answered Guidance request - Addons Linker for MSFS

[carlosqr]

Hello

I've been having problems with the slow loading of the freezing on the last screen, it never starts unless I remove stuff from the community folder

Last time I spend a day and half moving things from that folder and putting them back for at the end realized I had placed every single mod back and the sim worked.... so really don't understand that but I can't stand it

 

So I discovered this mod and I would like to ask for references, mainly is there a compromise with Central? A conflict?

Second it is really useful? Because what would be the difference in having the mods in the community folder than in another one?... I'm having them, so why is this really efficient or could solve issues?

 

https://es.flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker

 

 

 

I just don't want to mess it so I would like some references

Also when there is an update in Central would there be an issue between the three, Central, the sim and this addon?

 

Thank you!!

Carlos

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by carlosqr

[Jon Clarke]

I am unsure what you are actually seeking here Carlos but I have been using the AddonLinker since it came out with zero problems at all.

To have Orbx central work with the linker you need to create a library for addons. Mine is called MSFS Addons. I have it on the same drive as my MSFS installation so that it doesn't take time to copy/paste etc. You would then need to link that new folder (MSFS Addons) to Orbx Central in the normal way. That way, when you want to install a new addon, you can direct it to either the MSFS Community folder directly or into the MSFS addon library, just like you can with any other Library you have created in Orbx central.

When it comes to using  Linker for a flight you would only tick the addons you want for that flight. Linker then puts a symbolic link into the MSFS Community folder and off you go. Because the community folder now would only contain symbolic links and not actual hard copy addon files, there is no need to worry about sim updates causing issues with your community folder or any of the addons as they are in storage in a non MSFS directory folder so are not interfered with in any way.

In answer to the question about the difference between having the mods in the Community folder vs in another folder: you could always just keep dragging and drop the addons you want for a flight into the Community folder and then drag and drop them back into  a Library folder when that flight is finished. But why do that?

Having all you mods permanently in the Community folder means long load times, vs short load times when using the Linker to choose relevant addons for a particular flight.

I have gone to another level with linker.

I have made a folder called MSFS Addons, and the subfolders for the world by regions like US,EU/UK, Asia, South America, Africa and Asia/NZ/AUS.

I also have a library for Liveries, Aircraft and Utilities and Mesh.

Just ticking the mods you want to use for a flight is so simple that is why I use and endorse the use of Linker. Here are a couple of pics. This set up of subfoldrs took only minutes.:

 

 

 

[EasternT3]

1 hour ago, Jon Clarke said:

I am unsure what you are actually seeking here Carlos but I have been using the AddonLinker since it came out with zero problems at all.

To have Orbx central work with the linker you need to create a library for addons. Mine is called MSFS Addons. I have it on the same drive as my MSFS installation so that it doesn't take time to copy/paste etc. You would then need to link that new folder (MSFS Addons) to Orbx Central in the normal way. That way, when you want to install a new addon, you can direct it to either the MSFS Community folder directly or into the MSFS addon library, just like you can with any other Library you have created in Orbx central.

When it comes to using  Linker for a flight you would only tick the addons you want for that flight. Linker then puts a symbolic link into the MSFS Community folder and off you go. Because the community folder now would only contain symbolic links and not actual hard copy addon files, there is no need to worry about sim updates causing issues with your community folder or any of the addons as they are in storage in a non MSFS directory folder so are not interfered with in any way.

In answer to the question about the difference between having the mods in the Community folder vs in another folder: you could always just keep dragging and drop the addons you want for a flight into the Community folder and then drag and drop them back into  a Library folder when that flight is finished. But why do that?

Having all you mods permanently in the Community folder means long load times, vs short load times when using the Linker to choose relevant addons for a particular flight.

I have gone to another level with linker.

I have made a folder called MSFS Addons, and the subfolders for the world by regions like US,EU/UK, Asia, South America, Africa and Asia/NZ/AUS.

I also have a library for Liveries, Aircraft and Utilities and Mesh.

