10 minutes ago, MarcG said:

 MSFS2020 and MSFS24 are cross compatible.

That is the whole point, they are not.
If you believe that, I am afraid that you are sorely mistaken.
Following SU1, MSFS 2024 is not even compatible with itself,
viz the blue grass on the water at its airports. 

Edited March 13, 20251 yr by Reader

1 minute ago, Reader said:

That is the whole point, they are not.
If you believe that, I am afraid that you are sorely mistaken.

Oh dear keep digging that hole, I'll just go back to my MSFS2020 products that work perfectly fine in MSFS24 therefore proving that they are cross compatible....!

2 minutes ago, SierraDelta said:

I do indeed. Maybe ORBX Central checks during start-up?

AFAIK it does. Thus also my „warning“. I only see 2024 as „drop down“ and need to use the workaround to trick Orbx to believe 2020 is installed by copying some files. I could possibly do this easily. I just don’t want to 😉. If Orbx can add a sophisticated version check in their installer with a drop down to select between the two (installed) versions then they should also be capable to let me choose my installation folder regardless of which MS version I have installed. Just my 2 cents 

1 minute ago, MarcG said:

I don't care how long it's been like this, that point is completely irrelevant here as MSFS2020 and MSFS24 are cross compatible. Therefore ORBX Central should've been updated by now to utilise products bought in the former to be loaded with the latter - that's the issue.

That's not true 2020 and 2024 are not cross compatible. That's why there are 2 different menu settings and installers. ORBX has nothing to do wih how fast it should take to make 2020 stuff compatible with 2024. The developer has to update their software and give ORBX the okay to distribute to ORBX central.

1 minute ago, Bigmack said:

That's not true 2020 and 2024 are not cross compatible. That's why there are 2 different menu settings and installers. ORBX has nothing to do wih how fast it should take to make 2020 stuff compatible with 2024. The developer has to update their software and give ORBX the okay to distribute to ORBX central.

ok maybe my wording was incorrect (🙄) but the fact that MSFS2020 mods can work in MSFS2024 should be enough for ORBX to allow *US* to decide whether we want to try and use them - my point has been made, it;s obvious and simple to me!

2 minutes ago, MarcG said:

ok maybe my wording was incorrect (🙄) but the fact that MSFS2020 mods can work in MSFS2024 should be enough for ORBX to allow *US* to decide whether we want to try and use them - my point has been made, it;s obvious and simple to me!

If you are willing to manipulate files like that, then the simple workaround should be a breeze for you.

4 minutes ago, MarcG said:

I'll just go back to my MSFS2020 products that work perfectly fine in MSFS24 therefore proving that they are cross compatible....!

Most do, some don't. It may be that all the ones you've tried do work ok but that doesn't make it definitive.

No idea how Orbx checks for the presence of a particular simulator. It could be as deep as checking the registry or as shallow as looking for a folder/exe combination. In the latter case, just creating a copy of the 2024 folder and renaming it would probably let the OP fool Central into thinking it's installed. Otherwise it might need a reinstall of 2020, which even so may not be too bad if no updates are applied. Probably could even start an install and just cancel it once it had downloaded a couple of gig. Doesn't have to work, after all.

1 minute ago, andy1252 said:

Most do, some don't. It may be that all the ones you've tried do work ok but that doesn't make it definitive.

No idea how Orbx checks for the presence of a particular simulator. It could be as deep as checking the registry or as shallow as looking for a folder/exe combination. In the latter case, just creating a copy of the 2024 folder and renaming it would probably let the OP fool Central into thinking it's installed. Otherwise it might need a reinstall of 2020, which even so may not be too bad if no updates are applied. Probably could even start an install and just cancel it once it had downloaded a couple of gig. Doesn't have to work, after all.

I never said they all do and completely agree that doesn't make it definitive, long haired bloke on a bike it's pretty simple to understand - if we own the products, we should be able to download them *regardless* of the simulator used and not whether we have the "correct" one installed. It's a change that ORBX need to make to their Central program, by all means keep it the way it is currently but also have the Option to download our purchases whenever/wherever we want.

 

I don't have MSFS2024 yet (waiting for the storm to pass by), but lately purchasing or updating products through the ORBX Central application is not working as good as they used to.

