I’m contemplating a MSFS24 reinstall to see if it helps with some underwhelming performance issues with my new system that I posted about here earlier.  I’m assuming since most things are streamed it shouldn’t be too hard to do…what do I need to back up for a painless reinstall process?  I have a back up of my controller profiles, anything else?

I’m on Steam.

Thanks

Dave

Edited October 16, 2025Oct 16 by regis9

Very good question, following

I reinstalled onto a new PC a couple of weeks ago. I had backed up my Content.xml and the contents of my Community folder. I only did that so I could copy back a few livery choices and camera settings. Everything else was already there in the cloud when I flashed it up again for the first time. It was refreshingly painless. 

Doesnt Addons like PMDG, iniBuilds and Co. all need a reinstallation? This would be a slight pain...

Third party addons need to be reinstalled, yes. Doesn't take long though. 

I haven't backed up stuff and have reinstalled a few times in the last year. It has worked out well for me, the settings come back from the cloud. Yes, third party stuff may need to be installed, but that's sitting down for 30 min and just running the installers. 

Thanks for the responses!  Sure not like the old days of doing a P3D reinstall...

1 hour ago, St Mawgan said:

Third party addons need to be reinstalled, yes. Doesn't take long though. 

Ok, and do you properly uninstall them prior uninstalling MSFS2024 or do you simply re-run the installer after re-installing MSFS2024?

Just rerun. Half the addons don’t need a reinstall anyway, it’s just the ones that either launch through exe.xml or those that have DRM or external apps. Most sceneries just need to be relinked back to the community folder. 

Just now, AnkH said:

Ok, and do you properly uninstall them prior uninstalling MSFS2024 or do you simply re-run the installer after re-installing MSFS2024?

Some of the installers uninstall whatever is there first as part of the installation process. I usually just run the installer and let it do it's thing. 

Uninstall external addons, then FS 2024 from xBox...

Reinstall FS 2024 from xBox, then the addons... It's really easy & fast, and your controller settings are stored in the cloud so they'll be there as you reinstall.

Unfortunately you have to go through some Graphics options, because they ten to revert to values like DLSS for AA, and I prefer and always set TAA. Same for LOD and TLOD which I always set at 75 on install.

I limit FPS through Rivatuner to 30 fps, so I always disable Vsync and FPS Limit from within the Graphics options.

 

Do you have any metrics of performance?

Graphics settings, location, add-ons, weather and your FPS?  

I can compare to my hardware and see if they are significantly different and if they are might have some suggestions before you do the wipe and re-install.  (I’m Steam also and 5090).

Rob

I always backup my custom cockpit camera settings for every aircraft, in many cases I don't like the stock camera settings.

Thanks for the additional information, I assume any addon that is simply copied into the community folder can be left alone, it’s just the ones that impact the exe.xml?

2 hours ago, alexcolka said:

I always backup my custom cockpit camera settings for every aircraft, in many cases I don't like the stock camera settings.

Oh yes I have many custom camera configs, where are those located?

2 hours ago, SayAgain said:

Do you have any metrics of performance?

Graphics settings, location, add-ons, weather and your FPS?  

I can compare to my hardware and see if they are significantly different and if they are might have some suggestions before you do the wipe and re-install.  (I’m Steam also and 5090).

Rob

Thanks very much, I’d certainly appreciate anything you can share.  I’m still torn between whether I’m chasing a red herring or have an actual issue.  Here’s the previous thread which has lots of screenshots, performance information as well as the suggestions I received.  I started out thinking it was a 5090 issue, but I’m now seeing it’s more a CPU limitation.

I’ll add that I’ve been doing some tweaking since and found in the same initial scenario I posted about below (albeit with clear skies), my FPS was more in the high 20’s.

 

Edited October 16, 2025Oct 16 by regis9

10 minutes ago, regis9 said:

I’ll add that I’ve been doing some tweaking since and found in the same initial scenario I posted about below (albeit with clear skies), my FPS was more in the high 20’s.

Something is very wrong with your setup. A 7800X3d and a 5090 giving you 20 fps?? I was getting more FPS with my 5800x3d and 4090, and now with the 9800x3d and same 4090 I get a lot more FPS. 

Let me take some screenshots with my system and post them so you can compare.