hello @andy1252,

it seems the content.xml file is not really maintained by flightsimulator, stuff is added in there when you add a new addon but never removed so, after a while, it contains lots of unneeded entries 😲. It's really not very tidy but it should not cause any problems.

in the tool i have a little options to delete automatically the content.xml file because some users requested that option. For now, that option is hidden 🙈 because i was not so sure about it (yeah i have to be the only one creating hidden options 🙃) but you can enable it in the INI configuration file. the file is stored here --> C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker\MSFS_Addons_Linker.ini

Inside you will find 3 lines that allow you to activate that feature :
FlightSimulator_LaunchDeleteCacheFolder=
FlightSimulator_LaunchDeleteContentsXml=False
FlightSimulator_LaunchDeleteSceneryIndexes=False

The first entry is the folder containing the content.xml file (if you have steam i think you can leave it empty because the program will find the location by itself) and the following two entries allow you to activate the option via True or False.

As you said and if you prefer, now that that options exists, you could also do a batch file to delete the file and put it in the 'application launch' option (the 'hidden option' was developped before the availability of the auto-launch option).

if you have 2 addons for the same airport/location, that can indeed cause problems and you should deactivate one of the two but the content.xml file should make no difference (because i think it will stay there even when it's deactivated/uninstalled). Hopefully some will correct me if i'm wrong.

As for the scenery priority, i thought it was the alphabetical order of the folder in the community folder that was taken into consideration (so the one at the end of the community folder when sorted alphabetically would have the biggest priority). Now while writing this msg, i did a little search and some seem to say that the content.xml is also involved, but it's not really clear and most posts are a bit old so i don't have a defnitive 100% secure answer. Once again hopefully someone with more knowledge than me about those files will be able to correct me or validate my info. (message is a bit long so by writing this in bold it might capture the attention of other readers hihi 😛)

as for a manual, yeah i should do one for this little tool but it takes quite a lot of time to do it properly and for now it's not been done because when i have a little time i usually try to add a few requests in the tool instead of doing a manual for it 😁. Hopefully i'll find some time (and courage 😈) for that in a not too distant future.

hopefully it makes sense and it's not too confusing, let me know please if something is not clear and if other who know a bit more than me know more they are very welcome to join in. Thank you.

Edited November 26, 20205 yr by Bad_T

14 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

it seems the content.xml file is not really maintained by flightsimulator, stuff is added in there when you add a new addon but never removed so, after a while, it contains lots of unneeded entries

Hi @Bad_T (should I just call you "Bad"? <grin>),

I was just experimenting this afternoon and had come to the same conclusion re the way the file was handled. I will definitely set up something to delete it after every run of your linker, but I don't know which option I'll use yet. I might try and find out a bit more about scenery order, and maybe set up an initial "default" content.xml with only the "official cache" entries in there in the correct order to be used as a fresh base everytime.

Don't want to create work for myself but I am a scenery junkie and I realise that takes careful management!

Thanks for the reply, and keep up the good work! This product makes the sim feasible in my book, can't imagine trying to run without it.

I'm also a bit of a scenery junkie and the hidden option implemented in the last version of MSFS Addon Linker does the job perfectly with deleting the content.xml and all files in the SceneryIndexes folder before launching the sim.

This tools is a must have for anybody that likes to tinker with many addons

19 hours ago, Bad_T said:

the list shows the addons with potential conflicts, the one in red are the ones currently inactive and in green the ones currently active (by active i mean eanbled in the tool so there should be a link for them currently in the community manager).

so that options scans every referenced addon in you addons folder and try to pick up those with possible conflicts (no matter if you activated them or not). The green and red is just an indication to let you know wich ones are currently activated.

not sure it's a bit more clear now 🙃

Thanks for the explanation. I understand now. There is quite a lot of sceneries in this list for me.

But there is nothing really I can do myself to correct those problems (If I don't want to touch every package in the SDK), right? So the creators will need to update according to the description in the thread you linked...

@peroniand @andy1252 thanks for the feedback !

yeah @Semmel not much you can do about it and if all your addons work fine there's probably not much to worry about. Since that post from kaosfere in the official FS forum, it seems that developers are starting to pay attention to those potential issue and adapt their addon accordingly so hopefully, with time, there will be less conflicts.

