Another tool to organize your MSFS addons easily

[hvw]

1 minute ago, Manny said:

then link those files with a check box

Many files won't accept a link in their check box, how can I circumnavigate this, please?

Thanks a lot for this great tool.

[Manny]

1 minute ago, hvw said:

Many files won't accept a link in their check box, how can I circumnavigate this, please?

Thanks a lot for this great tool.

Leave the links that is in the community as is. Do not move that over. and no need to link a link, Orbx mostly puts their filders in some liberies and just add their link to the common folder. this tool does that for other addons and liveries.

[Bad_T]

Thanks for the comment David

Yes Manny, you can just create two subfolders 'Payware' / 'Freeware' and relink the addons, should be just fine. And yes you need to delete the old link before recreating them (via the tool or you can also delete them directly in windows explorer if you prefer, deleting the folder with the little arrows will not delete any files, just the link, it works  pretty much like standard Windows shortcuts)

There is a certainly room for improvements in for deleting / renaming / moving files that are already linked, this first version pretty much assumes the user knows what he's doing.

And thanks for your reply to dobee51, also you might not need to quit the tool, they are some refresh button if you have changed the folders content manually. I guess he has an error when trying to move the files.

dobee51, not sure about that, usually you put them yourself in there so you should be able to remove them. Hopefully someone will pop in and have some idea about that. Are you maybe trying to move folder that are installed by payware, if that's the case it's probably better not to move them if they have some specific rights assigned to them.

flyfaster, i was aware of another tool that was posted just today that did the same thing called Peeyem, Modman i didnt know, there are probably other tools that i'm not aware of, anyway at least there's some choice and people can use the one they prefer.

[hvw]

2 minutes ago, Manny said:

Leave the links that is in the community as is. Do not move that over. and no need to link a link, Orbx mostly puts their filders in some liberies and just add their link to the common folder. this tool does that for other addons and liveries.

Thanks, Manny, 

 

[Bad_T]

just seen your message hvw

yes maybe you are trying to link folders that have already a link in the folder, like Manny said you should not move existing links. Unfortunately i have not bought anything yet for MSFS (default scenery is so good already for me) so i might not be very aware of what they do, but you should not move or try to relink payware addons i guess

I'll try to do a little help file next week, in my mind it was made to move and organize the files you download and install yourself, but for sure don't move existing links installed by paywares (like Manny said)

[vgbaron]

I tried several of this type program.

I like this one - simple, clean interface. I like the visual red/green indicators - makes it quick and easy to use.

Nicely done!

[hvw]

6 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

'll try to do a little help file next week, in my mind it was made to move and organize the files you download and install yourself, but for sure don't move existing links installed by paywares (like Manny said)

Hi Bad_T,

So would you advice to keep bought addons like ORBX and Aerosoft ones (including Aerosoft's free Paderborn scenery) in the Communications folder itself)?

[Bad_T]

Thank you vgbaron, appreciated.

hvw, I'm not sure because i don't have them so i don't know how exactly how they are installed, if it's a link (you can see a little arrow below the folder) don't move them. If they are normal folders you can probably move them without risk. Maybe some experienced users who has those payware addons can help us more, sorry for not being 100% precise on this.

 

 

 

 

[hvw]

9 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

hvw, I'm not sure because i don't have them so i don't know how exactly how they are installed, if it's a link (you can see a little arrow below the folder) don't move them. If they are normal folders you can probably move them without risk. Maybe some experienced users who has those payware addons can help us more, sorry for not being 100% precise on this.

Just to make it 100% sure I moved my bought aerosoft and orbx scenery addons back into the community folder , although they didn't have a link arrow below the folder. I hope someone more experienced with these kind of addons can chime in (I only bought them earlier today). Until then I just keep them in the community folder, better safe than sorry :). Thanks a lot again, it is a great tool

[pmb]

16 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

I tried several of this type program.

I like this one - simple, clean interface. I like the visual red/green indicators - makes it quick and easy to use.

Nicely done!

I think Asobo should have integrated something like this tool within the base simulator. They certainly could foresee the mess in the Community folder.

Next, I thought I would buy and update all addons centrally via the marketplace. No need for credentials, countless sites to check, and all that. Well, I *could* buy *some* addons via the marketplace, but then came ORBX along with their rebate offer, FB followed with a similar offer, and so on. Some addons are only available externally, some like the Mooney only via the marketplace, some via both.  Of course it's my fault to save money, but I choose the rebates.

Third, I thought the time of dirty hacks into the sim would be over. But here comes REX with its Weather Force, which may not be dirty, but it's certainly an old-style hack outside the SDK. No doubt, others will follow.

Don't misunderstand me, I *love* MSFS but my initial hope for a more streamlined administration seems to have been a pipe dream.

Kind regards, Michael

[Alvega]

@Bad_T Some files say "error reading manifest.json file" in the title tab. Any problem with that?

Thanks for the tool, I like it.

Cheers

[Alvega]

1 hour ago, dobee51 said:

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

 

See if this helps you: 

 

 

[Bad_T]

7 minutes ago, Alvega said:

@Bad_T Some files say "error reading manifest.json file" in the title tab. Any problem with that?

Thanks for the tool, I like it.

Cheers

Alvega, thanks for the feedback. It looks like the program can not read correctly the manifest.json file that is inside the addon folder, maybe it contains something that the program was not expecting.

Could you please post the full content (text) of the manifest.json file, maybe it's an easy fix if it's just a problem of an unexpected entry.

btw it should work even if you have that message, that message only means the program can not read additional data about the mod (title, creator, version, ...)

Thank you.

[fppilot]

4 hours ago, Bad_T said:

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)

 

So are you merely using the equivalent of a shortcut?  Brilliant.  This could be a method to overcome the error some of us who installed from the Microsoft Store have with filepath and filename path length (# of characters) being too long for Windows.

[Bad_T]

fppilot, yeah it works a bit like a shortcut, but i don't think unfortunately that it will fix your long path issues, the path length will still be the same but just redirecting to another folder 😏.