Installing add ons in V4

[evaamo 549]

14 minutes ago, cannow said:

personally for me it does not add to scenary.cfg but scenary add ons.xml . Appears in the the sims scenary editor though

True Colin. 

I'll edit my post. Thanks!

 

[Piotr007 166]

22 hours ago, n4gix said:

I'm betting that the installer "corrupted" the .xml file because it did not save it back after modification in UNICODE format...

What should I do then to make it right? Thanks for replying.

[ahuimanu 50]

Does anyone have an example of how we can influence scenery layering with the add-on.xml technique?

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

1 hour ago, ahuimanu said:

Does anyone have an example of how we can influence scenery layering with the add-on.xml technique?

Sure, here you go. This will add Aerosoft LIEO, that I have in my FSX:SE installation, to P3D V4 right above the default scenery (126 is the last entry of the defaults - until something screws up the cfg...).

I will finish my scenery sorting app today, that should help.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
<AddOn.Name>LIEO</AddOn.Name>
<AddOn.Description>Aerosoft LIEO</AddOn.Description>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\Addon Scenery\LIEO</Path>
<Name>LIEO</Name>
<Layer>127</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

Best regards

[SimonC 116]

I am a little annoyed by this new system, honestly.

While I'm really delighted to be able to keep the sceneries and change simulator version without reinstalling sceneries, I can't seem to find a way for layering. But maybe I am not understanding it correctly.

Let's take an example:

FlyTampa have their own libraries, which should always come before their sceneries. How do I do that, and let's say I frequently add or remove addons, never have to adapt the addon.xml file again? Say I set the correct layer, and then decide that something else must be "before" (underneath) it.

How do I maintain order?

Thanks

[BillCusick 75]

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

Sure, here you go. This will add Aerosoft LIEO, that I have in my FSX:SE installation, to P3D V4 right above the default scenery (126 is the last entry of the defaults - until something screws up the cfg...).

I will finish my scenery sorting app today, that should help.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
<AddOn.Name>LIEO</AddOn.Name>
<AddOn.Description>Aerosoft LIEO</AddOn.Description>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\Addon Scenery\LIEO</Path>
<Name>LIEO</Name>
<Layer>127</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

Best regards

Oliver, I've got to hand it to you. Many thanks for your XML routines, and your continuing advice re this 'new' system.

Your code snippets are invaluable - I've yet to add my Horizon UK Photo scenery and local scenery, but I'm getting there, thanks to you.

I've currently got JF's Traffic 360 working, by merely copying over my files. I'm about to dip into your XML examples in order to become a little more organised. Like many others here, I'm impatient.

This new system has promise. I like the idea of all this working immediately after a reinstall if that should become necessary, without all those very tiring add-on re-installs. It can only get better.

I have to thank LM also for such a huge improvement to P3D.

I originally used batch files to swap all my configs. I feel that I can now abandon them, in favour of 'your' new system.

Can I suggest a shortish summary of your XML examples for pinning on this forum ?

Thanks again for your valuable input.

Regards
Bill

 

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

5 minutes ago, SimonC said:

I am a little annoyed by this new system, honestly.

While I'm really delighted to be able to keep the sceneries and change simulator version without reinstalling sceneries, I can't seem to find a way for layering. But maybe I am not understanding it correctly.

Let's take an example:

FlyTampa have their own libraries, which should always come before their sceneries. How do I do that, and let's say I frequently add or remove addons, never have to adapt the addon.xml file again? Say I set the correct layer, and then decide that something else must be "before" (underneath) it.

How do I maintain order?

Thanks

You won't be too happy if you try to do this manually. This system is not suitable for handling frequent changes to the library.

I am confident that proper tools will be available shortly - it is not that hard to do.

Best regards

[SimonC 116]

Ouch.

So if I understand it correctly:

Say my last entry of "general" addons, like mesh, landclass and vector-data, is layer 182 (that is how many layers I have now, without any airports), and if I add these two entries (from FT, libraries and airport), I should layer them in the .xml as 183 (libraries) and 184 (airport). Or start with 1 and 2?

[aeronauta 67]

For those that want their scenery at the top all you do is pick a high number for the layer , I want OZx to be the top and I gave it <layer>999</layer>

[SimonC 116]

Yeah, I just figured I can skip numbers... that should give me some headroom. Like giving 20 slots for FT (say 220-240), 50 (250-300) slots for Aerosoft, and then just work inside of that area... kinda like managing a DHCP Server ;-)

Are there any more sceneries that have separate landclass from the airport scenery? Or is that some old system?

Those without layer numbers will always go on top, as far as I can see.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

If you want, drop a PM here in the forum and I will make the prototype of my scenery organizer app available for testing. So you can be part of the development and make it as useful as possible - but the app will be freeware, so there is a limit to how much effort I am going to put into this.

The app is not keeping a database of its own, instead it will organize whatever it finds in terms of scenery.cfg and add-on.xml configurations and manage the layering across all of them.

Best regards

[aeronauta 67]

You are correct SimonC look at this from the learning centre..

Layer
(Scenery Category Only)The layer of the scenery area component, starting at 1, where higher layers take precedence over lower layers. Add-on scenery typically don't specify layers which specifies that they should be the topmost layer.An integer representing a layer one higher than the top layer

<AddOn.Component>

 <Layer>1</Layer>
 ...
</AddOn.Component>

(A scenery component whose layer is the base scenery layer)

Jorge

[joemiller 269]

4 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

Sure, here you go. This will add Aerosoft LIEO, that I have in my FSX:SE installation, to P3D V4 right above the default scenery (126 is the last entry of the defaults - until something screws up the cfg...).

I will finish my scenery sorting app today, that should help.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
<AddOn.Name>LIEO</AddOn.Name>
<AddOn.Description>Aerosoft LIEO</AddOn.Description>
<AddOn.Component>
<Category>Scenery</Category>
<Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\Addon Scenery\LIEO</Path>
<Name>LIEO</Name>
<Layer>127</Layer>
</AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

Best regards

So this backwards?  # 1 doesn't mean it will be at the top of the list? So the larger the number (layer), it means it will be on top, and the smaller the number means the scenery will be at the bottom?  

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

38 minutes ago, joemiller said:

So this backwards?  # 1 doesn't mean it will be at the top of the list? So the larger the number (layer), it means it will be on top, and the smaller the number means the scenery will be at the bottom?  

The layer numbers work exactly like they used to. The smallest number is 0, which is the root of the scenery.cfg, the default scenery areas continue 1,2 through 126. Then the layer numbers continue to climb up when you add new sceneries.

There is no "top of the list" value that will keep your addon in that position, because the list is dynamic (you could try setting 10000 in the add-on.xml). But that is not different from the scenery.cfg in the old days, when you install new scenery, your addon that was at that top will fall behind.

Best regards

[aeronauta 67]

Sorry Oliver, that is not correct, I have OZx at Layer 999 and whatever I install (without using the xml ) will vbe undert it...I get the msg that the scenery.cfg is wrong and will be corrected.

Jorge