Edited November 26, 20205 yr by Bad_T

4 hours ago, Bad_T said:

as for a manual, yeah i should do one for this little tool

Hi @Bad_T - just a quickie to say my comments about manuals were not pointed at you. It's Microsoft and Asobo I was thinking of. It feels ridiculous that something as potentially complex as this sim should come with no user documentation of any value. Some of the questions in this thread for example (scenery order for one) shouldn't even need to be asked - it should be defined and written down in a simple document. But then, maybe they don't even really know how it works themselves - stranger things have happened.

yeah no worry @andy1252I kind of understood that (at 97.5% sure 😁😁) .. but since my little tool is also missing a manual and i had a few request about it, I took the occasion to speak about it too 🙃.

👍

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by Bad_T

@Bad_T When I use the software to start a preset, there is no issue. However, when I close down MSFS and close the Linker, the issue I have is when I have launshed the Linker again, with Admin, it says that MSFS is already running. I disable this messgae in Options, but when I go to launch again I get the message that MSFS is already running. In  Task Manager MSFS is not running!

What next, I have the latest Linker.

Martin

Hello @sauviat,

if you have unchecked the option 'Disable MSFS is running warning' and you're sure that nothing is left in the task manager (flightsimulator.exe) then you shouldn't get that 😲 .. might not be easy to explain.

Can you maybe post a pic of your options screen and of the message you are getting, maybe it will help me understand where in the code it's coming from. But after a while you relaunch and it's ok ... you have to reboot to relaunch ? i really don't understand how this can happen ... but we'll find out i guess 😁

when you close the simulator it might take a few seconds before it's properly shut down, so if you shut it down, you think it's closed and relaunched the tool and it will say that FS is still running that is normal, Then by the time you go into task manager FS has completely closed and so you don't see it ... but then the linker should start again ... not sure if you tested several times or just once and maybe didnt notice that.

let me know thank you.

 

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by Bad_T

I can't post pictures, but I know all about waiting to start again. This has been happening maybe since the last Linker update.

Martin

you have my mail i think, send them there please like a few weeks ago (if you don't have it anymore i'll send you a pm with it). thank you

Sent!

Also, When I select a Preset and click on the green circle with the tick, I get "Could not create symbolic link ! Please try to run tool 'as administrator' and check that the folder doesn't already exists."

When I have run MSFS and closed down, I also get on the Community folder side in red that it wants to be updated! Albeit it was not there before after updating.

Martin

oky an image is always useful, i thought you were having the message at the start of the tool, but no you are getting it when launching the simulator.

the 'disable warning option' in the options screen is not used when you launch the simulator (it is used at the start of the tool, when you enable/disable addons or when you install/move addons). When you start the simulator (blue button at the top), if the tools finds a flightsimulator process running on system it will show that message always, You can not launch the sim twice with my tool so you can not remove that warning, all is normal until there and there's no problem with the options screen.

What i don't understand is why it finds a flightsimulator process running if there are none ... something has to be wrong somewhere .. we'll find out 🤞... I will investigate a bit the code and send you a debug version if don't find anything (because as of now i really can't see how that can happen)

sorry but your second message is also a bit confusing for me 🤪, please send me a few pic explaining what happen and it what order, what you do, what you click. Sorry to ask that but it's difficult to reply if i don't have a 100% clear idea of what your problem is, you really have to as precise as you can 🙈

for links creation causing error, you can start by enabling the log (in the options screen), then send me the content of the log via mail. When the log is enabled and if links can't be created some info will be written in the log file. The log is here -->  C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker\log.txt

if it's in red in the community fodler it means it's an invalid link, delete it and recreate it .. maybe you have move things around manually (via windows explorer) and the link is not pointing to the correct location anymore (since i didnt really understand your problem all these are 'shots in the dark ideas' hehe). If you have an invalid link (in red) and are trying to create a new link for that same addon you will get an error and you need the delete the wrong link first (it's getting complicated 🙃)

thank you 👍

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by Bad_T

OK have enabled log.

Sending you a pic of your last paragraph, as to what I'm getting.