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Addons on a separate HDD?

Featured Replies

Hi folks!

With the increasing number of addons available, I am starting to consider moving them on my HDD and leaving the sim on the Windows SSD.

I am afraid of a big hit on performance, what do you think? Have you tried this?

Thanks for your feedback!

Cheers

Edited by Noooch

I use the Addon Linker mod which is free-ware  on Flightsim.to. It's an excellent way to have your addons located elsewhere, and just by ticking a box in the addon you can select which items you want loaded into the community file at any time.

It's also handy for tracing any issues that come up from time to time. My addons are split over 2 NvMe drives now, and i just load in the addons i need for that particular flight.

Edited by Car147

AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3d, MSI X570 Pro, 32 gb DDR4 3600 ram, Gigabyte 6800 16gb GPU, 1x 2tb Samsung  NvMe , 1x 2tb Sabrent NvME, 1x Crucial 4tb Nvme M2 Drive

i guess you mean hdd versus sdd performance, and yes , i am afraid thats going to be an issue, all depending how many

addons you going to use ofcourse. the addon linker is really  a must still.

i do notice quite a bit longer load with the dc-6 , but ala, i will get an ssd sometime.

2 hours ago, Car147 said:

I use the Addon Linker mod which is free-ware  on Flightsim.to. It's an excellent way to have your addons located elsewhere, and just by ticking a box in the addon you can select which items you want loaded into the community file at any time.

This won't have an affect on sim loading speed though. Whether you use Addon Linker or not, if your addons are located on a HDD, it is going to slow the sim loading time down equally as it still has to read the files on the slower drive. So to the OP, yes, your sim loading times will slow down considerably, especially if, as you imply, you are planning to have a lot of add ons.

Consider purchasing a new NVMe or SSD drive (they don't break the bank these days) and add it to your system and use that for your add-on's.

GregH

Intel Core i7 14700K / Palit RTX4070Ti Super OC / Corsair 32GB DDR5 6000 MHz / MSI Z790 M/board / Corsair NVMe 9500 read, 8500 write / Corsair PSU1200W / CH Products Yoke, Pedals & Quad; Airbus Side Stick, Airbus Quadrant / TrackIR, 32” 4K 144hz 1ms Monitor

2 minutes ago, RaptyrOne said:

This won't have an affect on sim loading speed though. Whether you use Addon Linker or not, if your addons are located on a HDD, it is going to slow the sim loading time down equally as it still has to read the files on the slower drive. So to the OP, yes, your sim loading times will slow down considerably, especially if, as you imply, you are planning to have a lot of add ons.

Consider purchasing a new NVMe or SSD drive (they don't break the bank these days) and add it to your system and use that for your add-on's.

Surely if you have all your addons in the community folder, the loading times are affected a lot. Certainly were in my case, hence i just load in via the Addon Linker what i wish to use for that flight.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3d, MSI X570 Pro, 32 gb DDR4 3600 ram, Gigabyte 6800 16gb GPU, 1x 2tb Samsung  NvMe , 1x 2tb Sabrent NvME, 1x Crucial 4tb Nvme M2 Drive

If you cannot afford a larger or 2nd SSD, you can use an external HD but loading times will increase a lot. There might also be occasional hickups during flight.

If you are using very large scenery addons, don't even think about it. You'll have to shave again by the time the sim is ready for you.

Flightsim rig:
CPU: AMD 5900x  | Mobo: MSI X570 MEG Unify | RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo | GPU: Gigabyte RTX 3090 | Storage: M.2 (2 & 4 TB) | PSU: Corsair RM850x | Case: Fractal Define 7 XL
Display: Acer Predator x34 3440x1440 | Speakers: Logitech Z906 
Controllers: Fulcrum One Yoke | MFG Crosswind v2 pedals | Honeycomb Bravo Quadrant |Thrustmaster TCA Quadrant | Stream Deck XL & Plus | TrackIR 5 Tobii eye tracking

3 minutes ago, Car147 said:

Surely if you have all your addons in the community folder, the loading times are affected a lot.

True, maybe I misunderstood what you were saying. Using Addon Linker to load fewer add one at a time for the area you are flying will speed things up and is a primary purpose of using it. However if Addon Linker is linking to files on a HDD, it will be much slower than if it is linking to files on a SSD.

GregH

Intel Core i7 14700K / Palit RTX4070Ti Super OC / Corsair 32GB DDR5 6000 MHz / MSI Z790 M/board / Corsair NVMe 9500 read, 8500 write / Corsair PSU1200W / CH Products Yoke, Pedals & Quad; Airbus Side Stick, Airbus Quadrant / TrackIR, 32” 4K 144hz 1ms Monitor

  • Author
23 minutes ago, RaptyrOne said:

True, maybe I misunderstood what you were saying. Using Addon Linker to load fewer add one at a time for the area you are flying will speed things up and is a primary purpose of using it. However if Addon Linker is linking to files on a HDD, it will be much slower than if it is linking to files on a SSD.

Yes I also use addonLinker, so loading times will increase but I was mainly afraid on actual performance in-sim.

If I understand correctly what you are all saying, once addons are loaded, performance will be the same?

Pretty much yes. The sim, once running , is less dependent on drive speed. It’s the initial loading times that have most effect. 

GregH

Intel Core i7 14700K / Palit RTX4070Ti Super OC / Corsair 32GB DDR5 6000 MHz / MSI Z790 M/board / Corsair NVMe 9500 read, 8500 write / Corsair PSU1200W / CH Products Yoke, Pedals & Quad; Airbus Side Stick, Airbus Quadrant / TrackIR, 32” 4K 144hz 1ms Monitor

5 hours ago, Car147 said:

I use the Addon Linker mod which is free-ware  on Flightsim.to. It's an excellent way to have your addons located elsewhere, and just by ticking a box in the addon you can select which items you want loaded into the community file at any time.

 

+199

 

Frank Patton
Corsair 5000D Airflow Case; MSI B650 Tomahawk MOB; Ryzen 7 7800 X3D CPU; ASUS RTX 4080 Super; 
NZXT 360mm liquid cooler; Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 4800 MHz RAM; RMX850X Gold PSU;; ASUS VG289 4K 27" Display; Honeycomb Alpha & Bravo, Crosswind 3's w/dampener.  
Former USAF meteorologist & ground weather school instructor. AOPA Member #07379126
                       
"I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me." - John Deere

Hi,

I have installed Flight Simulator in a SSD, but I use MFSF Addon Linker and put all aircraft, airports and scenery in a 8Tb external HDD.

No problem at all. I can see no difference in performance at all between now (with the external HDD) and before (when everything was installed in the SDD).

 

 

Edited by John Fields

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