So far I’ve only downloaded freeware mods that get placed in the community folder, which I like because I can enable or disable them easily using addon linker. I also like the idea of not mixing or tinkering with official files and directories.
So where do payware addons get installed? For example, I’m considering purchasing Orbyx Weather Preset Pro and I’m wonder where it gets installed. Also, it seems like it comes with its own installer which I don’t like (adds unnecessary bloat). Can the installer be deleted without deleting the addon? Any clarification on this is appreciated.
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Community and depending on the issuer they install in the One Store folder as well.
I also dislike that.
One of the more refreshing aspects of the “Community folder” setup is how, like X-Plane, it’s drop dead simple to install/remove/try/etc add-ons.
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If you’re getting from external stores like Orbx direct and other sources. Their installer tends to install to the community folder anyway. So if you don’t want to have the installer. You can just download it once, use the installer to install your payware mods into the community folder. Then you can delete the installer. Your mod should still be in the community folder. Feel free to back this up and store it somewhere.
The drawback with uninstalling the installer is that, you won’t know if you have any updated mods, unless you specifically look for it. And once you do, you need to reinstall the installer to get the latest version of the mod, and you can uninstall it again.
But if you bought them from the MSFS Marketplace, then it’s directly linked to your Microsoft/Xbox account, so no need for external installer and it keeps getting updated automatically. But these will be stored in the official folder, not the community folder.
It’s up to you.
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My goodness what a disaster this morning.
I bought the Orbx Weather Preset Pro. Downloaded Orbx Central (much to my hesitation). Installed the program.
The weather presets work ingame, but I have no idea where it installed. I don’t see a new folder anywhere in the community or official folders.
Any ideas? All I want to do is have it be in the community folder just like any other addon and delete Orbx Central (I don’t care about future updates).
Well can’t you just uninstall the ORBX Central after you installed the weather preset?
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I just did and the weather presets still work.
The new weather presets seem to be located here:
C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Weather\Presets
I don’t think I can move these to the community folder. They’d stop working I reckon.
Strange though that they are not located in the same folder as the default weather presets:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\Packages\fs-base-spb\WeatherPresets
Not sure why they would not be located in the same folder.
There you go. In that case, you can just back up that folder instead. It probably won’t work if you move them to the community folder anyway. So it’s best to leave it there.
The community needs a certain structure to the mods, and it’s usually used for scenery, aircrafts, or livery addons. Weather preset seems like a mechanics changing addon, so it might only work if it’s assigned directly to a different directory.
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If they don’t sit in that specific folder they will not appear in the drop down weather menu.
For me it is not dead easy.
I downloaded and unzipped an Addon aircraft (Grumman Goose), which resulted in a folder and two files:
- SimObjects
- layout-json
- manifest.json
I copied these into >>MSFSPackages >>Community.
The Simulator recognizes them by showing an entry “SIMOBJECT - NOT INSTALLED - COMMUNITY” in >>Profile >>Content Manager, but the aircraft does not appear in the aircraft selection of “World Map”.
The entry “NOT INSTALLED” suggests that a separate installation is required.
I searched this forum and others for a guide but in vain.
What have I to do?
It’s a bug. All installed Community addons appear as “Not installed”. It’s a regression bug from a few patches back, and not related to your issue.
I suspect you have not extracted the mod correctly, and perhaps have it inside another folder, so the layout/manifest JSON files are one level down.
This is what the BBS Islander folder looks like:
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Thanks for the information.
It made me realize, the my downloaded Data were incomplete.
I repeated the dowmload which gave me the full data package.
Now everything works as planned.
Thanks again for your help
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A bug the new update appears to have fixed.