I have bizarrely 4, yes four, folders in my steam packages folder : 

Community

Community fs2024 

Official fs2020

Official fs2024

I have never heard of anyone else saying they had a "community fs2024" folder but if delete it then start the sim it gets created along with the others.

Anyway, what I am trying to do is this: I have a few fs2020 default aircraft that I've tweaked and they fly so well I'd like to fly them also in fs2024. I've also modded a couple of aircraft based on default fs2020  which work perfectly in fs2020, but they don't show up in fs2024. I've tried every combination I can think of, such as placing the original aircraft in "official fs2020" and the modded version in Community, and various other combinations and they simply don't show. 

So I downloaded RealContentManager which is an excellent content xml editor and disabled a whole lot of default fs2024 aircraft and "enabled" a pile of fs2020 aircraft which I copied across (they fly to my mind better than the fs2024 equivalents but that's another story). Not only do my tweaked aircraft not show up - but not even the default fs2020 ones show up either, yet Aosobo assured us that FS2020 aircraft would work in fs2024.

Is there anyone here who is an expert on this subject who can advise me please. Thank you.

Robert Young

39 minutes ago, robert young said:

I have bizarrely 4, yes four, folders in my steam packages folder : 

Community

Community fs2024 

Official fs2020

Official fs2024

I have never heard of anyone else saying they had a "community fs2024" folder but if delete it then start the sim it gets created along with the others.

It is normal. 

Only experience i have is with the Blacksquare King Air. it uses the default 2020 King Air.  it is an unofficial bypass whereby you remove the Default 2024 (can also be done via the market place). Then copy both the fs2020 default airplane and the modded folder in your Community folder. 

 

This may not help. I believe the first step to get organized is to move your location (the small ships wheel in My Library of msfs2024) to a new location with a short path. I use this path which I created

C/msfs2024

And then, the msfs program will put 5 folders into that:

Official2020

Official2024

Community2024

Community

StreamedPackages

---

OK, so the top 3 folders are empty, msfs does not use them. It created them, but does not use them. All of my content from msfs2020 that I want to put into msfs 2024 I myself put into Community. All the msfs content that msfs puts into the game is put by msfs2024 into StreamedPackages. So the bottom two folders are the only ones that do anything in the msfs2024 sim.

Since I use AddonLinker, the content that I put into community are links, not folders. I put them there with AddonLinker. 

So, in the msfs2024 folder (which I created), I have 6 subfolders.

Official2020

Official2024

Community2024

Community

StreamedPackages

2024MSFS_Addons_Linker 

That bottom folder I created to hold all the content I want to put into msfs2024. Including both stuff left over from 2020, and new freeware and purchased content which I obtained directly for msfs2024. 

So, all content I myself added into 2024 goes in the bottom folder, and the links from it goes in and out of Community according to AddonLinker's actions, and content provided by msfs2024 itself is put by MSFS2024 itself into StreamedPackages. I never add stuff into StreamedPackages. The sim does that.

 

 

Thanks for that. I wonder then, what the "fs2020 official" folder is for, as that logically seems the location for default fs2020 aircraft. So, having removed the streamed fs2024 equivalent aircraft via content.xml, are you saying both the fs2020 default aircraft and its modded version BOTH go into the plain community folder. 

For example , I remove the fs2024 Bonanza from the content xml file and then I have to place the default fs2020 bonanza AND the modded Bonanza (with new flight model and added liveries etc) all in the community folder? I wonder why we have the other package folders? It doesn't make sense but if it works so be it. I've looked up many posts about this subject and it is not clear what the other package folders are for.

Thanks again.

Another question kind of related to this post. Where are located the downloaded MSFS2024 add ons or packages from my library? Thanks in advance. 

Fielder - thanks for that. I'm trying to get my head around what you say, but the additional headache of addons linker is making things harder to absorb. I'm trying to understand WHERE the default fs2020 aircraft goes and where the modded fs2020 version goes. BTW I know for certain this all works within just fs2020, but so far nothing shows in fs2024. For example I have an FS2020 mod for the DA62 which works perfectly within FS2020. But it either doesn't show up in fs2024 aircraft selection, or it does, but it loads a blank into the sim. I deleted the fs2024 default Da62 via content xml before this, and indeed the fs2024 da62 doesn't show.

In this case the modded Da62 shows in the aircraft selection menu, but it doesn't load in the sim.

But you seem to be saying nothing matters except for the plain "community" folder, or Streamed folder. How odd that it creates the other folders. Very confusing,

Edited January 27Jan 27 by robert young

Robert, I don't currently use any FS2020 aircraft but discovered very early that some of my 2020 scenery addons would only work if placed in the FS2024 community folder for some unknown reason. I would suggest just to try placing your aircraft in that folder and see if they show up in the sim. No guarantees but might be worth a try.

