Hello 🍻

I had several requests in the past to improve a bit the 'launch program' in Addons linker because the current options were a bit too cheap 🙃 . It's now possible to set parameters specific to each programs indivudually (little 'edit' button on the right or 'edit' in the right click menu), hopefully it will make it more user friendly and useable (or not 🙈).

Even though it looks simple and not that ground breaking, i had to change a bit the way this feature was programmed, so i'm a bit scared 😱 to post it like that officially on flightsim.to without having some feedback first.

So if some of the courageous souls and experimented users here want to try the new version, you can get an update EXE below (all other files needed). Just revert back to the previous version if needed (shouldn't be needed but well). Note that if you revert back to the previous you will need to restore you old INI configuration file or the programs list will be empty (C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker\MSFS_Addons_Linker.ini). A backup of the INI file will be created automatically when launching this new version, but to be sure you can also make a backup yourself before trying the test version.

link to test EXE --> https://gofile.io/d/aL5Ezy

As a reminder all programs are launched in the order they are set in the options screen, so just move them up/down if you need something to be launched before something else. Note also that the affinity/priority options work only if the tool is launched with the same privilege as the launched program.

Ideas and feedback welcome, thank you 🍺

I'm probably THE biggest fan of the Linker, so I'll give it a try tomorrow (it's midnight here in NZ!!).

A first fast test shows no issues!

 

thx for your program!!!

41 minutes ago, Adamski_NZ said:

I'm probably THE biggest fan of the Linker, so I'll give it a try tomorrow (it's midnight here in NZ!!).

THE biggest fan wouldn't wait till tomorrow but give it a go right away ! 🙂 (Only kidding)

15 minutes ago, guenseli said:

A first fast test shows no issues!

 

thx for your program!!!

Same here. No issues so far.

thank you for the update

will try

the greatest true functional utility program for msfs2020

thanks for your program

 

I'm pleased to report it worked perfectly on my system.

AIG Controller and REX Weather open/closed automatically ... great!! I also played around with my Linker setup as much as I could and didn't have any issues.

*However* - seeing as you've woken me up, I have a couple of requests (if possible!!!):

1) A free text field to add short user notes per addon. I currently kludge it by entering stuff in the "description" field, but it's a little too short.

2) I have my presets organised in a fairly elaborate manner. Would it be possible to add/save *selections/groups* of presets? Again, I kludge it by entering a "pseudo tag" in the preset name, then use "find" to filter them. eg. "21 Civil Aircraft - NZ" and "25 Civil Liveries - NZ" (among others) would be filtered on "NZ". It'd be great to be able to simply select a set of presets from a drop-down instead. I'll post some images shortly to illustrate what I mean.

Adam.

I have all my addons categorised into Common (active regardless of aircraft or scenery), Civil, Military, then Scenery (per country or area). Basically, I first decide whether I'm having a civil or military session, then choose geographical area. I also have aircraft or scenery Mods spearated out to help debug in case of clashes. On top of that, I have the Pushback and AIG addons separated in case of clashes.

Here's a pseudo-filter on "NZ::

For my FBW tests (usually in NZ, I have):

It'd be great to be able to make selections from any of these lists (probably the unfiltered one) and save them as a [named] group.

 

Edited April 25, 20224 yr by Adamski_NZ

Thanks for the feedback guys 🍻, i will then include that change for the next official version

@Adamski_NZ

1) yeah the description field was meant to do that, single line though so yeah probably not super friendly. I need to see if i can add yet another custom field or maybe if i can make the existing one bigger and multiline (although not sure how it would look like in the view if you start having multi lines descriptions). It looks simple but it's a bit complicated and i would probably prefer to not add another field, i need to think about it 😜

2) creation of groups of presets to select (and apply) them all at once, requires a bit of work but probably possible, i'll check that too.

Thanks again 🍺

15 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

Thanks for the feedback guys 🍻, i will then include that change for the next official version

@Adamski_NZ

1) yeah the description field was meant to do that, single line though so yeah probably not super friendly. I need to see if i can add yet another custom field or maybe if i can make the existing one bigger and multiline (although not sure how it would look like in the view if you start having multi lines descriptions). It looks simple but it's a bit complicated and i would probably prefer to not add another field, i need to think about it 😜

2) creation of groups of presets to select (and apply) them all at once, requires a bit of work but probably possible, i'll check that too.

Thanks again 🍺

Maybe the description field could just show the first 30 characters (or so) then a pop-up - rather like we have now?

