How to manually add scenery/addons into P3D v4 the right way

[swiesma 625]

Like I said in the other thread: I am no expert.

But what I would do: Find the add-ons.xml and search for any remainings of the old LGA, delete the filefolders for your old LGA and edit the XML file, take the old LGA out.

Should normally be enough.

Maybe also have a look here: http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=124809

The guy is also editing the files you want to edit :-)

[nordseekrabbe 2]

what a "fantastic" thread, many thanks for all articles especially of Lorby_SI and his super software.

My question : how can I move all parts of UTX (Europe) in an addon.xml file ? This may help to clean the scenery library ?

Thanks for suggestions !

Peter

[theskyisthelimit 48]

I havent had a chance to figure out UTX.. but for FTX tonight i tested it with a few of my p3dv4 entries.. the biggest issue is, that even if you make an entry part of an addon xml file.. the minute you open up FTX Central.. it will recreate the Scenery.cfg for that entry that is now part of the add-on.xml..

Not sure there is a way around this.. other than giving in and leaving all FTX (and likely UTX) entries as scenery.cfg for now.

[NATK50 8]

I didnt read the whole thread. But I have a question.

What about sceneries Folders like EURE, EURW etc.  Can I use the add-on.xml for them too?

[theskyisthelimit 48]

On 8/6/2017 at 8:48 AM, NATK50 said:

I didnt read the whole thread. But I have a question.

What about sceneries Folders like EURE, EURW etc.  Can I use the add-on.xml for them too?

I have added a few like this.. but i'm not sure if my "method" works or how to tell.

I basically looked using sceneryconfigeditor for the Europe West entry.. noted its priority..

Then I had my custom scenery folder for this one, in a separate location outside of the p3d folder.. i added it using the Lorby tool and gave it a priority that was "higher" than the one in sceneryconfigeditor.

 

I'm not sure that this is correct though.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

On 8/5/2017 at 1:23 AM, theskyisthelimit said:

I havent had a chance to figure out UTX.. but for FTX tonight i tested it with a few of my p3dv4 entries.. the biggest issue is, that even if you make an entry part of an addon xml file.. the minute you open up FTX Central.. it will recreate the Scenery.cfg for that entry that is now part of the add-on.xml..

Not sure there is a way around this.. other than giving in and leaving all FTX (and likely UTX) entries as scenery.cfg for now.

Update on this.. i didnt manage to find a way to use add-on.xml for the Orbx stuff.. however.. i did move the whole ORBX folder out of the p3d folder and created a junction to my custom location and called that junction ORBX within the p3d folder for now.

This way ftx central is happy.  

I DID fully isolate all the extra scenery elements each area installed (at least with the older non p3dv4 orbx areas/airports).  

I created a Single add-on.xml entry under components.. titling it ORBX Components.. then went through and added each item.. like sound.. texture.. effects.. for the global/world scenery.. after going through all the p3dv3 orbx installers i still had.. i copied those folders into my custom area and combined them.. so in the end i have a combined effects, sound, scenery(world/scenery, base, etc) in my custom location and referenced in my component add-on.xml entry.  

I couldnt get sandboxie to work under windows 10.. errors about parental lock being on or something, as this would be the way to try to isolate those other p3dv4 ftx central installed areas components.. in the end, when everything is p3dv4.. ill just run it straight from Ftx Central and not worry about it overwriting effects, scenery(world, global) etc.. as the ftx central app actually replaces those files each time it runs if something is amiss, or at least it should as i found out.

 

[steve40 7]

On 08/08/2017 at 1:34 AM, theskyisthelimit said:

Update on this.. i didnt manage to find a way to use add-on.xml for the Orbx stuff.. however.. i did move the whole ORBX folder out of the p3d folder and created a junction to my custom location and called that junction ORBX within the p3d folder for now.

This way ftx central is happy.  

I DID fully isolate all the extra scenery elements each area installed (at least with the older non p3dv4 orbx areas/airports).  

I created a Single add-on.xml entry under components.. titling it ORBX Components.. then went through and added each item.. like sound.. texture.. effects.. for the global/world scenery.. after going through all the p3dv3 orbx installers i still had.. i copied those folders into my custom area and combined them.. so in the end i have a combined effects, sound, scenery(world/scenery, base, etc) in my custom location and referenced in my component add-on.xml entry.  

I couldnt get sandboxie to work under windows 10.. errors about parental lock being on or something, as this would be the way to try to isolate those other p3dv4 ftx central installed areas components.. in the end, when everything is p3dv4.. ill just run it straight from Ftx Central and not worry about it overwriting effects, scenery(world, global) etc.. as the ftx central app actually replaces those files each time it runs if something is amiss, or at least it should as i found out.

