Downloading regions

[Griphos 138]

I've tried X-Plane in the past (last time with v9), but never was taken with it.  I've been running the demo the past week or so and have tried out a few addons like HD mesh and experimented with graphics settings to get good performance on my machine. I'm impressed.  I've uninstalled it a couple of times, but then I'd see some info or videos that brought me back to mess with it a bit more.  I'm glad I did.

At this point, I'm about ready to take the plunge and buy a key.  My question is whether it is possible to download the scenery areas from a different computer and transfer them.  My home DSL is an abysmal (4mbs) and it will take forever to download even one region.  My work computer has a very nice connection.  Is there a way to download just the scenery areas without installing X-plane on the work computer?  I don't want a second installation.  I just want to use the work internet connection to put the areas on a USB to bring home and add to my install at home.  

I know I could do this if I bought it through STEAM, but I'm hoping there's a way to do this buying direct.  I'd rather have it standalone, I think, and also I like the idea of giving LR a larger share of the price.  

Possible?

[Griphos 138]

I think I've figured out a way on my own.  X-plane doesn't install like most programs.  You just run it from a folder.  So, once I buy the digital activation key, I should be able to move or copy the folder to a portable hard drive and run it from my office computer to download and install the scenery, right?  Then I can bring that portable HD home and copy it onto my regular HD, right?  

 

[tonywob 4,769]

Yes you can do this. I have two copies of XP11 on my main gaming computer, and my laptop. You can just copy across the X-Plane 11/Global Scenery folder to another install once you have downloaded the scenery. Or you could just install it once to an external HDD.

I use a portable SSD for my Custom Scenery folder which contains a lot of photo scenery, and it works great. 

[Jimm 437]

1 hour ago, tonywob said:

Yes you can do this. I have two copies of XP11 on my main gaming computer, and my laptop. You can just copy across the X-Plane 11/Global Scenery folder to another install once you have downloaded the scenery. Or you could just install it once to an external HDD.

I use a portable SSD for my Custom Scenery folder which contains a lot of photo scenery, and it works great. 

Tony, regarding the scenery on an external SSD, are you using symbolic links or just a simple shortcut?  I ask this because I have a NAS that has a lot of space for me to transfer my growing scenery content, and I tried the symbolic link, which didn't work.

[tonywob 4,769]

I use symbolic links as windows shortcuts don't work. I share the drive (and Custom Scenery folder) between Mac OS X and Window 10 and it works great. I can't remember how I created the symlink on Windows, but I remember I had to do it via the command-prompt

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/

However, I'm not sure how/if that would work with a NAS as I've not tried it. 

[Jimm 437]

I looked into this further and found that since I have a NAS, I have to manually map a drive letter to the directory path on the NAS.  What I did before, didn't register because there wasn't a corresponding drive letter, so I believe that is key.  When you mentioned using an external HD (but not a NAS), it hit me that this was the cause for the failure on my end.  I was also using a small application to create the symbolic links before, and even though it never gave me an error in mapping the link, the linkviewer never showed that it existed.  Anyways, thanks for the added info.  Having the luxury of a second drive for scenery is a great idea, especially if you create your own replacement orthos.

[Griphos 138]

Thanks for the confirmation.  I'm heading in to the office this afternoon and will give it a try.  

[Griphos 138]

Well, I downloaded North and Central America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand while at work yesterday.  Brought the portable HDD home and copied the scenery over and started up X-Plane.  It installed the installer and checked local files and recognized all the scenery.  I let it finish the install including checking for updates and all seems to work well.  

Just wanted to report success.