answered Separate file for Community files

[John Heaton]

Very much against my earlier thinking - I decided to give MSFS a decent crack because of a few of the downloads

since the UK update from Orbx and some new aircraft on offer

 

So far it has been disastrous esp. since the last update yesterday

 

I did notice some MSFS advice as I was loading the sim today - about setting up a separate File for the community file

to protect the addon software during updates

 

2/3  days ago - I bought 2 aircraft and some Orbx stuff - cityscapes and scenery - and today post upgrade the

so I am loathe to try my Orbx - my new aircraft - crashed all over the place

 

Is this correct and how does one do it?

[John Heaton]

Knock Knock !!!!!

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

I think that the reference is to the Community folder which is created by MSFS when it is first started and is where

third party addons, not bought at the marketplace are added.

The advice from Asobo is to remove all addons from the folder before an update in case the update breaks them.

The easiest way to remove everything is in fact to remove nothing but instead rename the Community folder to

say CommunityX and then, when MSFS is restarted, it creates a new and empty Community folder.

[John Heaton]

56 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

I think that the reference is to the Community folder which is created by MSFS when it is first started and is where

third party addons, not bought at the marketplace are added.

The advice from Asobo is to remove all addons from the folder before an update in case the update breaks them.

The easiest way to remove everything is in fact to remove nothing but instead rename the Community folder to

say CommunityX and then, when MSFS is restarted, it creates a new and empty Community folder.

Thanks Nick - sentences 1 and 2 - I understand - and and renaming Community folder to something else - OK! - and MSFS 

creating a new Community folder OK - but - How does MSFS then find the new folder X with all the addons to load them ??

 

and the next purchased addons go Where? - In the new Community folder - and at the next upgrade -then  do we set up community Y - ad infinitum?

Sorry Nick - but the old brain can't fathom this

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

their idea is that their changes might break the addons, so they want you to remove them all

before you restart.

I suppose that once you have done that and the simulator works, then you can add them back.

You can do that either by moving the files back in, or all at once, by deleting the Community

folder and renaming the CommunityX folder back to Community.

[John Heaton]

49 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

their idea is that their changes might break the addons, so they want you to remove them all

before you restart.

I suppose that once you have done that and the simulator works, then you can add them back.

You can do that either by moving the files back in, or all at once, by deleting the Community

folder and renaming the CommunityX folder back to Community.

Thanks Nick Got the routine !

[Crom UK]

I have the Steam version and I'm assuming that the MS store version is the same but the folders are in roaming files.

 

Items purchased from the Marketplace go into a folder labelled Official.  Purchases from Orbx and all other mods go into your Community folder. 

 

Yes you can rename your Community folder to say CommunityX and let the sim build and create a new Community folder, you can then after update move the folders from your CommunityX to Community one at a time to ensure no issues have been introduced by the update with those mods and addons.

 

I had a couple of CTDs straight after the UK update when flying from Valley to Liverpool, I removed my mods and the crashes stopped.  Shortly afterwards there were updates to those mods so I replaced them and no crashes since.

 

An alternative is a mod called MSFS Addon Linker (this is installed outside your community folder).  You can then also install all your mods and addons outside your Community folder because this addon creates links for you inside your Community folder.  It is easy enough to add and remove mods using the linker.

 

Sometimes issues are caused by the rolling cache, you can delete that and I usually do after an update.  Cache size I have is 32gb as suggested by Asobo and that is also located away from the sim.

 

A point to note I've discovered that Asobo updates randomly reset various settings.  Previously I've seen Bing Data switched off, and the last update reset my rolling cache data location back to my C drive.  Its all a bit random at times.

 

But if you knew where everything is installed, use the Linker then remove your links before an update, it clears your community folder for you. And occasionally delete your Content.XML, the Sim adds new content to this file but fails to remove deleted content so I delete this every so often. Don't worry the sim creates a new one when required.