v4 Install of Addons Outside of Sim Install Location?

[maxam]

Wonder if LM has made this reality. Just a quick question about V4, will addons be installed outside the P3D core directory? I am hoping that should a complete reinstall, and for housekeeping purposes you have made that change in v4 and a reinstalling addons on a fresh install will be a thing of the past.

Thank you,

Robert

[BBQSteve]

Hmmm........ wondering the same thing. No response, that's not a good thing. Not unusual, but not a good thing.

[WarpD]

While it is supported, it us up to the developers to utilize it.

[virtuali]

This method has been available since P3D V3, it was perfected in 3.3, and even more in 4.0.

Some users seems to be uncomfortable with it, but I am a full converted, and I would never want to go back to the old system.

Yes, it's an option right now, so it's up to developers to use it, because the sim still support using the centralized system of scenery.cfg, dll.xml, exe.xml, etc.

We at FSDT have switched to it, and it is so much better, for everything: installations, updates, ease of maintenance, disk space usage, install speed, no support issue of config files of the sim being corrupted by other rogue installers.

For users, the biggest advantage is that it will possible to entirely wipe out the whole sim, including cleaning ALL the preferences in %APPDATA%, %PROGRAMDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA%, and the add-ons will STILL work after a reinstall, thanks to a nice feature called "Auto-discovery".

An addon that use this system and placed its own add-on.xml configuration file in the Documents\Prepar3D V4 Add-ons folder (just the add-on.xml, which is a tiny file ), if the sim is totally wiped out and reinstalled clean, as long as the add-on.xml in the Documents folder is still there, and the files that makes up the product (which can be everywhere) are still there, will prompt a request from the newly reinstalled Prepar3D to reactivate that addon, and all the other that used this system.

Which means, after a clean reinstall of the sim, instead of having to reinstall all your addons, the only thing you'll have to do, it's just reply YES to all requests to reactivate, and that's it. It also means that, if you are planning to reinstall the sim entirely, you don't even have to uninstall all your addons first, because it's just not needed anymore!

How course, only the ones using the new system. The others, will still have to be uninstalled and then reinstalled each time you reinstall the sim.

- Ever had a problem with an addon, because *another* one has corrupted the scenery.cfg or the dll.xml ? Gone: add-ons can now add their own scenery, texture, sound, effects, gauges, etc, in their own private place, using their own private configuration file.

- Ever had a problem with objects missing because someone messed up the SimobjectPaths lines in the Prepar3d.CFG file ? Gone, because even Simobjects can be added locally, with no conflicts.

- Ever had a problem trying to guess WHAT an addon has added to the sim ? Is there a dll ? what's this .exe for ? where's the landclass correction for this ? Gone: with the new system, you can just check the add-on.xml file, and you'll know exactly what each add-on requires, so you can even disable and re-enable it, without having to edit multiple files, and go hunting for files all over the sim.

I hope I'm getting my point through, about who's going to offer the better user experience...

Now, the big issue is, some users asked for the ability to freely rearrange Scenery Areas from within the sim UI. And yes, I guess this could be a nice addition, if there aren't any special technical issues the are preventing it.

[kevinfirth]

addon that use this system and placed its own add-on.xml configuration file in the Documents\Prepar3D V4 Add-ons folder (just the add-on.xml, which is a tiny file )

Could you clarify exactly what directory the add-in.xml file should be in please, because I'm placing mine in;

C:\Users\Kevin\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons\FsAerodata\add-on.xml

and P3D4 is failing to automatically recognise it as a scenery package....?
Thanks K

[Wills]

Hey Kevin,

Have you seen these docs:

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/sdk/add-o ... files.html

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/sdk/add-o ... opers.html

Hopefully they help.

P.S @LM - I really wish the SDK docs didn't use frames for the navigation. Really makes linking to content tricky. (And also they are a bad practice and have been deprecated from the web standards…)

[WarpD]

Without seeing your add-on.xml file... couldn't possibly tell you what's wrong.

I've already done an addon install with this method so I know it works.

[maxam]

That's exactly what I was hoping for Umberto. I fear that even though some devs will follow the new regime others will be hard pressed to change their ways. Thank you so much for your reply.

Regards,

Robert

[BBQSteve]

Since this system of installing scenery is the preferred method, how about a LM utility added to P3D v4 to convert scenery. cfg files to the add-ons.xml format. This would also, hopefully, prevent duplicate area and layer numbers between both methods.

[keithb77]

There are rumblings elsewhere that too many sceneries via add_on.xml's causes P3D to crash...

Also I believe that it is not possible to install 'area flattening' bgls this way and they still have to go physically in <P3Droot>/scenery/world/scenery?
Cheers
Keith

[valir]

Well, I see Samos installed in my P3D v4 folder, Aerosoft Oslo, Orbx stuff is also in the P3D folder..PMDG stuff is also in the P3D folder.

[keithb77]

UK2000 have also said they see no advantage for scenery in the xml method...I think there IS if you have custom autogen and effects but most scenery doesn't...
Cheers
Keith

[vgbaron]

There is no real advantage in performance etc BUT for the user, it sure makes reinstalling a snap. What I believe they are really saying is that there is no advantage to THEM to put the time and effort in to install via add-on.xml.

I also believe that, down the road, it will no longer be an option but mandatory to install via add-on.xml.

But that's just MHO,

Vic

[ahuimanu]

I actually wish the new system was forced as it decouples flightsim's update cycle with the add-on developer's cycle. However, the whole approach is not refined and fairly user unfriendly - there is no simple way to enable/disable. We'll have this error-prone/crash-inducing hybrid in the meantime. I continue to have problems that I suspect are related to "P3D v4" addons having some inconsistency with the v4 itself.