Controlling which World Updates are on your system

[Rob G 62]

Is there a way I can control which World Updates are on my system through something like Addons Linker or some other way? I would like to streamline my system a bit while I am not flying in many of those areas of the world yet.

 

Thanks ........ Rob

[Noel 4,563]

Don't need any other software just uninstall them in Content Manager.  Reinstall them when desired.

[jaytee73 132]

just for curiosity - what would one gain by doing this by whatever means ?

[SAPilot 213]

3 hours ago, jaytee73 said:

just for curiosity - what would one gain by doing this by whatever means ?

Less disk space used- storage

[darshonaut 237]

6 hours ago, jaytee73 said:

just for curiosity - what would one gain by doing this by whatever means ?

less disk space used and propably a faster loading time.

i.e. I only install the autogen buildings and the Airports of the Wold Updates outside of Europe, as I frankfly don't care about their POIs (which take up lots of space) and the Photocities (Which take up little space). All those challenges and bushtrips I never install either, for any WU.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by darshonaut

[FBW737 518]

You can do it Addon Linker by moving the files from the Official folder to a custom folder. Use addon linker to turn on and off symbolic links to the custom folder as desired for turning WU's on or off as desired. Its an advanced use of Addon Linker and not as straight forward as the community folder. Do your home work or probably screw everything up.

[Rob G 62]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:54 AM, FBW737 said:

You can do it Addon Linker by moving the files from the Official folder to a custom folder. Use addon linker to turn on and off symbolic links to the custom folder as desired for turning WU's on or off as desired. Its an advanced use of Addon Linker and not as straight forward as the community folder. Do your home work or probably screw everything up.

Can anyone help me to understand how to set up the World Updates through Addons Linker? I would really like to do it. I thought I had read in some thread in this forum about doing it but I can't what I read anymore.

 

Thanks

[FBW737 518]

On 11/3/2022 at 4:56 PM, Rob G said:

Can anyone help me to understand how to set up the World Updates through Addons Linker? I would really like to do it. I thought I had read in some thread in this forum about doing it but I can't what I read anymore.

 

Thanks

I cannot give you a full tutorial. If you are using Addon linker already and placing your addons in a custom community folder in an organized manner and have experience with that then you shouldn't have to much trouble setting up a custom official folder and placing your world updates and other items in the Official folder in the custom folder. If you don't have any experience with the using Addon linker with the community folder don't even think about messing with the official folder.

1. OK no that you have been warned create you own folder that you will move WU's etc too. Create it where ever you like and call it whatever you like. I called mine 'Custom Official Addons'. Once you create it send a shortcut of that folder to your desktop.

2. Open Addon Linker. Click on 'Tools' tab and then 'Options' at the bottom of the list. In the window that opens click on the 'Advance' tab. It's called advanced for a reason! Now you've been warned twice. 🤣

3. That window is called "Official Folder Management". Check mark the "Enable Link Creation in Official Folder" box. Then enter the path to the Custom official folder you created (the actual folder, not the desktop short cut) and the path for the actual Official folder. The location of that depends on the version of MSFS you have. The Steam Version of the Microsoft Store version. It will be in the Packages folder. Same place as the Community folder.

4. Once you've done that read everything else in the window and see if any of it applies to you. Then click OK and close Addon Linker.

5. Here is where the fun begins and as the developer of Addon Linker suggests, don't just copy everything across, try one official addon first so you can see how it works. World Updates are not contained in a single file. Each WU typical has about 10 to 20 files and they are all together just installed in the Official folder. You will need to identify which files belong to which World Update. You can do this whatever way you like. For the most part they will be hard to identify based on file names alone. You may be able to find a list of files name for each world update online somewhere.

6. Open the "Official" file in the packages folder and Open you Custom official folder and place the two windows side by side.

7. Let take WU11 for example. WU11 has 16 individual files in it. In the "Official" folder make a new folder. Just leave its name "new folder" move all 16 WU11 folder into the new folder. Don't copy and paste them, move them!

8. Now using a file compression app of your choice (I use WinRare) compress the new folder and move it too your Custom Official folder and extract it. So now there is a folder in your Custom Official folder called "New Folder". Change the name of the folder to something like WU11 Canada or what descriptor you like.

9. You can delete the compressed version "New Folder" in both the "Officical Folder" and your Custom Official folder. And you can delete the uncompressed version of  "New Folder" in the "Official" folder thus deleting WU11 from the sims file system.

10. Close all the folders and start the sim. Go to Content manager. Check mark "not installed". WU11 should be on that list if you did it right. If it says its partially installed that means you missed a file or more. Or if it says something else that you have installed is partially installed you probably took a file belong to something else.

11. Exit the sim and open addon linker. In the Left pane you should see your list of files in you custom community folder as usual. Scroll down below that and if you did everything right you'll see your custom official folder with WU11 folder. If you expand the WU11 folder you'll see the 16 files required for WU11.

12. Activate WU11 in addon linker in the usual way. Close addon linker and start the sim. Go to Content manager and you should find that WU11 is listed as installed.

