tiger1962 Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 (edited) Installing Mods to the Community Folder is as easy as unzip the file, drag and drop the mod folder into the Community Folder and launch MSFS. The mod appears exactly where it should do, with no more effort than that. However, to avoid any CTD's or other anomalies, please be aware that once MSFS has been launched with the Mod installed, the Mod should also appear in the Content.xml list which shows up in the sim as the Content Manager list. The Content.xml file can be found in: C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache The Content.xml file can opened with Notepad or Notepad++ (freeware). I've found that certain filenames won't be recognised and added to the list, basically anything 'With Capital Letters' or 'IN ALL CAPITALS' won't appear in the list and this can cause problems. You need to edit any mod filename with capital letters into all lower case, and if necessary add the filename manually into the Content.xml. MSFS will load the mods in alphanumerical order, but it doesn't list them in the Content.xml in that order automatically. I've re-organised mine by filename because I'm a sad case, it's not really necessary so don't be like Tim... :p Edited October 1, 2020 by tiger1962 Tim Wright "The older I get, the better I was..." Xbox Series X, Asus Prime H510M-K, Intel Core i5-11400F 4.40GHz, 16Gb DDR4 3200, 2TB WD Black NVME SSD, 1TB Samsung SATA SSD NVidia RTX3060 Ti 8Gb, Logitech Flight Yoke System, CH Pro Pedals, Acer K272HL 27", Windows 11 Home x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobalt Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 By "mods" do you mean addon scenery files? If so, I am confused, because my content.xml file contains only what appear to be default MSFS airports. None of my addon scenery files in the Community folder show up in the content.xml. Please clarify. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger1962 Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Yes addon scenery files, repaints, gauges and FDE's are all types of modifications or "mods". Below the list of Asobo entries in the Content.xml file should be all the filenames of the mods in your Community folder, such as: Tim Wright "The older I get, the better I was..." Xbox Series X, Asus Prime H510M-K, Intel Core i5-11400F 4.40GHz, 16Gb DDR4 3200, 2TB WD Black NVME SSD, 1TB Samsung SATA SSD NVidia RTX3060 Ti 8Gb, Logitech Flight Yoke System, CH Pro Pedals, Acer K272HL 27", Windows 11 Home x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stempski Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Not that Tim needs his work checked :) I can verify that all my add-ons are indeed listed in the Context folder, and like he stated all entries contain NO upper case letters. Thrid party and solo modders must know this, because there are no caps anywhere in all their file names. Asus Z590 P, Intel I7-10700K, nVidia RTX 4070, 64gb ram(3200), 2 nvme ssd (2 tb total), Samsung QN90B 43" 4k@120hz, Bose Companion 5 PC speakers, Velocity Flight One Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobalt Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Looks as if we have a mystery! Here is my content.xml file. All Asobo stuff, no addons in it, yet my addon scenery shows up when I run MSFS. This file is unchanged by anything I do to the Community folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobalt Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 OK, an update. I removed the addon files from Community, removed the content.xml file, restarted MSFS, allowing it to rebuild a new content file, shut down MSFS, restored the addon files to Community, and restarted. The content.xml file now contains all the addons as it should. Why i was able earlier to see the addon scenery even when content.xml was not updating, I have no idea -- as I said, a mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapitan Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Tim: Your advice of checking capital letters is one of the best tips for the new sim. As many others, we have sometimes the idea of naming addon directories to our needs and put first letter in cap, i reckon a reason why many times mods dont work and people think its broken. Thanks! Kapitan Anything I say is...not as serious as you think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger1962 Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 Thank you Kapitan. When I first noticed the missing entries, and then the capital letters I thought of how scenery errors could cause all kinds of issues in previous sims, from stutters to CTD's. Keeping the Content.xml in order is just good housekeeping really, and doesn't cost a penny! A new observation: I've also noticed that when you remove an outdated mod from the Community folder, the Content.xml entry for it is sometimes still there - this can also cause the same kind of faults because the updated mod has often got a different filename. Tim Wright "The older I get, the better I was..." Xbox Series X, Asus Prime H510M-K, Intel Core i5-11400F 4.40GHz, 16Gb DDR4 3200, 2TB WD Black NVME SSD, 1TB Samsung SATA SSD NVidia RTX3060 Ti 8Gb, Logitech Flight Yoke System, CH Pro Pedals, Acer K272HL 27", Windows 11 Home x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtepsr812 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 i am new to this. so i downloaded the mod zip files. do i copy and paste those zip files into the community folder and than open the game(FS2020). do i have to switch developers to "on" before doing all of this. i don't want to ruin my original program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger1962 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 i am new to this. so i downloaded the mod zip files. do i copy and paste those zip files into the community folder and than open the game(FS2020). do i have to switch developers to "on" before doing all of this. i don't want to ruin my original program. Unzip each file, then copy and paste each unzipped folder into your Community folder and launch the sim. There's no need to activate anything. Tim Wright "The older