Just ticking the mods you want to use for a flight is so simple that is why I use and endorse the use of Linker. Here are a couple of pics. This set up of subfoldrs took only minutes.:

 

 

 

 

Jon, really sorry for highjacking the thread - I thought it'd be easier than starting a new one and referencing this, looking at your add ons I see you have a few mesh addons (including AU and Iceland by Orbx, I guess we'll be seeing them soon) would you say mesh adds to the base sim

[Jon Clarke]

I can neither confirm nor deny

[BradB]

Zero issues for me also Carlos ; one of the things I love 

about MSFS is how easy it is to use Mods . The add on linker

makes it a breeze . 

[carlosqr]

Hi @Jon Clarke

Brilliant

 

Yes, that is exactly the info I was looking for. I lost a day and a half testing which addon was holding my sim from start. I was about to explote. It seems it was the flybywire

 

So I don't want that to happen anymore.

 

The way you have set your subfolders is fantastic

 

I really thank you for having taken the time to explain this and confirm it is worthy

 

Best reagrds,

 

Carlos

[bburkley]

On 5/26/2021 at 11:01 PM, Jon Clarke said:

I am unsure what you are actually seeking here Carlos but I have been using the AddonLinker since it came out with zero problems at all.

To have Orbx central work with the linker you need to create a library for addons. Mine is called MSFS Addons. I have it on the same drive as my MSFS installation so that it doesn't take time to copy/paste etc. You would then need to link that new folder (MSFS Addons) to Orbx Central in the normal way. That way, when you want to install a new addon, you can direct it to either the MSFS Community folder directly or into the MSFS addon library, just like you can with any other Library you have created in Orbx central.

When it comes to using  Linker for a flight you would only tick the addons you want for that flight. Linker then puts a symbolic link into the MSFS Community folder and off you go. Because the community folder now would only contain symbolic links and not actual hard copy addon files, there is no need to worry about sim updates causing issues with your community folder or any of the addons as they are in storage in a non MSFS directory folder so are not interfered with in any way.

In answer to the question about the difference between having the mods in the Community folder vs in another folder: you could always just keep dragging and drop the addons you want for a flight into the Community folder and then drag and drop them back into  a Library folder when that flight is finished. But why do that?

Having all you mods permanently in the Community folder means long load times, vs short load times when using the Linker to choose relevant addons for a particular flight.

I have gone to another level with linker.

I have made a folder called MSFS Addons, and the subfolders for the world by regions like US,EU/UK, Asia, South America, Africa and Asia/NZ/AUS.

I also have a library for Liveries, Aircraft and Utilities and Mesh.

Just ticking the mods you want to use for a flight is so simple that is why I use and endorse the use of Linker. Here are a couple of pics. This set up of subfoldrs took only minutes.:

 

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I'm trying to setup MSFS Addons Linker today and I have a question about organizing sceneries into subfolders (e.g., by region of the world) when using Orbx Central. I already have an Orbx Library I've been using (assigned to a separate folder on my D drive). I would like to organize my Orbx sceneries by region of the world to use with the Addons linker but I'm afraid Orbx Central will no longer be able to find these for updating, etc. 

 

Is there a way to do this so as to not interrupt my addon management within Orbx Central?

Thanks,
Brandon

[Jon Clarke]

You create libraries, as many as you want, to represent all the regions you want. You then  ensure that the path to those different libraries are correctly located and linked to Orbx Central.

I show a pic of my set up which also shows you the paths to the different Libraries I have created. I also have a couple of libraries for XP11 as shown in the pic.

As you can see i created separate files on my D drive for Mesh, US & Canada, Asia NZ and Australia, South America, Africa and the UK/EU.

 

 

The pic below shows the options for where to install are displayed when I want to install a new addon.

my libraries are not just for Orbx addons but all addons that fit the categories I have chosen:

 

You already have a pic of what my Addon Linker programme looks like when I open it up.

[bburkley]

10 hours ago, Jon Clarke said:

You create libraries, as many as you want, to represent all the regions you want. You then  ensure that the path to those different libraries are correctly located and linked to Orbx Central.

I show a pic of my set up which also shows you the paths to the different Libraries I have created. I also have a couple of libraries for XP11 as shown in the pic.