13. Now do the same for all the other official addons you wish to move.

 

I haven't times it but the sim does seem to me to load obviously faster with just the community and official I intend to use loading rather than the whole kit and caboodle.

There may be omissions and/or errors here. If you screw it up and mess up your sim don't blame me!🤪

[Rob G 62]

1 hour ago, FBW737 said:

I cannot give you a full tutorial. If you are using Addon linker already and placing your addons in a custom community folder in an organized manner and have experience with that then you shouldn't have to much trouble setting up a custom official folder and placing your world updates and other items in the Official folder in the custom folder. If you don't have any experience with the using Addon linker with the community folder don't even think about messing with the official folder.

1. OK no that you have been warned create you own folder that you will move WU's etc too. Create it where ever you like and call it whatever you like. I called mine 'Custom Official Addons'. Once you create it send a shortcut of that folder to your desktop.

2. Open Addon Linker. Click on 'Tools' tab and then 'Options' at the bottom of the list. In the window that opens click on the 'Advance' tab. It's called advanced for a reason! Now you've been warned twice. 🤣

3. That window is called "Official Folder Management". Check mark the "Enable Link Creation in Official Folder" box. Then enter the path to the Custom official folder you created (the actual folder, not the desktop short cut) and the path for the actual Official folder. The location of that depends on the version of MSFS you have. The Steam Version of the Microsoft Store version. It will be in the Packages folder. Same place as the Community folder.

4. Once you've done that read everything else in the window and see if any of it applies to you. Then click OK and close Addon Linker.

5. Here is where the fun begins and as the developer of Addon Linker suggests, don't just copy everything across, try one official addon first so you can see how it works. World Updates are not contained in a single file. Each WU typical has about 10 to 20 files and they are all together just installed in the Official folder. You will need to identify which files belong to which World Update. You can do this whatever way you like. For the most part they will be hard to identify based on file names alone. You may be able to find a list of files name for each world update online somewhere.

6. Open the "Official" file in the packages folder and Open you Custom official folder and place the two windows side by side.

7. Let take WU11 for example. WU11 has 16 individual files in it. In the "Official" folder make a new folder. Just leave its name "new folder" move all 16 WU11 folder into the new folder. Don't copy and paste them, move them!

8. Now using a file compression app of your choice (I use WinRare) compress the new folder and move it too your Custom Official folder and extract it. So now there is a folder in your Custom Official folder called "New Folder". Change the name of the folder to something like WU11 Canada or what descriptor you like.

9. You can delete the compressed version "New Folder" in both the "Officical Folder" and your Custom Official folder. And you can delete the uncompressed version of  "New Folder" in the "Official" folder thus deleting WU11 from the sims file system.

10. Close all the folders and start the sim. Go to Content manager. Check mark "not installed". WU11 should be on that list if you did it right. If it says its partially installed that means you missed a file or more. Or if it says something else that you have installed is partially installed you probably took a file belong to something else.

11. Exit the sim and open addon linker. In the Left pane you should see your list of files in you custom community folder as usual. Scroll down below that and if you did everything right you'll see your custom official folder with WU11 folder. If you expand the WU11 folder you'll see the 16 files required for WU11.

12. Activate WU11 in addon linker in the usual way. Close addon linker and start the sim. Go to Content manager and you should find that WU11 is listed as installed.

13. Now do the same for all the other official addons you wish to move.

 

I haven't times it but the sim does seem to me to load obviously faster with just the community and official I intend to use loading rather than the whole kit and caboodle.

There may be omissions and/or errors here. If you screw it up and mess up your sim don't blame me!🤪

Not sure how to identify which 16 files you are referring to for SU11. I opened the "Official" folder and searched for "Canada" and got 190 results, folders and individual files. I am comfortable with Addons Linker, and in addition, I am a retired computer consultant for a major bank. My problem is identifying the correct files to move. Using SU11 as the sample, would you be willing to identify the 16 files so I can see how the SU file structure works? Just a screenshot of he contents of the folder would be great. I sure would appreciate it. If you can show me that one, I can extrapolate for the others.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Rob G

[FBW737 518]

1 hour ago, Rob G said:

Not sure how to identify which 16 files you are referring to for SU11. I opened the "Official" folder and searched for "Canada" and got 190 results, folders and individual files. I am comfortable with Addons Linker, and in addition, I am a retired computer consultant for a major bank. My problem is identifying the correct files to move. Using SU11 as the sample, would you be willing to identify the 16 files so I can see how the SU file structure works? Just a screenshot of he contents of the folder would be great. I sure would appreciate it. If you can show me that one, I can extrapolate for the others.

I'll put this here for a while:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Or24NBBEhpaQYAQjVD0wkTP6_taPio1U/view?usp=share_link

[Rob G 62]

6 minutes ago, FBW737 said:

I'll put this here for a while:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Or24NBBEhpaQYAQjVD0wkTP6_taPio1U/view?usp=share_link

not sure what to do with that. When I clink on an item, the only option I get is "copy file name". There's nothing to open.

NEVER MIND: ONCE I DOWNLOADED THE .RAR FILE I CAN OPEN THE FILES. THANKS. I HAVE IT DOWNLOADED NOW.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Rob G