thanks for the feedback @patrice_bambou and @ark. Yeah, for now, nothing is done at the start but something like you said is certainly possible. I will include something like that when i'll finalise the next version. Thank you.

@Bad-T,

I already thanked you but I sincerely feel the need to thank you again.
Your smart tool is indeed essential considering the growing number of mods, sceneries and liveries.
Please don't hesitate to add a Donate button to your next build, I am a sure lot of folks here will be happy to show their gratitude.
 

6 hours ago, David Roch said:

@Bad-T,

I already thanked you but I sincerely feel the need to thank you again.
Your smart tool is indeed essential considering the growing number of mods, sceneries and liveries.
Please don't hesitate to add a Donate button to your next build, I am a sure lot of folks here will be happy to show their gratitude.
 

+1

Garry

Many thanks @David Roch and @flytriman .. your comments are appreciated and many thanks for thinking about a little donation but it's ok, i enjoy it better like this without any kind of money involved, nice comments like yours are more than enough.

-----

for those interested (maybe @patrice_bambou, @ark, @hvw, @Holland_Holland)here's a another little test version in which i tried to finish properly the different suggestions you made about the presets. I will do some more tests tomorrow evening and, if goes well, i'll probably publish it as official. Thanks to your inputs, i think that the usage of presets is now a lot more user-friendly than it was before.

compared to yesterday's version :

• added an 'add preset button' at the bottom so you can create new presets without using the right click menu
• when the application starts, if all currently enabled addons match with a saved preset, the preset will be automatically selected in the new combobox.
• added a warning when updating a preset
• fixed a few cases where the new combobox was not refreshed correctly

http://www.mediafire.com/file/uam5fa9g2tori0h/MSFS_AddonsLinker_TEST_20201102.zip/file

it's just an updated EXE, you still need all other files, In case of problems just revert back to the previous official version (both versions are 100% compatible)

Thank you.

Edited November 3, 20205 yr by Bad_T

1 hour ago, Bad_T said:

added an 'add preset button' at the bottom so you can create new presets without using the right click menu

Just to be clear, I don't see an add preset button, I do see a create a new preset containing the addons currently selected button over on the right side of the display below the top window, if that is what you mean.

When I clicked on the preset dropdown arrow below the upper window and clicked on a preset name, I expected the selected named preset would be loaded into the upper window so I could check it before applying it, but nothing changed in the upper window.

Again, thanks so much for the great work on this!

Al

Edited November 3, 20205 yr by ark

Hello Al,

Yes you're right, it's the 'create new preset' button (third from the left).

It will create a new preset based on the current selection (just like the old option that is in the right click menu). It's important to understand the the left Window (or upper Window if you are in horizontal mode) always shows the current state of your folders (it can't show anything else, it's a 'live view' of what is linked or not), you can never load presets in that windows just for checking them. That window will only change when you apply a preset because that action changes the 'current state' of your folders (linked / not linked).

To check or update the preset before applying it, you need to use the 'fourth button' and that is done in a separate screen.

Feel free to let me know if it's not clear enough.

Edited November 3, 20205 yr by Bad_T

Before persons come along, in white coats, and take me away, can someone clarify for me please, the idea of a "preset"?

This is what I think it is: I currently have subfolders in MSAddons for aircraft, airports, scenery of which the latter two are then broken down into countries, I also have livery and utilities, etc, from which I select to run. Can I then break this down to a preset of say, an aircraft, an airport, a livery and specific scenery, thus that is all that is loaded to run?

Thanks

Martin

If I download the latest released version, do I need to uninstall the other version?

Or, can I simply install the latest version over my installed version?

Found this in the readme file from the latest download:

Installation
- just unzip all the files in a folder of your choice. Run the EXE file to start the program.
- for updates, make sure you delete all the existing files before replacing with the new ones.

@Bad_T

So far all's working fine for me, didn't run into any problems

@flyblueskies yes you need to delete and replace all files when you download an update. If you download the test version posted a few posts before this one, it contains only the EXE so you need just to replace that file

@hvw thanks for the feedback, will probably post a new official version containing these changes this evening when i get back home 👍

@sauviat the idea of a preset is the following (with a somewhat simplistic example to illustrate the point)

let's say you have 100 addons, 50 are europeans airports, 50 are USA airports
let's say you want to enable only the europeans ones when you fly in europe, and enable only the US one when you're flying in the US

With the preset feature you can do this :
- create a EU preset where only your EU aiports are selected
- create a US preset where only your US aiports are selected

you can then quickly apply one preset or the others and all those addons will be selected in 1 click. So if you plan to fly in Europe apply the EU preset (all the EU airports will be enabled, the US disabled). If you plan to fly in the US do the opposite.

without preset, you would have to unselect all EU airports manually and then select all US airports manually. The preset is just a group of addons that can be activated at the same time and in a single click to gain time.

Just like in a race car in which you would have a button that would allow you to have different pre-defined engine settings (one for extreme performance, one for reliability ..). You would be able to switch between them without having the redo the specific configuration each time you want to use one of them.

let me know if it's not clear enough.

Edited November 3, 20205 yr by Bad_T

@Bad_T I think as I have my folders structured now it is the same as presets, but without using presets!

MSFS Addons: Folders for Aircraft, Airports, Scenery, Liveries, Ships, Utilities.

Airports and Scenery have subfolders for different countries.

Because I have a lot of addon mods for airports and scenery I can choose eg UK for airports and scenery or any individual subfolder. All this has the same result of limiting loading times.

Martin

 

yep Martin, the use of preset is certainly not mandatory, they are just a quick way to enable / disable addons with 1 click. And yeah, depending on how your folders, are structured you can pretty much get the same result manually (clicking on the one specific folder will enabled/disable everything below).

it's just a matter of preference i guess 👍

for those interested, i just uploaded the new 'official' version at flightsim.to 🤞

Thanks, as always👍

Ouch! Having updated it now crashes MSFS to Desktop! I don't think it likes where it is linked to to launch MSFS,

Martin