I'm just back from a short shopping trip so I can give a little update.

I don't know if it was simply the Group Only setting, but there has been a slight improvement. Instead of nothing on the ground, I did get this:

Several identical twinjets, taxiing, holding and eventually getting on the runway, plus others pushing back. But all the same model and livery. Perhaps the livery is a clue where they have been sourced from. Is that an FSLTL generic one?

I left the sim running while I was out and came back to a still eerily quiet LaGuardia overall, but with a couple of the jets lined up on the taxiway. Now, a further 30 minutes or so later, it seems to be all static injected planes (same models), nothing moving anywhere (and still nothing airborne since I started the sim).

14 minutes ago, rocketlaunch said:

You mean, you have to do stuff? I just installed it. 

It depends what SU version it was on WHEN you installed MSFS using Microsoft Store Version, some SU versions it creates that dumb path (it may still do it).
The path is created incorrectly even WHEN you choose a custom directory path inside the MSFS installer, it's a bug.

17 minutes ago, 109Sqn said:

What a pain, if that's the problem! So what would the solution be exactly? How would I select a more 'compact' location? And what would I have to set up from scratch, if anything (obviously most sim settings are safely in the cloud)? Very little resides permanantly in the Community folder since I'm using AddonsLinker, so not too much issue there as long as I remembered to point it to the new location.

Well it can be two issues created, depending on your setup. It depends where you installed the Community Directory (it gives you the choice).

Thing is, as I noted, EVEN if you installed MSFS using a custom community directory, it STILL gets it wrong in some SU's, but it DOES at least in this case create the OneStore directory in the correct place I believe. You still have to change that config file to point to a shorter name community directory, regardless usually.

Usually it will have created the community directory in another "shorter named" place, hence during the issue there are often 2 community directories created (that long path, and the short one). The problem is it thinks the longer path is the ACTIVE community directory, which is why changing that config file fixes it. If you don't have 2, or cannot find the other, you can probably get away with creating your own and setting it in the config file.

I made mine be: d:\fs2020\community

I seem to recall that I may have performed a change in one other place, but I do not recall where. There are a bunch of posts on this if you Google it on the web.
If that doesn't work, you may need to change it in another place or reinstall and choose a custom community directory and then edit the config again (but there should be a way to avoid reinstalling).

 

 

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by Alpine Scenery

8 minutes ago, rocketlaunch said:

You mean, you have to do stuff? I just installed it. 

Yes - did you watch the setup video on the main thread here (4th post)?

9 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

...

It is as he said, just create a new directory for the Community folder and then assign it by modifying the config file, reboot.

I made mine be: d:\fs2020\community

...

So KISS version:

Create Community folder at (for example) P: \MSFS\Community    [rename original to "Community.old" until sure it can be deleted]

Change the last line of the usercfg.opt to point to new Community folder, reboot (and likewise point AddonsLinker to it).

Test.

 

Yay or nay?

 

Oh, and I suppose I'd have to reinstall anything which put itself in the Community folder via an installer? I suppose some might still work just by copying them over but then they might not update.

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by 109Sqn

3 minutes ago, 109Sqn said:

So KISS version:

Create Community folder at (for example) P: \MSFS\Community    [rename original to "Community.old" until sure it can be deleted]

Change the last line of the usercfg.opt to point to new Community folder, reboot (and likewise point AddonsLinker to it).

Test.

 

Yay or nay?

Try that first, yes.

However, I would not rename the old community directory just yet.
You need to get the new one working first, it will only use the one in the config file path for MOST things anyhow.
You can try renaming first, but I cannot say if it will work (it depends on other factors).
 

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by Alpine Scenery

3 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

However, I would not rename the old community directory just yet.

Ok, will try that first of all then.

@Alvega and @Alpine Scenery, thanks for the help thus far. Hopefully we're getting somewhere. It wouldn't be flight simming if everything was click and forget!😄

1 hour ago, Alpine Scenery said:

I made mine be: d:\fs2020\community

I decided on Z:\Community because I already dedicate that drive to MSFS anyway, so I could keep the path even shorter and find it really easily.