53 minutes ago, robert young said:

How odd that it creates the other folders. Very confusing,

 

Definitive answers to the questions:

The Community folder is intended to be used for installed non-native community add-ons.

The Community 2024 folder is intended to be used for installed native community add-ons.

The Official 2020 folder is intended to be used for downloaded and installed Marketplace MSFS 2020 products.

The Official 2024 folder is intended to be used for downloaded and installed Marketplace MSFS 2024 products.

 

 

Edited January 27Jan 27 by Reader

The official folders are where MS/Asobo/Marketplace addons live (and default content, that's been downloaded rather than streamed).

The others are for everything else - Community (3rd party content).   There's the main Community folder and the Community 2024 folder is intended for 2020 content that you want to run in 2024.

We all have those folders.

  

24 minutes ago, Reader said:

The Community folder is intended to be used for installed non-native community add-ons.

The Community 2024 folder is intended to be used for installed native community add-ons.

This 'definitive' answer is incorrect.  It is nothing to do with native vs non-native. the Community 2024 folder was added in SU3, purely in relation to content sharing between 2020 and 2024.

 

 

 

Edited January 27Jan 27 by JYW

30 minutes ago, JYW said:

This 'definitive' answer is incorrect.  It is nothing to do with native vs non-native. the Community 2024 folder was added in SU3, purely in relation to content sharing between 2020 and 2024.

 

Installing a community addon using say, Contrail or Orbx Central, places it into the Community folder.

Installing, for example, the native TFDi MD11, puts it into the Community 2024 folder.

Downloading and installing a native Marketplace product puts it into the Official 2024 folder.

Downloading and installing an MSFS 2020 Marketplace product puts it into the Official 2020 folder.
 

I have verified this by doing these things this evening and is why I wrote the word
"intended" that appears in every line.
 

Edited January 27Jan 27 by Reader

So many contradictory exchanges whenever a question like that of the OP lands here. Do Microsoft/Asobo not have a site where these questions can be definitively answered?

 

It all goes into the Community folder.

Seems weird, but works for me.

Just to re-iterate, I have an aircraft that was "official" in fs2020, and I have modded it to add extra liveries and edited flight models etc, and it shows up and flies perfectly well in fs2020's community folder instead of the original. In order for the mod to work in fs2020 both the "official" Da62 has to be present and the mod goes in fs2020's community folder because there are dependencies in some of the files. This works with no issue.

 In FS2024 I have deleted the FS2024 version of the DA62 by removing it from the content.xml file in app data/flight simulator 2024/username/packages folder and instead wish to use the official 2020 da62 and then my mod which HAS DEPENDENCIES 

So for example, I have deleted the fs2024 version of the da62, and I want to know where to place the ORIGINAL DEFAULT fs2020 DA62 AND the modded da62 which I made for FS2020 and now wish to fly it in FS2024. Of course both the default Fs2020 Da62 AND the modded Da62 have to be present because the mod has dependencies on the DEFAULT FS2020 DA62.

According to one reply, both go into the plain fs2024 community folder, another says elsewhere. If nothing else this demostrates that Asobo has not properly explained what each of the package folders is for, and so far I cannot find a permutation that works. The nearest I've got is that the mod appears in the Fs2024 aircraft selection menu but it loads in the sim as completely invisible!!

With so many conflicting replies I'm trying hard who to believe, but I do appreciate the help!

Edited January 27Jan 27 by robert young

38 minutes ago, robert young said:

With so many conflicting replies I'm trying hard who to believe, but I do appreciate the help!

 Hello,
I am trying not to confuse, just to explain what I think Asobo and Microsoft intended.
I don't think that they ever intended for anyone to take one of their default MSFS 2020 aircraft
into MSFS 2024, though of course "mods" to them are plentiful and go into the Community folder.

If the MSFS 2020 DA 62 was available for download in MSFS 2024, as an MSFS 2020 product,
they would put it into the Official 2020 folder, presumably with its dependncies as well.
Whether that would work for you is another matter.
 

Edited January 27Jan 27 by Reader

You are trying to move a default plane from 2020 -> 2024, correct? The default planes are in "Streamed Packages". 

Official202x folders are the ones that hold that planes purchased from the MS Marketplace. This shouldn't have anything to do with what you're trying to do. 

See below. That's my folder with all the default stuff. 

https://postimg.cc/dDXmz28J

 

If you don't see a "Streamed Packages" folder, it's likely still in the original default install location.

Usually this is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages

 

I can't try it myself as I've long ago deleted 2020, but for this to work, I think you need your original plane in the location where all the default planes are, and then your mod as usual in the normal community folder. 

Give this a shot if you haven't already tried it.