MSFS2024 Installation Guidelines with W11 24H2 Update

[MZee1960]

It has now become more apparent that the core sim app should be on the OS (C) drive. The rest of the sim can probably reside on a dedicated second drive to keep the C drive lean with just the absolute necessary apps located there for W11 functionality.

MS wants it this way for ease of app updates, and to also improve the performance of the sim with windows 24H2 update. The magic lies in the 24H2 update which enables GPU Direct Storage Optimization (if your hardware specs are up to snuff). In a nutshell, this offloads a lot of the CPU workload to the GPU and this produces a smoother, faster performing sim. The CPU bottleneck has been greatly reduced, .... perhaps it will even disappear ?

IslandSimPilot's YT video has an excellent explanation regarding all of the technical stuff here :

Exciting times ahead, indeed !

 

[LouP]

Will this work on a second nvme drive that does not have the windows operating system?

Thanks, LouP

 

[DaveKDEN]

It has now become more apparent that the core sim app should be on the OS (C) drive. The rest of the sim can probably reside on a dedicated second drive to keep the C drive lean with just the absolute necessary apps located there for W11 functionality.

How would you specify that during install? I'm adding a 2TB SSD that I plan on using for MSFS2024.

 

[Priller]

Will this work on a second nvme drive that does not have the windows operating system?

Thanks, LouP

Yes it will. It just has to be an NVMe drive formatted in GPT not MBR. It doesn't have to be on the windows disk.

Priller

 

[Dangerousdave26]

Keep in mind that this video is for MSFS 2020 and not 2024. From the comments some are saying 2020 does not support direct access. Others claim it does and at least one person said they are looking at it for 2024.

This is also for now only a Windows 11 feature and likely will not bleed down to Windows 10.

 

[Tom Clayton]

How would you specify that during install? I'm adding a 2TB SSD that I plan on using for MSFS2024.

The "core" files (including the .exe) will always be in a protected region of the OS drive. It's the packages that can be installed in a different location.

 

[DaveKDEN]

The "core" files (including the .exe) will always be in a protected region of the OS drive. It's the packages that can be installed in a different location.

Thanks Tom. I was planning on cloning my original 1TB SSD over to the new 2TB SSD in preparation for MSFS2024. After discussing it with DennyA, I'm just going to install and format the new 2TB SSD and just direct MSFS2024 to install everything else to it. I've learned a bit more about my computer over the past handful of days thanks to the help of members here. Denny has been a big help.

 

[MZee1960]

Thank-you, everyone, for chiming in as we all will be in the same situation very soon, installing this brand new sim. I unfortunately have zero past experience with FS2020, hence I'm always on the lookout for new tips and tricks. Everyone here would concur that a one time 'correct install' of FS2024 is top of agenda.

As I understand it, before install, the OS and all apps should be up to date and the Game Bar should be up and running along with MS account. Once the FS2024 installer is started, it should be directed to install the 'core sim' (the app) to it's default location on C drive - where all MS apps reside. The prompt to choose a location for the larger size 'packages' portion soon thereafter will pop up, and it is at that point that a choice must be made for it's installation location - consensus points to a second drive separate from OS drive. A dedicated drive is best for keeping things tidy. Since (I believe), the core sim contains the 'Community folder', it is best to also set up a custom new folder (like eg. FS2024 Addons) on the second drive and use Addons Linker to link back all addons to the default Community folder in the core app on the C drive. This keeps C drive lean and helps performance as well.

What is not clear yet (perhaps someone can chime in on this), is this 'cloud based storage' Jorg and Co. talk about. What happens to all the custom aircraft liveries, all scenery purchased/downloaded from sites like flightsim.to etc. Can all this 'personal stuff' be stored in the cloud, or will the cloud be restricted to only scenery and liveries common to all versions of FS2024, and any custom acquired 'mods', scenery, liveries unique to the 'user' will have to be stored locally on the user's (second) drive ? Currently, I am tempted to believe the latter is true.

I'm hoping the members here, with all the FS2020 experience under their belts, can continue to chime in on this topic and help guide the 'newbies', like myself, with FS2024. Your advice is gold. My last sim, FSX, now seems like a very, very distant memory.

 

[Tom Clayton]

The Community folder is part of the larger install after the core files are installed. You have a choice as to where you want that part - either the default location (my choice) or in a different directory or drive. I chose the default location when I first installed the '20 version on day two of the initial release. After that, I just searched my C: drive for Community and then saved that location to the Quick Access list on the left side of the window. Personally, I've had zero issues or regrets from that decision. I have easy access to both the Community folder and the Official folder so there's no problem getting to anything I need for whatever reason.

What is not clear yet (perhaps someone can chime in on this), is this 'cloud based storage' Jorg and Co. talk about. What happens to all the custom aircraft liveries, all scenery purchased/downloaded from sites like flightsim.to etc. Can all this 'personal stuff' be stored in the cloud, or will the cloud be restricted to only scenery and liveries common to all versions of FS2024, and any custom acquired 'mods', scenery, liveries unique to the 'user' will have to be stored locally on the user's (second) drive ?

As I understand it, most of the "official" package content will be cloud based and downloaded to the local computer on-demand for each flight. But if you're like me and like to make tweaks, you have the option to have something like a particular plane downloaded to the local computer for permanent off-line access. This will, of course, increase the storage use. This is what allows Asobo to state that a default installation will only be ~50 GB. Of course, that doesn't include anything you purchase from a non-marketplace vendor or download as freeware.

 

[MZee1960]

Thank-you, Tom, for clearing this up.

