I could be understanding this incorrectly but I think you can move any addon (like your A2A in the Documents folder) to any location you like and then just edit the add-ons.cfg file and point to this new location.  Let us know if it works.

Yes but my point is, we shouldn't have to do this. The installer should take care of this during the installation process and have it installed it correctly to begin with. I really hate fussing around with stuff after installing it. It shouldn't be like this. My A2A aircraft is located in my documents folder. Yes I can move it and mess with the xml file etc, but I leave this up to the developer to make a proper installer.

59 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

@SolRayz - that should have no effect on Chaseplane or Precipitfx as far as simobjects.cfg goes - that remains the same - simobjects.cfg contains the location of the a/c and those programs make their adjustments accordingly.

Vic

Sorry, aircraft.cfg, not simobjects.cfg. I believe the developers are aware. 

i just installed Aerosoft Twin Otter, and clearly they could care less about the SDK. No add-on.xml in Docs, thus no entry in add-on.cfg, airplane folder thrown right into the root simobjects\airplanes folder like its '99....lol

This is getting to be like the early days of the FS9-to-FSX transition - we need to start drawing distinctions between add-ons that are ported over (but with problems), add-ons that have compatible installers (but haven't been optimized and produce glitches), and the relative handful (with more to come over time) that have been optimized to take advantage of v4 features and to perform correctly all the time.

As of the moment, it's still very much the wild west...

I hope PMDG follow the new path rules.

I have more faith that PMDG will be buttoned up than that some of the others will.  But it's still just faith. We'll see soon enough...

 

It would be really nice if the devs would follow the simple steps as outlined in the SDK.  The SDK recommends that the addon folder be created in %ProgramFiles%\Company Name.  If all the addons were to be installed starting in the ProgramFiles folder and go from there things would be much better refined than the way it is now.  See the last line in the post:

Quote

Add-on Directory Structure

In addition to library (DLL) and application (EXE) add-on developers, those developing add-on content (SimObjects, Scenery, Effects, Scenarios, etc.) should also adhere to these guidelines.

When creating an add-on for Prepar3D, the directory structure are expected to be adhered to help maintain consistency.

%ProgramFiles%\<Company Name>

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Prepar3d v4 Files\add-ons

This is the recommended <Installation Directory> where your product folder should install to. In the case where the developer wants to have their add-on automatically discovered, the installation path should instead be:

<Installation Directory>\<Product Name>

The main product installation directory for an add-on. Typically, the main application executable will be placed in this location.

<Installation Directory>\<Product Name>\add-on.xml

The Add-on Package file which describes how Prepar3D should load the add-on.

<Installation Directory>\<Product Name>\bin

For development only, this is typically the path for all compiled executables and libraries used for by the add-on. It is recommended that for a release the bin folder is not included and that all of these files be placed in the main installation directory.

<Installation Directory>\<Product Name>\data

The path for any data files needed for use by the add-on.

<Installation Directory>\<Product Name>\doc

The path for any HTML documents, CSS, and other documents provided with the add on for reference.

<Installation Directory>\<Product Name>\src

The path for any source files, projects, etc. that may be distributed with the add on for use. This is not required to be distributed with the add-on.

NOTE: Please be aware that Prepar3D's base installation files should never be modified by developers. Instead, use an accepted way of distributing Add-ons.

 

I hope A2A will address this. I have faith that they will.

I checked at their forums and there is a thread talking about this.

So far, no official word on the forums. There's plenty of threads talking about mitigating this problem; moving Documents folder and manually moving followed by editing files. No dice, Signore.

Guess I'll just have to wait. And waiting is something that's difficult for insta-gratafiers like me. 

There is an "official word". They suggested moving the Windows Documents  library to another drive other than C:. This can be done directly via the OS options for the Documents library location.

Ouch.

That's not practical for me.

Guess I'll be copying and editing then...later. This v4 stuff has me exhausted.

7 hours ago, SolRayz said:

i just installed Aerosoft Twin Otter, and clearly they could care less about the SDK. No add-on.xml in Docs, thus no entry in add-on.cfg, airplane folder thrown right into the root simobjects\airplanes folder like its '99....lol

Is that bad that there is no add-on.xml in documents?  Or, that's not a must.

But I have actual documents in the Documents folder. That's going to be a colossal mess, addons all over the place, now even in the Documents folder. We should be able to designate whichever folder we want for the addons (like X:/Scenery Addons, X:/Aircraft Addons,..) and developers should let us choose the folder for installation. Done.

How does this work if you do a complete system reinstall and have backedup the addon folder?

 

I am thinking about registrations being all over the shop.

 

Alex

 

Guys, you don't have to move your documents folder.  Move A2A to the folder of your choice and then edit the add-ons.cfg to point to the new folder.  Done.