As you can see i created separate files on my D drive for Mesh, US & Canada, Asia NZ and Australia, South America, Africa and the UK/EU.

 

 

The pic below shows the options for where to install are displayed when I want to install a new addon.

my libraries are not just for Orbx addons but all addons that fit the categories I have chosen:

 

You already have a pic of what my Addon Linker programme looks like when I open it up.

 

Thanks Jon,

 

So if I wanted to move my existing sceneries from my single MSFS library to multiple libraries by region, I could just create several new libraries within Orbx Central and manually copy the files over on my drive to these respective folders, and then Orbx Central would pick them up? My primary concern is to retain the update/scenery management within Orbx Central.

 

Thanks for the clarification so far.

 

Brandon

[Jon Clarke]

You already have a main Orbx folder with all your Orbc addons. What i would do is then make subfolders within that main folder. So you would have the opportunity tp lace you addons by region into those subfolders. name the subfolders for example like i have done, e.g. USCAN, UKEU, etc.

I have all my addons in a folder called MSFS Addons. In that folder i have numerous other folders spread over a number of hard drives. The below pics show the structure of that folder:

 

 

 

 

This is what i see when i open the Scenery folder shown above:

 

 

Because Addon Linker uses symbolic links to place into your Community folder Orbx central will see the "installed" addons and update them. 

Remember to get the addon updated it must be symbolically linked into your Community folder.

When i want to install an update i open Orbx Central, look at what updates are available and then open Addon Linker and choose those relevant addons to be symbolically linked into my Community folder. Orbx Central sees those addons as installed and then it updates them

[Richard McDonald Woods]

When I try to add an Addons Linker library which already exists and is not empty, Orbx > Settings > Libraries neither finds the existing libraries with Scan for Libraries nor allows Create a new library. Any ideas for a workaround? 

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Could this be due to the library being alphabetically the first library? My subsequent North America and South America folders already contain scenery and I was allowed to specify these. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Richard McDonald Woods

[bburkley]

12 hours ago, Richard McDonald Woods said:

When I try to add an Addons Linker library which already exists and is not empty, Orbx > Settings > Libraries neither finds the existing libraries with Scan for Libraries nor allows Create a new library. Any ideas for a workaround? 

 

Hi Richard - One thing I discovered that's sort of frustrating and not documented well with Orbx Central is that you need to add another folder titled "msfs" (if using MSFS) within the final Library path that you've directed Orbx Central to. Once I did this today, everything linked up and worked as it should. It did take closing out and restarting Orbx Central to discover everything again. Hope this solves your problem.

[carlosqr]

1 hour ago, bburkley said:

 

Hi Richard - One thing I discovered that's sort of frustrating and not documented well with Orbx Central is that you need to add another folder titled "msfs" (if using MSFS) within the final Library path that you've directed Orbx Central to. Once I did this today, everything linked up and worked as it should. It did take closing out and restarting Orbx Central to discover everything again. Hope this solves your problem.

Hi there

Actually Central creates this MSFS folder itself

You just need to create a folder for Orbx and name it as you wish, then in Central you set that folder as the library and when you install a product, Central creates the MSFS one and now one for the product that also contains a community folder inside, a bit weird

 

Cheers

Carlos

[bburkley]

9 minutes ago, carlosqr said:

Hi there

Actually Central creates this MSFS folder itself

You just need to create a folder for Orbx and name it as you wish, then in Central you set that folder as the library and when you install a product, Central creates the MSFS one and now one for the product that also contains a community folder inside, a bit weird

 

Cheers

Carlos

 

Hi Carlos - Yes, I know this. However, we're talking about moving Libraries that we've already created, and manually configuring folders ourselves to interact with MSFS Addons Linker. You can create new libraries and install your sceneries all over again within Central and it will create the "msfs" folder for you. However, to avoid the pain of reinstalling all of your Orbx add-ons, you can create new libraries within Central but you must move the addons from your existing library into the new libraries without forgetting to add back the additional "msfs" folder in order for Central to re-recognize all of your add-ons. That's what I was trying to clarify here.

