I read somewhere that if the need for re-installing P3d were to be necessary, that you could save your ORBX file and transfer it into the P3d folder after the re-installation.  Is that true?  I say this because the only "painful" part of reinstalling the program (should something happen to make that necessary) is re-downloading all the ORBX stuff (Vector, Global, PNW, Rockies, Etc, Etc. Etc.).

Something may have happened that may require a reinstallation of version 4.2.  If I have to do it, I would like to be able to just transfer the whole ORBX file and not have to redownload all the ORBX sceneries that I have purchased.

 

Stan

Do you mean save the entire Orbx folder? Yes you can, BUT there are other files installed outside the Orbx folder that you may be missing. Effects, Textures, Sounds, etc.
The best thing to do is when downloading or reinstalling Orbx scenery is to save a backup. Reinstalling from backups goes fairly quick and you'll have all the files.

Spoiler

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Edited February 26, 20188 yr by bills511

FTX Global actually replaces a whole heap of default textures, so that really needs to be reinstalled with FTXCentral.  If you have ORBX region or airport sceneries installed on another version of FS on the same computer (e.g. FSX, FSX-SE, or P3Dv3), FTXC will copy many of the files over from there, so it's not a complete download from the servers to reinstall.  Otherwise, I think your best bet is to suck it up and reinstall from the servers...but this time check the box to save a backup so that in the future you can reinstall (mostly) using those backup files.

I'm not a fan of just copying directories over, as there can be a complicated tangle of other files like elevation corrections in scenery\world\scenery, effects, sounds etc, and of course you also have to deal with entering the sceneries into the P3D scenery.cfg structure in the right order as well.  Best to spend your time letting the installers sort it out while you drink coffee (or perhaps a fifth of Jack Daniels after several days of rebuilding your configuration).  ;-)

Regards

 

I was under the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that you could do what the OP described and FTX central would take care of everything.  I certainly agree that reinstalling ORBX (in my case over 200 gigs) is the most daunting aspect of a full P3D reinstall.

Bruceb

 

The best procedure is to copy the whole ORBX folder to the new P3D folder. Next you delete the content of X:\Your P3d Folder\ORBX\User Documents\Versions. In FTX Central all your titles are now indexed as "not installed", though most files are at the right place. I f you now install title by title, FTXC checks the ORBX folder and downloads only the necessary files to place them in the correct folders. By this method you avoid downloading the whole ORBX stuff and only FTX Gobal and FTX trees have to be downloaded completely.

I've use this method several times and it always worked perfectly.

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by Nemo

Thanks for the clarifications.

 

Stan