I want to play without using data for updating but there seems that you have to update before playing?

They are forced updates i don't think anyone has found a way around it.

Are we talking the game updates here or the streaming scenery downloads ?

Either way, you would have to manually cache every area you fly in to get the scenery data offline. and then to avoid the game fixes, addons and other updates (which are usually smallish) never start up the game while the PC is online.

Possibly even never put the PC online at all.

Probably not very practical.

 

Edited October 15, 20205 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

At least for the Steam version you can start the sim with Internet access disabled (e.g. Ethernet cable disconnected), bypass the update, then enable Internet. 

There was a mod (.exe) that's speeds up loading time (meaning that you get to the main menu faster) but I never tried it.

I was looking for a link, but can't find it. This is helpful:

 

Edited October 15, 20205 yr by DJJose