This continues to be a frustrating topic for a number of simmers, in particular those using Addon Linker (135200 users worldwide).

Whenever we buy an addon from these distributors, we have a very limited choice to install our payware:

• Contrail will allow you to create numerous libraries, hence you can at least put your software in a folder where they belong, but will create a subfolder "MSFS" in it. I made the suggestion to allow a direct install into a precise location (i.e. "airplanes"), without subfolder, to the distributor explaining the reasons: no response. You can of course remove the subfolder, but then your Contrail app will detect all your products as not installed, and gone are the updates.
• ORBX will only allow ONE location: its own library wherever you want it to be. No interest from the distributor to change that. You can of course move the product manually in various locations, but then the ORBX Central tool will not detect it and you won't get updates.
• Simmarket is the easiest to manage of the three: In most cases, it will offer no choice but the Community folder. You can then, on your own, zip the file and transfer it where you want. Since you receive update notices by email from Simmarket, it is easy to update your software and keep the classification as you wish. But having made the suggestion to Simmarket to allow the installation to the location of our choice drew the comment: "It is not supported by MSFS"...!

As a consequence of the above, before starting MSFS with Addon Linker, to manage your aircraft, sceneries and other add-ons - when you have many - becomes a tedious task to navigate in various locations and making sure you are not missing one. For example, you may have a FlyTampa scenery bought from Simmarket, and a city scenery for that same location from ORBX, but since one is in the country folder you created (say Australia) and the other in the ORBX folder (because you have no choice), you are likely to miss or forget one and realise that once you are on the tarmac...

Are you one of the 135200 Addon Linker users and would you support what is suggested here? Is it such a daunting task for developers to accommodate this request i.e.:

1. Offer a choice of location for the product installation (the default location given by the installer should always remain the Community folder so as to make it easier, but alternative locations of our choice should be made available)
2. Inform of an update via email or in their app (like Simmarket does, it does not "see" where your product is but it knows you have it), this way we will always be kept abreast, even the apps don't detect the install location, IF there is no way to implement the app detection in the folder of our choice.

This would make for a logical and easy MSFS pre-start phase.

Thank you for your feedback. 

Edited March 11, 20224 yr by Bernard Ducret

5 minutes ago, Bernard Ducret said:

ORBX will only allow ONE location: its own library. No interest from the distributor to change that. You can of course move the product manually, but then the ORBX Central tool will not detect it and you won't get updates.

Not correct. You have the option when creating the Orbx library to either take the default or create your own location. I do the later and don't have a problem. You create a preset in addon linker and install all your Orbx products into it. Works perfect.

12 minutes ago, RW1 said:

Not correct. You have the option when creating the Orbx library to either take the default or create your own location. I do the later and don't have a problem. You create a preset in addon linker and install all your Orbx products into it. Works perfect.

Unfortunate choice of words on my part, I am perfectly aware of that and do the same as you do, however it remains that all your ORBX products are in ONE location wherever you choose it to be (I have amended my initial post accordingly) and that it defeats the purpose of sorting your payware according to your preference, for example by geographical locations.

Edited March 11, 20224 yr by Bernard Ducret

I have just voted (yes/yes) but to be honest, if you've got the addon linker then contrail, orbx, and all the others are no big problem. They can put their stuff in their own folders and I can still access and control them via the linker. Maybe one extra step on the install but then it's done.

7 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

Unfortunate choice of words on my part, I am perfectly aware of that and do the same as you do, however it remains that all your ORBX products are in ONE location wherever you choose it to be (I have amended my initial post accordingly) and that it defeats the purpose of sorting your payware according to your preference, for example by geographical locations.

Actually this isnt 100% true either.

In the Orbx app, I tell it to "install" everything in the main MSFS Directory (i.e. Community).  When I first buy a product, it gets placed there.

However, my structure with addon linker was to make a bunch of directories bases on world regions (e.e. US_EAST, US_WEST, EUROPE_EAST, AUSTRALIA, etc, etc).  Right affer the Orbx app installs, I move the directory out of the Community folder to the appropriate directory under addon linkers control.  Addon Linker then places a symbolic link in the community folder pointing to the new location.

