Best practice for P3D v4 and Add ons drive installs

[Cloudrider 4]

Hi all,

I wondered if any common best practices were surfacing when installing P3D v4 and add ons such as scenery files, aircraft, airports etc.

I'm about to get a new rig with a 500TB SSD plus a 3TB SATA HDD.
My thought process was OS and P3D on the SSD and all other add ons (ORBX, REX, GSX, Active Sky etc.) on the HDD. This way if P3D upgrades come along, all add ons are unaffected???

Am I being naive?

Thanks all.
Nige

[simbol 5,767]

A word of advise, be careful with the XML method, leave that for developers as it can have consequences to the behaviour of your simulator.

Installing add-on's with the original developers instalation file is the best thing you can do, some developers / add-on's are supporting the new XML package method others don't (PMDG, ORRBX for example don't ) so don't force it, leave this conversion process to developers.

Given the statement above currently not all add-on's can be unaffected until all developers convert their tools as per the new SDK V4 requirements.

Best Regards 

Simbol 

[downscc 1,327]

5 hours ago, simbol said:

A word of advise, be careful with the XML method, leave that for developers as it can have consequences to the behaviour of your simulator.

Installing add-on's with the original developers instalation file is the best thing you can do, some developers / add-on's are supporting the new XML package method others don't (PMDG, ORRBX for example don't ) so don't force it, leave this conversion process to developers.

Given the statement above currently not all add-on's can be unaffected until all developers convert their tools as per the new SDK V4 requirements.

Best Regards 

Simbol 

I strongly disagree. Creating and editing xml files is not a dark art only practiced by the highly skilled developers. LOL

I would agree that the add-on method may require familiarization with how to do it, so I guess if you don't want to learn the basics then yes in that case leave it alone.

[simbol 5,767]

8 minutes ago, downscc said:

I strongly disagree. Creating and editing xml files is not a dark art only practiced by the highly skilled developers. LOL

I would agree that the add-on method may require familiarization with how to do it, so I guess if you don't want to learn the basics then yes in that case leave it alone.

I had these discussions before, go and read the topic below so you become aware of what are you doing to your sim by implementing XML files.

Anyway it is an advise, up to people to listen or not.

All the best,

Simbol 

[tamsini 278]

Along the same line, I need to reinstall P3D (I'll wait for v4,1 so gives me time to prep). Since I have all of Orbx already installed, is there a way when I do install to simply have FTX Central install from my hard drive instead of redownloading?

[vgbaron 3,481]

It comes down to one simple thing - *IF* you understand the implications of using the xml method, it is perfectly safe and fine to use. If you just hear about it and try it without thinking or understanding - you may have issues.

It is certainly something that the developer *should* implement but if they haven't, it is a viable option for those that understand what is going on.

Vic

[gregmorin 199]

3 minutes ago, tamsini said:

Along the same line, I need to reinstall P3D (I'll wait for v4,1 so gives me time to prep). Since I have all of Orbx already installed, is there a way when I do install to simply have FTX Central install from my hard drive instead of redownloading?

Mario,

This link will take you to Nick's instructions on how to re-install your Orbx files with minimal downloading.

https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/124986-how-to-re-install-ftx-products-with-least-downloading/

Greg

[tamsini 278]

A million thanks Greg!

[Cloudrider 4]

So apologies guys, and thanks for all the input so far. I'm surprised at myself, but I'm not familiar with the details of the XML method, although I am familiar with editing XML files in genreal. But what exactly are we doing and what are the pitfalls please?

XML files aside, is there any consensus about OS and P3D on main SSD and scenery / addons on secondary HDD?

Thanks guys. Very interesting.

Nige

[simbol 5,767]

 

3 minutes ago, Cloudrider said:

So apologies guys, and thanks for all the input so far. I'm surprised at myself, but I'm not familiar with the details of the XML method, although I am familiar with editing XML files in genreal. But what exactly are we doing and what are the pitfalls please?

XML files aside, is there any consensus about OS and P3D on main SSD and scenery / addons on secondary HDD?

Thanks guys. Very interesting.

Nige

Hi Nige,

Personally I like keeping all my Add-on's on my SSD, it just keeps my simulator faster.

All the best

Simbol

[Cloudrider 4]

7 hours ago, simbol said:

 

Hi Nige,

Personally I like keeping all my Add-on's on my SSD, it just keeps my simulator faster.

All the best

Simbol

Thanks Simbol.

I'm wondering if it makes sense to have the 3 drive strategy (1]OS 2]SIM 3]Non Direct SIM installs).

I'd have a smaller OS SSD like 250GB for the OS and utility programmes like AV, and use the 500Gb SSD for the sim, and a 2TB HDD for addons that don't require sim directory install, plus use it for strorage.

Just on that strategy:
Given a SIM update I can simply make the update without effecting anything else
Given a SIM corruption or drive loss I only lose the SIM and any direct SIM installs like ORBX

Would people concur?
Thanks -

Nige

[downscc 1,327]

11 hours ago, Cloudrider said:

But what exactly are we doing and what are the pitfalls please?

In general, we use the auto discovery feature for new sceneries adopted in v3.  P3D creates a document folder for addons \Prepar3D v4 Addons.  I add a subfolder for each publisher and some publishers create separate subfolders for each product.  My preference is for fewer folders.  Within each subfolder is one add-on.xml file.  Each xml file can have many many "components" where each component is basically a pointer to scenery and also could be dll or exe modules, autogen and effects.  The list list is long and is very well documented in the Learning Center SDK.

I learned by using the SDK documentation and looking at how others did it.  I have my own methods that work, but they are not the only methods.

The pitfalls are few for your basic add a scenery, and are limited to understanding that each component goes on top of the one before so if you need landclass to be below scenery then you put landclass before scenery in the xml. Use the SDK

[Cloudrider 4]

13 hours ago, downscc said:

In general, we use the auto discovery feature for new sceneries adopted in v3.  P3D creates a document folder for addons \Prepar3D v4 Addons.  I add a subfolder for each publisher and some publishers create separate subfolders for each product.  My preference is for fewer folders.  Within each subfolder is one add-on.xml file.  Each xml file can have many many "components" where each component is basically a pointer to scenery and also could be dll or exe modules, autogen and effects.  The list list is long and is very well documented in the Learning Center SDK.

I learned by using the SDK documentation and looking at how others did it.  I have my own methods that work, but they are not the only methods.

The pitfalls are few for your basic add a scenery, and are limited to understanding that each component goes on top of the one before so if you need landclass to be below scenery then you put landclass before scenery in the xml. Use the SDK

Thanks for that Dan.

I appreciate your help - something I wasn't aware of.
Right now I'm targeting a new design to maintain performance, throughput and resilience with lowest maintenance overhead but I'll keep an eye on the XML methodology.

Appreciate everyone's input.
Thanks.

Nige