Need a little help on this with the upcoming world update Jan 31st, in reference to the community folder and specifically addon scenery such as KIAD, CYVR, KFLL {Ronald Reagan, Vancouver, Ft Lauderdale]

How do u handle this, or whats the best way. 

I use Addon Manager so the first thing I do is disable all addond

I then rename the community folder to community.old which takes care of any addons directly installed

After update I run MSFS to be sure it works

Delete community folder

Rename community.old to community

I also use the Addon Linker to manage my community folder. However, I do not do anything prior to any sim update. Why? Because the update process does not care about what is in your community folder.

HOWEVER!!! Once the update has finished and the sim is at the main menu, I exit the sim and reboot the computer. I then start the sim again. If there are no issues, great! I'm off to the races. If there are any issues at that point then I remove things from the community folder via the Addon Linker and start adding them back in, half at a time, until I find the culprit, or someone here or on other forums mentions an addon that is not working and I happen to have it.

So far, this has worked wonderfully. I have never had to search for a bad addon after an update.

YMMV.

...jim

 

I used to empty my community folder. And then after making sure MFS runs fine add all the  addons back. If something crashed the sim I would then remove half and test again etc. you know this routine. I have shortcuts to the community folder and a "community disabled" folder on my desktop so this is very easy and quick.

But the last 3-4 updates I have not bothered with this and had no problems. If the sim crashes, then empty the com folder and use the same elimination method. I can also usually guess what add-on is the problem.

I have never had FS2020 ruin anything in the com folder, I don't think it ever changes anything in there. So this works for me and it is simple. You may want to be more careful but this is my experience, try at your own risk.

With Addons Linker and the structure of my related addons folders it takes me less than 10 seconds to fully empty my Community folder.  Matters none to me whether it is important or not before updates. It is akin to making sure I removed my pitot tube cover(s) before a flight. I stow it in my airplane so it is easy to put back in place at the end of the flight.

Such is with the Community folder and updates!

So goodness?  What is all this fuss about?

 

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by fppilot

You don't need to do anything. 

I have around 200+ add on’s in the Community folder from freeware airports and scenery to payware stuff and mods to Asobo aircraft. I do not use Addon Linker and I do not delete Community folder before each update. Guess how many issues I have had with updates….. Zero. It is not necessary to worry about this. It is a non-issue.

Asobo very clearly state that if you have issues AFTER updating, then consider deleting addon’s to find the offending item as a first step. Not before.

I got the Linker like Jim and I save the preset and deactivate my addons with one klick before Update.

Take the Update, one restart and when everthing is fine , shut down, load the last saved preset and start the sim again-wait for the next update and have fun in the meantime 😉

I also use add on linker but I don’t do anything either, update and away I go, never really had an issue.

You don't need to do anything as your community folder doesn't get updated by Asobo.

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by Ixoye

18 hours ago, vgbaron said:

I use Addon Manager so the first thing I do is disable all addond

I then rename the community folder to community.old which takes care of any addons directly installed

After update I run MSFS to be sure it works

Delete community folder

Rename community.old to community

If MSFS runs fine after an update, this step does nothing.  Only after discovering a problem would you need to investigate addons in the community folder.

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by MrBitstFlyer

A lot of folks confuse two different issues:

- MSFS 2020 updates do not touch the community folder

- after the update some addons might not work anymore

I mean, you could store the contents of your community folder on Mars, and incompatible addons still wouldn't work. 

so basically it seems that when they do these world updates I could still keep my addons in the community folder, and really do nothing.  Worried about this, cause when we had the last updateI believe it was in Nov. I did not have the senery addons, I just had some planes as addons.  

So far the sim is doing fine with me

By the way, here are some of the scenery addons I bought, all of them wee during XMAS, and just a side note, they are fantastic!.

KIAD/Ronald Reagan/Flightbeam, CYVR/Vancouver/Flightbeam, KPDX/Portland,Flightbeam KFLL-Ft Lauderdale/LatinVFR

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Sunshine13 said:

so basically it seems that when they do these world updates I could still keep my addons in the community folder, and really do nothing.  Worried about this, cause when we had the last updateI believe it was in Nov. I did not have the senery addons, I just had some planes as addons.  

So far the sim is doing fine with me

By the way, here are some of the scenery addons I bought, all of them wee during XMAS, and just a side note, they are fantastic!.

KIAD/Ronald Reagan/Flightbeam, CYVR/Vancouver/Flightbeam, KPDX/Portland,Flightbeam KFLL-Ft Lauderdale/LatinVFR

 

 

 

 

Ricardo hit the head on the nail, it’s not whether or not you remove or don’t remove your community folder that will cause issues, it’s an individual item that will cause the issue, so for example you could remove everything from community folder, and after you update msfs you put everything back, if an individual item will cause you grief, it will regardless of the manner you decided to update msfs when it comes to the community folder.

Since the launch of msfs, I’ve never done anything to my community folder when updating and it’s never caused me any issues, and I have most of the airports you’ve listed! 

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by flyinpilot212121

5 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

If MSFS runs fine after an update, this step does nothing.  Only after discovering a problem would you need to investigate addons in the community folder.

You missed the point. Running MSFS immediately after the update confirms that, without addons, it works. After enabling the CF then any issues must be an addon .

I have seen people chasing an addon issue when it was a bad update.   It's just basic, establish that the base program works first.