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Flight Simulator - does it only work with the Steam version?


ianbnet

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I've been pulling my hair out trying to get Vortex to work with Flight Simulator (2020). It can't auto-discover it, and when I point it to the folder (the apps folder with the .exe as requested, not the /community mods folder), it errors out.

 

Has anyone gotten this working with the Windows Store version of Flight Simulator? Should I give up, remove it, and install from Steam so I can use Vortex?

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Sure thing. I'm on Vortex 1.3.8, with the Flight Simulator extension installed and enabled, on a Windows x64 system. Flight Simulator is installed from the Windows Store.

 

  • It is not auto discovered, so I click "browse" and point it to where the .exe is: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe.
  • An error pops up: "Accessing [filepath] failed with an error that indicates a hardware problem." It's I/O error 1920.

I'm fairly certain this is a permissions/access error (the SSD is just fine, as is the game). However, this post was really just to ask the question I put in the topic - should Vortex be working with the Windows Store version of Flight Simulator, which is installed as a Windows App package and isolated from the rest of the system? I did several searches and can't find any discussion on that question.

 

The entire log is extensive, although I can post it. I did find this line:

  • Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:12:32 GMT - debug: Game entry not found pattern=Microsoft.FlightSimulator - 1250410, availableStores=steam, epic, gog, origin, uplay, xbox

Every other mention of flight sim in the log seems pretty standard - loading the extension, etc

 

 

Thanks!

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Vortex supports the Microsoft store (it's called xbox store because that's what MS sometimes calls it?

 

Re Flight Simulator:

a) Actually, up to friday it only worked with the windows store variant

b) Sorry, I have no clue why the auto discovery would be thrown off with your copy of the game. What variant of the game do you have? The one from GamePass or the Ultimate Edition or whatever else they're selling? What language is your windows set up to use?

c) The .exe isn't in appdata, it should be in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe but

d) due to the way that store works you won't be able to navigate to that location. Windows store apps are packaged as encrypted bundles, the directories you see on disk are all virtual and locked down tight, it's a pita to deal with. If you know where the game is installed you may be able to copy&paste that path directly into the address bar of windows explorer and maybe it accepts it but the intermediate directory (C:\Program Files\WindowsApps) is not readable.

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Interesting. Thanks for the reply! I can't believe I had the path to the .exe wrong :/. However, I'm still having trouble. So, some more details...

  • I have the Premium Deluxe version of the game, fully purchased.
  • However, I _also_ subscribe to GamePass.
  • Given that, I'm not entirely sure which version is installed.

I pointed Vortex at the correct path (C:\Program Files\windowsapps\microsoft.flightsimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe), and it accepted the path, but gives a permissions error. I gave it admin permissions to try to fix it on its own ("give permission" button in the Access Denied dialog box), to no avail. I then tried to go in manually to edit permissions, but as you noted, it's locked down tight - I cannot change permissions on the .exe, so in Vortex I'm just stuck at "access denied."

 

I'm running out of ideas, except that I'm wondering if somehow I have the GamePass version installed and so it is extra-locked-down as other GamePass games are. I'm perfectly willing to try uninstalling and reinstalling directly from the Premium Deluxe listing in the WIndows Store. No idea if that will make a difference. I might just give it a go and see what happens. I'm OK with waiting the several hours it will take to reinstall the game in the name of experimentation :D

 

One question - don't almost all mods just go in to the Community packages folder? Is there a way to point Vortex at that folder?

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Interesting. Thanks for the reply! I can't believe I had the path to the .exe wrong :/. However, I'm still having trouble. So, some more details...

  • I have the Premium Deluxe version of the game, fully purchased.
  • However, I _also_ subscribe to GamePass.
  • Given that, I'm not entirely sure which version is installed.

I pointed Vortex at the correct path (C:\Program Files\windowsapps\microsoft.flightsimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe), and it accepted the path, but gives a permissions error. I gave it admin permissions to try to fix it on its own ("give permission" button in the Access Denied dialog box), to no avail. I then tried to go in manually to edit permissions, but as you noted, it's locked down tight - I cannot change permissions on the .exe, so in Vortex I'm just stuck at "access denied."

 

I'm running out of ideas, except that I'm wondering if somehow I have the GamePass version installed and so it is extra-locked-down as other GamePass games are. I'm perfectly willing to try uninstalling and reinstalling directly from the Premium Deluxe listing in the WIndows Store. No idea if that will make a difference. I might just give it a go and see what happens. I'm OK with waiting the several hours it will take to reinstall the game in the name of experimentation :D

 

One question - don't almost all mods just go in to the Community packages folder? Is there a way to point Vortex at that folder?

 

Never mind, I should've read your entire post before responding...nothing to see here.

I was wrong.

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My testing happened with the GamePass version so my suspicion is that the Premium Delux version has different identifiers. Regarding which version you have installed: That should be easy to find out, shouldn't the premium deluxe edition have a bunch of extra planes?

 

Could you post what permission error you get exactly as in: What file is it trying to access?

 

Also, if you're comfortable with using the registry editor, could you post a screenshot of the corresponding flight simulator registry entry at

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\Repository\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

For me it looks like this:

https://imgur.com/P01w0qX

 

Finally, please look for the directory

C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

In there we expect a UserCfg.opt file which we need as it tells us where the Community directory even is.

If this is missing or in a different location that would also explain why we can't discover the game.

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