Flight simulator recommends the community folder to be relocated with every update and I thought it’s easier to developed an app that does this with a click of a button than manually moving the community folder. Would anyone be interested in this app?
There is no “requirement” to relocate the Community folder - it is a suggestion.
However, many people have pointed out that it isn’t required and many do not even touch it when updating the game (I am one of those).
You could simply rename the folder to anything but “Community” and then add a new Community folder, update the game, then remove the new Community and rename the original folder back to Community so you’re not moving anything.
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Yup, me too. I’ve never deleted that folder and haven’t had any problems.
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- There already is such a tool basically, it’s called Addon Linker which allows you to manage package and enable/disable these.
- Simply renaming of the folder temporarily is enough.
- Community content usually does not break any update. They just want to make sure that the user can start MSFS and use it - if an addon is not compatible anymore it will cause issues after the update was installed.
Or, if you really want to, just rename it. There is no need to physically move files, rename it to community_bak.
Fire up the sim, it’ll create a new community folder. Once you’re done updating, shutdown the sim, delete the new community folder and rename community_bak to community.
Done.
No need for an app, click and rename, if you want to be fancy, make a batch file I guess 
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A good suggestion which I cannot recall anybody making before 
Personally, however, I only have a few addons in the CF and use Addon Linker to quickly and temporarily unlink them on an update
This is exactly what I do, and I have had zero issues with the last few updates…
I’ve renamed it before, but most of the time I just leave it, and never had an issue that I could attribute to it.
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For me no displace dossier out
Not a bad idea, make it easy.
For all- The reason it is asked to remove items from your community folder is to ensure no mods are interfering with the new build and secondly, to prevent the loss of your mods in case the community folder is overwritten during install.
I just rename my CF to _Community and MSFS automatically creates a new CF during the update. Once the update is done, I delete the newly created CF and change my original back to Community. It has worked every time.
There’s nothing in the update process that requires removal / emptying / moving of the community folder.
It’s strongly recommended to run with an empty community folder on the first time running the sim after an update to ensure that community mods aren’t causing crashes. In itself, not a terrible idea, but that still leaves all the marketplace mods in place that can potentially have just as negative an impact as community mods.
The only real way would be to run the sim in Safe Mode on first run, which disables both community and marketplace mods and addons. Unfortunately, Asobo haven’t given us a way to run the sim in Safe Mode except when the sim crashes or is forced to close with Alt+F4.
You can totally run the update and the sim with a full community folder. But if you notice issues after an update, before you go whining in the forum or on ZenDesk, it’s probably best to run the sim in Safe Mode to ensure that it’s actually a problem with the update and not with mods / addons.
This is why they recommend emptying the community folder before an update - to cut down on the number of angry forum posts and ZenDesk tickets about how the update is ■■■■ when in reality the issues are caused by an incompatible add-on.
So while the intent of this proposed app is good, it’s ultimately of no real use. Now, if we could run the sim in Safe Mode from the command line any time we wanted, THAT would be a useful option.
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This is enough but also has more features mainly enabling disabling addons:
Is using symbolic links an old windows option
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Seconding MSFS Addons Linker. My #1 recommended piece of addon software (and it’s free, to boot.) The ability to just save your profile, then hit the “disable all addons” button is nice.
One issue, which has never been a big deal: Some other apps such as Orbx use symbolic links as well, and furthermore some addons install to the Community folder without the ability to use the Addons Linker (Flysimware comes to mind) - for those, your best bet might still just be to rename your community folder as @WESTINDIAN01 suggested.
To answer OP’s question, I wouldn’t use an app just for this, though some definitely might if they prefer not to noodle around in folders or use other apps.
Once and only once did I have to actually empty my community folder for an update, SU7 I think. Every update since I don’t do it and I’ve never had an issue. If I get a CTD, then I do that as my first troubleshooting step.
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I personally have two shortcuts on my Desktop. One is a link to my Community folder, and one is another folder I named “MSFS Community Backup”. I don’t normally empty my Community Folder after installing a new update, but if I experience any issues, my first troubleshooting step is to move all the contents from my Community Folder to the backup folder and then gradually, one by one, move each mod back to the regular Community Folder until I’ve identified which one is causing problems. I then leave that mod uninstalled until the dev releases an update for it.
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Let’s expect that usually there will not be conflicts between ORBX and MSFS updates. Then do nothing.
But onother advantage of MSFS Addons Linker is that you can use at each flight only the addons required for it. Then you can use MSFS Addons Linker with ORBX:
1- Delete all ORBX symlinks
2- Add the ORBX main folder to MSFS Addons Linker
This is not a permanent solution because new ORBX addons will create its symliks, but this allows the use of selected ORBX adons.
I use add-on linker, but I don’t change anything for updates.
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