Why MSFS Installations Expand So Quickly

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (and the upcoming 2024 edition) is one of the most demanding applications in terms of storage space. The base installation alone consumes roughly 130–150 GB, but that number can balloon to 400 GB, 600 GB, or even 1 TB once you factor in the steady stream of World Updates, free add-ons, marketplace purchases, custom scenery, aircraft mods, and livery packs. The reason is simple: FS2020 streams high-resolution satellite imagery and terrain data, but it also stores a massive local cache and a growing library of content in the Community folder. Every official update can add 5–10 GB of new files, and third-party developers frequently release photorealistic ortho scenery that lands at 20–50 GB per region. Without a proactive management strategy, you can easily run out of room on a 512 GB drive, forcing you to uninstall essential content just to apply a patch.

Understanding the true size of your installation is the first step. Open the Windows Settings app (Settings → System → Storage), or use a tool like WinDirStat to see exactly which folders are eating space. You will typically find the bulk of MSFS data under the official installation folder and the hidden %APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator path, which holds your rolling cache, manual cache, and optional rolling cache file.

Core Best Practices for Managing Large Installations

The following strategies will help you keep your MSFS library lean, organized, and performant, whether you are on a 2 TB NVMe or juggling multiple smaller drives.

Regularly Audit and Remove Unused Content

It is easy to accumulate dozens of add‑ons that you tried once and forgot. Set a recurring reminder (e.g., every three months) to review your Community folder. Remove or archive any scenery, aircraft, or utility that you have not used in the last 60 days. You can also use the built‑in Content Manager (opened from the MSFS startup screen) to uninstall official content such as World Updates or Discovery Flights you no longer need. Keep in mind that uninstalling a World Update only removes the hand‑crafted airports and specific POIs; the underlying elevation data remains.

If your main C: drive is full, you can store MSFS packages on a secondary drive using a symbolic link or junction point. This technique allows Windows to “redirect” the Community or Official folder to another location without the sim needing to know. However, be careful: Microsoft does not officially support symlinks for the entire installation, and updates can break the link. A safer approach is to use the official “Switch” button in the MSFS settings to move the entire package folder to a new drive. For advanced users, tools like FSAddon Linker (a community tool originally for FSX/P3D) or MSFS AddOns Linker allow you to selectively enable/disable add‑ons by managing symlinks inside the Community folder. This not only saves space but also reduces the number of items the sim must load at startup.

Organize Add‑Ons with Clear Naming Conventions

When your Community folder contains hundreds of subfolders, identifying the bloat is nearly impossible. Adopt a consistent naming scheme: for example, Scenery - KVNY Van Nuys, Aircraft - FlyByWire A32NX, Livery - British Airways A380. Many add‑ons come with cryptic folder names (like aerosoft-dhc6-400), which is fine, but you can create a master folder outside of MSFS that organizes your downloaded zips by category. Inside the Community folder, leverage a tool like Add‑On Manager (built into some third‑party installers) to keep everything tidy.

Use the Content Manager Proactively

The Content Manager inside MSFS is often underutilized. In addition to uninstalling official packages, you can also see the size of each item. Sort by size to quickly identify the largest updates or add‑ons. Remove any “Discovery Flights” or “Training Lessons” that you will never revisit. For marketplace items, you cannot uninstall them via the Content Manager individually—you have to uninstall the entire marketplace product from the in‑game “My Library” section. Always check for updates here before launching a flight, because outdated packages can cause conflicts and performance degradation.

Backup Critical Configuration Files and Add‑Ons

Before performing a cleanup, make a backup of your UserCfg.opt, exe.xml, and Content.xml files (located in %APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator). These store your graphics settings, controller bindings, and package registry. Also, keep a copy of your “live” Community folder structure (or at least a list of what you have installed). If you accidentally delete an add‑on you later need, you can restore it from a backup archive. For truly large scenery packs, consider keeping them on a separate “cold storage” HDD and only copying them into the Community folder when you plan to fly that region.

Strategies to Optimize Storage Space

Beyond simple deletion, several techniques can dramatically reduce the footprint of your MSFS installation without sacrificing the flying experience.

