This updater is SO slow and buggy!

[Keto Ketchup 240]

A couple of updates ago, the updater broke my install and I had to wipe everything and start over. I waited until this latest update to do that. Now I'm trying to download 120 GB of data, and it is literally going to take me WEEKS at this rate. I have two specific problems:

1. The download speeds are incredibly slow. I'm getting around 3 Mbits/s - THREE. This is a fraction of my internet bandwidth, but that's the speed the updater is running at. Is there a setting to change this, or is this a limitation of the servers?
2. The updater constantly hangs / crashes. I try to run the updater overnight, only to wake up and find that the updater has frozen early on. Killing it and restarting picks up where the downloads left off, but I'm not going to make any progress at all if I have to do this every other hour. I've tried all sorts of things to fix this - run as administrator, run with no other windows open, etc. Any ideas?

Even if the updater was running at my full internet speed, updating MSFS is a real PITA, because every update is bigger than most full games that I own. What really boils my goose is that I bought this on Steam, and Steam's updater is top-notch, an absolute joy to use, but of course MSFS doesn't use Steam for updates, except to update the updater..

Anyway, as you can tell I'm mighty grouchy about this. Add to the fact that MSFS updater requires so much GPU & CPU to download files (thus costing electricity), and it almost makes me want to say "screw it". If anyone can talk me off the ledge, I'd appreciate it!

[Lon Duncombe 83]

I'd say JUMP! 🙂

[pmb 5,137]

Nothing to add. The updater is a nightmare.

Kind regards, Michael

[Ixoye 1,812]

I think it's a limitation by your network provider, I have 250/250 Mbits/s fiber and I get that download speed with each update as long as I do not get the message "please wait" due to server overload.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Ixoye

[Keto Ketchup 240]

3 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

I think it's a limitation by your network provider, I have 250/250 fiber and I get that download speed with each update as long as I do not get the message "please wait" due to server overload.

What kind of limitation? It's not bandwidth, as all my Steam downloads are a rock solid multiple of this. And while the updater is downloading, I can watch a 4K video on my TV (same internet) no problem. The only limitation I can imagine is a geographic one, where there might be some very specific weak link / bottleneck between my ISP and the server.

It feels like there is an bandwidth limiter being implemented by the updater itself, which is why I'm asking if there is a setting somewhere to override this. If you're getting 250 download speeds, then it can't be a server issue.

[fppilot 4,339]

26 minutes ago, Keto Ketchup said:

A couple of updates ago, the updater broke my install and I had to wipe everything and start over.

Wipe everything.....

I could use some insight I am currently uninstalled and waiting for the dust to settle from the server overloads and the arrival of hotfixes.  In the meantime after the typical Windows uninstall I still have a short pathway of orphan folders which appear to be empty. I also found some traces in appdata, but not sure I found all.  Also would like to clear any orphans out of the Windows Registry.  Ccleaner Pro did not report any, but it is not 100% accurate/effective.

[Fiorentoni 4,084]

It's microsoft's servers, nothing else really. I've had 0,2 (!) mbits/s for about two hours when I downloaded on wednesday. Then it went up to a solid 20. Still took all night.

[Ixoye 1,812]

6 minutes ago, Keto Ketchup said:

What kind of limitation? It's not bandwidth, as all my Steam downloads are a rock solid multiple of this. And while the updater is downloading, I can watch a 4K video on my TV (same internet) no problem. The only limitation I can imagine is a geographic one, where there might be some very specific weak link / bottleneck between my ISP and the server.

It feels like there is an bandwidth limiter being implemented by the updater itself, which is why I'm asking if there is a setting somewhere to override this. If you're getting 250 download speeds, then it can't be a server issue.

Yes, maybe it is a geographic issue, I live in Sweden, and here is Internet available at the highest standard almost everywhere.

Btw, do you use WiFi or cable connection from your router? I strongly recommend that you use cable instead of WiFi for stable connection.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Ixoye

[Keto Ketchup 240]

1 minute ago, fppilot said:

Wipe everything.....

