P4AO Add-On Scenery Question

[jmhelms 20]

Hi Oliver,...thanks for all your help...

I am running P3D4.12 on a Windows 10 gaming computer...I am using P4AO for

P3D5....all are working well..

I am thinking of migrating my addon scnery to an XML package or group...I now

keep my  add on scenery on my "C" drive, but in a folder separate from the 

folder that contains my P3D installation...

Given the above configuration, what advantages are there to putting my

add-on scenery in one of more new folders with XML properties?...as I see it now,

the P3D Library serves that function, but without the XML files....in addition, I can 

go into the Library and quickly disable any scenery and later reactivate it...with the

XML  setup I cannot (w/o error messages) delete/deactivate an addon scenery in an XML

folder w/o deleting the whole folder of sceneries...the only advantage I see (and 

I may not be seeing something) is the XML format.....the addon sceneries

are now out of my P3D main folder anyway...what am I missing...any comments appreciated...

hope this is an intelligible question...

 

Thanks, John H.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

1 hour ago, jmhelms said:

what advantages are there to putting my

add-on scenery in one of more new folders with XML properties?

Hello John,

honestly? It doesn't matter. Lockheed, as the platform provider, says, "thou shalt use XML for addons". Note: "addons", not "scenery". The XML packages are the way to reference any addon content since P3D V3.3. But yet the platform still supports the legacy way of adding scenery, aircraft, etc. too.

So it is ultimately up to you. If you have a use case where XML makes sense (for example when you use it to group and disable larger sections of scenery at the same time. Or when you use a lot of legacy FSX scenery that causes content errors and you want to be able to get rid of it without having to hunt for files), then go for it. If not, leave it be.

The only important thing to be aware of is that you shouldn't let any addon install into your main simulator folder when there is the possibility that it will overwrite default assets.

Best regards

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Lorby_SI

[jmhelms 20]

Hi Oliver....thanks for the prompt and thoughtful 

response...so, if my instincts are correct, there is

nothing magical about XML files other than as 

a vehicle to get P3D to recognize add-on files

located outside of the P3D install folder.....

 

Thanks, John H.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

11 minutes ago, jmhelms said:

there is

nothing magical about XML files other than as a vehicle to get P3D to recognize add-on files located outside of the P3D install folder.....

The platform provider sets the rules. And Lockheed has established, in the written specification, that addons are to be referenced by packages = add-on.xml files. You can disregard that as a user, if you wish, but you are on your own if you do. Simple as that. The result will be a simulator where addons are all over the place, referenced by cfg files and xml files and addons just being dumped into the main simulator folders, because that of course works too.

For a developer things are not so simple. No professional programmer in the real software industry would just disregard the written platform specification, say, for an Application Server, and do his own thing, even when that actually works. That can really come back and bite you. People have lost their jobs doing just that.

Best regards

Edited April 16, 2020 by Lorby_SI

[cyyzrwy24 127]

4 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

The only important thing to be aware of is that you shouldn't let any addon install into your main simulator folder when there is the possibility that it will overwrite default assets.

Best regards

 

 

Hey Oliver,

 

I installed new P4AO and made my Orbx to V5. Obviously there are no big tubeliners as of yet but I am slowly making transition but still trying to fly on V4.5. What I noticed with ORBX that everything is V5 (green) and when I edit v4.5 pink and I see that path is pointed to V5. I haven't tried using SIM as of yet because of new LM update but I wonder if I still have ORBX in V4.5 or not and why is in pink now. Or perhaps I didn't understood that I can't have ORBX installed on both sides.

Edited April 16, 2020 by cyyzrwy24

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

7 hours ago, cyyzrwy24 said:

 

 

Hey Oliver,

 

I installed new P4AO and made my Orbx to V5. Obviously there are no big tubeliners as of yet but I am slowly making transition but still trying to fly on V4.5. What I noticed with ORBX that everything is V5 (green) and when I edit v4.5 pink and I see that path is pointed to V5. I haven't tried using SIM as of yet because of new LM update but I wonder if I still have ORBX in V4.5 or not and why is in pink now. Or perhaps I didn't understood that I can't have ORBX installed on both sides.

This seems to be an issue with ORBX Central. I am still investigating with another user who has the same mixup after creating a new V5 library. There is a new discovery path to the V5 library alright, but for whatever reason, all the packages are pointed back at the v4 locations. 

Edit: I have just realized that ORBX Central is not yet ready to handle Prepar3D V5. So if you create a new library for V5, the packages will always point back at the V4, leading to all kinds of trouble. I urge everyone to wait until ORBX updates their Central app!

Best regards

Edited April 17, 2020 by Lorby_SI

[cyyzrwy24 127]

8 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

So if you create a new library for V5, the packages will always point back at the V4, leading to all kinds of trouble. I urge everyone to wait until ORBX updates their Central app!

Hmm.... I flew yesterday with V5 and all seems alright. Haven't used V4.5 in last two days because I am playing with new SIM. Only confusion is when I look at V4.5 sceneries they are in pink and path is pointed at V5. That was odd....

 

Thank you Oliver