Hey Gang!

My Community folder is starting to fill up and I am contemplating moving it to a different drive and maybe short-cutting it.  Can this be done or does it have to reside within MSFS by force?

Thanks!

Use addon linker and you can locate the files on any drive/folder you like. 
 

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

MSFS Addons Linker will do the job!

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

I can't imagine running MSFS without it.

DRAT! Eddie - you beat me to it! 😄

Edited February 6, 20224 yr by Adamski_NZ

I don't think you can move the community folder, but as stated above you can locate your addons wherever you want using the addon linker.

To relocate you would need to copy it elsewhere and then create a symbolic link in the place MSFS looks for the files that points to your new location.

Far easier to just use addon linker as already recommended above.

1 hour ago, Car147 said:

I don't think you can move the community folder,

I have moved my whole MSFS installation including the community folder for the very same reason to a different path. it should NOT be in the default location on drive C where it gets installed initially, better to choose a separate partition. all it takes is to move the whole MSFS directory including the community folder to your desired location and edit your usercfg.opt file accordingly before starting MSFS the next time:

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/613826-im-so-exhausted-of-this-sim/?do=findComment&comment=4709201

 

Edited February 7, 20224 yr by turbomax

11 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

To relocate you would need to copy it elsewhere and then create a symbolic link in the place MSFS looks for the files that points to your new location.

The best way is to move it elsewhere but, instead of making a symbolic link to it, edit the InstalledPackagesPath line in the usercfg.opt with the new path. 

Why complicate things, use Add-On Linker and your problem is solved and you also get an opportunity to organize your add-ons exactly as you wish.

Edited February 7, 20224 yr by Ixoye

3 hours ago, virtuali said:

The best way is to move it elsewhere but,

as described in full detail in the posting above already, quoting yet another post ...

6 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

Why complicate things, use Add-On Linker and your problem is solved

not complicated and best practice, to install/move THE WHOLE MSFS into a non-default pathonto another, NOT C drive (but for example onto D:\MSFS) , for simplified Windows/System backup/restore purposes you should only leave Windows itself on drive C:\ and to avoid having MSFS completely erased/overwritten, which has happened before during a MSFS update.

26 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

Why complicate things, use Add-On Linker and your problem is solved and you also get an opportunity to organize your add-ons exactly as you wish.

The question was if the Community folder could be moved in a new place, it wasn't about "what I can/should use to manage my add-ons".

Using the Add-on linker to just do what was asked is complicating things, because you would have to select download and install it first, then select all the add-ons to be relinked where they are to some other place, some of them might be actual folders, some of them might already be symbolic links, etc.

Instead, the easiest way to do what has been asked, is to just move the whole Community folder using nothing other than regular Windows Explorer, and edit the InstalledPackagesPath in the usercfg.opt to indicate the new path so, it's just 1 line of text to be edited, with zero software required to install.

THEN, one might always decide it would be best to use the Add-on linker, to move/manage all add-ons, spend some time with it with custom configurations, reordering, regroup things and all the other things the Add-on linker does.

But to JUST move the whole Community folder as it is, there's no easier way than moving the whole Community and edit the usercfg.opt file.

13 minutes ago, virtuali said:

Instead, the easiest way to do what has been asked, is to just move the whole Community folder using nothing other than regular Windows Explorer, and edit the InstalledPackagesPath in the usercfg.opt to indicate the new path so, it's just 1 line of text to be edited, with zero software required to install.

But to JUST move the whole Community folder as it is, there's no easier way than moving the whole Community and edit the usercfg.opt file.

 

If I am not mistaken, you can't move JUST the Community folder by changing the InstalledPackagesPath in the usercfg.opt. I believe changing that means you also have to move the "Official" folder with the default content in addition to the "Community" folder. Is this not so?

At least, this is the way it is in my Steam installation. My usercfg.opt file points to a non-C drive, Z:/MSFS, and both the Community and Official folders are housed there.

15 minutes ago, virtuali said:

The question was if the Community folder could be moved in a new place, it wasn't about "what I can/should use to manage my add-ons".

No! He has not yet returned a response to all of this.  Distilling down his question is this. The drive his addons are on is filling up and he is looking to move his addons to another drive.  That is the issue he is wanting to address.  He may believe he needs to move his Community folder. Overcoming the issue he states would not require moving the Community folder.  There are other solutions that do not get so convoluted, including one mentioned in the first four responses he received. 

31 minutes ago, virtuali said:

But to JUST move the whole Community folder as it is, there's no easier way than moving the whole Community and edit the usercfg.opt file.

Amending the path to the flight simulator seems to result in the update manager then seeking to install the whole of the rest of the simulator again, as it does not find the simulator files at the amended path.

IMO, Simplest method is to edit the user.cfg to point to to where the community folder is installed. InstalledpackagesPath: ex. "K:\Packages". Move it anywhere one desires. Never had much luck with those linkers but I'm a dummy.