1 hour ago, Alpine Scenery said:

I seem to recall that I may have performed a change in one other place

You could well be right as I had a problem or two: I pointed AddonsLinker to the new Community folder and activated my USA addons and some groups of aircraft, and they appeared in the new folder. However, they didn't show up in the sim* and the injector still showed the old location for Community, both in its window and in the log afterwards. So neither the sim nor FSLTL know where the new Community folder is yet. Time to check Google I guess...🤓

 

*Edit: but the addons which were installed into the old Community folder did show up, so MSFS was definitely still looking there.

Edited October 28, 20223 yr by 109Sqn

I think I had to tell the MSFS updater in the game to point to the new folder and just let it update doing the terrible 120+ GB install.
Hence, basically a reinstall forcing it to look at the new community directory. That said, this was a couple months ago for me, so hard to recall.

The issue really sux, and Microsoft should not be using that LONG directory, I cannot believe they are still doing that.
The reason for the issue is the paths that some addons reference end up not working because they violate some directory pathing lengths, so things randomly don't work.

Edited October 29, 20223 yr by Alpine Scenery

20 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

I think I had to tell the MSFS updater in the game to point to the new folder and just let it update doing the terrible 120+ GB install.

I might have found the solution, and after only the second Google link I looked at. And it's from TwoToneMurphy on Youtube who tends to talk sense so 🤞 In short, he copies the Community folder to the new location, renames the original (prior to deleting it later), then uses Link Shell Extension (which I've used before) to symbolically link the new Community folder to its original, default, location. Certainly looks like it should work, as it will force MSFS to go from the Packages folder (where it expects Community to be) to the new location. I'll let you know how it goes...

Edited October 29, 20223 yr by 109Sqn
forgot to add the link to video

I saw that method, but to me it didn't seem like a clean solution because the problem is if you have a pathing issue, it may not get to the first path to be redirected to the new path.
It may in fact solve the issue IF the first path it hits is within the naming length and being all subsequent paths are then accessed as the shortened path.
For me, it was too risky, so I just forced MSFS internally to recognize the new community location by pointing it there on an update (which was triggered by renaming the old one).

 

Edited October 29, 20223 yr by Alpine Scenery

5 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

so I just forced MSFS internally to recognize the new community location by pointing it there on an update (which was triggered by renaming the old one).

So, if I'm reading you right, after renaming the original and starting MSFS it will ask you to point to the Community folder, and you just point to the new location? As much as TwoToneMurphy's solution looks like it should work, I'd rather use the simplest option for... simplicity!

(Either way, I will probably just opt to reinstall any add-ons which placed themselves into the Community folder as, even after using the Take Ownership command, I was prevented from copying the files to the new Commnunity.)

1 minute ago, 109Sqn said:

So, if I'm reading you right, after renaming the original and starting MSFS it will ask you to point to the Community folder, and you just point to the new location? As much as TwoToneMurphy's solution looks like it should work, I'd rather use the simplest option for... simplicity!

(Either way, I will probably just opt to reinstall any add-ons which placed themselves into the Community folder as, even after using the Take Ownership command, I was prevented from copying the files to the new Commnunity.)

The way I did it was more painful, but since I develop MSFS Addons, didn't want to take any chances. You have to let the installer re-update / reinstall everything.
The sim link probably works, as long as the default path to the root doesn't get too long.
Name the community folder real short - like FSC or something, to help reduce path length.
 

6 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

The way I did it was more painful, but since I develop MSFS Addons, didn't want to take any chances.

Quite understandable under those circumstances.

I'm going to try the sim link option first because, after renaming the original folder and launching the sim, it just created a new folder in the same location automatically.

8 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

Name the community folder real short - like FSC or something, to help reduce path length

Good idea. I can always put a text file in the root of the drive and title it "FSC = Community folder" so I don't see it months down the line and confuse myself!😁

1 hour ago, 109Sqn said:

(Either way, I will probably just opt to reinstall any add-ons which placed themselves into the Community folder as, even after using the Take Ownership command, I was prevented from copying the files to the new Commnunity.)

Without commenting on whatever else you might be trying, give Teracopy (free) a go at copying from the [protected] location. It's an excellent little program and I've used it many times to get around the idiotic encryption thing.

40 minutes ago, Adamski_NZ said:

give Teracopy (free) a go

Thanks, I'll look into that.