For the MSFS Addon Linker, every time I install MSFS on a new PC (i’ve had to do it quite a few times), addon linker acts like its the first time its started up and I have to specify all of the directories all over again. I keep AddonLinker on an external SSD so I don’t have to reinstall it, however it seems the configs are kept somewhere else on the PC.

One big issue is the “Dependencies” feature, as it’s incredibly time consuming to recreate all of them. Is there a way for AddonLinker to keep the settings and dependencies in its current main install folder so I don’t have to re-create them all every time I install MSFS on a new PC?

Thanks!

On my two MSFS installations (PC and laptop), the configuration files like presets, dependencies, etc. of the MSFS Addons Linker are installed by default on C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker. So, each time there's an update of the application, the configuration files should remain unchanged.

There's an option in Tools --> Options --> General Tab to change the location of your presets if you wish.

Yes, the config is stored in "C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker",  "MSFS_Addons_Linker.ini"

2 minutes ago, edpatino said:

On my two MSFS installations (PC and laptop), the configuration files like presets, dependencies, etc. of the MSFS Addons Linker are installed by default on C:\ProgramData\MSFS Addons Linker. So, each time there's an update of the application, the configuration files should remain unchanged.

There's an option in Tools --> Options --> General Tab to change the location of your presets if you wish.

the presets are good, the issue is the dependencies. if you change computers or re-install windows it wipes those out, even thought I have the app running on an external ssd. i'm looking for a way to change dependency location to save onto my SSD

9 minutes ago, dresoccer4 said:

the presets are good, the issue is the dependencies. if you change computers or re-install windows it wipes those out, even thought I have the app running on an external ssd. i'm looking for a way to change dependency location to save onto my SSD

The dependencies (part of what I call configuration files of the app), are all stored in the same location in C:\ProgramData\....

A computer change or a windows re-install are operations that I suppose you don't perform very often.

1 hour ago, edpatino said:

The dependencies (part of what I call configuration files of the app), are all stored in the same location in C:\ProgramData\....

A computer change or a windows re-install are operations that I suppose you don't perform very often.

that's the issue is I DO perform those operations fairly often. and every time it wipes out my dependencies which are very labor intensive to create. I was hoping I could tell MSFS Addon Linker to save those configs in its main install folder instead of out on the C drive

Edited March 6, 20242 yr by dresoccer4

Hello 🍻

Yes, by default it's saved in the ProgramdData folder because that's kind of the recommended way to do it, i guess that's why it was called by Microsoft ProgramData 😜 (usually it's not very good practice to save configuration files in the same folder as the EXE for different reasons).

With AL you can specify the configuration folder via an argument that you can pass to the EXE. You can do this by editing the shortcut you use to launch the EXE

So if you keep the same letter (let's say D:\ for the sake of the example) for your external SSD you could put the configuration folder on that disk by following the procedure below :

• Create a NEW empty folder on the SSD -> for example D:\tools\AL_ConfigFiles
• Create a NEW shortcut in the folder where you have the AL installed
• Edit the shortcut to add the 'configfolder' argument in the 'Target' field as seen on the screenshot below

When you launch the tool, AL will not use programdata anymore but the folder you specified in the argument, so if it's on the external disk you will be able to keep it there forever without moving files.

Your new folder where you will find all the files (ini and othe others) will be : D:\tools\AL_ConfigFiles\MSFS Addons Linker

For the dependencies for example, you can copy the Addons_dependencies.bin files in the new folder (in a subfolder called Data) to avoid having to redo them.

This is a quick guide assuming you have good knowledge of computers operations 🙃, if you need more details because it's not clear enough 😱, let me know.

🍻

Edited March 6, 20242 yr by Bad_T

1 minute ago, Bad_T said:

Hello 🍻

Yes, by default it's save in the ProgramdData folder because that's kind of the recommended way to do it, i guess that's why it was called by Microsoft ProgramData 😜 (usually it's not very good practice to save configuration files in the same folder as the EXE for different reasons).

With AL you can specify the configuration folder via an argument that you can pass to the EXE. You can do this by editing the shortcut you use to launch the EXE

So if you keep the same letter (let's say D:\ for the sake of the example) for your external SSD you could put the configuration folder on that disk by following the procedure below :

• Create a NEW empty folder on the SSD -> for example D:\tools\AL_ConfigFiles
• Create a NEW shortcut in the folder where you have the AL installed
• Edit the shortcut to add the 'configfolder' argument as seen on the screenshot below

When you launch the tool, AL will not use programdata anymore but the folder you specified in the argument, so if it's on the external disk you will be able to keep it there forever without moving files.

Your new folder where you will find all the files (ini and othe others) will be : D:\tools\AL_ConfigFiles\MSFS Addons Linker

For the dependencies for example, you can copy the Addons_dependencies.bin files in the new folder (in a subfolder called Data) to avoid having to redo them.

This is a quick guide, if you need more details because it's not clear enough 😱, let me know.

🍻

thanks for these instructions i''ll give it a try

Useful!  And it works.

17 hours ago, Bad_T said:

Hello 🍻

Yes, by default it's saved in the ProgramdData folder because that's kind of the recommended way to do it, i guess that's why it was called by Microsoft ProgramData 😜 (usually it's not very good practice to save configuration files in the same folder as the EXE for different reasons).

...

🍻

Hmm it didn't seem to work for me. Here is what I have in the shortcut target line:

"X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\MSFS_AddonsLinker.exe" -configfolder="X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\ConfigFiles"

 

Do you see anything that looks wrong?

Edited March 7, 20242 yr by dresoccer4

maybe it's only the - that you added before configfolder, it should not be there.

wrong : "X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\MSFS_AddonsLinker.exe" -configfolder="X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\ConfigFiles"

correct : "X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\MSFS_AddonsLinker.exe" configfolder="X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\ConfigFiles"

Please try that first 🍻

 

Then it's also important to understand that the folder that you put in the parameter is the 'base' folder, another 'MSFS Addons Linker' folder will be created below automatically and the files will go in that subfolder (and not in the base config folder), so if you want to copy your old files make sure they are in the correct folder. Try first without adding any files to see how it works, then you can add the files when all is clear.

Hopefully it's not too complicated 🥂

Edited March 7, 20242 yr by Bad_T

12 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

maybe it's only the - that you added before configfolder, it should not be there.

wrong : "X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\MSFS_AddonsLinker.exe" -configfolder="X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\ConfigFiles"

correct : "X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\MSFS_AddonsLinker.exe" configfolder="X:\MSFS\MSFS Tools\Addon Linker v12\ConfigFiles"

Please try that first 🍻

 

Then it's also important to understand that the folder that you put in the parameter is the 'base' folder, another 'MSFS Addons Linker' folder will be created below automatically and the files will go in that subfolder (and not in the base config folder), so if you want to copy your old files make sure they are in the correct folder. Try first without adding any files to see how it works, then you can add the files when all is clear.

Hopefully it's not too complicated 🥂

yup that did it, thanks. removing the '-'. i was able to copy over my config files from ProgramData to the new folder and it loaded them up