Now here's the fun part ... so long as there is a symbolic link for the orbx scenery in your community folder (which is what addon linker does when you "activate" a scenery file), the Orbx app considers the file "installed".  It will appear in your list of purchased scenery, and even better, it will actually update the files properly in place in your ALTERNATE directory when you process an update.

Its similar with Contrail, although with some of their installers, it will first delete the old version (in your ALTERNATE directory), then install the new one back in the community folder.  Minor inconvenience, but you just move it back where you want to afterwards.  The good news is that, just like wth Orbx, the Contrail app does "see" your linked folders and considers them "installed" for the purpose of letting you know about updates etc.

Edited March 11, 20224 yr by VFXSimmer

18 hours ago, VFXSimmer said:

Now here's the fun part ... so long as there is a symbolic link for the orbx scenery in your community folder (which is what addon linker does when you "activate" a scenery file), the Orbx app considers the file "installed".  It will appear in your list of purchased scenery,

Thank you for your feedback. I tried what you suggest for only one item from my present ORBX list: move the Aerosoft CRJ to my "Aircraft" directory keeping the path as created by ORBX as follows:

Aircraft>msfs>Aerosoft CRJ 550-700>Community>Aerosoft-crj. Being unsuccessful I tried Aircraft>Aerosoft-crj, then Aircraft>Aerosoft CRJ 550-700>Aerosoft-crj to no avail. ORBX Central would always see the plane as not installed. I made sure, each time, to activate the link to the Community folder with Addon Linker, before starting ORBX Central.

Moving back the plane to the ORBX folder was immediately recognised by ORBX Central as installed. 

Evidently the airplane was always available within MSFS and could be used, but there would have been no update from the ORBX Central since the usual green dot in my products list goes grey. I wonder what I am doing wrong there? Would you mind to please clarify? Many thanks.

Edited March 12, 20224 yr by Bernard Ducret

Everything VFXSimmer said is true in my experience. The unified place becomes my Community ADDONS folder which is the one on the left in Addon linker app with Community on the right. Every addon is then handled exactly the same and they are all in that same folder for storage, the one on the left in the app.

3 hours ago, Fielder said:

The unified place becomes my Community ADDONS folder which is the one on the left in Addon linker app with Community on the right. Every addon is then handled exactly the same and they are all in that same folder for storage, the one on the left in the app.

Thank you for your feedback. I do understand what you are saying, but I am not getting the result VFXSimmer has mentioned (i.e. updating of my ORBX products when they are located outside the ORBX folder), clearly there is something I do not decipher correctly.

Like you, I have all my add-ons (payware and freeware) shown on the left hand side of the Addons-Linker screen by categories, but in that categorisation (Aircraft, Liveries, Sceneries, Tools etc), I have to have one ORBX folder which I cannot organise according to (for example) geographical areas parts of my Scenery folder (North America, Europe, Asia etc...). I have to leave all the ORBX product (many of them) in that ORBX folder, or if I do put for example Sydney FlyTampa in my Scenery/Australia folder, it will not be detected as installed anymore by my ORBX Central and thus, won't be updated, whether it is linked to the Community folder or not. Of course all my products in their ORBX folder can be linked individually by Addon-Linker and are indeed updated for as long as they remain in that ORBX folder.

So I am still curious to learn how VFXSimmer does that trick to put his ORBX sceneries where he wishes (outside ORBX folder) and still get automatic updates by Central.

I had issues similar, or maybe just like yours. I removed this scenery with Orbx central and then reinstalled it using another option in Orbx Central. And then I think I had to manually move some files around after that to get it all addons working the same way in Addon linker. I forgot how I did this. Maybe someone remembers the way to do it and can post the method.

Scenery purchased from other stores sometimes don't interface with the addon linker scheme automatically and I have to fiddle with the files after running the installer. It can be different as to what must be done. But we know what the desired end result should look like in the two side by side folders in the AL app. I run whatever installer the seller uses and then manually move files to end up with the desired result showing in the Windows file explorer and in  the AL app.

Orbx works fine for me but updating a product seems to replace the addon linker link with an Orbx one and i need to put it back.

On 3/13/2022 at 4:34 AM, Bernard Ducret said:

Thank you for your feedback. I do understand what you are saying, but I am not getting the result VFXSimmer has mentioned (i.e. updating of my ORBX products when they are located outside the ORBX folder), clearly there is something I do not decipher correctly.