Streaming vs. Manual Cache: Choose Wisely

MSFS offers two cache options: a Rolling Cache (stores data as you fly, auto‑managed) and a Manual Cache (pre‑download specific regions). If you have fast internet (100 Mbps or more) and no data cap, you can set the rolling cache size to a moderate value (8–16 GB) and let the sim stream everything on the fly. This uses almost no local disk space beyond the base installation. If your internet is slow or unreliable, use a Manual Cache for regions you fly frequently (e.g., Europe, US West Coast) and keep it at 50–100 GB. The rolling cache will then fill automatically with the areas you visit, so you can prune it by clearing the cache folder periodically.

Compress and Archive Rarely‑Used Scenery

Many freeware scenery packs come as loose files with texture folders. You can zip them up (using 7‑Zip or WinRAR with high compression) and store them on an external drive. When you want to fly that region, unzip only the needed folder into the Community folder. For payware scenery that uses installer exes, create an archive of the original installer files so you can reinstall later without re‑downloading. This is especially helpful for large ortho sets from providers like Orbx.

Selective Installation of World Updates

Each World Update includes hand‑crafted airports, POIs, and updated elevation/bathymetry data. If you never fly in, say, Australia, you can uninstall that World Update from the Content Manager. However, keep in mind that the automatic system will still stream the base terrain data, so you will not lose the continent entirely—you just lose the enhanced points of interest. On a 512 GB drive, removing unnecessary World Updates can free up 20–40 GB.

Reduce Rolling Cache and Photogrammetry Sizes

In the General Options → Data Menu, you can limit the rolling cache to 8 GB (the minimum). Each GB of cache corresponds to roughly one tile of high‑detail scenery. If you are mainly flying with streaming, a small cache is sufficient to smooth out short connection drops. Also, disabling photogrammetry in cities you rarely visit can reduce cache usage, but that’s more of a performance/fidelity trade‑off than a storage one.

Managing Updates to Minimize Bloat

MSFS updates often leave behind “orphaned” files that are no longer used but are not cleaned up automatically. After a major update (e.g., Sim Update 15), check your installation folder for files like fs-base-0... or asobo-bootstrap leftover directories. You can safely delete the fs-base-0 folder from Official\OneStore (make sure it has been superseded by a higher number). A less risky approach: use the “Repair” function in the Xbox app or Steam to re‑verify all files, which will remove any files that are not part of the current installation manifest.

Another update‑related trick is to temporarily move your Community folder to a different location before a large update. This prevents the updater from scanning every add‑on, which can cause the update to hang or fail. After the update completes, move the Community folder back and rescan from the Content Manager. This also prevents add‑ons from becoming corrupted if the update decides to modify files in the Community folder.

Important: Always ensure you have at least 20–30 GB free space before applying a major update. The update process downloads and decompresses temporary files in the same drive as your MSFS installation. Running out of disk space mid‑update can corrupt the entire installation, forcing a full reinstall.

Hardware Considerations for Large Installations

The type of drive you use makes a significant difference in load times and overall smoothness. NVMe SSDs (PCIe 3.0/4.0) are the gold standard for the main installation. A SATA SSD is acceptable but may cause slightly longer load times for complex scenery. Avoid installing MSFS on a traditional HDD—spindle drives have read speeds that are 5–10x slower than SSDs, causing stuttering when the sim streams tiles and texture data.

For secondary storage (archives, backup, rarely‑used add‑ons), a 5400 RPM external HDD is fine because you only transfer files occasionally. If you have multiple NVMe slots, consider a dedicated “games drive” of 1 TB or more. The latest DirectStorage technology does not yet apply to MSFS, but future titles may benefit from it—investing in a fast NVMe now is future‑proofing.

If you are building a new PC or upgrading, the sweet spot for a hardcore flight simmer is a 2 TB NVMe SSD (e.g., WD Black SN850X or Samsung 990 Pro). This can hold the base game (150 GB), official updates (100 GB), rolling cache (50–100 GB), and a generous Community folder (200–300 GB) with room to spare.

Finally, consider using storage analysis tools like WizTree or Everything to quickly locate large files and folders, especially temporary files that Windows updates may have left behind.

Conclusion

Managing large Microsoft Flight Simulator installations is an ongoing process that requires discipline and a few smart techniques. By regularly auditing your content, leveraging multiple drives with proper symlinks, choosing the right cache strategy, and keeping your add‑ons organized, you can maintain a smooth and responsive flight sim experience without constantly fighting for disk space. The key is to stay proactive: set a schedule for cleanup, back up your configuration, and always leave a healthy buffer of free space for updates. With these best practices, you will never have to choose between deleting a favorite aircraft and installing the latest World Update.