Why 2 locations for exe.xml and dll.xml?

[Boeing or not going 578]

I am new to P3D. In v4 I have separate locations with an exe.xml and dll.xml

c:\programdata\...

c:\users\...

What is the difference? Thanks.

[Jim Young 2,356]

The one in Program Data is the default location (where the scenery.cfg is located) (use to be in the same folder as the P3D.cfg in earlier versions V1 and V2).  Some add-on developers still use the old default location (where the P3D.cfg resides) (well their installers do) so you have two locations.  Do not try to move the entries in the old default location and put them into the new dll.xml as I tried that once and had a lot of problems.  Just leave things as is.  Once of these days the installers will discover the new default location.

Best regards,

Jim

[downscc 1,327]

3 hours ago, 777200lrf said:

What is the difference? Thanks.

In addition to what Jim explained, the <user>\appData\ area is consider to be owned or controlled if you will by the program.  Developers have clear instructions in the SDK how and where to configure addons.  The use of dll.xml and exe.xml in either location is expected to decline as they start to comply with the SDK and provide the appropriate entries to the add-on.cfg and add-on.xml files.

[mawibo 33]

Add-on packages are a relatively new concept, but by using the dll.xml and exe.xml files you still comply with the SDK:

"The priority for how content based add-on configuration files are initialized is as follows:

Local: Configuration files found at: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3
Roaming: Configuration files found at: %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3
ProgramData: Configuration files found at: %PROGRAMDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3

The priority for how add-on library (DLL) and application (EXE) configuration files differs from content and is initialized as follows:

ProgramData: Configuration files named dll.xml or exe.xml found at: %PROGRAMDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3
Roaming: Configuration files named dll.xml or exe.xml found at: %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3

If multiple configuration files are found, then the list of paths are merged together when processed according to the above priority."

Maarten

[SteveW 1,792]

5 hours ago, 777200lrf said:

I am new to P3D. In v4 I have separate locations with an exe.xml and dll.xml

c:\programdata\...

c:\users\...

What is the difference? Thanks.

The difference is that a configuration for all users is loaded followed by a configuration for the particular user logged in, as it specifies the merged order in the excerpt Maarten posted.

Put simply, if all cfgs and addon xmls exist only for a particular logged in user then nothing works when another user logs in.

A PC can be set up for more than one user with a base configuration that's applied no matter what user logged in followed by a setup tailored to the specific user.