Disk space

[davenicoll]

Hi,

I have just purchased Prepar3d v3...

Before I install it I have one question...

I had v2 away from the operating system on it's own 750gb SSD. When installing some addons they also needed to go into the main Prepar3d folder.

I have seen that EVERYTHING 3rd party needs to be installed away from the main Prepar3d folder.

Does this mean now that my 750gb SSD is far to big for Prepar3d on it's own...do I partition it ?...What size does Prepar3d require?

Seems I will be wasting an awful lot of space using the 750gb SSD just for Prepar3d

Get a smaller SSD for Prepar3d on it's own??

Dave

[BG2518]

I have seen that EVERYTHING 3rd party needs to be installed away from the main Prepar3d folder.

Get a smaller SSD for Prepar3d on it's own??

Dave

Dunno where you've seen that?

All sim stuff on same drive (preferably SSD) and not on C: is ok.

[Saul]

Hi Dave a good question!

Ideally all addons would be installed away from the main folder. Unfortunately, this would either require new installers from the Devs or some trickery by yourself to do so.

In answer to you 750GB drive. If you used that for P3D there's no need to create another partition just make a new folder called addons or any name you want.

You will of course need to direct P3D to these addons in by adding extra lines in each .cfg inside the ProgramData folder.

Here's an example of the cfg entries I've used to create my addon folder on an addition drive. You can point the PATH to your own custom location. I personally Make a Folder structure the same as P3D and put all my addons into that. "Other than ORBX which still must go into the Main P3D folder"

1, Effects.cfg
[Entry.0]
Title=Default Effects
Path=Effects

[Entry.1]
Title=Addon Effects
Path=D:\Addon Files\Effects

2, Fonts.cfg
[Entry.0]
Title=Default Fonts
Path=fonts

[Entry.1]
Title=Addon Fonts
Path=D:\Addon Files\Fonts

3, Gauges.cfg
[Entry.0]
Title=Default Gauges
Path=Gauges

[Entry.1]
Title=Addon Gauges
Path=D:\Addon Files\Gauges

4, Scenery.cfg
If you manually add the entry for the addon scenery folder that some addons use but place that Path inside your Addon P3D directory.

5, SimObjects.cfg
[Entry.0]
Title=Default Airplanes
Path=SimObjects\Airplanes

[Entry.1]
Title=Default Avatars
Path=SimObjects\Avatars

[Entry.2]
Title=Default Rotorcraft
Path=SimObjects\Rotorcraft

[Entry.3]
Title=Default Ground Vehicles
Path=SimObjects\GroundVehicles

[Entry.4]
Title=Default Boats
Path=SimObjects\Boats

[Entry.5]
Title=Default Animals
Path=SimObjects\Animals

[Entry.6]
Title=Default Misc
Path=SimObjects\Misc

[Entry.7]
Title=Default Submersible
Path=SimObjects\Submersible

[Entry.8]
Title=Default Weapons
Path=SimObjects\Weapons

[Entry.9]
Title=Default Countermeasures
Path=SimObjects\Countermeasures

[Entry.10]
Title=Addon Airplanes
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Airplanes

[Entry.11]
Title=Addon Avatars
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Avatars

[Entry.12]
Title=Addon Rotorcraft
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Rotorcraft

[Entry.13]
Title=Addon Ground Vehicles
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\GroundVehicles

[Entry.14]
Title=Addon Boats
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Boats

[Entry.15]
Title=Addon Animals
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Animals

[Entry.16]
Title=Addon Misc
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Misc

[Entry.17]
Title=Addon Submersible
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Submersible

[Entry.18]
Title=Addon Weapons
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Weapons

[Entry.19]
Title=Addon Countermeasures
Path=D:\Addon Files\SimObjects\Countermeasures

6, Sound.cfg
[Entry.0]
Title=Default Sounds
Path=Sound

[Entry.1]
Title=Addon Sounds
Path=D:\Addon Files\Sound

7, Texture.cfg
[Entry.0]
Title=Default Textures
Path=Texture
Type=Global

[Entry.1]
Title=Default Global Scenery Textures
Path=Scenery\Global\Texture
Type=Global

[Entry.2]
Title=Default World Textures
Path=Scenery\World\Texture
Type=World

[Entry.3]
Title=Addon Textures
Path=D:\Addon Files\Texture
Type=Global

[Entry.4]
Title=Addon Global Scenery Textures
Path=D:\Addon Files\Scenery\Global\Texture
Type=Global

[Entry.5]
Title=Addon World Textures
Path=D:\Addon Files\Scenery\World\Texture
Type=World

[davenicoll]

Thank you Saul,

I understand most developers are in the process of making new installers which I will happily wait for so that will mean I won't need to point anything as it will be done automatically.