1. It takes too much time to fully open, the spinning circle takes (maybe) more than a minute.

2. It looks that certain product files are not properly updated sometimes. The workaround for me has been to completely uninstall the affected product and do a complete re-install from the same app. This shouldn't be necessary, but it is always necessary in my case.

Because of the above issues, I decided to migrate certain products to different platforms, like all the P42 ones, which are now in my P42 user library, and that includes Flow Pro, SimFX, Taboo and the A320 Immersion. I'm also purchasing now more and more on Contrail, that works consistently very well.

2 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

Most do, some don't. It may be that all the ones you've tried do work ok but that doesn't make it definitive.

No idea how Orbx checks for the presence of a particular simulator. It could be as deep as checking the registry or as shallow as looking for a folder/exe combination. In the latter case, just creating a copy of the 2024 folder and renaming it would probably let the OP fool Central into thinking it's installed. Otherwise it might need a reinstall of 2020, which even so may not be too bad if no updates are applied. Probably could even start an install and just cancel it once it had downloaded a couple of gig. Doesn't have to work, after all.

Thay's all the OP has to do. And install ORBX 2020 stuff in a separate folder., so when he uninstalls 2020 the files are still on his system. I still have 2004 ORBX files on my system. Will I ever use them probably never. But I don't need to install in another simulator just to make it work for what it wasn't intended to work for.

9 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

It could be as deep as checking the registry or as shallow as looking for a folder/exe combination. 

As explained in the linked video, it's as shallow as looking for a folder with a usercfg.opt file in it.

2 minutes ago, Reader said:

As explained in the linked video, it's as shallow as looking for a folder with a usercfg.opt file in it.

Thanks. I rarely if ever follow youtube links posted here. Life's too short and youtube videos are mostly too annoying, but I'd been thinking it probably wasn't rocket science.

11 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

Life's too short and youtube videos are mostly too annoying

I agree completely.
This one however, has it all in writing under the video, so you can pause it and just follow the text.

Here it is:

Spoiler

There are many Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 add-ons that have not yet been tested and officially released for MSFS 2024, some may work despite the lack of official vetting.
This video explains how to install them in MSFS 2024 and how to trick Orbx Central into believing you have MSFS 2020 installed since this specific client doesn't let you access your MSFS 2020 add-ons unless it detects an installation of the sim.
Of course, all the methods described here are not officially supported and you follow them at your own risk.

First of all, if you have already installed your add-ons for MSFS 2020, you can simply copy them from the MSFS 2020 community folder to the MSFS 2024 community folder.

You can find them by pasting the following lines in File Explorer.
Community Folders in the Windows Store Versions
MSFS 2024
%localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community\
MSFS 2020
%localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community\
Community Folders in the Steam versions
MSFS 2024
%appdata%\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\Packages\Community\
MSFS 2020
%appdata%\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community\

You can also use MSFS Addons Linker to place links in the MSFS 2024 community folder.

To trick Orbx Direct into believing you have MSFS 2020 installed and unlock your purchased add-ons, if you have the Windows Store version, you should create the following folders in %localappdata%\Packages\

First, create "Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe" and then "LocalCache" within it (without quotation marks)

Then copy the file UserCfg.opt from %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\ in the LocalCache folder you newly created.

If you use the Steam version, go to %appdata%\ and create the "Microsoft Flight Simulator" folder, then copy the UserCfg.opt file from %appdata%\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\ into the Microsoft Flight Simulator folder you just created.

After you're done, Orbx Central will let you switch between MSFS 2024 and MSFS 2020.

 

Edited March 13, 20251 yr by Reader

 

Just be careful with this trick, as some installers do read the community path defined in the usercfg.opt. And if this is identical between MSFS2020 and MSFS2024, which is the case if you copy the MSFS2024 one, some installers will then install both the 2020 and the 2024 variant of addons into the same community folder messing things up. 

I found this thread at he Orbx site that shows what is compabitle and what not.  It has been recently updated, so it looks like we just need to wait (or do a workaround).  

https://forum.orbxdirect.com/topic/222983-msfs2024-compatible-products-published-on-orbx-direct-and-central/