FS2024 SU4 Beta 1.6.31.0  Steam
.cfg  Installed Packages Path: A:\MicrosoftFlightSimulator2024\Packages
Win 11 25H2

I am very confused about the location and structure of my sim folders.  I find sim folders split between two primary folders on the same drive.  The sim reads the same file from both folders. 

When I follow the .cfg pointer to A:\MicrosoftFlightSimulator2024 I find the following folders (date is the last modified)
    Missions
        Custom
            CustomFlight 3/22/25
        Packages - empty
    Packages
        SteamedPackages - 980 files 11/28/25  which is the last time I ran the sim
        Official2024
            Steam
                Asobo-passive-beech-18 11/17/25
        Official2020 - empty       
        Community2024-empty
        Community - as built by AddpOnLinker
    Scenery Indexes - 156 files 3/22/25
    SimObjects - empty
and all the saved .pln files

On the same drive I find: A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common, which contains folders:
    Limitless
        Packages
            fs-base-ai-traffic 5/17/25
            fs-base-videos 11/6/25
    MSFS2024
        cache empty 11/21/25
        Minimalcache 996 folders 11/21/25
        D3D12 11/6/25
        Packages 11/28/55     136 files
        Publishing Groups 36 files 11/2/25
        a bunch of other folders I would expect to see
    Flightsimulator2024.exe  1.6.31.0  11/28/25
    All the necessary .dll files
            
The sim seems to work perfectly but I am puzzled about the folder structure.

I do find (using ProcMon64) the sim first reads the A:\MicrosoftFlightSimulator2024\Packages and finds a series of simobject files.  The sim then reads the minimalcache folder in A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common for the same series of simobjects. That dual reading occurs with thousands of sim objects and thousands of other files. 

Is it "proper" or "normal" for the sim folders to be split between those pointed at by Installed Packages and the Steam Library\steam appsfolders containing the executable and other packages?

Edited November 29, 2025Nov 29 by TacomaSailor

OH - Never mind!  While writing this message I remembered that I had physically moved the original Steam installation to the A:\MicrosoftFlightSimulator2024 but then reinstalled the sim and forgot to tell Steam to use the custom folder.  Thus I have the split over two main folders.

And, now Steam will not allow me to move the default steamapps folder to the custom folder despite there being 930GB free space on the A drive.  The Steam Move Folder option only shows three of my six drives and none of those listed are A:

Edited November 29, 2025Nov 29 by TacomaSailor

A: drive? Isn't that reserved for the floppy? 😄

I just ordered 166,660 5.25 1.2MB floppy disks to hold my 200GB worth of MSFS 2024 … takes me a long time to backup to floppies 🙂

 

21 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

I just ordered 166,660 5.25 1.2MB floppy disks to hold my 200GB worth of MSFS 2024 … takes me a long time to backup to floppies 🙂

 

I still have a pc that operates on two of those 5.25 floppies. No hard-drive. Took about 5 minutes just to draw a bar graph, on screen, loading in and out of those floppies.😉

Edited November 30, 2025Nov 30 by 0stones0

21 hours ago, TacomaSailor said:

OH - Never mind!  While writing this message I remembered that I had physically moved the original Steam installation to the A:\MicrosoftFlightSimulator2024 but then reinstalled the sim and forgot to tell Steam to use the custom folder.  Thus I have the split over two main folders.

And, now Steam will not allow me to move the default steamapps folder to the custom folder despite there being 930GB free space on the A drive.  The Steam Move Folder option only shows three of my six drives and none of those listed are A:

Good to know you figured out.   But I am puzzled as to how you have set up your OS to have an A: drive?   You have some other OS and are running Windows virtually or something like that?

6 hours ago, Mace said:

But I am puzzled as to how you have set up your OS to have an A: drive?

You can designate A or B drive letters for OS or any drive … I had that setup on one of my PCs.  It might confuse older software (very old), but in most cases it’s just another drive letter.

Edited December 1, 2025Dec 1 by SayAgain

1 hour ago, SayAgain said:

You can designate A or B drive letters for OS or any drive … I had that setup on one of my PCs.  It might confuse older software (very old), but in most cases it’s just another drive letter.

That would be my concern (confusing old software) but still I didn't know Win11 allowed this.

A: Drive - you brought up a subject I had forgotten all about - when I created the A drive it did not occur to me it might be a problem.  Ignorance is Bliss!