In essence I am going to install Prepar3d v3 on my 750gb SSD and of course I can put all other addons..EG ORBX on the same drive, just a different folder.

Dave

[Saul]

Hi Dave,

Just to clarify. ORBX installers must all go in the main directory otherwise you're going to have a lot of problems!

[davenicoll]

Hi Saul,

I thought LM wanted EVERYTHING to reside away from the main Prepar3d v3 folder??

Dave

[Saul]

Hi Dave,

You're correct in that assumption. In a perfect world the above cfg's I provided would enable exactly that!
Installing then into an addon directory outside of P3D's main folder.

The trouble being is that some addons still must go into P3D. example ORBX.

[birdmanmike]

Saul, more or less clear on above except scenery. I have all add-on scenery either in an "external to P3D" Addon Scenery folder (scenery, texture) or dedicated folders within the Addon Scenery or dedicated folders for large stuff like FS Global. I then add the Scenery Library entries in the normal way. Path is to my D or E drives where the sceneries are
where you say "but place that Path inside your Addon P3D directory", do you just mean the path is still shown in the Scenery Library/scenery.cfg entry but Addon P3D directory is just generic for any external to P3D folder?. the reason is you can't just amalgamate the sceneries because of priority and layering, not so?

And one question on the textures bit. A number of add-ons replace default textures (a certain weather s/w springs to mind). Fine, are they really supposed to go into external texture folders? Using more disk space but more importantly how do you make sure the right replacement texture is called up or prioritised maybe? example maybe a HD cloud texture or a replacement ground or water texture . . .

thanks, Mike

[Saul]

Hi Mike,

What I do for scenery is.

1 Make a folder called addon scenery inside a the other folders you'll have to make so you have a directory tree similar to P3D

like this D:\Addon Files\Addon Scenery\***SceneryName***

2 Add to that 2 folders 1 Scenery and 1 Texture. Those two folders will act as a common file place as a lot of older addons use that in P3D & FSX
like this D:\Addon Files\Addon Scenery\Scenery
& D:\Addon Files\Addon Scenery\Texture

Then you can install your scenery in to that Addon Scenery folder and make sure they are added in the scenery.cfg

Or, Alternatively you can just make sure the scenery.cfg is pointed to your scenery installation and that will work too for a simpler approach.

[RCFlyer]

Saul:

If I understand your previous posting detailing the "Addon" directory structure, one could rename the old P3D directory to "Addons" and use the path to direct P3DV3 to those files, correct?

Example:

Old P3DV2.5 directory name: P3D
Rename "P3D" directory to "Addons"
To direct P3DV3 to old SimObjects files use the following:

[Entry.#]
Title: Addon Airplanes
Path: H:\Addons\SimObjects\Airplanes
Required=True
Active=True

Danny

[Saul]

Hi Danny,

If you want to do that I would uninstall v2 and then clean up deleting the files out of the folders and the unused folders just to unclutter. If you want to try leaving gauges, effects and sound as well as simobjects & subfolders... u could but I'd wouldn't because of some problems that may arise. I'd start afresh adding them one by one making sure its functional.

Note: that not all installers are happy doing that and it can become tricky.

Some addon aircraft that use callback to P3D sound folders don't get linked back and I found that it I could edit the sound.cfg of the aircraft to point it to a full path back to the main P3D directory when those type of problems arise. Usually that's with freeware.

[jbl]

I don't have v3 yet but I wonder if, now that you can define all those additional content folders outside the root, how this works with modifying or removing default content?

For example when I use addon traffic, I had to rename the default traffic BGL to disable it. Can I now with v3 "remove" default files, without deleting/modifying them in the root?
Or if I add the FSX stock aircraft, can I disable those which are already present in P3D but not flyable by default?

[Hobbyhorse]

[quote="Saul James"]Hi Dave a good question!

Ideally all addons would be installed away from the main folder. Unfortunately, this would either require new installers from the Devs or some trickery by yourself to do so.

Hi Saul,

I understand what you're saying and it seems easy enough to do. But what about when the 3rd party developers start updating their installers? Does LM list a recommended file structure for addons or is this going to be whatever is easiest for the 3rd party to write? Resulting in folders, files, addons scattered everywhere.

[Saul]

Hi Hobbyhorse,

I think you have a good point too! things could get extremely complicated and cluttered. I have an Idea that may be a solution but I can't say if LM will implement it or not. Where as LM could have a setting page for addon installation where the location of the addons would be defined. Then the devs could in theory run a scan to find these registered folders and install into the correct addon location.

But that's just an Idea I put forward. I believe it would simplify things in the long but as you say if the Devs don't move forward then there's not much can be done about it.

[gingerterry]

Just for your info, all I did for my photo scenery was copy the scenery.cfg from 2.5 to 3 with a few exceptions, ie, the default scenery that is in there, and hey presto, all is well.