Scenery configuration launcher tool for msfs ala xorganizer?

[theskyisthelimit 48]

Does anyone know of a tool similar to xorganizer or scenery config editor for msfs 2020 that can be used to disable addon scenery?

Not seeing anything at first glance as of yet?

Thanks in advance

[Denwagg 191]

Look No further

here

https://flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

[theskyisthelimit 48]

1 hour ago, Denwagg said:

Look No further

here

https://flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

Thank you!  I was poking around on there before but probably didnt use the right keyword 🙂

 

 

[Adamski_NZ 942]

The Addons Linker is SUPERB!!! If you spend a little time pre-organising your sceneries/liveries folders into some sensible order it will save you a *lot* of time (and grief).

[theskyisthelimit 48]

4 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

The Addons Linker is SUPERB!!! If you spend a little time pre-organising your sceneries/liveries folders into some sensible order it will save you a *lot* of time (and grief).

I only had a short min to test it initially

It wouldnt let me proceed without specifying "my addon" folders in that section.

As of now i've been putting folder after folder in the community folder as they come.  I wasnt aware you could break that area into subsets?  IE: Aircraft, then Scenery, then maybe under scenery country folders?  Perhaps?

I guess I should test that out and reorganize

[Adamski_NZ 942]

I have my sceneries grouped by the major geographical areas (EU, US, AU and then UK and NZ). For the more popular aircraft/liveries (eg. FBW A320), I also break those down to those same areas. That way, you'll see the correct static and/or AI liveries based on your current choice of location. Note that these are always separate folders - never nested.

However - another thing well worth doing, IMHO, is to create a preset with all the mods/utils that are common across all areas (ie. aircraft mods or UI utilities). You can then launch the sim with a combination of presets - eg. Common+AU+NZ, Common+EU+UK, or just Common+US.

I also use coloured tags for all my groupings so I can easily see mods that are in the wrong place - or a new add-on that shows up because it hasn't had a tag associated to it yet..

The beauty of the linker is that it's also easy to tell if you've added a new add-on incorrectly (typically because you forgot to check whether the archive had many nested levels). Should you have a problematic add-on, it's easy to isolate the culprit.

The GUI is very intuitive and has many handy functions and - what's more - the developer is friendly and responsive!

Finally - all the linker does is to manipulate symlinks to existing folders (that you set up manually beforehand), so it's totally safe ie. it won't ever delete anything by accident or by you being plain dumb (LOL!).

[Bad_T 581]

6 hours ago, theskyisthelimit said:

It wouldnt let me proceed without specifying "my addon" folders in that section.

hello @theskyisthelimit,

yes you have to select a folder where you will put your addons otherwise the program can not start and work.

Maybe it's already clear but just a little precision if needed. If you want to arange subfolders (aicrafts / scenery by countries) you don't have to specify multiple addons folders in the options screen, you can add just one and then create the desired subfolders directly inside that folder.

There is a pic here by @Manny that can be used as example, he has only 1 addon folder (named 'community_files') in the options screen and inside of it he created subfolders (Aicrafts, AI ships / Liveries / ....) ---> https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/596300-addon-linker-messed-up-help-solved/?tab=comments#comment-4483007

You can also add multiple 'addons folders' in the options screen but that was mainly created if you want to store your addons in different locations (for example some of your addons on your D drive and some on your E drive). In that case you would add both 'addons folder' in the options screen and then the left panel of the tool would show both locations.

well hmm, reading this, i now think that maybe these explanations are a bit confusing 😁, anyway you have probably sorted it out by now, feel free to let me know if you need more help. Thank you.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Bad_T

[Denwagg 191]

Bad_T

Without your FSAddon Linker. MSFS would be impossible to use. I cannot imagine how anyone could manage all of the mods needed to improve and make thinks work correctly. Not to mention updating scenery ! 

Thanks again

Regards

Edited March 1, 2021 by Denwagg

[earthdog 842]

MSFS_AddonsLinker is a must for keeping your sanity.

BUT i also use MSFS Addon Organizer which has a beta version for MSFS which works pretty well.

I use this to enable disable MSFS addons on SIM LEVEL. This means that the tool edits the content.xml which is very useful in cases where you need to disable ASOBO content.

For example if you get a third party addon that Asobo has handcrafted you need to disable the Asobo version and install the new one. For this to happen you either edit yourself the content.xml or use the tool.

Right now for my addons maintenace and checks i use:

• Addons Linker
• Addon Organizer
• ModelLibChanger (to check and rename sceneries that do not follow the proper naming convention of modelib.bgl)

And every time i add a scenery, this is my flow:

1. Install the scenery in the folder i want (outside the main community folder).
2. Enable it via addons linker
3. Check it for modellib naming and correct it.
4. Run MSFS Addons to save it and ADD it to content.xml without having to start MSFS
5. Run LittleNavMap and make a scenery scan to add it in the map.

Edited March 1, 2021 by earthdog

[theskyisthelimit 48]

8 hours ago, Bad_T said:

hello @theskyisthelimit,

yes you have to select a folder where you will put your addons otherwise the program can not start and work.

Maybe it's already clear but just a little precision if needed. If you want to arange subfolders (aicrafts / scenery by countries) you don't have to specify multiple addons folders in the options screen, you can add just one and then create the desired subfolders directly inside that folder.

