MSFS 2020: internet data hog

Yesterday, I got an email from Xfinity alerting me that we were about to exceed our one terabyte per month internet data limit. This has never, ever happened before in all the time we have been streaming hours daily of video content via Roku. In fact, this alert marked the first time I knew we had a data cap, and I assume that my growing MSFS 2020 flight time hours and related scenery streaming are what pushed me to the point where Xfinity was on the verge of charging extra for more bytes of the internet apple. I say "was" because I immediately upgraded our plan to unlimited data for an extra $14/month, after a discount because I already have their modem/router.

 

After getting this notice, I did some googling to discover how much data MSFS 2020 eats while we fly and found this instructive YouTube video:

 

After watching the video, I realized I oughta check/increase my rolling cache settings -- I'm not sure I've been caching any data, actually -- because caching offsets MSFS's live data consumption. Anybody know how big a cache I might need to stay under Xfinity's monthly one terabyte data limit and avoid the extra expense of an unlimited data plan?

How much data you use and how much cache you need will depend on your use of the sim. Do you always fly in the same areas? Or is every flight in a different part of the world? Another issue would be downloading and reinstalling the sim itself, along with updates as this will use up a good chunk of data too.

How much data you use and how much cache you need will depend on your use of the sim. Do you always fly in the same areas? Or is every flight in a different part of the world? Another issue would be downloading and reinstalling the sim itself, along with updates as this will use up a good chunk of data too.

I have stuck pretty close to home since first launching MSFS Jan. 19, practicing landings at our local muni airport, and taking short flights locally. But I’ll expand my horizons eventually. I had to reinstall Steam edition MSFS yesterday, which may have triggered Xfinity’s cap alert.

I have stuck pretty close to home since first launching MSFS Jan. 19, practicing landings at our local muni airport, and taking short flights locally. But I’ll expand my horizons eventually. I had to reinstall Steam edition MSFS yesterday, which may have triggered Xfinity’s cap alert.

 

If you're flying in the same area most of the time then a decent sized cache would help. In the other hand, it doesn't help much if each flight is in a new area.

An alternative, now that they've fixed it, would be to set up a manual cache of the area you usually fly around in - you won't use any data then until you fly outside of that area. That's when the rolling cache comes into play.

 

Been several discussions on how big you should set your rolling cache, some saying they never use it (i.e. turn it off) in which case all scenery is downloaded all the time, others using a large number. If you've got oddles of spare storage on fast media, such as a fast SSD, a large number is fine. I use 32GB. It has also been suggested though that too big a cache can affect the overall performance when the game has to search through huge amounts of stored data to find what it may or may not have stored.

 

There's no hard and fast rule, just opinions. As said already it's very much down to how you play the game!

An alternative, now that they've fixed it, would be to set up a manual cache of the area you usually fly around in - you won't use any data then until you fly outside of that area.

What was wrong the the manual cache and when did they fix it?