Looking forward, as ever, to anything new you can bring to this already excellent tool!

On 4/24/2022 at 10:58 AM, Bad_T said:

Ideas and feedback welcome, thank you

Just spotted this and will try it out.

Also, want to say again that I've gotten so used to this I almost forget it's an addon and not part of the standard MSFS package. It really is the single most useful bit of software I have and the sim would be unworkable for me without it. (OK, I like and use Flight Recorder and LNM a lot but the addons linker really is essential)

Thank you for all your work.

Perfect and must have app for me , too.  And a great personality of the developer 🙂

I can not think of MSFS without this. Additionally, it is so useful that; I use AddonsLinker on my other games/apps for my personal mods / addons management. 

Backup feature is perfect and you can make it as a normal feature , rather than experimental.

Thank you @Bad_T 

Hi,

I tried to launch MSFS from Addon Linker (several times), but it is not launching correctly. The screens appear minimized or cropped. Am I doing anything wrong?

Regards

 

Edited April 25, 20224 yr by John Fields

Thanks again guys for the nice comments 🍻

@Adamski_NZ  -> yep it will probably show up in a popup if it's too big to be shown in the 'cell', thought that would not be good enough for your needs but, if it is, maybe it will be ok .. i will try to do a little multi-line test soon to see how it behaves. Currently the file saving the descriptions doesn't support multiline data so it will require somes changes, i'll certainly investigate

@kt069 oh really, you use it for other games/mods ? i had a few requests to make it a bit more generic (another separate version) but i never really found the time to do that. With the current version it's probably possible if you have just 1 folder that acts as recipient for the mods (like the community folder). Probably sometimes it looks a bit weird because everything is very MSFS based, but well yeah it probably does the job if you just need some links to be created. Do you  use the 'configfolder=' parameter ? That would allow you to have separate installations of the tool with completely different settings for each (otherwise they would all share the same INI file). Maybe my explanations are not very clear 🙊, feel free to msg me if needed.

@John Fields sorry for the trouble, probably the screen is just showing outside of your monitor boundaries. Please try this : --> make sure the tool is closed --> open the INI file with notepad (C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker\MSFS_Addons_Linker.ini) -> locate and delete the 3 rows at the bottom that starts with 'Window_' -> restart the tool and it should be ok. Let me know if you still have trouble after that.

 

Edited April 25, 20224 yr by Bad_T

22 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

Thanks again guys for the nice comments 🍻

@Adamski_NZ  -> yep it will probably show up in a popup if it's too big to be shown in the 'cell', thought that would not be good enough for your needs but, if it is, maybe it will be ok .. i will try to do a little multi-line test soon to see how it behaves. Currently the file saving the descriptions doesn't support multiline data so it will require somes changes, i'll certainly investigate

@kt069 oh really, you use it for other games/mods ? i had a few requests to make it a bit more generic (another separate version) but i never really found the time to do that. With the current version it's probably possible if you have just 1 folder that acts as recipient for the mods (like the community folder). Probably sometimes it looks a bit weird because everything is very MSFS based, but well yeah it probably does the job if you just need some links to be created. Do you  use the 'configfolder=' parameter ? That would allow you to have separate installations of the tool with completely different settings for each (otherwise they would all share the same INI file). Maybe my explanations are not very clear 🙊, feel free to msg me if needed.

@John Fields sorry for the trouble, probably the screen is just showing outside of your monitor boundaries. Please try this : --> make sure the tool is closed --> open the INI file with notepad (C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker\MSFS_Addons_Linker.ini) -> locate and delete the 3 rows at the bottom that starts with 'Window_' -> restart the tool and it should be ok. Let me know if you still have trouble after that.

 

Similar to that but I was not aware of the "configfolder" option.I will check that.

Normaly I am using the backup system. Keeping the backup and .ini files separately for the separate games.  Before starting Addonslinker, I put the related files to the active folder under ProgramData. It works fine. A small trick is; I place dummy .json fiiles under the other game mods to make Addonlinker recognize them 🙂

Of course, a generic version of the app would be very nice,when you have time 🙂

Edited April 25, 20224 yr by kt069

Hi, Bad_T,

I did what you said. I deleted the 3 rows at the end of the file, but it didn't work. 

A quarter of the image opens at the top left of the monitor. I have tried to see if the problem is that I have the option "disable full screen options" activated, but after to revert this setting it has not worked either.  

Anyway, your program is great, and without it, I couldn't manage all the add-ons I have.

Thank you.