I get, the better I was..." Xbox Series X, Asus Prime H510M-K, Intel Core i5-11400F 4.40GHz, 16Gb DDR4 3200, 2TB WD Black NVME SSD, 1TB Samsung SATA SSD NVidia RTX3060 Ti 8Gb, Logitech Flight Yoke System, CH Pro Pedals, Acer K272HL 27", Windows 11 Home x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockinrobin Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 OK, an update. I removed the addon files from Community, removed the content.xml file, restarted MSFS, allowing it to rebuild a new content file, shut down MSFS, restored the addon files to Community, and restarted. The content.xml file now contains all the addons as it should. Why i was able earlier to see the addon scenery even when content.xml was not updating, I have no idea -- as I said, a mystery. Likewise, I have the B36 Bonanza mod and the G1000 mod in my Community folder and both work just fine, but neither appear in the content.xml file. Not going to mess with things since they're working! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobalt Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Tim, I am having problems with addon airports not showing up properly in MSFS. Typically, the buildings are there, but no runways! Also the ICAO codes do not appear in the airport search function, nor do the airports show up in the world map. However, this info DOES appear in the VFR map application addon and also in Little Nav Map. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger1962 Posted December 24, 2020 Author Share Posted December 24, 2020 It could be that the airport mod needs to be updated in order to be compatible with the latest version of MSFS, but some mods only update the buildings while others only update the runways and taxiways. Tim Wright "The older I get, the better I was..." Xbox Series X, Asus Prime H510M-K, Intel Core i5-11400F 4.40GHz, 16Gb DDR4 3200, 2TB WD Black NVME SSD, 1TB Samsung SATA SSD NVidia RTX3060 Ti 8Gb, Logitech Flight Yoke System, CH Pro Pedals, Acer K272HL 27", Windows 11 Home x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdish Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 ...MSFS will load the mods in alphanumerical order, but it doesn't list them in the Content.xml in that order automatically. I've re-organised mine by filename because I'm a sad case, it's not really necessary so don't be like Tim... :p LOL... I share the same obsession. I always put FSX aircraft.cfg repaints in the folder order. Now you just opened another point of OCD! :) Gigabyte GA-X99 Gaming G1, i7-5960X, Noctua NH-D14, Crucial Ballistix Elite 64Gb, Nvidia GTX Titan X, Creative ZxR, Ableconn PEXM2-130, WD Black SN750 250Gb & 2Tb NVMe/Gold 10Tb HDD, Sony BDU-X10S BD-ROM, PC Power & Cooling 1200w, Cosmos C700M, Noctua iPPC 140mm x6, Logitech M570/K800, WinX64 7 Ultimate/10 Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobalt Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 (edited) The problems occur even with new mods, eg. the Greenland package and Stuttgart, Germany (EDDS). As I mentioned, it's not just the runways -- the airport locations do not show up in the MSFS world map or search tool, even though they are in the data base (as shown by the fact they they appear in the VFR map and Little Nav Map). It must be something about my settings but I have no idea what it could be. I should repeat that I am talking about new addon airports, i.e. ones that were omitted by MSFS (e.g. EDDS). Edited December 24, 2020 by cobalt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelgrant Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 Thx Tim, this is the best tip I have received since day 1! Nigel, Vancouver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daspinall Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 "Letters' or 'IN ALL CAPITALS' won't appear in the list and this can cause problems." this I didn't know cheers Tiger.... ASRock X570 TAICHI Mother Board AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.79 GHz *Overclocked* Corsair 240mm H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Intel/AMD CPU Liquid Cooler Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB 64GB 3600MHz *Overclocked* MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB SUPRIM X Ampere. 1000W PSU. Samsung 870 EVO 2TB SSD. HP Reverb G2 + Oculus Quest 2 Samsung Odyssey G9 C49G95TSSR - QLED monitor - curved - 49" - 5120 x 1440 Dual Quad HD @ 240 Hz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacomasailor Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 (edited) Likewise, I have the B36 Bonanza mod and the G1000 mod in my Community folder and both work just fine, but neither appear in the content.xml file. Not going to mess with things since they're working! Could I get some clarification on the above comment? I too have MANY mods in the COMMUNITY folder which DO NOT appear in the contents list but do seem to work perfectly. For example - Robert Young G36 Bonanza and G1000/G3000 working title. I am 100% certain those mods work correctly and 100% certain they are not listed in contents. And... many of the mods I see in the content list DO HAVE capital letters in the folder names as they appear in the COMMUNITY folder but are ALL lower case in the contents list Thus - I am confused! Edited December 25, 2020 by tacomasailor spacing i7-9700K / 32GB DDR4 memory / RTX 3060 Ti with 8GB /Flight Sim on SSD and Win10 on separate SSD / 375 MegaBit / Second internet connection / HP Reverb G2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrylawdinn Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 I use an addon manager to keep things reasonable in the Community Folder. MSFS Add-Ons Linker is the utility which I use before each session so that the C/F is not cluttered up with stuff I'm not going to use and keep startup times to a minimum. There is nothing left "permanently" in the C/F. Not had any problems caused by capitals but I'll take a few minutes to scan the files, just in case. Fairly easy to do because MSFS Addons Linker provides a list of all items it's placing in the C/F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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