Another tool to organize your MSFS addons easily

[Bad_T 581]

hello,

i could not find a way to manage my MSFS addons in the way i liked so i came out with this little idea to just add them in a folder and then create links in the community folder (so much better than having to move tons of file). Now i login to the forum to post my little 'proof of concept' and i discover that another program released today seem to do the extact same thing (haven't tried the other one yet but just read the manual and the idea is the same) .. if i knew i would have spent the rainy day differently  😲

anyways now that it's done, here it is if you want to try  latest version can be found here  

https://flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker

i'll keep explanation short now that i saw that other program, there's obviously lots that can be improved and i have already tons of idea, but well not really needed anymore ...

usage :
- create a folder where you put your addons, add your addons in there instead of putting them in the community folder, you can create as many subfolder as you want
- launch the application, in the options screen set your 'addon folder' and your 'community folder'
- just click on the 'active' column to activate/deactivate addons
- rest should be fairly easy to understand

The program does only 2 things, create symbolic links in the Community folder, delete the dynamic link so i don't think it can cause any harm. Dynamic link creation can only be done on NTFS volumes and might require admin right (if it doesn't work please try to set the application to run as admin, if it works but you still get the message at the start, just disable the message in the options screen)

mine is very early version, just done today, but feel free to try if you want 😎

[Ixoye 1,810]

Thank you very much 👍

[edpatino 1,959]

Thanks for sharing!.

Cheers, Ed

[David Roch 1,953]

Very glad it was raining today!! 😄

Thanks a lot, smart tool indeed!

[bbking 80]

A great tool! It works perfectly! Easy to use! You should put it on flightsim.to.

Thanks a lot!!!!🙂

[Manny 1,293]

I moved the 3 files in the said folder

But not sure how to execute the Jar file.

I tried the cmd prompt but I don't have Java so errored out

[Manny 1,293]

But MS folks need to let us have subfolders within community folder so we can organize those files. I already have 78 subfolders (addons/Liveries)... Oh lord imagine in a year or 2. LOL 🙂

Or this tool could be expanded to maintain just links within the community folder and the actual addons within some subcategory folders (Sceneries by Vendors, Liveries, etc)

Edited October 4, 2020 by Manny

[Bad_T 581]

Thanks guys for the comments,

Manny you must be using another program, mine (download in the first post) does not use JAR files 😉

And yes you'll be able to create subdirectories to put your addons in a well organised manner, then the tool will just create a link in the community folder so that the simulator can see and use it.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Bad_T

[Manny 1,293]

Oh yeah.. I am getting mixed up up wityh two different tools. LOL 🙂

Let me try yours.. I think you are doing what I wanted done. 

But where do I install all your files from the zip files?

Manny

[Bad_T 581]

just unzip the files anywhere you want, no need to install anything, There's no manual nor help, hopefully it'll make sense by itself after a bit of experimenting 🙃 .. feel free to ask if any questions.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Bad_T

[Barnes 192]

This is an extremely useful tool for organizing my addons and it works very well.

Thank-you very much!

[Manny 1,293]

OK

I used to have two folders before

D:\MSFS\

!) community

2) Official

------------------------------------------------------------

Now

I added another folder

3) community_Files

              \Liveries

              \Addons

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I moved all the non links (I had a bunch of Orbx addon links within the community folder and I left them there. I had two utility folders including FSUIPC and left those there and moved all the folders with liveries into the community_files\Liveries folder and all the addons sceneries(Freeware and payware folders with files (not links) into the community_Sceneries folder

I tested it by starting the sim and I can see all my liveries and then now checked one of addons sceneries UK Bristol airport..  seems ok

My Q. What if I want to organize  further by dividing all my sceneries into Payware and freeware? Can I create two sub folders within \ sceneries but unlink them first in your tool and then move the files over into the sub folders (Payware and Freeware) and then re link them?

BTW. Thank you for this tool. Amazing. 🙂

Edited October 4, 2020 by Manny

[dobee51 346]

How do you move files out of Community folder? My organization won't let me...

[Flyfaster_MTN002 412]

Modman has been doing this for quite a while now

[Manny 1,293]

2 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

How do you move files out of Community folder? My organization won't let me...

1) get out msfs.

2) get out this tool

Create the folder you want to move your files to. then go to the "community" folder. Copy the entire community folder somewhere as a back up.

Then go the community folder and select the files you want to move out (do not move any links....just the folders you want moved out. And t then right click and cut

go the folder you just created and Ctrl-V (Paste)

Thats it

Now start  this tool and use the new folder as your files folder and the original community folder as the MSFS community folder in the toole. then link those files with a check box

You are done