 

After experimenting for a couple of months with isolating ORBX from P3D v4 using a combination of Sandboxie and add-ons.xml, I have been able to isolate all folders EXCEPT scenery\world\texture. While isolating this folder seems to MOSTLY work fine, I found that I experienced texture conflicts between ORBX and default landclass textures in certain locations. The solution was to make a backup copy of the default scenery\world\texture folder and then copy over all the ORBX textures into the P3D main folder. Therefore I do not recommend isolating the ORBX scenery\world\textures files, but isolating all the other ORBX files and folders seems to work fine.

With the beta version of FTX Central 3.2.2.2 and the release of the beta ObjectFlow 2, I have also found it necessary to create a soft symbolic ORBX link in the root P3D folder pointing to the sandboxed ORBX folder, otherwise FTC Central won't be able to find the config xml file needed by ObjectFlow 2. Similarly, I had to make a symbolic link to my OzX folder (which I had installed outside of the main P3D folder) because some of the ORBX installers for Australian airports use a script to disable the equivalent OzX airport if it is present, but it assumes the folder is installed into the root P3D folder.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

16 minutes ago, steve40 said:

After experimenting for a couple of months with isolating ORBX from P3D v4 using a combination of Sandboxie and add-ons.xml, I have been able to isolate all folders EXCEPT scenery\world\texture. While isolating this folder seems to MOSTLY work fine, I found that I experienced texture conflicts between ORBX and default landclass textures in certain locations. The solution was to make a backup copy of the default scenery\world\texture folder and then copy over all the ORBX textures into the P3D main folder. Therefore I do not recommend isolating the ORBX scenery\world\textures files, but isolating all the other ORBX files and folders seems to work fine.

With the beta version of FTX Central 3.2.2.2 and the release of the beta ObjectFlow 2, I have also found it necessary to create a soft symbolic ORBX link in the root P3D folder pointing to the sandboxed ORBX folder, otherwise FTC Central won't be able to find the config xml file needed by ObjectFlow 2. Similarly, I had to make a symbolic link to my OzX folder (which I had installed outside of the main P3D folder) because some of the ORBX installers for Australian airports use a script to disable the equivalent OzX airport if it is present, but it assumes the folder is installed into the root P3D folder.

Thanks for the update.. I was thinking something like that would be needed for objectflowv2.. i was hesitant to take the fast lane just yet.. for the texture folder.. is it just the texture or the scenery under there as well?

Also.. how are your load times with say just all ftx enabled?  With my large amount of FTX, i was getting painful load times of 6mins or a little less.. once i removed the symbolic link or junction link.. and moved orbx back into the root of p3dv4.. suddenly (with no other addons in play, just ftx), i'm at 3mins or less.

If you arent experiencing painful load times.. what are you using to do the linking.. for me i'm using a 3rd party tool.. i forget which one.. the one that lets you "pick link source" via right click in explorer.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

10 hours ago, steve40 said:

After experimenting for a couple of months with isolating ORBX from P3D v4 using a combination of Sandboxie and add-ons.xml, I have been able to isolate all folders EXCEPT scenery\world\texture. While isolating this folder seems to MOSTLY work fine, I found that I experienced texture conflicts between ORBX and default landclass textures in certain locations. The solution was to make a backup copy of the default scenery\world\texture folder and then copy over all the ORBX textures into the P3D main folder. Therefore I do not recommend isolating the ORBX scenery\world\textures files, but isolating all the other ORBX files and folders seems to work fine.

 

I'm also wondering what tipped you off to that not working.. something visual.. is there a test to try?

Out of the ton of orbx p3dv3 imported and v4 i have going on.. i only have about 4 actual errors in the error report that i have turned on..

One is like this:

[error.4]
error=Texture ORBX_SRA_OBJECTS_1_LM.BMP failed to load 

I found a similarly named DDS object under the FTX_AU\orbxlibs area.. its actually there, so unsure what the meaning of the error is.

 

 

[theskyisthelimit 48]

Just a foot note on this.. i did some extensive testing.. When i have NO addons in the my documents addons folder.. and i turn on all of ftx + utx + FMX (lots of ftx).. my load times go from the bare bones 30sec on SSD to around 1min24sec (which isnt bad at all)..

However.. heres where it gets interesting.. if i leave the addons in my documents and use the tool to disable all the addons the time becomes 2min44 sec, about 1min24 sec and that apparently is due to the system probably parsing all the (tons) of addon files in that folder.. (load times get quite immense when these are all turned on, i forget maybe 6 mins)..

