Don't understand what MSFS tries to do

[Rasta_Dude]

Hello,

 

in the last days I wanted to use MSFS again after a longer time. As a user like me who uses the sim maybe one or two times in 3 months I always have to update when I start my sim. I think the last update was World Update 10 (v1.26.5.0, which I can read in the title bar of the windowed MSFS). I always clicked on update whenever I saw there was something new so I could use the sim. It all worked like it should until maybe 3-4 days ago. When I start MSFS now it wants me to download 72.59 GiB which I really don't understand.

On my system MSFS is installed since 2 years when it came out, always at the same drive/location and I never changed something about that, I only updated when he showed me on the pre-menu update screen. The installation location was always default in: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe .  When I looked into the MS Store I couldn't see anything wrong but when I start the "Xbox" app and go to the settings of MSFS I see a completely wrong path is set and it says installed on 18 June 2022 which is not correct: https://imgur.com/a/US56Uil (I never set C:\XboxGames as path for MSFS). Inside this "XboxGames" folder there is another one named "Microsoft Flight Simulator" and the contents inside this folder are only 1.05 GB (this is how it looks inside: https://imgur.com/a/FKt66FR ). The contents of my default install location inside ...\AppData\Local\Packages\... have around 191 GB, so it looks like it is still correct installed there but why do I need those 72 GiB now?

This is the screen I see at the moment when I start MSFS: https://imgur.com/a/eqffcED

It really drives me a bit crazy at the moment, but could also be something I messed up.

As I said I never modified or moved any settings/files of MSFS and until a few days ago everything worked perfectly fine.

 

Thanks in advance!

Regards

Adrian 🙂

[Rasta_Dude]

OK, I'm really sorry it looks like I can't read. It actually says only 326.70 KiB. But can someone anyway explain me the chaos with those different locations and stuff?

Sorry again that I'm too stupid to read 🙄

[jaytee73]

I don't know whether this will help or not - but your quest made me check on exactly what MS is using on my PC  set up

the total simulator on my 2 Tb disc is 482 GBs - of which the community file is 210 Gbs - leaving a net - MS of 272 GB 

On my X Box - I cannot read the exact amount - but it is considerably less than my PC - somewhere around 60GB

take up on my total GB allowance

[turbomax]

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360001769531-Microsoft-Flight-Simulator

[Fielder]

10 hours ago, Rasta_Dude said:

Hello,

 

in the last days I wanted to use MSFS again after a longer time. As a user like me who uses the sim maybe one or two times in 3 months I always have to update when I start my sim. I think the last update was World Update 10 (v1.26.5.0, which I can read in the title bar of the windowed MSFS). I always clicked on update whenever I saw there was something new so I could use the sim. It all worked like it should until maybe 3-4 days ago. When I start MSFS now it wants me to download 72.59 GiB which I really don't understand.

On my system MSFS is installed since 2 years when it came out, always at the same drive/location and I never changed something about that, I only updated when he showed me on the pre-menu update screen. The installation location was always default in: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe .  When I looked into the MS Store I couldn't see anything wrong but when I start the "Xbox" app and go to the settings of MSFS I see a completely wrong path is set and it says installed on 18 June 2022 which is not correct: https://imgur.com/a/US56Uil (I never set C:\XboxGames as path for MSFS). Inside this "XboxGames" folder there is another one named "Microsoft Flight Simulator" and the contents inside this folder are only 1.05 GB (this is how it looks inside: https://imgur.com/a/FKt66FR ). The contents of my default install location inside ...\AppData\Local\Packages\... have around 191 GB, so it looks like it is still correct installed there but why do I need those 72 GiB now?

This is the screen I see at the moment when I start MSFS: https://imgur.com/a/eqffcED

It really drives me a bit crazy at the moment, but could also be something I messed up.

As I said I never modified or moved any settings/files of MSFS and until a few days ago everything worked perfectly fine.

 

Thanks in advance!

Regards

Adrian 🙂

The msfs screen is NOT telling you that you need 72GB. It's says you need 326 kilobytes on a disc where you have 72 GB free on that disc. The path is correct. The update will be very fast (not even 1/2 a gigabyte). Just boot her up!

[Fielder]

We work at station KAOS! 

We wish somebody would pay us!

That's my top tunes radio DJ poem 😕

The bottom line of this file tells you where MSFS sees your installation. You can edit the line (be sure to include the quotation marks):

C:\Users\adrian\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\UserCfg.opt

 

[cianpars]

12 minutes ago, Fielder said:

The msfs screen is NOT telling you that you need 72GB. It's says you need 326 kilobytes on a disc where you have 72 GB free on that disc. The path is correct. The update will be very fast (not even 1/2 a gigabyte). Just boot her up!

I had this and the update loaded in a couple of seconds too.  I'm assuming it is an airac update.

[Pathfinder633]

On my system, MSFS is taking up 413gig on a dedicated SSD, I only have 4.48 gig in community, what is that about?, most of the bloat seems to be in WpSystem folder (I have no rolling cache)

 

P.S. can I move any of this bloat to a different drive without affecting performance, my ssd is only 500gb and its nearly full just from this one game

 

 

[Fielder]

I use TreeSize Free (the free version) to quickly and easily display how much space each folder fills.

Sometimes, one of the largest folder groups on any system is "System Volume Information". Especially if you do regular system restore points. I have Windows setup to make a restore point every 2 days (using the Windows task scheduler which comes with Windows 10, and probably Win 11 too).

Anyway here's how to clean up System Volume Information. I imagine if I cleaned it up it would release 100 GB or so.

How to Clean Up Large System Volume Information Folder on Windows? | Windows OS Hub (woshub.com)

[Sethos]

Just now, Fielder said:

I use TreeSize Free (the free version) to quickly and easily display how much space each folder fills.

Look into WizTree, a lot faster. 

[Fielder]

Thanks, I'll try it

[Fielder]

"DANNYOctober 3, 2019 - 7:31 pm

Excellent article – terrific detective work. I had a 500GB SSD that had only 21GB free and now it has 221GB free."

 

"ROCKMay 30, 2019 - 12:44 pm

Thanks I had a server that the System Volume was using 212 GB of a 279 GB drive. I now have plenty of free space after resetting the maxsize."

[Fielder]

I found that both WizTree and TreeSize Free are free and both integrate into the right mouse click option list of File Explorer. Both are extremely easy to use and stay out of the way unless you click them from right mouse click context window.

TreeSize read my whole C disk in 9 seconds. WizTree in 7 seconds. WizTree displayed more info but TreeSize data was easier to digest quickly. 

Both had colorful displays, the colors keeping things well organized easy to find what you want to know about.

I can now right click in File Explorer on either TreeSize or WizTree in File Explorer, both will have their preferred uses.

[Rasta_Dude]

Thanks everyone!

As you said Fielder the path seems correct. I simply clicked on update and it was completed very fast. Don't know why this C:\XboxGames folder is there now but maybe this is necessary for the whole Ms Xbox/Live stuff.

I recognized when I go to the content manager now it wants me to download big updates of contents I already had installed (World Updates, etc...). I think I don't have that much disc space for those updates. Did you get the same update notifications ( https://imgur.com/a/wZ0sp6e ) ?

Regards

Adrian

[Fielder]

When I boot up MSFS and go to 'searching for updates', one has to look closely at the path displayed at the bottom and change that path before clicking on Update. The path displayed is supposed to hold BOTH Community and Official folders. If it doesn't, then you must reinstall all the Official stuff, some of that being in Content Manager. 

But yeah, once I had to reinstall lots of things from content manger for a reason I could not understand. I still don't know why.