On the contrary, Jim, I clearly noticed how you first went out of your way to thank all the authors and repeated that numerous times. You also insisted that your comments were not by any means a complaint.Instead, I believe that you have misunderstood my remarks. It is common in anonymous forums that people should make remarks or assertions, and then believe that any other comment that is expressed is some sort of attack on their person. This is not so. It is just another undirected and anonymous comment (although signed, in my case.)What you still do not understand is that freeware authors are not experts at all facets of creation. Many of them do not know how to write simple and clear installation instructions, many of them do not even master the English language, even though it is their native tongue. So, it is useless to expect them to write good instructions - they cannot.In addition, they have already done the hard part, that is, created the aircraft or the scenery or the wonderful utility. This has taken them months, sometimes years (!) of work, and they are usually tired, anxious, and eager to get their work out there to the community.It makes no sense to find fault with some petty issues, given all the above. Particularly in the case of installation. There is no such thing as a standard installation, so there can be no definitive standard for this. And, in any case, installation is very easy and does not really require much effort on the part of the user. If you are new to this, it probably seems confusing, as does anything else that is new. Here are some indications that can help you better understand: - open the FS directory and examine all the folders. You will not break anything by so doing. Open all the cfg files and the aircraft reference, checklist, and note files. Take a good look. It is all very clear; - call up the Help file within FS and search for installation of add-ons. Yes, FS provides clear instructions itself already; - search the community web sites for this subject. You will find that this has come up numerous times and that all of them have pages dedicated to helping beginners understand the installation process; - search the AvSim library where you will find numerous utilities, free and otherwise, that promise to completely automate the installation of all sorts of add-ons so that you will never have to do it yourself again. Caveat emptor, of course, but some are useful.Finally, Jim, please do not take other people's comments as a personal attack on yourself or your probity. Everyone is talking about the same thing, a computer game that we all enjoy, but that does not mean that we all find the same things to be important. In my case, standardized installation is not necessary and will never become a reality. It has already been requested for years by beginners, it never is implemented, and they eventually make the minimal effort of learning the easy steps to do it themselves. And, so will you.Best regards.Luis

firmly planted in the 'no thanks I'll do it myself' camp since fs98. I take the point that sometimes installation instructions are misleading and really should not be.But best thing for all of us imho, as mentioned, learn from our fellow simmers, tutorials, tips etc, cause those of us who are uploading stuff simply will not always get the instructions written so all of us will understand clearly (not to mention the language barrier as mentioned below)regards,Mark

Absolute standardization is virtually impossible.I think that one of the problems (re FS9 addons at least) is that there are differing schools of thought about how to install addons in some circumstances.Some prefer to place the gauges (if supplied) within the aircraft folder- others put them in the Gauge folder. Some prefer to have addon scenery in the Addon scenery folder within FS9 - others prefer to keep it outside FS9.Lack of clear instructions can be frustrating at times - but I do believe most freeware addon designers do their best - within the constraints of language barriers.However I know of at least one addon(which I use) where the readme says" there are other buttons - you will find out what they do by experimenting"(words to that effect).However when the software in question is Payware - then I think the buyer has a right to expect clear concise instructions with it. The lack of these is not confined to FS Addons - I have - over the years- had many software applications which lack even the most basic instructions=- it can be a guessing game to work out how to use it.Dave

I dont mind the auto-installers that work *outside* the FS9 folder. For example theres a water-effects file here on Avsim (OceanFX I think) that auto-installs very neatly into its own C:Program FilesOceanFX folder.

Having just posted my first aircraft since about 1996, I can really relate to these issues.I deceided to make my zip archive as simple as possible - so 2 folders Gauges and Aircraft.I use my own personally-desgined file naming system, which I call "Adrian's Bloody Obvious Naming System". So a gauge for my plane is called %aircraftname%.cab or %aircraftname%.gauThe same goes for files in the Aircraft folder.A few people are having problems with the aircraft I uploaded, and I think almost all of the problems are due to clashes with other software. There are a few coding errors in my XML that don't help; they didn't appear on my system, so I didn't find them (aside: probably timing issues. Routines that worked ok on my PC are out of sync on others?). However most of the issues are ones I would never spot, conflicts with this or that addon, screen customisations that mean part of my panel is not visible so a crucial control is missing, etc.I really feel for major developers - I feel guilty enough and my aircraft is freeware! If I were charging for it these would be *much* bigger issues.I am definitely in the camp of 'dummy-FS' installation - Nothing touches my FS folder with being carefully inspected first.My personal opinion is the gauge system is probably the big weak point. Nowdays every other part of an aircraft is safely 'contained' in the Aircraft subfolder, but the gauges are still one big free-for-all. There is no way for me to know whether my custom gauges, no matter how well named, will overwrite some other crucial gauges, or if an XML L:VAR I have used is actually used in some other addon.Seperating the gauges from the planes was said to be due to space reasons, but I find that a poor argument, as these days the sound files and textures of any given aircraft are far larger than the gauges.So if any of the MS FS developers read this - make the gauges aircraft specific like the sounds, panels and textures. Sure, give us the alias commands, but I think that 'containered' (I love verbifying words!) gauges are a much better option.Cheers

What's wrong with putting the gauges in a separate folder specific to that aircraft? It takes some editing of the panel.cfg file, I know, but it isn't impossible and does allow for the same control over folder content that I feel strongly about with respect to scenery add-ons.

Personally, I extract nothing directly into FS9 When extracting, I extract it IN the folder where I placed it when downloading. IE C:fs9aircraft I also have an icon on my desktop, to open my real FS9 "aircraft" folder. When extracting a zip file, it goes into C:fs9aircraftaircraftname Then, I check it out, usually the aircraftname is created by the zip file Im extracting. IE B777... When I check it, it may have all subfolders, including Effects, which I just move to the FS9 effects folder. Then, I cut and paste B777 or whatever, into my aircraft folder. If I miss something, or there is a "setup.exe" or similar file, I simply RUN MY virus CHECKER. Like the others here, I will not automatically use such a file. If it passes Norton's check, then will run it. Then, I click on my icon which displays the AIRCRAFT folder, and look for the aircraft. Check it to read a readme file, and follow any special instructions for effects, etc. When aircraft are free, I expect to have to do a bit of work or reading and manual installation. Over the past two decades that Ive been using the Flight Sim, have become fairly good at interpreting instructions. IT amazes me, that those who use English as a second language, communicate so well. If we read between the lines or think of different possible ways of expressing the instructions and do some guessing, it becomes clear. Experience will be your best teacher, the more files you download and install, the broader your experience. If you dont understand something, just ask, as you did here, and you are bound to get some help sooner or later. ;-) Just dont let mistakes or errors get you down, and realize they are learning experiences. No one learned without making them, not even an Edison or Einstien... Even though my wife calls me "Saint Bob" :-lol I make many mistakes... Bob