How do you organize your Flightsim Downloads and Software?

[Jay R 0]

Hello all,I have been away from Flightsim for awhile, due to the death of my PC. I have a temporary stand in while I save for that 'dream machine'. I have come back to find I must have been a demented download freak when I was downloading all that awesome freeware scenery, aircraft and utilities. There is just no rhyme or reason to the way I organized them.I am looking for a way to organize the files, but I am drawing a blank. I am sure a lot of you have genius ways of saving/naming your files for easy browsing and organization. Would you mind sharing?Thanks!![hr width=100%" size=1 color="black]http://forefrontgrp.com/MyLogo2.JPGJason | General Aviation FanVisit my Blog:http://abwain.spaces.live.com/

[Clutch Cargo 384]

Had a few moments to kill so Jason, here's what I do.I've always tried to take full advantage of the 256 character limit when naming my files. Some downloads are required to have and 8+3 character limit (like my fdsfxpnl.zip). How can you make sense out of that when you got 100's of encrypted downloads like that?So I have a basic system that has worked well for me over the years. Here's a typical file that I have renamed to my liking. This one is for an aircraft:FS2004 aircraft - Boeing 747-100 v4 JT9D TWA (posky).zip---1-------2-----3--4------5-----6---7----8-----9----10Pretty straight forward. Let's break it down following the numbers underneath:1. FS version - I use FS2004 or FSX these days mostly.2. Main FS addon type - This can fall under the categories such as aircraft airport scenery scenery design panel terrain mesh utility sound etc., etc. what ever comes to mind I will add. Remember, the point here is to be able to easily have the same type listed together and find what you are looking for.3. " - " a dash. Breaks up the filename on what I will eventually discard (to the left of the dash), and what I will keep (to the right of the dash). More on this later.4. Aircraft Manufacture5. Aircraft Type 6. If it's a newer version of the FS model I would add something like this, or add clues such as ER (extended range) or NC or OC (new colors or old colors). 7. Additional detail about this model. This time I have the engine type.8. Airline9. Model designer in parenthesis.10. Last but not least don't forget to add back in the .zip!If I am downloading a bunch of textures for the same type aircraft I just create the first filename, then copy and paste over and over again with just changing the airline paint name. Goes in a snap.Same applies for something like scenery:FS2004 airport - USA, California, San Diego KSAN (Clutch Cargo).zipThe difference is after the "-" I start with Country, then State (or region), then City and then the airport's ICAO. Add the designer or payware company name in the "( )"and zip it at the end. As you might have noticed I separate airport scenery from just scenery in general. I find it easier by distinguishing the two. Seems too intricate? Maybe but I have done it for so many years this way I don't even think about it. So easy to find things when you have a folder with a few hundred aircraft. All my scenery for California will be listed together to make a search easy and understandable.Then when I add, say a new scenery to FS I just use the same name in the FS9/Addon Scenery folder but delete the 'FS2004" so all my added scenery start with the word 'scenery'. This makes for easy searching and scanning when you have a few 100 scenery loaded. For added aircraft I delete the 'FS2004 aircraft -' so all my planes in my Aircraft folder are listed by manufacture first. Again, easy to find and all folder names have no guesswork as to "what the heck is that folder"!I also use the product 'AOM' (Add On Manager), for all my aircraft installs and customizing. Makes it so easy to swap around textures, panels, sounds without having to mess with individual aircraft folders.Hope that gives you a few ideas...Clutch

[Jim Robinson 122]

I copy the author's original title for the download and use it for a new folder name under "My DocumentsDownloadsFS2004" and simply save the download using the original filename in that folder. When the FS2004 folder gets close to 3 1/2 GB I burn it to a DVD marked "FS Downloads(month/date/year)". I then open up a DOS window on the new DVD and do a "dir" to a .txt file of the same name as the disk. This becomes an index, stored in the same folder as the indices for all my other disks. I can then use the "find in files" function of a good text editor like Textpad to search all of the indices for a specific string like "hurricane" or "tin opener". That tells me which text directory the string was found in and therefore on which disk I can find the "Hurricane ID Tin Opener" download for example.I never rename downloads, that way I can always search the download sites with a filename if needed, to figure out what something is or to replace something that's gone corrupt.Jim

