Problem with broadband. Anyone else ?

[TacomaSailor 191]

21 hours ago, Sesquashtoo said:

Delete those two...with Notepad ++ under Admin. Those are the target lines to delete and then save. You will be done...and back to normal. Those two lines are ONLY written in (added) by use of Google Maps app.  They are not part of your normal W10/11 install. The file that I show is the virgin W10 file, not written or modified by any other program.  Those two lines you are having trouble with...are ADDED by the Google Map App.  When pressing STOP and then closing the Command Window, they are supposed to be deleted as that program closes. In many cases, it has been noted that that fails to delete them...and then the next time you run MSFS,  they are still directing to those severs...and not to Bing.   Delete them...and you are back to as though you had never tried the Google Map App.   

Indeed you are correct!  I did delete the lines you describe (made them into comments) and flew (using Bing/Azure data) a complex  90-minute flight with a STAR and ILS approach with no problems and a steady 55+ fps rate. I also had my typical 52-mods loaded into the sim.  

MY confusion (and I suspect others might be similarly confused based on comments here) is that there are TWO files of concern in ...Drivers/etc - hosts.ics and host (no type suffix).  BOTH of them need to be set back to "normal Flightsim 2000" settings AFTER running the GoogleMaps mod.   I had only been paying attention to hosts.ics because, during the early days of this problem, host (no type) was empty, containing only comments explaining what the file could be used for.  

Sometime during my testing, and probably mishandling the GoogleMaps mod, the two lines I mentioned ( 127.0.0.1    kh.ssl.ak.tiles.virtualearth.net & 127.0.0.1    khstorelive.azureedge.net) were added to hosts (no type suffix).  When you described deleting those files I did a whois on the url and found both lines (urls) point to MicroSoft Bing/Azure data servers.  So I assumed (and that makes me one) the lines had been added by flightsim and not the GoogleMaps mod.  Thus I saw no reason to delete them.

Now, following your advice, I see deleting those lines in host (no type suffix) solved the "low bandwidth" problem.

I did discover another disturbing aspect of the GoogleMaps mod - after flightsim.exe had a CTD while running the mod - I forgot to STOP the mod and instead killed it so it did not do it's cleanup.  That left two lines in host.ics as has been discussed.  I then ran the GoogleMaps mod again and started flightsim.exe.  This time the sim ran to completion and I stopped the mod in a graceful fashion.  I did see in the cmd pmpt window that the mod told me it deleted the two added lines in hosts.ics.  

When I opened hosts.ics I found there were still TWO lines in there.  I then did some more testing and found that WHEN the two lines are left in hosts.ics, due to user error, the mod, when started again, adds TWO MORE identical lines and then deletes ONLY the two lines it had added during the immediate execution.  The mod does not check to see if hosts.ics contains the necessary lines prior to adding them and it does not verify that it has deleted ALL copies of the two lines when it normally ends.

A lot of confusing stuff here - BUT the bottom line for me is twofold:

1) The GoogleMap mod provides exquisite image in the areas I fly VFR low and slow

2) The GoogleMap mod is safe and easy to use IF the user follows the detailed instructions precisely and completely.

Edited November 21, 2021 by TacomaSailor