January 29, 20188 yr I definitely prefer the XML method and I reduce the number of groups to avoid issues. Here is my rant on this subject... My big problem with developers that don't follow the XML specification is that it puts a burden on me to do the work that they should be doing before they release a P3D4 product. I have to pre-install to a separate folder just to ensure the product is not going to overwrite my LM files. I then construct the necessary folders and build the XML (thank you Oliver for your fantastic Organizer product). Why should I pay the developer and then have to do this on behalf of the developer? Of course I have the option to use the installer as is, but why should I risk my nice, clean setup just because some developers won't get onboard with the specification? With the exception of Orbx, which makes it impossible to install via the XML method, all of my aircraft, scenery, and AI Traffic are setup external to the simulator and automatically recognized when I start P3D. A reinstall or upgrade is a non-issue with this method (except for Orbx, of course). If a hobbyist can make use of the XML method, there is no excuse for a professional developer not to use it. As for why LM doesn't shutdown the scenery library, Vic was right in that LM has to consider legacy software that won't run without it. Take the makerunways utility as an example. It doesn't know how to collect airport data via the XML method. Oliver and Peter worked out a solution, but it requires legacy code to work with a scenery table converter. LM must consider this, even if the path is leading toward an XML process. Just because the scenery library is there, doesn't make it right for developers to ignore the SDK specification and continue to install to it.
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