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Hi Jason, I have a sort of different system which I just seem to have developed over the years that I have been downloading FS files. There was a time when I used to download each file to the desktop and leave it there before I deleted it once I had installed it. Ha Ha!I now have a folder on my desktop which is called FS TOOLS and everything related to FS is located hear - tools I use for editing things (TTOOLS, AFCAD, Air-Ed, AITM etc etc), aircraft models, aircraft paints, traffic files and right through to back ups of original files or patches that I have used and maybe modified. I think the biggest area of downloads I have stored is the repaints section where I have a copy of all the texture files that are used in my AI traffic. I have created a sub folder for ever different airline and within that folder I store the files according to there texture and aircraft type, for example:AIA 763 DAL (AI Aardvark model, 767-300 aircraft, Delta Colours)EVAI 320 BAW SPECIAL (Evolve AI model, A320 aircraft, BA colours and any special colour scheme)I never leave the file name as it is when I download it just because I would never know what it was after downloading many files. I also find it improtant to create many sub folders and directories within folders. Seems to work well for me, obviously many people have man y different ways of doing it and I am sure that you will develop your own way as you get going again! Best of Luck ;-)

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,I download, install, and then delete the download. "OMG, what about if you ever want to reinstall FS?" Pretty sure that since BEFORE the first day of release I have reinstalled FS once. I have moved it from HD to HD, but have not reinstalled, but once. I hardly remember what the disks look like.Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-community-sigbanner.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/

[Opa 6]

As you can see, there are many and varied approaches to organizing what you download and/or install.My ideas are included in this Guide to Un-installing and Re-installing:http://library.avsim.net/search.php?Search...=root&Go=SearchI am sure you will discover a method which works best for you.

[Jay R 0]

Thank you very much guys. Lots to think about. I've become sort of a neat freak when it comes to file organization on my PC so any input on making life easier is good.Thanks again guys!! :-)[hr width=100%" size=1 color="black]http://forefrontgrp.com/MyLogo2.JPGJason | General Aviation FanVisit my Blog:http://abwain.spaces.live.com/

[rightseater 0]

Hi Jason,After having suffered a complete computer crash, I now take my backup process very seriously. I use 4 GB DVDs for backing up my files. Each DVD is for a specific genre, such as aircraft, scenery, tools and utilities, etc. I place each file in a folder and label the folder as appropriate. In this folder I also include a text document containing where I downloaded the file, the file name, purchase information, key codes, etc. I keep a folder on my desktop where I put these files, and after the folder builds up a bit, I burn them onto the appropriate DVD. I think it is very important to backup any files you could forsee yourself wanting to install/reinstall in the future because there is always a chance that something can happen and they become unavailable. I downloaded an aircraft from FSFreeware.com that I really liked, and now with that site no longer around I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[Chuck_B 2]

This thread is great! I've been using a hybrid of the "dedicated downloads" folder mentioned above, and I really felt there HAD to be a better way. Someone HAD to have written a program that can go into your FS9 installation, compare it to the default files and then list your addons, and I just missed it. Guess not -- good to know that I'm not the only one who struggles with this issue. Even better to know that my own system was not that far off from some of those here with more experience whom I respect.And I agree: backups are something people talk about a lot but few seem to actually do. Building my new box taught me the value of a good backup process -- that build involved 4 or 5 reinstalls. I used a good imaging program which made the whole process just that much less painful.There's nothing like getting flight simulator finally running just the way you want it to and then have to do a catastrophic system recovery from scratch!

[Guest ThrottleUp]

Interesting to see how fellow simmers organize their stuff :) I follow a naming standard when dealing with lots of downloads. It lets me keep everything in a single folder and makes searching for stuff fast. Heres some examples of how I store downloaded aircraft, scenery & other FS-related stuff in a single folder titled FS9 Downloads:Pilatus PC12 (Flight1)Embraer ERJ-135 Base (Posky)Embraer ERJ-135 ER (Posky)Embraer ERJ-135 LR (Posky)Embraer ERJ-140 Base (Posky)Embraer ERJ-145 LR (Posky)Boeing 717-200 (Jet City Aircraft)Boeing 777-300ER W (Overland)Boeing MD11 (iFDG)Scenery-Australia Sydney AirportScenery-Australia Perth AirportScenery-Australia Brisbane AirportScenery-Australia Rainforest TexturesUtility - Pushback PanelUtility - Cabin Announcement PanelEffect - Landing LightsEffect - Contrail 3DSound (Engine) - CFM56 737NGSound (Engine) - CFM56 A320 SeriesSound (Engine) - RR Dart

[BIGSKY 316]

I set up this folder structure on a 500Gb external hard drive.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192383.jpg

[Jay R 0]

ThrottleUp, that's similar to what I was thinking of doing. So far I have played with this format for example:Flightsim#_Type_Description_Vendor=====================================FS9_Aircraft_BeechKingAir300_AFG.zipFS9_Scenery_UTCanada_Flight1.zipFS9_Utility_FSNavigator_4.5.zipAnd keeping all on one folder. It looks like in the past I tried organizing by folder but the folder structure got to deep, maybe I need to simplify a few things. Thanks for all the tips!!I need to tame this beast somehow.[hr width=100%" size=1 color="black]http://forefrontgrp.com/MyLogo2.JPGJason | General Aviation FanVisit my Blog:http://abwain.spaces.live.com/