[carlosqr]

13 minutes ago, bburkley said:

 

Hi Carlos - Yes, I know this. However, we're talking about moving Libraries that we've already created, and manually configuring folders ourselves to interact with MSFS Addons Linker. You can create new libraries and install your sceneries all over again within Central and it will create the "msfs" folder for you. However, to avoid the pain of reinstalling all of your Orbx add-ons, you can create new libraries within Central but you must move the addons from your existing library into the new libraries without forgetting to add back the additional "msfs" folder in order for Central to re-recognize all of your add-ons. That's what I was trying to clarify here.

Roger that.

Cheers

Carlos

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Thank you both for your constructive thoughts.

My solution is a little different. I have created the 7 subdirectories of Scenery for the the continents, and some of these already contain non-Orbx sceneries. Orbx will not allow me to create pointers to these libraries if they are not empty.

I have therefore created an additional dummy 'continent' and temporarily moved each of the existing continents'  contents to it while I create the Orbx library pointer to it, then moved the dummy's contents back. Using the File Explorer>Move to icon, this presented little workload.

There remains a little missing facility - I am unable to view the contents of the Orbx scenery libraries from the libraries listed in the Libraries display. And I am still at a loss as to what Scan for Libraries might be meant to do.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

you can of course view the contents of the libraries in Windows File Explorer.

"Scan for libraries" does what it says, it scans your PC for existing Orbx Central Libraries.

[Nick Cooper]

On 7/22/2021 at 11:06 PM, bburkley said:

 

Hi Carlos - Yes, I know this. However, we're talking about moving Libraries that we've already created, and manually configuring folders ourselves to interact with MSFS Addons Linker. You can create new libraries and install your sceneries all over again within Central and it will create the "msfs" folder for you. However, to avoid the pain of reinstalling all of your Orbx add-ons, you can create new libraries within Central but you must move the addons from your existing library into the new libraries without forgetting to add back the additional "msfs" folder in order for Central to re-recognize all of your add-ons. That's what I was trying to clarify here.

 

 

Hello,

al you need to do is move the entire msfs folder into the new location.

The whole purpose of being able to move Orbx Central Libraries is to avoid the need to download anything again.

Orbx Central does not look for individual scenery items, it looks only inside its own folders.

These are: p3dv4, p3dv5, xp11 and msfs.

Anything that has been moved outside those folders will not be seen.

 

It should be understood that Orbx Central makes its own file structure and if the customer decides to modify this

to suit another scenery manager, Orbx Central will no longer work.

 

[rockliffe]

On 7/26/2021 at 3:16 PM, Nick Cooper said:

 

 

Hello,

al you need to do is move the entire msfs folder into the new location.

The whole purpose of being able to move Orbx Central Libraries is to avoid the need to download anything again.

Orbx Central does not look for individual scenery items, it looks only inside its own folders.

These are: p3dv4, p3dv5, xp11 and msfs.

Anything that has been moved outside those folders will not be seen.

 

It should be understood that Orbx Central makes its own file structure and if the customer decides to modify this

to suit another scenery manager, Orbx Central will no longer work.

 

I am a complete loss now Nick...   Orbx Central makes its own file structure and if the customer decides to modify this

to suit another scenery manager, Orbx Central will no longer work.    So Addon Linker doesn't work?? Sorry Nick, I don't understand what you mean  Can you clarify for my brain, thanks.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

if you install your products to an Orbx Central Library, as it is designed to allow a customer

to have only one Library if they wish, each flight simulator is given its own sub folder within the Library.

These are Orbx Central Library\msfs, p3dv4, p3dv5, xp11.

Orbx Central, like all other software, is not compatible with user interference with its file structure,

so if a customer decides to change that file structure, Orbx Central will no longer work as intended.

 

Addon Linker, as far as I know, is capable of making links to installations anywhere, so it should not be

necessary to change the files structure created by Orbx Central but instead to point it to the existing

product file within the existing file structure.

 

However, Orbx Central not only manages the products, it also adds links to them from the Orbx Central Library

to the Community folder in MSFS, which I gather Addon Linker also does.

It would make sense to either use one or the other but not both at the same time for all installed products,

or let Orbx Central manage the Orbx purchases and use Addon Linker to manage all other products.

