Addon Linker setup help

[ryanbatc 13,105]

I'm clearly doing something wrong.  Keep getting unhandled exception error with the software.

Does this look correct for paths?

I moved my addons out of the default community folder to this new folder.  Located on the same SSD but outside of the MSFS folder structure.

addonlinker by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

[Bad_T 587]

Hello, form the screenshot everything seems fine, I will send you a  private message shortly (i'm the creator of the program), we will find out and make it work 🤞

** edit : btw your 'custom fs exe start' program is incorrect, it should point to an EXE that is used to launch the simulator (for example fsjumpstarter.exe, but even easier, just select your version in the field above 'steam' or 'store'), but that's not your main problem because that's not the cause of your crash **

Edited December 15, 2020 by Bad_T

[ryanbatc 13,105]

So when I ran the program I right clicked run as admin.

And I got that error.

But now when I run your app tells me it should be run as admin, and automatically does it.  No more error.

[Bad_T 587]

oh oky, thank you for letting me know, let's say it's a Windows mystery 😜

[ryanbatc 13,105]

One more question.  What is the procedure for updating addons?  I see the WT CJ4 vnav update is out.  Should I just unzip to the newly created community folder, and the app takes it from there?  The symlink is still in place?

[Bert Pieke 7,594]

23 minutes ago, ryanbatcund said:

One more question.  What is the procedure for updating addons?  I see the WT CJ4 vnav update is out.  Should I just unzip to the newly created community folder, and the app takes it from there?  The symlink is still in place?

Here you have got to be careful... if the update has the same folder name as the previous version and you are replacing the old folder by the new folder.. it should work..

Personally, I would give the updated version a different folder name, and that way you can activate the new or the old version at will.

[ryanbatc 13,105]

Ahhh gotcha thanks Bert!

[CFIJose 5,485]

This is an excellent mod!

[Bad_T 587]

Hello,

you have different options to update an addon :

If you want to do it manually (via Windows Explorer) :
- you can just delete your old folder and create a new one (or like Bert say create a new folder without deleting the previous one if you want to keep both versions, if you keep 2 different folders for the same addon, make sure you don't enable both at the same time via the tool)
- you can also reuse the same folder and just unzip the new files in there (existing links will be kept if you use the same folder name)
- if you remove an old addon manually via Windows Explorer, you would have to remove the link also manually (if the addon was enabled when you removed it). The tool also has a function to remove addon and, if you do it via the tool, existing links will be removed automatically.

Inside the tool there an option to add or update addons :
- select the folder where you want the addon to be installed
- right click menu 'manage addons -> install/update addons'
- select the ZIP containing the addon
- the tool will unzip the addon in the selected folder, if there is already a folder with the same name, that one will be replaced by the new version and the link will still be working without the need to disable/re-enable the addon. That's the easier way to update without doing stuff manually (obviously you should not use that if you want to keep 2 versions of the same addons, that has to be done manually).
- if the 'addon folder' does not exist, the tool will create a new one automatically  (so if your updated addon now uses a new folder name like 'paris_v2' instead of 'paris_v1') you would have both folders showing up and you would need to delete the old version via the tool or manually.

maybe it looks a bit confusing at first but, hopefully, it should be fairly easy once you get used to it and undestand how it works 🤞

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bad_T

[cavaricooper 2,615]

@Bad_T did you perchance see my request re. PRESETS?

C

PS- sorry about the short segway Ryan... but it’s the same program at least 😉

[Bad_T 587]

@cavaricooperyes i replied to your comment on the other site at the same time i posted my previous reply here.

Today to delete you need to go to the menu bar (or toolbar, option is on both) and click on the 'Manage/Apply Preset', this will show the list of presets and there is a big button to delete the one you don't need.

The idea would be to add a little button to delete a preset where there are the other buttons at the bottom. So you select in the list the one you want to delete and click on the button, a bit easier and faster than today (it's actually just 1 click less 😁)

feel free to let me know if you see it differently ... thank you

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bad_T

[cavaricooper 2,615]

I’m asking more about ENABLING and DISABLING the presets with one click. Thanks for all you do for us!

C

[Bad_T 587]

ohoh looks like i didn't get it 🙊 ... in your message you were talking about a remove button so i thought it was about deleting a preset.

Applying a preset with one click is done with the first button that you can see on my screenshot above (the second button will aslo apply but will keep the current selection, for example if you want to apply you 'germany preset' and your 'france preset' on top of it) .. so with these button you should be able to apply preset in just 1 click (select the preset and click on the apply button).

removing a preset (if we talk about the disabling its content and not deleting the preset) is not really something that can be done via a button imho, removing is actually applying another preset or changing your selection manually (or using some pre-made option like 'unselect all'). I'm not sure how to explain that better so it's probably a bit confusing.

let me know if i'm still not on the same page 😜

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bad_T

[cavaricooper 2,615]

@Bad_T

Mostly due to my ignorance, until today I did not even realize that the presets were at the bottom of the page. I love the button that applies them in a click.  I was asking if there could be a button that un-applies the preset.... but I see that when I apply another pre-set it removes the prior.... what if I want 2 or 3 presets enabled at the same time... wouldn't my way then be viable?

Thanks again, and if I'm barking up the wrong tree, please feel free to tell me 🙂

C

[Bad_T 587]

yes, applying a preset will disable all addons not defined in the selected preset.

You should really see a preset like a 'group of addons' that can be enabled at the same time. When you apply a preset all the addons specified by the preset will be enabled and those not specified in the preset will be disabled, so yes it acts both as an 'enabler' and 'disabler' (probably those words don't exist hehe 🙃).

a preset could also be completely empty, and it will just disable all addons (would be the same as using the right click menu 'disable all addons').

if you want to apply multiple presets you need to use the second button, it's called 'apply preset (cumulative)'. When you click that one, addons defined in the preset will be applied but it will not remove the addons already applied. That's the example i gave in my previous message. You select your 'germany preset' and apply it with the first button, then you select your 'France preset' and apply it using the 'cumulative' button and you will have all addons for 'Germany' and 'France' applied.

Mutliple preset can also be applied via the 'preset screen' where you can select multiple ones (little checkbox) before clicking on apply.

let me know if still not 100% clear.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bad_T