There is a pic here by @Manny that can be used as example, he has only 1 addon folder (named 'community_files') in the options screen and inside of it he created subfolders (Aicrafts, AI ships / Liveries / ....) ---> https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/596300-addon-linker-messed-up-help-solved/?tab=comments#comment-4483007

You can also add multiple 'addons folders' in the options screen but that was mainly created if you want to store your addons in different locations (for example some of your addons on your D drive and some on your E drive). In that case you would add both 'addons folder' in the options screen and then the left panel of the tool would show both locations.

well hmm, reading this, i now think that maybe these explanations are a bit confusing 😁, anyway you have probably sorted it out by now, feel free to let me know if you need more help. Thank you.

Thanks, 

So it sounds like there may be a good reason to Not put the folders and files inside the community folder? I guess thats why you use addon linker to link to a folder outside?  

So tree structure can work then?

Say I create V:\MSFS Addons

Then under that V:\MSFS Addons\Aircraft

And maybe v:\MSFS Addons\Scenery

  But further down under scenery maybe group by country (or will the app group things based on content, so no need to have sub folders by country)?  IE:  V:\MSFS Addons\Scenery\World\UK  V:\MSFS Addons\Scenery\USA\California   etc?

I hope to actually work on this this eve finally

[Bad_T 581]

yes that seems correct to me (and no dont put anything in the community folder), and in the options screen you should just put v:\msfs addons and all subfolders you will create in there will show up. Then in each folder you can place as many addons as you want to organize them.

Little image below to illustrate it more clearly with some fake addons just to show how it should look like (well .. maybe a bit too many arrows and of course i had to include spelling mistakes in the screenshots too 😁)

the tool will not auto-arange addons, you have to decide how to organise them yourself and place them where you want that's how i prefer to organize things. But there is another tool that arrange things automatically that was released recently and that uses the same base concept as mine, maybe check that one too to see if it suits your needs better, it's called 'msfs addons collector' on flightsim.to. I'm not in any kind of competition so i can freely do some advertisement fo it 😉🍻

Start small with just one or 2 addons to get the feel of how it works, then it should be very simple.

 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Bad_T

[theskyisthelimit 48]

On 3/1/2021 at 6:14 PM, Bad_T said:

yes that seems correct to me (and no dont put anything in the community folder), and in the options screen you should just put v:\msfs addons and all subfolders you will create in there will show up. Then in each folder you can place as many addons as you want to organize them.

Little image below to illustrate it more clearly with some fake addons just to show how it should look like (well .. maybe a bit too many arrows and of course i had to include spelling mistakes in the screenshots too 😁)

the tool will not auto-arange addons, you have to decide how to organise them yourself and place them where you want that's how i prefer to organize things. But there is another tool that arrange things automatically that was released recently and that uses the same base concept as mine, maybe check that one too to see if it suits your needs better, it's called 'msfs addons collector' on flightsim.to. I'm not in any kind of competition so i can freely do some advertisement fo it 😉🍻

Start small with just one or 2 addons to get the feel of how it works, then it should be very simple.

 

 

 

Thanks, workin out fine, the only thing is, some 3rd party installers auto install to the community folder, i guess you either just have to remember to move to the custom folder after updates/installs or just link to it using a hard link perhaps, after the installer updates/runs?  IE: the justflight arrow III has an installer with no choice on location.

 

Also.. all the orbx stuff tends to end up in here in the real community folder, i would think those would need to be hard linked for sure or their updater wont work?

EDIT: nm i guess the whole idea is your tool links in there on the fly by checking them haha 🙂  got it..

Edited March 14, 2021 by theskyisthelimit

[theskyisthelimit 48]

I guess the utility is working per say, but some things i'm not sure why they are showing up with errors..

For instance, i have the Aircraft Carriers Oceans - superspud folder, and it says could not read the manifest.json file.. not sure why (cant enable that one).

[Bad_T 581]

I will test that addon but it should be fine.

does it work in sim ? (because error reading manifest.json doesnt necessarly means that it won't work unless there are some specific rights issues). And just to make sure, you are seeing 'invalid json' in your addons folder (left panel) not in the community panel (right panel) ?

I can also send you a debug version that will show exactly why that message appears if needed.

** edit : the addon i downloaded doesn't contain any 'carriers ocean' folder so i guess it's not the good one ? (i took this : https://flightsim.to/file/4930/aircraft-carrier-uss-msfs-uk-mooring) **

Let me know, thank you

Edited March 16, 2021 by Bad_T

[theskyisthelimit 48]

On 3/16/2021 at 6:14 PM, Bad_T said:

I will test that addon but it should be fine.

does it work in sim ? (because error reading manifest.json doesnt necessarly means that it won't work unless there are some specific rights issues). And just to make sure, you are seeing 'invalid json' in your addons folder (left panel) not in the community panel (right panel) ?

I can also send you a debug version that will show exactly why that message appears if needed.

** edit : the addon i downloaded doesn't contain any 'carriers ocean' folder so i guess it's not the good one ? (i took this : https://flightsim.to/file/4930/aircraft-carrier-uss-msfs-uk-mooring) **

Let me know, thank you

Didnt have a chance to look at that one yet, i wouldnt mind debugging,

however the new Airbus H135 wont link either:

https://flightsim.to/file/8970/airbus-h135-helicopter-project?fbclid=IwAR154AqDW2hR-tz4qH03y6LVgLJqS8Mcn6hvDV4VwEGLwlPBCKm2T5mHmlA

I placed it in my custom directory for aircraft, i try to check it off but it never links.  (i was able to manually add it as a junction outside of the program, looks like once you junction or symb. link it manually you can then toggle in the app)

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by theskyisthelimit