MSFS completely wiped

[united001 126]

18 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

I am so glad I stayed away from the beta. It sounded like an accident going someplace to happen when I first heard about it. 

Thank you. I didn't think it so much an accident as a totally unnecessary risk. Back in the day, participating in betas felt fun, a hassle free adventure with no tricky outcomes riddled with regrets. Nowadays, regrets a plenty for some. I admire those who did and assisted Asobo in doing so. Not me. 

United001 

[somiller 694]

I know one shouldn't HAVE to, but backups before major system changes are a great insurance policy. Threads like this remind me of stall-spin-in-the-pattern accidents - the causes as well as mitigations are well known, yet it's one of the most common killers in GA. Doesn't make me a bit of difference whether folks backup or not, but one would think one wouldn't want to keep embarrassing themselves by continuing to admit they have no backup.

[GACSavannah 227]

I didn't back up my community folder, but I did rename it and install a replacement empty community folder in it's place. The reinstall deleted the renamed community folder as well, so I still need to reinstall every thing. Ughhh...

[abrams_tank 7,422]

2 hours ago, GACSavannah said:

I didn't back up my community folder, but I did rename it and install a replacement empty community folder in it's place. The reinstall deleted the renamed community folder as well, so I still need to reinstall every thing. Ughhh...

If you use the AddOn Linker, you can place your add ons in a safe directory that will never be deleted. The AddOn Linker will then create a virtual folder in your Community folder that points to your actual add on folder.

When I update MSFS, I can also quickly use the AddOn Linker to remove all virtual directories in the Community folder, thereby emptying the Community folder in preparation for an MSFS update.  And you can disable  addons that you are not using with the AddOn Linker, allowing MSFS to load faster,

[Bernard Ducret 790]

19 hours ago, Roy Warren said:

I tried to copy and paste my Community folder to another location.   Got error message. "Your organization does not allow you to place this file here"

There is a simple method to transfer your add-ons from the Community folder into one located outside MSFS, that can then be used by Add-on Linker as mentioned three times already in this thread (please note that credit for this should go to VG Baron one of the AVSIM moderators):

1. Zip your add-on one by one from the Community folder into the folder of your choice outside MSFS (for example Addon Airplanes/Scenery/Tools/Liveries, etc). This can be done with 7Zip free version.
2. Unzip the file in your new folder and delete the original one in the Community folder
3. Link it with Add-on Linker. Done

You will never have to worry about your add-ons again.

I am surprised by the number of experienced simmers who are not aware of this tool that simplifies so much the management of add-ons. I have hundreds of them, mostly freeware like liveries, and organising them with Add-on linker is so much easier and faster. Beside this already considerable benefit, you can visualise all your scenery add-ons on one map and activate them as you wish making your MSFS faster. Another benefit is that you can start a few other tools simultaneously with MSFS (like Aivlasoft EFB, Track IR, FBW MCDU tablet linker, etc).

Edited January 15, 2022 by Bernard Ducret