By everything I mean everything MSFS - the main program and all my addons. I am not reinstalling Windows, because I have it configured exactly the way I want it and it runs fine, darn close to perfect actually, and no other program gives me trouble. I see no need to amputate an arm because of a splinter. If it comes to that, I'll just cut off the finger (that is, MSFS).

[Keto Ketchup 240]

5 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

Yes, maybe it is a geographic issue, I live in Sweden, and here is Internet available at the highest standard almost everywhere.

I believe my VPN has a presence in Sweden.. Maybe I'll give that a try later (and yes, my VPN provides way more than  3mb/s). Though it may not matter, as the updater probably knows I'm American and picks from an American list of servers.

If I have time I guess I'll have to try to see if there are some settings somewhere I can tweak. Maybe I can force the updater to use a different server, one that's less busy.

Downloading files at a reasonable, reliable speed should not require a doctorate and a fistful of Valium...

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

I had to reinstall the entire simulator from scratch twice recently due to bugs coming from the beta test, with Sim Update 4 and Sim Update 5.

The download of Sim Update 4 went flawlessly, speeds were consistent (for my slow connection at least), no looping downloads, crashes and other quirks. A huge step forward from my extremely poor experience trying to download the simulator at launch.

Now with Sim Update 5, all the old bugs are back. Very inconsistent speeds (all the way down to dial-up), several looping packages resulting in hours and hours of downloading going to waste, the manager crashed a couple of times, and once it tried to load the simulator with an incomplete installation, leading to an endless loading screen.

I seriously don't know how they managed to undo all the work they did to make it stable enough (because even then it was quite lacklustre feature-wise). I would advise against reinstalling for any reason at the moment.

[fppilot 4,339]

25 minutes ago, Keto Ketchup said:

By everything I mean everything MSFS - the main program and all my addons. I am not reinstalling Windows, because I have it configured exactly the way I want it and it runs fine, darn close to perfect actually, and no other program gives me trouble. I see no need to amputate an arm because of a splinter. If it comes to that, I'll just cut off the finger (that is, MSFS).

????   I did not even slightly refer to reinstalling Windows.  Cleaning the Windows Registry of stray MSFS-related entries from a previous MSFS installation is by no means anywhere close to reinstalling Windows.

[Keto Ketchup 240]

8 minutes ago, fppilot said:

????   I did not even slightly refer to reinstalling Windows.  Cleaning the Windows Registry of stray MSFS-related entries from a previous MSFS installation is by no means anywhere close to reinstalling Windows.

Apologies - I read "Windows uninstall" as "uninstall Windows".

[Espana Pete 357]

5 minutes ago, Keto Ketchup said:

Apologies - I read "Windows uninstall" as "uninstall Windows".

As my mother used to say more haste less speed, not very helpful in your circumstances but I couldn't help myself mentioning it.

[Keto Ketchup 240]

20 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

I had to reinstall the entire simulator from scratch twice recently due to bugs coming from the beta test, with Sim Update 4 and Sim Update 5.

The download of Sim Update 4 went flawlessly, speeds were consistent (for my slow connection at least), no looping downloads, crashes and other quirks. A huge step forward from my extremely poor experience trying to download the simulator at launch.

Now with Sim Update 5, all the old bugs are back. Very inconsistent speeds (all the way down to dial-up), several looping packages resulting in hours and hours of downloading going to waste, the manager crashed a couple of times, and once it tried to load the simulator with an incomplete installation, leading to an endless loading screen.

I seriously don't know how they managed to undo all the work they did to make it stable enough (because even then it was quite lacklustre feature-wise). I would advise against reinstalling for any reason at the moment.

Okay, so it's not just me. Maybe Asobo will release an update to the installer. Thankfully this is something that Steam does handle, and like I said, Steam's updater is a pure dream in comparison. In the meantime I guess I'll just grab a GB a day, and 100 days from now I'll finally be able to play MSFS again.