Not so much migrating, but sharing or dual installing addons for FSX & P3D on the same PC?

[Star1 0]

Much info on the web often mentions how to migrate one's mass of FSX / FSX SE add-ons accumulated over time over to Prepar3D using methods such as registry editing or dedicated migration tools such as the apparently appraised 'FSX to P3D Migration Tool' by FlightSim Estonia.

 

However my desire (if conceivably possible) is not so much to migrate add-ons by abandoning FSX SE altogether and moving to Prepar3D, but more so to have 'both' FSX SE and P3D exist/installed on the same computer and have all or most necessary add-ons that developers list as being compatible with both FSX & P3D, to be installed and run on P3D as well as still being installed on FSX SE.

 

Is there a method either by sharing add-on installs or some form of separate dual installation procedures?

 

Naturally I fully understand that some add-ons are not listed as being both FSX & P3D compatible and therefore goes without saying that their different versions have to be purchased separately, i.e. PMDG 737 NGX Base in which I own the FSX SE version and shall be purchasing the P3D version very soon.

 

I would prefer to have both FSX SE & P3D v3 installed on my main C: drive (which are 2x SSD in RAID striped) and sharing compatible add-ons. However if somehow sharing compatible add-ons is a real problem, then another option is for me to split my two SSD's in RAID into two separate single drives and have FSX SE with Windows on one and P3D v3 with Windows on the other. The latter method may be more expensive requiring an additional copy of Windows if Windows ignores the fact it's on the same computer by being dependent on the drive's hardware ID, as well as the more tiresome feature of having to reboot when switching from FSX SE to P3D v3 (being on separate drives).

 

Is there any real solutions with regard to sharing and not migrating add-ons?

[JimmiG 244]

"Sharing" add-ons might be problematic, though probably not impossible using hardlinks and junctions, and in some cases simply be pointing the Scenery Library entry of both sims to the same folder. In some cases it will almost certainly cause issues, like when the FSX and P3D versions of the addons differ.

 

A "dual install" scenario is much easier. Most add-ons will install just fine in a second sim on the same system. Simply run the installers for your addons and point them to the other sim (in this case, P3D v3). In cases where the installer does not support P3D v3, your best bet is the Migration Tool. Just enable redirection, run the installer and select P3D v2, v1 or FSX (depending on which sim the installer supports), and it will be "fooled" into installing it in P3D v3. When done, just disable redirection. The only drawback is that you'll need twice as much disk space since everything will be duplicated.

[Star1 0]

Ok thanks, much appreciated. Will try the latter two solutions which sound much better than hard links and registry edits which I wasn't too keen on.

 

I have some newly purchased add-ons such as PFPX, TOMCAT, SIMstarter NG, plus others to name but a few that I'm holding back on installing until I upgrade my PC in order to minimize any registering, de-registering and then re-registering complications. As well as some add-ons I've already installed in FSX SE (FS Global Ultimate, REX Texture HD 4 + Soft Clouds, plus others). If I don't upgrade computer soon then will reset PC and start clean using combination of dual installs and the Migration Tool which sounds very handy.

 

The SIMstarter NG  I recently purchased (not yet installed) from reviews appears to be a very useful tool for choosing automated start up options for aircraft, scenery, weather, place, scenario, graphic settings, etc.; maybe a future incarnation and enhancements for this handy utility could also include choosing which SIM to fire-up along with some kind of automated merging/trunking of add-ons to run for chosen flight sim executed if dual install or Migration Tool has not worked or been used... just an idea.

 

Thanks again.