[Update: Sep. 09] Microsoft Flight Simulator stuck on loading, checking for updates, or crashing after latest update

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on July 28, 2021) follows:

Microsoft Flight Simulator is undoubtedly one of the best-looking games of all time.

With a map spanning the entire globe, the game allows you to fly planes anywhere you want, even your own house. You can try your hands on various planes and steer them in dynamic weather conditions.

Yesterday, the game was made available on the Xbox Series X/S via Game Pass. But it looks like the Flight Simulator update was plagued by various issues.

And these issues are not limited to the Xbox version of the game. Even PC players are having issues playing the game.

According to reports, many users say they are stuck on the loading screen or checking for updates.

It seems like many people have hopped on to play and download the game after the recent update, which might be exerting the servers.

While others report that they are crashing to the desktop after they somehow manage to get into the game.

#FlightSimulator on #XboxSeriesX crashed and now it won’t restart. Stuck on endless loading screens!
(Source)

I’m on PC and already downloaded the 40gb update and was able to get to the home screen. I decided to shut the game down and re-boot it. Now it gets stuck at the “checking for updates” screen and just sits there and spins. Does anyone know a fix for this? I’ve been waiting forever for this update and want to see the sweet VR performance boost 🙁
(Source)

In case your game is frequently crashing, we have some workarounds that might help you.

According to some players, it is an issue with the AI Air Traffic. So try disabling AI Aircraft from general settings, and you might be able to play just fine.

If not, you can try removing all the custom content. It looks like the update broke all the mods and community content for some users.

Even though we have no idea what might be causing the issue, it most likely seems like a buggy Flight Simulator update paired with server issues of some sort.

We hope Microsoft releases a hotfix soon if the update has introduced a bug of some sort.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Gaming Section so be sure to follow them as well.

12:25 pm (IST): An individual confirmed that they were able to fix the issue by clearing the mods folder on their PC. Hence, if you’ve got some mods installed, we’d suggest removing them and adding them one-by-one to find out which one’s causing the problem.

I cleared my mods folder out and that fixed it. Adding mods back in one at a time. (Source)

04:38 pm (IST): Microsoft is rolling out a new update for the Flight Simulator game today and it brings a bunch of fixes, improvements, and additions. The release notes state that it fixes various crashes in-game and on the world map, hence this is a good sign.

Stability/performance

– Fixed various crashes in game and on the world map
– Fixed crashes related to the offline AI traffic
– Fixed minor memory leaks

IST 10:32 am: Microsoft has just released the Flight Simulator World Update VI version 1.19.8.0. This is now available on Xbox, Microsoft Store, and Steam. This update packs a bunch of stability enhancements and improvements to the game.

Below is a snippet of the changelog and release notes

Stability

– Several crashes have been fixed across the title
– Applying the default profile for the Mouse will no longer crash the title when an custom profile was loaded on PC
– Fixed crash in autosave in bushtrip missions when the user has a non-ASCII name
– The title can now be launched in Safe mode via a pop-up to deactivate all Community and Marketplace content on PC only. The option will be available after a crash as long as Devmode is not enabled.
– Fixed some scenarios where mandatory content was not downloaded or installed properly on PC if it had been deleted via the content manager (“You are missing packages that are essential to run Microsoft Flight Simulator. Please update the application and try again.”)
Source

Featured image source: Microsoft

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