Like you, I have all my add-ons (payware and freeware) shown on the left hand side of the Addons-Linker screen by categories, but in that categorisation (Aircraft, Liveries, Sceneries, Tools etc), I have to have one ORBX folder which I cannot organise according to (for example) geographical areas parts of my Scenery folder (North America, Europe, Asia etc...). I have to leave all the ORBX product (many of them) in that ORBX folder, or if I do put for example Sydney FlyTampa in my Scenery/Australia folder, it will not be detected as installed anymore by my ORBX Central and thus, won't be updated, whether it is linked to the Community folder or not. Of course all my products in their ORBX folder can be linked individually by Addon-Linker and are indeed updated for as long as they remain in that ORBX folder.

So I am still curious to learn how VFXSimmer does that trick to put his ORBX sceneries where he wishes (outside ORBX folder) and still get automatic updates by Central.

One thing that MAY be a reason my setup is working is that I have the main (i.e. MSFS Community) library selected as my install destination in the Orbx App.  This is where Orbx is expecting to look for the scenery files when the app is run (and checks for updates etc).  In my case, when it looks there it will find a symbolic link to the location where I've moved it.  To the Windows OS and thus the Orbx App, with a symbolic link it "looks" like the directories are still in the Community folder so all works as expected.

If, however, in the Orbx App, you've setup a special Orbx library folder and you've moved the files from there to your Addon Linker filestructure, the Orbx App will not find the directories because it wont be looking in the Community folder for them (and thus find the symbolic link Addon Linker has made).  It will instead be looking in your "Orbx Library" which is now empty.

I'm making a semi-educated guess on this (because I havent tested my theory above), but I'd be curious if this is what you might be experiencing?

 

On 3/14/2022 at 6:04 PM, VFXSimmer said:

I'd be curious if this is what you might be experiencing?

Thank you for this explanation that makes sense.

However, I did change the ORBX library path to the MSFS Community folder (default ORBX library location), installed the CRJ and the set of liveries for the A320. Then moved them in their respective desired locations i.e. the CRJ to my "Airplane" folder and the liveries to the "A320 Liveries" folder, linked all of them with Addon Linker and checked in the Community folder that they were indeed activated. Restarted ORBX Central which gave me an error message, and all of the above shown as not installed.

Then this must be something else...

For the time being I will make do with what is offered, I realise that few simmers actually care about file "housekeeping". Thank you for your help anyway.

2 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

However, I did change the ORBX library path to the MSFS Community folder (default ORBX library location), installed the CRJ and the set of liveries for the A320. Then moved them in their respective desired locations i.e. the CRJ to my "Airplane" folder and the liveries to the "A320 Liveries" folder, linked all of them with Addon Linker and checked in the Community folder that they were indeed activated. Restarted ORBX Central which gave me an error message, and all of the above shown as not installed.

I don't have my (relatively few) planes in the linker system but directly in the Community folder. However, the named procedure works fine for a ton of ORBX Central sceneries I installed this way. All of them are found and properly updated, as necessary, as long as the linker entries are active. (I set the linker to the green "all active" before running ORBX Central for whatever reason.)

Kind regards, Michael

Not using Addon linker.
My install is already separated (another SSD) from the core at initial install. I'm happy with that.

In view of the various comments in this thread and to summarise what I have done this morning to clean up the jungle of categories and sub-categories of add-ons created by the various vendors: I uninstalled all ORBX and Contrail products, created new categorised folders outside MSFS (Aircraft, Liveries, Geographical Scenery Libraries, Tools) and reinstalled each product in these new categories creating corresponding libraries both in ORBX Central and Contrail app.

All products are now linked via Addon-Linker and, from what I have seen - it is not even necessary to link them to the Community folder to be recognised by ORBX Central and Contrail to be updated.

The only item I could not eliminate to make those categories straightforward is the "msfs" subfolder created by ORBX and Contrail. At least both use the same subfolder in each new category!

Of course most/many Simmarket products still have to be installed in the Community folder, zipped and transferred to a folder of our choice. As long as installers won't be corrected, this will have to be done "manually".

Thank you to all who contributed with their comments and votes.

Edited March 16, 20224 yr by Bernard Ducret