It still makes sense to store all the custom 'addons' on a separate drive linked back to Community folder via Addons linker, just to keep the C drive as lean as possible.

One key takeaway here is for DirectStorage access to work, it requires a 1 TB or greater NVMe SSD to store FS2024,, W11, and a DirectX 12 Ultimate GPU.

So, it follows that if Addons linker is used to work with a custom named addons folder on a second drive, and you want Directstorage access to work, then that second drive must be also NVMe SSD 1TB+ presumably. Yes ?

 

[Priller]

Thank-you, Tom, for clearing this up.

It still makes sense to store all the custom 'addons' on a separate drive linked back to Community folder via Addons linker, just to keep the C drive as lean as possible.

One key takeaway here is for DirectStorage access to work, it requires a 1 TB or greater NVMe SSD to store FS2024,, W11, and a DirectX 12 Ultimate GPU.

So, it follows that if Addons linker is used to work with a custom named addons folder on a second drive, and you want Directstorage access to work, then that second drive must be also NVMe SSD 1TB+ presumably. Yes ?

Hi MZee,

Directstorage will work on any 1 TB or greater NVMe SSD formatted in GPT (not MBR!). Windows 11 24H2 and DirectX12 GPU have to be running, but Windows does not need to be on the drive you install MSFS2024 on.

Hope this clarifies stuff a bit.

Priller

 

[DaveKDEN]

Hi MZee,

Directstorage will work on any 1 TB or greater NVMe SSD formatted in GPT (not MBR!). Windows 11 24H2 and DirectX12 GPU have to be running, but Windows does not need to be on the drive you install MSFS2024 on.

Hope this clarifies stuff a bit.

Priller

Really happy I bought a new 2TB NVMe SSD dedicated for MSFS2024 then - sometimes a Monkey gets lucky.
Installed it this morning.

 

[FAC257]

Double checking why W11 24H wasn't an available update ion my system and found this article.

"Windows 11 24H2: The hardware and software blocking the new update"

Windows 11 24H2: The hardware and software blocking the new update

Windows 11 24H2 is unavailable for thousands of users due to safeguard or compatibility holds Microsoft has placed on specific device and software configurations.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Seems we are on temp hold.

Forest

 

[collensr]

It has now become more apparent that the core sim app should be on the OS (C) drive. The rest of the sim can probably reside on a dedicated second drive to keep the C drive lean with just the absolute necessary apps located there for W11 functionality.

MS wants it this way for ease of app updates, and to also improve the performance of the sim with windows 24H2 update. The magic lies in the 24H2 update which enables GPU Direct Storage Optimization (if your hardware specs are up to snuff). In a nutshell, this offloads a lot of the CPU workload to the GPU and this produces a smoother, faster performing sim. The CPU bottleneck has been greatly reduced, .... perhaps it will even disappear ?

IslandSimPilot's YT video has an excellent explanation regarding all of the technical stuff here :

Exciting times ahead, indeed !

Thanks for this. When you say "rest of the sim" are you meaning the Community folder? My understanding is that we will still have a 'traditional' Community folder in 2024?

 

[collensr]

Hoping to invest in a new Wired2Fire PC rig once the Sim is out and they have had chance to test it and provide real time advice on specs. This thread is very helpful in that it gives us more to think about when considering hard drive capacity allocation in relation to the W11 OS. There are some things mentioned here that I don't have knowledge of e.g "NVMe drive formatted in GPT not MBR" but I'm sure we'll get it all worked out.

 

[Tom Clayton]

Thanks for this. When you say "rest of the sim" are you meaning the Community folder? My understanding is that we will still have a 'traditional' Community folder in 2024?

At least in FS20, there's more than just the Community folder. If you're in that, go up two levels to the Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache folder. You'll see another SimObjects folder that contains a folder for every plane in your hangar. This is where most planes store data for state saving, or at the very least, the Hobbs hours. There's other stuff in there that I couldn't begin to tell you what it's for.

One thing I miss about FS9 was knowing what just about every file was for.

 

[DennyA]

Double checking why W11 24H wasn't an available update ion my system and found this article.

One of my PCs, I wasn't offered 24H2 in Windows Update, but I was able to use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant to install it with no problems.

On the other PC, the installation assistant was blocked because the Epic Games Store app had installed "Easy Anti-Cheat" which causes a BSOD. I had to remove the Epic stuff and then stop the service and delete the app. Once I did that, I was able to install 24H2 there as well. I'll just reinstall Epic after the driver's fixed.

 

[collensr]

At least in FS20, there's more than just the Community folder. If you're in that, go up two levels to the Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache folder. You'll see another SimObjects folder that contains a folder for every plane in your hangar. This is where most planes store data for state saving, or at the very least, the Hobbs hours. There's other stuff in there that I couldn't begin to tell you what it's for.

One thing I miss about FS9 was knowing what just about every file was for.

Knowing what each file was for AND where it could be found!!

 

[LouP]

I'm wondering if I am not seeing this update because I have a Ryzen 7800 x3d chip. Makes me wonder if I would cause problems by using the assistant.

LouP

 

[FAC257]

After thinking about ways to get the update, I've decided to wait until it's fully cooked.

New article from today:

"The Windows 11 24H2 bug list grows again: 10 reasons to avoid this update for now"​

The Windows 11 24H2 bug list grows again: 10 reasons to avoid this update for now

Microsoft's official 24H2 update for Windows 11 has been saddled with one bug after another. Here's why you should avoid updating and what you may find if you jump into the new version right now.

www.zdnet.com

Forest