[rockliffe]

23 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

if you install your products to an Orbx Central Library, as it is designed to allow a customer

to have only one Library if they wish, each flight simulator is given its own sub folder within the Library.

These are Orbx Central Library\msfs, p3dv4, p3dv5, xp11.

Orbx Central, like all other software, is not compatible with user interference with its file structure,

so if a customer decides to change that file structure, Orbx Central will no longer work as intended.

 

Addon Linker, as far as I know, is capable of making links to installations anywhere, so it should not be

necessary to change the files structure created by Orbx Central but instead to point it to the existing

product file within the existing file structure.

 

However, Orbx Central not only manages the products, it also adds links to them from the Orbx Central Library

to the Community folder in MSFS, which I gather Addon Linker also does.

It would make sense to either use one or the other but not both at the same time for all installed products,

or let Orbx Central manage the Orbx purchases and use Addon Linker to manage all other products.

Ah, I kind of see Nick. Thanks for the explanation. I'm having all manner of issues with this, mainly Orbx creating it's own MSFS folder which then resides inside an MSFS folder than I have created for individual countries, so sceneries are not being separated into indivicual folders. I think I'll bin this addon linker, it's doing my head in! 

[rockliffe]

edit

Edited October 29, 2021 by rockliffe

[rockliffe]

.....

Edited October 29, 2021 by rockliffe

[carlosqr]

2 hours ago, rockliffe said:

Ah, I kind of see Nick. Thanks for the explanation. I'm having all manner of issues with this, mainly Orbx creating it's own MSFS folder which then resides inside an MSFS folder than I have created for individual countries, so sceneries are not being separated into indivicual folders. I think I'll bin this addon linker, it's doing my head in! 

If you don't mind and have not removed the addon linker I might explain you in more detail, maybe posting some images for a better understanding.

I have my stuff classified by payware, freeware, planes, lieveries etc and Orbx of couse

The payware I have it by country too

Orbx is a unique folder where all goes regarless of the country ( based on Orbx structure)

Both addon linker and Orbx Central create a link to the community folder. The good thing is as Nick said, Central does it all, and the addon liknker simply detects Orbx structure and follows it, so you can enable or desable the addons by a click when a MSFS storm or update is going to take place or if you simply want to have a light sim and enable only when you want to fly it

 

Let me know

Cheers

Carlos

Edited October 29, 2021 by carlosqr

[2Realist4U]

I'm really grateful for this thread and am hoping you can provide some initial setup help. Here's my context:
1) I purchased Orbx Sydney Cityscape on my PC via Market Place, but I'm cancelling Game Pass Ultimate and purchasing MSFS outright. From what I understand, I'll lose my access to Sydney when I do that.
2) So from now on, I'll be purchasing from Orbx directly (I assume I'll need Orbx Central).
3) I'm managing all my Community Addons with MSFS Addons Linker
4) MSFS is installed on C: (SSD) and my Community folder is set to D: (HDD)

 

So I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to make this all work so I waste as little time and money as possible. I really appreciate any help.

[carlosqr]

Hello 2realist4U

 

I'm afraid I don't know what Game Pass Ultimate is so I cannot say a word about it but I think someone here will assist

Unfortunatelly products bought in Market place won't be reflected in Orbx Central

You do need Orbx Cetral to purchase and install any product offered in the platform.

I don't know if something could be done in terms of what you have purchased in the MS being the product an Orbx one, you might like to ask this to the managment.

If an arrangement is not possible you would need to buy it again.

For you to install your Orbx products in Drive D, Central allows you to create a library that can be withing your addons folder. You need to point Central to that drive /route and then a foldfer will be created whithin your addons folder. Next time you want to install a product Central will alwasys ask if you want to install it in the community folder or your library. Of course you have to select the last one.

In the addons Liker you will find now within your addons folder the Orbx folder then a MSFS folder and then each product you install. Inside that product folder you'll find a community folder and that is fine that is the "link" to the community folder. Somehow all Orbx products once installed will be automatically enabled in the addon liker, you don't need to tick them.

The addon liker offers a tool, a scan for potential conflict folder structure, the materials lib, I always run it so it can remane all materiallib to avoid conflicts.

