An issue occurred during the weekend that is affecting a subset of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 users, basically wiping their sim’s installation clean.
The update appears to affect users with the Windows PC version of the simulator that have opted into the beta of Sim Update 1 and have not opted out afterward, and have “Enable Automatic Updates” selected in their Xbox App.
If you’re part of this group of users, the issue may have already affected you, and in that case, you’ll find all the folders inside your %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community\ empty.
This means that your settings within the simulator and your Community folder have unfortunately been wiped clean (as a matter of fact, the Community Folder is entirely gone).
At the moment, consequences are being investigated. In my personal case, simply starting the simulator restored the missing folders and default files, so the simulator worked correctly, but the settings and Community Folder contents were gone.
If you’re in the same boat, you’ll need to reinstall your add-ons and reselect your settings. Basically your simulation has been reverted to factory settings.
If you have not been affected yet, you should probably launch your Xbox Insider Hub, select Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Betas, and opt-out.
If you see an update for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 listed on your Xbox app or if you’re prompted to install it when launching the simulator, it’s likely better to hold out on installing it before Microsoft solves the issue. In my case, it’s a whopping 8.7 GB update.
Microsoft is currently investigating the problem and is keeping users informed via the official forums. We will keep the situation monitored and if they provide more information or a solution, we will update this post.
At the moment Microsoft does not believe this issue affects Steam users.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is available for PC and Xbox Series X|S following its recent release in November. If you want to see the massive visual difference against Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, you can enjoy our video and screenshot comparison.
A few weeks ago we published an extensive interview with Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann about the present situation of the sim and the plans for the future.
Incidentally, just a few days ago Microsoft shared an extensive update about its plans for the sim, so you may want to read it to integrate what is said in this interview.
You can also check out our in-depth analysis of how much data the simulator downloads from the cloud, clearing the air from some widespread misinformation that made the rounds over the past few months.
