I can't keep track of add-ons.

[jmig]

Pardon me while I emote. I am having a hard time keeping up with add-ons. Yesterday, I spent close to an hour trying to find from whom I purchased IndiaTechFox’s MB-339, so I could download the 1.3 update.

In the FSX?P3D days I had a separate add-on folder which was sub-divided by region, country, state. I would link to the scenery, airports, etc. that I needed. It was simple and elegant. Also, I purchased most of my add-ons from either PCAviator or SIMMARKET. Not so with MSFS.

More and more vendors are now selling direct. I started buying from them, figuring it would give them added revenue. It may, but the ever increasing number of vendors is getting harder and harder to keep up with where I purchased what.

Starting with Orbx, companies are building their own download programs. You have to run the app to see if you have an updated add-on. Which means, of course, you have to remember you have the app and to run it. Then you have MS Marketplace. Once again, you need to go to it to see if anything you have purchased has been updated. All this means I have to remember who and what I purchased, along with how to update. This gets more complicated with each different company/purchase and I am not even talking about the free add-ons from Flightsim.to.

Finally, every time MS updates MSFS I have to change the name of my Community folder so I can install the update with a fresh Community folder. Later I must move scenery over only to discover that one or more won’t work with the new update. The end result is that most do not get moved. I either don’t fly in that area of I forget I have the scenery/add-on.

I don’t know what the answer is. I tried using a scenery/add-on linker from Flightsim.to. It worked well until SU5 where something did jive with the new MSFS update. So, I am back to have to drag folders from Community4 into Community as I need them or remember I even have them. Most confusing and frustrating.

Why bother to purchase if I will use it once then forget where it is located or that I have it?

Pity party over.

 

[Tom Clayton]

If you buy an add-on from the vendor, you, of course, have the luxury of installing it into the Community folder - even with apps like Orbx Direct. Once installed there, copy the folder to your desktop and then put it into a zip file as a backup, then store that in a safe place. Inside that zip, you can also include a copy of the text from your confirmation email so that you know where it came from and when. I know this doesn't do anything for your current predicament, but it might help in the future.

 

[K5083]

I use Mod Manager FX. You can sort and filter your addons, enable and disable with 2 clicks, and there's a place to type in the URL of where you got it so you can check for updates. It was not broken by SU5. I think it only works with Community folder items so I'm not sure about Marketplace products or other vendors that may stick stuff in the Official folder, but for most of what you want, it works well. It is a hassle when you first install it, though, because it wants to unpack a ZIP file for each addon which means, if your addons are all installed already, you have to zip each one into an archive, only to unpack it with the mod manager. Sometimes you also have to unzip and reorganize addons you downloaded and rezip them into the folder structure that ModMan likes.

August

 

[Tom Clayton]

Also... After I run an installer (like I just did for the EMB-110 updated for SU5), I zip the installed folder, then uninstall anything in the Add/Remove Programs list. For this, I use the legacy Control Panel system, not the new Win-10 "Settings" features. After that, I also run CCleaner to clear out any registry remnants.