Firstly hi all and merry Christmas ⛄

Unfortunately my idea of a quick Christmas Eve flight yesterday was scuppered - my game is broken.

I have the steam edition

When I run the game I'm shortly presented with a black screen. Flight simulator is showing as running on my steam client and on my taskbar - it stays at this state for as long as my patience lasts - these are the things I've tried.

 

1-Windows restart 2-windows update 3-uninstall process lasso.

4-uninstall from steam then manual deletion of official and community folders 

5-restart PC 6-confirmed removal of MSFS folder in steam library\common 6- I also had an entry in my profile, appdata\roaming so deleted that also, this might have been a left over from when I purchased from MS store but then cancelled.

7- reinstall from steam onto a different drive.

8-launch from steam, this worked and I was presented with the path prompt to download the full game, pointed to a different drive from original, once this was completed I then downloaded everything from my content manager 9- exit game and launched again, black screen and back to square 1.

 I've since tried an uninstall from steam again and from Windows programs, then install again from steam, I'm still at the black screen and have never advanced beyond that. I've renamed the main download folder to force another download prompt (no way am I deleting 130+ gigs again).

Anyway I need help please, a complete PC rebuild is not an option for me. Also worth noting that other steam games work, but I did re-install my steam client anyway 

I'm thinking maybe a registry issue (have run ccleaner) 

HELP and MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄⛄

 

 

Edited December 25, 20205 yr by hanhamreds

I think if you haven't tried it. copy and move all files in community to a new folder somewhere, like on your desktop. Do not remove the 'offical' folder, leave it alone. Reboot the computer. if it doesn't work then unplug all USB devices, except what windows needs (mouse and keyboard), reboot system again.

Try also finding the app in windows settings and hitting the 'repair' button

Edited December 25, 20205 yr by steve310002

Hi

Try changing sound settings.

Merry Christmas

Well I just had a black screen at start up but then I haven't run the game for nearly a month. After about 7 or 8 minutes I suddenly heard the Asobo jingle and loaded me into the update screen. So it may be worth being patient a little longer.

Also worth noting you cannot repair the Steam version from the MS App store. The only thing you can do is a Steam integrity check which then triggers a complete reinstall of the game, with possible attendant issues of file looping etc.

Update. I tried a system restore from the 21/12 - this worked, until I shut down and rebooted my PC - then I was back in the same position again. This led me to thinking that this could be a Firewall/AV issue, either blocking the exe or quarantine, but I disabled windows firewall and my AV - this after confirming that exceptions were in place.

So it was getting late and I'd tried everything, but in the end it was about time, I didn't want to rebuild, but I've built so many PCs over the years - both from a hardware and image pov I knew I could complete this within a 24hr period. So now I have a working MSFS again, and I've used the opportunity to use add-on linker for the first time - what a fantastic product 👌

This is concerning though, and really does not fill me with confidence in the product going forward.

Edited December 26, 20205 yr by hanhamreds

2 hours ago, Elvensmith said:

Well I just had a black screen at start up but then I haven't run the game for nearly a month. After about 7 or 8 minutes I suddenly heard the Asobo jingle and loaded me into the update screen. So it may be worth being patient a little longer.

Also worth noting you cannot repair the Steam version from the MS App store. The only thing you can do is a Steam integrity check which then triggers a complete reinstall of the game, with possible attendant issues of file looping etc.

That's right, it's a crying shame you cannot download the full base package from Steam, the reason why I cancelled my MS store purchase for the so called steam version was in the understanding this would be possible.

I'd recommend that anyone who has the steam version backup their official folder - onto another drive, either with or without the additional in game content downloaded - this will save tons of time should you need to rebuild etc.

 

 

Edited December 26, 20205 yr by hanhamreds