So that said.. there might actually be something to say for still using scenery.cfg instead (going to test this via the move to scenery.cfg option, disable them in there and repeat).

I have simstarter.. but i doubt that simstarter will literally "remove" disabled addons in the my documents folder when turned off.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

I tested simstarter in this manner for comparison.. it just disables the entries as well... no full out moving of them.

Then using the Lorby Addon Manager, backup section/tab.. i was able to use the export feature to create one big scenery.cfg and test (and move all addon xmls out of my docs temporarily).

Results were interesting.. 3min29sec with all entries in scenery.cfg while with add-on.xmls (full enabled) it was 6min45sec..

So i guess i have two choices.. stick with scenery.cfg (though a few like fsdt and flightbeam use the addon-xmls).. or maybe create batch files that would move portions of the addon xml folders into the addons folder from a main copied area.. so that for instance it would move into there "North America" where thats only those folders/sceneries.. or "rest of world", which would help lower load times.

[steve40 7]

On 12/08/2017 at 1:05 AM, theskyisthelimit said:

I'm also wondering what tipped you off to that not working.. something visual.. is there a test to try?

Out of the ton of orbx p3dv3 imported and v4 i have going on.. i only have about 4 actual errors in the error report that i have turned on..

One is like this:

[error.4]
error=Texture ORBX_SRA_OBJECTS_1_LM.BMP failed to load 

I found a similarly named DDS object under the FTX_AU\orbxlibs area.. its actually there, so unsure what the meaning of the error is.

 

 

It was visually obvious, default ground textures popping up and disappearing as I flew over the scenery.

[ahuimanu 50]

On 6/30/2017 at 11:24 AM, downscc said:

Ray Smith updated most if not all his airports for P3Dv3.2 (or thereabouts, not sure of the minor update number) to fix an issue with taxiways being invisible in P3D.  Any of those can be used with the add-on.xml approach.

 

Dan, where can you find these updated Ray Smith AFCADs? Those that are compliant with 3.2?

Thanks.

[DEHowie 269]

Lockheed Martin really have a lot to answer for in inflicting this system on people who are actually paying them.

A system where you have no control over layering and causes so much confusion especially with complex cenery which adds textures etc to base folders.

Do they have any idea about how there product is used or do they just blindly change things without consulting anyone.

Guys having to be able to write in XML to add scenery so it is safe when updated is becoming beyond laughable when i can simply hit the update button in Xplane and its done perfectly.

LM need to get back to reality not everyone has years of PC experience who is using there product.

A high unacceptable way of running there product.

[FalconAF 213]

47 minutes ago, DEHowie said:

Lockheed Martin really have a lot to answer for in inflicting this system on people who are actually paying them.

A system where you have no control over layering and causes so much confusion especially with complex cenery which adds textures etc to base folders.

Do they have any idea about how there product is used or do they just blindly change things without consulting anyone.

Guys having to be able to write in XML to add scenery so it is safe when updated is becoming beyond laughable when i can simply hit the update button in Xplane and its done perfectly.

LM need to get back to reality not everyone has years of PC experience who is using there product.

A high unacceptable way of running there product.

You have it totally backwards.

"We" here are not the primary user target of LM's P3D product.  We are the paying beta testers for a product designed for commercial users, including both civilian and military.  THOSE users will use P3D for what it IS designed to be...a SCENARIO TRAINING simulator product.  Which is much different than any of us wanting to load TONS of addons covering the whole darn world all at the same time.  Think something like the DCS military product line.  They have a dedicated Red Flag product for the Nevada Test Range that Nellis AFB uses to train fighter pilots in dedicated scenarios.  When running a separate, dedicated scenario like that, there is absolutely no need to be loading ANYTHING in the simulator anywhere ELSE in the world.  So a geographically LOCALIZED training scenario would only contain a much lesser number of XML entries for it to work than the plethora of scenery, aircraft, etc, etc stuff we are trying to load all at once in our P3D's.

The commercial users will have numerous separate SCENARIOS they will load, but only one at a time for the geographical area it is located along with only the vehicles used in the scenario.  The number of XML files in those scenarios will be much smaller than what most of us are loading (or want to load) all at the same time in our P3D's.

LM knows exactly what they are doing.  It doesn't have to make us happy 'cos we aren't their primary end-users.  And I can live with that, 'cos I finally have a 64-bit flight sim with developers making a LOT more addons for it than any previous 64-bit flight sim.