That we can go deep later

 

Regards,

Carlos

 

[Nick Cooper]

6 hours ago, 2Realist4U said:

1) I purchased Orbx Sydney Cityscape on my PC via Market Place, but I'm cancelling Game Pass Ultimate and purchasing MSFS outright. From what I understand, I'll lose my access to Sydney when I do that.

 

Hello,

I have answered your other post as well.

When you buy MSFS, you will still need to have your XBox and Microsoft Store accounts,

so I would be surprised if you were to lose your Marketplace purchases.

 

[2Realist4U]

Carlos, thank you for taking the time. I'd like to reiterate what I think you said:
1) Right now my community folder is on the HDD Drive -  D:\Documents\PC COMPUTER\Flight Simulator\Mods Community\
2) If I understand correctly, when I install Orbx Central onto my SSD (C: drive) -- I'll tell it to point to the above directory for where it stores its purchased addons?

 

Regarding, "Orbx products will be automatically enabled in the addon liker, you don't need to tick them." -- Does this mean I can't untick them, that all Orbx products will have to load every time I launch flight simulator from within MSFS Addon Linker?

[2Realist4U]

9 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

When you buy MSFS, you will still need to have your XBox and Microsoft Store accounts...

 

I'm not sure that you're saying anything different than this, but what I discovered in researching microsoft forums, is that I'll only need a game pass account, but it won't have to be a paid account. But without a paid account, I'll still lose access to paid Orbx products, although I won't lose access to my purchased Microsoft products. Does this align with what you're saying? Thanks Nick!

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

I would be surprised if you were to lose access to any of your purchases from the Microsoft store,

regardless of the original developer.

I can only find references to whether PC purchases will work on XBox and the answer is yes, if

the developer has produced an XBox compatible version.

As there are no exclusively XBox versions of any Orbx product, the opposite should apply.

As XBoxes are in short supply and as a PC user, I have no purpose for one, my answers cannot

be definitive.

[2Realist4U]

Thanks for being so helpful and responsive Nick, it's tremendous. Once my subscription to Game Pass expires, I'll try and remember to report back here. Microsoft is infamously and uncannily vague on this point -- I've done a ton of research. I finally found one tidbit of information, from a lightbox pop-up after I submitted a Microsoft support ticket. Though it states that I can still play games I've purchased, it doesn't answer the following questions:

A. Will I be able to REDOWNLOAD the game without a subscription to Game Pass

B. Will I be able to access to 3RD-PARTY addon purchases without a subscription to Game Pass

 

------------------------------------------------

"What happens when I cancel Xbox Game Pass? When you cancel your Xbox Game Pass subscription, here's what happens:
• Games, DLC, and add-ons you've bought and installed will still be playable once you've unsubscribed or they've left the Xbox Game Pass catalog.
• Games, DLC, and add-ons you've downloaded won't be deleted from your hard drive (although you may need to purchase a copy to keep playing).
• If you want to downgrade your plan so you can join another Xbox Game Pass plan or switch to Xbox Live Gold, you'll have to subscribe to them manually. Cancelling an Xbox Game Pass subscription will not automatically enroll you in another plan."

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by 2Realist4U
Wrong Image Attached

[2Realist4U]

It's official from Microsoft: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/playing-purchased-games-after-cancelling-game-pass/cd776e66-4704-4a76-a990-e1282998e804

 

Q. I am considering purchasing some games and some 3rd party addons. If I cancel Game Pass, will I still be able to play them on my PC?
A. As long as you purchase them, you can play then without a subscription.

 

Q. Where should I purchase the games (e.g. the Windows PC Xbox App)?
A. You can purchase them through the Microsoft Store app. The same way you install them for Game Pass, you would just choose the option to buy.

 

Q. How do I download the games once Game Pass expires?
A. You would download them pretty much the same way you do with Game Pass games. They'll be added to your library so you can install them through their from the Microsoft Store app or buy looking them up in the store.

 

Q. Will I still have access to 3rd party addons I purchased (e.g. Orbx Scenery in Flight Simulator)?
A. Anything you purchased, including 3rd party addons, would still be tied to your account and you would still access them the same way you do now. 

