OneDrive: Worse than Ever with P3D Addons?

[Tim_Capps 474]

Seen a lot of references to this problem, but not really a consensus, and here I am at Windows 10 Pro installed on 10/22/2020, OS Build 19042.630 with Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.31.0. I'm not going to rant. This is not like any Windows I've ever had to deal with. When I find one day that most of my P3Dv5.1 Addons have paths to OneDrive, this seems like a problem to me. Right now I'm sucking up most of the bandwidth in southern Illinois attempting to put 94 Gb of stuff back where I left it on my own computer. The OneDrive options seems purposely baffling. It apparently intends to keep everything on OneDrive rather than locally.

Let's say I get everything back where it belongs on my own computer. I suspect that when I next start P3D, it's going to go directly back to OneDrive now. So, step one is to restore my local files. Step two is to make sure P3D will find/create a path to them, not their doppelgangers in OneDrive. I am hoping there is some file that can be deleted and recreated next startup so all of my (local) Addons will have local paths. Then step three is to stop OneDrive from screwing with my stuff. I have tried going through various settings, both locally and in my Microsoft account, but they all seem to end the same way: OneDrive controls my files. No changes seem to stick, and it is a lot easier to find the "all of your files will be removed from your computer to OneDrive" switch than the other way.

EDIT: So, OneDrive is the default location for saving files now? Guess I've lived in Appleland too many years.

I don't mind cloud storage. I mind not being able to store what I want when I want. I can live without OneDrive, because the only thing I do on my PC is flight simulation and other alternatives. What's the solution, please? I don't feel confident starting P3D before this is resolved for good. I'm not a computer whiz, so please keep it as simple as possible. (I guess another question is why P3D has such an affinity for OneDrive.)

Edited November 23, 2020 by Tim_Capps

[Tim_Capps 474]

Now that the files are "synced" I noticed that they have not returned from their excursion to the cloud the same as they left. I have the P3D folders in Documents, but also many of the same, some different under Downloads. I hope I can just copy and skip duplicates back into Documents, since that's where they like to live. I don't have time to assess all the damage yet, but I have found a link that purports to allow me to unlink OneDrive from my PC. I'll do that when I get back later today, then see if I can put things back where they belong. I would like to know if there is a addon file I can just delete and let it rebuild once I'm unlinked. Thanks!

[Cai Zicheng 171]

Right click on the OneDrive icon on your system tray, and select settings. Go to "Choose folders", and see what's under "Location on your PC". By default OneDrive creates its own folder under C:\Users\[your_name]\OneDrive and does not affect your documents folder. Have been using OneDrive premium for over a year now and never saw it interfere with P3D.

[virtuali 4,421]

1 hour ago, Tim_Capps said:

I guess another question is why P3D has such an affinity for OneDrive

That's because some add-on developers are not using the add-on.xml in the proper way. The "proper" way ( or I'd say the "smart" way ) should be:

1) Let users install the add-on anywhere they like, usually in a folder completely separated from the sim.

2) Put JUST the add-on.xml in the Documents\Prepar3D addons folder

3) Have all custom paths referenced by the <Path> commands in the add-on.xml pointing to the folder chosen in Step #1

This way, you only have a TINY add-on.xml file for each add-on in the Documents folder ( which *might* be on OneDrive ), and you allow users to install the bulk of the add-on files everywhere they like.

Instead, some developers just skip Step #3 entirely, and instead of a custom path, they place all the add-on files in the same folder as the add-on.xml, meaning the WHOLE add-on will end up in Documents ( which *might* be on OneDrive, as you noticed!! ).

Why they do this ? Because this way, they can skip some extra coding in the installer to customize the add-on.xml to include your own chosen paths, they just supply with a canned version that would work everywhere. Also, they can also skip the step of asking where to install the add-on, since the Documents folder, which can be detected automatically, will then become the only possible choice. It might be related to which kind of installer software they use, some might not be flexible enough to allow things like modifying the add-on.xml file during the installation, for example.

[Tim_Capps 474]

The big question now is this: is there one file for PD3v5.1 that I can delete and hope that, after I get things back where they started, it will find all my addons and rest the proper path?

[Cai Zicheng 171]

47 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

The big question now is this: is there one file for PD3v5.1 that I can delete and hope that, after I get things back where they started, it will find all my addons and rest the proper path?

No.

[Tim_Capps 474]

1 hour ago, virtuali said:

That's because some add-on developers are not using the add-on.xml in the proper way. The "proper" way ( or I'd say the "smart" way ) should be:

I have to say Virtuali and Orbx seem to have done it right. Captain Sim and 
a couple of airport devs put it in the P3D folder. But, ironically, the worst has been FSLabs and Leonardo’s Maddog in the Documents folder, and they evidently did it right. I would think that would be the worst choice because docs  (and pictures) is what people probably want to back up. Worse, OneDrive randomly scattered them in the cloud in Documents, Downloads and Pictures. Now I have to combine files from different locations, overwrite dupes and hope for the best barring a reinstall. If any folder can work, have I missed an option to install the latest and greatest wherever I choose?

But about 3 a.m I was loading up a CS L1011 at EGLL (nice I didn’t have to configure a spot!) with your pax—that never gets old. High graphics settings, one pax setting below “insane” and silky smooth. To digress, a lot of people assume “GSX” first when they have a problem, but I’ve had good luck. (Maybe someday we’ll get vehicles painted, but I know P3D is like when new SCOTUS cases or state legislation reset my criminal law practice regularly. I applaud all devs sticking with us.) Sorry to be chatty, but we’re both in a good mood 😂

Anyway, thanks for helping me to become educated in this brave new world. If you’ve been with the changes all along, I think it’s hard to appreciate just how much has changed so quickly.

[Tim_Capps 474]

6 minutes ago, Cai Zicheng said:

No.

So what’s going to happen when I fire up P3D and it can’t find OneDrive? Will it just ask me if I want to add stuff?

[Cai Zicheng 171]

1 hour ago, Tim_Capps said:

So what’s going to happen when I fire up P3D and it can’t find OneDrive? Will it just ask me if I want to add stuff?

P3D will not see those addons at all.

[Tim_Capps 474]

OneDrive delenda est. Just uninstalled it like any other program. We'll see... Not sure why I'm paying $99 a year for a Microsoft subscription I don't use.

[Tim_Capps 474]

It took three different people at Microsoft to cancel my 365 account. When I became bored with the chat session, I amused myself by making dark hints about the things that were on my OneDrive that MUST be destroyed with military-grade deletion. No matter how outrageous I became I got the same polite, "Sure. I can certainly help you with that zebra picture," or, "that classified material." I took screen captures to laugh at later. And I ended up with a TB of storage as an upgrade instead of the ordinary 5 GB. The trick seems to be to go into your Microsoft Account on your PC and change the default "Microsoft Can Have Its Way With All My Stuff" setting to "No Means No." But I feel better saving $99 a year for nothing and deciding where my stuff goes. Like on my MacBook Air and iCloud.