I just load everything with add-on linker. Sim takes ages to load, but I just do something else while it loads.

It depends on what you have installed, really. If you have that VFR objects series, gsx, 424 airports including freeware, all landing challenges, ai and atc ....and 100 liveries. Yes, that would change a lot. Including start time and stutters/performance.

However, addon linker can prevent some of this by only loading what you need to fly with.

9 hours ago, iFlySimX said:

Hey all! 

For those of you who have a LOT of add-ons installed, do you notice that the more add-ons the sim loads up the worst performance is? How about stutters? If so, do you use MSFS Addons Linker to ONLY activate the add-ons you need for your flight? I have over 500 GB worth of add-ons installed. Could I be missing out on performance by having so many installed?

Just re-read your question.  I posted an earlier response as to how it effects my sim.

Have you tried it on your end?  What results do you get?

Jase

At the end of the day, it’s much about the type of addons that you load (with or without MSFS Addons Linkers) rather than the quantity of mod.

I think that closed proximity high detailed airports + one or two VFR mods like Marina, Powerlines + set a high level of Trafics and graphic settings are more impactful on stutters than the number/quantity of mods.

10 hours ago, orchestra_nl said:

... or check avsim for interesting threads.

What do you do for the rest of the time MSFS is booting up ? 😂

I still don't see the point of this program. I don't have that much really when it comes to scenery and aircraft addons (Community folder is 64.2GB) and I only ever decide what to fly and where when I'm in the sim which takes 1 minute 28 seconds to load (just timed it). My addons are already all in one place. If (and it has never happened to me) I had any issues and needed to find a culprit amongst those addons it would be very easy to do. I also have an external ssd drive with 'ready to go' addons I've grown bored of but can easily copy to my Community folder in a few seconds should I ever want to fly them again for one session. What would I gain from this program?   

12 hours ago, ianb2469 said:

My sim seems to load slowly however many addons are turned on, annoyingly!

This is true, as the sim will scan the folders searching for any changes. It's very much optimized in relation to P3D, but still takes a while longer the more there are.

My own setup has Addons Linker showing around 5000 folders in its environment. No way do I want all that lot loaded in the sim all the time. Well, I say that, but if the sim itself was more easily reconfigurable in terms of stopping and restarting flights, switching locations and aircraft etc then that would be different. I'm more of a location than flight guy, that is to say I pretty much never plan a flight in either the actual "flight plan" sense or even just the "I'll fly from here to there" sense. I just like to pick a plane and a starting point and explore. But even so, I'll only load up a limited number of airports in a region and then go play around there. If I'm going to play in Florida for a session, no point in loading up 50 Chinese airports for example.

I have all my scenery stored on fast SSD or M2 type drives, but the main delays in loading anything seem to be in MSFS itself. It must have to table and organise everything it is given to load up, and that has to take a certain amount of time. I have no idea how any of that sort of thing is handled internally, but it seems to me that loading a massive environment of addons like mine would only work if the sim would start up immediately with just a basic environment (the built in stuff maybe) and then load/table everything else in the background, even if a flight had already been set up and initiated. But hey, that's all way beyond my level of comprehension.

I doubt that having masses of folders active would affect actual performance once loaded though. Just doesn't feel like it should make any difference. If I am flying in Florida I can't imagine MSFS is worrying too much about any Chinese airports I might have loaded.

Regards Addon Linker and performance, there is a whole options section in the application for controlling the loading of auxiliary programs such as TrackIR, etc. Not only can you set/unset which programs to load, you can also set core affinity. 

IMHO, this capability for Addon Linker is just as, or, maybe more, important than the linking capabilities.

I've never, ever used any kind of addon linker.  The sim can take a long time to boot up, but I don't think I have any performance issues in sim that would be cleared up by loading less add-ons.  Granted, I'm a GA flyer so I'm not installing the crazy large airports either. 

I just get in the habit of starting up the sim before I want to fly, knowing it will take a bit.  I can alt-tab out and do my flight planning or whatever anyway. 

I'm actually in the process of reinstalling after my community folder got wiped out (tried to move it, and failed).  I'm debating on using one, although honestly I'm just not jumping back to reinstall everything I had.  I know I probably never touched 90% of the freeware scenery I had.  So many great freeware airports out there. 

18 hours ago, iFlySimX said:

I have over 500 GB worth of add-ons installed.

And, how much PC System Memory do you have for loading 500GB of Add-ons?

6 hours ago, St Mawgan said:

I still don't see the point of this program. I don't have that much really when it comes to scenery and aircraft addons (Community folder is 64.2GB) and I only ever decide what to fly and where when I'm in the sim which takes 1 minute 28 seconds to load (just timed it). My addons are already all in one place. If (and it has never happened to me) I had any issues and needed to find a culprit amongst those addons it would be very easy to do. I also have an external ssd drive with 'ready to go' addons I've grown bored of but can easily copy to my Community folder in a few seconds should I ever want to fly them again for one session. What would I gain from this program?   

Well, great then.

Now, for the rest of us that use this is app its really helpful if you have a series of mods/etc that dont all need to be in the community folder at the same time. Like the PMS750 addons, for example. These really shouldn't be installed when you're using the tds app for a different plane. Addonlinker makes that easy to do before the sim starts.

12 minutes ago, Sonosusto said:

Now, for the rest of us that use this is app its really helpful if you have a series of mods/etc that dont all need to be in the community folder at the same time. Like the PMS750 addons, for example. These really shouldn't be installed when you're using the tds app for a different plane. Addonlinker makes that easy to do before the sim starts.

Yes, I would just move them out of the community folder, temporarily. Also kind of easy to do manually without needing to run a program first and have that do it.   

 

It's not just about loading times and performance for me, but also about convenience. I usually know the aircraft type I intend flying (GA, Military Prop, Jet Airliner etc) and what part of the world, so having only the relevant type of aircraft loaded makes it simpler and quicker to choose the one(s) I'm going to use.

Aside from that, why bother loading anything you don't need? Even if the performance benefits are small, even marginal gains* are better than nothing. For instance, I disable the training and challenges unless I intend using them.

*TM Sky/Ineos cycling team😉

10 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

Yes, I would just move them out of the community folder, temporarily. Also kind of easy to do manually without needing to run a program first and have that do it.   

 

But you're physically moving files on and off a drive. Add-ons Lineker simply deletes or creates a tiny symbolic link for each add-on - quicker and surely less wear and tear on the drives.

Addons Linker is also a really easy way to keep things organised and to check for duplication on an ever-increasing collection of add-ons, such as duplicate ICAOs or accidentally installing the same add-on in more than one location.

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by 109Sqn
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