[carlosqr]

Hello

 

9 hours ago, 2Realist4U said:

Carlos, thank you for taking the time. I'd like to reiterate what I think you said:
1) Right now my community folder is on the HDD Drive -  D:\Documents\PC COMPUTER\Flight Simulator\Mods Community\
2) If I understand correctly, when I install Orbx Central onto my SSD (C: drive) -- I'll tell it to point to the above directory for where it stores its purchased addons?

Not exactly

Central will always aim to the community folder

If you are using addons linker you might have created an addons dolfer to organize your stuff

 

Mine is like this, I created an addons folder where I have the sim installed (bellow it) and then the addon linker

 

 

Inside the addons I clasiffied what I have (spanglish)

 

Inside escenarios (scenery) I classified payware, freeware and Orbx

 

 

Inside Orbx folder you'll find their structure it is set by Central

Central created an MSFS folder and whithin it, it installs each tile and within it a "community folder" (I think this is the link to the real community folder) and then within it the final product (scenery etc)

 

 

After you install Central you need to create this "library" so you have to point it to the Orbx folder you created and Central will do the rest

 

 

Somehow all the products installed will be automatically ticked in addons linker so you can just launch the game and they'll be there, wich is fantastic but of course you can untick them if you wish, like shown here. I have 7 liveries and the Halloween stuff unticked

 

 

 

I prefer to create a unique folder for Orbx to keep it apart from all the rest. If something starts going wrong with an update or so, I feel comfortable unticking everything except Orbx. This folder will always be my priority, I'll leave it on and check the sim if everything is ok then I start checking within all the rest but since addon linker I never have strange problems as I run the material lib changer for potential conflits this reminds me of Vector tool in P3D.

 

Hope this is clear and useful

Cheers

Carlos

[2Realist4U]

This is really helpful Carlos. Regarding your comment: "I prefer to create a unique folder for Orbx to keep it apart from all the rest." -- would this setup work (see my screenshot), or would you perhaps recommend moving Orbx up one directory?

 

I'm assuming I would never want to rename any of the subfolders in the Orbx folder?

 

Regarding: "I feel comfortable unticking everything except Orbx" -- are you saying you ALWAYS load all Orbx with Addons Linker, or perhaps you're saying that all Orbx should be checked within Addons Linker when I run Orbx updates?

 

Related question: To launch and Orbx product, do you use Orbx, Addons Linker, or both? Sorry if these questions seem like they should be intuitively obvious; really appreciate your help.

[carlosqr]

Hi 2realist4U

 

Yes that structure is fine

Yes you don't have to rename anything inside Orbx folder Central does everything

 

5 hours ago, 2Realist4U said:

Regarding: "I feel comfortable unticking everything except Orbx" -- are you saying you ALWAYS load all Orbx with Addons Linker, or perhaps you're saying that all Orbx should be checked within Addons Linker when I run Orbx updates?

What I meant by this is that in case of issues, no loading, etc, I am happy to untick everthing except Orbx folder. Then I test if all works. Usually all woks with Orbx enabled, so I would have to find the reason for the no loading, or for the issue at the moment within the products from other devs, but my Orbx stuff is safe and free of guilty

 

I do have everything from Orbx enabled in the addon linker.

 

When running an update MS recommends to have the community folder clean so this is why addon likers is useful, you untick everything and refresh both sides, then run the update, close it, launche it just to ensure all is ok,close it, enable everything in the addon linker or what it pleases you than then launch the sim again to ensure all is ok.

 

5 hours ago, 2Realist4U said:

Related question: To launch and Orbx product, do you use Orbx, Addons Linker, or both? Sorry if these questions seem like they should be intuitively obvious; really appreciate your help.

No problem at all, we're here to help each other

Every product I have I have it in the addon linker and I have them enabled

Yes it last a light year to start but I like all the white dots and stars so I can easily go to wherever airport I want. I'm not good with airport codes so I prefer to SEE them in the map, calling me to visit them

 

Hope this is useful

 

Cheers

Carlos

 

[2Realist4U]

Very helpful Carlos... thank you!