saw that my download speeds were 3 to 5 Mpbs.  Too slow.   

I changed over to my 5Mhz connection and got higher and the problems went away.  With my observations, there were definite timeout issues if you couldn't download "fast enough"  Don't know if those timeouts were server side or client side.  But as soon as I increased my bandwidth, my file transfer problems went away.

Yesterday, I had to reinstall and was able to download consistently with 100 to 120 Mbps (12.5MB/sec 15MB/sec), so there's definitely no ceiling of 500KB/sec (approx. 4Mbps) or if there was, it's been resolved.

[SmokeDiddy 262]

Well all I can say is, I've been trying since Patch 2 was released.  I have 20Mbps internet service over fixed wireless.  I participated in the Beta testing and had no issues downloading the sim.  I purchased the Gamepass - because my hardware is dated and I wanted to see how far I could take my rig first before making a hardware investment and outright purchase of the software.  Several days after the sim was released, I downloaded it, no problem.  Patch 1 was released, I downloaded no problem.  Then Patch 2 came along and that's when everything went south for me.  I don't care what I try, I cannot get a steady download stream.  The download will spike to 10-12Mbps one second and then go to zero the next and it bounces at different levels the entire time.  Sometimes, I go to check on it and the traffic on my network monitor is zero (I monitor the flow via Task Manager).  I have completely uninstalled a couple of times, I even went as far as canceling my GamePass, going over to Steam and purchasing the Standard Edition.  The installer, in all cases, downloads very fast, but then when I Start the sim and it goes to download I get the same result with Steam version as I did with Gamepass.  Just for kicks, I have a fairly new gaming laptop, I rarely use, so I brought it to my workplace, we have Gigabit fiber here.  Went back into Gamepass, downloaded the installer and fired up the sim and started the download and BAM!  The same issue.  So, that evening I started it all over again with my Gamepass on my gaming computer at home - this was 5 days ago and I'm barely half way with the full download.  I currently have NetLimiter set to 500Kbps and it works ok during the very early morning window when I seemingly have the most bandwidth out of the MS server.  It averages about 4GiB downloaded during that window.  Unfortunately, depending on the file, sometimes the files do not finish and the download starts over for that file.  It happened mostly with the fs-base-bigfile and fs-base-cgl because that's as far as it is at the current time.

I'm glad somebody can overcome this, but I swear, this is the most frustrating thing I've come across in quite a while.  Not to mention, I've worked in IT for the past 25 years and have never had something like this happen and it not be corrected within a short period of time.  I have logged Zendesk tickets, I've called and talked to XBox support (GamePass) and they've given me a couple of things to check and set in my Windows settings, but nothing is working.  ughhhh...I either need better meds or stronger meds because pre-medicating each morning isn't helping.  I may have to have to resort to consuming brown liquor which will definitely get me in bad trouble.  I'd just assume to eat the carpet in my office as to go thru this agony.

[Elvensmith 165]

1 hour ago, wthomas33065 said:

I would disagree.  I had some issues downloading updates through the marketplace and saw that my download speeds were 3 to 5 Mpbs.  Too slow.   

I changed over to my 5Mhz connection and got higher and the problems went away.  With my observations, there were definite timeout issues if you couldn't download "fast enough"  Don't know if those timeouts were server side or client side.  But as soon as I increased my bandwidth, my file transfer problems went away.

Yesterday, I had to reinstall and was able to download consistently with 100 to 120 Mbps (12.5MB/sec 15MB/sec), so there's definitely no ceiling of 500KB/sec (approx. 4Mbps) or if there was, it's been resolved.

The figure of 500KB/s was what most people using net Limiter have found to be the maximum sustainable speed before the file looping starts to occur. I am on BT premium Broadband service and a speed test revealed a download value in excess of 60MB/s. Steam regularly downloads at 8MB/s as I said, which I think is the maximum speed from their end. Wherever the problem lies it is certainly more than just a handful of users and it's not slow Internet that's causing it. I consider my £60 as written off now bearing in mind Steam are no longer extending their relaxed stance on refunds but I won't be spending another penny on the title until they get this sorted out. So it's in MS/Asobo interest to get to the bottom of the issue regardless of where the fault lies and it only started after the game started downloading the 1.8.30 patch, not before. the install and Patch #1 ran fine.

[jimcarrel 688]

1 hour ago, Bert Pieke said:

Welcome to the club!

Sounds like a terrible journey, and it is not over.. since updates also need to be downloaded.

I have an 8 Mbps internet connection, which is not much faster, but at least I could let it run at full speed overnight.. Not clear to me why you cannot do the same..

Either way.. find Squirrel's youtube videos, they will tell you what you need to know.

And then power up the C172 or the Savage Cub and fly to some interesting locations, before attempting the ATC / Garmin route which is currently buggy and is causing lots of heartburn..

Currently watching Squirrel's vids. Attempting to set my Logitech Pro Pedals. I certainly feel for SmokeDiddy above. The only thing (mostly) that kept me trudging on was - I wanted to experiance the rain and lightning scenario on MY 42" TV. I couldn't get that possibility out of my mind. 

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

25 minutes ago, jimcarrel said:

The only thing (mostly) that kept me trudging on was - I wanted to experiance the rain and lightning scenario on MY 42" TV. I couldn't get that possibility out of my mind. 

Lighting is one of the strong points, but even just getting up in the C172 and feeling the Joy of Flight is well worth the journey..

[tgsweat 144]

4 hours ago, fppilot said:

Just wondering.  I have not had download speeds that slow since the late 1990's.

My parents have this speed in the woods of South Carolina lol 

[fppilot 4,335]

2 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

Welcome to the club!

 

+1