answered Running both P3D V4.5 and V5, Different library folders a waste of SSD space!

[Ljuddoktorn]

I am running both the P3D v4.5 and V5. Orbx library creates different subfolders for both. Is there a way to reduce the footprint of the duplicate installs? The V5 folder holds almost 500 GB. And the V4 folder is even larger. Can the links to the simulator be designed to use the highest version folder for the products? I understand that some products are not yet ready for P3D V5 although its a tiny minority that could be installed in the P3D V4 simulator folder in order to avoid confusion.

 

Best regards, Juha Plunt

Quote

Your Central log file provides us important information, please attach it to your support requests. You can find it at the following locations, or by pressing Control + Shift + L.

• Windows: %APPDATA%/Orbx/Central/central.log
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Orbx/Central/central.log
• Linux: ~/.config/Orbx/Central/central.log

You can delete this box/quote once your log is attached

 

 

 

Operating system:  Win10

Simulator:  P3D V4.5, V5

Screenshot:  

Issue:  Waste of SSD space

 

[Ben McClintock]

Hi,

 

Please excuse the delayed response here.

 

It is possible to have Prepar3D v4 and v5 read scenery from the same location.

 

If you open %programdata%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\add-ons.cfg, you will see "DiscoveryPath" sections. This path is the location where the simulator searches for add-on packages (e.g. your Orbx scenery).

 

Simply make your P3Dv4 add-ons.cfg point to your P3Dv5 library location, then you will only need to have products installed into P3Dv5 for them to work. For example:

Quote

[DiscoveryPath.0]
PATH=D:\Orbx\Library\p3dv5
TITLE=Orbx Main Library
ACTIVE=true
REQUIRED=false

 

Do note that there are changes between some of our P3Dv4 and P3Dv5 products that may make them incompatible with the older simulator.

[edkap]

Thanks Ben for this answer as I had the exact same question.

-Ed

[Nick Cooper]

Please note, as mentioned, some products will not necessarily work in the other simulator.

This is a workaround and the premise that there is a waste of disk space is a false one,

put forward as a personal opinion by the author of this topic.

 

[edkap]

Nick-

I don't understand... If you are storing the same sceneries for each version of P3D, why is that not a waste of disk space?  Other than what you said about some products not working (but you can see that info on the product description, right?), the newer sceneries take up huge amounts of storage and I do not want to have to double the space for the same scenery.  Can you please clarify what you said about "the premise that there is a waste of disk space is a false one"?  Thanks.

-Ed

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

the files are not identical.

You do not have to take only my word for it:

 

On 7/10/2020 at 1:54 AM, Ben McClintock said:

Do note that there are changes between some of our P3Dv4 and P3Dv5 products that may make them incompatible with the older simulator.

 

Of course you can try to use the same set of files but when you encounter problems, you will need to use the correct files instead.

For that reason, we cannot recommend anything other than two separate sets of files.

A good example would be the regions, where P3D v5 requires that all the airports are revised to allow for the new P3D v5 default building set

and excludes.

If you use P3D v5 files in P3D v4, they will not work as intended in P3D v4 and if you use P3D v4 files, they will not work as intended in P3D v5.

Of course, you are free to do whatever you wish to your installation but it is probably better to be informed than not.